Reviews

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. Our pointman, in this case, is a happy-go-lucky 19th century drunkard and applejack owner named Jean Kayak (Tews), who finds himself out on his ass one day when he realizes his business has been destroyed. He’s forced to survive in the bitter and harsh elements of the wintery wilderness while struggling to keep warm against tempermental wind and trying to find ways […]

Fantastic Fest XVII Review: MISSING, On Finding Closure With Cataclysmic Effect

Lee B. Golden III

Trigger Warning: This review discusses topics pertaining to suicide and depression. I’ve covered actor Jiro Sato in mostly comedy roles since he first landed on my radar with Gintama, The Fable, the sequels to both, and eventually From Today, It’s My Turn!!. So, it’s definitely been rewarding to get to explore more of Sato’s dimensions in Siblings Of The Cape helmer and Bong Joon-ho vet Shinzô Katayama’s crime drama, Missing, in which he stars opposite young actress Aoi Ito, who’s been a burgeoning talent for nearly a decade now. The film is actually one of a few credits the two actors share together with the other being NHK series “Hikikomori Sensei”. I haven’t seen that show, although still, I reckon anytime actors reunite from a previous project, then it’s usually a good thing. At least here in Missing, it shows, with Sato and Ito in the respective roles of former […]

Fantastic Fest 2022 Review: SOLOMON KING, A Runaway Blaxploitation Classic Worth The Upgrade

Lee B. Golden III

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. Penned by Watts with a script storied by Jim Alston, Solomon King dives right into the thick of it when Hassan, a power-hungry sheikdom in an oil-rich foreign country, has usurped himself into power, marking the king and his daughter, Princess Oneeba (Claudia Russo), for death. With his brother Manny (James Watts) caught in the crossfire, CIA-trained nightclub owner Solomon (Sal Watts) is alerted to the latest attempt on their lives and is summoned to protect Oneeba upon […]

Fantastic Fest XVII Review: AMAZING ELIZA, Exploring Trauma To Reveal A Bigger, More Peculiar Picture

Lee B. Golden III

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… This is just part and parcel to the surreal goings-on we see in writer/director Sadrac González-Perellón’s new drama, Amazing Eliza. Slow-moving and pensive and sometimes chilling, the story toggles between several arcs, the second of which also centers on the troubled marriage between artist and gallery owner, Hector (Asier Exteandia) and his paraplegic wife, Ursula (Silvia Abascal), and third of which revolves around a mysterious woman who also happens to be something of a living personification of Eliza’s favorite superhero. These three arcs all culminate into what González-Perellón crafts as a surrealistic psychological drama that tries to speak to the ways in […]

Fantastic Fest XVII Review: HUNT, A propulsive, explosive action-packed directorial debut from SQUID GAME star Lee Jung-jae!

Harris Dang

Published September 27, 2022: Set in the ‘80s, Hunt takes place during the disruption of an assassination attempt on the president. Two South Korean agents (Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung) from different departments are tasked to uncover a North Korean spy within their agency; who threatens to reveal top secret intel. But things escalate when the intel is revealed; leading the two agents to investigate each other. An action-packed directorial debut from renowned actor Lee Jung-jae; Lee takes on multiple duties (director, co-writer, producer and lead actor) to deliver a professionally mounted (many of the crew have worked on numerous Park Chan-wook productions) political thriller that leaves no room for subtlety, nuance or even levity. Entertainment is the name of the game and Lee delivers with tons of frenetic shoot-outs (with striking sound design that makes the gunfire stand out), numerous plot twists and many dramatic mano-a-mano stare-offs between lead […]

Now On Tubi: In GREEN GHOST AND THE MASTERS OF THE STONE, A Palatable Fantasy Action Comedy Adventure For All

Lee B. Golden III

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. The film is based on a concept birthed many years ago by Charlie Clark, a car salesman who ultimately found his way into bringing the character to life in a webseries format that now had independent production backing, and starpower to boot. That means having heavy hitters like Michelle Lee and Chilean action star Marko Zaror front and center, the latter wearing multiple hats on the project, including the role of fight choreographer which should entice anyone within reach of Zaror’s filmography in the last fifteen years. It also means having former Jackie Chan stunt cohort Andy Cheng, who has long […]

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THE KUNG FU STUNTMEN: NEVER SAY NO! Review: Turning Pain Into Beautiful Art

Mike Garcia

Priceless documentary produced by members of The Stunt Hong Kong Association that recalls through its protagonists the golden age of Hong Kong cinema from the Shaw Bros era, to analyze the Bruce Lee impact on the industry and the world, passing through the Golden Harvest years, reaching our days, reflecting on the uncertain fate of these artists of risk and masters of pain in the vast Chinese market. The documentary is a parade of legends who, in front of the camera, recount with pride, how ungateful the profession for which they risked their life countless of times can be, showing throughout the 90 minutes footage, many of the cinematographic feats with which they achieved for the rest of the eternity cinematographic immortality, demonstrating a again, why Hong Kong cinema is better than the things you like. Big names such as Sammo Hung, Yuen Wah, Yuen Qiu, Mars, Chin Ka-Lok, Yuen […]

