News

BIRTH OF THE DRAGON: Phillip Ng Unleashes A Beat Down In A New Clip

I’m pretty certain director George Nolfi least expected to poke the hornet’s nest going into 2017 with his latest Bruce Lee biopic, Birth Of The Dragon. However, I half-digress, as Nolfi told Netshark in an article just short of a week ago that his intention was to simply a fun kung fu movie akin to that of the seemingly folkloric franchise workup of the title role of Ip Man portrayed by action star Donnie Yen. Personally, being an Ip fan, I would have been okay with that were it not for the fact that Groundswell Productions had been pushing it as a film based on a real-world event long before cameras were rolling, and now with the film’s star, actor and martial artist Phillip Ng, expressing his own wish to do the late film and martial arts legend justice. Needless to say, messaging made all the difference here and the […]

THE ADVENTURERS Lands At Well Go USA

Lee B. Golden III

To say that Well Go USA has been on a roll this year with Asian acquisitions is a certified understatement. I’m optimistic going into next year for that reason but for fans looking forward to the release of Stephen Fung’s latest nod to John Woo in The Adventurers, with any luck the wait won’t belong. The Adventurers tells the story of an ex-con/thief who steals two priceless jewelries at the Cannes Film Festival. After his recent release from prison, infamous thief Cheung Tan (Andy Lau) plots a heist with his partners Xiao Bao (Tony Yang) and Ye Hong (Shu Qi) to steal precious jewels in Europe, while French detective Pierre (Jean Reno), who has been hot on Cheung’s trails for many years, must capture this gang of thieves on one draft. The film is due for an August 11 release in China while it’s reasonable to believe that Well Go […]

NAMHANSANSEONG: 17th Century War And Politics Collide In The Official Teaser Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

I’m almost certain director Hwang Dong-Hyuk’s new period drama, Namhansangseon, will be re-titled with a more international appeal by its September theatrical release. Until then, that’s the name of the film as it so reads on author Kim Hoon’s 2007 Hakgojae novel publication, set amid the warring 17th century Joseon era. Actor Park Hae-Il leads the cast as a King now under siege by Qing forces and forced into hiding in his moutain fortress where his two retainers, played bg Lee Byung-Hun and Kim Yun-Seok, both butt heads in their philosophies and ideals on how to deal with the Qing soliders; One wants to negotiate while the other wishes to fight head on. It’s pretty much an epic deadlock and the latest teaser trailer illustrates that in sweeping fashion. Check it out!

HASEENA PARKAR: Catch The Gripping Trailer For Apoorva Lakhia’s Brutal Crime Biopic

Lee B. Golden III

Real-life wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim’s legacy has loosely served as the basis for compelling crime stories in over a decade. Director Apoorva Lakhia’s own film, Haseena Parkar, is just the latest to surface and with none other than actress Shraddha Kapoor making the clear cut case in signature fashion for her debut performance in the title role as the elusive crime lord’s now late sister. Popularly known as “Aapa”- a name that sent shivers in Mumbai’s Nagpada area, HASEENA PARKAR is a true story based on the life and times of the sister of India’s Most Wanted Man. The film charts her journey from a young girl to a mother of four to the Godmother of Nagpada across four decades in the Maximum City. The Hindi crime thriller opens on August 18 from Swiss Entertainment with actor Siddhanth Kapoor and Ankur Bhatia also starring. A trailer arrived just shy of […]

Jared Leto Reportedly Eyeing BLOODSHOT For Sony

Lee B. Golden III

With Sony Pictures still brewing their Valiant Comics slate, this week’s update now has actor Jared Leto up for the title role of Bloodshot in a new feature adaptation. Dave Wilson, Deadpool director Tim Miller’s partner at Blur Studios will be making his feature debut as of March with Original Films’s Neal Moritz and Toby Jaffe producing with Valiant’s own Dinesh Shamdasani. Upon confirmation, Leto’s role will see him as Angelo Mortalli, a ruthless mob enforcer ensnared by both the family and the Witness Protection program, only to be subject to an experimental program involving the use of cutting-edge nanites to reconstruct his brain and body, turning him into a superhuman killing machine equipped with enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and healing. Bloodshot was created by Kevin VanHook, Don Perlin, and Bob Layton in 1992. Matthew Vaughn and Jason Kothari on as executive producers. The film is just the second of a five-film plot building […]

