Josh Trank’s ‘Fantastic Four’ gets a new trailer!

Posted on April 19, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Fantastic Four" Theatrical Poster

"Fantastic Four" Theatrical Poster

Josh Trank, the co-writer/director of 2012’s Chronicle, scored a major hit with that film’s ‘found footage’ take on the superhero genre. He’s been rewarded with the task of rebooting the Fantastic Four. The movie will star Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg E. Cathey and Tim Blake Nelson. It has a release date set for August 7, 2015.

This will be 20th Centry Fox’s second attempt at launching Marvel Comics’ cosmic family into a successful movie franchise. Trank will be assisted by producer Matthew Vaughn, a filmmaker who has some experience with comic book material: he directed both X-Men: First Class and Kick Ass. | Watch the 1st teaser trailer.

BREAKING NEWS: Watch the newest trailer!

Posted in News |

Jiang Wen to helm wuxia flick titled ‘The Hidden Warrior’

Posted on April 18, 2015 by JJ Bona
"The Lost Bladesman" Theatrical Poster

"The Lost Bladesman" Theatrical Poster

Jiang Wen (The Lost Bladesman) – actor, writer and director of Let the Bullets Fly – has announced that his next project will be a wuxia film titled The Hidden Warrior. The upcoming martial arts actioner will complete his Republican era-set Beiyang trilogy, which started with Let the Bullets Fly.

According to FBA, The Hidden Warrior is the tale of a young swordsman trying to solve a five-year murder case within the bowels of the city in 1936 Beijing. The screenplay for the film – based on a novel by Zhang Beihai – is being written by He Jiping, who is mostly known for penning The Warlords and Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.

We’ll keep you posted on The Hidden Warrior as we hear more. Stay tuned!

Posted in News |

Mike Moeller is a sensation with ‘One Million Klicks’

Posted on April 18, 2015 by JJ Bona
"One Million Klicks" Theatrical Poster

"One Million Klicks" Theatrical Poster

After taking the lead in 2012’s Arena of the Street Fighter, German martial artist Mike Moeller is back this year with One Million Klicks. It’s the first project from production company Silent Partners, which was recently formed by Mike Leeder along with Ruediger Kummerle.

The movie is a German language modern day actioner, which follows the well worn genre trope of a good hearted fighter being drawn into an underground martial arts tournament being shown on the internet… think Bangkok Knockout. However with Moeller in the lead, some solid action should definitely be on the cards.

Mike Leeder recently reported that Evolutionary Films, the London based sales and production company, have been appointed as international sales agent to represent the movie, and will be being taken to Cannes. Click here to watch the latest trailer!

Posted in News |

Saviour Monk, The (1975) Review

Posted on April 17, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"The Saviour Monk" Chinese DVD Cover

"The Saviour Monk" Chinese DVD Cover

Director: Leung Chit Foo
Producer: Chang Yan-Tao
Cast: Doris Lung Chung Erh, Tong Wai, Philip Ko Fei, Chin Chi Min, Ma Cheung, Yuen Sam, Lee Ying, Tit Mang Chau
Running Time: 87 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The Saviour Monk is a tricky movie to review – it looks, feels, and sounds like an old school kung fu movie. It has a cast which includes familiar old school faces like Doris Lung and Philip Ko, and, well, what 70’s Hong Kong movie with the word ‘monk’ in its title doesn’t feature the monks in question busting out some kung fu moves?

The Saviour Monk is that movie, as in its compact runtime (it clocks in at under 90 minutes), apart from some brief and decidedly average swordplay action, not a single punch or kick is thrown. So, what are we left with? In place of a kung fu spectacle, director Leung Chit Foo appears to have set out to sincerely tell the tale of a suitor to the throne, who decides to forego his birthright in order to become a monk.

There’s some onscreen text at the beginning of the movie which could well explain that proceedings are loosely based on a true story, but unfortunately it’s impossible for me to tell, as none of it was subtitled. The subtitles do kick in for the characters dialogue, even if they look like they were made on a typewriter that’s been dropped on the floor, wildly shaken, and stomped on for good measure. The quality of the subtitle appearance aside, The Saviour Monk did actually add a new word to my vocabulary, when the father of the would-be monk yells at him, “You! the recalcitrant!” Sadly the range of vocabulary is let down later on by such lines as, “Please sit down up.”

The monk himself is played by Tong Wai, who’s righteous appearance often saw him starring in wuxia productions such as Majesty Cat and The Smart Cavalier, as well as featuring in the occasional Shaw Brothers production such as Naval Commandos. With a host of genre talent playing against type, and the selling point of watching a rich prince on his journey to become a monk, you may wonder if there’s any reason at all to watch The Saviour Monk. Thankfully, there is. Those reasons mainly come in the form of director Chit Foo’s rather bizarre production design decisions, which pop up with enough regularity to keep you watching.

