OPINIONS

Okay, Here Goes…

Trigger Warning: I talk opinion in areas pertinent to politics and criminal justice with respect to current events, and other matters of a sensitive nature. Typically around this time of the year I pick up my keyboard and start dillydalling between my thoughts and fingers on what to say in reflection of all that’s happened in the preceding year. I often look toward these write-ups with an air of optimism that by the holiday season, I’ll have a roster of things I can deliniate as points of positivity and progress to coat a lot of the hardship that usually comes with life and living. To tell you the truth, there’s very little that’s positive that I can defer to. That’s not to say they aren’t worth celebrating. I still have my parents, the people who I can – on some level or another – still call friends, what’s left of […]

MEGALOPOLIS Review: Was it worth it?

Mike Garcia

The pillars of the history of the seventh art have been cemented by dreamers with a vision doomed to failure. Men and women who persevered in bringing their vision forward so that their ideas would become reality, even at the cost of great sacrifices. Throughout the more than one hundred years since the creation of cinema, the industry has been nourished by these stories of overcoming and perseverance that have enriched the epic and legend surrounding the films. Without a doubt, Francis Ford Coppola belongs to a generation of filmmakers where taking a vision forward was synonymous with great deeds and sacrifices. The director has written his name in gold letters in the Olympus of filmmakers, and despite having achieved the immortality that only the world of cinema can grant to mortals, his image in the modern world has been left as that of a filmmaker from the past, who […]

Here’s To The Magic…

Lee B. Golden III

My thoughts on 2024, and the New Year that awaits us…

A Case For Better Action Movies: Bruceploitation, And The (Hopeful) Future Thereof

Shaun Williams

I spend 64 hours a day online like most people. Being permanently plugged into the Twitter-sphere (or whatever the hell it’s called these days), I’ve been lucky enough to see all types of reactions to Severin Films’ recent The Game of Clones box-set. This has led me to ask the inevitable question – “What’s the ideal audience for Bruceploitation?” Indulge me while I try to explain. Bruceploitation isn’t exactly widely beloved as a sub genre. I know die hard kung fu cinema fans who just can’t stomach the stuff. Why is this? Well, let me suggest something.You see, many people claim they hate the “clones” movies because they take a big, hefty dump on the legacy of Bruce Lee. And that’s fine. They are kind of inherently disrespectful. But then there are people that claim Bruceploitation films are just flat-out terrible. All of ’em. Weirdly, I think that, to an […]

A Case For Better Action Movies: For Chad Stahelski’s HIGHLANDER, Can There Be One More?…

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a reboot in the making since 2008 with Highlander taking the step to its long and eternal journey through development hell. With this, fans of the fantasy sword franchise fave are reveling in the news affirming Lionsgate’s commitment to the upcoming film as this week’s AFM events approach, according to Deadline‘s Andreas Wiseman. The film joins Man Of Steel and “The Witcher” series star Henry Cavill following his addition to the project in 2021, with none other than stunt multihyphenate and proven John Wick saga director Chad Stahelski, who some fans might even say has risen the bar when it comes to action direction, having led the charge with four movies totaling just under nine hours, all chronicling one former assassin’s quest for vengeance and redemption in a world – all its own – of organized crime. The four-part action saga, packed with enough breakneck fight choreography, gun-fu, […]

Bring This Back: YAWARA!

Lee B. Golden III

After helping lead the trendy delinquent schoolgirl subgenre in film and TV in the key cast for the live-action Sukeban Deka franchise, it was in 1989 when actress and recording artist Yui Asaka became the face of another hit IP. Adapting Naoki Urasawa’s manga and tankubon publication for Toho, director Kazuo Yoshida’s feature adaptation of Yawara! centers on Yawara Inokuma, a humble schoolgirl with dreams of homemaking and falling in love, aspirations she’s forced to contend with her love for judo and the unwanted spotlight it earns her in the sports world after using it to singlehandedly foil a robbery. The film joined Asaka with a cast that also included Keiju Kobayashi in the role of Jigoro, Yawara’s legendary grandfather whose stubbornness supersedes him regularly in his attempts to set the stage for Yawara’s hopeful grand debut in the sports world. Actress Yorie Yamashita starred as Sayaka, the daughter of […]

THE KILLER: Is Jang Hyuk’s Latest A Knock On Hollywood’s Door?

Lee B. Golden III

At some point, you have to wonder just when actor Jang Hyuk will make his crossover into Hollywood. The best or rather closest inflection point at one time would have been his latest action thriller feature, The Killer, believe it or not. Enter South Korean sensation Jang Hyuk who plays a notorious hitman who’s long since found happiness in a quieter, much more idyllic life as a married man with a business and his own home office. Tasked by his vacationing wife to watch over his friend’s daughter, it isn’t long before the young rebellious girl finds herself in danger, with our hero thrust once more into action to rescue the girl by any brutal, bloody and violent means necessary. The film is chock-filled with stirring and slick action and brutality with Hyuk and filmmaker Choi Jae-hoon now two-for-two since 2019’s The Swordsman. Par for the course is our anti-hero’s […]

