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Review: GEOSTORM – Facepalmingly Stupid And Wildly Entertaining

Do you remember the late 90s? Of course you do. It was a magical time when the idea of an all-out nuclear war with North Korea started via Twitter was the kind of stupid idea that would get a screenwriter kicked out of a pitch meeting. Back then, movies about impending global annihilated could be made with blissful ignorance; completely unaware of how prescient they actually were. First time writer/director Dean Devlin (producer of Universal Soldier, Stargate, and Independence Day) remembers those days fondly and has gifted to us a film that is facepalmingly stupid yet wildly entertaining if you approach it with the proper mindset. In the near future (next year actually), global warming gives birth to violently out of control weather events that leave a death-toll in the millions worldwide. With the future of the entire planet in the balance, a coalition of 18 nations band together to […]

Review: THE FOREIGNER Thrills With A Chan Flick That Is Anything But Formulaic

When I first heard about The Foreigner back in the halcyon days of 2015, I was puzzled as to why anyone would agree to make it; it was a Jackie Chan movie, directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), also starring Pierce Brosnan (Goldeneye)! This sounded like the worst idea for a movie since a Pacific Rim sequel not directed by Guillermo del Toro. Now, in defense of 2015 me, things weren’t exactly bright and sunny for the three names above. Chan, still trying to hold onto his glory days, was making big budget duds like Chinese Zodiac and Skiptrace. Campbell was nearly 10 years removed from Casino Royale and was also recovering from the recent Green Lantern debacle. As for Brosnan, he was still reeling from the shockingly dull The November Man and the forgotten film Survivor. There was absolutely NO REASON for this movie to be any good, which […]

Spotlight Series: Bobby Nickels & FLUX ACTION

Usually my normal style of interviewing folks is just to have a sit-down over a cup of coffee, tea, or what have you but when conflicts arise between myself and action filmmaker/stuntman Bobby Nickels, we do what we can to get the job done. And this first Spotlight Series is no exception. I was able to fire off an email to Bobby with questions I had in mind and he responded frankly. Bobby is a 24 year-old stuntman living in Los Angeles. Originally from Seattle, Washington, he has been here for more than nine months to pursue his calling as a stuntman and freshly minted actor with Flux Action. CF: First I want to know a little bit of your background, in your own words, about who you are and how you came to be an action coordinator and stunt performer – your leanings, people you admire/respect, and your first hand at […]

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OPINION: Why Everyone Needs To Watch BOYKA: UNDISPUTED On Netflix. NOW.

The Champ Is Here! This past week was cause for celebration amongst action fans. After an eight-year long wait, everyone’s favorite Russian prison fighter has returned to the ring in Boyka: Undisputed. The reason for the long wait has been well documented (rampant piracy) and if fans don’t support this film, we may never see Boyka again. To all the fans who supported this film by buying it on disc, you are awesome people and we appreciate you for fighting the good fight. But our work as fans doesn’t end there, the war must be fought on a new front; we need to make this a hit on Netflix! A Genre Against the Ropes? It’s no secret that the career of Scott Adkins (and by extension, the entire DTV Action genre) has been undercut by internet piracy. It’s lead to lower budgets, tighter schedules and has prevented the hard working […]

FLUX ACTION: Help Bobby Nickels Craft His Latest Action Shortfilm Medley

In the last few months in Los Angeles, filmmaker and stuntman Bobby Nickels has been producing his own short film titled “Flux Action.” This 15 minute short film runs the gamut of genres – 15 of them – and showcasing his ability to produce a film from start to finish. Looking to raise $5,000 for the rest of the production costs on Kickstarter, Bobby calls this an “ambitious high-intensity, high-impact adventure.” Alex Coulter directs, Laffrey Witbrod is the Director of Photography, and Co-Producers are Patricia Borba and Erin Lee. Co-Director is Danielle Dupree and camera work by Heather Ballish. Bobby is still trying to fill roles for another Editor, Special FX, and war re-enactors. Check out his campaign here for more information.

Review: BITCOIN HEIST (2017) …Vietnamese Crypto Heist Film? Count Me In!

