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CBS Orders Fuqua’s TRAINING DAY To Pilot

Lee B. Golden III

Following news from last summer, Deadline reports that CBS has officiallt ordered a pilot for a small screen adaptation of Antoine Fuqua’s award-winning 2001 crime drama, Training Day. The original film, from Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, earned actor Denzel Washington an Acadamy Award for Best Actor in the role of a morally bent narcotics detective who take a rookie on his first day out for a department evaluation which exposes murder, corruption and betrayal. Washington starred along with actor Ethan Hawke who earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Cast details are pending but word has it that the new show, to be written by Gangster Squad scribe Will Beall, will put a small spin on the original film’s narrative with the story set to pake place fifteen years after events of the movie, and the ethinicities of both lead characters switched. Fuqua, who initally pitched the project […]

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Watch The Stunning New Proof Trailer For Sci-Fi Thriller, ICKERMAN

Lee B. Golden III

I think its interesting with all the amount of attention sci-fi has been getting as of late, especially with Blade Runner getting a sequel and Deepak Chetty’s upcoming short, Hard Reset now making waves since its production in Texas. There’s a trending pattern here in epic futuristic noir that I’m noticing and its taken a few years to culminate, I presume, and I’m absolutely loving what I see. That said, I don’t know the exact history and duration it took for directing duo Raphaël Hernandez and Savitri Joly-Gonfard (pennamed together as Seth Ickerman) for their latest proof-of-concept trailer for their latest sci-fi thriller, Ickerman, with exception to their single day filming with just a 1000 euro as mentioned at Twitchfilm, but the results look just fantastic. And, word has it that Rumble Fish Productions’s own Alexis Perrin and entrepreneurs Frédéric Fiore and Yannick Bossenmeyer from Logical Pictures are backing the […]

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THE HIT LIST – February 1, 2016

Lee B. Golden III

The weekend was a robust one! I saw a couple of movies, I reviewed one, and even posted a few trailers for two of this year’s hotly-anticipated titles both here and here. Rest assured, that didn’t stop me from keeping up with my weekly keep here at Film Combat Syndicate’s Hit List column, and this week’s entries are now up. Free up your time right now, because the first playlist is ready with amazing stunt, fighting and tricking reels by Ilyana Eberhardt, Huang Vo, Shayan Safar, Shayna Bofill, Anthony Hoang, Gabriel Graves, Jon Miguel, Barry Nerling and stunt coordinator Tyler Hall with a new work reel of his own! Onward to the test fights, and there are just a few that have made the rounds over the weekend enough to come under my radar, including a quick action skit by Greg Poljacik and Nate Hitpas titled Clinch Brush. Next up from […]

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Michael Peña Will Use His Particular Set Of Skills in Dan Bradley's THE WORKER

Lee B. Golden III

Well isn’t this just fantastic! No, Ant-Man co-star, actor Michael Peña is no stranger to the action genre with films like Battle Los Angeles, Antoine Fuqua’s Shooter, David Ayer’s End Of Watch and Fury and the like. Still, an opportunity to finally see Peña in a lead action role hasn’t exactly come to pass and as of this week, that all may change. Here and now in the good company of heralded stunt coordinator Dan Bradley on par to direct, THR brings word of the new thriller, The Worker, which Content Media will present at the EFM which kicks off next month. The report describes the plot as in the vein of Taken and Bourne with Peña in the role of a Mexican special ops agent whose recent endeavors in taking down the cartels, forces him and his family to go seperate ways as per the conditions of a witness […]

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Vin Diesel Teases Badass Action From The Set Of xXx3!

