Trailers

CELLS AT WORK: Mei Nagano And Takeru Satoh Battle To Save The Human Body In The First Teaser!

As much as I try to keep up with Japanese news outlets, a lot of updates tend to take me by surprise. Maybe it’s just a time zone thing, I’m not sure, but my day started with a delightful look at Cells At Work, the latest live-action adaptation from Hideki Takeuchi, director of the Fly Me To The Saitama and Thermae Romae movies. “Cells at Work!” is a bestseller manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu, published in Kodansha’s “Monthly Shonen Sirius.” This innovative series, which brings the inner workings of the human body to life by personifying cells, quickly captured the hearts of readers and became a sensation. With over 10 million copies in circulation and multiple successful spin-offs and anime adaptations, its popularity knows no bounds. And now, this beloved story is making its grand debut as a live-action feature film! Cells At Work is set to […]

KINGDOM: RETURN OF THE GREAT GENERAL Reveals Newest Trailer And Title Track

Lee B. Golden III

There’s only one month to go until the fourth installment of the Kingdom saga opens in Japan theaters. It’s the latest work of director Shinsuke Sato who has proven to be one of the most adept directors working today when it comes to adapting manga, and features another round of new cast to join the reprising stars led by Kento Yamazaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Kanna Hashimoto, Takao Osawa, and Masami Nagasawa. Alas, Kingdom: Return Of The Great General is the name (at least based on my translations) of the new entry into the saga. I’ve stayed with all the films up to this point and can’t wait to see this one, and I don’t have a logline to offer, sadly. What I can say is that since the first film, a bond between two friends shattered by tragedy now finds Yamazaki’s character beholden to a destiny he’s taken toward as the […]

RUN FOR MONEY: THE MOVIE – TOKYO MISSION: The Game Gets Deadly Real In The Official Trailer!

Lee B. Golden III

Hit FujiTV competition show “Run For The Money” is celebrating its 20th anniversary this summer. Oh? Pray tell!… Run For Money: The Movie – Tokyo Mission is the name of the narrative survival adventure thriller starring Takumi Kawanishi, and Kimata Syoya, along with Aomi Kaneshiro from boyband JO1, and Taiki Sato from Exile Tribe subgroup FANTASTICS. The film is directed by Code Blue franchise vet Masaki Nishiura, and centers on a band of friends who all came up in high school athletics who each get exclusively invited among 1000 other entrants to compete in a citywide competition for 100 Million Yen. Little do they know that the game is about to spiral out of control when a corrupt entity seizes control of the game and the rules turn deadly. Also starring are HIKAKIN, Ririka Tanabe, and young actor Eito Kawahara, Chika Uchida, Hideyuki Kasahara, and Riki Honda for the film’s […]

SEVEN SAMURAI Trailer: Janus Films Unsheathes A 4K Restoration For Limited Theatrical Release In The U.S.

Lee B. Golden III

Janus Films is proudly flying the flag for its 4K restoration this year of Akira Kurosawa’s classic jidaigeki epic, Seven Samurai. Deadline broke the news on Thursday with plans to screen in New York at the Film Forum on Friday, July 5, before holding its Los Angeles premiere at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre on Sunday, July 7, and then opening wide on July 12 in Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal. One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, SEVEN SAMURAI tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope. Cannes hosted the 4K restoration – reworked by Toho Co. Ltd. – last […]

A LEGEND Trailer: Jackie Chan Returns In Sequel To The Myth

Shaun Williams

If you’d have asked me “Shaun, what sequel do you think Jackie Chan will make next?” I would have answered with “Another Police Story” or “Are we finally getting Rush Hour 3?” I did NOT see Jackie making a sequel to his less-than-stellar 2005 trip-through-time film, The Myth. Alas, it’s 2024 and here we are. Jackie returns to Chinese big screens on July 7th with A LEGEND, a collaboration with long-time friend and frequent Director, Stanley Tong. Distribution Workshop has the international rights and has the official synopsis as: A LEGEND sees Professor Chen, an archaeology expert, notice that the texture on the artifacts discovered by his students during a glacier expedition, is strikingly similar to a jade pendant he had seen in his dreams. The pendant is connecting the realm of dreams to reality. Filled with curiosity, Chen leads a research team on a journey deep into the Glacier […]

