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Miike Takashi’s ICHI THE KILLER Will Get A Remastered And Revived Re-Release

EMP One needn’t look too far in director Miike Takashi’s career to find any number of titles that near perfectly illustrate the warped, mindbending judo that embodies his craft. I haven’t seen all of his movies but the ones I have are all definitely thrilling classics in their own right – some of which are real envelope pushers. Just shy of the halfway point of his career by 2001, an adaptation of Yamamoto Hideo’s seinen manga, Ichi The Killer, became one of those titles. Starring Omori Nao in the title role opposite Asano Tadanobu, it’s the twisted tale of psychological and emotional tumult and reprieve between the intersecting lives of a pent-up, psychologically-scarred martial artist – armed with a kill switch and a fixed blade on his left foot – who is manipulated into assassinating Yakuza crime figures, and the sadomaschist Yakuza enforcer looking for him. Tanno Masato directed the […]

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Review: BOONE: THE BOUNTY HUNTER Jumps The Action Movie Shark

Plainly, simply, I’ve never seen a John Hennigan film until this week with the forthcoming VoD release of director Robert Kirbyson’s latest, Boone: The Bounty Hunter. That said, while it is acknowledgeable that filmmakers generally rely on name-talent to carry an action film, it certainly helps if the principal talent makes it look as natural and easy as one can, which Hennigan is certainly good at and it makes me all the more thankful. With that in mind, and for this kind of film, dynamic action and stuntwork are pretty much the primary selling points of this film along with some of the grand comedic gags that occur for most of the movie. It’s not necessarily a bad thing if your expectations are short, but it still leaves a lot to be desired if you don’t have an ample script and supporting cast to help bolster a film’s progression, and […]

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THE LEGEND OF BRUCE LEE – VOL 2: Movement With A Heart

It can be difficult to put into words what Bruce Lee gave to the world of martial arts but I will take his cue to simplify it: movement with a heart. And this second volume, with all its faults and laughingly unintended background with 2000 era bloopers not caught (episode 15 shows John Woo’s “Stranglehold” [2008] on a San Francisco trolley car, twice), this volume gives us that heart to a certain degree, trying to keep a balance between fantasy and actual history regarding Bruce Lee. Beginning with episode 11, after being humiliated by the fight of Karate Master Yamamoto (Mark Dacascos) in the 10th episode, Bruce mulls over why Uncle Shao (Luoyong Wang) decided to stop the match. It was only at Ms. Ruby’s restaurant that Uncle Shao imparts his wisdom to try to temper Bruce’s anger into a more focused, humbled, and disciplined self. “If you’re too impatient, […]

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HELLBOY Is Getting A Complete Reboot, And I Am In Mourning

Well, he’s not taking the Cable mantle as once suspected a little while back for Marvel’s Deadpool 2. Instead, actor David Harbour is being eyed to don the signature shaved horns and red skin in the title role of a new outing for Hellboy with word that The Descent helmer Neil Marshall is up to helm a complete reboot. Millenium Films is reportedly behind the move for the tentatively-titled Hellboy: Rise Of The Blood Queen, which reportedly has a script written by Andrew Cosby, Christopher Golden and “Hellboy” creator Mike Mignola, as THR writes. Negotiations are now underway with producers Larry Gordon and Lloyd Levin to relauch the once popular indie comic property for the big screen with Dark Horse Entertainment’s own Mike Richardson is also producing. This comes, personally, and partly as heartbreaking news. Granted, I dig Harbour as an actor and especially after Stranger Things, but I among […]

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THE HIT LIST: May 8, 2017

Saturday was a day of much needed relaxation… I got about half of that while juggling other stuff including this week’s Hit List but I’m pleased to have this one ready as it includes at least one or two other projects I had been waiting for. As always, our weekly tribute to action cinema’s hardest working and innovative folks in the field begins with a crazy cool raft of stunt reels, starting with Tony McFarr just in time for the theatrical release of his most recent stunt credit, Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2. The playlist runs through with a deluge of stunt and training reels by Allen Quindiagan, Aimee Zannoni, Hymnson Chan, Geoffrey Boggs, Kai Ferris, Mason Sharrow, Lis LoCasio, Carl Fortin, Drew Dayz, Dani Medina, Dan Carter, Janelle Beaudry and Sergey Nosulenko. Enjoy! Kicking off the promotional end of things is a glimpse into a new mystery project from the good folks over […]