Lee B. Golden III

Cropped via Facebook Production has just begun on director D.J. Caruso’s latest, xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, and for the record, this doesn’t appear to be a boring affair either. The cast brings action star Vin Diesel back in the fray with more than a decade since the first film. The cast also includes Tony Jaa and Jet Li, and so you can possibly expect their talents to be utilized accordingly to some degree, and to much avail with an incredible stunt team that includes Jeremy Marinas and Jon Valera, credited respectively with films like Isaac Florentine’s Close Range and Aleksander Bach’s Hitman: Agent 47. So what does that mean, exactly? Well, Diesel himself kindly took to Instagram on location in Canada to tease us a little bit on that end with a distant shot of the team rehearsing on set (The video may have a small window before […]

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Cinetel Picks Up VIGILANTE DIARIES Ahead Of EFM 2016

Lee B. Golden III

Three years since erecting his vision onto limited webseries format, director Christian Sesma is finally poised to lend exclusive screening audiences to his latest feature thriller, Vigilante Diaries. The film has been in post production since late last year after wrapping with the surprise addition of martial arts star Michael Jai White to the cast, and with the festivals lining up, this season, word from Screendaily has it that Cinetel has acquired world wide rights and will be presenting the film to respective markets this year. The film stars White along with lead actor Paul Sloan, and co-stars Jason Mewes, Quinton Rampage and Michael Madsen from an original script and concept based on a graphic novel which centers on a documentary filmmaker’s exploits as he follows a team of rogue mercenaries who set out in search of the infamous Vigilante while they dodge the notorious hidden dangers set by the […]

Jackie Chan Now Filming In London

Jackie Chan Now Filming In London

Lee B. Golden III

Head over to South London or other parts and you’ll likely find action star Jackie Chan filming scenes for his latest epic actioner – tentatively without an official title though previously branded as The Foreigner. The film is latest production from STX Entertainment and SR Media with Chan joined by Pierce Brosnan and a cast soon to be announced while the rest of us await further info on Chan’s previously-annoucned Renny Harlin globetrotter, Skiptrace, and Stanley Tong’s Kung Fu Yoga among others. Chan leads the film, based on an adaptation of the 1992 Hodder and Stoughton publication by author Stephen Leather with a script by David Marconi and Peter Buchman, as a former member of the Viet Cong-turned-South London restaurant owner who sets out to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the IRA when the justice system fails. Brosnan is on deck to star as Liam Hennessy, […]

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The Apocalypse Is No Game In The New Trailer For PANDEMIC

Lee B. Golden III

To much avail, director John Suits has secured the appeal of many a fan with his latest, Pandemic, a first person action horror flick set in the near future with mankind on the fringes of extermination. The first trailer arrived this week following the poster and it’s everything you might have imagined in the world of first person gore and sci-fi, and it simply looks fun! SYNOPSIS: Pandemic is set in the near future, where a virus of epic proportions has overtaken the planet. There are more infected than uninfected, and humanity is losing its grip on survival. Its only hope is finding a cure and keeping the infected contained. Lauren (Rachel Nichols) is a doctor, who, after the fall of New York, comes to Los Angeles to lead the charge in the hunt for uninfected civilian survivors. Lauren’s objective is simple – lead her team into the field and […]

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FROM VEGAS TO MACAU 3 Gets A Worldwide Limited Release

Lee B. Golden III

For those of you keeping track, directing duo Andrew Lau and Wong Jing are releasing their latest, From Vegas To Macau 3 in select territories this Friday. Magnum Films Global has announced its participation in releasing the third installment of the franchise with locations in North America, Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, with dates and theater locations listed accordingly. SYNOPSIS: A grand wedding ceremony is being held at a resort hotel in Macau. It is the wedding of Ken’s (Chow Yun Fat) daughter, Rainbow (Kimmy Tong) and his protégé, Vincent (Shawn Yue). Ken’s close friends, Vic (John Chiang) and Mark (Nick Cheung) are also on the guest list. During the ceremony, Mark receives a call from his buddy, Michael Chan (Andy Lau), warning Mark that someone wants to kill Ken. Suddenly, a strange looking “Michael Chan” appears at the ceremony and self-detonated in the wedding. Vincent and Rainbow […]

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Watch The New Knockout Trailer For BOYKA: UNDISPUTED

Lee B. Golden III

Martial arts action star Scott Adkins (Close Range)is ready to face the odds once more in the next installment of the Undisputed franchise, Boyka: Undisputed. It took a trailer teaser late last year to whet the appetites some for fans around the world while the new film had been slow to pass since Undisputed 3: Redemption fell to the woes of film piracy. Action cinema favorite Isaac Florentine is back once more, but interestingly in the producer’s chair this time with Todor Chapkanov at the helm following a slew of sci-fi and horror dTV and film credits to his name. Sure, it’s a different name we see, but this shouldn’t have much of an effect on the film’s delivery with a cast of action actors and fight choreographer Tim Man rejoining Adkins since Ninja: Shadow Of A Tear, for a film that looks like it lives up to the solid […]

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UNLUCKY STARS Releases This Tuesday On iTunes, Google Play And More!