I don’t know much about Vietnamese cinema so upon receiving the blurry DVD combo for Bitcoin Heist was a treat on a hot summer day. It’s pretty much standard content in the options; you have your subtitle and audio choices, but it does come with a bit of trailers from Vietnam. Not sure if I’d be able to see some of these films, but at least if you guys like this movie, you can try to track down some of the films. Now, I don’t know most of the talent in this movie, but I have heard of the Youtuber, Than Pham, and Vietnamese Rapper, Suboi, as some of the leads of this film. Right from the very start, the movie feels like a big budget Hollywood film and what better genre to tackle that larger than life feel but a “heist” film. And I LOVE heist films. And this […]

Going ‘Under Siege’ With S.W.A.T. UNDER SIEGE Director Tony Giglio

While the original series harkens from the mid-70’s, the franchise has proven to withstand the test of time in part because of the relevance of the subject matter along with a very iconic ear worm of a theme song. SWAT has been steadily making its way back into the limelight starting with a 2003 reboot featuring Samuel L. Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeremy Renner, and Colin Farrell. 14 years down the road and other iterations of the show have been made along with a pilot for a tv reboot helmed by Justin Lin. However we don’t have to wait for them to wrap shooting as the newest installation in the franchise, SWAT: Under Siege starring Sam Jaeger, Michael Jai White, and Adrianne Palicki is slated to release this August! Last week Film Combat Syndicate scored a great interview with Director Tony Giglio and got to pick his brain a bit: Hey […]

Cam’s Eye Review: In Search Of A Cohesive Mummy

In a nutshell, this should have been a story of a girl who wanted power for herself and no one else. It would have made for a better story. Instead, we’re given a miasma of history from the introduction of the Knights Templar being buried with a stone from the hilt of an Ancient Egyptian dagger that was used in a magical ceremony by the Mummy herself (Sofia Boutella) and our cast of characters bent on its destruction. We’re literally buried by story strand after strand beginning with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe) taking over a newly discovered crypt during an Underground expansion in London where he stumbles onto hieroglyphs above a Templar burial and encapsulating the story of Ahmanet, the daughter of a Pharoah and her glory to be a powerful ruler of Egypt. Through her own devices, she makes a magical plea with the underworld ruler, Set, to […]

Adam Wingard To Helm GODZILLA VS. KONG

Making a name for himself with low-budget horror thrillers You’re Next, A Horrible Way To Die, and The Guest, Adam Wingard has closed a deal with Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. to direct the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong for a May 22, 2020 release date. Legendary and Warner have teamed up to revive the classic monster universe. Starting with the 2014 release of Godzilla, it culminated with the phenomenal success of Kong: Skull Island earlier this year (which has grossed $565 million, globally) that a sequel, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, starring Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, and Millie Bobby Brown, is currently in production. Wingard’s directorial reboot of Blair Witch last year was made for $5 million and had a box office run of $45.2 million. Not too shabby for a slightly entertaining horror flick that has lost a lot of it’s audience and charm. The writers that Legendary has put together to author […]

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY: Beam Up With Michelle Yeoh And Sonequa Martin-Green In The New Series Trailer

The first photo of the new Star Trek: Discovery from CBS All Access bring us Michelle Yeoh (left) as Captain Philippa Georgiou and Sonequa Martin-Green (right) as First Officer Michael Burnham. Being touted as a prequel from the original series, other previously announced cast members include Jason Isaccs as Captain Lorca, James Frain as Spock’s father, Sarek, Doug Jones as Lt. Saru, an alien Science Officer, and Anthony Rapp as Lt. Stamets. As the CBS upfronts were announced today, May 17, other information will become available. In the meantime, the trailer for the series is found below. Enjoy!

THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE – VOL 2: Movement With A Heart

It can be difficult to put into words what Bruce Lee gave to the world of martial arts but I will take his cue to simplify it: movement with a heart. And this second volume, with all its faults and laughingly unintended background with 2000 era bloopers not caught (episode 15 shows John Woo’s “Stranglehold” [2008] on a San Francisco trolley car, twice), this volume gives us that heart to a certain degree, trying to keep a balance between fantasy and actual history regarding Bruce Lee. Beginning with episode 11, after being humiliated by the fight of Karate Master Yamamoto (Mark Dacascos) in the 10th episode, Bruce mulls over why Uncle Shao (Luoyong Wang) decided to stop the match. It was only at Ms. Ruby’s restaurant that Uncle Shao imparts his wisdom to try to temper Bruce’s anger into a more focused, humbled, and disciplined self. “If you’re too impatient, […]

Review: KARATE KILL Earns A Black Belt in Boring Filmmakimg

As a filmmaker, we, subconsciously or not, want to offer tribute or call upon our inspirations on why we strap a camera to our hands and eyes in the first place. At the same time, genre of old should just stay where they are, in the loving memory of nostalgia. So, as you can tell, that’s not really a good opening to my review of Kurando Mitsutake’s Karate Kill. Before I get into all of that, let me just give you a general synopsis of this film. Kenji (Hayate) has lost contact with his younger sister, Mayumi (Mana Sakura), who was studying in the States. Worried, he decides to leave his life behind to find out what happened to his sister; and with the power of Karate and the help of Keiko (Asami), an ex-military, shotgun blasting, sexy amputee, Kenji will stop at nothing to save his sister from the […]

PROFESSION OF CHOICE: An Interview With Actor And Filmmaker Jino Kang (VIDEO)

When David Van Tassell isn’t working on his own projects, every now and then he serves as contributor to Film Combat Syndicate and upon his recent review of actor and martial artist Jino Kang’s latest action thriller, Fist 2 Fist: Weapon Of Choice, Tassell took the opportunity to offer his services for an interview with the film’s director and star. The movie itself is already available wherever you can find it on VoD and DVD, and is also poised for a premiere on The Fight Channel in the UK this summer while Kang discusses, among other things, his career and current goals in film. For the hearing impaired, Tassell has also made the following transcript available just beneath, and we especially send our thanks to Tassell for going the extra mile to offer us a feat as rare as this seeing as how we rarely get to do Skype interviews […]

Overview: GINTAMA: BATTLE ON RAKUYOU Culminates With Excitement In Lieu Of An Epic Finale

Bandai Namco Pictures Battle on Rakuyou (also known as Rakuyou Decisive Battle Arc) Several weeks after the events of Farewell Shinsengumi Arc, our heroes, having teamed up with Jouishishi, Kaientai and the remaining members of Kiheitai, are headed to the dystopian planet Rakuyou to rescue Takasugi from the clutches of Utsuro and the Harusame. Utsuro, however, has an agenda of his own, eyeing Umibozu as the potential candidate to end his centuries-old suffering. Alas, Umibozu has to take care of some urgent family matters, namely setting his wandering son back on the right path. Phew, that’s a handful for only twelve episodes! But worry not, this is Gintama, and it sure knows how to string all that chaos together and deliver yet another staggering arc. I don’t want to include any major spoilers, so let’s have an overview. What makes Battle on Rakuyou great is what makes Gintama as a […]

First Impressions: POWER RANGERS (2017) – Once More With Attitude!

So I usually let a film sink in for a few days before I write a review. In this case, I wanted to put out a little bit of a pre-cursor statement to you all before I went more in depth into the new Power Rangers movie so here’s my spoiler-free-not-so-elevator-pitch as to why you should see this movie. This film got a lot of flack from the fandom as soon as concept art started hitting the web. I mean a lot. Between complaints over the Power Ranger suit design, the reimagining of Rita Repulsa, down to automatic cries of, “This movie is going to be terrible.” Now artistic design is arguable. I’m going to sidestep those first two items for now and focus on the third. There’s one thing I’ve learned about fandoms during this nerd renaissance though, and it is that they’ll complain and be bitter about anything […]

Review: FIST 2 FIST: WEAPON OF CHOICE (2014) Fires Hard And Heavy With Action, Runs Low Too Soon

