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:

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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. […]

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THE FATHER: Donnie Yen, Alec Baldwin, Frank Grillo Star In New Action Thriller Shooting Early 2021

Lee B. Golden III

Donnie Yen (Ip Man franchise) will star in The Father, according to Variety‘s Manori Ravindran. AGC International has acquired international sales rights on the action thriller which will launch for buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival as of Thursday this week. CAA Media Finance will handle U.S. distribution rights for the film as cameras get ready to roll early next year. Also casting Alec Baldwin (Mission: Impossible franchise) and Frank Grillo (Beyond Skyline), The Father is set in South Boston, and centers on Yen in the role of “middle-class Hong Kong immigrant John Chung, who is making the best of his family’s new life in America while working as a modest fish broker in the city’s docklands. When his teenage sons stumble upon four kilos of heroin and are hunted down by a local crime ring and corrupt cops, Chung must stop at nothing to protect them.” Tommy Wirkola […]

GRAVEYARD OF HONOR (1975) Review: A Fukasaku Classic, The Measure Of A Madman

Arrow Video Channel Review: Kinji Fukasaku’s GRAVEYARD OF HONOR, The Measure Of An Inglorious Madman

Lee B. Golden III

Folks who subscribe to the Arrow Video Channel have a treasure trove of titles to sift through when it comes to the Arrow brand. This especially speaks to fans of Japanese New Wave filmmakers of the 1950s and 1970s, including none other than Kinji Fukasaku who made a name for himself diving into the crime and action features well into the 1960s. Fukasaku’s 1975 foray in Graveyard Of Honor was no different, choosing to reincarnate the life and times of Rekio Ishikawa, a notorious gangster who, by all accounts observed in the film was a ruthless and incorrigible gangster who could be neither humbled nor contained. The role of Ishikawa would further mark a debut partnership with Fukasaku for actor Tetsuya Watari who had already broken ground with lead roles in Tokyo Drifter and Outlaw: Gangster VIP years earlier, among his growing credits. Graveyard Of Honor takes place in post-WWII […]

NYAFF XIX Review: UNLEASHED Punches Out With Underdog Reclamation And Vigor

Lee B. Golden III

It’s not easy to avoid certain storytelling tropes when diving into the action genre, particularly of a sport-fighting variety, and so the usual goal going forward is to flesh out as much as you can to deliver something fresh and entertaining to the masses. Bearing this in mind as we gauge directing duo Kwok Ka-hei and Ambrose Kwok’s newest film, Unleashed, there’s something instantly redeeming in their treatment of an underdog fight drama, and it certainly helps having the starpower it had with the likes of Ken Lo and Sam Lee on board. Unleashed goes unabashed into the arena for the story Fok Kit (Sun Zheng Feng), a champion in the underground fighting circuit under the tutelage of his wonky-kneed coach, Dubble Che (Ken Lo). Kit’s got a hot streak going after winning nine matches in a row while the two work to maintain Che’s boxing gym where one day, […]

BEAST WITHIN: Sink Your Teeth Into The New Werewolf Horror Whodunit Thriller Now On VOD and Digital

Lee B. Golden III

Zombie Werewolves Attack! helmer Chris Green has returned to the wolf den with horror whodunit, Beast Within. He directs alongside Steven Morana who also stars in the film, heading a cast that includes Holly Deveaux, Ari Millen and Colm Feore. August, a lead gaming developer, is looking forward to finally meeting his online girlfriend, Cheyenne, at a launch party for his new gaming app ‘Werewolves Awaken’. They plan to meet at the VIP event, which is being hosted by an eccentric billionaire at his country estate. However, the festivities are interrupted by a priest who condemns the party guests as “marked for the beast.” Convinced it’s a publicity stunt, the party-goers disregard the protest until a dead body is discovered. August and Cheyenne, along with the remaining guests, become players in a deadly version of the game. Tensions and body counts begin to rise as all question who among themselves […]