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

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Now Available: TRACERS (2015)

Lee B. Golden III

Much to my own chargin and in despite of director Camille Delamarre’s efforts to shine a light on late actor Paul Walker’s role in Brick Mansions last year, it left a bitter taste in my mouth and it really boils down to the action. We watch films like this with a huge spotlight planted on what’s being mainly featured, here regarding the parkour sequences, and with director Daniel Benmayor’s Tracers, I wasn’t too sure I wanted to dip back into that particular subgenre lest I waste another two hours of my life on bad filmmaking. Low and behold, it’s forgiveable these days that it takes anyone as long as it does to watch anything we’re not familiar with. I didn’t know from a hill of beans who Benmayor was or if he was really. capable of what was being sampled in the trailers. In large part, he is. Actor Taylor […]

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Help Kickstart NIGHTSHADOW And Cross The Line's Film And Comic Venture!

Lee B. Golden III

Provided that you’re in tune with the Monday night Hit List every week or if you’re subscribe to mulitfaceted filmmaker Logan Cross’s Cross The Line, L.L.C. YouTube channel, chances are you might have come across his latest proof-of-concept, The Hunters: Betrayal. Cross and his cast and crew spent four hours rehearsing and seven hours filming the project, thus executing it into the shortfilm splendor you can now see at the bottom of this page, in case you missed it the first time around. Bearing this in mind, their efforts here aren’t for naught with prospects now in their favor thanks to investors who have lined-up to fund Cross’s latest vigilante action thriller, Nightshadow, with a story and a production formula centric to strong female figures among a diverse cast of performers. So what’s the scoop? Well, the film is in pre-production, and with allocation of funding from investors slated for […]

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The Late Project Itoh's GENOCIDAL ORGAN Lands Park Chan-Wook To Direct For Live-Action

Lee B. Golden III

Fans of Park Chan-Wook may be delighted to learn that he’ll be reportedly directing a live-action adaptation of the popular novel-turned-anime slate, Genocidal Organ. The Tracking Board writes that The Sean Daniel Company who is producing the film, is the latest to finally succeed toward a live-action adaptation after efforts from the now-bankrupt Manglobe and currently-running Geno Studio now working on an animated project with Shuko Murase directing for release later this year. Genocidal Organ takes place in post-apocalyptic Sarajevo where the detonation of a homemade device has marked the Bosnian captial ground zero for the remaining world’s downward spiral into chaos and looming genocide. At the center of it all, a mysterious American man by the name of John Paul with intelligence agent Clavis Shepherd now tasked with finding him in order to locate the true heart of darkness: a genocidal organ. The novel was the debut work of […]

Neeson To Re-Team With Collet-Serra For THE COMMUTER

Neeson To Re-Team With Collet-Serra For THE COMMUTER

Lee B. Golden III

Universal Pictures Are you ready for some more Liam Neeson action? Lionsgate has already set up The Picture Company’s The Commuter since their acquisition last November from Studiocanal at the American Film Market, and judging by early reports, filming will soon begin in early 2016 if it hasn’t already. For this, we now bring the news from Deadline that Neeson will be rejoining director Jaume Collet-Serra, making this their fourth pairing since Unknown, Non-Stop and last year’s Run All Night with co-star Alex Kinnaman. Principal photography will be set in New York City with Neeson starring as a businessman on his way home who gets entangled in a criminal conspiracy that endangers himself and everyone around him. Producing are Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman along with a script by Bryan Willinger and Phil de Blasi. Neeson’s calendar isn’t quite empty either with expected appearances in Narco Sub, A Willing Patriot, Operation Cromite and […]

