DIABLO Director Talks Cinematic Inspirations and Working With Scott Adkins & Marko Zaror
FCS interviews filmmaker Ernesto Díaz Espinoza!
Matthew Essary
About Matthew Essary
Posts by Matthew Essary:
Planning The Havoc: A Conversation With HOUNDS OF WAR Director Isaac Florentine
Isaac Florentine has firmly established himself as a director on whom diehard action fans can rely. Since the early 90s, he has consistently delivered films with breath-taking action sequences that rival, and in many cases, far surpass those in larger-scale productions. Beginning his career in the trenches of very low-budget martial arts film production, while also directing the English language inserts for various iterations of the long-running Japanese-import children’s television franchise POWER RANGERS; Florentine developed a style of filmmaking based strongly on clearly framed and edited, highly kinetic action set pieces. His quality of work in these areas, in less than optimal conditions, caused him to rapidly become an in-demand talent during the, then still thriving, world of “Direct to Video Store” film releases. He would not only collaborate with action cinema stalwarts Gary Daniels, Dolph Lundgren, and Jean-Claude Van Damme— he gave each one rock-solid, highly entertaining, entries into […]
Interview: Director William Eubank on his new military thriller LAND OF BAD starring Russell Crowe
William Eubank is a director many film fans first took notice of with the release of the claustrophobic, aquatic horror thriller, UNDERWATER starring Kristen Stewart. Hitting theaters shortly before the isolation era of the global Covid pandemic, and despite a disappointing performance at the box office, the film became the decade’s first true contender for the label of a “cult classic” thanks to strong word of mouth from genre enthusiasts. What that dedicated audience responded to has been evident throughout Eubank’s filmography— whether it be in smaller passion projects, like the mind-bending micro-budgeted sci-fi film THE SIGNAL (2014), or in studio “for hire” fare, like PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: NEXT OF KIN. His work displays a dedication to well-crafted set pieces, striking visuals, and allowing space within the action for thoughtful character work. This trend continues with his latest effort, the military thriller LAND OF BAD. The film tells the story […]
The Kirby Brothers On Directing ACCIDENT MAN: HITMAN’S HOLIDAY
Brothers George and Harry Kirby just want to entertain fans of action on screen. The pair have done this by directing more than a dozen short films where the main focus is on action and, most importantly, fun. While they honed their craft with these films (and built a sizable online fanbase to boot), George Kirby steadily established a name for himself in the Hollywood stunt industry. His most high-profile work (so far) came as the fight coordinator on the 2021 blockbuster VENOM: LET THEIR BE CARNAGE but he has also been a stunt performer on such major films as ROUGE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY, JUSTICE LEAGUE, and DOCTOR STRANGE. It was during the filming of DOCTOR STRANGE that the Kirby brothers first came to the attention of acclaimed British martial artist Scott Adkins. In them, Adkins found filmmakers with not only a strong visual style but ones […]
Scott Adkins talks ACCIDENT MAN: HITMAN’S HOLIDAY
Every new action film starring Scott Adkins is a reason to celebrate. The British actor and martial artist has long been one of the most reliable performers in the genre. Not only committed to delivering the best possible on-screen action with every new project despite any budget or schedule limitations, his “story first” mindset and dedication to the craft of acting are unparalleled among his action film contemporaries. This commitment to quality in all areas of production is readily apparent in his latest film ACCIDENT MAN: HITMAN’S HOLIDAY. This sequel to the 2018 action comedy ACCIDENT MAN, finds professional killer Mike Fallon forced to protect the insufferable heir to a powerful crime family from a series of increasingly outlandish assassins in order to save the life of an old friend who is being held captive by his charge’s vicious mob boss mother. This simple setup allows Adkins to show off his […]
Christian Sesma On Directing, Working With Scott Adkins, & His New Film SECTION 8
