News

Iko Uwais: WU ASSASSINS Movie In The Works, No Season Two

Lee B. Golden III

Actor Iko Uwais sat in as the subject of fellow colleague-turned-interviewer Scott Adkins to discuss the Indonesian’s star’s life and ensuing film and television career as of late via YouTube on Tuesday. The interview ended in part with Uwais confirming a feature film continuance of the hit Netflix series, Wu Assassins, was in pre-production with Roel Reiné (Black Sails, The Admiral) sitting in to direct. Many of the cast and crew for the film, including Uwais, upcoming Mortal Kombat star Lewis Tan, and actors Lawrence Kao and Juju Chan, have been teasing the news little by little via Instagram stories for followers. Uwais’ testimony, at the 45:30 mark, otherwise reaffirms the hints and bits of news that have surfaced in the last several months, including Chan herself who briefly discussed the show’s future in an interview with Prestige HK last November. Amid a raft of recent action-packed dramas with Asian […]

EXILED: THE CHOSEN ONES Director Teases ‘Apex Predator’, Announces Sequel Title [EXCLUSIVE]

Lee B. Golden III

Director Ranjeet S. Marwa’s newest thriller, Exiled: The Chosen Ones, remains in post-production with the team going over pages of notes of what to include and so forth. All hints at a release are tentatively looking toward Spring or the Summer depending on how things fluctuate, while Marwa continues to build his repertoire a bit for the 2021 seasons. He’s currently developing a new romantic drama which he’ll announce soon, and he’s also prepping a few more projects to round out the year, namely with Sunny Pang hitman thriller, Blind Rage. In the midst of all this though, it hasn’t hindered him, or his team any, from procuring any notions about a sequel to the aforementioned survival thriller, which wrapped additional photography in recent weeks. “The buzz around Exiled has been great so far.” says Marwa, who almost three weeks ago from this report, Marwa announced on The Movie Dojo […]

ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE Official Trailer: The Bell Has Been Rung!

Lee B. Golden III

The past few weeks have been a little more eye-opening for me, personally – in particular, the experience derived from having just seen Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice – Ultimate Edition which is streaming on HBO Max. It’s just above three hours, and for what it’s worth, it’s a treatment that handedly lends more to the overall tapestry of what was supposed to be a more vast, theatrical cinematic universe of DC Comics adaptations that began with director Zack Snyder’s inceptive Man Of Steel in 2013. And not for nothing either, apart from the hit-or-miss lay-up of DCEU movies out of Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema up to this point, along with the faltered finishing touch by long since-disgraced filmmaker Joss Whedon on 2017’s Justice League. While Patty Jenkins has successfully taken the reigns full-on with bringing Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman to life between two standalone movies […]

No Valentine? No Problem! Here’s A List Of Non-Traditional V-Day Films To Pass The Time!

Christina Ortega and 2 more

Ah, Valentine’s Day. The Hallmark holiday of romance when some may wish for flowers and candy and jewelry from their significant others, and some couples may end up spending their made-up holiday feeling disappointed if the romance game is lacking. Then there are the people who are single and somehow end up feeling bad for being alone. Can you tell I’m not a fan of this day? If you love someone, you should be kind and attentive any time, not just because a day on the calendar and the candy aisles at your local store tell you to do so, but maybe that’s just me. The point of this article, and yes, I do have a point, is to offer up some non-traditional films for you to watch on Valentine’s Day whether you are coupled or single. My other half, Cathy, contributed to the list as well, along with some […]

FACE/OFF Update: Wingard, Barrett Clarify Earlier Reports, Confirming Sequel Over Reboot Rumors

Lee B. Golden III

News broke a few days ago pertaining to trade news updates regarding a reboot of the 1997 action thriller, Face/Off. You’re Next and The Guest duo Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett were reported to “reboot” the original for Paramount with Wingard at the helm and since then, the two took to social media to clarify just what’s what. Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. updated his exclusive report on Thursday with word that a sequel is in the works for the John Woo-directed action thriller that starred John Travolta as a vengeful FBI agent whose desperate mission to close the book on his son’s death at the hands of a terrorist finds him fighting for his life and that of his family, when a bold face-swapping procedure to go undercover goes completely sideways. Wingard, who is currently at the helm for this year’s Godzilla VS. Kong, took to Instagram stating “I would […]

News Briefs: Artemis 2021, FACE/OFF Reboot Gets A Director; THE LAST OF US Casts Up; Dual THE THREE MUSKETEERS Adaptation Shoots; BULLET TRAIN Boards New Passenger

