Lee B. Golden III

About Lee B. Golden III

https://mediumblue-gerbil-491410.hostingersite.com

Native New Yorker. Been writing for a long time now, and I enjoy what I do. Be nice to me!

Posts by Lee Golden:

BULLET TRAIN Adds Andrew Koji And Joey King

Lee B. Golden III

Following news from July with the addition of Brad Pitt to David Leitch’s newest Sony Pictures’s venture, Bullet Train, comes word from Deadline‘s Justin Kroll that Japanese/British actor Andrew Koji has boarded the project. Also joining will be Slender Man actress Joey King with a script by Fear Street writer Zak Olkewicz. Bullet Train is inspired by Maria Beetle, the 2010 Kadokawa Shoten publication from author Kotaro Isaka which, in the novel according to earlier trade news descriptions from Deadline, centers on five assassins who “find themselves on a fast-moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. They discover their missions are not unrelated to one another.” As the rest of the plot notes, “The question becomes, who will make it off the train alive and what awaits them at the terminal station?” Leitch will also be joined by Kelly McCormick in producing the […]

Arrow Video Channel Review: In Takashi Miike’s GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, Criminals Gonna Criminal

Arrow Video Channel Review: In Takashi Miike’s GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, Criminals Gonna Criminal

Lee B. Golden III

In reflecting on Takashi Miike’s 2002 rendition of Kinji Fukasaku’s Graveyard Of Honor, news of pending remakes of Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City and that of Brian De Palma’s Scarface comes to mind. Remakes and reboots of movies are the lifeblood of controversy for some film eager and opinionated film fans, and brouhaha with the latter two were no exception, although it’s worth imagining if those remakes will be anything like how Miike revised such a throwback classic. The reception for the 2002 film, indeed, was quite positive, which is characteristic of an auteur like Mikke, who roared his way through the 1990s and 2000s with hits like Audition, Ichi The Killer, the Dead Or Alive trilogy and the Bodyguard Kiba movies to name a few, among the dozens of films he did by this juncture. Miike’s casting of Goro Kishitani to play Rikuo Ishimatsu (to the late Tetsuya […]

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SEPTET: THE STORY OF HONG KONG Trailer Explores The Omnibus Project From Seven Legendary Directors

Lee B. Golden III

With the scaled-back 25th Busan International Film Festival set to launch next month, we now have a look at the long-awaited omnibus, Septet: The Story Of Hong Kong, formerly known as Eight And A Half by most outlets. The project is billed as the work of seven directors: Sammo Hung, Ann Hui, Patrick Tam, Yuen Wo Ping, Johnnie To, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, each contributing a short film to pay tribute to the city’s “golden era” during which all the directors emerged. The project also marks the last piece of cinema from Lam, who sadly passed away in December of 2018. Formerly announced as part of the since-delayed Cannes 2020 festival, the film will now open Busan on October 21. Head over to the festival website for more info.

Now On Tubi TV: Jung Doo-Hung Needs Revenge Like He Needs Knife In The Head In Crime Thriller, FIST & FURIOUS

Lee B. Golden III

As far as catching streamable rare titles goes, Tubi TV does catch on to some pretty good picks. One of its most recent quiet acquisitions includes Ha Won-joon’s sophomore directing debut, Fist & Furious; I agree, the title sounds like the name of a B-movie release a la The Asylum. Granted though, it hails the return of actor and action star Jung Doo-hung in a key action lead role for the first time since Ryoo Seung-wan’s The City Of Violence. Ha directs from his own script, a story that tells of Kang Ki-man (Jung Doo-hung), a beleagured cop on a mission to bust major drug kingpin, Jung Tae-hwa (Jung Eui-gap). Ambushed and wounded, Kang is forced to live the rest of his life with a blade wedged deep into his brain, on top of the burden of his rookie partner’s sacrifice to save his life. Soon, a chance moment of […]

HAIL TO THE DEADITES Signals New Poster And Official Trailer For Steve Villeneuve’s Love Letter To The Legends And The Fandom

HAIL TO THE DEADITES Signals New Poster And Official Trailer For Steve Villeneuve’s Love Letter To The Legends And The Fandom

Lee B. Golden III

Director Steve Villeneuve gets to end his weekend on a high note following last week’s Indiecan acquisition of his latest documentary, Hail To The Deadites, celebrating decades of fandom for The Evil Dead franchise to date. The first official trailer and poster arrived on Sunday evening, and resident horror and fantasy fan Christina Ortega Phillips mused about the documentary in her own review for this year’s virtual Fantasia Festival writing, in part, the following: Hearing the fans talk about their own introductions to The Evil Dead films and their own experiences with the fandom was awesome. I knew that the franchise had a cult following, but there are levels to this fandom that I had not realized! Phillips is currently plotting to improve her stack of Evil Dead collectibles, which undoubtedly means one day she’ll have to get in a photo-op with Ash himself provided the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t continue […]

