Month: July 2017

Short films are an interesting bunch.  I tend not to review short films because there is only so much you can pack into one of these things.  A run time of 4-30 minutes doesn’t give you a lot of time to tell a really compelling story.  That’s really not my field of expertise.  It doesn’t mean I don’t watch them.  I do, I just like to be able to talk about these things in depth.  Short films generally don’t offer a lot of depth.  It’s the nature of the beast.  That being said, I have seen quite a few that are surprisingly compelling.  Not necessarily in the story department, mind you, but in everything else.  Sometimes that’s all that is needed.  What I have for you today is a bad-ass short film called Kid Fury.  Jino Kang, of Weapon of Choice, plays a mobster that’s looking for a box that hides a mysterious object.  One of his students has found it and brought it to him.  Unbeknownst to him, but knownst to us, the student was followed by a kid played by Timothy Mah.  Demanding that the mobster return the box, the kid takes on the entire school.  For a short film like this, that’s all we need.

It really doesn’t take long for the ass-kicking to start.  I love it.  The fight choreography by Master Kang is truly something to behold.  It hits surprisingly hard.  The students do their flips and kicks, and it’s spectacular.   When it comes to martial arts movies, I prefer the movies where they don’t use wires.  Don’t get me wrong, wires have their place in certain sub-genres, but for something like Kid Fury, it would seem way out of place.  Thankfully, everything you see here is done for real and without wires.  The humor is spot on as well, and it’s provided largely by Master Kang himself.  He’s clearly having fun playing a bad guy.  His reaction when his students are getting whooped by Timothy Mah is hilarious.  Honestly, I wish more bad guys had this kind of smart-ass attitude.

The cinematography for this film is interesting.  I really like the whole black-and-white motif.  It gives it a little bit of a noir-ish feel.  You can see the fight scenes and the moves, which is fantastic.  One of the things I thought was cool, was when Master Kang’s character opened the box and it gave off a gold light.  Somebody clearly watched Pulp Fiction.  It was a very cool throwback.  I can’t wait to see more from Timothy Mah.  This kid’s got some serious moves.  His fight against Master Kang’s character is probably one of the coolest fight scenes I’ve seen in a long time.  If there’s one real nitpick I have with Kid Fury, is that it ended.  You ever watch something so cool, that when it ends, you want to see more?  That’s what I got with this.  I wanted more, and apparently it’s the first in a short film series.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.  Honestly, I think Jino Kang needs to be taken seriously as a fight choreographer.  I think I’m going to watch this again.  And again.  And again.

Released: 2014

Director/s: Jino Kang/Tony Urgo

Run Time: 101 Minutes

Not Rated

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Jino Kang: Jack Lee
Douglass Olsson: Michael Banducci
Katherine Celio: Ashlie Jordan
Artem Mishin: Don Orloff
Kelly Lou Dennis: Jaime Lee

It used to be back in the day before the Internet, independent film makers had a very hard time finding audiences for their movies.  Has that changed much in the last 20 years or so?  Yes…..and no.  Yes, because it’s actually easier for indie film makers to be able to put their work on the internet using various means.  It’s made even easier with the advent of social media platforms like YouTube, FaceBook, Instagram and Twitter.  These platforms allow up-and-coming film makers to be able to share their work with the entire world.  In some ways, it’s actually harder, though, because you have so many people who want to have their work noticed, so you begin to see an over-saturation of the market.  So, a film has to really stand out from the crowd in order to be noticed.  I’ll be honest, most indie movies are not that good.  It’s not necessarily because of the format, but it’s because people really aren’t taking the idea of film making seriously, so they put out a lot of garbage.  There are some, however, that manage to beat the odds and get into the spotlight.  Road To Hell was one such movie that I feel that really deserves attention, as it was the focus of my last post.  Another one I watched last night was a nifty little action flick called Fist 2 Fist: 2-Weapon of Choice.

Weapon of Choice begins in a small restaurant that’s serving some gangsters.  Shortly into the festivities, a lone man walks into the room and slaughters the entire group, leaving only one man alive to tell his boss what he has seen.  The man’s name is Jack Lee, and 6 years later, he’s living a quiet life with his “daughter” Jaime Lee.  While Jack is upstairs exercising, a group of masked gunmen break into his house and kidnap Jaime.  Taking out several of the gunmen, but failing to save Jaime, Jack discovers that his former employer is responsible for Jaime’s kidnapping.  The setup for the film is not bad, actually.  It’s a similar story I’ve seen a million times before, but it’s still effective.  It does go through the motions of your typical revenge thriller, but it’s the approach to the material that’s important, and it’s surprisingly engaging.  My only real issue with the story is the pacing.  There are points throughout the film where it can drag quite a bit.  When it comes to thrillers like this, you want the pacing to be tight and quick and not let up.

