Streaming Sleepers: In FACELESS, True Justice Hangs In The Balance
Michihito Fujii’s new crime thriller, FACELESS, is now streaming on Netflix.
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LAST SAMURAI STANDING Debuts First Look At Junichi Okada And Cast Of New Netflix Action Series
The new historical action drama series premieres in November, only on Netflix.
DEMON CITY Raises Hell For Toma Ikuta In The Official Trailer
Toma Ikuta stars in the live-action adaptation of the hit manga!
Streaming Sleepers: In AD VITAM, Guillaume Canet Thrills As An Ex-Cop On The Edge!
Guillaume Canet, Stéphane Caillard, and Nassim Lyes star in the Netflix action thriller about an ex-cop framed for a crime he didn’t commit.
QUIZTOPIA: ‘The Naked Director’ Star Leads New Dystopian Quiz Show Drama From ‘Alice In Borderland,’ ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’ Team
Actor Takayuki Yamada (Crows Zero, “The Naked Director”) stars in the new dystopian thriller series coming soon to Netflix!
GOLDEN KAMUY: THE HUNT OF PRISONERS IN HOKKAIDO: Netflix Slates February Debut For Hit Sequel Series
Kento Yamazaki is giving me life this year, personally. The man is a star of multiple franchises including the live-action Golden Kamuy film from director Shigeaki Kubo, as well as its sequel series which debuted last year on WOWOW… AND a feature film continuation as I reported last month. The first film streamed on Netflix and so I can only imagine the upcoming feature will arrive all the same in due time. Meanwhile, the WOWOW series that followed is happily being included in the streamer’s catalogue beginning February 6 with Golden Kamuy: The Hunt Of Prisoners In Hokkaido, with Yamazaki and actress Anna Yamada among the roster of new and returning cast. The intense scramble for the tattooed skins finally begins! The latest trailer introduces several new characters who join the series, which dives into the heart of the story. Live and shine in this thrilling survival battle for hidden […]
BLOODHOUNDS: K-Pop Star Rain Joins Season Two Of The Hit Netflix Action Series
I’m as surprised as anyone that Netflix series Bloodhounds is getting a second season. I didn’t expect as much considering the story arc of the first season provided enough closure, but to see another round of action and drama well on the way is a nice little pick-me-up to start the new year. Jason Kim of Officer Black Belt fame is returning to the show, back at the helm as writer and director for a cast once again led by Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi, along with the new addition of recording artist Jung Ji-hoon – a.k.a. Rain (Ninja Assassin). Studio N is producing the series along with Seven O Six, and Ghost Studio, based on Jeong Chan’s hit webtoon of the same name. Read last week’s announcement below for more, and feel free to revisit my review of the first season here. The production and cast of Bloodhounds Season […]
DEMON CITY: Netflix Teases Its Latest Killer Live-Action Adaptation From ‘Melancholic’ Director
Netflix has been winning in the last few years on the live-action adaptation front for Japanese IP. Depending who you are among manga readerships, this could very well extend to the audience being courted for Demon City, the latest production from the streamer launching February 27. Seiji Tanaka (Melancholic) is directing from his own script which is based on Masamichi Kawabe’s 2020 comic series, “Oni Goroshi”. Demon City stars Toma Ikuta (Netflix series “Beyond Goodbye”) in the role of Shuhei Sakata, a hitman seeking vengeance for the deaths of his wife and daughter, against an organization of strange masked criminals who control the provincial city of Shinjo from the shadows. The film also stars Matsuya Onoe (G-Men), Masahiro Higashide (The Confidence Man JP), Masanobu Takashima (We Couldn’t Become Adults), and Mio Tanaka; Rounding out the cast are Ami Toma, Taro Suruga, Mai Kiryu, Naoto Takenaka, Takuma Otoo, and Masanobu Takashima. […]
GTMAX Review: Olivier Schneider Revs Up His Film Creds With An Impressive Directing Debut
It was back in 2015 when Olivier Schneider hit my radar as the director of a then-pending screen adaptation of a 2010 crime novel. Things went quiet after that, but the career fight choreographer and stunt coordinator who’s worked on films like Taken, Safe House, Spectre, No Time To Die, and Fast X, was undoubtedly headed for a newer trajectory. That fact became clearer upon co-shepherding the limited mobile series, “Playground” a few years later, with only a handful of years before finally getting a stab in the director’s seat for a solo outing. Alas, we get GTMax, Schneider’s directorial debut on which he also collaborated with the film’s writers. Schneider’s debut kicks off with an adrenaline fueled motorcycle chase and the resultant getaway by a small gang of thieves after evading dauntless motorcycle cop Lucas (Thibault Evrard). The film then pivots viewers into the world of motorcross racing via […]
Cameron Diaz And Jamie Foxx Get BACK IN ACTION In The First Teaser
Horrible Bosses helmer Seth Gordon is back, and in titular form with none other than actress Cameron Diaz after a decade-long acting hiatus who now joins leading man Jamie Foxx for Back In Action. The action comedy bound for Netflix on January 17 has an official teaser online as of Thursday to help spread the gospel some. Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx) find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown. Don’t miss the teaser below!
