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:

THROW DOWN: Johnnie To’s 2004 Action Drama Gets A 4K Bodyslam Onto UK Blu-Ray In May

Lee B. Golden III

One of UK-based Eureka Entertainment’s more recently-announced titles now comes with a new trailer in Johnnie To’s 2004 action drama, Throw Down. The company is rolling it out on Blu-Ray from a 4K restoration on May 18, 2020, as part of their Masters Of Cinema collection. In this visually arresting action drama from acclaimed director Johnnie To (MAD DETECTIVE, ELECTION), legendary Judo fighter Szeto Bo (Louis Koo; FLASH POINT, THE LEGEND OF ZU) unexpectedly gave up the sport and now lives the life of an alcoholic gambler who runs a pub. However, cocky Judo newcomer Tony (Aaron Kwok) wants to challenge him, while old foe Kong (Tony Leung Ka Fai, ASHES OF TIME) demands Szeto to finish the match that never took place, Soon Szeto’s pub becomes the ultimate arena where the greatest Judo fighters challenge one another. Filled with brutal, no-holds-barred Judo fight scenes, THROW DOWN is director To’s […]

THE GUYVER: The Bio-Boosted Armor Returns On Blu-Ray This June In Canada

Lee B. Golden III

Friday saw Arrow Video donning fresh new artwork with pre-order dibs now up for grabs at Unobstructed View for The Guyver. Released in 1991, the film is based on Yoshiki Takaya’s 1985 manga IP, “Bio-Boosted Armor Guyver”, which drew several runs in various magazines for its posterity, along with two OVA projects. Joji Tani (a.k.a. Screaming Mad George) directed the pic with co-director Steve Wang, with a screenplay by Joe Woo Jr. that centers on Sean, a young martial arts student who accidentally lands at the center of an intergalactic conspiracy, and must employ the armor as mankind’s last line of defense against a menacing swarm of mutant creatures called Zoanoids, and the monsters moonlighting as humans behind the corporation that will stop at nothing to retrieve the weaponized armor. Produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-animator), The Guyver is just one of two live-action adaptations in existence, the second of which […]

ROUND SIX: Lee Jung-Jae And Park Hae-Soo To Lead New Netflix Survival Drama

Lee B. Golden III

Netflix recently confirmed the additions of actors Lee Jung-jae (Svaha: The Sixth Finger, Operation Chromite) and Park Hae-soo (Prison Playbook, upcoming Time To Hunt) for Netflix original series, Round Six. The series, announced last September, is being directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk (The Fortress, Miss Granny, Silenced). This one’s a bit peculiar in that the show is themed around a game of survival in which players have to draw geometric shapes on the floor which ultimately form the shape of a squid – hence the show’s literal translation, “Squid Game”. That’s where Lee and Park come in, portraying the respective roles of the unemployed Gi-hun, and the beleaguered Sang-woo, both at the ends of their ropes and desperate for the 40-million dollar prize money that victory promises. A premiere date for the new series is currently pending.

WHY DON’T YOU JUST DIE: Arrow Scraps April 10 Theatrical Date, Targets April 20 For Digital

Lee B. Golden III

Arrow Video is switching it up with an early nationwide Digital HD release beginning April 20 for Kiril Sokolov’s winning action comedy, Why Don’t You Just Die! on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play. The move comes after an April 10 release was planned by the company in multiple markets around the U.S., now scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has swept much of America. The film hails from debut director Kiril Sokolov and is billed as “a blood-soaked black comedy in the vein of Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright”. The film stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov and Vitaliy Khaev, and tells of a man who descends unto his girlfriends apartment, intent on killing her father in an act of vengeance, only to trigger a deadly stalemate that uncovers greed, corruption and betrayal. I gave my thoughts on the film, and it’s a fine watch in my book. If my […]

DUTCH: Lance Gross Is ‘The Black Al Capone’ In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

True To The Game and This Christmas helmer Preston A. Whitmore II is setting forth in 2020 with his newest crime drama, Dutch. A Manny Halley Production has unveiled a trailer with a Fall release in the works, with a cast headlined by Tyler Perry’s House Of Payne actor Lance Gross. Dutch is based on the first book of an epic trilogy by author Teri Woods, which launched in 2009 and became heralded by critics and fans as an urban literary classic. The film centers on Bernard James, Jr. aka “Dutch” (Gross), a player who gains control of an African drug lord’s heroine business and effectively ascends to the top of the food chain, only to find himself surrounded by enemies, including a vengeful mafia boss who happens to be a district attorney and former friend. “We really got our hands on an all-star cast,” says producer Manny Halley. “DUTCH […]