Want to know what I like about filmmaking? Anyone can do it. Want to know what else I like about filmmaking? ANYONE can do it. Now don’t take this from me as being patronizing. I really do say this from the exact opposite end. Filmmakers come from all walks of life and backgrounds and when one of those backgrounds happens to be in martial arts you get a very unique kind of filmmaker who can produce art with the discipline developed over years of pushing one’s boundaries. It’s a background that I am glad to say I can share with filmmaker and action actor Jino Kang. Fist 2 Fist 2: Weapon of Choice is a sequel in name only to Kang’s 2011 film Fist 2 Fist and brings with itself a brutal action packed story to the screen that lends a brutality to it akin to John Wick or Taken. […]

SAVAGE OFF SCREEN: A Word With Actress, Martial Artist And Author JuJu Chan

Actress JuJu Chan (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword Of Destiny) has often been referred to as “the female Bruce Lee” and for good reason. Just like Lee, she is an actress, a martial artist and a published author. Sure, she may not have invented her own martial arts system, but then Bruce was never a singer/songwriter (that we know of) so we’ll call it a draw…for now. Her latest movie, Savage Dog, sees her sharing the screen with Scott Adkins, Marko Zaror and Cung Le. She may not have gotten to do much in the way of kicking ass on camera, but that didn’t stop her from fulfilling most of our dream of training with, sparring with and just hanging out with this trio of badasses. Film Combat Syndicate: What can you tell us about your character in Savage Dog? JC: I’m playing Isabelle. She’s the emotional drive of the whole film. She’s […]

Cam’s Eye Review: TREMORS 5: BLOODLINES (2015) – Burt Gummer, Action Hero

Our survivalist and reluctant hero Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is back with a vengeance, a new partner in Travis B. Welker (Jamie Kennedy), and on a new continent, Africa, battling a new kind of evolutionary nightmare Assblaster and Graboid. Both gentlemen are enlisted by an alleged African Wildlife Ministry representative, Erich Van Wyck (Daniel Janks), to capture the beasts. Along with a beautiful wildlife sancutary doctor, Nandi Montabu (Pearl Thusi) and her young daughter, Amahle (Nolitha Zulu), they all come together to do battle with the creatures. This film is a feast for the eyes as this particular production was filmed in the Cradle of Humankind itself, Houtang Province, in South Africa. As Burt tries his best to make a living as an online celebrity with his own show about surviving in the wild, he comes across a maverick 40 year-old riding a motorcycle that interferes with a camera shot […]

Review: Johnnie To’s THREE, And The Intricacies Of Character

From acclaimed Hong Kong action director Johnnie To, this well-crafted action-thriller is set in a hospital environment. Where Hollywood can be bogged down in cliche when it comes to hospital drama, this director imparts his inimitable visual style as an artist brushes the canvass with precision and passion. To‘s brushes on this particular canvass are at once gritty, real, and eventually winds up as a battleground where people are caught in the crossfire. We start off with the introduction of our three major characters with brain surgeon Doctor Tong Qian (Vicki Zhao/Wei Zhao) among a group of doctors evaluating patients, who is vilified by a young man (Jonathan Wong) that is paralyzed from the waist down. She had taken a risk with saving the young man’s life but keeps a stoic yet firm belief he would get better in a few months. But the man is not cooperative and even […]

Review: THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE – Volume One (2008 TV Series)

Perhaps no one is as lauded, both personally and professionally, than Bruce Lee (Li Xiao Long). Well, Jackie Chan is a close second but that’s not the focus of this review. Where should I start? I have many conflicting emotions writing this and I am sure there will be some people that will take my own informed opinions with a grain of salt. And you should. Because this review is my own, of course. Let’s start with the production. CCTV backed The Legend Of Bruce Lee. It’s video quality. Although it was filmed in 2008, I was disheartened of the low quality throughout the ten episodes in Volume 1. Made for several million dollars for 50 episodes and Executive Produced by Bruce’s daughter, Shannon, I felt that the overall vision was amateurish but had promise. Yet, seeing a young Bruce Lee (Danny Chan) along with terrible and distracting English dubbing […]