When Wai is told by his father that he has to marry the daughter of another provinces royal family, in order to try and discover their military secrets, he reluctantly agrees to go through with it. On their first night together as a married couple, Wai looks at his new wife, and suddenly finding himself tempted by the flesh, reminds himself via voice over that “Sex means empty.” When he next looks at his wife, she’s a jangling open mouthed plastic skeleton. Of course, he’s appropriately turned off. Worrying that his wife is still frisky though, he tells her to light up a joss stick, and together they proceed to run circles around a small table for nearly a whole minute. What makes these scenes so hilarious, is that they appear to have been filmed with a genuine sincerity and seriousness.

As a reward for not giving into his human desires, Wai is visited by the ghost of a monk who’s been inexplicably following him around since the start of the movie, and taps him on the head with a brush, making all of his hair disappear. Having achieved his goal of becoming a monk (seemingly by doing nothing more than resisting having sex with the woman he was forced to marry), Wai doesn’t even bother to wake her up, simply abandoning her in bed and setting off on his monks journey. This sets up the main structure of the plot, which finds Wai stumbling across a cult called the ‘Heaven Religion’, who want to control the population, while at the same time his wife and father are in hot pursuit after she was given the one night stand treatment (minus the sex part).

The leader of the ‘Heaven Religion’ is played by kung fu legend Philip Ko, decked out to look like a Chinese version of Dracula in black robes and pale makeup, it almost seems like a crime that he doesn’t throw a single shape. His base seems to be in some kind of underground cave, albeit a cave which has automatic doors, and when we’re first introduced to his evil schemes it’s through one of the daughters of a village elder, who’s been possessed by his evil spell. The daughter is played by another familiar face from the jade screen, Doris Lung.

Lung had an interesting career in the Hong Kong movie industry, active for the best part of a decade from the early 70’s through to the early 80’s, some sources report that she had an unstable personality, and attempted suicide three times during this time. Whether these facts are true or not is difficult to confirm, but regardless of their authenticity, in The Saviour Monk she gets to unleash her wild side via plenty of manic laughter (dubbed over by a man, no doubt inspired by The Exorcist, made 2 years prior) and arm flailing.

Most interesting of her scenes though is one in which she performs a sexual dance routine in Philip Ko’s lair, not at all dissimilar to the go-go dance scene in The Association, only with slightly less revealing clothing. Both The Association and The Saviour Monk were made in 1975, so it begs the question of which one introduced the ‘sexy dance in a cults hidden lair’ scene first. While Lung’s dance doesn’t involve a see through gown, the scene does get points for incorporating a lineup of male and female backup dancers, some of whom wear expressions which look like they’re questioning how they got roped into such a performance.

The Saviour Monk saves its pièce de résistance for around the mid-way point, when out of nowhere, it decides it’s going to be a kaiju flick, and Philip Ko summons a giant bug eyed monster to erupt out of the ground, stomping everything in its path. Ok, so the only thing in its path are a few model trees, but it still counts. Unfazed by the monster, probably because the scenes were filmed separately, Wai calmly prays to the Buddha, and summons a Chinese dragon to appear and throw down with the bug eyed beast. While the scene is arguably sub-standard compared to its Japanese counterparts of the same era, the novelty of witnessing a kaiju battle in the middle of a movie which it really has no place in being, makes The Saviour Monk worth a watch.

Thankfully the bug eyed monster makes a comeback for the finale, but not before more onscreen randomness such as watching Wai parting a river as if he’s Moses, and Lung being shrunken to the size of a small doll. The Saviour Monk is perhaps best viewed as a watch once curiosity, and as Wai’s character felt after spending a night with his wife, once should be enough.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , |

Lust of the Dead 5 | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Posted on April 17, 2015 by JJ Bona
Lust of the Dead 5 | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Lust of the Dead 5 | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

RELEASE DATE: June 23, 2015

Tokyo Shock presents the DVD for Lust of the Dead 5 (aka Rape Zombie: Lust of the Dead 5) starring Asami (Prison Girl) and Mihiro (Ju-on series).

The insane apocalyptic zombie saga continues! Watch the viral epidemic spread as the sex-craved, walking-dead expand their rampage across post-nuke Tokyo! Can they be sopped? Can their perpetual lust ever be satisfied?

Don’t miss the trailer! Also see Lust of the Dead 4.

Pre-order Lust of the Dead 5 from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Third time’s a charm for Takashi Ishii’s ‘Gonin Saga’

Posted on April 17, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Gonin" Japanese Theatrical Poster

"Gonin" Japanese Theatrical Poster

In the mood for more Yakuza action? Well, so are we. Takashi Ishii (Freeze Me) is currently wrapping up the third entry to his violent Gonin series. But before we talk about that, let’s take a look at the first two films:

1995’s Gonin revolved around a disco owner who convinces 4 other guys to go along with him in a planned heist of the local Yakuza thugs for over 100 million yen. The heist is successful, however, the Yakuza, obviously perturbed at the theft, send out 2 hit men (one of which is played by Beat Takeshi) to kill the five.

Gonin 2, which came out in 1996, followed Masamichi Toyama (Ken Ogata), a married man who gets into a bad gambling debt he cant pay back. As a result, Yakuza gangsters track him down, beat him to a pulp and rape his wife. Now, the only thing Toyama will pay back is bloody revenge!