LET IT SNOW Forecasts Releases In The UK, Australia and NZ For Arclight

Lee B. Golden III

International sales agent, Arclight, successfully landed a distribution deal for the U.K., Australia and New Zealand releases of Stanislav Kapralov’s feature directing debut, Let It Snow. The news comes following Lionsgate’s own acquisition via Grindstone with a DVD, Digital and On-Demand release in tow for September 22. A terrifying blend of action and horror, Let It Snow may just be the ride of your life. As Mia and Max visit a remote European resort for a freeride snowboarding vacation, they ignore the receptionist’s disturbing tales of unexplained deaths on the nearby trails. But when they sneak onto a forbidden slope, Max goes missing, and Mia finds herself attacked by a masked snowmobiler. Now she must brave the rider’s vicious attacks as well as a massive avalanche if she hopes to survive… Kapralov directs from a script he wrote with Omri Rose, and with a cast that lists actress Ivanna Sakhno […]

CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Lands At Well Go USA For North American Release

Lee B. Golden III

Third in line since debut directing Death Trance and the recent Shudder release of Re:Born, dynamic action duo Tak Sakaguchi and Yuji Shimomura will be bringing the crazy to North America with their latest feat, Crazy Samurai Musashi. Well Go USA has acquired the rights to the ambitious period sword thriller, marking Sakaguchi’s first time back to the label since 2011 with the U.S. release of several Japanese genre titles, namely Mutant Girls Squad, Helldriver, Yakuza Weapon and Deadball. In Crazy Samurai Musashi, Sakaguchi stars as the 17th century samurai of legend, Miyamoto Musashi, who battles more than four hundred warriors in a deadly challenge against the Yoshioka Ryu. Actors Kento Yamazaki, Yosuke Saito, Ben Hiura and Arata Yamanaka also star in the film which is now being sold internationally for this year’s virtual market at the Toronto International Film Festival by sales agent, Princ Films. Crazy Samurai Musashi has […]

BRUISED: Halle Berry MMA Drama On Track To Netflix Release Pending Deal

Lee B. Golden III

Netflix is reportedly in the process of nearing the deal toward acquiring Halle Berry’s new film, Bruised, a film that intially had Blake Lively attached to star with a different director. Next to starring, Berry now has her first directing gig on the Michelle Rosenfarb-penned MMA drama which is screening as a work-in-progress for this year’s virtual Toronto International Film Festival. The news comes marking a new milestone for the actress after years of memorable screen roles, as well as bookmarks of insurmountable struggle, which she herself spotlights in a recent cover story at Variety. In the article, it is noticed that Berry reportedly endured production with two cracked ribs after shooting a major fight scene, and insisted on a 5:00 a.m. morning wake up schedule to stay on top of the day’s goings-on. “I didn’t want to stop because I had prepared for so long,” Berry says. “We had […]

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ONE WAY: Travis Fimmel And Machine Gun Kelly Headline New January Action Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Travis Fimmel (Warcraft, TV series Vikings) and Colson Baker – a.k.a. Machine Gun Kelly (The Dirt, Project Power) are set to star in the new action-thriller One Way, from director Andrew Baird (Zone 414). Ben Conway penned the script with principal photography set to begin in January 2021. In One Way, Freddy (Baker) goes on the run with a bag full of cash and cocaine after a robbery of his former crime boss goes wrong. With a potentially fatal wound, he slips onto a bus headed into the unrelenting California desert. With his boss and her henchmen hot on his heels and his life slipping through his fingers, Freddy is left with very few choices – there is only One Way to survive. Tim Palmer, Martin Brennan, and Jib Polhemus are producing the film with Bill Grantham serving as executive producer. The film was developed with funding from Northern Ireland […]

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VANQUISH: Action Thriller Shoot Underway With Morgan Freeman And Ruby Rose From ‘Midnight Run’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Principal photography is underway in Biloxi, Mississippi for action thriller, Vanquish, from director George Gallo (The Comeback Trail, Midnight Run). Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) and Ruby Rose (The Meg) are starring from a script by Gallo and co-scribe Samuel Bartlett who also storied the pic. Strict Covid-19 protocols are in place for the production which sees Freeman in the role of a retired police commissioner who blackmails his caretaker (Rose), by kidnapping her daughter (Journey Brener), forcing her into helping him double cross his team of dirty detectives in an attempt to clean up the city and cleanse his soul before it’s too late. March On Production’s Richard Salvatore and David E. Ornston (upcoming The Comeback Trail) are producing with Chassy Media’s Nate Adams. Christian Mercuri’s Capstone Group is co-financing the project alongside Gary Leff’s Southland Equity. Mercuri and Leff will exec produce. “With the state […]