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BLADE RUNNER 2049: Questions Loom In The First Official Trailer For The Highly Anticipated Sequel

Planning Sicario helmer Denis Villeneuve to helm the long-awaited sci-fi sequel, Blade Runner 2049, seems to be paying off so far ahead of its release this October. Following its teaser late last year and last week’s announcements, a cast and crew Q&A on Facebook has finally revealed our first official trailer which amply offers a lot to hope for with Blade Runner helmer Ridley Scott lending his guidance as an executive producer, and acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins lending his own effort behind the lens. Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Jared Leto and Robin Wright also star […]

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Shannon Lee’s ‘Definitive Bruce Lee Biopic’ Gets A Director, Production Date And More

Say what you will about the most recent pesudo-adaptatation of late legendary martial arts master Bruce Lee’s life as depicted in George Nolfi’s Birth Of The Dragon. That is still on deck for release later this year following its acquisition by BH Tilt and WWE Studios back in February, but there’s no love lost there with actress and entrepreuneur Shannon Lee having stood staunchly against the project in wake of its TIFF premiere in late 2016. As for Lee, the past few years have revealed news of her own research and inquiry into her father’s past for what has been reportedly persued as the “definitive” Bruce Lee biopic. That development now comes with an update with word on the new movie, Little Dragon, inspired by the on-screen nickname the late martial arts star took on among several during his lifetime. Shannon Lee, whose Bruce Lee Family Company shingle, Bruce Lee […]

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Review: TATARA SAMURAI Forges Purpose From Imperfection

Some of the hardest parts of growing up in life tend to arise with sacrifice in some capacity. For Nishikori Yoshinari’s new feature film, Tatara Samurai, there’s no better time for such a stark narrative to take shape than during the Sengoku era of Japanese history – much like any era in our world’s history as war has shaped things, and consequently, people. For this, what we get in Nishikori’s latest brings forth a detailed spectrum of a feudal time within a coming-of-age tale that foreshadows timeless messages and lessons through considerably tumultuous circumstances. One such person at the center of it all here is Gosuke (Aoyagi Sho), the son of a family of steel makers residing in Tatara, a small, reclusive mountain village in Izumo, Japan that has become popular for its ritualistic and legendary creation of a rare brand of steel with a technique passed from generation to […]

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WONDER WOMAN Lands An Action Packed Final Trailer

Notwithstanding the qustions regarding the lax markering of Warner Bros.’s latest DCU outing, Wonder Woman, I’d say the studio is doing a fine job of letting everyone else do their work – inadvertantly or other. Apart from that, we now have a final trailer airing online as of late Sunday…I was in bed and frankly I don’t know what the deal is with these late evening trailers. Ah well, at any rate the latest trailer invites fans to catch Gal Gadot in the title role opposite Spanish actress Elena Anaya debuting DC villainess, Doctor Poison. Chris Pine, Robin Wright and Danny Huston also star with Patty Jenkins at the helm, lending a bit more to the plot than some of the regular fish-out-of-water comedy bits like Gal fashioning some kick-friendly threads and trying to maneuver around town with a sword in her hand and so on… yeah I’m already sold […]

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Check Out The Nightmarish First Teaser For Jo Sun-Ho’s New Thriller, A DAY

It’s Groundhog Day all over again, and for debut helmer Jo Sun-ho’s latest outing, A Day which starts in June. The film has actor Kim Myung-min in the role of a famous doctor forced to re-live the day of his daughter’s fatal accident until he can find out either why, or how to save her life lest he end up stuck in such a grim time loop. Also starring are Byun Yo-Han, Shin Hye-Sun and Jo Eun-Hyung. Check out the latest teaser below!