A FATHER’S SON: Ronny Chieng Debuts NY Detective Jack Yu In The First Official Teaser

A FATHER’S SON: Ronny Chieng Debuts NY Detective Jack Yu In The First Official Teaser

Lee B. Golden III

Late last year saw a staunch new effort in reimagining a bygone era of New York City based the work of author Henry Chang, with crowdfunding efforts toward independent pilot/short, A Father’s Son. Having brought in the likes of actors Tzi Ma (Netflix’s Wu Assassins) and Perry Yung (Cinemax’s Warrior), director Patrick Chen now introduces fans to the hopeful birth of a new screen hero in New York City police detective Jack Yu, introducing famed actor and comedian Ronny Chieng debuting the character in dramatic fashion. Based on the characters from Henry Chang’s 90s crime novel series. A film by Patrick Chen. Torn between his identity of his community and the NYPD, Detective Jack Yu delivers news of a son’s murder to the victim’s parents at the height of a gang turf war in Manhattan’s Chinatown. The Kickstarter was a major success, and so it looks like there may be […]

THE SILENT SEA Casts Bae Doona, Gong Yoo And Lee Joon For Netflix For New Sci-Fi Space Drama

Lee B. Golden III

Korean sci-fi mystery series, The Silent Sea, is in the works at Netflix. Artist Studio will produce the pic which is based on a shortfilm of the same name, whose director, Choi Hang-yong, has also boarded the project. Bae Doona (Sense8, Stranger), Gong Yoo (The Age Of Shadows, Kim Ji-young: Born 1982) and Lee Joon (Lucky, Father Is Strange) will star in the futuristic thriller, which centers on members of a special team sent to secure a mysterious sample from an abandoned research facility on the moon just as Earth has undergone a process of desertification. Per Netflix’s announcement on Monday, Bae Doona will play astrobiologist Doctor Song Ji-an, who is determined to uncover the truth behind an accident at the now-abandoned Balhae Base research station on the moon; Gong Yoo joins as Han Yun-jae, the dauntless exploration team leader tasked with carrying out the crucial mission with limited information, […]

NYAFF XIX Review: In RÓM, Trust Is A Numbers Game

Lee B. Golden III

Roughly seven years since making his first shortfilm, writer/director Tran Thanh Huy came face-to-face with audiences for his feature debut, Róm, a kinetic and unrelenting story about a young boy running low on luck and on borrowed time, with a powerful message underneath it all. This film has already hit a few festival spots, and to be clear, the comparisons to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire are nothing short of complimentary for the film’s suited style of direction. It’s bustling with energy and completely restless at times, and the film’s young stars, Tran Anh Khoa in the title role, and Nguyen Phan Anh Tu who plays Phuc, are fully in their element on screen. The film immerses you into deep into Ho Chi Minh City’s world of gambling and lottery ticket circulation, operated through an intricate network carefully managed by loansharks and ticketers, and the runners who keep the operation moving. […]

THE LAST JOB: Dreyfuss, Sorvino Star In New Action Thriller Selling For Voltage At TIFF 2020

Lee B. Golden III

Adam Lipsius (Amy & Sophia, Oceans Rising) will be making the case for buyers at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival with new action thriller, The Last Job. Voltage Pictures officially launched international sales on the pic which stars Academy Award-winners Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl, Close Encounters of The Third Kind) and Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, Mimic, Stuber). Written and directed by Lipsius, The Last Job centers on Ben Myers (Dreyfuss), an ailing ex-mobster who has lived a life filled with violence, crime, love, and loss. He is quickly taken out of retirement when one day, he comes home to discover that he’s been robbed of all his savings. Instead of turning to his police detective daughter (Sorvino), Ben tracks down the thieves in an increasingly brutal quest for answers that drives him to question what his life has been for. Confronting the end, will he make peace with […]