Lee B. Golden III

The 2021 Artemis Women In Action Film Festival is going virtual this year with a centered, thematic focus on The Artist, and will kick off from April 22nd to April 25. Details are available on the festival’s website where you may also link to this year’s extensive official selections in feature and shortform presentations, music, screenplays and more. David Leitch’s Bullet Train is on the way from Sony Pictures with none other than Sandra Bullock joining the cast of the Japanese novel adaptation about assassins who each find themselves aboard the same train. Bullock joins a cast headed up by Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, Michael Shannon, Logan Lerman, Masi Oka and Andrew Koji. (Deadline) Remember that Face/Off reboot announced back in 2019? Well, that project now has Adam Wingard attached to helm, joining longtime cohort Simon Barrett to follow up with a […]

Li Weiran’s THE YIN YANG MASTER Acquired By Netflix

Lee B. Golden III

Not to be confused with Guo Jingming’s latest currently on Netflix, next on deck with director Li Weiran will be The Yin Yang Master, having also landed home at Netflix with global exclusive rights (sans China) per the streamer’s announcement on Tuesday. The Yin Yang Master takes its cues from the popular mobile game, Onmyōji, reuniting Painted Skin: The Resurrection actors Chen Kun and Zhou Xun, as well as the two with producers of said film, Chen Kuo-fu and Chang Chia-lu. Additionally, the film will see the respective roles of Kun and Xun as the titular master himself, Qingming, and Bai Ni, as love interests, along with actor William Chan as Ci Mu, a sophisticated character that transforms from good to evil. In The Yin Yang Master, the world is on the verge of a devastating war with the monsters who are coming back to retrieve the Scaling Stone. Yin […]

Will Yun Lee Developing Martial Arts Drama LIONS IN THE GARDEN, Crime Series OVER THE SHOULDER For Newly Launched Seoul Street

Lee B. Golden III

The Good Doctor and Altered Carbon actor Will Yun Lee is paving the way to launch two new endeavors to inaugurate newly formed production outfit Seoul Street, with Wonder Street partners Christine Holder and Mike Holder, according to Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. Going forward, Lee will pen the script for period martial arts drama feature Lions In The Garden, with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) and Cortney Norris (Hightown). Kalogridis is joining Seoul Street in producing the pic, based on the true story of one of the first all-Black fighting martial arts teams of the 1960s and 70s which navigated the racial and systemic injustices of Southeast Washington DC, and became one of the dominate forces in the martial arts circuit led by Lee’s father, Taekwondo Grandmaster Soo Woong Lee. “The history of Koreans and Blacks has never been good, and there has been this mutual fear of each other,” Will […]

Screenshot_20210209-092111_Samsung Internet.jpg

NECK: Takeshi “Beat” Kitano To Finish Directing Career Off With Summer Start On Period Actioner

Lee B. Golden III

Barring any other expectations by fans of Takeshi “Beat” Kitano, the next stage for the cult filmmaking legend looks to be his final directorial outing, adapting his own novel, Neck. The new period actioner is based on Kitano’s 2019 Kadokawa publication, reportedly inspired in part by Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 jidaigeki opus, Seven Samurai, and is currently set for a May production start. Here’s Variety‘s Mark Schilling with more: The novel “Kubi” is one of many fictional treatments of the real-life Honno-ji Incident, in which famed warlord Oda Nobunaga was assassinated at a temple in Kyoto in 1582. The characters are mainly real historical figures, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Nobunaga retainer who avenges his dead lord in battle, and Sorori Shinzaemon, a Hideyoshi attendant noted for his wit. In Kitano’s novel, which starts prior to the assassination, Shinzaemon captures Araki Murashige, a Nobunaga general accused of disloyalty. The plot revolves around […]

GUNS OF EDEN: Gregory Lamberson’s New Indie Action Adventure Locks And Loads On Indiegogo

Lee B. Golden III

Writer and director Gregory Lamberson is currently campaigning his ninth and latest feature film, Guns Of Eden. Up-and-coming actress Alexandra Faye Sadeghian (Mr. Blue Shirt: The Inspiration) heads the cast line-up as listed on the film’s Indiegogo page which has a little under three weeks left as of this post. Here’s the wind-up and the pitch: Megan Forest, a cop in Buffalo, New York suffering from PTSD after accidentally killing a fellow police officer. Megan’s partner Jeremy persuades her to go camping with himself and two married friends, Blake and Gabriella. While hiking in the woods, Megan and Jeremy witness the execution of an unarmed drug dealer and are seen by the killers. Now all four campers are running for their lives, hunted by different factions of an armed militia. Lamberson is also producing the new independent action thriller which he’s billing as “a cross between DELIVERANCE and FIRST BLOOD, […]

ONE WAY: Storm Reid Joins Action Thriller With Colson “Machine Gun Kelly” Baker, Kevin Bacon And More As Filming Begins

