Yesterday we reached past the halfway point of our goal in listing 100 movies to keep track of in 2019. As always, here is another list of five:
Strega: After Gun Caliber, actor and filmmaker Bueno is ready to set forth his newest milestone achievement for a rollout this year following suit from his 2016 debut feature. Upgraded to a sleeker black-and-red toned outfit, the gun-toting, perverted suit hero is now faced with new evil, and he’s got a sexy sidekick for good measure in AV star, actress Miori Mai.
Contracts: As much as I’ve iterated my support for independent action cinema, Canadian stunt performer and filmmaker has been one of the best, foremost examples invoking why. His latest feature debut is still brewing – formerly titled Contracts 3 – an assassin thriller in which he stars and directs, and I actually got to screen an earlier version of this movie which bookends with probably one of the sickest, goriest fight finales I promise that independent action film fans will get a major bite out of. After a long-winded process that also optioned a shortfilm release online, he’s teaming up with more people to make the most of this project, so put Chung on your radar and watch this website for more updates.
The Paper Tigers: Three aging former kung fu alphas forced into call into their 9-to-5’s to avenge their late master amidst a brewing gang war – It is within this premise that director Bao Tran wants to make one of the best, successfully crowdfunded kung fu actioners we’ve ever seen for his feature debut. I also want this, and a 2019 start date lies in wait for this piece of cinema history with a ten-minute proof of concept in its wake that largely no one outside of Frontieres earlier this year has seen.
The Outlaw Johnny Black: Michael Jai White’s recent efforts toward crowdfunding for the hopeful emergence of his Jaigantic label only reached about 3% of what he hoped to galvanize earlier this year. That said, I reckon there’s still the intial intent to make this film happen, following in the vein of blaxploitation cinema as he so did with Black Dynamite. Here’s to hoping for progress in 2019.
Johnny Z: Michael Merchant leads the cast along with Felix Cortes who makes his appearance in the first official trailer welcoming the zombie apocalypse with brut force. Jonathan Straiton directs this crowdfunded feat with plans for a festival rollout and subsequent release the coming year.
The list continues tomorrow!