Lionsgate To Expand ‘John Wick’ Universe With BALLERINA

Lee B. Golden III

If you think Lionsgate is done blowing your collective minds into the stratosphere and beyond with all things John Wick, you couldn’t be more wrong. Point in fact, with a comic book and a television series spin-off brewing, it turns out that the studio is ready to make the world of the titular assasin a whole lot bigger. The word now is Ballerina – such is the title of the script acquired by Lionsgate in a bidding war against other studios last week. The project is described as a tonal nod to Luc Besson’s 1990s action movie fervor with La Femme Nikita, but with a more pulpy, hyper-stylized treatment akin to the work of Quentin Tarantino or Matthew Vaughn. Story details haven’t been made public, save for the plot generally centered on a young woman raised as an assassin and subsequently sets out to murder her family’s equally trained killers. […]

Ric Roman Waugh To Call The Shots As ANGEL HAS FALLEN Lands Director

Lee B. Golden III

Saban Films is poised to release the new crime thriller, Shot Caller, on August 18 in theaters following its current availability on demand. For this, keep an eye out for more news thereafter regarding the film’s director, Ric Roman Waugh, who reportedly just landed Millenium Film’s trilogy finale, Angel Has Fallen. Actor Gerard Butler will reprise the role of secret service agent Mike Banning who now finds himself the target of killers while aboard Air Force One. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, who wrote the first two titles in the trilogy – Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen – were last attached to pen the script. Morgan Freeman will also return to the role of Alan Trumbull who was Speaker Of The House in the first film and U.S. Vice President in the second. Butler is producing the film via his G-BASE banner next to Alan Siegel and Danielle Robinson, and […]

Sony’s SON OF SHAOLIN Enlists ‘Dope’ Director Rick Famuyiwa

Lee B. Golden III

The past year has been stirring a bit with Sony Pictures getting in on some kung fu action with the hopeful adaptation of Top Cow/Image Comics publication, Son Of Shaolin. The novel is heading to shelves in September and the project has since landed in the hands of Seven Bucks Productions whose own Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia from Seven Bucks Productions will produce. Casting has yet to begin but the latest report from Deadline quells any talk of Johnson having a role while what IS official is the news of Rick Famuyiwa in talks for the project. Famiyiwa once circled to helm Warner Bros.’s The Flash and is the man behind the 2015 comedy that stands equally in effect to its title, Dope. The plot and story are nil while the film is being hoisted as a contemporary martial arts movie that pays tonal homage to Hong Kong action […]

Chadwick Boseman Sends His MESSAGE FROM THE KING In The Official Netflix Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Marvel’s latest endeavors to promote the new film, Black Panther, have done wonders for actor Chadwick Boseman in lieu of his other new forthcoming title, Message From The King from director Fabrice du Welz. The Netflix-bound crime drama is due for an August 4 release and the streaming company has launched its official trailer for the film which also has Teresa Palmer, Alfred Molina and Luke Evans starring. After suddenly losing all contact with his younger sister, Jacob King (Chadwick Boseman) arrives in Los Angeles determined to track her down. Trying to piece together her last known movements, King finds unsettling evidence of a life gone off the rails – drugs, sex and secrets in the sleazy underbelly of the City of Angels. Undeterred by warnings to go home, King proves to more than a match for the violence he is confronted with as he relentlessly pursues the truth about […]

THE NIGHT COMES FOR US: ‘Ito’ Peeks Out Of Joe Taslim’s Instagram For The New Crime Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Lest you forget about writer and director Timo Tjahjanto’s solo directorial debut, The Night Comes For Us, more updates are still to come. Production on the film wrapped back in March on the pic with a near-seven year evolution in its wake before starting in December 2016. With a Jakarta shoot 76 days in, it will be a while before we get to see some official jewels from production which has actor Joe Taslim (Furious 6, Star Trek: Beyond) making his debut. For now though, we have a new grab on display at Tjahjanto’s Instagram which you can view below featuring Taslim in character. Taslim plays Ito, a gangland enforcer arriving from his stint at abroad and home to his crime family in Jakarta only to find himself caught in a web of turmoil, treachery and violent upheaval. Reuniting with Taslim is action star Iko Uwais following their appearance together […]

