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OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU FEST X Invites Fans Of Taiwanese Wuxia Fans Back To The Metrograph In April!

Folks in New York City can attend the tenth Old School Kung Fu Fest when it kicks off its two-week festivities on April 21. Subway Cinema and the Metrograph are hosting its fifteen-title line-up, twelve of which will screen in person at The Metrograph NYC and three for the Metrograph At Home virtual audiences making it a partial hybrid affair for all who are interested and welcome. The full line-up is available as well spotlighting classic Taiwanese auteurs such as King Hu, Joseph Kuo and Hou Hsiao-hsien to name a few, with Taiwan as the fest’s ceremonial centerpiece. Per the announcement: “Wuxia movies have a long history in Chinese cinema, but when King Hu’s Dragon Inn  premiered in 1967, it kicked off a wuxia revival that reinvented action movies, so we’ve decided to celebrate the wuxia movies from King Hu’s homeland of Taiwan by going big or going home!” Tickets […]

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BLACK BAGS Trailer Revealed For New Suspense Thriller From Vision Films

Director Joshua Brandon’s new suspense thriller, Black Bags, is announcing an April 11 digital release from Vision Films. Angela Bourassa and Adam Pachter penned the script with Laura Vandervoort and Olesya Rulin starring, along with Drew Pollock and Ryan Fischer. A seemingly chance encounter between two women on a bus trip with identical black suitcases sets off a dangerous game of cat and mouse when one discovers she’s swapped her bag with a killer’s. As they try to outsmart each other at every turn, deadly secrets are revealed, and they learn that their meeting may not have been accidental… and they may have more in common than they know. Black Bags was filmed entirely on location in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Brandon is joined by produced by Peter Foldy, BL Fleischer and Ronnie Wiskup in producing, and with Scott J. Jones of Artist View Entertainment exec producing. Lise Romanoff, CEO and Managing […]

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VOLCANO: Upgrade Partners With Iceland And Croatia For New Eco-Political Drama Thriller Series

LA-based Upgrade Productions is revving up the new original eco-political drama-thriller series, Volcano. Nebojsa Taraba and Miodrag Sila (HBO’s “Success,” Netflix’s “The Paper”) created the series based on an original idea and are shepherding for Croatia’s Drugi Plan, alongside Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (“True Detective”) and Hörður Rúnarsson (“Black Sands”) for Iceland’s newly launched ACT 4, and with Upgrade exec producing. Volcano chronicles the tensions that arise between vastly different societies forced to live together and co-exist in the aftermath of a crushing volcanic eruption that devastates Iceland, ensuing a UN directive to relocate the surviving residents to Croatia. The eight-part hourlong series is being adapted for the screen by Rúnarsson and co-scribe Mateja Božičević (Amazon Prime’s “Carnival Row”), with dialogue to be mixed-language, toggling between English, Icelandic, Croatian. Plans are to film the series in Iceland and Croatia as early as next year. “We’re thrilled to collaborate with ACT 4 […]

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LION-GIRL: Kurando Mitsutake’s Latest Gets Her Day In Australia Next Month!

Cinephiles planning on attending events at this year’s third Fantastic Film Festival Australia can expect some interesting perks while present. The feature line-up is another speed and especially for anyone waiting to see what Karate Kill and Maniac Driver director Kurando Mitsutake has been up to as of late, for which we can now take a gander at new stills from post-apocalyptic thriller, Lion-Girl, featuring Tori Griffiths in the lead role. In the year 20XX, humanity has almost come to an end. A tsunami of meteors bombarded the entire planet; remaining survivors are forced to kill for food and power. The meteorites contained a mysterious material causing certain death to anyone who encounters it. But in very rare cases, some humans survive the exposure and undergo a metamorphosis into horrific “meteorite beasts”. People call them ‘ANOROC’. These new beings hunt and kill humans for their lifeforce and have become the […]

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RIDE ON Trailer: Well Go USA Saddles Up Jackie Chan’s April 7 Release

Well Go USA is putting the North American Jackie Chan fandom on notice with Ride On, the new flick from director Larry Yang. An April 7 release has been slated to coincide the film’s mainland China release on the same day, and the distro outlet now has its own poster and trailer to help ramp up the domestic marketing following their acquisition of the pic in Berlin last month. After two debt collectors attempt to seize a stunt horse belonging to washed-up stuntman Luo (Jackie Chan), video of the ensuing confrontation—and the dynamic duo’s narrow acrobatic escape—goes viral on social media. Furious at being humiliated online, the debt collectors return to seek revenge, leaving Luo and Red Hare to engage in a series of hilarious, action-packed antics that outdo even the most daring acts from their glory days. Chan is joined by Liu Haocun, Kevin Guo, Wu Jing, Yu Ailei, […]

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CHIBI GODZILLA Brings Bite-Size Fun with Legendary Kaiju!