Christian Sesma seemingly never stops working. A self-taught filmmaker, Sesma has been directing since 2006 at an incredibly productive rate. In that time, he has completed (and found distribution) for more than twenty feature-length genre films. His prolific nature and continued success in getting his work actually seen have led him to be a director that genre acting stalwarts want to work with. This is perfectly showcased by his latest project (and strongest directorial effort to date)— the hard-hitting action film SECTION 8. The cast features Ryan Kwanten (TRUE BLOOD), Dolph Lundgren (ROCKY IV), Dermot Mulroney (YOUNG GUNS), Scott Adkins (UNDISPUTED 3), and Mickey Rourke (THE WRESTLER) in a story about a military veteran (Kwanten) who, after losing his wife and child, is unwittingly pulled into a shadowy world of government-sponsored assassins. I had a chance to speak with Christian Sesma about SECTION 8 ahead of its release today. We […]
Frank Grillo and Dolph Lundgren set sail in OPERATION SEAWOLF
Filmmaker Steven Luke (WAR PIGS) is one of many creatives working in the realm of DTV. He has learned two valuable lessons about how to get noticed in the glut of low-budget titles that appear consistently throughout the year though. The first is to use recognizable, yet reliable, actors that can draw attention when placed on a cover. The second is to have a niche that appeals to a dedicated fanbase. What is that for Luke? Historical war dramas (with a bit of action sprinkled in) like his latest: the World War Two naval battle film OPERATION SEAWOLF, featuring Dolph Lundgren (CREED 2), Frank Grillo (COPSHOP), and Hiram A. Murray (THE TERMINAL LIST) in prominent roles. Take a look at the trailer: Here is the official synopsis: “In the last days of WWII, Germany, desperate for any last grasp to defeat the allied […]
DAY SHIFT Review: Jamie Foxx Battles Vampires in the latest Netflix Original
Okay, it’s not necessarily an across-the-board universal truth or anything but I think we can all agree that there’s a degree of sameness to a lot of Netflix originals. That was my main concern going into “Day Shift”. Being J.J. Perry’s debut feature, I’m guessing a lot of people reading this had similar concerns about what could go wrong with this film. In my case, I’m confident in saying that my concerns were coming from a completely different place. I was concerned less as a fan of action films and moreso as a diehard fan of the vampire movie subgenre. Luckily for me (and for everyone who is coming to “Day Shift”), those concerns turned out to be much completely unfounded and I ended up shockingly impressed. If you also know as little as I did about “Day Shift” going in, I will try to keep things as spoiler-free as […]
A Look At BULL With Writer/Director Paul Andrew Williams
British crime movies focused on revenge are frankly a dime a dozen. So when one comes along that separates itself from the crowd, that’s a film worthy of excitement. BULL, the new film from writer/director Paul Andrew Williams (LONDON TO BRIGHTON) is definitely that. It tells the story of a low-level enforcer, the titular Bull (Neil Maskell, PEAKY BLINDERS), who returns to town to look for his missing son and take revenge on the people, including his wife and her mob boss father (David Haskins, SID AND NANCY), who viciously double-crossed him ten years prior. Based on that synopsis, BULL may sound like a very straightforward experience however it is anything but typical. The world of the film feels akin to a waking nightmare full of dingy dwellings and dark back alleys haunted by Maskell’s ferocious, yet unassuming, boogeyman. A sense of dread hangs over every moment and when […]
Neal McDonough Talks Acting, Cinematic Heroes, & His New Film BOON
Neal McDonough has the sort of resume that most actors would kill for. Working nonstop since the early 90s, he has had memorable roles in more noteworthy projects than can be easily listed. McDonough has been prominently featured in BAND OF BROTHERS, JUSTIFIED, MINORITY REPORT, RAVENOUS, ARROW, and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER for example. And that impressive list barely scratches the surface of the truly staggering amount of quality work McDonough has turned in for movies, television, and even video games over his 30+ years of acting. His latest film, BOON, is clearly a special passion project for him though. A standalone sequel to 2021’s RED STONE, BOON stars McDonough as a former mob enforcer, Nick Boon, who is on the run from the law (and his previous employers). Having settled in a remote part of the Pacific Northwest, Boon is looking to live a quiet life and […]
Director Paul Solet On His New Movie CLEAN
