satire
Just Kidding Films Presents: GUILTY
Online action shortfilms are fun to watch, especially comedic ones, and the guys over at Just Kidding Films aren’t the least bit afraid to try and tap into your funny bone and put a smile on your face, this time with their latest dish of funny with the new short, Guilty. The set-up? Well, I won’t give it away. But if you’ve been following these guys long enough, then you probably know how awesome they are at delivering their own brand of clever, tongue-in-cheek humor to netizens everywhere.
Actors Bart Kwan and David So collaborate with actor and stuntman Noah Fleder. It’s also one of the most recent gigs released online since Fleder launched his inspired new indie banner, Force Storm Entertainment with an upcoming mini-project attributed to Star Wars which is currently in post-production.
Keep your eyes peeled, and in the meantime, check out Guilty in the following embed where you will also find subscription links to Just Kidding Films and others in the description.
AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS Attack Los Angeles This Month!
From L to R: George Cheung, Stephen Dypiangco, Jasmine Currey, Partrick Epino, Tamlyn Tomita, Al Leong and Randall Park
The 30th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival kicks off today, featuring a variety of films and shorts programs from now until May 11, where National Film Society filmmaking duo Stephen Dypiangco and Patrick Epino will be hosting their brand new series, Awesome Asian Bad Guys.
The series began its active development, crowdfunding and subsequent production within the last few years, rooted in genuine appreciation and love for classic action movies and their memorable beloved unsung heroes – the Asian villains. According to co-director and co-star Dypianco, the series has already garnered major approval among viewing audiences since the series premiered earlier this year at CAAM Fest 2014. “We’ve been really happy with the reception thus far,” says Dypiangco. “Audiences have responded very positively to the project overall and how we’ve brought it to life.”.
This week, in light of the upcoming events at LAAPFF, the National Film Society released its brand new poster for the series which you can check out below, in addition to the festival synopsis written by Abraham Ferrer.
The official poster for AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS: Top row (L to R) Randall Park, Yuji Okumoto, Tamlyn Tomita, Al Leong and George Cheung/ Bottom row (L ro R):Dante Basco, Stephen Dypiangco, Patrick Epino and Aaron Takahashi
The “fourth wall” comes crashing down, in a BIG way, in AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS, the brainchild of internet sensations Patrick Epino (VOID, Festival 2005) and Stephen Dypiangco. Having met nearly four years ago during Festival Week 2010, Epino — an alumnus of San Francisco State University’s Cinematic Arts program and Visual Communications’ own Armed With a Camera Fellowship — and NYU Film School graduate Dypiangco established the online destination, The National Film Society, as a means of promoting face-to-face dialogue with Asian Pacific American independent and mainstream entertainment professionals on all things pertinent to APA cinema.
As the film starts, our loveable, awkward duo wrap up yet another installment of NFS for upload. Only problem is, the episode is ruined when a trespasser somehow walks through the living room door and photo-bombs the shoot. The interloper turns out to be none other than veteran actress Tamlyn Tomita, who avails upon the guys to assemble a team of veteran Asian American bad-guy actors for the purpose of avenging a dastardly wrong, executed by one Aaron Takahashi (Aaron Takahashi), the leader of the ruthless Wang Chung crime syndicate. Unfortunately, the motley crew of “legendary” Asian American heavies they put together — Al Leong, Yuji Okumoto, George Cheung and Randall Park (whose sole purpose seems to be the “useless” and not-quite-awesome Asian Bad Guy) — can’t stand each other.
Filled with a rapid-fire string of in-jokes and stereotypes turned on its collective heads, this rollicking send-up of just about every kind of genre and schlock-cinema beloved by our NFS heroes plays it strictly for laughs. Oh yes, every obligatory KARATE KID 2 reference, every DIE HARD throw-away line, every fake ROCKY training sequence, and so much more are crammed into the film, courtesy of a screenplay by award-winning writer/producer Milton Liu (JESUS HENRY CHRIST, Festival 2004). It’s hard to imagine that AWESOME ASIAN BAD GUYS was created as a six-episode web series — with a story so deliciously dopey, implausible, and just-plain silly, why couldn’t this heartfelt effort be enjoyed on the big screen first?