Kids in Japan will soon have brand new adventures with the popular Chibi Godzilla and friends! Coming to TV Tokyo’s children’s anime block, CHIBI GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN is launching April 1st, 2023, as a series of almost three minute animations. Chibi Godzilla made his debut in 2018 as part of the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the Godzilla franchise. First appearing as part of a picture book, Chibi Godzilla, as well as versions of other popular characters such as Mothra and King Ghidorah, have appeared on all sorts of merchandise and short animations. He was designed by Chiharu Sakazaki, known in Japan as an illustrator and children’s book author. Watch the trailer below on Toho Animation’s Youtube page!

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CLASS 3Z GINPACHI-SENSEI Takes Gintama Fans Back To School In New Spin-Off Anime!

It was back in 2016 when I decided to fill a void I never knew needed filling dating back to boyhood. Invariably, my anime fix was hardcore going forward, with one of the most memorable being Gintama, which ended its series run with an animated feature from director Chizuru Miyawaki a few years ago. Now word invites Gintama fans back to their seats as Bandai Namco Pictures revs up upcoming spin-off, Class 3Z Ginpachi-sensei, announced during Gintama Ato no Matsuri 2023 over the weekend. The character often recurred intermittently between episodes of Gintama, based on the light novel from Tomohito Osaki, and featured main characters from the Gintama series in a classroom setting. I still have a ways to go before I can fully wrap up my Gintama anime-viewing experience. Suffice it to say, I was never more entrenched with anime characters than I was while watching Gintoki and his […]

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COLONIALS: Catch The Trailer For The New Sci-Fi Thriller From Epic Pictures

Epic Pictures Group is out with the trailer for Colonials, the new sci-fi epic from directing duo Andrew Balek and Joe Bland. An April 7 limited theatrical release will precede a digital release on April 11. On his mission from Mars, a space colonist’s ship is attacked by a Moon-based civilization and crash lands on Earth. Having lost his memory, he joins forces with the Resistance to save the galaxy from human extinction. Featuring 2000 VFX shots, Bland and Balek direct from a script by Bland and co-scribe Cyrus Cheek from Bland Productions. Greg Kriek (The Serengeti Rules), Sean Kanan (The Bold And The Beautiful), Daniel Roebuck (The Fugitive), Jon Provost (Lassie), and Allie Ayers Lindsey round out the cast. “Colonials is a large-scale sci-fi action feature film with a contagious adventure maneuvering through grand landscapes and epic digital sets. We have the most talented cast and crew you could […]

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ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? Review: With Wen Shipei’s Feature Debut, You’re In Good Company

Are You Lonesome Tonight? is now available on Digital and VOD from Film Movement Filmmaker Wen Shipei was only one feature project in, having directed the Camera d’Or-nominated crime thriller, Are You Lonesome Tonight? I don’t know what that means for a lot of other critics or folks in film circles but I think it speaks volumes of a director’s ability to tell a story and other prospects looking forward. This one is set in 1990s Guangzhou when Wang Xueming (Eddie Peng), an AC repairman accidentally hits a pedestrian and drives off. Racked with guilt, he slowly encroaches on the goings-on of his widow, Mrs. Liang (Sylvia Chang) in a friendship that slowly materializes between awkward passerby moments coupled with acts by design on Wang’s part. The film takes a stark turn about halfway in when truths begin to unravel about the fateful evening, as dauntless detective Chen (Wang Yanhui) […]

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O DRAGÃO DE ROZAN: Help Shiryu’s Dragon Rise In The New Saint Seiya Fan Film From Raciocinando Filmes!

For the past ten years much of my focus has been on helping to advance the efforts of aspiring independent filmmakers in other countries, and in the course of my pursuits I’ve managed to network myself with numerous fight choreographers around the world. Today, you can thank Gutemberg Lins who I’ve managed to spotlight a few times in that same period, including most recently appearing in the upcoming hit kung fu stoner comedy, The Smoke Master. As of late, Lins has been actively collaborating with filmmaker Nando Rodrigues whose independent film production banner, Raciocinando Filmes, is now looking to etch itself a new mark in the Saint Seiya (or Knights Of The Zodiac) fandom following 2021’s A Lenda de Fênix. For this, we turn to O Dragão de Rozan, and the crowdfunding campaign Rodrigues and his team have unveiled over at Catarse to help earn as close to their 150,000 […]