ESCAPE: Koo Kyo-Hwan Makes A Run For The Border In The Official U.S. Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Just shortly after announcing a July 5 release in the states, Well Go USA is keying folks in with a look at the official trailer for director Lee Jong-pil’s new survival thriller, Escape. Koo Kyo-hwan, Lee Je-hoon, and Hong Xa-bin star in the pic which also releases a few days earlier in South Korea from Megabox Plus M. After completing his required decade of military service and being honored as a hero, a North Korean sergeant makes a sudden shocking attempt to defect to the South, risking life and limb for the chance to finally determine his own destiny. Check out the trailer below:

THE KILLER’S GAME: The Shit Hits For Dave Bautista In The Bloody Shoot ‘Em Up Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Close to three decades since efforts to adapt author Jay Bonansinga’s novel wound up in development limbo, a new look at action thriller The Killer’s Game is finally here. Dave Bautista is the man front and center of all the danger and spectacle shepherded heretofore by Day Shift helmer, stuntman-turned-director J.J. Perry. In the new action-comedy THE KILLER’S GAME, when top hitman Joe Flood (Dave Bautista) is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to take matters into his own hands – by taking a hit out on himself. But when the very hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend (Sofia Boutella), he must fend off an army of assassin colleagues and win back the love of his life before it’s too late. The official trailer below also hands you the key twist that emboldens our protagonist to take up arms and fight for his life. This comes amply packaged […]

DAN DA DAN Is All The Rage As GKIDS Stages North American Release With First Teaser And Poster

Lee B. Golden III

The first poster and trailer are here for Dan Da Dan, the new supernatural romantic thriller fantasy anime acquired by GKIDS as of Tuesday. Fūga Yamashiro (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, The Heike Story) makes his directing debut on the animated series from a script by Hiroshi Seko. DAN DA DAN follows Momo, a high school girl from a family of spirit mediums, and her classmate Okarun, an occult freak. The two of them start talking after Momo rescues Okarun from getting bullied. However, an argument ensues between them – Momo believes in ghosts but denies aliens, and Okarun believes in aliens but denies ghosts. To make the mutual deniers believe in each other, Momo goes to an abandoned hospital known for its UFO sightings, and Okarun goes to a tunnel that is said to be haunted. In each place, they encounter overwhelming paranormal activity that transcends comprehension. Amid these predicaments, […]

ALIEN: ROMULUS Official Trailer Unloads With A Serious Chestful

Lee B. Golden III

Twentieth Century Studios has finally unveiled the official trailer for Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus. A franchise revival coming to theaters August 16, the film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu, with a script by Alvarez and by Rodo Sayagues. While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. The trailer below looks fresh and inviting. It starts about as gruesome as you might expect but without giving away the goods, all before touting Alvarez’s work. The rest of it is pure cake with epic spectacle and intensity, building all the way up to a sweet little Alien roar up-close and personal. This one’s for the fans, clearly. Take a look!

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DAANVI: Hatchet-Wielding, Mini-Gunning, Ass-Kicking Pooja Sharma Slays In The Official Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

Nepali action and stunt talent hasn’t always been on our radar here. It helps that films like José Manuel’s The Man From Kathmandu and Saurav Chaudhary’s recent The Unbreakable Agatsya are nudging us a little more these days, and so leave it to director Rupesh Tamang to weave his way into the arena with a blistering look at his own contribution, Daanvi. The film stars Nepalese actress and singer Pooja Sharma who leads the story of one woman’s love story and subsequent quest for retribution. I combed a bit and couldn’t find any exact details or official loglines except for bare minimums, and it gets a teeny bit confusing midway in the official trailer now making the rounds. Nonetheless, the consensus is that it’s a romantic revenge tale, and to Sharma’s credit, shows us the star bedazzling the screen with precisely the kind of stylish, blistering screenfighting émargement that ought […]

BEFORE DAWN: Catch The Trailer For Jordon Prince-Wright’s New WWI War Flick

Lee B. Golden III

July 19 will see the theatrical and digital release of Jordon Prince-Wright’s new war drama, Before Dawn. The film stars Levi Miller, Travis Jeffery, Myles Pollard, Tim Franklin, Jordan Dulieu, and Peter Sullivan, along with Ed Oxenbould and Stephen Peacocke. After leaving his family’s sheep farm in the Australian outback, a young man joins his countrymen on the western front of World War I with hopes of helping expedite an end to the bloody conflict. But as war rages on, he is forced to grapple with the brutal realities of trench warfare, including a near-constant battle to keep himself alive—without leaving another man behind. Prince-Wright and Jarrad Russell created the characters and storied on which Russell’s screenplay is based. Peep the trailer below from Well Go USA.