According Film Business Asia, Gonin Saga (aka Gonin 3) follows an investigative reporter who meets the sons of the gangsters involved in the aftermath of the original heist. The film stars Masahiro Higashide (Crows Explode), Kenta Kiritani (Outrage Beyond), Anna Tsuchiya (Kamui Gaiden), Tasuku Emoto (A Story of Yonosuke) and Masanobu Ando (Battle Royale).

Gonin Saga is expected to be released in Japan on September 26, 2015. Until then, here’s the first trailer (via FCS).

Posted in News |

Suzune Complete | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Posted on April 16, 2015 by JJ Bona
Suzune Complete | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

Suzune Complete | DVD (Tokyo Shock)

RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Tokyo Shock presents the DVD for Ryu Kaneda’s Suzune Complete, which contains Suzune: Genesis and Suzune: Evolution.

When your body is bursting with all kinds of erotic parasites, the only person that can save you is Dr. Suzune (Rei Yoshii).

Based on Japan’s most popular mobile phone manga, Kisei jui-Suzune by Haruki. Watch the trailer (don’t blame us, we’re just here to report this stuff).

Pre-order Suzune Complete from Amazon.com today!

Posted in Asian Titles, DVD/Blu-ray New Releases |

Pound of Flesh (2015) Review

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Pound of Flesh" Japanese Theatrical Poster

“Pound of Flesh” Japanese Theatrical Poster

AKA: Maximum Blood
Director: Ernie Barbarash
Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Darren Shahlavi, Aki Aleong, John Ralston, Jason Tobin, Philippe Joly, Brahim Achabbakhe, Andrew Ng, Mike Leeder, Adele Baughan
Running Time: 104 min.

By HKFanatic

About two minutes into Pound of Flesh, Jean-Claude Van Damme wakes up in a bathtub full of ice. His skin pallid, his eyes as sunken as a skull’s, he slowly becomes aware of his surroundings. Crawling from the tub, he is trembling, naked, and afraid. He tentatively inspects the massive scar across his side and soon comes to the realization that he has had his kidney removed against his will. The horror of this moment is startling portrayed by Van Damme, who appears in this instance less an action hero and more a frightened victim. Quite frankly, we’ve never seen the actor as vulnerable as he is here.

Unfortunately, this is the only dramatically interesting scene in the entirety of Pound of Flesh. Shortly after Van Damme throws some pants on and makes a few phone calls to his old covert agent connections, the movie becomes your typical low-budget action flick as Van Damme storms through the seedy bars and back alleys of China shouting “Where’s my kidney?!” to unintentionally hilarious effect. You see, before Van Damme was drugged and placed under the knife, he had traveled to the country to donate his organ to a terminally ill niece. If he doesn’t get the missing kidney back in time, his niece is sure to die.

The old ‘waking up in a bathtub of ice’ story has been around for years as something of an urban legend, and was even the premise behind the 2004 Hong Kong thriller Koma from The Bullet Vanishes director Chi-Leung Law. No doubt it’s a serviceable set-up for an action movie; the problem emerges as soon as fists start flying the viewer realizes that, while Jean-Claude Van Damme’s name receives the top billing, his stand-in might receive more screentime than he does.

Although there have been no behind-the-scenes stories or rumors of reshoots, it’s difficult to watch Pound of Flesh and not get the impression it must have been something of a troubled production. There are scenes where it’s glaringly obvious that Van Damme was filmed in front of a green screen and inserted into the middle of previously shot sequences. Worse yet, Van Damme’s stunt double is visible in nearly every action shot in which the camera isn’t facing Van Damme head-on. No doubt Van Damme is an international star, and an actor who’s getting up there in years, so insurance purposes or his health may necessitate the use of a stand-in; however, it’s never been this apparent and easy to spot.

The fight choreography in Pound of Flesh arrives from the talented John Salvetti, an action coordinator who needs no introduction once you realize he’s the guy who fought Donnie Yen at the end of Tiger Cage 2. What he brings to Pound of Flesh is a more grounded, realistic style of combat that favors grappling and other moves that will likely be familiar to fans of Mixed Martial Arts. While his choreography is topnotch, its impact is frequently marred by choppy editing; it also has the unfortunate habit of downplaying Jean-Claude Van Damme and his co-star Darren Shahlavi’s flair for the more acrobatic, high-flying, Hong Kong-influenced style of onscreen martial arts.

It’s impossible to discuss Pound of Flesh without addressing the death of Darren Shahlavi, an immensely talented screen performer who died tragically young shortly after filming. Shahlavi had a gift for playing formidable villains, whether as the British boxer in Ip Man 2, Kano in the popular Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, or the kung fu serial killer in the Gary Daniels cult classic Bloodmoon. His untimely passing has robbed us of a gifted martial artist who no doubt had many, many more promising roles ahead of him. Fortunately, he’s a highlight of Pound of Flesh, as he seems to be the only actor onscreen who realizes he’s in the middle of a direct-to-video action flick and decides to have fun with it. Shahlavi’s clearly relishing the chance to play a baddie opposite Van Damme and he delivers an entertaining, over-the-top performance to match.

