Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 20th, 2009
Writing or directing a fighting movie is kinda like booking a wrestling card. In theory, you need to create a strong but flawed babyface who is fighting for a cause or fallen friend. The antagonist or main heel is usually completely evil and has the face of being completely untouchable. But in order to build up this reputation, he must also go through some minor good guys to get over his image. In addition, the babyface must go over minor bad guys to do the same exact thing. In the end, you create a hero who comes in to save the day and vanquishes the victim. Street Warrior is one of those movies that follows this script by the book and makes for some decent excitement while the movie is at it.
The Gauntlet has claimed another victim. Joey Campbell (played by Brandon Quinn) has fallen at the hands of Isaiah Griffin (played by Sidney S. Liufau) and is now in a coma at the local hospital. His brother, Jack (played by Max Martini) has been discharged from the army for beating the crap out of a superior officer (no reason is given). He comes home and breaks up a robbery of a local convenience store where his friend Maggie (played by Valerie Cruz) works. However, once he gets to his brother’s house and is treated to his sister-in-law Sarah’s (played by Erin Cottrell) tearful embrace, he realizes something is very wrong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 13th, 2009
Bradford May, oh Bradford May. I have a good history of watching movies directed by Mr. May from a couple of Darkman sequels to the more recent Ring of Death. His style is pure popcorn and an attitude of leave your brain cells by the door. It is only fitting that I was interested in seeing another flick with his name on it. This one was called Mask of the Ninja. Right away, it sounded like a classic Bradford May movie. However, after watching it, I realized that Bradford had broken some laws in his production. He had broken the sacred five rules of portraying a ninja.
Danny (played by Dominic Rains ) is a cop impersonating a typical street punk who pushes illegal drugs. He gets caught wearing a wire when an undercover cop playing the guitar for the local band makes the save. His name is Detective Jack Barrett (played by Casper Van Dien). In the middle of the arrest, Danny gets a call from his girlfriend: Miko (played by Kristy Wu) who sounds like she is in dire trouble. Jack takes the call instead and decides to investigate what exactly is going on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 12th, 2009
The sleaze of the grindhouse era inspires a special kind of love. Warped, dubious, indefensible, yet real all the same. Part of that love is a nostalgia from those bad old days. But it takes an even more special brand of that special love to seek to recreate forgotten exploitation genres, and yet that is what we have here: the first Nazisploitation flick in close to thirty years.
With Nazi hunters closing in, former SS commandant Helmut Schultz recounts to a priest his activities as the ruler of Stalag 69. In the closing days of the war, he performs terrible scientific experiments, along with the expected torture, on an international (and co-ed) group of POWs. Said prisoners, meanwhile, plot their escape and their revenge.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2009
His name is Craig, Daniel Craig. Love him or hate him, we have to accept the fact that this blue-eyed rather rugged sculpture of a man is the face of James Bond, now and for the foreseeable future. I’ll admit to being more of a nostalgic Bond fan, and have the image of Sean Connery forever etched into my brain as the quintessential 007. But, it’s not only the drastic change in appearance and demeanor that makes this a hard film for me to embrace. For the first time in the franchise’s 22 film and 35 year history we have a Bond movie that is a direct sequel of the previous one. Certainly characters and elements have carried through from one adventure to the next, and there have been rather strongly linked movies in the run, but never before has one picked up literally an hour from the end of its predecessor. If you haven’t watched Casino Royale, or it’s been a while, you would be best served to acquaint or reacquaint yourself with that film. This one sets a manic pace from the very first frame. There’s no time for even a minimal recap, and Bond’s not in the mood to answer any questions. For the very first time, you need to have seen the film before it in order to be on board for this one. The second departure from the tried and true 007 formula is that this time James Bond is on a mission of vengeance. In Casino Royale’s Bond hooked up with the lovely Vespa, who ultimately betrayed him, but eventually sacrificed her own life for him. Now he pissed, and he’s not waiting around for M or the rest of British Intelligence to get with the program. No question that this type of story is definitely best suited for Craig and his particular take on Bond. But, like it or not, this isn’t your father’s or Ian Fleming’s James Bond.
