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:

CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI Kills And Kills Again And Again In The Newest Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

The newest trailer is online for Yuji Shimomura’s new film, Crazy Samurai Musashi, starring the one and only Tak Sakaguchi and Kento Yamazaki. For both actors, the film will also mark their latest return to Fantasia Festival next month since appearing in last year’s striking premiere of Shinsuke Sato’s riveting hit manga adaptation, Kingdom. NON-STOP ACTION AWAITS IN CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI! Martial artist Tak Sakaguchi (VERSUS, WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL, YAKUZA WEAPON) is back in the spotlight with CRAZY SAMURAI MUSASHI – a long-in-the-making, unique take on swordsman Musashi Miyamoto’s most fabled battle, shot here as a single 77-minute action sequence by director Yûji Shimomura (DEATH TRANCE, RE:BORN). It’s Tak, 588 foes, and no room for error! Canadian Premiere. A Japan release will follow suit with a date set for August 21, 2020. In the meantime, Sakaguchi’s other pairing with Death Trance helmer Shimomura in Re:Born is now […]

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Win A Free Copy Of SAMURAI MARATHON And GUNDALA From Well Go USA!

Lee B. Golden III

Well Go USA is ending the month of July on a high note with Bernard Rose’s Samurai Marathon, and Joko Anwar’s Southeast Asian superhero franchise inaugural, Gundala, both on Blu-Ray and DVD. Rose’s film is out now with the latter coming out on July 28, and for this, we’re launching our paired giveaway for both films! About Samurai Marathon: Acclaimed filmmaker Bernard Rose has created a stunning visual feast complemented by a haunting score from iconic composer Philip Glass. Inspired by a race still held annually in Japan, Samurai Marathon is a lively action flick with a samurai twist. In late feudal Japan, a young ninja (Satoh) operates undercover in the court of an aging lord and his rebellious daughter. When the lord challenges his lazy samurai to a punishing marathon—joined covertly by Princess Yuki—the ninja finds his loyalties put to the test. Facing impossible odds, this unusual band of […]

Cross - Son Ye-jin, Lee Sun-kyun, Sam Worthington

CROSS: Son Ye-Jin, Lee Sun-Kyun, Sam Worthington To Star In New Dystopian Class Warfare Sci-Fi From ‘In Time’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Long since his development efforts in the 1990s with ambitious sci-fi thriller, Cross, it looks as if filmmaker Andrew Niccol will finally get to move forward. According to Pierce Conran at Kobiz, actress Son Ye-jin (The Pirates, The Negotiation) and Lee Sun-kyun (Parasite, Jo Pil-ho: The Dawning Rage), will headline the film with actor Sam Worthington (Avatar franchise). Exact plot details are underwraps but the story is set in a diverse, albeit dystopian country where the lives of the rich and the poor are separated by a giant border wall that appearently no one is allowed to cross. Son and Worthington will take on the respective roles of the impoverished and rich residents on opposite sides, with Lee cast as the ruthless head of border security. A March 2021 start date is reportedly being set with scenes to be shot on location in Korea as well. Judging by the premise, […]

Japan Cuts Review: Setsuro Wakamtasu’s FUKUSHIMA 50, And The Faults Of Human Ingenuity

Japan Cuts Review: Setsuro Wakamtasu’s FUKUSHIMA 50 Casts A Teachable Moment About Human Ingenuity

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been more than nine years since the world bore witness to the devastation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. For posterity, the story of the people who stayed on site became the subject of Ryusho Kadota’s own non-fiction own novel, “On the Brink: The Inside Story of Fukushima Daiichi”, published originally in 2012 prior to English translations made available thereafter. That book now takes on new life in Fukushima 50, the latest film from Aircraft Carrier Ibuki and Snow On The Blades helmer Setsuro Wakamatsu, and screenwriter Youichi Maekawa who makes the transition here from television for his first-ever feature screenplay. It is the first film made that directly depicts the events of March 11, 2011, and the hours that followed as a team of fifty people worked to maintain the cooling systems in all four reactor buildings, all while mitigating with bureaucratic red tape from the Tokyo […]