While Van Damme himself appears invested in the Pound of Flesh’s dramatic moments, his performance is undone by a script that paints his character as blatantly unlikable. Van Damme is placed at odds against his long-suffering brother (portrayed by John Ralston), a church-going, violence-averse college professor. Once we learn that this character is literally sterile and had his wife stolen by Van Damme, we realize he’s only here so Van Damme’s character Deacon can look cooler in comparison – which doesn’t exactly endear the viewer to the selfish Deacon. Lest we forget that this guy was drinking it up and engaging in a one night stand the night before he was supposed to donate his kidney to his niece. It’s enough to make you wish Van Damme would stick to playing the melancholy assassins he usually portrays in recent films like Six Bullets.

Thanks to the genuine quality of movies like Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Ninja II, fans are coming to expect more from direct-to-video action movies. The bar has been raised, which is why it’s such a shame that Pound of Flesh feels beamed in from the mid-2000’s, back when Steven Seagal was sleepwalking through movies where he simply overdubbed his voice onto footage of a stand-in actor. It’s anyone’s guess why Pound of Flesh ended up being such a sloppily assembled product – no doubt time and budgetary restraints played a part – but it’s easy to feel let down when our action stars of old appear content to deliver such a substandard film. Simply put, the fans who have supported Van Damme over the years deserve more than this.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 5/10

Posted in Asian Related, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , |

I Am Steve McQueen (2014) Review

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Kelly Warner
"I Am Steve McQueen" Blu-ray Cover

“I Am Steve McQueen” Blu-ray Cover

Director: Jeff Renfroe
Writer: David Ray
Cast: Robert Downey Jr. (voice), Kristin Kreuk (voice), Chad McQueen, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Randy Couture, Katherine Haber, Norman Jewison, Pat Johnson, Ali MacGraw
Running Time: 90 min.

By Kyle Warner

“You never know with a Hollywood star whether you’re seeing the real person. You know, everyone said that John Wayne was a great hero but the reality is that John Wayne played great heroes. With McQueen, you definitely got the idea that you were seeing an authentic person.” – Film critic Ben Mankiewicz

Produced by Network Entertainment, I Am Steve McQueen is another in the company’s line of documentaries looking back on the life and career of a talent from the past. I’ve not seen their I Am Evel Knievel or their upcoming I Am Chris Farley, but I have seen their 2012 documentary I Am Bruce Lee. The McQueen doc does not differ much from I Am Bruce Lee’s formula. Despite the title that might suggest the documentary is about McQueen’s life in his own words, his life story is primarily told by the family he left behind and the admirers he inspired

The film charts McQueen’s life from his tough childhood to his death at the age of 50 when he was one of the world’s biggest movie stars. As the documentary goes on, it touches on McQueen’s major films like Bullitt, The Great Escape, and Papillon, while also taking time to give his fans a better understanding of his personal life. And of course there’s the racing. Lots and lots of racing. I’d known Steve McQueen had a reputation as a car guy that dabbled in racing now and then, but before watching this documentary I hadn’t known that he was so serious about racing as a sport. There was a time in his career when you could say that he was a racer that also acted and not the other way around.

I think the film’s finest achievement is that does a good job of letting you that McQueen was more than just an actor; he was a highly skilled racer, a military veteran, and a very complicated human being. And I mean complicated. I Am Steve McQueen paints the actor as an incredibly competitive man. Friends from acting school remember him as considering all other blonde, blue-eyed actors as potential enemies. When he went onto bigger films, it seems he did all he could to steal scenes away from his co-stars so that he would leave the biggest impression on the audience (which is especially noticeable in The Magnificent Seven). McQueen wasn’t out to make friends in showbiz, but rather to make a name for himself. And he succeeded, giving us one memorable performance after another while simultaneously building an image for himself as the steely eyed, silent type anti-hero. Often times his competitive nature helped him rise to a level of stardom that other actors could not have reached. However, that same drive also ruined some relationships with artistic colleagues and loved ones. McQueen seemed to understand his competitive nature was leading him to the edge and he thought learning martial arts under the tutelage of Pat Johnson and Bruce Lee would help him to achieve inner balance. It would seem, based on three marriages and a multitude of fractured relationships with directors and co-stars, inner peace remained largely elusive for McQueen through much of his life.

There are many archival clips and images of McQueen throughout the documentary but the man himself grants very little information to the questions posed about his life and career. Instead, others are asked to fill in the gaps. Robert Downey Jr. serves as the film’s narrator, but like McQueen he is given very little to say. McQueen’s family lends information on his personal life and feelings over the years. Director Norman Jewison (The Cincinnati Kid), TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, and biographer Marshall Terrill give us some history about McQueen’s films. And actors Pierce Brosnan, Gary Oldman, Zoe Bell, and Randy Couture gush with admiration about how McQueen inspired them and influenced the craft of film acting. It’s a lively group of individuals and the documentary is never boring, but I do think I Am Steve McQueen suffers from not enough of the man’s own words about his life. True, it seems McQueen was a quiet type off-screen as well as on-screen, but it still feels less complete than I would’ve liked. One of the things the documentary makes clear is that once McQueen had control over where he wanted his career to go, many of the characters he played told a little something about him. McQueen’s filmography is somewhat biographical, showing his youth on the mean streets, to his time in the military, to his love for cars and racing. So, while the documentary doesn’t give us too much of McQueen talking about himself, perhaps we can still learn something more about the man just by watching his movies.

