MEXICALI Review: Bren Foster Reaps Violent Reprisals In Luke LaFontaine’s Markedly Sufficient Directorial Debut
Samuel Goldwyn Films is releasing the movie in theaters, and on digital beginning March 13.
luke lafontaine
MEXICALI: Luke LaFontaine’s Bren Foster Starrer Slates March Release, Key Sales At EFM
LaFontaine makes his directing debut from a script by Jesse V. Johnson.
A Love Of The Fury: A Conversation With Director Jesse V. Johnson
Jesse V. Johnson loves cinema. Working in various levels of film productions since the early 1990s, the English-born filmmaker first made his name as a stunt performer working on such high profile projects as the original TOTAL RECALL, STARSHIP TROOPERS, WAR OF THE WORLDS, and dozens more. This led to Johnson being a stunt coordinator, a second unit director, and eventually an accomplished feature director. Staying true to his stunt background, the films Johnson has directed are action-packed affairs such as THE DEBT COLLECTOR, TRIPLE THREAT, and AVENGEMENT (to name just a few) that value practical effects and physical performers more than expensive CGI-laden spectacle. And throughout his constant climb to get where he is today, recognized as one of the strongest voices in action filmmaking among people who truly value that genre, he has never lost that love of cinema. This fact is abundantly clear when looking at his […]
HELL HATH NO FURY Review: Bloody World War Two Combat From Director Jesse V. Johnson
In the waning days of World War Two, a small group of American soldiers, led by the cunning Major Maitland, are heading to a forgotten graveyard in the French countryside. With them is Marie, recently freed from a Nazi prison but still labeled a German sympathizer by her fellow French countrymen. Maitland and his men pulled her from an angry mob due to assurances that she would lead them to a cache of stolen Nazi gold that was left hidden by her and her former lover, a member of Hitler’s elite guard named “Von Bruckner.” What none of them realize is that Von Bruckner is abandoning Germany’s losing war effort; with plans to head overseas with his loyal followers. So, he is also making his way to that same graveyard in hopes of retrieving the gold and when he arrives with his squad it will set off a bloody and […]
Review: THE DEBT COLLECTOR Pays In Full With Another Solid Adkins/Johnson Package
The past several years have seen quite a bit from stunt multi-hyphenate and filmmaker Jesse V. Johnson. Notable efforts like the classy and cool noir, The Beautiful Ones, and down and dirty action thrillers like Savage Dog and Accident Man have all come to pass as some of the best the genre has put out by far, and not without the measured efforts of our director in his current stride with actor Scott Adkins – a dauntless screen talent with twenty years in film and television – who is a continual quest to break more ground as a prospective mainstream entertainer. It’s a period that’s lasted since before Johnson’s third film, Pit Fighter, on which Adkins appeared in a brief role; three years after the burgeoning action star laid claim in a breakout capacity on Isaac Florentine’s 2003 direct-to-video hit, Special Forces. Since then, the U.K. actor has been fortunate […]
Review: BLINDSIDED: THE GAME Plays Fair And Firm To An Industry That Needs To Open Its Eyes Already
Making shortfilms as prologues to subsequent longer-form projects is nothing new in film and television. It is equally delightful and surprising when it goes unannounced and, as expected, delivers tenfold on its intentions with the engaging audience. It wasn’t exactly foreseen last Spring when actor, martial artist, stuntman and filmmaker Eric Jacobus started garnering festival praise with twelve-minute narrative short, Blindsided. At twelve minutes, it achieves nearly everything you might expect or enjoy in a shortfilm or proof of concept right down to the ending without necessarily feeling baited to wait for more. Instead, it garners your furthered interest in the character and universe, and that is simply that. Going forward however, whatever said interest that entailed clearly took hold of the people at JB Productions, Jacobus’ shared independent film banner with industry stunt coordinator and Blindsided director Clayton Barber. Just over a year later and with the concerted efforts […]
SAVAGE RESOLVE: An Interview With Stuntman And Filmmaker Jesse V. Johnson