NYAFF XIX Review: In FORBIDDEN DREAM, Hur Jin-Ho Reaches For The Stars

Lee B. Golden III

Screening for the 19th New York Asian Film Festival, director Hur Jin-ho’s 15th century drama, Forbidden Dream, takes a page from history to shed light on a unique friendship, tried and tested at a precipice of Joseon history. Written by Jung Bum-sik and Lee Ji-min, the film starts forward in time when the royal palanquin is wrecked with the ailing King Sejong (Han Suk-kyu) still inside. The 1442 incident is but one of several key moments that introduce the core story, beginning twenty years earlier with the entry of Jang Yeong-sil (Choi Min-sik), a low-born slave with a keenness for engineering and a distinct appreciation for stars. Sejong catches on to Yeong-sil’s adept understanding and thirst for knowledge and handiwork, tasking him to help lead Joseon out of the dark ages and into the future by inventing a clock suited for the kingdom. Even going so far as to pull […]

NIGHT IN PARADISE: Don’t Miss The First Teaser For Park Hoon-Jung’s Latest Thriller Out Of Venice

Lee B. Golden III

The Witch: Part 1 and New World director Park Hoon-jung’s new thriller, Night In Paradise, just premiered Out Of Competition this year for the 77th La Biennale di Venezia. Reviews are out and about as we speak for onlookers to gain some perspective but we do have a teaser to glance at ahead of its Korean release, TBA. Tae-gu, the ace of a criminal gang led by Mr. Yang, tries to clean up his life for his sick sister and nephew. Then one day, his sister and nephew are killed in an accident by someone who aimed for Tae-gu. Tae-gu decides to take revenge in shock. In the end, he removes the boss of another gang, and runs away to Jeju Island. Without knowing that his gang has already abandoned him, he meets Kuto and his niece, Jae-yeon who look after Tae-gu. Jae-yeon is dying from an illness, while Tae-gu […]

Tyrese Gibson (F9 poster)

RED 48: Tyrese Gibson Action Thriller Nears Completion With Michael Jai White and John Malkovich

Lee B. Golden III

Jon Keeyes (The Harrowing) is currently busy with independent action thriller, Red 48, with word that production is close to wrapping this week. As Borys Kit at THR notes, Tyrese Gibson is headlining the pic along with Michael Jai White and John Malkovich from a script by Mickey Solis. The film reportedly centers on Kyle Snowden, “a troubled former Marine turned child protective service officer who must save an immigrant child from a dangerous criminal who has trapped them and other hostages inside a convenience store. Adding more power to the keg: The store is owned by the Snowden’s stepfather, Sam Safty, being played by Malkovich. White plays Sparks, the Safty’s no-nonsense bodyguard and confidant.” Gibson is also producing with Keeyes, along with Yale Productions’s Jordan Yale Levine and Jordan Beckerman. Jesse Korman is co-producing for Yale, whose Michael Rothstein is exec producing with the following: Zachary Tarica of The […]

SAVIORS: Cinedigm Releases New Suspense Thriller On DVD And Digital

SAVIORS: Cinedigm Releases New Suspense Thriller On DVD And Digital

Lee B. Golden III

Award-winning screenwriter Christopher Greenslate has been climbing the ladder for sometime now through television and feature production developments. He’s only recently directed his first feature with the current release of Saviors from Cinedigm and Glass House Distribution, after winning awards at festivals in Madrid and in Beverly Hills among the praise its received from around the world. In a single, continuous take spanning multiple locations, writer and director Christopher Greenslate takes his audience deep into an amazingly taut and suspenseful ride through the racially charged world filled with a hateful divide many people face every day. SAVIORS follows a young woman as she embeds herself into a white power group to locate her adoptive African-American mother but on her first night, she is forced to test her allegiance to the group when she finds herself needing to make a life or death decision after the group returns from a rally […]

RED PROPHECIES: Alexander Nevsky Narrates Political Intrigue And Danger In The First Trailer

RED PROPHECIES: Alexander Nevsky Narrates Political Intrigue And Danger In The First Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and filmmaker Alexander Nevsky’s return to the screen now brings us the first official trailer for Red Prophecies, presented first over at JoBlo on Wednesday. Development and production span several years with principal photography commencing in Moscow prior to the pandemic, before shooting in Los Angeles under Covid-safe regulations this past summer. An American journalist works in Moscow and finds himself embroiled in dangerous political games, the purpose of which is to destabilise the situation in Russia and then interfere with the holding of the 2020 Presidential election in the United States. The journalist begins his own investigation in order to uncover who is behind the operation “Red Prophecies”: special services, financial tycoons or international terrorists? Nevsky also produced the pic with Alexander Izotov, and with Michael Madsen (Once Upon Time In Hollywood..), Oded Fehr (Resident Evil), Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects), Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) and Eric […]