Japan Cuts Review: Takeshi Kogahara’s BIRDLAND Shows What It Means To Be Alive

Japan Cuts Review: Takeshi Kogahara’s BIRDLAND Shows What It Means To Be Alive

Lee B. Golden III

Takeshi Kogahara’s twenty-minute shortfilm, Birdland, takes an almost chilling look into the life of an elderly man named Koji (Shin Furukawa), who lives by himself, save for his caretaker, Ishida (Tomoko Ikunishi), who tends to his needs. Koji can’t help himself much. His gait is low hanging, his hands frequently jitter and he has trouble sleeping, he wears a diaper, and he also wants to die. One evening, Ishida arrives in time to see him half-awake after a cup of wine. She changes and washes him, and then sets out to dump the trash. The following moment Koji is by himself is when Birdland transitions from his room, decorated with pictures of nature and birds stapled to his drawers and walls, to memories of walking in a park in the company of his wife, Saki (Natsuko Fuji) who is also wheelchair bound. Birdland is the latest shortfilm work of its […]

Japan Cuts Review: Kenji Iwaisawa’s ON-GAKU: OUR SOUND, Shows How To Find One

Japan Cuts Review: Kenji Iwaisawa’s ON-GAKU: OUR SOUND, Shows How To Find One

Lee B. Golden III

Kenji Iwaisawa’s animated manga adaptation, On-Gaku: Our Sound, takes a quirky, awkwardly comedic journey into the lives of a trio of delinquent high schoolers, Ota, Asakura, and their leader, Kenji. Their reputations precede them as a group to be feared, with Kenji heralded as the master of the spaghetti fist – really it doesn’t take much for Kenji to chase anyone away, apart from entering the room. Kenji, for all intents and purposes however, is just a little more flippant and fickle than most folks read him as. He largely keeps to himself, and doesn’t pay much mind to anything unless he feels it’s important, kind of like when fellow girl student, Aya, warns him that a gang of mohawk-wearing students from a rival school have challenged him to a duel. He’s interested, initially, at least until some time passes, and soon enough, he’s not. This pattern of behavior is […]

BORA: Seductive New Thriller Now Filming From ‘Call Me King’ Director [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Director R.L. Scott isn’t letting the Covid-19 pandemic get in the way of his pursuit of filmmaking in the least. He’s underway now with Bora, a new thriller from Scott’s Shadow Motion Pictures L.L.C., and we have a small raft of stills to offer an exclusive first look. Scott is directing from a script by actress Tiffany Toney who stars in the title role opposite Ajima Cole. The story centers on Elon (Cole), a recent college graduate whose naiveté gets the best of her when she decides to pick up wayward hitchhiker, Bora (Toney). Little does Elon know that Bora’s wild and free spirit will seduce her into participating in activities that could prove fatal. Rounding out the cast are James M. Black, Duain Richmond, Hardie Duhaney ll, Gladys Nyoth, Juhahn Jones and Ken Black. Toney is executive producing for Shadow Motion Pictures with partners Scott, and Andre McCoy. Tim […]

JAPAN CUTS Review: Toshiaki Toyoda’s WOLF’S CALLING Sounds An Intrinsic Battle Cry

Japan Cuts Review: Toshiaki Toyoda’s WOLF’S CALLING Sounds An Intrinsic Battle Cry

