ken quitugua

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 […]

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UNLUCKY STARS Prevails With Indie Action Talent And Tenacity (Reprint/Revisal)

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

UNLUCKY STARS: Dennis Ruel’s Indie Action Comedy Feature Debut Is Online To Watch For FREE

Lee B. Golden III

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 PAPER TIGERS: Kung Fu Brothers Emerge In A Fresh New Photo From Bao Tran’s Independent Martial Arts Feature

Lee B. Golden III

Award-winning filmmaker Bao Tran’s current efforts are the result of a long and hard-fought battle that remains as so. In lieu of this, production is already under way in Seattle, Washington for Persistence Of Vision (POV) Films’s latest feature debut, The Paper Tigers, following the release of an exhilarating proof-of-concept back in 2015. When their old Kung Fu master dies under mysterious circumstances, three estranged friends, despite being terribly out of shape and washed-up as fighters, must reawaken their abilities to find the killer and restore their master’s honor. Tran and the production have finally unveiled a first, albeit obscure look at Power Rangers familars Peter Adrian Sudarso (Ninja Steel) and Yoshua Sudarso (Dino Charge and upcoming debut, Buffalo Boys) and actor and stuntman Gui DaSilva-Greene (Captain America: Civil War) in the respective roles of Danny, Hing and Jim. Al’n Duong and Michael Velasquez are producing along with actor and […]

THE PAPER TIGERS: Help Award-Winning Director Bao Tran Unleash His Kung Fu Comedy Beast!

Lee B. Golden III

It was back in 2015 that award-winning filmmaker Bao Tran graced netizens with an amazing original kung fu action shortfilm titled The Challenger. To that end, I got to achieve quite a bit in interviewing Tran and performers Andy Le and Unlucky Stars actor Ken Quitugua and assuredly, I can attest that this project has a much more prospective and grand reach. I’m talking feature film status with The Challenger, clocked at an energizing 8-minutes, serving as a narrative prologue toward Tran’s vision for the ambitious kung fu comedy, The Paper Tigers. With a tagline hailing “A Kung Fu Comedy That’s Woke AF”, Tran will direct from his own script which centers on Danny and his friends – two washed-up, out-of-shape kung fu brothers as they band together to reawaken their abilities and avenge their master’s mysterious death. Quitugua, who starred in Tran’s acclaimed action noir, Bookie in 2009 among […]

THE HIT LIST – June 27, 2016

Lee B. Golden III

This weekend was a slow one in looking for Hit List content. I also had to make a last minute edit to remove something I temporarily can’t share but I do have a few treats to help make up for the light load this week… Rounding off this week’s jam-packed playlists of stunt and demo reels are Jessica Meredith, Mark Chin, Famisa Yusuf, Brian Wilson, Luke Scott, David G. Pelta, Johnathen “Pantera” Wallace, Timur Dzhanyshev, Radozav Ratsata and Hong Kong action stalwart Jude Poyer. Taking a break from the action for a bit, we’re gonna head over to YouTube personality Dominic “D-Trix” Sandoval who is out with his latest, 20 Rejected Street Fighters. It’s one of the more rare instances where I share something not fully action-related, but I’m sharing it because it’s funny, and he’s no stranger to action and fight choreography either, so I hope that aside from being […]

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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 […]

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: PART THREE – An Interview With Ken Quitugua

Lee B. Golden III

2004 was a pretty invigorating year for me. We got our first computer and I suffered like hell everyday with dial-up until we finally acquired DSL which evidently made it much more easier for me to venture into online martial arts fandom at the time. It was new to me and quite phenomenal, and thanks in large part to one such skit was titled Battle Of The Stunt Monkies, a product of a very talented and diverse group known only as the premiere team that started it all on the cusp of the new millenium, Zero Gravity. Incidentally, it just so happens that member Ken Quitugua was one of the first people I began noticing before getting addicted to the content Zero Gravity was putting out. This, on top of my newfound DVD craze through sites like the now defunct HKFlix.com and hkdvdstore.com, and the still-active YesAsia.com added to my […]

Check Out These Stills And More From Upcoming Kung Fu Short, THE CHALLENGER

Lee B. Golden III

Director Tran Quoc Bao‘s latest short, The Challenger is arriving today in full kung fu fashion, and I’ll be sharing it tonight with a slew of other fantastic shorts in this evening’s Hit List. In the meantime, here are some great new stills accompanied by a handful of behind-the-scenes pictures of our cast and crew. View post on imgur.com Unlucky Stars co-star Ken Quitugua makes his appearance opposite Martial Club member Andy Le, in a story of a young martial artist who challenges his hero in an underground fight to make a name for himself. The project was filmed earlier this year before Le flew for tour with filmmaker Jacob Sebastian Malm and a team of other martial artists to perform for Giacomo Puccini’s Turandot at this year’s Bregenzer Festspiele in Europe. It’s also being billed as a prequel to an upcoming feature film, and after screening a copy just […]

Screener Review: UNLUCKY STARS (2015)

Lee B. Golden III

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!

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

Indie Kung Fu Comedy Homage, UNLUCKY STARS Wraps Post-Production!

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]

UNLUCKY STARS Director Dennis Ruel Thanks Fans With New Footage!

Lee B. Golden III

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 […]