Streaming Sleepers: In DON’T MESS WITH GRANDMA, Michael Jai White Saves The Day By Sunset!
DON’T MESS WITH GRANDMA stars Michael Jai White and Billy Zane, and is directed by Jason Krawczyk
Reviews
BY A MAN’S FACE SHALL YOU KNOW HIM (1966) Review: A Gangster’s Tale Of Unwavering Resolve
By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him comes to VOD, Digital, and Film Movement Plus on January 31. Late filmmaker Tai Kato is the latest centerpiece of Film Movement Classics’ VOD and digital releases for the first month of 2024. First up among a pair of titles forthcoming is By A Man’s Face Shall You Know Him, Kato’s 1966 crime drama starring Noboru Ando as a post-WWII medic-turned-doctor who reflects on his life of turmoil, heartache, and violence when an old friend is admitted as his patient. Fans of Showa-era productions like these might be more than familiar with Kato’s work, or even that of Ando or the actor’s own history as a former gangster in his heyday. The same can likely be stated with respect to the distinguishable scar Ando bares on his left cheek, which certainly makes Ando’s performance here an inspired one, it not enhanced. Optically, […]
RUNNING ON KARMA (2003) Eureka Blu-Ray Review: A Myriad Of Bewildering Excellence
Eureka Entertainment’s Running On Karma arrives on Blu-Ray on January 28. Order it today at the MVD Shop. Johnnie To and Wai Ka-fai’s Running On Karma hit me differently twenty years ago, so I wasn’t too keen on it. Nowadays my mind is more open to different types of films in the field I cover, and I’ve come to realize that it’s a film that holds a little something for several kinds of audiences. Andy Lau wears an albeit convincing muscle suit in his second role after donning a similar suit for a portly character in Love On A Diet, a 2001 rom-com from the same directing duo. The muscular build for the role Lau plays this time around takes a life on its own as an aspect to the inherently transformative nature of the story To and Wai proffer to viewers. The long and short? Lau stars along with […]
DEAD BEFORE THEY WAKE Review: Nathan Shepka Infiltrates Evil Sex Traffickers In A Near-Lifeless Crime Drama
Dead Before They Wake is now available on Digital Download I’ve come across the work of director Nathan Shepka prior to this year but his latest, Dead Before They Wake is my first real dive into his work. Shepka stars in the film which he also shares co-directing duties with Andy Crane, from a script Shepka wrote as well as produced under his own banner. The film is much ado with the kind of real world-driven storytelling in which human and sex trafficking is the underpinning that propels the story forward. Shepka plays Alex, a nightclub bouncer who is also known for doing favors for the right price, and people. Evan (Sylvester McCoy) is one such individual who approaches Alex one evening with a job offer: To search for a missing 14 year-old girl who is believed to have been enveloped into the city’s labyrinthine underworld of child sex trafficking. […]
THE DEVIL AND THE DAYLONG BROTHERS Review: A Revenge-Fueled Southern Gothic Fable That Hits All The Right Notes
The Devil and The Daylong Brothers opens in North American January 31, 2025 from Quiver Distribution. Brandon McCormick’s new film, The Devil And The Daylong Brothers, took me by surprise. It’s definitely one of those films I blindly went into a little bit, save for what I got from the trailer released last month from Quiver Distribution, and I can gladly assert how pleased I am from this latest watch. A Biblical dark fantasy fable in the American South lands us in the throes of three brothers, Ishmael (Brendan Bradley), Enoch (Nican Robinson), and Abraham (Jordan Bolden), sworn to damnation in the years since their father, Nehemiah (Keith Carradine), made a deal with the devil. In an effort to redeem their own souls, the Daylongs are contracted to kill their own extensive list of the Damned, traveling via their loyal Grace (a 1958 Chrysler Imperial), and leaving a trail of select bodies […]
JFF THEATER: UNDER THE OPEN SKY Review: Inspiring tale about the importance of a second chance.