The documentary spends too much time trying to explain how or why McQueen was cool. I guess I understand the reasoning behind it since he is known as the ‘King of Cool,’ after all. But I feel they returned to this part of McQueen’s mystique too often, leaving some of the interviewees to ramble on about his clothes, his eyes, and whether or not he would still be considered quite as cool if we just recognized him as some random guy and not the famous actor. It’s like they were attempting to explain the science of ‘cool.’ It’s entertaining at first, but only at first.

I was not a fan of I Am Bruce Lee. I felt it barely scratched the surface of the legend that is Bruce Lee, and instead was more focused on showing how Lee influenced others in their film or martial arts careers. I liked I Am Steve McQueen considerably more. Like the Bruce Lee documentary, I feel the McQueen film could’ve gone deeper. I don’t believe that McQueen’s bigger fans will learn anything new from the film. But it’s an entertaining documentary that covers all the major bases. More casual McQueen fans – like me – are more likely to get something out of the documentary, as it grants an interesting, honest look at the King of Cool. In the end, the documentary made me want to rewatch the McQueen films in my collection and check out some of the others that I missed. I figure that means I Am Steve McQueen accomplished what it set out to do.

Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10

Posted in Documentary, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , |

Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

Posted on April 13, 2015 by JJ Bona
Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

Furious | DVD (Leomark Studios)

RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2015

Leomark Studios presents the DVD for 1984’s Furious, featuring Best of the Best stars Simon Rhee and Phillip Rhee, as well as Loren Avedon (Raging Thunder).

This cult classic has been pirated by fans all over the world since its first release in 1984. Now, Furious arrives digitally remastered in this collector’s edition DVD. Watch the trailer.

Extras include interview with writer/director Tim Everitt, two trailers and director’s commentary.

Pre-order Furious from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Martial Arts Titles |

Skin Trade (2014) Review

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Skin Trade" Theatrical Poster

“Skin Trade” Theatrical Poster

Director: Ekachai Uekrongtham
Producer: Craig Baumgarten, Dolph Lundgren, Mike Selby
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White, Celina Jade, Peter Weller, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Conan Stevens, Mike Dopud, Tasya Teles, Leo Rano
Running Time: 95 min.

By HKFanatic

Like many action stars of the Eighties, Dolph Lundgren has spent the last fifteen years starring in a reliable stream of direct-to-video titles. Except for a welcome appearance in The Expendables films, your best chance at catching Dolph in action as of late has been movies like The Killing Machine and Command Performance. Although Dolph frequently steps behind the camera himself for these projects, for the most part they’ve been rote thrillers with little to distinguish them besides Dolph’s natural charm. Thus, the announcement of Skin Trade made martial arts fans stand up and take notice: here was an opportunity to see Dolph Lundgren team up with international sensation Tony Jaa of Ong Bak fame. Cautious optimism aside, martial arts junkies could be forgiven for thinking this might be the best team-up since peanut butter met chocolate.

And let us not forget, in many ways Tony Jaa needed Skin Trade to be a success as much as Dolph did. It’s difficult to believe that only ten years after he shot to international stardom with Ong-Bak, Tony Jaa’s career was in a state of disrepair. By 2013, he was as well-known for his disappearing from the set of Ong-Bak 2 and contract disputes as he was his flying kicks. The dismal reception of Tom Yum Goong 2 – the movie that had once been positioned as Jaa’s comeback – served as salt on the wound. Thankfully, moving into 2015 Tony Jaa seems to be in a much better place: his physical talents will be seen by a wider audience than ever thanks to his cameo in Hollywood blockbuster Furious Seven, and Skin Trade is preparing for a Video On Demand rollout from Magnet Releasing.

Magnet themselves have been smart in building the hype for Skin Trade through a steady stream of online marketing, highlighting the star power of its cast: joining Jaa and Lundgren is fan favorite bruiser Michael Jai White (Falcon Rising), as well as character actors Paul Weller (Robocop) and Ron Perlman (Hellyboy). Which begs the question: does Skin Trade actually live up to the hype or is it destined to join the rest of Dolph Lundgren’s post-millennial career on the racks of America’s now non-existent video stores?

Perhaps befitting a film that seeks to unite two of the biggest action stars from opposite sides of the globe, Skin Trade itself seems to exhibit something of a split personality. The first half hour of the film plays out like you would expect a by-the-numbers Dolph Lundgren actioner to unfold, with Dolph on the hunt for a vicious Serbian gangster (played by Ron Perlman) who traffics women to be sold as slaves in Asia. It’s unclear just why Dolph has such a vendetta against Perlman, except for the fact that he’s a genuinely nasty piece of work, but when Perlman places a hit on Dolph’s family, it’s safe to say that things have become personal. This is the kind of revenge plot that would be set-up within the first ten minutes of a Steven Seagal flick, but for some reason takes three times as long here.