KING’S GAMBIT: ‘A New Herald Rises’ This April From Indican

Lee B. Golden III

The Coronavirus may be having a grave affect on movie theaters these days, but if there’s a limited theater slate open by next week throughout the U.S. on April 3, with any luck for the good folks at Indican, it’ll be playing director Joseph Sayer’s new fantasy drama, King’s Gambit. Otherwise, Indican is also rolling out the film out on DVD and Digital beginning April 24, with platforms including Amazon, Fandango Now, iTunes, FlixFling, Google Play, Redbox, VuDu and Youtube Movies. King’s Gambit is directed from a script by Sayer, and stars Blake Webb (American Horror Story), Rebecca Galaraza (The Investigator), and actors Reggie Peters (HazMat) Wade Hunt Williams, Sheryl Carbonell, Jimmy Dempster and Andrew Romano. Bryce Wheeler, a newfound “Herald” – whose job in life is to control the world’s balance by manipulating events using the mystical journal he inherited from his recently deceased father. He finds it’s harder […]

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JOAN: Steven Yu’s Digital Action Adventure Comic Answers Your Prayers This Week

Lee B. Golden III

Even after fifteen years it still feels like just yesterday actor and stunt performer Steven Yu was doing parking lot and dojo practice fight sequences with his fellas over at The Stunt People. To say the least, he still trains, but he’s gone much more in the direction of comic book artistry for as long as I’ve been following him a little closer through social media for about seven years. 2016 at one point saw Yu promoting one particular genre-hybridized comic called Neo Eras. He’s stayed afloat since and he’s out now with a brand new experimental comic thriller called Joan, a project which, in a more ideal world where fresh ideas aren’t unencumbered by industry politics and the personal preferences of corporate tastemakers, would probably bloom much faster and more prominently to the appeal of consumers and geeks alike. History tells us that Joan of Arc was burned alive […]

Art School Dropouts To Launch THE IN-HOUSE GRINDHOUSE In April

Lee B. Golden III

Stephanie Pham and Joey Min are slating a mid-April date to kick off The In-House Grindhouse, a stream and interactive chat they will exclusively host on the Art School Dropouts YouTube channel to showcase shortfilms entries across all genres. The move is meant to help share the spotlight with fellow independent filmmakers and content creators as the nation continues to battle with the deadly Coronavirus outbreak via social distancing, with states and other nations enacting stay-at-home measures to help flatten the curve. The Coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, caused a perpetual number of shutdowns of film and television productions around the world in the last several weeks. It also forced major distributors to rethink their release windows for films due this year, with some settling on early on-demand and Digital releases, and theatrical delays for others. “If Hollywood and Netflix productions are being put on hold, anyone can only imagine […]

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RED: ‘Express Delivery’ And ‘The Take Down’ Creators Team Up For Action Thriller Proof Of Concept

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Beau Fowler is still in the mix these days, just completed his newest short film proof of concept, Red (working title, subject to change) last weekend from Ki Films. The actor took to social media last week on Thursday to tease fans with a mystery image, revealing himself opposite actress Jennifer Lim (A Monster Calls) in an intense scene. Fowler wrote the proof late last year and began a collaborative development soon with filmmaker David Newton (Wrath Of God, The Last), constructing a short story to serve as preamble to a hopeful feature-length endeavor later down the line. Plot details are underwraps though, but I am told the project is described as “an emotionally driven action thriller set in the world of organ harvesting”. Red rejoins Fowler with Newton, himself an industry stunt performer, independent filmmaker who made the festival rounds in 2018 with his feature debut, Amber – […]

Ahn Yong-Hoon’s THE LOST CHOICES, A Punishing Crime Drama With A Title That Brilliantly Says It All

Lee B. Golden III

Ahn Yong-hoon’s 2015 directorial debut, The Lost Choices, takes a glaring look at rape culture and the dehumanization of women and disabled. Through this lens, the premise focuses specifically on two female characters: Ji-eun (Shin Hyun-bin), a once promising champion markswoman with dreams of design, stricken by tragedy as the sole survivor of a fatal car accident that killed her parents and left her with a speech impediment, and Ja-gyun (Yoon So-yi), a cop whose resilience remarkably stands above that of several of her male colleagues. Jieun is at the end of her rope when a violent back alley rape and the misgivings of a crooked detective corner her into ensuing her own campaign of vengeance. Little does she know that while Ja-gyun is getting closer to the truth, the dogged detective is the only one who sees the blaring signs and is inherently in Ji-eun’s corner and willing to […]