Lee B. Golden III

Director Toshiaki Toyoda’s new narrative shortfilm, Wolf’s Calling, clocks in at sixteen minutes, but covers an intriguing and vast bit of ground for its simplistic message, with music as its backdrop. The short, part of Japan Cuts for the Narrative Shorts line-up, opens with a woman (Miu) finding a gun wrapped up in a cloth somewhere in her attic. Standing for a moment to gaze at the weapon, the movie then segways back to fedual Japan where we meet a group of samurai gathering at a temple. For the remainder of the sequence, one samurai (Kiyohiko Shibukawa) scales to the temple atop a long stairway. He convenes together with three other samurai, played by Tadanobu Asano, Kengo Kora and Tatsuya Nakamura, followed by the arrival of twenty farmers, played by punk band Seppuku Pistols, who also wrote and performed the soundtrack. Soon, all the men take battle formations with the […]

Japan Cuts Review: TOKYO GIRL Gives You Eight Montage Minutes Of Youthful Simplicity

Japan Cuts Review: TOKYO GIRL Gives You Eight Montage Minutes Of Youthful Simplicity

Lee B. Golden III

In part, programming for the Japan Cuts shortfilm documentary premiere of Nebiro Hashimoto’s Tokyo Girl describes it as “a maximum-speed, sonic-visual collage…”. Its not everyday there’s an eight-minute documentary of this kind, and yet the pace at which its delivered is more than properly suited. Mako Hiragi is the subject of Hashimoto’s choppy and frenetic first person narrative of a girl on the verge of turning 21. She lets you know that for the duration of the film, she’s going to talk about herself and only herself, setting up an almost chaotic coming-of-age medley of thoughts and ideas that strike her young mind, firstly equating herself to that of a pebble inside of a shoe, and later, elucidating many of the things that make her tick, from her sex life to her eating, sleeping and drinking habits. These are only a smidget of what she divulges as she delivers her […]

Japan Cuts Review: Naoki Murahashi’s EXTRO Is A Whimsically Entertaining Love Letter To Extras

Japan Cuts Review: Naoki Murahashi’s EXTRO Is A Whimsically Entertaining Love Letter To Extras

Lee B. Golden III

Naoki Murahashi’s new feature mockumentary, Extro, doesn’t feel like one at first, and that speaks to the brilliance of it. The featured actors are largely playing satirized versions of themselves, and personally, it took until around the sixteen minute mark so for that fact to settle in with the geniusness already in progress. To add, that the film is actor Kozo Haginoya’s feature debut certainly does wonders, and he plays the part expertly. He’s a farmer whose son works in dentistry, and when he’s not busy farming, he’s a listed volunteer background actor working on replicated film and television sets at Warp Station Edo in Tuskubamirai. His heart is in the right place, but oftentimes his eccentricities get the best of him while shooting, often resulting in multiple frustrating takes. And this is just one of several frustrating instances Extro illustrates in the due process of a set production. Haginoya […]

Japan Cuts Review: Yu Araki’s FUEL Is Ambient ASMR Food For The Soul

Japan Cuts Review: Yu Araki’s FUEL Is Ambient ASMR Food For The Soul

Lee B. Golden III

Every now and then, I personally enjoy a good, calming session with certain kinds of YouTube videos, from painting tutorials to chiropractic videos, or even for minutes at a time listening to chillhop during the day or at night. It helps to stave off overload on the nerves from the daily goings-on, from overbearing loquacious of people and television news to constant noise pollution in a commercial street. I also enjoy cooking videos on occasion. The envy of not having those dishes on hand in real time aside, the relaxation of just a simple shot of a grill and seeing different kinds of foods being cooked can be an entertaining experience. It’s also what drew me to check out Yu Araki’s latest documentary short, Fuel, which takes place at a fireside cooking restaurant in northeastern Hokkaido in Japan, and focuses on the equanimous work of an elderly expert griller. For […]

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RE:BORN Is Finally Slashing Its Way On Blu-Ray Next Week From Shudder