GRAVEDIGGERS: Catch The Trailer For Joonas Makkonen’s New Survival Action Horror

Lee B. Golden III

Finnish and Canadian releases are in toe for writer/director Joonas Makkonen’s third feature, Gravediggers. The official trailer is now online ahead of release dates currently pending. In a post-apocalyptic world, society has collapsed, and individual survivors are fighting for their existence against viruses, nightly acid rain, and hordes of cannibals. Grave diggers LARS (37) and DONALD (38) spend nights haunted by acid rain in their high-tech base of the past world, and when the rains stop during the day, they dispose of the bodies of the contaminated, doing a long day’s work. When Lars loses his co-worker to a gang of cannibals lurking in the woods, he ends up teaming up with other survivors to get help burying the infected bodies and to be ready for the inevitable future confrontation with the cannibals. Gravediggers stars Ari Karhunen, Enni Ojutkangas, Ari Savonen, Saara Elina, Romeo Makkonen, Zoltán Fodor, Jari Manninen, Olli […]

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HOVERING BLADE Chronicles A Father’s Quest For Vigilante Justice In The Official International Trailer

Lee B. Golden III

“If the law cannot punish evil deeds, then as a father, I shall take matters into my own hands.” The Invisible Guest helmer Chen Zhuo is currently enjoying a mainland rollout of his newest crime thriller, Hovering Blade. CMC Pictures has announced a June 7 theatrical release in U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and we now have an official trailer to take a gander at. This film tells the heart-wrenching journey of a father seeking justice for his daughter, who was sexually assaulted by several minors. Realizing that the law will not ensure the juvenile murderers receive the punishment they deserve, he takes matters into his own hands. Inthe midst of unrepentant crimes, a father‘s relentless pursuit of justice cuts through the darkness. Hovering Blade marks the latest screen iteration of Keigo Higashino’s 2004 novel following Shoichi Mashiko’s titular 2009 adaptation, Lee Jung-ho’s Broken for South […]

THE PRISON WALLS TRILOGY Eureka Classics Blu-Ray Review

Lee B. Golden III

This was a pretty big task to take on in the past week, but I really wanted to dive into some classic Japanese cinema. Eureka Entertainment remains on the ball as one of the foremost niche outlets priming throwback titles out of banners like Toei, including the Prison Walls Trilogy culminating the first three movies of the “Abashiri Bangaichi” franchise. The trilogy is now available in a box set containing the first three films on two blu-ray discs. The movies are presented in original Japanese Mono with optional subtitles, and commentaries from experts on the stars and subject matter, and much more. I had a blast with these, and if you didn’t pre-order these discs yet, I highly recommend ordering them now. It’s a must-have for anyone in the western world who discovered actor Ken Takakura in Tony Scott’s Black Rain like I did, and is purely keen on venturing […]

ESCAPE: Explosive Trailer Revealed For Lee Jong-Pil’s DMZ Survival Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

Lee Jong-pil might not be a name familiar to most. A quick look-up notes several of his screen appearances as an actor, namely as a detective in Lee Jeong-beom’s action hit, The Man From Nowhere. It would only be a few more films after until Lee would ascend to the mantle of director for several titles of his own, including his award-winning 2020 flick, Samjin Company English Class. To date, Lee’s work at the helm continues with Escape, starring Lee Je-hoon (Time To Hunt), and Koo Kyo-hwan (Escape From Mogadishu). The first official teaser is now live as of Tuesday after teasing marketeers and audiences with first look stills and posters out of distro outlet Megabox Plus M. The film also stars Hong Xa-bin whose lead role in last year’s Cannes pick, Kim Chang-hoon’s Hopeless, which won the burgeoning star Best Actor at the 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards. Fear […]

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CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS: Win A Blu-Ray Copy Of Wuershan’s Hit Fantasy Epic!