SECTION 8 Review: Ryan Kwanten Carries A Meat-And-Potatoes Revenge Thriller, Modestly Sprinkled With Spicy Adkins-Flavored Action

Lee B. Golden III

Since before I’ve covered his work, Sesma has been one of the hardest working directors to pop up my radar and has slowly but surely increased his profile a little more over the years, working with names like Jason Mewes, Luke Goss, the RZA, Val Kilmer and Michael Jai White to name a few. That it took as long as it did to finally get to share space with action stars Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren is probably a crime in the eyes of some, but perhaps a blessing in others, considering that some good things in life deserve a wait. That wait now brings us Section 8, penned by Chad Law and Josh Ridgeway with a cast led by Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jake, an ex-soldier now working in his uncle Earl’s (Mickey Rourke) garage as a mechanic struggling to support his wife and son. Suddenly, his life gets […]

Now On Hi-YAH!: Hugo Sakamoto’s A JANITOR Paints By Bloody Numbers With A Solid Assassin Crime Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Disclaimer: This review discusses gun violence on school grounds. Before he took the global festival scene by storm with Baby Assassins, Hugo Sakamoto was already the talk of genre forums and film industrialists for his winning work in both action and horror productions. Last year’s release of action crime drama, A Janitor stands the test of time, to that affect, with Well Go USA’s Hi-YAH! squarely catching on and adding it to their service, effectively certifying Sakamoto as one of the most promising directors making headway in the past year. Sakamoto directs from a script by Shozen Matsudaira, which sets things in motion with the violent flashback of a father shot dead – childhood tragedy suffered by a young Akira Fukami, who is then taken in by his father’s sworn blood brother, Yoshiki Majima (Kazuhiro Yamaji), who happens to be the criminal underworld’s most powerful tycoon. Years later, Fukami is […]

Now On Prime Video: Ranbir Kapoor Delivers SHAMSHERA With A Mighty Axe And Lots Of Ballyhoo

Lee B. Golden III

Summer of 2022 will mark the point for a lot of us Westerners sort of newly exposing ourselves to Indian films when we get to witness the talents and stylings of actor Ranbir Kapoor. That is, whether it’s by this weekend’s release of Ayan Mukerji’s Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva, or for folks keen on streaming, the most recent Prime Video release of Agneepath and Brothers helmer Karan Malhotra’s latest period epic, Shamshera, out of Yash Raj Films. The film is set in the late 18th century when we meet Kapoor in the title role, the first of a dual performance that introduces the folkloric, axe-wielding legend as the leader of a dacoit tribe, the Khamerans, in a rebellion against the caste system instilled in Kaza. When its rich and powerful auspices seek the help of British colonials to rid them of their woes, it sets events in motion that […]

NOTORIOUS NICK Review: Hearty MMA Drama Takes A Few Licks, Stays Fighting To The Finish

Lee B. Golden III

Aaron Leong’s latest MMA drama is currently available on digital in the U.S. through Lionsgate with Notorious Nick, which is also streaming on Tubi. The film stars Cody Christian, who takes on the title role based on the true story of a professional MMA fighter who climbed his way into the arena, conquering multiple opponents on both sides of the octagon, battling skilled fighters, and an ableist sports political millieu that nearly cost him his career. Such was the case for Nick Newell (Christian), born with a congenital defect that left him with only one fully grown arm since birth and forced to cope with incessant bullying from childhood. He’s not alone though, through the help and companionship of fellow classmate Avi (Cameron James Matthews). Their friendship provenly stands the test of time as the two grow from boyhood to young adulthood and work to join their school’s wrestling team […]

SAMARITAN Review: The Slight difference Between Good and Evil

Mike Garcia

Following the new trend of superhero cinema, Sylvester Stallone tries his luck on the genre becoming the star of this film adaptation based on the Mythos Comics graphic novel of the same name that was published in 2014. The veteran actor gets on the skin of a superheroe, who is thought to be dead after an epic battle against his bigger enemy. However, Some years later, a 13 year-old kid, obsessed with the idea that his hero still lives , thinks to have found him. Julius Avery directs a somber film that feels like an actioner on disguise, with Stallone as the centre of the action as an aging hopeless hero, in an unconventional setting for this type of cinema, that distinguish this feature for the rest of its kind, in a story where nothing is what it seems at first sight, bringing good doses of old school badassery to […]

BAD CITY Review: A Taut, Thrilling Yakuza Crime Procedural Signals Kensuke Sonomura’s Best Film Yet