Kitamura’s New Horror Thriller, DOWNRANGE, Aims For 2018

Lee B. Golden III

Pardon me while I continue to hopelessly wait for a sequel to Kitamura Ryuhei’s 2000 smash hit, Versus. Needless to say though, I’m glad he’s still on the move having last adapted Lupin III for the screen prior to his late 2016 attachment to home invasion thriller, Doorman, which interestingly got no movement at all from what I’ve observed, which sucks because the premise is just fantastic. Pan over, however, to a new press announcement which talks of Kitamura’s new sniper suspense thriller, Downrange, for which he is also producing the film with Eleven Arts’s own Mori Ko (Lords of Chaos, Man From Reno, Uzumasa Limelight) and with Maki Taro (Motorway, Fulltime Killer) executive producing. In addition, Kitamura crafted the story with screenwriter Joey O’Bryan (Motorway, Fulltime Killer), which the presser describes as “a minimalist thriller with maximum tension” and promises to deliver “nonstop tension from its opening frame”. Read on via Horror Society: […]

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THE MARRIAGE PACT: Justin Haythe To Pen Psychological Thriller Novel Adaptation For Fox

Lee B. Golden III

New York Times bestselling author Michelle Richmond’s new psychological suspense novel The Marriage Pact, gets published on July 25 courtesy of Random House’s Bantam label with foreign editions to be made available thereafter. In its wake, a film adaptation will now arrive with word that 20th Century Fox has nabbed the feature film rights for Justin Haythe to adapt screenplay with Chernin Entertainment producing. In The Marriage Pact, after receiving an enticing wedding gift, newlyweds Alice and Jake decide to join an exclusive and mysterious group known only as The Pact. The goal. of The Pact seems simple: to keep marriages happy and intact. However, the young lovers are about to discover that for adherents to The Pact, membership, like marriage, is for life. For Jake and Alice, the marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare. 20th Century Fox’s Kira Goldberg will oversee the project for […]

THE HIT LIST: July 24, 2017

Lee B. Golden III

My weekend was exciting at the start. It was also kind of hilarious due to a rather odd exchange on Sunday involving trolls on my fanpage. Annoying and intolerable but…it comes with the territory. What can I say? Trolls are lame… Stunt players? Not so much, and once again we take another week to celebrate their genius and thrilling work in another installment of The Hit List packed with feats of stuntwork and independent action on film kicking things off with a Vimeo upload courtesy of Felix King. The playlist beneath rolls onward with reels by David “Dax” Bauer, Jessica Bennett, Kyle Potter, Jason Elwood Hanna, Robert Steven Brown, Reuben Maldonado, Daniel Hargrave, Jay R. Adams, Alex Skelly, Entony Ruscetta, Samantha Huffmann, Omid Zader, Chris Silcox, Adam Lavender, Troy “Smalls” Neault, Kaanchana Kerr, and Guiness World Record holding BAFTA winner and stunt pioneer, Vic Armstrong. There isn’t much as far as […]

James Bond Returns To Theaters In 2019

Lee B. Golden III

News and headlines regarding the development of a new 007 movie have been pretty eventful. Damage control took a bit of effort before actor Daniel Craig eased back and switched gears toward reprising the title superspy character of James Bond after four films and other updates as of late are starting to make things seem optimistic. That all comes in the wake of talk and hype over a possible female take on the character and as things stand, nothing is solid just yet in terms of casting. Of course, Craig may very well have nabbed the role once more for fifth film but we won’t know for sure until the announcement is made, although what is being made official are as follows: James Bond will return to US cinemas on November 8, 2019 with a traditional earlier release in the UK and the rest of the world. Bond 25 will […]

Jung Byung-Gil’s THE VILLAINESS Lands An August 25 U.S. Release!