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Andy Lau and Tony Leung Return for a New Showdown in THE GOLDFINGER Teaser

  20 years have passed since the last time that Tony Leung and Andy Lau shared the screen together making history  on Andrew Lau and Alan Mak´s Gangster´s trilogy  “Infernal Affairs”. With an international title that reprises the title of one of the most iconic James Bond films, Emperor Motion Pictures has launched this teaser for rejoice of Hong Kong movie fans around the world, that announces the reunion of this two giants of cinema in a new crime film set in the 80´s, that follows the story of an ICAC  investigator (Andy Lau) on his mission of uncovering a criminal conspiracy involving the founder of Hong Kong company called Jiali Group , Ching Yat-yin (Tony Leung). Fomerly known as “Once upon a time in Hong Kong”, the  film was written and directed by one of the most acclaimed script writers in Hong Kong film industry, Felix Chong (Infernal Affairs […]

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Watch DRAGON COP Now, And Help The Masebrothers Unleash DRAGON’S REVENGE!

Yup, it’s Friday. For fans of the good folks over at Masebrothers, it’s also Dragon Cop day as the newest Hong Kong action short homage is released to the masses from film duo Mathieu Caillière and Jeremy Vazzoli, otherwise known as YouTube creators, Masebrothers. Joined by the stunt stylings of Team Cascade 13, the project features Julien Phuong Le and Line Phé as two Hong Kong detectives about to break their latest case wide open when a drug deal goes awry, exposing their investigation and ensuing an all-out martial arts-infused fight for survival. The overall look serves well to the ends of Masebrothers per their brand which targets film fans fond of 80s and 90s action nostalgia, a fact that online music and record label NewRetroWave is more than knowing of having featured Masebrothers on their website on occasion. The company exclusively streamed Dragon Cop on its YouTube channel, in […]

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LOLA 2: Taja V. Simpson Continues To Rebound In The Official Trailer For Antoine Allen’s New Boxing Drama

Taking some cues from his 2012 short film Split Decision, filmmaker Antoine Allen’s fourth feature arrived in 2020 in the form of Lola, starring and executive produced by Taja V. Simpson. The film was a queer underdog story of a sexual assault survivor who undertakes boxing as a means of overcoming her trauma and arousing healing within her own fractured family, as well as inspiring a renewed sense of purpose and focus in becoming a champion amateur boxer. As of late, that story now continues with Lola 2, with Simpson back in the saddle from a script storied by Allen, and written by Anthony LaForgia and returning writer Gregg DaCosta. Simpson is joined on screen by three-time NAACP Image Award nominated actress Elise Neal, actress Tamala Jones, comedian and actress Torrei Hart, female Professional Boxer and MMA star Claressa Shields, American former professional boxer Roy Jones Jr., and actor Jackie […]

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AWARENESS Teaser Revealed For Daniel Benmayor’s New Spanish Langauge Sci-Fi Actioner

Coming from the team that brought you Spanish action hit Xtreme is the new sci-fi action thriller Awareness, now headed to Prime Video from director Daniel Benmayor following his recent goings-on with Netflix series, Welcome To Eden. Benmayor and Xtremo partner Ivan Ledesma penned the script, with Genaro Rodriguez serving up the action once more. In Awareness we meet Ian (Carlos Scholz – Toy Boy, Feria: La luz más oscura), a rebellious teenager who lives with his father (Pedro Alonso – Money Heist, El ministerio del tiempo) on the outskirts of society. The two survive by running small scams using Ian’s ability to generate visual illusions upon unsuspecting victims. However, things get complicated when his powers get out of control in public and two opposing sides begin to hunt him down. On the run, Ian will have to decide which side he will fight with in the war he has […]

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INTERFACE: Daughters Trace The Multiverse To Save A Life In The Official Trailer

Gravitas Ventures is proudly taking the mantle for Interface, the feature debut from filmmaker Kemo Diatta for a March 28 release. Samm Wiechec (A Mother’s Greatest Fear) and Makenna Perkal (Love and Love Not) star from a script by Diatta and by Rebecca Norris. After tragically losing their father, two sisters track down an Interface Machine across the multiverse that will enable them to go into estranged mother’s mind and bring her back from a coma. Also starring are Havon Baraka, Michael Sigler, Robyne Richards, Joshua Weyers, Andrew Vela, Daniel Fitzgerald and Katie Kay. Peep the trailer!

