Reviews
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.
NIGHT CALLER Review: Make Sure You Answer This Call
Telephone psychic Clementine Carter is pulled into a complex web of mystery when she receives a call from a serial killer. Predicting his murders before he commits them puts her into a terrifying game of cat and mouse. Enlisting the aid of her invalid father and clairvoyant co-worker, they must use their unique abilities to stay one step ahead of a maniac whose unspeakable acts in the present are nothing compared to his past and future.
DAY SHIFT Review: Jamie Foxx Battles Vampires in the latest Netflix Original
Okay, it’s not necessarily an across-the-board universal truth or anything but I think we can all agree that there’s a degree of sameness to a lot of Netflix originals. That was my main concern going into “Day Shift”. Being J.J. Perry’s debut feature, I’m guessing a lot of people reading this had similar concerns about what could go wrong with this film. In my case, I’m confident in saying that my concerns were coming from a completely different place. I was concerned less as a fan of action films and moreso as a diehard fan of the vampire movie subgenre. Luckily for me (and for everyone who is coming to “Day Shift”), those concerns turned out to be much completely unfounded and I ended up shockingly impressed.
THE SWORDSMAN Review: Choi Jae-Hoon’s Feature Debut Sets The Stage For Jang Hyuk’s Rising Starpower
2022 has been a banner year for actor Jang Hyuk who just recently toured his latest action thriller, Choi Jae-hoon’s The Killer, in Los Angeles, as well as in New York City where he donned his best charm upon receiving the Daniel A. Craft award for Excellence In Action Cinema at the New York Asian Film Festival last month. In good company, Jang and his team also managed to bring along another celebrated title to mark the occasion at the NYAFF with a screening of Choi’s 2020 feature debut, The Swordsman.
THE TERMINAL LIST Review: When A Hero’s Homecoming Creates Villains
Created by David DiGilio and based on a series of novels from author and former U.S. SEAL, Jack Carr, Amazon Studios debuted the eight-episode action drama, The Terminal List last month. The show centers on Lieutenant Commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) who is forced to take matters in his own hands when members of his team are murdered, and his family is assassinated.
Fantasia XXVI Review: For a Dose of Thrills, Make an Appointment with DR LAMB!
Fantasia International Film Festival
Fantasia XXVI Review: Short Films Short on Time but Not on Entertainment
One of the aspects of covering film festivals that I look forward to most is covering the short films that are shown. This year’s selection of shorts at the Fantasia International Film Festival did not disappoint. My friend and I now have new favorite directors to watch for and we have obscure lines we can quote from these shorts for a laugh. You should try to view these as well:
NYAFF 2022 Review: SHIN ULTRAMAN Delivers A Kaiju-Sized Good Time for Fans and Newcomers
The film follows the activities of Japanese Government organization “S-Class Species Suppression Protocol”, a task force dedicated to the elimination of kaiju threats, and primarily SSSP member Shinji Kaminaga (Takumi Saitoh), a strategy officer and former National Police Agency Security Bureau member. During an attack by one of these giant monsters, an unknown, silver humanoid giant appears and quickly dispatches the monster. Dubbed by one member of the team as “Ultraman”, the giant continues to appear to meet kaiju threats of escalating levels of danger. Through his regular disappearances during kaiju attacks, Shinji is quickly revealed to the viewers as Ultraman himself, wielding an alien technology called the Beta Capsule.
Fantasia XXVI Review: Takashi Koizumi’s THE PASS: LAST DAYS OF THE SAMURAI, An Exquisite Snapshot Of Tumultuous Japanese History
The late Ryotaro Shiba remains one of the most celebrated authors of his time, with his work standing front and center for many a film adaptation. Such is the case for his 1968 novel, Touge, adapted and directed for the big screen by Takashi Koizumi, who plies his trade once more – following a career that includes having worked as assistant director for the legendary Akira Kurosawa on films like Ran (1985) and Kagemusha (1980) – now with his sixth narrative feature, The Pass: Last Days Of The Samurai, under his belt.
STOWAWAY Review: Ruby Rose Hitches A Ride Less Thrilling
Stowaway streams exclusively on AMC+ beginning August 5.
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