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

NIGHT CALLER Review: Make Sure You Answer This Call

Christina Ortega

If you could have any superpower what would it be? The usual answers include super strength or flight, but even more common is usually some kind of psychic or mental abilities like being able to read people’s minds (after the invention of social media, I think I’ll pass on that one) or being able to predict the future. After watching Night Caller, I think I’ll pass on that one, too. Haven’t heard of Night Caller? Here’s the official synopsis: 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 […]

Review: BUSHWICK Catches You Between The Mood, New York City, and Civil War [Reprint/Revisal]

Lee B. Golden III

Fast forward three years later and having proven themselves in the public arena with the 2014 horror favorite, Cooties, directing duo Cary Murnion, and Jonathan Milott are back with their latest conceptual head-turner. It is one that stems from darker auspices eeriely forecast through a nightmarish lens unto today’s American politics for something of pure fantasy and, ultimately, a show of strength in character-driven storytelling that is sure to leave an impression. For better or worse, Bushwick, in part, accomplishes this in the course of its kinetic, steadily, and often fast-moving pace from a script by Nick Damici and Graham Reznick. Actress Brittany Snow takes the lead with actor Dave Bautista as the two shepherd the narrative in the respective roles of Lucy and Stupe, oddly and reluctantly paired as they fight to survive deadly skirmishes with an invading Texas militia canvassing the neighborhood with deadly force as part of […]

ALIENOID Review: A Whimsically Thrilling Sci-Fi Fantasy Pot-Pourri

Lee B. Golden III

Filmmaker Choi Dong-hoon‘s newest out-of-this-world hodgepodge fantasy sci-fi epic arrives this summer in the form of Alienoid, a film whose narrative, larger-than-life storyline has long since been planned as a two-part saga. It’s a particularly fitting approach in this case, especially from a director who is no stranger to storytelling at runtimes of nearly two-and-a-half hours, and with a film like Alienoid whose inaugural story involves two parallel arcs, split between time periods and a myriad of intertwining characters. The pieces here are all subject to supernatural intrigue and mystery as Alienoid invites you into a universe where extraterrestrials see humans as “aliens” themselves. The humans, in this case, are used as prisons for elusive aliens who are then captured and escorted by intergalactic robotic prison warden Guard and Thunder, an A.I. program in a flying head (both portrayed by Kim Woo-bin w/ voice actor Kim Dae-Myung). We meet the […]

TEKKEN: BLOODLINE Review: An Explosive, Action-Packed Series That Hits Fast And Hard Where It Needs To

Lee B. Golden III

At some point during this review, I was almost certain I would end up ranting non-stop in multiple paragraphs about live-action adaptations. I have my reasons – they’re not the ones most fringe fans think it is (if you read my stuff, then you know where I stand on this topic) – especially when it comes to an animated series production like Yoshikazu Miyao’s Tekken: Bloodline, currently on Netflix and streaming in six roughly half-hourlong episodes. The most important aspect here is the story and the structuring of it. The series takes its cues from the third installment of the game franchise published in 1997, and marks the newest and third animated production based on the franchise. For this, we get a six-part supernatural martial arts thriller that deep dives into young Jin Kazama’s mission of vengeance following the murder of his mother, Jun, at the hands of a superhuman […]

DAY SHIFT Review: Jamie Foxx Battles Vampires in the latest Netflix Original

Patrick Bartlett

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. If you also know as little as I did about “Day Shift” going in, I will try to keep things as spoiler-free as […]

EMERGENCY DECLARATION Review: Measuring Terror At 30,000 Against All Odds

Lee B. Golden III

A pilot passes by someone he recognizes. A man gets irate with an airline clerk before resuming a grisly task in the mens’ room. A detective on the ground makes a gruesome discovery… These are just a few of the precursors that happen going into the next 140 minutes of nearly non-stop suspense in Han Jae-rim’s new aviation thriller, Emergency Declaration, from director Han Jae-rim, and starring Song Kang-ho and Lee Byun-hun among the roster. With a plane full of as many as 150 passengers headed from Incheon to Honolulu as its taking off, a mysterious man (Im Si-wan) plots something nefarious in the bathroom, and as the hours pass, it becomes clear that people are suddenly getting sick and dying from whatever is circulating on the plane. The illness is soon discovered as a bioweapon attack carried out by a disgrunted former employee of a company who had uploaded […]

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THE SWORDSMAN Review: Choi Jae-Hoon’s Feature Debut Sets The Stage For Jang Hyuk’s Rising Starpower

Lee B. Golden III

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. Choi garnered a few notches on his belt in the field of art direction and production design on films like Detective Mr. Gong, 2007’s The Cut and Kim Cheol-han’s Outlaw in 2010. I haven’t seen these films yet myself, but they’re worth highlighting for those who may still be new to Choi and his work, particularly as he becomes […]