Lee B. Golden III

Tak Sakaguchi, for all intents and purposes, is a national treasure to anyone who has watched his films and partaken in Asian film fandom in the last twenty years. Talk of retirement in 2013 which ultimately proceeded what was thought to be his final screen bow in Yuji Shimomura‘s hit movie, Re:Born, certainly more than contributed to the uncertainty of his presence in today’s field, and so with appearances thereafter in films like Takahiro Ishihara’s Red Blade, Shinsuke Sato’s Kingdom and Yuki Kobayashi’s Rise Of The Machine Girls, fan appreciation never wanes. It’s especially with a film like Re:Born that the ceremony with Tak’s current run is more than deserved. Among his stops, he toured the film with friend and partner Ota Takayuki while in Austin, Texas for the Iron Dragon TV Action Film Festival in 2017, with DVD and Blu-Ray releases well underway at home in Japan, as well […]

The Russo Brothers

THE GRAY MAN: The Russo Brothers To Direct Espionage Adaptation For Netflix, Ryan Gosling And Chris Evans To Star

Lee B. Golden III

Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans are set to star in The Gray Man for Netflix, according to Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr.. The film further reunites Evans with directing duo, MCU favorites Anthony and Joe Russo, and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The update comes following years of the IP’s languishing development, firstly at New Regency, and most recently at Sony under the stewardship of The Russo Brothers as of 2015 via The Tracking Board. At the time of that particular report, actress Charlize Theron was circling the project, and no word of it is mentioned in Fleming Jr.’s new report. The film is based on the 2009 novel from Jove Books – the first of a four-novel set from author Mark Greaney – and centers on “a deadly duel between killers as Gentry (Gosling) is hunted across the globe by Lloyd Hansen (Evans), a former cohort of Gentry’s at […]

DOUBLE WORLD: Teddy Chan’s Fantasy Actioner Streams On iQIYI And Netflix Next Week

Lee B. Golden III

The Coronavirus is still very much a threat to moviegoers, though the promise of a low-risk environment in certain areas in the mainland may prove beneficial for folks still aiming to catch Teddy Chan’s new fantasy action adventure, Double World, may prove beneficial. For the time being, pre-release ticket sales are currently underway from Chinese streamer iQIYI, who have since jointly announced their release of the film through their premium video on demand (PVOD) mode beginning July 24, in association with Giant Pictures and Filmko Film. Netflix releasing the film outside the mainland beginning July 25. In a fictional universe comprising ten nations. Seeing the neighboring country become more and more powerful, a warlord organizes a competition to reveal the best warriors. Hearing the news, Dong Yilong, a valiant young villager decides to take up the challenge despite the doubts of his village. So begins the journey. Produced by Soi […]

AMERICAN RONIN (Proof-Of-Concept) - BTS

AMERICAN RONIN: Who Is Casting That Ominous Shadow? [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

In April, we first broke the news of a new proof-of-concept in the works for James Moten Black’s American Ronin, described as “a contemporary martial arts piece cosigning his love for classic jidaigeki cinema and anime”. Production ultimately had to take a back seat as the United States landed right into a lockdown with California, where Black and his production is based, under curfew for a time due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The state is currently staggering in its efforts to ween itself into a new “normal”, with various independent creatives working around the pandemic to meet safety guidelines in order to carry out their own projects. Such is the case for Black and his team as they forge ahead with production on American Ronin, with plans for a feature film that will hopefully rejoin him with select cast members of actor, filmmaker and cinematographer Choice Skinner’s multi-awarded 2017 Black […]

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Stan Sakai’s SAMURAI RABBIT: THE USAGI CHRONICLES In The Works From Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

I actually have a lot to catch up on in anime. I’m currently in the middle of Megalo Box on Netflix and plan to hopefully watch the latest season of Baki, as well as BNA provided I get the time to, and it’s still good to know that Netflix isn’t running out of content anytime soon. As the streamer announced on Wednesday, they’re teaming up with Gaumont for the production of Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, a new comedy-action CGI animated series inspired by the globally successful 35-year-old award-winning comic book, Usagi Yojimbo, from auteur, six-time Eisner award winner, Haxter award recipient and 2016’s Best Cartoonist Harvey Award winner, Stan Sakai. The series takes place in the far future, set in a world that mixes modern high-tech images with classic Japanese references. It follows the teenage Rabbit Samurai Yuichi, descendent of the great warrior Miyamoto Usagi, on his epic quest […]