From left to right: Scott Adkins, Jesse V. Johnson and Marko Zaror on the set of SAVAGE DOG (2017) Back in the early two-thousandsies, my DVD purchase of director Jesse V. Johnson’s Pit Fighter was certainly a blind-buy for me. What attracted me the most, of course, was the appearance of actor and martial artist Dominique Vandenberg on the cover and having especially noticed him delivering a barrage of kicks as the Outworld minion who gets smashed after Sub-Zero gives spectators the infamous “taste of things to come” in the 1995 feature, Mortal Kombat, I pretty much thought I’d give it a shot. The film’s delivery earned a mix of reviews on the now-defunct HKFlix.com whereas my own opinion of the film was half-and-half. My own tastes were evolving so I didn’t appreicate it as much as I probably would now if I gave it a rewatch…and I’m not just […]
SAVAGE DOG Shows Its Teeth In The Explosive First Trailer
When it was announced last year in a series of reports that martial arts stars Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror would be returning to the screen, Savage Dog had no more than names and a logline attached to some tentative artwork. It’s something of a mystery to me as to why that was but thankfully the film has earned its way to completion and now we have an official trailer of sorts to start things off with. SYNOPSIS: Indochina – 1959. A lawless land controlled by the criminal class: Vietnamese warlords and European war-criminals. Den-Dhin-Chan Labor Camp is run by four such dangerous men. The worst prison in the land, it is here that an Irish, former-champion boxer Martin Tilman (Adkins) has made a name for himself fighting tournaments, on which wealthy criminals gamble in high stakes events. When Tilman is due for release, he just wants to return home, […]
THE HIT LIST – August 15, 2016
Well, my weekend was another work weekend. Apart from that I just played it low key and tuned into some more anime and more Hit List content, and I didn’t think I would find a lot to load for the second playlist. As you’ll see, I found plenty to share amid all you can now enjoy in this week’s installment, including a new set of stunt and action demo reels Joseph Ray Santos, Erika Keck, Jon Miguel, Monica Lopez Aleman, Paul Drechsler, Ben Van Huis, Michaela McAllister, Sean Kohnke, Darren Holmquist and Gibb Diaz Ng Yu. Rounding it out is a spiritual tribute to the one and only Jean-Claude Van Damme from filmmaker and well known independent action extraordinaire, Vlad Rimburg. Highlights from many of his earlier hits such as Cyborg, Kickboxer, Double Impact, Lionheart, Hard Target and Timecop are all included with an opening theme central to the exposition […]
Screener Review: THE BEAUTIFUL ONES (2016)
Coming into writer and director Jesse V. Johnson‘s latest movie, The Beautiful Ones, the earlier trailers hinted at something quite artful and unique in a way. If you don’t necessarily have an eye for filmlore of yesteryear in some capacity, you might either disagree with this particular film or be entirely indifferent; My film background is a mix comprised mostly of films from the last three decades, so my exposure to movies before that leaves a lot to be desired if not for only a select few titles, filmmakers and stars. However, it’s a history that well suits Johnson for this latest beaut, and much to our delight. Billed as a modern day noir Romeo & Juliet, the movie is set in Los Angeles and centers on Gabriel Tancredi (Ross McCall), an enforcer for the Tancredi crime family under his aunt, Madame boss Caterina Tancredi (Julie Warner). Their distinct history […]
THE HIT LIST – June 8, 2015
This week’s Hit List load is choc-filled with goodies; there was one that I absolutely LOVED and if you’re a fan of Star Wars, Batman and Marvel, you’re going to be absolutely fulfilled by what you’re about to see. Ah, and there is music too! That said, crack a bag of good eats open and put this playlist below on full screen, because it only gets more spectacular by the end. Team Cascade’s own Ben Milord kicks things off with his newest stunt reel followed by that of Kendall Wells thereafter (more on him later), and other reels from Lauren Okadigbo, Lang Yip, Jayden Irving, Damien Buffard, Jerry T. Adams, Korey Fackler, Mike Needham and Geoff Samuels. The list completes itself with two solid fight choreography reels from Peter Berube and the one and only Philip Silvera! Next up is a series of still, some of which have already gone […]
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