Streaming Sleepers: In PITFIGHTER, Jose Montesinos’s Indie Action Knockout
Celebrate the memory of one of the best action stars to ever do it.
dennis ruel
[UPDATED] In Memoriam: Actor, Martial Artist And Director Dennis Ruel
The actor and martial artist was best known as a boon to the indie action community with credits like “Contour,” “Barrio Brawler,” and his own feature directing debut, “Unlucky Stars”.
CONTOUR: Eric Jacobus And Dennis Ruel Set April Launch With Live Q&A Via YouTube For Hit Indie Martial Arts Flick
As announced in January, actor, stuntman and filmmaker Eric Jacobus is readying to launch the free online release of his 2006 martial arts comedy classic, Contour, beginning next month. The movie will premiere exclusively on Jacobus’s YouTube channel on April 19 at 7:00pm pacific standard time, with Jacobus joined by co-star Dennis Ruel in a live Q&A to celebrate the film’s twentieth anniversary since its 2004 production. Contour follows the small-time criminal Lawrence (Law) Young, who moonlights as a crotchety San Francisco tour guide. Among Law’s latest guests is Alfonso de la Rosario, the prince of the obscure island nation of Uruvia, who informs Law of a hefty reward awaiting whomever recovers a missing (and very embarrassing) “private video” that belongs to his parents, the king and queen of Uruvia. Law sets out to recover the tape with the help of his criminal contacts, throwing Law and his tourists head […]
Martial Arts Comedy UNLUCKY STARS Gets The Long-Awaited Blu-Ray Treatment From Gold Ninja Video
It’s been quite a while since an announcement on this, and there’s good reason. Nonetheless, actor and filmmaker Dennis Ruel‘s partly crowdfunded 2015 martial arts comedy, Unlucky Stars, is now available on Blu-Ray from Gold Ninja Video. Ruel made his directorial debut on the film in 2012, a successful culmination of local stunt performers and up-and-coming actors working in Los Angeles, California who’ve cut their teeth in the online scene dating back to the early 2000s. Starring Ruel and alongside actor Ken Quitugua (upcoming The Paper Tigers), the film centers on two private investigators who find themselves embroiled in a life-or-death case involving a wayward Peruvian action star, and the bookie he’s indebted to. Also starring are Sam Hargrave (Blood & Bone, Extraction), Jose Montesinos, Giovannie Espiritu, Sari Sabella and Vlad Rimburg, and with cameos by industry stunt multi-hyphenates, Simon Rhee and J.J. Perry. Originally a member of The Stunt […]
THOSE WHO GO TO HELL…AND BACK: An Interview With Emmanuel Manzanares
Back in 2012, I had been about four or five years away from the online action community since its burgeoning began over at The Stunt People forum – the unfortunate perks of not having a working computer, sadly. That year, a lot had changed within the community, and particularly with new additions to the fray, including folks like Emmanuel Manzanares. By the time I got acquainted with who he was and his work, his 2012 short, Dogfight, was the talk of the interwebs among the niche, and of course, as eager as I was to get back into the mix of things, it got my attention. Getting to know Manzanares was a pretty slow process at first. We hadn’t spoken often, but I’d come to know him through small exchanges, as well as his interactions with his peers. His role in Dennis Ruel’s feature debut, Unlucky Stars, as a martial […]
THE MAN WHO FEELS NO PAIN Dishes Out Plenty In The New Official Trailer
The road sure seemed like a longer one between now and last year’s Toronto premiere for Vasan Bala’s The Man Who Feels No Pain. The reason for such windows apart from any sort of meticulous and otherwise necessary film bureaucracy is beyond me, but at long last, moviegoers are just a few weeks away from seeing Abhimanyu Dassani and actress Radhika Madan light up the big screen, Rope-A-Dope style through the efforts of action stylists Eric Jacobus and Dennis Ruel. In this Bollywood-infused action film from Vasan Bala (Peddlers), a young man quite literally born with the ability to feel no pain strikes out on a quest to vanquish 100 foes. Our own Alex Chung, who himself is a stunt performer and independent filmmaker, was able to attend TIFF last year and catch up with his own review. In his critique, he especially heralded the action with respect to the […]
UNLUCKY STARS Prevails With Indie Action Talent And Tenacity (Reprint/Revisal)
It’s been well over a decade since I first discovered independent martial arts shortfilms online and I have humbly stood by and watched over the years as companies like Zero Gravity, The Stunt People, Reel Kick, VJ Films, Montanick Pictures, LBP Stunts Chicago and other individual stunt professionals around the country have woven into a thriving community that nourishes itself with immense talent for projects in and outside of Hollywood. Of course, the goal has been, and still is, to keep creating enough content to generate interest in feature-length kung fu and martial arts films on larger scales, a campaign that couldn’t have come at a better time as the genre itself had taken a beating in popularity since its heyday in the 70’s and early 90’s with a market now saturated by million-dollar blockbuster superhero movies, and if you’re a filmmaker like debut director, actor, martial artist and stuntman […]
TICKER TEST: An Interview With Actor And Filmmaker Dennis Ruel
One might safely say that 2018 is assuredly Dennis Ruel’s banner year with THE MAN WHO FEELS NO PAIN and the re-release of UNLUCKY STARS. We discuss all that and more in our latest interview!