THE PAPER TIGERS

THE PAPER TIGERS: VOD Tickets On Sale Now For AAIFF 2020

Lee B. Golden III

The 43rd Asian American International Film Festival is bowing on October 1 through 11, and so if you live in the tri-state area and have been following Bao Tran’s gung fu comedy, The Paper Tigers, you’re in luck. The film just had its world premiere at Fantasia with more screenings on the way, and amidst the deluge of upward reviews, including my own, the film also scored a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this report. Limited tickets are now on sale for screenings of the film which stars Alain Uy, Ron Yuan and Mykel Shannon Jenkins as former gung fu prodigies of their youth who’ve fallen from grace through old age and lack of practice. When they learn of their Sifu’s murder, the trio are forced to dust themselves off and measure up to some of today’s young and cocky purveyors of martial arts in order to […]

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JIU-JITSU: Alain Moussi Action Sci-Fi Bows In November Launching The Avenue Distrib Banner

Lee B. Golden III

Dimitri Logothetis is currently plotting a return to Cyprus for the production of Man Of War, details pending. In the meantime, his new sci-fi martial arts adventure, Jiu-Jitsu, will bow on November 20 courtesy of The Avenue Entertainment, Highland Film Group’s U.S. theatrical release venture announced on Wednesday. Jiu-Jitsu hails the reunion of Logothetis and actor, martial arts star Alain Moussi, since reviving the Kickboxer franchise for two films with superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme in a supporting capacity. Moussi plays Jake Barnes, a war hero championing Earth’s liberation in an epic BJJ match that happens every six years against waves of alien invaders. Actor Nicolas Cage stars as Wylie, the leader of a team of jiu-jitsu fighters who take in Jake must and help him recover his memory and strength following his foreboding defeat at the hands of Brax, the indomitable alien leader. Rounding out the cast are Frank Grillo, […]

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ONE LIFE: Anthony Hopkins And Johnny Walsh Tackle Dual Performances For Humanitarian Tale At See-Saw, BBC Films

Lee B. Golden III

Aisling Walsh (Maudie, Elizabeth is Missing) will direct One Life for See-Saw Films, as announced by the company on Wednesday. Starring are Academy Award Winning actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, The Two Popes ) and Johnny Flynn (Beast, Emma), with a script by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl, The Little Stranger) and Nick Drake (Romulus, My Father). Developed by BBC Films and See-Saw, One Life is based on the extraordinary true story of Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton who, when just 29 years old championed the rescue of refugee children out of Czechoslovakia, under threat from Hitler’s death camps, to the safety of British foster families. Battling public apathy, political hostility and bureaucratic obstruction, he succeeds in rescuing 669 children before war breaks out, the borders are closed and the mission is abruptly over. Half a century later, Nicky has a surprise reunion with the now grown children whose […]

WARRIOR: Cinemax’s Knockout Hit Series Lands An Official Season Two Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Can it be October already? Preferably the weekend of October 2, because the second season of the hit series Warrior is well on the way, and after whetting our appetites with a teaser this summer, we now have an official trailer, and the show’s intended love letter to Bruce Lee is all over the place. The series follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances. After proving his worth as a fighter, Ah Sahm becomes a hatchet man for the Hop Wei, one of Chinatown’s most powerful Tongs (Chinese organized crime family). Season two follows rival Chinatown Tongs as they fight for dominance amidst the growing anti-Chinese fervor that threatens to destroy them all. With a two-season booker here, one wonders if there will be a third if that’s how the story pans out. I know I’d welcome it. […]

DUNE Trailer: David Lynch’s Frank Herbert Classic Teases A Sweeping Epic Reboot

Lee B. Golden III

David Lynch may have his own thoughts about the finalized version of his own original 1984 adaptation of the titular Frank Herbert novel, Dune. That hasn’t really hindered it from etching a place among the fandom in sci-fi history as one of the most celebrated movies to date, and as such, fans now get to see if the newest revisal from director Denis Villeneuve will stand the test of time from Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is currently set to release in theaters beginning Decemeber 18, and thus, the first official trailer is now up and running for you to check out above. The film aims to cover roughly the first half of Herbert’s novel with sequel intentions in mind, marking the latest bold step for the IP since the studios attempted to return the Hugo and Nebula award-winning book to feature film fruition a little over a decade ago. […]