Fortunately, once Dolph Lundgren wakes up in the hospital seeing red, he hops a plane to Thailand and the real movie begins. In Asia, he crosses paths with Tony Jaa’s Thai detective – but if you were expecting the two of them to put aside their cultural differences and get to stopping Ron Perlman together, then you clearly haven’t read a comic book crossover in which our two heroes must first slug it out with each other before they can team-up. And once it does arrive, the Dolph Lundgren vs. Tony Jaa title match is well worth the wait. These two radically different combatants go at each other in a knock-down, drag-out brawl that thankfully doesn’t suffer from too much of the choppy editing that has ruined many a highly-anticipated bout (anyone remember Jet Li vs. Mark Dacascos in Cradle 2 the Grave?).

If that weren’t enough, their scuffle might just be bested later on when Tony Jaa squares off against Michael Jai White. The fight choreography is frequently captured from a far-off distance, which is a boon in that it allows us to see the athleticism of our combatants; however, it has the adverse side effect of underselling the drama of the fight. Since we never really cut to a close-up, the film fails to sell us on the emotions of the actors. Thus, I often had the impression I was watching two highly trained stunt people hit their marks rather than two characters engaged in a dramatically-charged conflict. It might seem like a small quibble in a direct-to-video flick, but the viewer should have a reason to care about the combat unfolding besides the fact that it features two of their favorite action stars.

Fans of actor Dolph Lundgren may be disappointed to hear he’s frequently outshined by his co-stars. While he is very much the main character, the filmmakers don’t afford him the same kind of jaw-dropping moments that Jaa and White receive. And despite his massive size and legitimate martial arts skills, Dolph has never moved as a graceful performer onscreen. There’s an awkward, lumbering quality to his movements that continues here, and he spends most of the climax of the film mowing down people with an AK-47 rather than employing fisticuffs. Peter Weller chews up the scenery every moment he’s onscreen (wait till you hear the way he pronounces “Asia”) but he unfortunately disappears from Skin Trade after the first act. Meanwhile, Ron Perlman seems to be doing a variation on his character from Drive, only this time with an Eastern European accent.

Skin Trade is not a great film by any stretch of the imagination – for one thing, it seeks to shed a spotlight on the real world horrors of sex trafficking, while at the same time shamelessly exploiting the few female characters in the cast. Regardless, Skin Trade certainly continues the trend of direct-to-video action movies stepping up their game: the movie harkens back to the kind of old-school, minimal-CG stunts and fight scenes that mainstream Hollywood seems to have turned their back on. There was a time when skipping a theatrical release and arriving via VOD was something of a kiss of death, but movies like Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Ninja II have proved that’s quickly changing. With its fast pace and copious amounts of bloody violence, this is clearly a film that knows its audience. As such, it’s hard to imagine that fans of the central performers won’t come away from Skin Trade thoroughly entertained.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in Asian Related, News, Reviews, Thai | Tagged , , , , , , |

Darth Vader joins Rob Cohen’s fantasy-action flick ‘Marco Polo’

Posted on April 11, 2015 by JJ Bona
"Marco Polo" Chinese Theatrical Poster

"Marco Polo" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Rob Cohen (Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) will be directing a 3D fantasy/action film titled Marco Polo (no relation to the current Netflix series), a co-production between Paramount and China Film Group. The film is scheduled to hit theaters in 2016.

There have also been additional reports that Cohen is considering his Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor leading man Jet Li (Flying Swords of the Dragon Gate) for a role.

Countless projects about the Venetian adventurer have been made in the past, but the obvious one that comes to our mind is 1975’s Marco Polo (aka Four Assassins), a Chang Cheh-directed Shaw Brothers film starring Richard Harrison, Alexander Fu Sheng, Chi Kuan Chun, Gordon Liu, Leung Kar Yan and Shih Szu.

Updates: THR reports that Hayden Christensen (Star Wars Episode I-III) will be starring in Marco Polo.

Posted in News |

Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Posted on April 11, 2015 by JJ Bona
Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

Robot Jox | Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

Before Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim… Before Michael Bay’s Transformers…

Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray for Robot Jox. Directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator), Robot Jox reveals a world where nations settle their territorial disputes by a single combat between two giant machines. Piloted by national heroes Achilles (Gary Graham) and Alexander (Paul Koslo), the robots meet in Death Valley to fight for the greatest prize of all: Alaska. Watch the trailer.

Pre-order Robot Jox from Amazon.com today!

Posted in DVD/Blu-ray New Releases, Other Notable Titles |

Typhoon (2005) Review

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Z Ravas
"Typhoon" Korean Theatrical Poster

“Typhoon” Korean Theatrical Poster

Director: Gwak Gyeong-Taek
Writer: Gwak Gyeong-Taek
Cast: Jang Dong-Gun, Lee Jeong-Jae, Lee Mi-Yeon, David McInnis, Chatthapong Pantanaunkul
Running Time: 124 min.