Silver Harvest Talks Inspiration, Movies, Action And More With HYDRA Star And Director

Lee B. Golden III

Kensuke Sonomura’s feature directing debut, Hydra, is still circulating select film events and screenings. The Coronavirus outbreak may be a factor in its present movement for the time being, but I do know it has a screening pending in Spain last I heard. At any rate, while peddling this amazing thriller to other critics and bloggers for some coverage, I was able to pique the interest of my friends Therese Chen and Takashi Hara in Australia at Silver Harvest who’ve since unveiled both parts of their long-awaited interview with Sonomura-san, and the film’s star, Masanori Mimoto. The film really is a blast being such a concentrated, lo-fi independent actioner. The reactions are very much mixed from those who I know of have seen it given the varying tastes between most fans. I loved the film, and I’m not just saying because I’m friends with both Sonomura and Mimoto. There isn’t […]

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THE HIT LIST: March 23, 2020

Lee B. Golden III

The weekend may have seen the first of a major downturn of things in the wake of the Coronavirus’s spread. But, fear not. While in isolation, you are more than welcome to enjoy our action-packed column, The Hit List, to help bide your time, and there’s plenty of action to go around. Alas, first is our usual playlist rounding up stunt demo and performance reels from some of today’s best and rising in the field: Rachel Gelfield, Jared Jay Cox, Shannah Robin, Anthony Czumalowski, Emma Bradbury, Lukas Stoiber, Marcus Adair, Richard Buckman, Bethany Curry, Devin LaMon, Christopher Bizub, Shawn Daniels, Jahlil Wallace, Kaanchana Kerr, Masaaki Nitta and Daniel Locicero. What you see is the recent poster unveiling for director Andrew McGee’s new cyberpunk short, Venus. The key art arrives in the wake of a Kickstarter camapiagn to help ramp up post-production with just 29 days left as of this post. […]

TIME TO HUNT: South Korean Heist Thriller Hits Netflix April 10

Lee B. Golden III

Yoon Sung-hyun’s new dystopian crime thriller is at the center of a new lawsuit, and Variety has the details. Legal maneuvers be damned though, the producers at Little Big Pictures are proudly releasing the film on Netflix beginning April 10. Time to Hunt is a suspenseful non-stop chase film about four friends who are hunted by an unknown man, while they carry out a dangerous plan to get a fresh start in life. It was invited to the 70th Berlin International Film Festival for a special gala screening, which is the first time for a Korean film to be featured as such. Time to Hunt is one of the most highly anticipated Korean films of 2020, and marks the return to the screen of Yoon Sung-hyun, winner for Best New Director at the the 32nd Blue Dragon Awards for Bleak Night. The film also brings together the hottest actors of […]

LIFE OF ACTION II: The Long Awaited Sequel Is Here!

Lee B. Golden III

Great news! My book #LifeOfAction II: Interviews with the Men and Women of Action Cinema feat @TheRealZoeBell @MichaelJaiWhite @tonyjaaofficial @KellyHu and many more is SHIPPING NOW! Author signed books available exclusively from https://t.co/e3lRDuDA5j and all good retailers pic.twitter.com/k8XpYIw6I2 — Mike Fury (@TheMikeFury) March 23, 2020 When Mike Fury isn’t on set performing stunts or prepping his next fight sequence, off set, he’s an action film fan like any other of his ilk, and with a keen sense of the craft and how to engage it. Having taken it a step further with the premiere launch of Life Of Action in 2015, Fury has since followed up with Life Of Action II, continuing his extenuating journey of acquainting with some of today’s highly-regarded in the stunt world. “Much like the first volume, this book is a real labour of love and I know there are hugely passionate film fans who admire […]

POWERBOMB: Cash Allen Faces His Most Chilling Match Yet In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Directing/writing dup B.J. Colangelo (Deathcember) and R. Zachary Shildwachter are poised to have their latest kidnapping drama, Powerbomb, released on DVD and Digital beginning April 14 from Indican. The film stars Matt Cross, Wes Allen, Cash Allen, Britt Baker, Roni Jonah and Aaron “Pants” Sechrist. Powerbomb is the story of a wrestler on the verge of breaking into the big time, but after years of struggling, he’s contemplating leaving it all behind to spend more time with his family. When our wrestler’s biggest fan hears the news, he decides to take matters into his own hands to ensure that his champion gets to the top by any means necessary including extortion, kidnapping and even murder…