UNLUCKY STARS: Dennis Ruel’s Indie Action Comedy Feature Debut Is Online To Watch For FREE
When you look at the cadre of independent creatives in martial arts cinema who’ve impacted the internet, there’s no way you can miss the name Dennis Ruel. He’s germinated amply from his roots at The Stunt People with the exhilarating indie action classic, Contour, to starring and even directing feature films of his own, namely the 2016 crowdfunded action comedy, Unlucky Stars, and with that, ultimately becoming no stranger to the hurdles and woes of independent cinema. Unfortunately, that includes finding a credible distributor. Unlucky Stars, a film several years in the making from Prototype Monks, eventually landed itself a seemingly fitting distro outlet with the promise of returns from sales… returns that haven’t seen the light of day. To date, the film now has a new website up-and-running in which Ruel explains the long-story-short odyssey of the arduous and painstaking process that has now resulted in acquiring the rights […]
THE HIT LIST: January 15, 2018
It’s been something of an eventful weekend; things happened and by Saturday evening I was ready to hibernate away from social media through Sunday no matter what… Then I got a surge of energy and figured I’d put it to use and besides, there’s still a plethora of content to share including in this week’s Hit List that I’ve been collecting and I intend to introduce them now that I’m awake. From L to R (top): Thekla Hutyrova, John Orozco, Angela Jordan, Eliver Ling, Mélodie Veillard L to R (bottom) Geoffrey Boggs, Jessie Simpson, Dennis Ruel, Katelyn Brooke, Benjamin Alexander Besides, these stunt reels were pretty stimulating and very much kickass with Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe highlighting his work load going into 2018. He kicks off this segment followed by reels courtesy of Jessie Simpson, Benjamin Alexander, Mélodie Veillard, Eliver Ling, Ivy Haralson, Geoffrey Boggs, Thekla Hutyrova, Kawui Joa, Ikeda Ai, […]
UNLUCKY STARS Releases This Tuesday On iTunes, Google Play And More!
It’s been a four-year journey for actor and filmmaker Dennis Ruel whose latest feature debut and currently one of our earlier five-a-day titles to bookmark in 2016, Unlucky Stars, has finally reached a new milestone since becoming an award-winning feat at the Action On Film Festival last year. The film is finally releasing on multiple digital HD and video-on-demand platforms on February 2, 2016, with availability on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, xBox and Vimeo VoD. Thus, a fresh new trailer has surfaced, sampling all you need if you love authentic martial arts action and comedy. SYNOPSIS: Josh Whitman is new to the world of private investigation, but his fighting abilities are all the qualification private eye Ken Champaco needs to take him on as his new partner. Their latest case involves tracking down D-list Peruvian action star Tomas De La Cruz, who owes a sizeable amount of […]
The 'Best Of The Best' Is Unveiled In The New Story Trailer For UNLUCKY STARS!
I don’t always get quoted in trailers, but when I do, I consider it somewhat of a milestone achievement and it’s always humbling. So as much as I ramble about movies, it’s great to see the recognition, especially from debut director Dennis Ruel whose newly releasing film, Unlucky Stars, is taking off with plenty of high marks and praise from fans and critics alike. And surely enough with this film lending itself as an homage to the immortal legacy of the Hong Kong action comedy, a film like this undoubtely deserves a following, as well as all the support it can get from anyone who has ever loved kung fu cinema. Alas, the film is currently set for an exclusive screening event on Thursday with a Q and A segment to be included with the cast and crew, so more information will definitely follow after this week as it readies […]
Screener Review: UNLUCKY STARS (2015)
SYNOPSIS: When Peru’s Biggest Action Film Star and Jordan’s newest rising talent find themselves pursued by a notorious Bookie, a pair of private investigators are forced to choose between their job and their conscience. REVIEW: It’s been well over a decade since I first discovered independent martial arts shortfilms online and I have humbly stood by and watched over the years as companies like Zero Gravity, The Stunt People, Reel Kick, VJ Films, Montanick Pictures, LBP Stunts Chicago and other individual stunt professionals around the country have woven into a thriving community that nourishes itself with immense talent for projects in and outside of Hollywood. Of course, the goal has been, and still is, to keep creating enough content to generate interest in feature-length kung fu and martial arts films on larger scales, a campaign that couldn’t have come at a better time as the genre itself had taken a […]
Dennis Ruel's UNLUCKY STARS Bows This Month! Watch The First Official Trailer!