After 13 years of imprisonment for murder, Misao Mikami, a middle-aged former yakuza, is released from jail, finding himself in a hostile society that treats him like a left-over, however, Misao will gather all his determination to put in good use this new opportunity that he has been granted in order to reach his redemption. “Under the Open Sky“, is an inspiring tale about the importance of second chances and the good use we put on them. The director and writer, Miwa Nishiwaka, lures the audience into the story of a conflicted man aware that the wasting time will never be retribuited, but who has been graced with a second chance to make the most of the time he has left. The film navigates into the dark instincts of someone who has been cursed by a past of violence, who this new opportunity will teach to be blessed by the […]
JFF THEATER: KEY OF LIFE: A touching trip of laughs and emotions
Since August 1, 2024, Japanese film fans are in luck as the Japan Foundation has launched a new streaming website, “JFF Theater,” through which they distribute Japanese films and other works worldwide, with multilingual subtitles and free of charge, with the intention of promoting Japanese culture and language learning. “Key of Life” is one of the films included in the platform, which will be available until February 1, 2025 and is part of a new collection on the platform that´s been called: “The twist and turns of life” that includes other films such as “Under the Open sky”, or “Her love boils water”, in a collection that according to the site, explores the unpredictable journey of human existence marked by moments of joy, sorrow, struggle and acceptance. The film, released in 2012, and directed by Kenji Uchida, with a cast made up of Masato Sakai, Teruyuki Kagawa and Ryoko Hirosue, […]
KINGDOM: RETURN OF THE GREAT GENERAL Review: Shinsuke Sato’s Latest Rages On In An Extant Tale Of High Drama And Heroic Bloodshed
Kingdom: Return Of The Great General is now streaming on Netflix in the U.S. Imaginably, if the rest of us outside of Japan got to see Shinsuke Sato’s Kingdom: Return Of The Great General, the film would have easily listed for many of us somewhere in our top favorite action titles of 2024. Interest be damned, however, the obligatory window still applies for titles like these, and now the film is finally streaming on Netflix as of Wednesday. Sato’s continued adaptation of Yasuhisa Hara’s celebrated manga-cum-anime fave re-establishes the cast of the franchise thusfar, led by Kento Yamazaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, and Takao Osawa, as well as Nana Seino. Additionally, the film also brings back actors Koji Kikkawa and Oguri Shun whose characters are introduced in the outro sequences of the previous chapter, Kingdom: The Flame Of Destiny. As Ohki (Osawa) prepares to lead the Qin army into its […]
Jackie Chan’s Last Dance At Action Comedy With PANDA PLAN Review
On 17th January the Martial Arts action legend Jackie Chan’s final outing in an action comedy film “Panda Plan” hits cinemas in the UK. I was honoured to be invited to the UK Premiere at the Vue West End and here is what I thought of JC’s last dance in action comedy. The film starts out with a bang indulging us with high tempo action sequences which leave you with hopeful thoughts for the remainder of the film. However, your bubble is burst when it is revealed this is just a movie set and Jackie is playing another re- incarnation of himself in the film. The plot is quickly explained in that he is adopting a social media famous Panda, however a rich Arab has other plans and enlists a group of mercenaries to capture the Panda for his own gains. Jackie arrives at the Zoo and has the opportunity to […]
MAN WITH NO PAST Review: A Tale Of Cyclic Vengeance That Checks Some Boxes, But Not All
Man With No Past will be available to buy on digital on January 14 by Republic Pictures (a Paramount Pictures Label). With thirty years of stunt work in the rear view, James Bamford has already begun the staunch effort toward directing, having already etched in a number of television shows next to his extensive stunt resumé. On the film front, fans of his work have been keeping tabs of Bamford whose debut at the helm heretofore was Shaina West starrer, Jade, which got its day in the UK last June. As of this publication, that film is nowhere to be seen in the states, which is a little bewildering to say the least, although his latest, Man With No Past, is a clear and pretty cool indicator that the man newly at the helm these days is still going strong. The concept executed is something of a different story depending […]
THE PROSECUTOR Review: Donnie Yen Knuckles Up And Adjudicates For A Winning Verdict
The Prosecutor opens in theaters on January 10 from Well Go USA. It is an exciting time to be a Donnie Yen fan – specifically for anyone who has kept up with the 61 year-old martial arts film star post-Wilson Yip’s Sha Po Lang, which hailed a resurgence of Hong Kong action full of gumption and bravado. It was the era of Flash Point as well, as Yen took to his team to showcase a performance of technique and dexterity that remains as fresh as it did to this day, building enough momentum for the actor to branch out a little further to other different roles on both sides of the lens. Fast forward to 2025 with the last few weeks signaling more local success with his latest project, The Prosecutor, which transitions to U.S. audiences this week from Well Go USA. Mixing action-packed crime thriller with courtroom procedural, The […]
MEGALOPOLIS Review: Was it worth it?
