SEOUL RAIDERS - director: Jingle Ma; starring: Tony Leung, Richie Jen, Shu Qi

Jackie Chan didn’t really become a bankable star in the United States until the 1995 release of Rumble in the Bronx. Before that, Chan had more of a cult following of fans in the U.S. who appreciated his style of comedic adventure mixed with martial arts. But with the popularity of his films that were released domestically throughout the second half of the 90s, Chan’s action comedies finally found an audience in America. The key thing to keep in mind, however, is that Chan has a loyal following because of the fact that what he does, he does better than anyone else. Even when he makes a film that is mediocre compared to his better movies, it still works because it is a Jackie Chan flick. Understanding that is key to understanding why Seoul Raiders doesn’t completely work. It is a mediocre Jackie Chan film, only without Jackie Chan. Read The Full Story…

BANGKOK DANGEROUS - directors: Oxide and Danny Pang; starring:Pavarit Mongkolpisit, Persiminee Ratanasopha, Patharawarin Timkul, Pisek Intrakanchit

Twin filmmakers Danny and Oxide Pang are best known for the original version of The Eye, a creepy thriller that spawned several sequels and a bad American remake. But it was their earlier film, the award-winning Bangkok Dangerous—which has since been remade by them and stars Nicolas Cage—that first brought the Hong Kong-born brothers international attention. Produced in Thailand, Bangkok Dangerous was an ambitious mix of visually stylish cinema and exploitation flicks that helped usher in the new wave of Thai film. Read The Full Story…

INSIDE THE CIRCLE - director: Marcy Garriott; starring: Romeo Navarro, Omar Davila, Josh Ayers

Before it was even known as hip-hop, the street culture that emerged from the streets of the Bronx was primarily represented to the outside world in the form of graffiti and b-boying. This was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when most of the world didn’t even know what rapping or scratching was. With the emergence of rap as the preeminent representative of hip-hop, the two earliest introductions to the culture, graffiti and b-boying (more popularly known as breakdancing), soon faded from the spotlight. But that doesn’t mean either went away, especially breaking, which has continued to thrive and grown into something far more pure than rap, which has been corrupted by corporations that turned the culture of hip-hop into a global commodity. Read The Full Story…

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF - director: Christohpe Gans; starring: Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Vincent Cassell, Monica Bellucci, Emilie Dequenne

French critic-turned-filmmaker Christophe Gans’ 2001 film Brotherhood of the Wolf was a cinematic wet dream for fanboys—a moving picture pastiche of genre films with a childlike love for all things cool. In much the same way Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars and Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon captured both directors love for the genre films they grew up watching, Brotherhood of the Wolf is Gans’ loving tribute to the spaghetti westerns, kung fu flicks and horror movies that inspired him in his youth. Read The Full Story…

TRAITOR - director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff; starring: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Said Taghmaoui

WARNING: This review contains spoilers—spoilers that are in the trailer, so they really should not be considered spoilers.
For years, Don Cheadle was one of the best actors in Hollywood who was unfortunately seldom given an opportunity to really shine. He was great in his recurring role on the television series Picket Fences, and he actually stole Denzel Washington’s thunder in Devil in a Blue Dress, but more often than not he wasn’t properly used, even in films directed by Steven Soderbergh, who began casting Cheadle regularly with Out of Sight. Cheadle finally broke out of his supporting character actor status and received the accolades he deserved with Hotel Rwanda and Talk to Me, both of which proved that he could carry a film as the leading man. His latest star turn, the political thriller Traitor, while being a solid film to showcase his talent, appears to be a serious push to establish Cheadle as a name brand actor. Read The Full Story…

DEATH RACE - director: Paul W.S. Anderson; starring: Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen

The original Death Race 2000, produced by B-movie mogul Roger Corman and directed by Paul Bartel, was a brilliant bit of subversive schlock entertainment. An action-packed mix of pitch-black satire and dystopian science fiction, the film was set in the future, during a deadly cross-country race where drivers earn points for killing pedestrians. David Carradine starred as Frankenstein, the most popular driver in Death Race, and a covert agent in the rebellion determined to topple the totalitarian government. And though the film was a low-budget bit of exploitation cinema, thanks to its wicked sense of humor and scathing look at the media and society’s obsession with violence, it amounted to something more, eventually earning its place as a genuine cult classic. The same, however, cannot be said for Death Race, a re-imagining of the original film that assaults both intelligence and the senses with equal disregard, and seems destined to be nothing more than forgettable and bad. Read The Full Story…

THE SCORPION KING 2: RISE OF A WARRIOR - director: Russell Mulcahy; starring: Michael Copon, Karen David, Simon Quarterman, Randy Couture

When you really think about it (and in fact, you don’t even really need to think about it), The Scorpion King was not exactly what you would call a “good” movie. Sure, it was the first starring role for professional wrestler The Rock; but even the most electrifying man in sports entertainment could not save what amounted to a dopey script that was transformed into an equally inane film. But despite the questionable cinematic quality of The Scorpion King, it made money at the box office and on home video. And that, of course, was more than enough reason for someone in Hollywood to decide it would be a good idea to make The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior, a direct-to-video prequel. Read The Full Story…

TROPIC THUNDER - director: Ben Stiller; starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson, Jay Baruchel, Tom Cruise

What’s most interesting about Tropic Thunder is not so much the audacity of its politically incorrect humor as its self-deprecating “fuck you” message to Hollywood. The entire film is a rigid middle finger to the very industry that has spawned the countless movies Tropic Thunder lampoons, as well the movers and shakers that keep the industry running. This is more than co-star, co-writer and director Ben Stiller biting the hand that feeds him, this is Stiller and everyone else involved in the movie devouring the hand that feeds them and the arm it is attached to, and then shitting it back out in the face of Hollywood. The end result is a wickedly funny satire that defiantly pokes fun at the film industry, and doesn’t really care who it offends in the process. Read The Full Story…

THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD - director:Kim Young-jun; starring: Yoon Soy, Lee Seo Jin, Shin Hyeon-jun, Lee Ki-yong

I first fell in love with martial arts movies—or if you prefer, kung fu flicks—when I was just a kid. I was lucky enough to see them at the sleazy movie theater in South Norwalk, Connecticut, near where I grew up; as well as lucky enough to see them on television back when movies like Master Killer (a.k.a. 36th Chamber of Shaolin) would screen on Saturday afternoons. Over the years I have seen some truly brilliant martial arts movies, and some that were total crap, which is why I feel comfortable in saying that despite what other people may say, the Korean-produced, shot-in-China epic The Legend of the Shadowless Sword is actually pretty good. Read The Full Story…

BELLY 2: MILLIONAIRE BOYZ CLUB - director: Ivan Frank; starring: The Game, Sheri Headley, Michael K. Williams

The great thing about direct-to-video market is that it has created an opportunity for a vast array of sequels to films that no one really wanted to see sequels of in the first place. We’ve all seen these titles on the shelves at our local video store, and thought to ourselves, “How do the second, third and fourth Posion Ivy films stack up to the original?” I mean come on…who hasn’t cast a curious glance at American Pyscho II: All American Girl, and found themselves thinking, “I bet that really sucks”? And yet, for whatever reason, far too many people end up watching our fair share of these insidious sequels that often have little or nothing to do with the original film in the franchise. Read The Full Story…