Paul Solet is a filmmaker who has been making strides in the movie industry for over a decade. Coming onto the scene with the brutal and unique zombie film GRACE. He went on to solidify his name as a creator to keep eye on with work as one of the main writers on the space exploration series MARS for National Geographic as well as continuing to spearhead his own film projects like the true-crime documentary TREAD, about a fortified bulldozer that wreaks havoc on a small town, and the thriller BULLET HEAD, featuring Antonio Banderas, John Malkovich, and Adrien Brody as three criminals trapped in a warehouse with a seemingly unstoppable guard dog. Solet recently reunited with his BULLET HEAD lead, and Academy Award-winning actor, Adrien Brody for a project that is very personal to the pair- a gritty action yarn titled CLEAN. Here is the film’s official synopsis: […]
CLEAN review – Adrien Brody Takes Out The Trash
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. A quiet loner with a dark and violent history finds redemption by protecting an innocent child unfairly targeted by criminals. Oh, you have? What if I told you this anti-hero leads a quiet life that they narrate while driving around at night working a blue-collar job? You get it! Yeah, wait, I see your point- it is pretty similar to other stuff. In this one though, the main character has an ominous nickname from their mysterious past and at one point they reveal a massive back tattoo that really illustrates (get it?) how tough they are right before they start taking out the bad guys in cold-blooded fashion? Oh right! I forgot about those movies where they already did that. You see this concept’s different though because it’s going to feature an actor not normally known for action. It’ll really be a […]
A Love Of The Fury: A Conversation With Director Jesse V. Johnson
Jesse V. Johnson loves cinema. Working in various levels of film productions since the early 1990s, the English-born filmmaker first made his name as a stunt performer working on such high profile projects as the original TOTAL RECALL, STARSHIP TROOPERS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, and dozens more. This led to Johnson being a stunt coordinator, a second unit director, and eventually an accomplished feature director. Staying true to his stunt background, the films Johnson has directed are action-packed affairs such as THE DEBT COLLECTOR, TRIPLE THREAT, and AVENGEMENT (to name just a few) that value practical effects and physical performers more than expensive CGI-laden spectacle. And throughout his constant climb to get where he is today, recognized as one of the strongest voices in action filmmaking among people who truly value that genre, he has never lost that love of cinema. This fact is abundantly clear when looking at his […]
HELL HATH NO FURY Review: Bloody World War Two Combat From Director Jesse V. Johnson
In the waning days of World War Two, a small group of American soldiers, led by the cunning Major Maitland, are heading to a forgotten graveyard in the French countryside. With them is Marie, recently freed from a Nazi prison but still labeled a German sympathizer by her fellow French countrymen. Maitland and his men pulled her from an angry mob due to assurances that she would lead them to a cache of stolen Nazi gold that was left hidden by her and her former lover, a member of Hitler’s elite guard named “Von Bruckner.” What none of them realize is that Von Bruckner is abandoning Germany’s losing war effort; with plans to head overseas with his loyal followers. So, he is also making his way to that same graveyard in hopes of retrieving the gold and when he arrives with his squad it will set off a bloody and […]
Talking Through The Night: A Conversation With The Creators Behind THE SPINE OF NIGHT
THE SPINE OF NIGHT is one of the best film surprises of the year. A throwback to the days of feature-length adult animated fare by the likes of Ralph Bakshi; this hyper-violent and deeply meditative fantasy saga is a love letter to classic rotoscope animation and pulp adventure stories that will be cherished by anyone who is open to its strange and macabre sensibilities. (Read FCS’s full review of the film HERE) The film is also the result of a nearly decade-long collaboration between animator Morgan Galen King and writer Philip Gelatt (Netflix’s LOVE, DEATH, & ROBOTS). I had the pleasure of speaking with the pair in the days leading up to the film’s release and I took the opportunity to ask them all about the origins and hard work that led to the stellar achievement that is THE SPINE OF NIGHT! _____________________________ As we begin, I just […]
ONE SHOT Review: Unrelenting Military Action From Scott Adkins