HARD KILL: Jesse Metcalfe And Bruce Willis Battle Kidnappers And Terrorists In The Official U.S. Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Bruce Willis is still stacking up the action movie pile well into the summer, and his latest, Hard Kill, comes from director Matt Eskandari, from a script by Joe Russo and Chris Lamont. When billionaire tech CEO Donovan Chalmers (Bruce Willis) hires a team of mercenaries to protect a lethal piece of technology, security expert and team leader Derek Miller (Jesse Metcalfe) finds himself in a deadly showdown with an old enemy. The mission becomes even higher risk when Chalmers’ daughter is kidnapped by a terrorist group who will stop at nothing to obtain the tech. Miller and his team must race against the clock to save her and protect the fate of the human race before it’s too late. Collider first broke the story, and we now have an official trailer and poster making the rounds. Vertical Entertainment will release Hard Kill in theaters and on VOD beginning August […]

THE LEGEND OF TOMIRIS: Akan Satayev’s Epic Historical War Drama Gets A U.S. Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Hard to believe that’s it’s been about three years since Akan Satayev’s female-fronted historical war drama, The Legend Of Tomiris, underwent post production, isn’t it? Indeed, that was definitely the case ahead of its local release in Kazakhstan late last year, and with acquisitions thereafter. At any rate, the film is finally making headway following its acquisition by Well Go USA in June, with an official U.S. trailer now online ahead of its September 29 release on Digital, Blu-Ray and DVD. Based on historical heroine Queen Tomiris of Massagetae and her cadre of female warriors (the real-life 6th century BCE Amazonians who inspired the mythical tales), The Legend of Tomiris recounts the tale of the nomadic ruler who overcame great personal tragedy to repel the powerful Persian empire and unite the Great Steppe. The Legend Of Tomiris stars actresses Almira Tursyn and Aizhan Lighg, and actor Adil Akhmetov.

PROJECT POWER Trailer: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Dominique Fishback Battle A Super-Powered Drug Epidemic

PROJECT POWER Trailer: Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Dominique Fishback Battle A Super-Powered Drug Epidemic

Lee B. Golden III

The Batman screenwriter Mattson Tomlin’s latest work-up in the sci-fi/superhero purview will soon get an audience this month with the upcoming movie, Project Power. That it comes from Nerve directing duo Henry Joost and Ariel Schulmann – currently behind efforts to adapt MegaMan for the big screen, speaks aptly to the mind of visually stimulating, elevated allure that’s on target for a film of this kind, which puts actors Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dominique Fishback in great company. On the streets of New Orleans, word begins to spread about a mysterious new pill that unlocks superpowers unique to each user. The catch: You don’t know what will happen until you take it. While some develop bulletproof skin, invisibility, and super strength, others exhibit a deadlier reaction. But when the pill escalates crime within the city to dangerous levels, a local cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) teams with a teenage dealer (Dominique […]

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YAARA: Vidyut Jammwal Faces A Test Of Honor Among Thieves In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

While actor and Bollywood action favorite Vidyut Jammwal joins today’s cadre of YouTubers congregating online to interview fellow action stars with his own online series, “X-Rayed”, he’s still in the business of film and now has a new crime thriller in tow with Yaara, a remake of Olivier Marchal’s own 2011 pic, A Gang Story. Jammwal leads a cast that includes actress Shruti Haasan, Amit Sadh, Vijay Varma and Kenny Basumatary, for the story of two men who grow themselves into a four-man band of robbers known as the ‘Chaukdi Gang’. As the gist of the plot goes, their glory days ultimately land them behind bars, far and apart from each other before reuniting as ex-convicts years later, though for the two founders, things have definitely change. Yaara, a ZEE5 Original, is an epic tale of a friendship that has endured many highs and lows. But can it pass the […]