Just as he was as Casino Royale ended, Bond is on the trail of Mr. White (Christensen). He finally manages to get him and bring him to a British Intelligence safe house, where he and M intend to interrogate him. Both are shocked to hear that there are spies inside of British Intelligence. Bond acts quickly to eliminate an immediate threat to M. Unfortunately, the encounter leaves more questions than it has supplied answers. Bond disobeys orders and heads out to root out the organization behind these plots. Through a case of mistaken identity he hooks up with Camille Montes (Kurylenko). It seems that the rather attractive Camille is on a revenge mission of her own. Together they track the bad guys to the doorstep of industrialist Dominic Greene (Amalric) who has tried on more than one occasion to eliminate the young lady. Greene heads an organization that on its surface appears to be a non-profit organization dedicated to the elimination of global warming. The Al Gore clone delivers speeches and provides the structure for this apparently “clean” organization. But Greene is meeting with General Medrano (Cosio). The general is plotting to take control of his country, and with Greene’s help, he will succeed. Greene seeks certain lands as payment for his help. Greene’s plot is to hold a drought ridden country hostage to his demands once he controls the entire water supply. Of course, it’s up to Bond to stop the plot and restore order to a raging country, while seeking a little payback on the side. Felix and his CIA buddies are token characters here, intended to provide a little question as to Bond’s loyalties. There’s a little bit of Bond going rogue here, but I’m not sure anyone really believes that he has. It’s summed up pretty well when M welcomes him back to the fold, so to speak, and Bond replies, “I never left”.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 2nd, 2009
Autism is commonly defined as a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. Sometimes, due to that lack of social interaction and repetitive behavior, the people affected develop a special skill or heightened senses. The results can be amazing. However, in film, autism is rarely shown as what it truly is, a disorder. To find a film that not only embraces the special skill as well as show the difficulty it takes to exist and function normally is pretty rare.
Zin (played by Ammara Siripong) is involved with Yakuza Boss Masashi (played by Hiroshi Abe). There is just one problem with that. She was previously the girlfriend of a gangster simply known as No. 8 (played by Pongpat Wachirabunjong). No. 8 in his own jealous rage decided to shoot his own toe and forbid Zin from ever seeing Masashi again. She decides to flee and tells Masashi to not follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 23rd, 2009
There are many shows out there that never make it past the original pilot episode. Most of them fail because there isn’t anything original about the plot or perhaps the cast chosen isn’t strong enough to bring out a good character. Heck, it could even be as trivial as the locale chosen to whether or not the network executives give it a nod. So the question remains, what exactly happens to these pilots that either fail or haven’t been picked up yet for next season? They get released on dvd. A little publicity never hurts.