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NO EXIT Closes In On Joseph Kosinski To Helm

Lee B. Golden III

Director Joseph Kosinski’s visual style of direction complements him greatly with works like Tron: Legacy in 2010 and the Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller, Oblivion. That said, it’s not to conclusive how this will mingle with his latest venture, although it’ll be interesting to witness. It’s the new film, No Exit, which Kosinski will helm from a speculative script by Ken Nolan, according to Variety. The film will tell of the harrowing story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, 19 of whom died fighting a deadly blaze induced by lightining in Yarnell, Yavapai County, Arizona. The blaze lasted for two weeks in June through July of 2013. Mike Menchel is producing with producers from Black Label Media, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Conde Nast Entertainment also on board.

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EFM 2015: Iraq War Espionage Thriller, OFFICIAL SECRETS, Set To Film This Summer

Lee B. Golden III

Former President George W. Bush’s Iraq War was a pretty damming event in world history, and one that still stings to this day in more ways than several. For the field of film, however, it’s also great source material to magnify stories that would otherwise be overlooked in due time, and such a story belongs to whistleblower, Katherine Gun who is now the center of a new espionage thriller set to begin filming in the U.K. in May. For this and with the European Film Market set to kick off on February 11, The Solution Group is poised to bring its share of titles to the table, including the new espionage thriller, Official Secrets. Deadline has confirmed roles for an ensemble cast headlining actress Natalie Dormer, and actors Paul Bettany, Martin Freeman, Anthony Hopkins and Harrison Ford all based on people and events inked in the 2008 publication, “The Spy Who […]

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Rebecca Ferguson Faces LIFE For Skydance

Lee B. Golden III

Variety brings word that actress Rebecca Ferguson is poised to star in the new sci-fi thriller, Life, for Skydance Pictures. Child 44 and Safe House helmer Daniel Espinosa is being tapped to direct the film from a script by Deadpool scribes Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick. The film centers on the crew of the International Space Station who retrieve a sample from Mars only to find themselves in danger when it starts to show signs of greater intelligence. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg producing with Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn. The film is the latest for Ferguson who had a great run in 2015 next to Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The film is the franchise’s fifth installment which is expected to follow-up this August for the sixth film with Ferguson is expected to return long after wrapping up Tate Taylor’s The Girl On The Train for […]

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LIGHTS… CAMERA… SHOWDOWN!: An Interview With Alexander Nevsky

Lee B. Golden III

January had a few setbacks, but still kept me busy in the thick of a few things currently trending in the world of action cinema. Russian action star and award-winning bodybuilder Alexander Nevsky has proven relevant in that regard, having come under my radar in the last few years with the long-awaited release of his latest murder mystery thriller, Black Rose with actress Kristanna Loken. More to the point, it just so happens that Nevsky has become pretty big at home in Russia, and perhaps big enough that it has earned him the clout needed to grow as a film professional in acting, producing and even journalizing having become a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Bearing this in mind and still with Nevsky in his element working in action movies and mingling with the right people, I’d say Nevsky’s prospects are looking quite good at this juncture. Operating […]

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RIOT Comes Home On Digital HD And DVD/Blu-Ray This Spring

Lee B. Golden III

Action star Dolph Lundgren is in prison a lot, lately. He’s got three titles in 2016 which relatively take place behind bars in one form or another, one of them now in the form of director John Lyde’s Riot. Universal Pictures is packaging this one to release in Digital HD on March 22 before hitting Blu-Ray and DVD on April 5. Alas, the Lundgren fanbase is big and so he does most of the talking in the trailer while throwing down a bit, but it’s actor and producer Matthew Reese who leads the way straight to a toe-to-toe brawl with former UFC light heavyweight champ, Chuck Liddell. SYNOPSIS: Copper Jack Stone (Matthew Reese) purposefully orchestrates a bank robbery in order to be thrown into prison with the notorious Russian kingpin, Balam (Chuck Liddell). Balam is more than just a mob criminal, he’s a very cunning and dangerous lord who controls […]