Things are still early for Dypiangco and Epino as they are currently inquiring about more festivals to showcase their work, while looking for distribution partners to help release the series to the public this year, preferably as soon as possible. In the meantime, while funding for the first season did have its fair share of challenges, Dypiangco insists there is still interest in doing a second season, but not without proper discretion. “We’ve talked about crowdfunding for any additional seasons, but we haven’t decided on that yet,” he says. “While crowdfunding was incredibly rewarding allowed us to get Awesome Asian Bad Guys, it was also a super intense and draining experience that we wouldn’t just jump back into without carefully thinking it through.”.
As for potential season two casting hopefuls, Dypiangco tells Film Combat Syndicate the following: “We’re certainly interested in continuing Awesome Asian Bad Guys beyond this first season, but we haven’t started reaching out to more bad guys just yet. Our bad guy wish list includes Bolo and Cary Tagawa for sure. And we’d love to work with bad girls like Kelly Hu and Maggie Q.”.
Awesome Asian Bad Guys will make its way to LAPFF on May 3 and May 7. You can learn more about the series, the festival and the current programming line-up at the official website. Watch the official series teaser below and get your tickets now!
*Special thanks to Stephen Dypiangco for answering my questions, and to Melanie-Anne Padernal for reaching out!
CAPITAO FALCAO Fights The Tyranny Of Freedom With Fascist Might In The New Trailer
For Portugal, today marks the 40 year anniversary of the Carnation Revolution which saw the overthrow of the authoritarian regime, Estado Novo back in 1974. In light of this occasion, we have a trailer for a brand new, whimsically satirical action comedy from the mind of co-writer and director João Leitão, Capitão Falcão (Captain Falcon) starring actor Gonçalo Waddington in the title role.
The trailer comes off the heels of a long and arduous production process that began its conception in 2009 as a possible original TV comedy series, with a pilot ready to air and at least eight more episodes scripted before the show was ultimately canceled. The project is also the latest collaboration between Leitão and fellow actor and stunt coordinator David Chan Cordeiro who both share a mutual love and passion for action movies, a genre that has proven difficult to produce to in Spain’s capital. “We met in 2006 while I was home for Christmas.” says Cordeiro. “I was living in Los Angeles at the time we became friends, and the director approached me in 2009. He pitched an idea about a fascist superhero which would be a mix between the classic 60’s Batman and Green Hornet shows.”.
Cordeiro also spoke about his expectations at first before the production grew into something much more larger and ambitious with Leitão at the helm. “Initially, I thought he just wanted my help to choreograph some action and stuntwork with a team,” he says. “But as we met more and more during pre-production, I became increasingly excited because I had free reign to do stunts my own way!”.
It’s been well over four years since Leitão sought to materialize his vision working tirelessly on his new labor of love, and now beating the odds and well on his way to greener pastures with Capitão Falcão finally in post production after wrapping a six-week filming schedule that ended in December of last year. And between now and catching the world’s attention in 2011 with a pitch trailer for the now defunct TV show, despite the difficulty of making action films for domestic audiences, Leitão‘s prospects seem quite better nowadays and his new film considering the response he’s getting from the locals. “It’s been insanely positive,” he says “We get fan art and constant emails asking about it.”.
He continues, “The really cool thing about this is finding out there’s a lot of people like me and David that also love action films and share the same vision to grow the genre in Portugal. It’s not so much about making the first action movie though. We’d love it if there were more. It’s just something we’ve liked since we were kids and it’s unfortunate that we never see it happen here.”.
Personally, I’m astounded to know that the action genre is stagnant in parts of the world outside Hollywood, but it eases me to know that the audience out there still exists. Really, all we have to do is lend our support to self-funded productions like this the right way, and filmmakers like Leitão can still have a shot, and filmgoers can continue having something to look forward to in the years to come. And with any luck, Capitão Falcão may even get a comic book series. Sound good?
Capitão Falcão is currently in post production. Meanwhile, the official first trailer has now gone viral and is available for viewing in the embed below.
To learn more about Cordeiro, follow him on Twitter, and subscribe to the official Facebook page for his stuntteam, MAD Stunts. To keep tabs on things Capitão Falcão, follow the film on Facebook as well.
H/T: Twitchfilm