It’s taken roughly four years to fund and complete and last year was the final stretch to apply the necessary finishing touches. But now, the word is out now and the latest action comedy romp, Unlucky Stars, is on-par for an eventful screening in San Francisco on February 19 with further release dates pending. The film marks actor, martial artist and stuntman Dennis Ruel‘s feature-length directorial debut, long billed as a longstanding homage to old school martial arts films and the golden era of Hong Kong action cinema – and not for nothing either, with a slew of performances by some of today’s biggest and brightest independent filmmakers, actors and action choreographers ever to hit the internet in the last fifteen years. So indeed, Unlucky Stars is way more than just a movie…it’s a celebration, and one that has been a long time coming! SYNOPSIS: When Peru’s Biggest Action Film […]
THE HIT LIST – January 12, 2015
When I started preparing this list, I honestly didn’t think I would come across as many videos time around. Sure, there would be a few gems worth sharing, but it’s safe to say I pretty much out-did myself. Yes, let’s get to it… Upon competing nationally in Karate while in his native France, stuntman Thomas Lorber decided just a few years ago to apply his skill set to another craft attributed to his love for acting which he originally began in Canada. Thus, with two years of practicing and performing stuntwork at Parc Asterix in France and after earning his master’s degree in Business, he eventually started his own venue for stunt training with fellow stuntman, Vincent Khai. On that note, with plans to return to Canada and possibly explore the stunt community in the United States, he’s welcoming his options with a new stunt reel which he shot last […]
Indie Kung Fu Comedy Homage, UNLUCKY STARS Wraps Post-Production!
Top Row L to R: Sari Sabella, Vlad Rimburg, Dennis Ruel, Ken Quitugua, Emmanuel Manzanares, Lucas Okuma, Steven Yu, Gui DaSilva, Alvin Hsing / Bottom Row L to R: Bryan Cartago, George Crayton, Andy Leung, Shaun Charney, Tony Chu, Adam Phelps, Roy Chen The road has been a long one for debut director, actor and stuntman Dennis Ruel whose long-awaited crowdfunded kung fu comedy homage, Unlucky Stars has been heavily in post-production for the past couple of years in a process lasting several. The last we heard was an update dating back to the start of last year when the film finally wrapped picture lock with plans to finally release the film sometime back in the Fall or Winter while the next phase of post-production needed completion. Well, that process took a bit longer, but thankfully, that part of the job is finally over as of last month, as per […]
ROPE-A-DOPE 2 Gets An Online Date And Poster!
Internet martial arts action sensation, actor and stuntman Eric Jacobus has made a name for himself with over a decade of innovative choreography and storytelling to fulfill the voracious needs of genre fans everywhere. He certainly achieved great notoriety with last year’s shortfilm release, Rope-A-Dope, which became a festival hit prior to its acclaim online earning the approval of fans virtually everywhere. However, if you thought he was just going to rest on his laurels and end it there, think again. Hopefully you managed to catch the last batch of set photos from principal photography from the summer. The first installment started things off pretty small, and rightfully so, as you can expect an even larger ensemble cast of performers for an even crazier set up of comedic action featuring Jacobus as our lead against fellow Stunt People member, stuntman and actor Dennis Ruel reprising his role. Only this time, the […]
ROPE-A-DOPE 2 Goes Ringside With New Set Photos
Independent filmmaker, martial arts action cinema favorite Eric Jacobus is back once more with the current filming of the action comedy follow-up short, Rope-A-Dope 2: The Return Of The Martial Arts Mafia. The sequel officially began production back in May, roughly a year since the first installment, Rope-A-Dope, was released, featuring Jacobus in a Groundhog Day-style short story about a Dope who wakes up everyday re-living the same bad luck over and over again until he finds a way to break the vicious cycle, leading to a hyper-kinetic final fight with a gang of martial arts thugs, led by Barrio Brawler co-star, actor and longstanding member of The Stunt People, Dennis Ruel. Produced by Hollywood stuntman Clayton J. Barber and Death Grip co-star, actress Rebecca Ahn, Rope-A-Dope ultimately began its film festival run last summer, leading to a second place award at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival last November, […]
UNLUCKY STARS Director Dennis Ruel Thanks Fans With New Footage!
It has been three years since Barrio Brawler co-star, actor, stuntman and multifaceted independent filmmaker Dennis Ruel began his journey into the semi-successfully crowdfunded production and subsequent principal photography of his upcoming feature-length action comedy adventure, Unlucky Stars. And this week, the team behind the long-awaited film has taken to their official Facebook page to officially announce picture lock prior to the final stages of post production before its entry into the film festival circuit later this year. Described as a homage to old school Hong Kong action comedy classics of the past, the film is a longstanding love letter to martial arts action cinema for a new generation of on-looking fans and aspiring performers. The film stars Ruel along with actor Ken Quitugua and will feature action choreography and performances from a wideranging list of some of today’s most prominent rising stars of the martial arts film genre and […]
LA CUCHARA Speaks For Itself In Josè Montesinos's Newest Shortfilm
Straight from the creative mind of independent filmmaker Jose Montesinos, the man behind the latest martial arts action hit of the summer, Barrio Brawler, comes his latest interpretive avant-garde shortfilm, La Cuchara. Here, Montesinos himself incorporates his own love for action with a deep, unique and heartfelt appreciate of the classics in this illustrious cinematic interpretation that blends dark and light themes, and takes viewers on a path that delivers such a profound, twisted and internal sense of completion and fruition almost unlike anything previously seen on film, that even the most scholarly of minds will be blown. La Cuchara is not just another installation of indepedent film. This is an education. Check it out below and be amazed! *wink*
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