OPINIONS

REMAKE/RECAST: Robert Clouse’s ENTER THE DRAGON

So…last Monday saw some pretty explosive news pertaining to a remake of Robert Clouse’s 1973 movie, Enter The Dragon. And like clockwork, the internet has, once again, fallen into entropy. While responses have been a general mixture between likes, shares and retweets, actual commentary from folks have ranged from cautiously optimistic to wholly and purely cynical. Jokes pertaining to whitewashing with comments optioning Scarlett Johansson or Matt Damon have comprised much of the banter from critics of this latest update and one guy on my fan page voted that “we” should dig up dirt on attached director, David Leitch (Deadpool 2). Yeah… I don’t know what this “we” shit is about and I’m no muckraker, so you can count me out. More to the point though, personally I’ve always been a champion of remakes despite what some critics may suggest. You needn’t look further than my articles keeping up with […]

REMAKE/RECAST: Who Should Play ‘Kano’ In A MORTAL KOMBAT Film?

Lee B. Golden III

Actor and martial artist Darren Shahlavi left a gaping hole in the world of martial arts and cinema when he passed away on January 14, 2015 due to a rare case of Atherosclerosis. Before this, he was a vibrant, athletic, voracious talent who commanded the screen for years and years opposite the likes of Wu Jing, Gary Daniels, Eddie Murphy, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Donnie Yen, and eventually even coveting the role of criminal underground syndicate, Kano in Kevin Tancharoen’s webseries, Mortal Kombat: Legacy. The latter was especially a long-awaited one considering a third Mortal Kombat feature film installment remained stagnant for nearly fifteen years with late actor Trevor Goddard portraying the character in 1995. Alas, the good news is that apart from all prior news of litigation and despite many of the rumors being peddled by bloggers trying to get a leg-up on the fandom with “exclusives” that are […]

KICKBACK PODCAST: Chatting It Up Among Jackie Chan Fans

Lee B. Golden III

On Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of being one of a crowd of folks to offer soundbytes of nostalgia and appreciation for the work of action star Jackie Chan. This comes as the 11th episode of the Kickback Podcast with Chris Jones went live this week with a multitude of voices weighing in, including stunt performers, podcast hosts, film producers and even martial arts students therein. His podcast launch this year marks his latest move since I actually began covering him during his activity as a member of a Leeds-based martial arts stunt and film troupe titled SG Action. Prior to pivoting into other professions, the team performed on a number of amazing shortfilms as a unit collaborating with other creatives, including Andrew Kueh’s Prime Contact and hip-hop artist Dream McLean’s “Weatherman” music video/companion to Robin Schmidt’s triad action drama, Dog, on which Jones served as stunt coordinator. Jones […]

REMAKE/RECAST: Jung Byung-Gil’s THE VILLAINESS

Lee B. Golden III

I’ve thought long and hard about starting a new column but I was promptly inspired by a conversation from a Hollywood stunt coordinator who was compelled to post about director Jung Byung-Gil’s Korean thriller, The Villainess. The film sparked a fiery fandom ahead of its release but fell flat with a number of folks who saw the film and witnessed actress Kim Ok-Bin in her kinetic role as an assassin forged from childhood. The first question was obvious as to who would one cast for a potential remake, while the second inquiry focused more on whether or not race should be an issue. As a matter of disclosure, I picked choices like Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist) and Filipino-Irish/American stuntwoman Tara Macken (Ninja Apocalypse, Intensive Care), and followed up with a statement on the latter deferring to the rewarding factor of casting an Asian lead for a film that didn’t necessarily […]