I AM OMEGA: 1914 Sees A Timeless Battle Between Angels For Dan Gottlieb’s New Animated Feature In The Works

Lee B. Golden III

The past year or so has seen a massive effort for filmmaker and DC Comics veteran Dan Gottlieb for his own labor of love now in the form of I Am Omega: 1914. The project has undergone an evolution since last summer, with Gottlieb transitioning from live-action to a more bold animated storybook look. That vision is currently presented in a teaser just above which is now part and parcel to the latest Indiegogo campaign for Gottlieb to hire with a proper team of animators and creators after months of shepherding the concept himself. The campaign runs through early November as Gottlieb looks toward 2021 to help bring I Am Omega: 1914, into fruition. “To date, I have created all the content, drawn every line, and animated every frame and this project deserves a team of animators and sound engineers to step in and really bring it to life!” says […]

NYAFF XIX Review: In Keishi Otomo’s BENEATH THE SHADOW, Matters Of The Heart Lead To A Search For Inescapable Truth

Lee B. Golden III

Author Shinsuke Numata’s Akutagawa Prize winning novel, “Eiri”, serves as the basis for Beneath The Shadow, director Keishi Otomo’s first foray into the arthouse genre. With the March 2011 earthquake as the centerpiece of the film’s backdrop, the film stars Go Ayano and Ryuhei Matsuda in a story set within the span of six years and centers on Konno, a newly relocated pharmaceutical company employee who eventually befriends a co-worker named Hiasa. For Konno, whose social life is next to non-existent apart from the usual exchanges at work, his newfound friendship with the enigmatic Hiasa is slightly uneasy, albeit more welcome. Hiasa is much more bold and practical in his approach to dialogue with Konno, who bares a more unassuming and polite air, though the obvious undertaking is yet to arise with Konno already developing feelings for him. A brief moment of passion provides a more concrete test of where […]

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DEVOTION: Black Label Aims For Early 2021 Start On 1950s War Epic With Jonathan Majors And Glen Powell Starring

Lee B. Golden III

Sweetheart helmer J.D. Dillard is revving up to direct war epic, Devotion, based on Adam Makos’s biographical 2014 novel, beginning in February 2021. STXinternational is handling international sales on the project at this year’s virtual Toronto International Film Festival, as announced by Black Media Label on Friday. Actors Jonathan Majors (Da 5 Bloods, ‘Lovecraft Country’) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick, Hidden Figures) will star in the film from a script by Dillard, revised from a previous draft Jake Crane and Jonathan A. Stewart. Black Label, whose Molly Smith, Rachel Smith, Thad Luckinbill and Trent Luckinbill are producing, is fully financing the pic. Devotion takes place in 1950, as the Cold War threatens international peace and racial inequality creates tension across the US. The film centers on two young pilots from different worlds, who are accepted into an elite squadron for training – one is Tom Hudner (Powell), a clean-cut, […]

Fantasia XXIV: Audience Awards Announced For ‘Hail To The Deadites’, ‘Special Actors’, ‘Slaxx’, ‘Come True’ And More!

Lee B. Golden III

The Jury Awards are online and listed following this year’s virtual 24th run for the Fantasia International Film Festival. On Friday, the Audience Awards were officially announced, including features like Slaxx, Special Actors, Come True and documentary Hail To The Deadites, as well as rafts of shorts that made their way to the festival this year. Read on, and stay tuned for the 25th run when Fantasia returns to its usual bearings in Montreal! September 4, 2020 – Montreal, Quebec – The Fantasia International Film Festival wrapped its 24th edition earlier this week on Wednesday, September 2, presented as a cutting-edge virtual event that showcased 104 features – including 25 World Premieres – and over 200 shorts. Following the juried winners that were announced on the festival’s closing night, Fantasia can now reveal the results of its audience awards polling. And the winners are: BEST ASIAN FEATUREGold – SPECIAL ACTORS […]