By HKFanatic

From the opening of Typhoon, it’s clear that Korea is screwed. A rogue pirate named Sin (Dong-gun Jang) with a grudge against both the North and the South has amassed some weapons-grade plutonium. His big plan is to release it during a typhoon, when the high velocity winds will spread it across the entire island. Fortunately, some stern-looking military generals in the South declare, “I know just the man for the job.” Smash cut to: our South Korean alpha-male Navy officer hero playing shirtless football on the beach with a bunch of his military buds.

Yup, it’s that kind of movie. South Korea attempts to mimic Hollywood with this slick, expensive blockbuster whose protagonist, played by Jung-Jae Lee, seems like the country’s answer to Keanu Reeves. But Typhoon is not as empty-headed as your typical Michael Bay flick.

That is, there’s some genuine drama to be found. The villain’s only living relative is his long-lost sister, who also happens to be a drug addict. Our hero locates her and tries to use her to bargain with Sin. In the process he develops something like affection for her and respect for Sin. He slowly realizes that the only thing separating him from the pirate is chance or fate; the Navy officer feels just as strongly about protecting his country as Sin does destroying it.

At 124 minutes, Typhoon takes plenty of time to develop its story and lay out some action sequences. There’s nothing mind-blowing but a car chase about halfway through the movie is a sure highlight, with Jung-Jae Lee running out of a hotel lobby and firing his gun at the fleeing bad guys in slow-motion like a bad-ass. Later there’s a tense shoot-out in a tiny cottage, with the good guys in the sights of a crackpot sniper. The climax of the film sees the Korean Navy undergo a daring operation in the heart of the typhoon. The hand-to-hand combat is your standard Hollywood fare, nothing to write home about, but this finale has enough of that ‘explosions on a rain-swept barge that could capsize at any moment’ feel to it to keep your adrenaline going.

Oddly enough, Dong-gun Jang seems like the bigger star of this production, seeing as how he gets top billing in the credits and is featured most prominently on the movie posters. The screenplay goes to great lengths to establish his character as a wounded and sympathetic villain, despite the fact that he plans to murder millions of people. While Dong-gun Jang gives a solid performance and I appreciate the film’s attempts to give us a more three-dimensional antagonist, when I watch an action movie I really just want to see the hero kick the bad guy’s ass without remorse.

There’s not quite enough of that vibe in Typhoon, but it’s a solidly entertaining flick. It tries to imitate your typical Hollywood blockbuster with some degree of success. Still, I think if there’s anything South Korean films have taught us lately, it’s that they’re at their best when they’re making the movies that Hollywood won’t.

HKFanatic’s Rating: 6/10

Posted in Korean, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , |

Tiger Over Wall (1980) Review

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Paul Bramhall
"Tiger Over Wall" Theatrical Poster

“Tiger Over Wall” Theatrical Poster

Director: Tony Liu Jun Guk
Producer: Alex Gouw
Cast: Philip Ko Fei, Kong Do, Chu Tiet Wo, Hwang Jang Lee, Cheung Lik, Candy Wen, Chan Lau
Running Time: 91 min.

By Paul Bramhall

There’s a certain familiarity to watching an old school kung fu movie, in that you tend to know exactly what you’re going to get. A villain has killed a teacher, and the student vows to get revenge. A villain has killed a family member, and the surviving relative vows to get revenge. A villain has killed someone who has a loose connection to someone else, and that someone else vows to get revenge. It’s a tried and tested formula, and the rule of thumb seems to be that as long as we get a healthy dose of exciting fight action, the sub-standard plots can be forgiven.

So with Tiger Over Wall, apart from having a title which resembles a grammatical car crash, it’s refreshing to get a plot which takes a different approach from the norm. As the bombastic music plays over the opening credits, you can’t help but also notice the sound of a dog barking in what sounds like an empty room, which has been mixed over the music at equal volume. It’s quite jarring. This however is the closest we get to a dog for the rest of the movie, as proceedings open on a middle aged British diplomat and his Chinese mistress realizing that their treasured boxer dog, Rover, has gone missing.

Soon enough they’re questioning the nearest passerby to see if they’ve seen the precious Rover, and when the poor sap reveals he hasn’t, he ends up getting beaten by the diplomat, while the mistress cheerfully yells in the background, “That’s right! Beat him! Kick the bastard harder! Kick him ‘till he’s dead! Kick him! Go on!” Things escalate, and within the first 15 minutes, the chief of police – played by Korean kicking legend Hwang Jang Lee – has been called in to try and find the dog, threatening to arrest anyone who doesn’t help with the investigation.

There we have the plot of Tiger Over Wall – the police try to find a white guy’s missing dog. As ridiculous as this may sound, the events are actually based on a true story that took place in Shanghai during 1919. The fact that the dog belonged to a foreign diplomat resulted in the police getting involved, however I’m sure that’s as far as the similarities go.