Lee B. Golden III

Principal photography is officially underway in Thomasville, Georgia is for Golden Globe-winning actor Kevin Bacon’s new action thriller, One Way, with actress Storm Reid (Disney’s A Wrinkle in Time, Blumhouse’s Don’t Let Go) heading up a raft of new casting additions this week. Reid joins headliners Bacon (Black Mass, Mystic River, Showtime’s “City on a Hill”), actors Colson “Machine Gun Kelly” Baker (The Dirt, Project Power), and Travis Fimmel (Ridley Scott’s ”Raised by Wolves,” “Vikings,” Warcraft) with Andrew Baird (Zone 414) directing from a script by Ben Conway. Thomasville Pictures is producing One Way, which sees Baker in the role of Freddy, on the lam with a bag full of cash and near-fatally wounded after robbing his former crime boss. Slipping onto a bus headed into the unrelenting California desert, Freddy is soon betrayed after a call for help cues his estranged father (Bacon), who then informs his former ex-employer […]

PicsArt_02-05-04.18.24.jpg

FAST & LOOSE: Will Smith Toplines David Leitch Crime Drama Now Shopping To Major Studios

Lee B. Golden III

Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 helmer David Leitch will direct actor Will Smith in Fast & Loose, a crime drama currently being auctioned among studios and streamers. The move comes following a decision to shop the film around in the months since its initial development at STXfilms last April from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber (The Meg, Red, Red 2), no star, and with Leitch attached only as producer at the time news broke. After the leader of an upper-echelon criminal organization suffers memory loss from an attack, he reunites with his crew, only to find that things aren’t what he thinks they are. When John Riley (Smith) wakes up in Tijuana after being left for dead with absolutely no memory, he follows a string of clues to uncover his identity discovering he’s been living two different lives: one, as a super-successful crime kingpin, surrounded by beautiful women, […]

Chloé Zhao Primed For A Futuristic Sci-Fi Western Take On DRACULA At Universal

Lee B. Golden III

Chloé Zhao will take on Universal’s monster library with her own incarnation of Dracula, according to THR‘s exclusive on Thursday. Borys Kit writes, in part: Details are being kept in the coffin, but Zhao’s version is described as an original, futuristic, sci-fi Western. Themes of being on society’s fringes, something Zhao has tackled in her previous work, will course through the project’s veins. Zhao is best known for her recent work on Nomadland which earned four Golden Globe nominations, as well as Venice’s Golden Lion and the People’s Choice Award in Toronto last year – firsts, at that, and just a few among other awards in the past year. The move comes as part of Universal’s strive to boost its monster franchises having since recovered with Upgrade director Leigh Whannell’s pulsating horror revisal, The Invisible Man, which is currently streaming on HBO Max. “Chloé’s singular lens shines a light on […]

LAZARUS: R.L. Scott’s Inaugural Superhero Thriller Lands Exclusively On Tubi From February 26

Lee B. Golden III

Champion Road and Call Me King director R.L. Scott is finally getting its day with an official announcement for his newest dark superhero crime thriller, Lazarus. The news comes just as Scott works toward finishing up on Bora, a seductive new psychological road thriller that filmed last year amid lockdown safety protocols in California. Lazarus definitely one of the most long-awaited efforts from Scott as he’d additionally been plotting a course in the last several years to develop his own superhero franchise. All things considered, with any luck, this won’t be the last we hear from Scott going forward. Read on, and don’t forget to snag your access to Tubi for ad-supported entertainment. FOX Entertainment’s free streaming service will debut R.L. Scott’s feature film – starring Sean Riggs, Costas Mandylor, Aeriel Miranda, Shane Brolly, Nicki Micheaux, Noel Gugliemi, Linc Hand, Adamo Palladino, and R&B superstar Mya – in the U.S. […]

PLANET PRINCE 2021: Minoru Kawasaki To Reboot Toei’s 1958 Tokusatsu Classic

Lee B. Golden III

Classic alien superhero IP Planet Prince is getting a feature film reboot according to Sci-Fi Japan. Planet Prince 2021 is the current title for which Minoru Kawasaki, who is no stranger to out-of-this-world creature lore and zany monster spectacle with films like The World Sinks Except Japan, The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit, Monster Seafood Wars and Daikaiju Mono, has been tapped to direct. Kawasaki is also penning the script with Akihiko Kikawa, based on an original screenplay by late auteur Masaru Igami whose DNA with the franchise stretches as far back as the Planet Prince films, in addition to working on the Ultraman and Kamen Rider franchises to name a few. The film is billed as a revisal of Toei company’s classic black-and-white Showa-era Nippon Gendai and Senkosha-produced tokusatsu series which lasted 49 episodes for its run from 1958 and onward; The show was created fittingly […]

Steve Wang’s Long-Heralded DRIVE: DIRECTOR’S CUT Gets The MVD Rewind Treatment In May!