Lee B. Golden III

Director Jung Byung-Gil has come quite a ways since hitting theatrical and festival screens with his latest female driven action thriller, The Villainess. The film eventually earned the experienced stuntman-turned-filmmaker the Daniel E. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema at the 16th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), and rewardingly in the days since the Japanese remake of his 2012 hit crime thriller, Confession Of Murder, became a hit with Irie Yu at the helm. The Villainess marks actress Kim Ok-Vin’s debut lead role following two months of intense training and a 70-day filming period – 63 of which included action shots in which she performed nearly all of her own stuntwork. Not for nothing either in that many a pull quote have rendered her performance as one of the best in the genre by far out of South Korea and proving she and Jung make a marketable pair […]

PARADOX Breaks Out The Big Kicks And Meat Cleavers In The New Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Rest assured, the martial arts fan demographic is still reeling over catching Tony Jaa aligned with some of the best of the best in Jesse Johnson’s upcoming thriller, Triple Threat. That film comes in 2018 and its going to be a sight to see when it arrives while this year has already proven itself fruitful in its promise for the genre with films like the new action crime pic, Paradox, opening next month in theaters and now has a new trailer to show for it. The film marks Wilson Yip’s return to the helm for the project, also branded as an addition to the non-linear Sha Po Lang saga of crime titles with Jaa joining actors Louis Koo and Wu Yue for the story of a Hong Kong cop whose tumultuous search for his missing daughter exposes a bigger conspiracy when footage of her kidnapping is uploaded to the police […]

THOR: RAGNAROK Invites More Buddy Comedy To The Superhero Hype In The New Comic-Con Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Marvel’s trajectory on the big screen has only ever gotten cooler these days, and especially with director Taika Watiti at the helm on Thor: Ragnarok. The film debut a second trailer for the comic-con crowd in San Diego over the weekend and subsequently online and while it wasn’t the only Marvel movie to peek out from behind the curtain, if the first trailer from April hasn’t sold you by now, perhaps this one will earn your favor. Beyond that, my hands are tied. In Marvel Studios’ ‘Thor: Ragnarok’, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him […]

JUSTICE LEAGUE Nails It With The New Comic-Con Sneak Peek Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

The earlier trailers for Zack Snyder’s latest film, Justice League, haven’t been all approving despite attempts to keep the energy and excitement high (Godsmack’s “Come Together” was a nice added touch last time). Needless to say, just splashing our heroes onto the screen hasn’t really been enough for a lot of positive feedback to stick and this, coupled with Joss Whedon’s entry to help finish the film following Snyder’s own departure for personal matters have certainly added a pinch of uncertainty. Thus, this latest hat trick being from Warner Bros. Pictures for its DC Comics adapations is set for a November 17 release and amid all things Comic-Con this weekend, a fresh new trailer arrived online and right off the bat, you can instantly tell the change in tone and substance from before. We get glimpses of all our heroes opposite our current villain in Darkseid’s general, Steppenwolf, as he […]

READY PLAYER ONE Skids Online With A Brand New Comic-Con Teaser

Lee B. Golden III

Photo: EW Reactions were largely positive when fans of Ernest Cline’s 2011 bestseller, Ready Player One, learned that the film was heading for the big screen. Needless to say in the wake of a brand new Comic-Con trailer debut, expectations are reasonably held high with director Steven Spielberg at the helm, and Cline and screenwriter Zak Penn adapting the source material in slick and energizing fashion. The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides […]

THE DEFENDERS Hails A Coming War In The New Comic-Con Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

I was at a birthday party on Friday night. Not exactly the comic con scene but the evening well worth it, and I’m not too hung over to talk briefly about the latest trailer debut for Marvel’s The Defenders which premieres on August 18. Eight episodes and counting await us as actress Krysten Ritter, and actors Charlie Cox, Mike Colter and Finn Jones all reprise their roles next to actor Scott Glenn and actress Elodie Yung, and the addition of Sigoruney Weaver as she peers over the New York City skyline so as to affirm her villainous grip. Rosario Dawson and Simone Missick are also reprising. “Marvel’s The Defenders” follows Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist. A quartet of singular heroes with one common goal – to save New York City. This is the story of four solitary figures, burdened with their own personal challenges, who realize they […]