The movie is directed by Tony Liu Jun Guk, and while his name may not be as familiar as other directors working around the same period, he’s arguably been behind several classic slices of kung fu. Jun Guk hit his stride a few years after making Tiger Over Wall, when while working for the Shaw Brothers studio he made several high energy, slightly off the wall, kung fu movies such as Holy Flame of the Martial World, Bastard Swordsman, and Secret Service of the Imperial Court. As the 90’s beckoned he moved into the Girls with Guns genre, directing a number of Moon Lee starring action fests like Devil Hunters, Dreaming the Reality, and Angel Terminators 2.

Jun Guk enlisted fight choreographer Dang Tak Cheung to stage the action for Tiger Over Wall, and Tak Cheung’s resume makes for just as impressive reading as the director himself. Like Jun Guk, Tak Cheung also liked to work on the slightly more off the wall side of the kung-fu movie world, choreographing the likes of Kung Fu Zombie, and the insane Shaw Brothers production Buddha’s Palm. While working at Shaw Brothers Dak Cheung got the opportunity to have full control on a couple of productions, which led to him directing, writing, and choreographing the late-Shaw era movies Demon of the Lute and Long Road to Gallantry, both of which are personal favorites.

With such talent behind the camera, to really make a great old-school kung-fu movie, you need to have an equal amount of talent in front of it. Thankfully Tiger Over Wall does, who come in the form of Philip Ko, and the previously mentioned Hwang Jang Lee. Both are ably backed up by such familiar old school faces as Kong Do, Chu Tiet Wo, Cheung Lik, and even the director himself shows up as an assassin for hire. Both Philip Ko and Hwang Jang Lee have so many classics between them that it would be impossible to do them justice in just a few lines. Ko, arguably the master of the ‘shapes’ style of choreography, was on fire in 1980, also starring in The Loot and Snake Deadly Act to name but a couple, while Hwang, often referred to as the king of leg fighters, also cranked out classics like The Buddha Assassinator and Challenge of the Tiger in the same year.

In an era where we’re happy just to have one good kung fu movie a year, it’s easy to forget that in the golden era we had several stars making several movies every year, year in year out. It’s a time that will likely never be rivaled in terms of productivity and output, but at least it leaves us with plenty to choose from. In Tiger Over Wall Ko plays the guy who has to see not only his girlfriend’s poor family, but also his teacher, end up getting roped into taking the fall for the missing dog, under false promises of money or business permits. As he’s forced to watch his nearest and dearest be lied to, beaten up, and tortured, things begin to boil over until he can’t take anymore, and he begins to bust out the moves that we’ve all been waiting for.

It’s worth noting that Tiger Over Wall certainly doesn’t rush its fight scenes. Indeed for the first 50 minutes, with the exception of a few brief scuffles by Ko and the constant threat of violence, there’s actually no substantial fight action. Thankfully the hilarious English dub more than makes up for it, providing plenty of unintentional laughs as Hwang Jang Lee storms into various establishments yelling “WHERE’S THE BOXER DOG!?” The absurdity of it never wears off, and keeps proceedings moving along nicely. However at the 50 minute mark Ko gets to explode, taking on Kong Do in an awesome shapes fest involving fists, feet, and a pair of umbrellas. It’s fast, fluid, and sets off a buildup of action which doesn’t stop until the credits roll.

While you’ll often see discussions which talk about how great it would be if certain stars of the old school era had faced off against each other but never did, movies like Tiger Over Wall make you thankful that a movie exists in which, yes, kung fu legends like Philip Ko and Hwang Jang Lee actually do get to face off against each other. And for those who are worried, don’t be, it doesn’t fail to impress. The finale is lengthy and exhausting, as the pair start off with Ko armed with a staff and Hwang armed with a guandao, before segueing into an empty handed showdown of tiger claw versus mantis fist. There’s a part when the two opponents briefly move their fight indoors, and you’d swear Hwang had never learnt to tame his kicks for screen fighting, as every one of them looks like if it made contact it would take Ko’s head off.

What’s so great about Ko and Hwang is that they not only had the moves, but they also had an intensity behind them. When they fight it doesn’t just look like they’re performing finely tuned choreography to perfection, it looks like they really want to kill each other. These guys could perform intricate displays of choreography, and act at the same time, and that’s talent. By the time they’re through with each other, I can guarantee that you’ll have completely forgotten about wondering what became of Rover the boxer dog, which is just as well, as it appears the director did as well.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10

Full disclosure: I watched Tiger Over Wall as part of the Brooklyn Zu Vol. 1 9-Movie set which was released by US based label Ground Zero in 2004. The movie was released in the UK by the now defunct Vengeance Video label in 2006 in its original Mandarin language with burnt-in English subtitles, and claims to be fully uncut. While there are no obvious cuts in the Brooklyn Zu version, I have seen discussion in which people talk about a character being on the receiving end of a 360 degree neck snap, which I’m sure wasn’t in the version I saw. On a note of personal preference, I would have to say that I wouldn’t have enjoyed the movie half as much had it not had the English dub, which offers many moments of unintentional hilarity that I’m sure wouldn’t be found with the original audio.

Posted in Chinese, News, Reviews | Tagged , , , , , |
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