A CASE FOR BETTER DC MOVIES….And Fandoms

Lee B. Golden III

As hard as it is to keep up with superhero lore in movie news, it is also intriguing to observe over time. Updates on development, creative choices, and casting can read as nothing more than “leaked” reports or merely suggest insight from otherwise unnamed “sources” and frankly, it’s all just bullshit to take with a grain of salt until the trade reports are published, the IMDb pages get updated, stills are distributed and a trailer is released. That’s the approach I’ve taken, although I rarely speak on superhero films until I feel like throwing my hat in the ring, and so before we segue into a new year, after one in which we’ve now born witness to some of the most divisive events on a corporate level to ever affect consumers on a massive scale since the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, I thought I’d chime in. At least before […]

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My Last Words On A Convicted Child Predator

Lee B. Golden III

MAY 17, 2022: Film blogging is great…well, it can be. Even if it isn’t the most paying gig. I do this out of a certain love along with a kind of necessity for some fulfillment, and part of that includes getting to meet some of the people I write about on this website which I’m privileged to share with Eileen Cruz and the rest of my PopGeeks counterparts. Leave it to a chance meeting one evening back in early 2016 right here in New York City with two of the co-stars of Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange, including now former celebrity martial artist and actress Zara Phythian while at a Starbucks (and no, I’m not a Starbucks person, but the location was the most convenient place at the time, and I’m not a fan of their lattes). I thought I struck gold when I got to sit for a bit with […]

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“KICK STARTER” – An explorative insight into the lesser-known kickers of film and cinema.

Vance Ang

When it comes to combat, and more specifically martial arts there is a certain exotic appeal to one specific element – kicks. Despite the visibility of grappling thanks in no small part to the prevalence of MMA these days, there is something spectacular about seeing kick techniques demonstrated with real expertise. Though the practicality of high kicks in real combat is always debated, those that can utilize their feet and legs as weapons is no doubt an impressive feat (no pun intended) Yet, this piece does not aim to highlight those kicks already within the mainstream consciousness: ofcourse, Bruce Lee had his famous burst sidekick; Chuck Norris had his signature roundhouse kick; Jean Claude Van Damme had his graceful 360 spin kick; Phillip Rhee had his devastating spinning back kick; Dolph Lungren had his Kyokushin leaping thrust sidekick; whilst daring stars like Scott Adkins, Joey Ansah, Mark Strange, Mark Dacascos […]

POINT KARATE: Analyzing The Recent Interactions Between Frank Dux And Viking Samurai

Vance Ang

So you might not have known but Frank Dux, the real life inspiration for the 80s action classic ‘BLOODSPORT’, recently had some choice words for popular content creator, VIKING SAMURAI (VS) aka David K. In the last few days VS has addressed this (with the video link below) and I am compelled to do the same. As a means of transparency, I do preface this by saying that I am indeed a devotee of VIKING SAMURAI’S (VS) content and concede that a future collaboration between VS and myself is in the works. And by that same token the nexus with VS, does prompt me to present some form of analysis that portrays VS in a more relevant view – given recent circumstances. Even upon the weight of evidence that is so easily accessible, it is clear enough (at least to me) to identify deficiencies in the claims made against VS […]

Now Available: Simon McQuoid’s MORTAL KOMBAT, A Review Afterword

Lee B. Golden III

It was less than a quarter of a century since fans of the first Mortal Kombat movie in 1995 who had high hopes that its sequel would fare well a few years later, would see any progress pertaining to a third installment. By this past April and just a little earlier in several countries around the world, fans finally got their wish with the arrival of a new live-action reboot, following weeks of fan-driven hype over the film’s red-band trailer generating millions of views and becoming the most-viewed red band trailer in history. It was a moment I relished and reveled as one of success and shared jubilation, with fans who’ve waited years after a two-season webseries by Machinima fell by the wayside when its third season never aired. I shared in the blanketed, blinding excitement of knowing that action cinema greats Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada were gonna play […]

Happy Birthday Scott Adkins!

Lee B. Golden III

For some, it was his earlier TV appearances like in Mutant X or EastEnders. For others, it was through his burgeoning film career in titles like The Accidental Spy or Extreme Challenge, or eventually emerging as a more standout actor in films like Black Mask 2: City Of Masks or Isaac Florentine’s Special Forces. It was the latter for me. Certainly, it was one of the handful of VHS tapes and DVDs I rented back when video stores were a thing – some of which at the time were converted to DVD rentals. It was a time from before and after I landed in the hospital for six months in and out in 2003, due to residual injuries resulting from pedestrian accident in which a car ran me down on the sidewalk and broke my leg in six places down to my foot, when most of my time was spent […]

THREAT LEVEL MIDNIGHT: Seven Great Lessons For Filmmakers (Seriously)

James Couche

This year marks the tenth anniversary of Steve Carrell’s exit from the wildly popular (and perpetually streamed) sitcom, The Office. After seven seasons of good natured mayhem, Michael Scott was preparing to leave the Scranton, PA branch of Dunder Mifflin forever, but not before one final loose end was to be tied up; the premiere of his indie action masterpiece, “Threat Level Midnight”. First revealed as a B-plot in season two when the employees stumbled upon (and did an impromptu table read of) its script, TLM would continue to be mentioned and teased throughout the following seasons. At the request of Carrell himself, “Threat Level Midnight” was made a reality for the whole world to see. This is the story of super-agent Michael Scarn (Michael Scott), a man with a history of saving the All-Star games of various sports leagues from the evil Goldenface (Jim Halpert). But everything falls apart […]