Lee B. Golden III

This week is a week of celebrating bygone action movie glory if you’re a collector of physical media from the good folks over at MVD Entertainment. More than twenty years since HKL/Medusa Communications advanced the home release efforts of Steve Wang’s own cut of the 1996 film, Drive, the company’s own Rewind Collection shingle are now offering their own spruced up edition of the director’s cut on Blu-Ray. The special features are listed below and if some of them read familiar to you any, chances are you’ve owned a copy of the HKL/Medusa print from 2000, and so there’s a very, VERY good chance that you know your friends and fellow film fans have reasons aplenty to be excited. Drive is a cult classic that pays dear homage to action movies in a multitude of ways, and was a festival darling for a time or two, and the unfortunate part […]

ACTION U.S.A. Gets A Re-Boost On Limited Edition Blu-ray In May From MVD Rewind

Last year, Vinegar Syndrome blessed us with a blu ray release of the lost action masterpiece Action U.S.A., a truly amazing spectacle of fantastic stunt work. Unfortunately, like many of Vinegar Syndrome’s releases, due to limited quantities, the release sold out fairly quickly, leaving many without the chance to see this legit action classic. But, thanks to the wonderful people over at MVD Entertainment Group, those individuals will now get a second chance! Announced today for a May release, we’ll be getting another awesome blu ray, and if you read my review over at Ultimate Action Movies, you already know I’ll be double dipping, due to how much I loved this movie. Check out the details below! Yes our friends at Vinegar Syndrome had a crack at this one with their limited edition release, but now it’s our turn! MVD REWIND COLLECTION #27 Coming May 11. 2021 ACTION USA: COLLECTOR’S […]

ARROW February Attractions: A GHOST AWAITS, MEATBALL MACHINE And More As The Streamer Officially Adds The UK To The Map!

Lee B. Golden III

The ARROW player is officially live in the UK, adding to the streamer’s availability which also extends to the United States and Canada. Thus, the streamer is proudly adding a small raft of new titles to enjoy, including Adam Stovall’s romantic comedy A Ghost Awaits, Bill Waterson’s Dave Made A Maze, and Yudai Yamaguchi’s splatterific 2005 pairing with Jun’ichi Yamamoto, Meatball Machine among others. If you’re not subbed to the service yet, then the official website is where it’s at; as always, folks in North America can launch their own 30 day free trial with subscriptions from either $4.99 monthly or $49.99 annually. Check it out and read on for what’s in store! ARROW Offers Classic and Cutting Edge Cult Cinema February Kicks off with Romance in A Ghost Waits Streaming February 1 Alongside Dave Made a Maze ARROW Now Available in the UK 30 Day Trial Available Alongside Monthly […]

SNAKE IN THE EAGLE’S SHADOW Blu-Ray Slithers With Its High-Flying Kung Fu Grip In March From 88 Films

Lee B. Golden III

It’s no overstatement to say or suggest the 1970s gave way to a bumpercrop of kung fu cinema legends, no less including Master Yuen Woo Ping whose 1978 kung fu comedy classic, Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow, has certainly stood the test of time. It was definitely a film that got me keen on invading my local video store’s Asian VHS isle on a near-regular basis following action star Jackie Chan’s phase-three breakout role in New Line Cinema’s Rumble In The Bronx, reigniting crossover kung fu fan fervor in the late 1990s. Since then, the film has endured a raft of physical media releases of various kinds and now, 88 Films is stepping up to the plate with its own committment to a Blu-Ray rollout of the film on March 29, bolstering its current collection of Jackie Chan classics. For all that and more, they’ve unleashed a brand new trailer […]

FOX VOLANT OF THE SNOWY MOUNTAIN Feature Adaptation Currently Underway From ‘Brotherhood Of Blades’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Production is currently under way as of January 3 over at Hengdian World Studios for Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain, based on the classic novel and IP of the same name by late renowned Chinese writer Louis Cha (a.k.a. Jin Yong). IQIYI is producing the film with director Lu Yang at the helm, marking the novel’s first adaptation for the silver screen. The story centers on Hu Fei, a talented young swordsman who ventures into deep cover among the gang of Eight Villains in order to avenge his father’s death. Acording to IQIYI’s announcement, the film aims to apply a modern take on a traditional martial arts tale for a “refreshing action-fantasy piece,” as well as “feature exhilarating martial arts and stunning visual effects,” having brought aboard the VFX team behind blockbuster hit, The Wandering Earth. Rao Xiaozhi (Cool Fish) is serving as co-producer with Ji Peng (The Untamed) […]