GOLD DUST: Treasure Hunters In Search Of Riches And On The Run In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Thirteen years since his previous directing credit, David Wall signals his return to the film set with action adventure, Gold Dust. High Octane Pictures is set to release the film on DVD and Digital beginning April 7 with a cast led by Wall who penned the script. The official announcement on the film boasts of “Dancing assassins, opera in uncharted canyons, armed children on dirt bikes, mines, hostages and mirages” all of which comprise the tale of two prospectors who, as their dream of finding sunken ship riches in the desert draws ever closer, will be forced to choose between the treasure, and going toe to toe with a Mexican cartel using the site for their drug operation. Classical music. Thundering opera. Rattlesnakes and precious gems. Mansions and gold mines. Friendship and despair. Treasure beyond imagination that vanishes in the desert wind. In the desert there is no limit to […]

AGANAI: THE CULT LEADER AND ME Teaser Forges A Path To Healing Through Discussion With A Death Cult Leader

Lee B. Golden III

With the moviegoing atmosphere having drastically changed this season, documentary filmmaker Atsushi Sakahara is officially releasing his teaser for Aganai: The Cult Leader And Me. There’s no set release or festival screening schedule for the foreseeable future just yet as things stand, while the campaign is also sharing a teaser for a corresponding podcast called “Before/After Aum”, which listeners can subscribe to at Substack, will be able to stream via Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts and wherever podcasts are streamed. Read below for more info: On March 20th, 1995 Atsushi Sakahara was one of over 6,000 people injured in the attack on the Tokyo metro by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, who still operate and recruit today. In his upcoming documentary, AGANAI: THE CULT LEADER AND ME, he embarks on a journey with the cult’s executive, Hiroshi Araki, to record the parallel experiences of a victim and perpetrator. Now, on the […]

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[UPDATED] KUNG FU GHOST: Jennifer Linch’s Directorial Debut Wraps Filming, Official First Look Stills Revealed!

Lee B. Golden III

Actress and filmmaker Jennifer Linch took to social media in the last twenty four hours to announce wrap of principal photography for Kung Fu Ghost. The independent kung fu comedy, which filmed in San Diego, California, began development and pre-production earlier this year amd commenced an almost non-stop, physically rigorous eighteen-day production schedule with Linch making her feature directing debut from a script by Ivan White. Linch plays Daisy, a young woman who inherits a spooky old estate from her grandfather, a martial arts master whom she had never met. Upon the shocking discovery of her grandfather’s ghost and that of his young companion, William, Daisy soon finds herself at the center of a longstanding battle to protect a sacred relic from treasure hunting criminals. What unfolds is a whimsical tale of fun fantasy, romance and martial arts action, combined with shocking twists and reveals to convey a powerful message […]

TO YOUR LAST DEATH: Check Out A Trio Of Clips From The New Animated Action Horror

Lee B. Golden III

If you’re stuck indoors and looking for something awesome to watch, director Jason Axinn’s latest animated action horror, To Your Last Death, is now available on Digital and VOD from Quiver Distribution, and we’ve been allowed to present clips from the film as well which you can view upon scrolling down. After emerging as the sole survivor in a deadly revenge game set up by her father to punish his children, Miriam receives an offer from a supernatural entity to go back in time and try again. Now, Miriam must survive both her father’s blood lust and the Gamemaster’s ever-changing rules to save her siblings as she relives the worst night of her life. To Your Last Death stars the voices of Morena Baccarin, Ray Wise, Dani Lennon, Bill Moseley and William Shatner. John Frank Rosenblum exec produced the pic with Tanya Klein and Jim Cirile – the latter two […]

FINAL KILL Takes Aim On Blu-Ray And DVD April 14

Lee B. Golden III

Cinedigm is proudly releasing Badlands and Big Legend director Justin Lee’s Final Kill on Blu-Ray and DVD beginning April 14 from your local Walmart, Target and Best Buy. The film is currently available on VOD as of March 6. Final Kill stars Ed Morrone in the role of a mercenary hired for his final assigment, to protect a couple hiding out in Central America from a ruthless crime family. The job quickly goes awry when a group of mafia henchman descend on the tranquil Costa Rican village, and the agent soon learns the true nature of his mission as it will take all of his experience to get them out alive. Also starring are Danny Trejo, Billy Zane, Randy Couture, Johnny Messner and Dr. Drew Pinsky.