IMMORTAL: Tony Todd, Mario Van Peebles And More Star In Four-Part Horror Anthology Coming September 8

Lee B. Golden III

yStonecutter is proudly releasing Immortal, a four-part supernatural horror anthology on-demand beginning Tuesdsy, September 8. Jon Dabach penned the anthology with segments directed by Tom Colley, Jon Dabach, Danny Isaacs and Rob Margolies, Written by Jon Dabach, for a star-studded cast that includes Tony Todd (Candyman), Dylan Baker (“Hunters”), Robin Bartlett (Shutter Island), Samm Levine (Inglourious Basterds), Vanessa Lengies (Waiting…), and Agnes Bruckner (The Woods), with appearences by award-winning actor Mario Van Peebles (“Posse”, “New Jack City”), Lindsay Mushett (“Blue Bloods”), and Jason Stuart (The Infiltrators). Thrown into the face of death only to emerge unharmed, the characters of Immortal are left staring at eternity in the face with uncertainty and fear like they’ve never imagined. The film follows Chelsea, a high school track star who comes clean about sexual misconduct with her coach only to find out her confession might be too late, Gary and Vanessa, a young, expecting […]

Queer Horror Thriller, SPIRAL, Sees New Neighbors Get Wary Of Old Terrors In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Incontrol director Kurtis David Harder has endured a festive run in the festivals with his latest queer horror thriller, Spiral. Shudder is now running an official trailer ahead of the film’s exclusive release on AMC’s horror streaming service in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand beginning September 17. Malik (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, American Horror Story, Canada’s Drag Race) and Aaron (Ari Cohen, IT: CHAPTER TWO) move to a small town in search of a better environment for them and their 16-year-old daughter (Jennifer Laporte, Web of Dreams). But nothing is as it seems as something sinister lies behind the picturesque homes and welcoming faces of their new neighbors (Lochlyn Munro, CW’s Riverdale). A horror film for the current age, SPIRAL skillfully dissects themes of ostracization, otherness, and the cycles of societal rejection and hate, led by a breakout performance by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman. With Ty Wood and Chandra West. Written […]

NYAFF XIX Review: THE LEGEND OF TOMIRIS, A Tale As Epic As Its Origins

Lee B. Golden III

As Well Go USA presses on with its usual venture into tastemaker territory, their recent acquisition of Kazakh filmmaker Akan Satayev’s twelfth feature fim, The Legend Of Tomiris, is set to grant an audience for this year’s virtual installer of the nineteenth New York Asian Film Festival. The film opened in Kazakhstan late last year, and while it reportedly drew a bit of controversy in the process among historians with respect to certain language aspects, that’s not to say the film doesn’t do a fine job of carrying its weight from start to finish. Satayev’s grand-scale Herodotian epic spans a good two-and-a-half hours for its duration, as it immerses you in a VO-narrated flashback to a time when the nomadic Saka tribes ruled the steppe. Our story focuses on the title character of Tomiris, raised from birth within the Massagetae, led by tribal chief Spargap (Murat Bisenbin), raised, loved and […]

FIVE EYES: Jason Statham Leads New STX Action Thriller With ‘Snatch’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Freshly off crime ensemble, The Gentlemen, a reunion is reportedly in order for Snatch and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrells director Guy Ritchie, and actor Jason Statham with Miramax thriller, Five Eyes. As Dave McNary notes at Variety, cameras are set to roll in Europe this October with Statham set to play an agent recruited by the titular global intel alliance, Five Eyes, and reluctantly paired with a high-tech CIA expert to infiltrate a billionaire arms broker, to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapon that threatens to disrupt the world order. Ritchie is directing and producing from a script he revised from a previous draft by Marn Davies, and Ivan Atkinson who will also produce. STXinternational is handling world sales at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. STXfilms will distribute the film in the U.S., U.K. and Ireland. Statham and Ritchie recently worked together on […]