The acting here isn’t exactly the strongest that I’ve seen, but it’s still a hell of a lot better than The Room.  Jino Kang plays Jack Lee, a man with a particular set of skills…oh, wait: Wrong movie….or is it?  All kidding aside, Jino Kang is the real star here.  His character is clearly a major bad-ass that you don’t want to mess with.  Jino Kang, who holds a 7th degree black belt in Hapkido, gives the character a soft-spoken and reserved personality that gets thrown to the side when the shit hits the fan.  Even if you’re not impressed with the man’s acting, you have to give the man credit for having a powerful screen presence.  Douglass Olsson plays the crime lord Michael Banducci.  I really like this guy’s performance.  His character is clearly not somebody you want to cross, but he’s not without a sense of humor.  He gets exasperated almost every time that one of his goons does something stupid or says something ridiculous.  It’s actually quite amusing.  You don’t see a lot of big-screen bad guys wanting to smack their subordinates across the face for being idiotic.  Kelly Lou Dennis plays Lee’s daughter, Jaime.  I like her character, because she’s not your average damsel in distress.  In fact, there are scenes where her character can hold her own against Banducci’s goons.  Katherine Celio plays the cop, Ashlie Jordan.  You know, I really like it when the women in movies like this aren’t just pretty faces and can hold their own in a fight.  I think that’s pretty awesome…….and sexy.

You’ve gotta hand it to a movie like this for having a sense of humor.  I mean, you’ve got a pot-smoking veterinarian who ends up patching up Jack Lee.  Why am I not surprised?  Watching a bunch of “professionals” get their butts handed to them by a 17-year old girl is rather amusing.  I love it.  The action in Weapon of Choice is surprisingly brutal and realistic.  I haven’t seen Hapkido used a lot in movies.  I tend to pride myself on watching movies that showcase various styles of martial arts including Tae-Kwon Do, Wing Chun, Gojo-Ryu, or Muay Thai.  Hapkido isn’t the flashiest of martial arts, and while it definitely has kicks and strikes, it focuses on joint locks, throws and deflection.  It’s very impressive.  Jino Kang, as I’ve said, holds a 7th degree black belt in Hapkido, while also holding black belts in Tae-Kwon Do, Kyokushinkai Karate, and Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.  Master Kang not only co-directs the film, but he also choreographs the fight sequences.  There are quite a few, but the real standout fight sequence is the big finale at the end of the movie.  Not only does he use guns, but he also uses swords and knives in addition to his hands and feet.  That final battle is actually one of the most impressive fight scenes I’ve seen in a long time, especially for a low-budget indie film such as this.  My only real gripe, is that the camera can get in a little too close.  For fight sequences, you really want to be able to see what’s going on, so the camera-work can work against the film sometimes.  When you can see it, the fight is absolutely incredible.

Overall, I was actually rather impressed with the film.  It has it’s problems for sure with some of the story elements and pacing issues.  There are other issues, but those tend to stem from the fact that it IS an indie film and that carries with it certain freedoms and restrictions due to what technology you can afford as well as time.  Weapon of Choice is a film that I think is worthy of attention from anyone who considers themselves serious martial arts movie buffs.  Master Jino Kang has proven that he can kick ass just as much as Scott Adkins, Donnie Yen or Tony Jaa.  When he gets more experience in film making as he goes along, I think he can be a force to be reckoned with.  It’s remarkable what has been achieved here.  While Weapon of Choice won’t go down in history as a classic, I think it’s definitely worth checking out.

Final Recommendation: Don’t mess with Jino Kang’s on-screen family.  9/10.