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NATION’S FIRE: ‘Vigilante Diaries’ Star Paul Sloan Leads ‘Check Point’ Helmer’s New Revenge Pic

Vigilante Diaries Paul Sloan (The Nightcrew, Vigilante Diaries, I Am Wrath) actor Paul Sloan is back in action for Thomas J. Churchill’s new action thriller, Nation’s Fire. Principal photography has already begun in Los Angeles and has Sloan leading the cast in the role of a Marine who sets out to help a woman avenge the death of her son. Sloan is joined by actress Krista Grotte who rejoins Churchill following the 2016 pic, Checkpoint, and also has actors Bruce Dern, Gil Bellows, Chuck Liddell, Kristen Renton and Massimo Dobrovic also starring. Phillip B. Goldfine, Robert Ori and Carmine Famiglietti are producing the film with Binh Dang, Benjamin Sacks and Jason Hewitt executive producing. Hollywood Media Bridge is financing the film. (H/T: Deadline)

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ALL THE OLD KNIVES Sharpens Its Cast With Chris Pine And Michelle Williams

Spy thriller, All The Old Knives reads something pretty fierce as it moves toward production with The Theory Of Everything helmer James Marsh negotiating to direct. As for casting, news has actor Chris Pine (Star Trek) and actress Michelle Williams (Manchester By The Sea) reportedly in talks to lead the film based on the 2015 novel of the same name by “The Tourist” author Olen Steinhauer who also wrote the script. Set in the idyllic town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, ex-lovers Henry and Celia – one CIA former and the other current, whose dinner date may end up being more than just a nostalgic rendezvous in the wake of a conspiracy stemming from the fatal hijacking of Royal Jordanian Flight 127 in which all on board ended up killed, and with Henry searching for answers. Nick Wechsler and Chockstone Pictures’s own Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz are producing with Roger Schwartz co-producing. […]

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Paul Currie’s Sci-Fi Thriller, 2:22 Clocks In With A First Trailer

Don’t you hate it when blinding flashes of light distract you from your job? Shiny objects and such? Well, at any rate, I suppose nary does that sort of thing lead to the kind of calamity our protagonist faces in Aussie and award-winning director Paul Currie’s new sci-fi, 2:22. Actor Michiel Huisman and actress Teresa Palmer lead the tale of a NYC traffic controller at the top of his game until a sudden stroke of light distracts him just as two passenger planes barely avoid a midair collision. Suspended from his job, his newfound relationship with one of the passengers helps bide the time while he realizes a series of events that begin to arise, all drawing him into Grand Central Station every day at 2:22pm, ensuing a battle to save time as we know it. What this looks like may be hard to imagine but the latest trailer from […]

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The Official Trailer For DUNKIRK Pulls You Into Danger

There’s no way you can look at the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s new movie, Dunkirk, and avoid feeling a nightmarish chill that comes with the visible anarchy further emboldened by Han Zimmer’s chilling score by the end. Of that, I am certain, and for this, of the sheer, continued brilliance behind the vision of the man who once brought Batman to life fervently for its own roaring trilogy. Here now with actors Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Cillian Murphy among a raft of young and old actors portraying anywhere from commonfolk to soldiers, Nolan’s latest immerses you in the summer of 1940 on the beaches of the titular war-torn French village where French and British allies use their as many of their resources, aerial and naval, to save as many as 300,000 soliders with the German army looming. July 21 is the official release date of the film and […]

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PAYING MR. McGETTY: New Trailer, Poster, And If You Will, A Sidebar.

