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Now Available: TRACERS (2015)

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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Now Available: xXx: STATE OF THE UNION (2005)

Lee B. Golden III

Colombia Pictures Director Lee Tamahori’s 2005 actioner, xXx: State Of The Union, wasn’t something I caught onto right away when it was released following Rob Cohen’s xXx in 2002. Point in fact, I completely dropped the ball even as it arrived on VHS and DVD over the years; It was one of those movies I never got around to. Low and behold, close to 11 years since then, I’ve finally had the chance to see it, essentially learning why it bombed as hard as it did at the box office. Looking at it from top to bottom, the film’s second half just plays out as a bitter reminder that it supposedly didn’t need Vin Diesel to be just as badass. Rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube replaces the franchise predecessor in claiming the title role as his own iteration of the titular tattooed badsss, here as a former soldier with a past as […]

Now Available: THE SUSPECT (2013)

Lee B. Golden III

Director Won Shin Yeon has a new murder thriller coming soon this year called A Murderers Guide To Memorization. It’s got a great plot and I’m glad I finally got to sample his directing chops with Well Go USA’s The Suspect starring Gong Yoo. The film bodes as a slick action thriller, toned like an Asian response to Bourne in almost every way you can imagine, and even adhering to one’s own love-hate relationship with shakycam style of fight choreography. The action is smart and spectacular in some places although it almost gets dizzying between a few shots. On a side note, Asian action aficionados will be glad to see Asian cinema journeyman, martialartist, actor and stuntman Kim Won-Jin (Operation Scorpio, My Wife Is A Gangster, China Strike Force) directing the action and even showcasing his skillset with lead actor Yoo. The plot is VERY deep in-scope with layer upon […]