action cinema tagged posts

April 25, 2020, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Gareth Evans (plus action sequence director in certain episodes), Xavier Gens, Corin Hardy (various episodes)

Writers: Peter Berry, Claire Wilson, Carl Joos, Joe Murtaugh, Lauren Sequeira, Gareth Evans, Matt Flannery

Cast: Joe Cole, Sope Dirisu, Michelle Fairley, Lucian Msamati, Paapa Essiedu, Narges Rashidi, Orli Shuka, Asif Raza Mir, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Brian Vernel, Valene Kane, Colm Meaney, Mads Koudal

Producers: Hugh Warren, Ed Talfan

Music: Jeremy Stack

Cinematography: Matt Flannery, Laurent Barès, Martijn van Broekhuizen

Editors: Johnny Rayner, Sara Jones, Harrison Wall

Cert: 18

Running time: 9 hours (approx.)

Year: 2020

What’s the story: When London crime boss Finn Wallace (Meaney) is murdered, his volatile son S...

March 11, 2018, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Yûji Shimomura

Writer: Benio Saeki

Cast: Tak ∴, Akio Ôtsuka, Yura Kondo

Cert: 15

Running time: 100mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: Former special forces soldier Toshiro (Tak ∴) works in a small convenience store in rural Japan, caring for the orphaned Sachi (Kondo). But, dangerous enemies from his past, led by the mysterious Phantom (Ôtsuka), force him to settle old scores.

What’s the verdict: With action films arriving faster and thicker than kicks from The Raid’s Iko Uwais in a particularly foul mood, they had better come strapped with a good USP.

Re:Born’s is the close-quarter knife-fighting style practiced by both hero Toshiro and his most lethal opponents...

September 3, 2017, Posted in  Reviews Comments: 4 comments

Director: Jung Byung-gil

Writer: Jung Byung-gil, Jung Byeong-sik

Cast: Kim Ok-bin, Sung Jun, Kim Seo-hyeong, Shin Ha-kyun

Cert: 18

Running time: 123mins

Year: 2017

What’s the story: After murdering the men who killed her husband, criminal enforcer Sook-hee is recruited by a shadowy agency to become an assassin. But, the past never forgets.

What’s the verdict: Forget Atomic Blonde. The Villainess is 2017’s queen of extreme. And strong contender for the year’s best action flick (yep, it out-firepowers John Wick: Chapter 2).

Jung Byung-gil’s sophomore feature, after 2012’s Confession of Murder, also reminds us how well-orchestrated mayhem can elevate the most standard plot.

The Villainess is thrilling, exciting, even moving, but it’s not original...

September 3, 2017, Posted in  Features Comments: 3 comments

Horror Channel FrightFest 2017 has come and gone. Like any good horror icon, it will be back. But, let us take time to reflect upon a suitably wild eighteenth year for the festival. For the first time we have decided to round-up FrightFest with a series of awards. Awards which we hope will provide a flavour of what FF 2017 was like. So, until FrightFest 2018…

BEST “INTRO & Q&A” AWARD– Jennifer Tilly, Cult of Chucky

“I’m here now, bitches!” If we learnt one thing at FrightFest 2017, it’s that an intro to a movie and said movie’s Q&A will go insane if Jennifer Tilly is in the room. A force of nature, when director Don Mancini was late announcing her she burst onstage with, “I have a thing about people starting without me. But, I’m here now, so continue Don, I would love ...