I’m going to level with you on something. There’s a certain breaking point one reaches when critiquing a set of films made for a niche and by a director who barely has a grasp in shooting action. Director Michael Baumgarten certainly fits the profile, and as clearly seen in his two recent titles, The Martial Arts Kid and his latest, Paying Mr. McGetty starring debut actor and martial artist R. Marcos Taylor. Yes, it’s an award-winning film and there’s no question of its martial arts star power. Nonetheless even in granting a curve for critiquing a film of this caliber, you still have to acknowledge caliber and, well… I can’t say it was high taking into account my own review in which I included the following: “Some of the ne’er do well performances in several of the fights aren’t a huge standard setter for the film’s action as some of […]

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THE INHUMANS Lands Its First Teaser

Let’s just put this out there: Regardless of how ecstatic you are over Marvel’s The Inhumans, it looks less than stellar or even IMAX worthy judging by Thursday’s EW reveal of our cast in costume. Perhaps some footage may tell a different tale, but that’s not what we get in the new teaser now online. Instead… we get voices! Check it out below and see if it’s your thing or not. It could be, but I rest my case here until I see some actual superhero action adjudicating why we should see the first two IMAX-bound episodes from director Roel Reine. That premiere will arrive with the first two episodes on September 1 before commencing its small screen run on September 26 for eight more episodes from ABC after frequenting Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. to tease with for so long. The Inhumans, a race of superhumans with diverse and singularly unique […]

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Sam Worthington Says THE HUNTER’S PRAYER In The First Trailer

With the stagnant development of the next Avatar films seuging into full-on production later this year, the window finally starts to close some on how long we can watch actor Sam Worthington in human form before he goes all-in with the Na’vi for the next several years. For this, we have a glimpse of his latest, The Hunter’s Prayer, following its announcent in 2014 and subsequent acquisition by Saban Films last Fall, and with a new trailer to spare. Based on author Kevin Wignall’s 2004 publication “For The Dogs”, which received critical acclaim and made available in the U.S. that year and in several territories thereafter, Jonathan Mostow directs Worthington in the role of an assassin for hire who turns on his employers after a failed assignment to kill a young girl forces them both on the run for their lives, with the only option of uncovering why her family was […]

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TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY 3D – A Family Of Two And Their Killer Cyborg Companion Fend Off The Apocalypse In The New Trailer For The 90’s Sci-Fi Action Classic!

I was but a toddler when director James Cameron’s Terminator was released, and it would be years before I could ever see it on VHS. That said, I saw a televised edit which familiarized me enough to garner excitement for its explosive sequel, Terminator 2: Judgement Day. I guess you could say it’s the film that drew me as a moviegoer for years to come having fallen in love with the action genre and the output of titles at the time and before, inherently earning me as an Arnold Schwarzenegger fan among millions. And so with the years that have passed as production label Carolco dissolved, it’s rather unfortunate that the Terminator franchise floundered all the same and I contribute this to the lack of consistency as seen with the rotating door of actors playing the key role of human resistance leader John Connor. Discounting actor Michael Edwards who cameos […]

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ENTER THE WARRIOR’S DENTIST: A Word With Filmmaker Matthias Hoene

The weekend following May 5 is poised to be another busy period at the movies with several going up against one another. Director Matthias Hoene’s own contribution comes as well with Enter The Warrior’s Gate from EuropaCorp US and for this, we’re proud to present our latest inteview in lieu of the film’s release. The following questions come courtesy of myself and fellow contributor James Couche who himself enjoyed the film in some ways and found co-star Dave Bautista to be an outstanding figure in the film. One of the answers are also an indicator why I chose the title I did for this interview as I thought it would be quite witty in its execution in context to the discussion. Read on, and be sure to check your local theatrical and VoD listings! Film Combat Syndicate: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us this week ahead […]

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Action Crime Thriller BEAST OF BURDEN Now Filming With Daniel Radcliffe Starring

Currently rolling cameras in Savannah, Georgia is the new action crime thriller, Beast Of Burden. Swedish filmmaker Jesper Ganslandt is making his English-language directorial debut from a script by Adam Hoelzel with Daniel Radcliffe piloting his way as a border drug runner who works regularly to avoid cartels and the DEA among other obstacles during jobs. Actor Lawrence Fishburne plays a cartel handler who helps him in the process while actress Grace Gummer plays his wife who helps him escape the threat of the cartels. Paul Schiff is producing with Michael Diamond of MGMT Entertainment, Green-Light’s Chad Moore and Jeff Elliott and financiers Mary Aloe, Sean Glover and Wei Wang of WYSJ Media and Aloe Entertainment Productions. (H/T: THR)

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