Released: January 2017

Director: Albert Pyun

Not Rated

Run Time: 87 Minutes

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Michael Pare: Cody
Clare Kramer: Caitlin
Courtney Peldon: Ashley
Deborah Van Valkenburgh: Sister
Roxy Gunn: Ellen Dream
Joei Fulco: The Archangel Gabriel

Making movies is not a simple process, nor is it cheap.  You see a lot of big blockbuster movies these days that can cost upwards of 200 million dollars or more.  While these films definitely have a polished and fantastic look about them, there seems to be something missing.  It comes down to a lack of creativity and imagination, I feel.  Having such a massive budget can be freeing in a lot of ways in terms of production design and hiring the best cast and crew that money can buy.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but on the flip side, having that much money can actually do more harm to a movie than good.  Look at all these big budget sequels like The Matrix Reloaded and you can definitely see the money on the screen visually, but the story-telling and acting get left by the way-side.  The independent film genre is less a genre and more of a philosophy.  Some of the smaller and low-budget films that I’ve seen are some of the best movies ever made.  Take a movie like Bone Tomahawk, a western/horror hybrid that was made for a million bucks, but looks like a big-budget production with big-name talent attached.  You CAN have a good movie without spending millions upon millions of dollars.  I have a lot of them in my Blu-Ray collection.  Sometimes you come across a movie that’s very bizarre and yet strangely compelling.  For me, that movie was Road To Hell.

The plot of Road To Hell revolves around a man named Cody, who was a highly trained soldier, as he returns home to Edge City after nearly 30 years.  Apparently his time in the military has left him….damaged and seeking redemption.  He’s heading to Edge City to reconnect with a former flame that he left behind years ago.  The story seems pretty simple on the surface, but the film takes a turn for the surreal.  It’s implied that there’s a supernatural aspect to the film, but it’s never really gone into detail.  The film is narrated by The Archangel Gabriel, who takes the form of the lovely Joei Fulco.  It’s pretty clear that we’re not dealing with your typical road movie.  I’m not kidding when I say this film is bizarre.  Cody is a guy that apparently really enjoys killing and yet when he runs into these two strippers turned spree killers, he hesitates.  It’s very much implied that Cody is in some form of Purgatory, because Gabriel said so.  Yet, that aspect of the film is never fully explored.  It leaves the audience asking the question of whether this is Purgatory/Hell or not.  While certain aspects of the film are resolved by the end of the picture, that supernatural element is not even addressed.  It’s not a terrible story.  It’s surprisingly pretty thoughtful, but there are certain aspects of it that could have been fleshed out a little bit more, I think.

There’s a number of things that stood out for with Road To Hell.  The first is the visual aesthetic of the film.  The colors and brown/orange-ish overcast really gives the film its uniquely surreal quality.  I actually rather liked how visually interesting the film was.  There’s a lot of green screen used and it is fairly obvious.  Again, Road To Hell is a very low-budget indie film, so this was to be expected.  I actually rather like the way it’s done.  It kind of gives off this otherworldly vibe to the whole thing.  When I read other movie reviews on other sites, I notice that a lot of critics tend to not mention a film’s music, which is a shame, because that is absolutely one of the most important aspects of a film, no matter how minimal it is.  The music in Road To Hell is actually very good.  There’s a lot of songs in here that are sung by Roxy Gunn and her band.  These are surprisingly good.  It has a good selection of songs.  The actual score by Tony Riparetti is….okay, but nothing overly special.  His writing for some of the songs though is really good.

The acting in Road To Hell is mostly okay.  Michael Pare is probably one of the most underrated actors of his generation.  His performance comes across as particularly introspective and menacing at the same time.  Some of the best actors act with their eyes, and Michael Pare nails it.  Roxy Gunn, who plays Ellen Dream, does a decent enough job as a girl who has led a pretty tragic life.  One of the best aspects about Roxy Gunn’s performance is when she gets on the stage.  She’s not necessarily an actress, but she is quite a singer and musician, and that really comes across in her performance.  The songs that she sings have a very personal vibe to them that really helps her on the stage.  Unfortunately, the two girls that Cody runs into on the road bring this movie down a bit.  There’s something about their performance that bothers me.  I don’t know what it is, but their performance simply wasn’t that good.  It’s like they were playing their characters deliberately like they were in a low-budget film.  Aside from that, the acting was pretty solid across the board.

Albert Pyun has made some….interesting movies over the course of his career.  Some of them pretty decent, others not so much.  One of his most notorious films was Captain America from 1990.  How much of that film was his fault I’m not entirely sure, but it didn’t do him any favors.  Some of his more memorable movies have a tendency to deal with cyborg’s like….Cyborg with Jean-Claude Van Damme.  It’s one of my personal favorites.  That being said, I feel that Road To Hell is definitely one of his better efforts and is a surprisingly effective little movie.  It’s not perfect, but it is certainly better than most of the big-budget crap that we’ve been getting over the past few years.  In my opinion, at least.  Overall, I think it’s definitely worth a look.  If it gets released to the public.

My Final Recommendation:  It’s worth checking out, provided the film gets out of Purgatory.  8/10.