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 […]
HARBIN Review: The Measure Of A Man In A Time Of War And Subterfuge
Harbin is currently playing in select U.S. theaters from Well Go USA. Woo Min-ho is someone I’ve been slow to keep up with since I first caught wind of his 2015 political thriller, Inside Man. The good news is that some of his films aren’t intangible, so I can definitely catch them when I get time. As of late, that includes Harbin, Woo’s newest period assassin drama which chronicles the efforts of Korea’s rebellion against Japanese colonialism, led in part by Ahn Jung-geun, a lieutenant beleagured by a crisis of conscience following a fatal blunder at the cost of fighters, putting him under heavy scrutiny among ranks in the resistance. Intent on ameliorating his actions, it is then that Ahn makes the stern commitment to eliminate Japan’s first prime minister, Hirobumi Ito, as the empire looks to annex Korea. The effort entails evading Japanese soldiers while trekking between snowy rural […]
Streaming Sleepers: In THE BROKENHEARTED, A Bruising Redemption Tale That Goes Down Swinging
Fifteen years is probably long enough for someone like Leroy Nguyen to have lived and toiled through the independent film arena to garner a book publication one day. Whether or not that day comes remains to be seen, while his latest feature film makes the release rounds via Amazon on digital for rental or purchase with The Brokenhearted, a gritty new crime drama that is also poised to be his final bow. Black Scar Blues was the first time I’d really been able to get a hold of Nguyen’s work, and only because he reached out to me on social media three years prior to its release. The film gave me a really good handle on his cinematic vision which sets discernibly apart from other independent creatives with whom he’s collaborated – folks like Fernando Jay Huerto, Joey Min, and Joseph Le to name a few. The Brokenhearted is an […]
STREET TRASH Review: Ryan Kruger’s Audacious Cult Classic Reimagining
Lightbulb Film Distribution opens Street Trash in UK cinemas on January 10, and on digital and Blu-Ray on February 17. Straight horror isn’t usually my thing, so my only experience with J. Michael Muro’s 1987 cult classic, Street Trash, is an official trailer on YouTube. I watched it to have something to help gauge a little more the latest iteration directed by Ryan Kruger which, fairly, easily takes plenty of its cues from the original hit, and quite possibly delivers the goods on multiple ends. Kruger’s Street Trash lands us squarely in a dystopian version of Cape Town in South Africa, where we Ronald (Sean Cameron Michael), and his ragtag group of homeless streetmates, along with the newest addition of Alex (Donna Cormack-Thomson) who he rescues after she’s confronted by henchmen working for the Rat King. The two, along with fellow homeless mates Chef (Joe Vaz), 2-Bit (Gary Green), Wors […]
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO Review: An Epic And Satisfying Revisit To A Literary Classic
The Count Of Monte Cristo is now playing in theaters across the U.S. from Samuel Goldwyn Films. The last screen adaptation of famed author Alexandre Dumas’s The Count Of Monte Cristo was 2002’s release from director Kevin Reynolds. To say the least, while I enjoyed the film, it always felt like there was more missing to its treatment for such an epic tale to be told. Would it be a stretch to say that the time our dear protagonist Edmond Dantes spent on an island prison equate to the weight of having to wait as long as the rest of us did for something significant and impressive to come along from the film front? I reckon that it depends on your viewpoint and tastes in film, in general. Moreover, and personally, I certainly didn’t expect the latest French-language iteration from directing duo Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte to be […]
RED ONE – A Streaming Success Review
The latest film fair from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is slightly different to his usual action packed, muscle pumping, adrenaline rushing flicks. Instead, he delivers a festive feature which all the family can enjoy. Released early last month on 6th November in theatres it didn’t go to plan as the studio hoped, with it only making $82 million domestically. I think this was down to a number of factors one – it being too early for a Christmas film and two – the decline in cinema goers which is very sad to see. Either way DJ has been saved by the millions of streamers with the film breaking Amazon prime records with a 50 million streams debut. And I was one of those millions who sat down and enjoyed the Christmas tale with a twist. Here is what I thought of it. J.K. Simmons (Santa Claus) and […]
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: BMC Review
The Count Of Monte Cristo is a Samuel Goldwyn Films release. The film will play for audiences in Los Angeles and New York theaters beginning December 20, and will expanding to more than fifteen markets in the U.S. beginning on January 3. The last screen adaptation of famed author Alexandre Dumas’s The Count Of Monte Cristo was 2002’s release from director Kevin Reynolds. To say the least, while I enjoyed the film, it always felt like there was more missing to its treatment for such an epic tale to be told. Would it be a stretch to say that the time our dear protagonist Edmond Dantes spent on an island prison equate to the weight of having to wait as long as the rest of us did for something significant and impressive to come along from the film front? I reckon that it depends on your viewpoint and tastes in film, […]
Streaming Sleepers: Fede Álvarez’s ALIEN: ROMULUS Plants A Seed For Franchise Vitality
I don’t typically do horror, but I love a good, intense, well-made thriller in the various subsets of the genre. In particular, I love what Fede Álvarez accomplished with Alien: Romulus, which is currently streaming on Hulu. Cailee Spaeny was incredible in the front-and-center role of action heroine Rain Carradine, who along with adopted brother and Weyland-Yutani android, Andy, played by David Jonsson, pair up with a ragtag group of survivors to leave their unyielding work colony on LV-410 and head for the serene planet Yvaga. What they don’t know is that the abandoned station for which they’ve just commandeered is full of hibernating xenomorphs eager to do what they do best: Hunt and breed, using humans as incubators to kill and consume anything living or breathing, and in their way. I haven’t seen Prometheus or Alien: Covenant, so those are on my watchlist to take in at some point […]
A GOOD DAY WILL COME Review: Amir Zargara Dares You To Care
Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Amir Zargara is back with a new short after taking off with 2021’s Become The Wounded. I haven’t seen that one but the logline hints a great deal at the kind of filmmaker Zargara wants to be in front of the viewing public, something he remains clear about in his latest work, A Good Day Will Come. Actor and martial artist Sia Alipour plays Arash, a promising wrestler with a chance to flourish on the mat and climb the ladder as a contender for Olympic Gold. His career flourish also comes at a moment of sociopolitical upheaval with a spell of protests against the Iranian government and calls for accountability turning violent onto citizens. Additionally, Arash must contend with the potential consequences laid before him by his coach, whose own apprehension is drawn purely from political apathy. Things change however when the film takes a striking emotive turn, […]