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THE INTEGRITY OF JOSEPH CHAMBERS UK Trailer: Clayne Crawford Won’t Be Out Of The Woods For A While In The New Thriller

The new survivalist thriller from director Robert Machoian (The Killing of Two Lovers) is well on the way to the UK with The Integrity of Joseph Chambers from Lightbulb Film Distribution. The film stars Clayne Crawford (Above Ground, A Walk To Remember), Jordana Brewster and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. An insurance salesman, hoping to prove his survivalist skills to his family, irresponsibly goes hunting alone. But he isn’t prepared for what lies ahead… The Integrity of Joseph Chambers previously had its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival last year. Lightbulb is releasing the pic on Digital & Blu-ray in the UK & Ireland from April 17, via AppleTV, Amazon, Sky Store, Virgin Media and Google Play. “We are thrilled to be bringing The Integrity of Joseph Chambers to audiences in the UK & Ireland. Filmmaker Robert Machoian has delivered another engrossing character study, with Clayne Crawford once again shining. His chilling […]

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The Legend of the Ring Kinnikuman Makes a Triumphant Return to celebrate its 40th Anniversary in a new Animated Series

  A visual teaser with Kinnikuman raising his fist in the air, was the powerful image that announces that the iconic character created by duo Yudetamago, consisting of writer Takashi Shimada and artist Yoshinori Nakai, is set to make a triumphant return in a new animated series that will commemorate its 40th anniversary. Known in the west as Ultimate Muscle, the original manga series was originally ran in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from May 1979 to March 1987, however, such a legendary series couldn´t stay in the shadows for long, and in November 2011 was relived to enter into a new era, where it was published in Shueisha’s web magazine Shuu Play News, where it continues to be serialized up to this day. The original animated series premiered in April 1983 from Toei Animation and ran until October 1986, spawning some animated sequels , including some animated movies and […]

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ACTION TALKS By Eric Jacobus: ‘Day Shift’ Director J.J. Perry Talks Stunts, Action Cinema History, And The ‘Best Part’ Of His Life

ACTION TALKS By Eric Jacobus: ‘Day Shift’ Director J.J. Perry Talks Stunts, Action Cinema History, And The ‘Best Part’ Of His Life

If you’ve managed to pay a visit to all 45 episodes of Scott Adkins’ Art Of Action interview series and need a continuation to help get you through 2023 and onward, then you’re in luck. All are welcome to subscribe to Eric Jacobus’s YouTube channel where members of his Telegram portal are currently the first to view his present series of video essays diving into action on film, as well as other literary topics that encompass his filmmaking practices and viewpoints. Such include the study of martial arts throughout history and culture, its segue into film, and the lens through which artists and athletes have molded the craft of film fighting which he’s since continued into his Movement Language series which is currently two episodes in. Par for the course are also interviews he’s now ramping up in the weeks and months ahead with industry stunt professionals like J.J. Perry […]

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Streaming Sleepers: Stream ALIENOID: PART ONE Ahead Of The Upcoming Sequel!

With the fair certainty of the second part set to arrive sometime this year, it’s worth making note that director Choi Dong-hoon’s fantasy time-travel sci-fi adventure, Alienoid: Part 1, is now streaming on Prime Video in the U.S. The film stars Kim Tae-ri, Ryu Jun-yeol, Kim Woo-bin, and Choi Yoo-ri in the story that spans two time periods in which robot bounty hunters caring for a Joseon orphan in present-day Korea, and a fledgling Joseon-era Taoist wizard eyeing a mysterious gun-toting woman in search of a “divine blade,” meet head-on as an alien invasion looms. You’re welcome to check out my review here for a few more unspoilery details on the story and my analysis. It didn’t do well at the local box office but did pretty well for itself on the streaming charts, so there’s hope yet that Alienoid: Part 2 will become a reality, and I look forward […]

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FROM THE END OF THE WORLD: Aoi Ito Dreams Of A World Worth Saving In The First Teaser

He blew us away with the live-action sci-fi and manga-driven stylings of Goemon and his 2004 debut, Casshern. Now looking to recover from the debacle a decade ago that was The Last Knight is the newest fantasy drama, From The End Of The World, from director Kazuaki Kiriya and starring none other than Aoi Ito who recently continued garnering praise in her career nascency as the lead in Shinzo Katayama’s crime thriller drama, Missing. Hana is a normal high school student, unsatisfied with her daily life. One day she had a dream and met a 10-year-old girl living in Sengoku Era. The girl lives hard with poverty and misfortune in that world and the two are going to have a sisterhood friendship. When Hana wakes up, she is taken away by the government’s special agency and subject to severe scrutiny about her dream. There is something called Akashic Record and […]

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