Lee B. Golden III

Next week will mark the digital and disc release of director Wuershan’s award-winning epic fantasy Creation Of The Gods I: Kingdom Of Storms. I look forward to reviewing this title by then, and in the meantime, I have two Blu-Rays that I’m happily giving away to readers. All you need to do is email me at fcsyndicate@outlook.com with some insight on some of your favorite lore-based fantasy and wuxia. I’ve seen my share, but there’s always an extra space to fill and titles I haven’t seen, so if you have something in mind, consider it a recommendation. In turn, both selected winners will receive an email confirmation with a request for a mailing address, with updates and a tracking number to follow suit. Good luck! More on the movie below: CREATION OF THE GODS I: KINGDOM OF STORMS stars Kris Phillips (The Monkey King 2), Li Xuejian (The Wandering Earth […]

BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F Trailer Pulls Out All The Familiar Stops

Lee B. Golden III

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is hitting Netflix on July 3 and the official trailer is now online. Mark Molloy directs the fourth installment of a franchise that’s become a staple in action comedy since Martin Brest propelled Eddie Murphy’s memorable screen persona into stardom in 1984. Detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is back on the beat in Beverly Hills. After his daughter’s life is threatened, she (Taylour Paige) and Foley team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) to turn up the heat and uncover a conspiracy. Bronson Pinchot also reprises his flamboyant role with actor Kevin Bacon rounding out the cast. I’ll be sure to share my honest thoughts in a review or reaction post via my socials. In the meantime, the franchise may have fizzled by the 90s but Molloy’s efforts here seem noteworthy. The […]

THE LAST KUMITE Review: Mathis Landwehr Kicks Ass To A Nostalgic Soundtrack In Middling Martial Arts Tourno Thriller

Lee B. Golden III

5 min. read Martial arts fans now have another addition to their 2024 viewing slate with Capelight’s latest digital and physical release, The Last Kumite. The film is directed and penned by Ross W. Clarkson, and co-written by Sean David Lowe who produced the film, and shepherded the film’s initial crowdfunding campaigns in its earlier development stages. Coralling a bevy of nascent and veteran screen talents led by German action star Mathis Landwehr, The Last Kumite centers on Michael Rivers, a widower and seasoned tournament champion exiting the circuit to focus on his school, and raising his teen daughter, Bree (Kira Kortenbach). Seizing the opportunity while attending an afterparty in Michael’s honor, a man named Ron Hall (Matthias Hues) approaches Michael with a sereptitious “business opportunity”: A Kumite in Eastern Europe, and the chance to win a million dollars. Nevermind the consequences of albeit cordially turning down the offer. For […]

TRIGGER WARNING Trailer Shows What Jessica Alba Does When Goons Ignore It

Lee B. Golden III

Jessica Alba is front and center in the official trailer for Trigger Warning, directed by Mouly Surya. The cast also lists Mark Webber, Tone Bell, Jake Weary, Gabriel Basso and Anthony Michael Hall. A skilled Special Forces commando (Alba) takes ownership of her father’s bar after he suddenly dies and soon finds herself at odds with a violent gang running rampant in her hometown. Surya directs from a script by John Brancato, Josh Olson and Halley Gross. The film is produced by Erica Lee, Basil Iwanyk and Esther Hornstein, and while we’re also on the BTS end of things, the explosive fight action teased in the trailer below also comes courtesy of Eric Brown whose credits also include Netflix productions like Halle Berry boxing drama Bruised, J.J. Perry’s action horror Day Shift, and crime drama series “The Brothers Sun”. Catch the trailer below, and the poster!

NARC: Arrow Video 4K Blu-Ray Review

Lee B. Golden III

8 min. read I’ve seen most of Joe Carnahan’s filmography at this point. With any luck, I’ll be able to come across some of his earlier stuff. At least this way, I can better gauge his early creative trajectory at some point in the future, including his second directorial offering, Narc, which remains a celebrated modern classic among cinephiles. Actor Ray Liotta certainly did his diligence there. He divulges as much, and more in EPK footage now included in this month’s release of the modern crime hit on 4K/Blu-Ray from Arrow Video. Actor Tom Cruise ekes in a producer credit behind the lens alongside Diane Nabatoff, Michelle Grace and Julius R. Nasso. The movie was strategically shot in Toronto as the prominent backdrop of the film’s setting in Detroit, with the remainder of the movie shot mostly guerilla-style for a day in the latter city. Narc immediately takes off with […]