Reviews
ACCIDENT MAN: HITMAN’S HOLIDAY Review: Scott Adkins Delivers One of the Best Action Films of 2022 with Hard-Hitting Aplomb!
Set after the events of the first Accident Man film, Accident Man – Hitman’s Holiday continues the story of Mike Fallon (Scott Adkins, who looks like he’s having the time of his life). After defeating the people that had betrayed him and killed his ex-girlfriend, he is in comfortable exile in Malta (the country that does NOT make Maltesers). He still does the odd hit on the side for monetary gain and has a drink at the bar every now and again.
Streaming Sleepers: In Jo Ba-Reun’s SLATE, Ahn Ji-Hye Crosses Worlds To Follow Her Dreams
I think a lot of us who watch and consume films featuring action and sci-fi and big-scale spectacle have done so largely due to our own inspiration from many of the screen heroes we’ve looked up to from the cradle. Filmmaker Jo Ba-reun’s latest, Slate, definitely takes some cues from that concept for this story, albeit indirectly, with none other than Ahn Ji-hye in her latest screen role after Han Ka-ram’s 2019 drama, Our Body.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: DEMIGOD – THE LEGEND BEGINS a Gorgeous, Action Packed Origin Story
Every legend has it’s beginnings, and some are more explosive than others. Packed with gorgeous, extremely animated puppetry work, effects that call to mind classic tokusatsu shows such as Super Sentai in the best ways possible, and an awesome score that heightened the feeling in each scene, DEMIGOD – The Legend Begins is a film not to miss.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: GIVE ME AN A, Natasha Halevi’s Hellish Assortment Of Horror And Dark Humor Sends A Message To All
Virginia Madsen plays coach to a team of cheerleaders who perform a jubilating screed against the patriarchy, inaugurating the brutalist, vividly gruesome, horrific and satirical multi-angular stories among the fifteen shorts told in Give Me An A, the latest feature-length call to action shepherded by writer/director Natasha Halevi.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: HEROES OF AFRICA: TETTEH QUARSHIE, A Thrilling, Mystical Look At A Real-Life Hero
Tetteh Quarshie remains a celebrated figure in Ghanian history for bringing cocoa crops to his region. The “how,” of course, was tentatively subject to scruitiny when local filmmaker Frank Fiifi Gharbin set out to adapt the late 19th century agriculturalist and blacksmith’s tale for his third feature film only to hit a legal snag with Quarshie’s family earlier this year ahead of a planned screening. That his film, Heroes Of Africa: Tetteh Quarshie, is circulating at festivals otherwise indicates that the film now checks all required boxes to satisfy the Quarshie estate, and with none other than Bernard Adusi-Poku starring in the title role from a script also by Gharbin.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS, A Love Story Wrapped In A Jubilee Of Zany, Cinematic Indie Wonder
October 3, 2022: Film duo Ryland Brickson Cole Tews and Mike Cheslik have already made strides in recent years with the harrowing 2018 adventure comedy Lake Michigan Monster, and judging by the looks of their latest endeavor, they’re clearly sticking to what works. For this, we turn to their dialogue-free Hundreds Of Beavers, marking Cheslik’s feature debut with Tews in a starring capacity for a rousing contemporary approach to a classic style of cinema, blending a little bit of everything you could enjoy while rooting for the underdog.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: MISSING, On Finding Closure With Cataclysmic Effect
Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics pertaining to suicide and depression.
Fantastic Fest 2022 Review: SOLOMON KING, A Runaway Blaxploitation Classic Worth The Upgrade
Deaf Crocodile Films has been on a roll this year with its slate of restored and remastered classics. One such title is the 1974 indie classic, Solomon King, directed by Jack Bomay alongside leading man Sal Watts in the title role, taking the mantle for an opportune move toward the zeitgeist of Blaxploitation cinema at the time titles like Hammer, Black Caesar and Black Belt Jones were the talk of the town.
Fantastic Fest XVII Review: AMAZING ELIZA, Exploring Trauma To Reveal A Bigger, More Peculiar Picture
As far as she’s concerned, Eliza (Jana San Antonio) is no ordinary girl. Point, in fact, she is thoroughly convinced that she is a superhero and that the only thing that sets her apart from her favorite comic book superhero is that she herself doesn’t have a dog…
Now On Tubi: In GREEN GHOST AND THE MASTERS OF THE STONE, A Palatable Fantasy Action Comedy Adventure For All
Writer/director Michael D. Olmos’ latest martial arts action comedy adventure, Green Ghost and The Masters of the Stone, quietly landed on Tubi sometime this week and much to my own delight as the film was previously given a very (and I mean VERY) limited theatrical run earlier this year.
Now On Hi-YAH!: Hugo Sakamoto’s A JANITOR Paints By Bloody Numbers With A Solid Assassin Crime Thriller
Disclaimer: This review discusses gun violence on school grounds.
BAD CITY Review: A Taut, Thrilling Yakuza Crime Procedural Signals Kensuke Sonomura’s Best Film Yet
Stunt and action multi-hyphenate and filmmaker, Kensuke Sonomura, came down the straightaway and into global festival circuitry earlier this summer, lending first eyes to audiences at Neuchâtel earlier this year for his newest crime pic, Bad City. Signing off on Sonomura’s second feature action film following 2019’s pulsating assassin thriller, Hydra, is renowned actor Hitoshi Ozawa, whose favor with moviegoers extends as far back as the early 1990s with the birth of the V-Cinema era. Ozawa (credited as OZAWA accordingly) also gets top billing here as writer and executive producer on the new film, which also weighs heavily with a cast of notable actors, including a few fan favorites. To that end, Sonomura smartly foregoes some of the visual martial arts stylings as seen in Hydra, constructing action sequences that are much more grittier to suit Ozawa’s screen caliber, albeit peppered with equally impressive stunt coordination and fight choreography throughout from select cast.
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