Action star Scott Adkins and director James Nunn are two individuals who don’t let the labels of the film industry define them or the work they produce. Both have been frustratingly relegated to a tier in the movie-making system where the only way to get a film project approved is if it can be completed quickly and with a modest budget. Many, when faced with these circumstances, cut corners and lower their ambitions, content just to get something locked in before moving on to the next “for hire” gig. Nunn and Adkins are a different breed though. When faced with these limitations, both men have always strived, through thoughtful preparation and an intense work ethic, to make the highest quality film possible every time they have the opportunity. So, it’s not surprising that when the two have collaborated in the past that their combined efforts have delivered strong results. Admittedly, […]
THE SPINE OF NIGHT Review: Animated Cosmic Horror In A Savage Age
After finishing THE SPINE OF NIGHT, I was struck by a feeling that I had just witnessed a lost relic of my youth. Something that should have been passed to me on a VHS with a hand-written label by a friend, after a lengthy session of “Dungeons & Dragons”, along with a dog-eared horror paperback in exchange for trading them a bootleg copy of Ralph Bakshi’s FIRE & ICE and the latest copy of “Heavy Metal” magazine. Only to take the tape home and watch it immediately on my tiny bedroom television over and over again until the next week’s tabletop game session where the cycle of trades would continue until every one of my friends had their minds melted by this beautiful piece of animated pulp weirdness. THE SPINE OF NIGHT isn’t some lost pop culture treasure that’s been newly rediscovered though. It is the very recent culmination of […]
SOUTH OF HEAVEN Review – A South Texas Tale Of Revenge.
SOUTH OF HEAVEN was not the original title for the latest film from Israeli writer/director Aharon Keshales. It’s not unusual for films to go through title changes during production but I was struck by a curiosity- wondering how a clever enough title like “Till Death” became the more somber “South of Heaven.” Why choose that phrase for a new title? When I researched the phrase the only thing that consistently popped up was a song, I was passingly familiar with by the metal band Slayer. Stranger connections in pop culture have occurred before, I suppose. So, I thought about this song I had not heard since my young and angry days and how it may add to the understanding of this southern-fried piece of neo-noir from one half of the filmmaking team behind the mean-spirited, yet darkly comic, thriller BIG BAD WOLVES. “An unforeseen future nestled somewhere in time. […]
Legendary Hong Kong Actor Anthony Wong’s Lastest Project Needs Your Help
Anthony Wong (aka Wong Chau-Sang/ Anthony Perry) is a familiar face to lovers of classic Hong Kong cinema. Whether it’s due to facing off with Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung in John Woo’s two-fisted tale of bullet-ridden mayhem “Hard Boiled”, as a noble policeman in (the film that inspired Scorsese’s “The Departed”) “Infernal Affairs”, as the murderous psychopath in “The Untold Story”, or literally hundreds of other roles- Wong is a bonafide legend of that once great film industry. As you may know though, due to increased control (and censorship) from the mainland Chinese government, it is nearly impossible to get any film projects funded in Hong Kong. It has been even harder for Wong who has lost much of his acting opportunities due to his strong support of the pro-democracy protests that have occurred in Hong Kong the past few years. Things became so dire for him that he […]
PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND Review: Trapped in The Subjectiveness Of Art
In a 2016 documentary about his life and creative process, there is a scene where filmmaker Sion Sono shows a barely completed painting, that he had been working on for months, to the crew filming him and asks dispassionately if they think it’s good art or not. The off-camera interviewer, clearly confused by the sudden and direct question sputters out that he doesn’t know. Sono sharply responds that it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad and that it only matters if it expresses emotion. He then chucks the large canvas across the room with as much care as one throws a soiled tissue into the trash. This peculiar moment reveals a lot about how Sono views his work and it’s all I could think about after I watched his latest directorial effort, the post-apocalyptic “East meets West” mashup, PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND. The film, which marks the English language […]
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