A BITTERSWEET LIFE Script Underway For Netflix Remake Of Korean Neo-Noir Hit Thriller
Remember news of a potential remake development for 2005’s A Bittersweet Life? Well, that is a thing yet again. The word now from Deadline’s Matt Grobar has it that Kevin McMullin is penning the script for a production to be overseen by Netflix, and by Chernin Entertainment’s Alex Jackson. Kim Jee-woon’s Korean gangster flick starred Lee Byung-hun in the role of Sun-woo, a weary underworld enforcer who turns on his boss after refusing to kill his mistress for cheating, upon falling in love with her himself. The neo-noir hit played for Cannes that year and became a beacon of Asian cult cinema fandom for years to come with leading man Lee riding the wave to stardom in future hits like Kim’s 2008’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird, and 2010’s I Saw The Devil, and later appearing in Kim’s 2016 thriller, The Age Of Shadows. Kim’s body of work is […]
BLACK DOVES: Kiera Knightly Spies A Vengeful Eye In The Official Trailer
Director Alex Gabassi’s new spy thriller episodic, Black Doves, has an official trailer and poster this week which you can check out below. Written and created by Joe Barton for Netflix, the series stars Kiera Knightley, Ben Wishaw, and Sarah Lancashire. Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, BLACK DOVES is a sharp, action-filled and heartfelt story of friendship and sacrifice. It follows Helen Webb (Keira Knightley), a quick-witted, down to earth, dedicated wife and mother — and professional spy. For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Andrew Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Sarah Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover […]
THE QUEEN OF VILLAINS Review: A Fascinating Trip to the 80´s Japanese Pro Wrestling Scene
The Queen of Villains is a ticket to the past that gives the viewer the opportunity to delve into the Japanese pro wrestling scene of the eighties, hand in hand with the greatest villain who back then sowed fear in the AJW rings, in brutal confrontations against what is possibly the most famous female tag team in the history of Japanese wrestling, The Crush Gals. During five exciting episodes, we discover the ins and outs behind the AJW wrestling promotion, while we accompany a young Kaoru Matsumoto in her transformation into the fearsome Dump Matsumoto, genuinely embodied by Yuriyan Retriever, her uncanny performance is just a gift for the audience. However, the series is not limited to simply recounting Dump Matsumoto‘s journey to stardom, but becomes a thorough recreation of that unforgettable era of wrestling in Japan, being also a perfect portrait of the reign of the Crush Gals, a […]
GTMAX Official Trailer Goes Full Throttle In Olivier Schneider’s Directing Debut
I’m pretty optimistic with Olivier Schneider. He’s accomplished aplenty in the stunt and fight arena and he’s got the resumé to prove it. So much so that he’s building a slate on which he can now craft himself as a filmmaker squarely in the director’s chair – the first of which now graces the interwebs with a look at GTMax, evidently Schneider’s directing debut now set to arrive on Netflix on November 20. Owners of a once-popular motocross circuit, the Carella family are now on the verge of bankruptcy. Terrified of getting back on a motorcycle since the death of her mother, former racer Soélie (Ava Baya) redoubles her determination to pull her family out of this crisis. Now a mechanic, she is particularly concerned about her brother Michael (Riadh Balaïche), who has fallen into dangerous company. To save him, Soélie is forced to modify TMAX scooters for Elyas (Jalil […]
A Case For Better Action Movies: Timo Tjahjanto’s THE SHADOW STRAYS Casts A Bright Future For Its Director
I may be of the minority when I say I wish that Timo Tjahjanto‘s latest October Netflix launch, The Shadow Strays, instead released in December as did his previous streaming banger, The Big 4 in 2022. This way, at least The Shadow Strays would feel like a proper Christmas action thriller, and not for nothing either considering the film starts in a snow-driven Yakuza safehouse where a boss with a godcomplex awaits his otherwise imminent demise. The opening action scene alone may well be worth its own whole article, at that, while the film’s current run on Netflix as of last week is now the talk of any and all in the fandom, most notably fans of Tjahjanto who’ve followed the director’s Mo’ Brothers era with a stake in the horror genre that’s conjoined him with the dialogue of Asian film and action cinema fans in the years since Indonesian […]
MR.MCMAHON Review: Vince McMahon faces his character, Mr.McMahon, in a documentary where fiction and reallity collides seeking for the truth