Joseph Armstrong (played by Keith David) is the head of the SIS, the Special Investigation Section. The SIS is a secret department of the Los Angeles Police Department that seeks out the worst of the worst habitual offenders and brings them to justice. One way or another. After one of the squad dies in a violent gunfight, Assistant Chief Armstrong needs to find a replacement, one that won’t cause anymore problems and won’t make mistakes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 21st, 2009
Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies is a reliable piece of filmmaking exemplary of the great director’s ability to make a tensely watch-able film, even if said film isn’t his best work. Such is the case with this Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe-led action-thriller that focuses on the post-Iraqi invasion conflict. DiCaprio’s Roger Ferris is left with those little pieces of death that have proven so much more dangerous after the old regime was toppled by U.S. forces, and he seems fine with it.More at home is he in the Middle East because control always seems to be within his grasp. It’s when that control is threatened by the meddling of Washington, D.C., bureaucrats that he finds it difficult to function.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2009
Made-for-TV crapper Depth Charge, a new action film starring Jason Gedrick and that B-movie slut brother of Julia Eric Roberts, hits DVD with a bare bones release you will welcome, if by chance, you happen to work for Upcoming Discs and want to get your next bad movie project over with as quickly as possible.All others may find it difficult mustering enthusiasm for what is essentially an ultra-low budget remake of Die Hard on a submarine.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 27th, 2009
On July 20th, 1973; Bruce Lee left our world. The world he left was never the same, but somehow his fans and directors carried on in their own way. The fans he left behind were hoping for a great martial artist that could be just as good as the late Bruce Lee. The directors he left behind were hoping to capitalize on the look of Bruce Lee and find one who not only looked like Lee but performed like him. What happened as a result of all this? A whole lot of bad kung-fu films known as Bruceploitation films. These films ranged from the normal to the obscene including one where Bruce Lee fights James Bond & Dracula in Hell. Unfortunately for the Dragon Immortal set, that one did not make it. But this collection brings together ten that did.
This boxset of 10 movies on three discs brings together the best and worst of the films in the Bruceploitation era. Who am I kidding? These are all pretty bad. But let us analyze the wreckage and see if anything is salvageable. There is one movie called Fist of Death (Jackie & Bruce to the Rescue) where the old kung-fu master of the village gets killed by a gang simply known as the YMCA. The YMCA? Are they lead by an Indian and a cowboy who sing about a “Macho Man”? Incidentally the gang's logo says YMGA but every actor in the movie calls them the YMCA. This all leads to some rickshaw driver who plays the Bruce Lee role and beats the gang and saves the day.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2009
Supercop is really just the American title for the third entry in Jackie Chan’s very popular Police Story series in Hong Kong. For the first time in the franchise, Chan decided to go with an outside director, and he made a wise choice with newcomer Stanley Tong. Tong might have been a green director, but he had a natural feel for the abilities and strengths of his mega-star. The two would go on to collaborate on several more films after this rather remarkable first time pairing. It didn’t hurt that Tong not only had Jackie Chan to draw upon for the film, but he also had Chan’s Hong Kong film female equivalent with the talented Michelle Yeoh. Both stars are accomplished martial artists and perform nearly all of their stunts without the use of doubles. Tong’s task here was to allow his stars to “do their thing”, yet bring something new and fresh to the formula of Police Story, and to a certain degree all of the Jackie Chan films. He succeeded on all accounts, and Supercop is easily the best of the Chan Police Story films. The two would also team up for one of Chan’s most popular films, Rumble In The Bronx. While I’ve not seen anywhere near all of Chan’s Hong Kong outings, this is high and away the best that I’ve seen from that market.
Jackie Chan once again stars as police inspector Chan. When he overhears his superiors talking about a dangerous mission in need of a “supercop”, Chan volunteers for the task. Of course, he has to convince his girl that the month long job is going to be easy and safe, all the while giving her his life insurance policy and bank book records. Chan’s job is to pretend to break the infamous Panther (Wah) out of State custody and infiltrate the organization. He is briefed and trained by INTERPOL Inspector Jessica Yang (Yeoh). Once he’s ready the breakout commences, but the military guarding the prisoner aren’t in on the gag. After dodging bullets and missiles, Chan gets Panther safely away. Now the gang wants to meet with their contact in a local town that just so happens to be Chan’s cover story hometown. This is where his family is supposed to be. The only trouble is that Chan’s never been there before. INTERPOL sets up a fake group of family and friends, and it’s amusing to watch Chan try and fake his way about knowing these people when he’s not even sure who they are each even playing. Chan has a particular problem when he’s introduced to his “sister” played by Yang. The two follow the gang through various government operations to recapture him. Finally they’re in it for the meet and payoff, but Chan’s cover gets blown by a chance meeting with his girl, May (Cheung). Now it’s as much a matter of survival as of bringing down the bad guys.
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