A Lookback At UPGRADE: Come For The Premise, Stay For The Action

Abra Burkett

Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade is what happens when you mix together The Matrix, the Terminator series, pretty much any of sci-fi story involving AI, and a splash of Donna Haraway’s “The Cyborg Manifesto”. The film takes place at some point in the future, and focuses on Grey, who has become a paraplegic after a car accident and an attack. He is implanted with a chip that gives him the ability to use his limbs again. This is especially ironic given that Grey is someone who prizes the human effort put into manual labor. We know this because he was formerly a car mechanic who specialized in fixing old cars that, unlike most of the cars in this future world, still require a person to drive them. That Grey now requires the use of AI to even function as a fully-fledged human being is slightly tragic. The chip, known as STEM, is […]

This Has Not Been Easy…

Lee B. Golden III

Since I started writing (or at least trying to write) this article in an effort to get my nerve back with posting and reporting again, my family and I were close to a week since the death of my sister, Dr. Isis Lee-Marie Golden. She was an inspiration to many people in her life who were fortunate to know her – of course, none more fortunate than myself, my mother and father, for whom she was the absolute pride and joy. My sister, who died at her residency on the morning of April 7 in Lansing, Michigan, has to be the darkest chapter we’ve ever faced, and we’ve had some pretty damn dark ones. While her death wasn’t the only personal tragedy I’ve had to live with, because until last week, we were four. And now, we are three. My emotions were in a constant state of flux, and because […]

Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Universal Soldier"

UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: A Revisit Of The Luc Devereaux Saga, And Learning To Move Forward

Brandon Streussnig

In a sequel-heavy landscape, the age old idea that a follow up could never be as good as the original has been dispelled over and over again. It’s fairly common for the third, fourth or even fifth entry in a franchise to be somebody’s favorite. Still, after the disastrous follow up to Roland Emmerich’s Universal Soldier, one could be forgiven for assuming that any further installments wouldn’t be worth seeking out. I was one of those people. I spent quite a few years seeing DVD covers featuring the weary faces of JCVD and Dolph Lundgren leering back at me in video stores and would chuckle to myself and move on. It wasn’t until I dove headfirst into action cinema, DTV action and all things Scott Adkins (and with a healthy dose of rave reviews from film fans I trusted) that I finally gave these a look. Never in my wildest […]

Here’s A Movie Idea: How About THE DEADLIEST MAN ALIVE?

Vance Ang

‘BLOODSPORT’ serves both as guilty pleasure as well as ideal 80s nostalgia. It is the equivalent of cinematic comfort food, and for many this dish served up our first glimpse of the martial arts tour-de-force, Jean Claude Van Damme. The somewhat mystical tournament setting, the great Stan Bush dominated soundtrack and the hilarious inclusion of Donald Gibb (aka Ogre from ‘REVENGE OF THE NERDS’) made this essential viewing back then and still to this day. Although the film is fondly remembered, the basis for the alleged true story has since proven to be largely false. Over the years, the claims made by Frank Dux about his victory in a secretive underground tournament were shown to be exaggerated, as was much of other aspects of his life. Regardless of the fanciful faux extraordinary life of Frank Dux, he is now as much a part of pop culture as he is ongoing […]

THE JADE PENDANT Review: True Love Stained in Racial Hatred

Mike Garcia

The plot of this film leads to one of the darkest days in American history, the largest lynching ever occurred in the stars spangled banner country, an event that happened in Los Angeles Chinatown back in 1871, when an angry mass stormed through LA chinatown, lynching every chinese citizen that stood on their way killing an estimated 18 to 20 chinese immigrant having no consequences for it. (The best TV series that you are not watching, “Warrior” did an excellent ficticional recreation of this happening on their second season) However, this movie only uses that incident as excuse to tell a corny love story that revolves around a girl (Carmen Lee) who arrives to San Francisco running away from an arranged marriage in Guandong, her hometown and a cook (Godfrey Hao), who´s expecting to get rich in the gold rush. Their love story leads to the Chinatown massacre. The […]

WONDER WOMAN 1984: Coping With Loss (And Sexism) With Comic Book Movies

Christina Ortega

I usually try not to form an opinion about something before I’ve experienced it myself. It is a bit harder, though, to go into an experience (a movie, for example) without my thoughts already formed based on opinions and reviews and comments I’ve read online. I don’t go looking for these things, but even just scrolling through Facebook, you can read chunks of articles without clicking links and skim a friend’s post without reading all of it. It is a new challenge to go into a film without others’ comments on your mind. But despite what I had read (only one or two of my friends liked the film), I still wanted to try Wonder Woman 1984 and make my own judgment. So I did. On New Years Day I shelled out the money to start a subscription to HBO Max (already planning what else I would watch to make […]