Vince McMahon has always been a peculiar figure hard to distinguish from the character he played on television from the man who hid behind all that facade, however, his success as entrepreneur cannot go unnoticed. Following his father´s footsteps Vince took the reins of the Proffesional Wrestling organization then called WWF, turning a regional business into a multi-global phenonemon that generates billions of dollars and has captivated worldwide audiences for more than forty years, trespassing the boundaries of sport and entertainment, This 6 episodes Netfllix documentary, chronicles the reign of McMahon from its origins as his father subordinate, until taking the reins of the company breaking all the established boundaries, changing the Wrestling landscape forever. Unveiling his ability to create characters that became icons, not looking away from his problems with justice, including the accusations that incriminates him of sexual misconduct and traffic. Throughout interviews with McMahon, -after the late […]
FAST AND LOOSE Is Back On Track At Netflix, Michael Bay To Direct Will Smith Action Thriller
Setting things in motion once more is the reteamimg of Will Smith and director Michael Bay for Netflix action thriller, Fast And Loose. Deadline’s Justin Kroll notes that a start date hasn’t been made but the film would nonetheless be a likely next for 6 Underground helmer Bay who launched the Bad Boys franchise featuring Smith and co-lead Martin Lawrence in 1995. Fast and Loose follows a man who wakes up in Tijuana with no memories. As he pieces together his past, he learns he’s been living two lives: one as a crime kingpin and the other as an undercover CIA agent. The film had been in the works for years with David Leitch coming aboard to produce the film via his 87 North label with Kelly McCormick back in 2020. Leitch left the project prior to Netflix – the latter who parted from the film back in 2022 following […]
UPRISING Teaser Revealed For The Busan-Selected Joseon Thriller Starring Gang Dong-Won
It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve seen an explosive Korean period actioner. For this, I guess director Kim Sang-man saw us coming and knew well what to do about it, and that’s where Netflix has been chiming in of late with a look at his new film, Uprising. The streamer teased the flick with a pair of stills earlier this month and now we have an official teaser to help start things off nicely ahead of its October 11 launch. In the Joseon Dynasty, two friends who grew up together — one the master and one the servant — reunite post-war as enemies on opposing sides. Kim directs from a script by Shin Chul, and co-scribe and legendary auteur Park Chan-wook with whom Kim also produces. The cast includes Gang Dong-won, Park Jeong-min, and Cha Seung-won, along with Kim Shin-rock, Jin Sun-kyu, and Jung Sung-il. Catch the […]
MANTIS: Netflix Announces ‘Kill Boksoon’ Spin-Off
Netflix is announcing “Mantis,” a tentatively titled spin-off to Byun Sung-hyun’s 2023 actioner, Kill Boksoon. Lee Tae-sung will debut direct the pic from a script he wrote with Byun. The casting lists Yim Si-wan (Unlocked, Emergency Declaration), Park Gyu-young (Sweet Home, Celebrity), and Jo Woo-jin (Narco-Saints, Alienoid) for the new flick which follows Mantis (Yim), an ace assassin returning to a collapsed-order hired killer industry after his vacation. Upon reentering this anarchic world, Mantis encounters Jae-yi (Park), his fellow trainee and rival, and Dok-go (Jo), a retired legendary killer, and realizes they are all vying for the top spot among the killers. The title character of Mantis was first mentioned in Kill Bok-soon by Cha Min-kyu (Sol Kyung-gu) in the previous film to “have gone on a vacation”. Per the announcement, Mantis Mantis “returns to a chaotic industry in search of new opportunities.” Byun’s Kill Boksoon premiered at the 73rd […]
Streaming Sleepers: In TERMINATOR ZERO, An Essential Reboot For A Franchise That Desperately Needed One
Stream Terminator Zero on Netflix. Forty years since the Terminator universe took off, the franchise saw some of the highest highs and equally low points. It became a multimedia marvel and entertainment staple within the first two films, followed by four more encompassing the universe in which heroes find themselves battling an oncoming robot/cyborg invasion on both sides of an apocalypse. The latter several are hit or miss depending on where you get your sci-fi takes, although I think it’s fair to conclude failed to live up to the property’s grand potential. If that were the case, the John Connor saga wouldn’t have faltered as it did, and the legacy star power added to the last live-action effort from director Tim Miller might have borne fruit. Perhaps its even more adequate to assert that if the creators on hand were more open instead of purblind to just condensing the story […]
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