Director Nicolas Winding Refn is becoming a name around the world for his unflinching blow to your visual sense with ‘Bronson.’   Many will look back in years down the road and look at that film that launched Refn’s career as a mainstream filmmaker.   However, ‘Bronson’ is far from Refn’s debut as a director.   It has been 13 years since his first film, ‘Pusher,’ and, though he has grown more confident as a filmmaker, his debut is just as riveting and stark as anything he has done since.

Kim Bodnia stars as Frank, a mid-level drug dealer on the streets of Copenhagen.   Frank wants to make it big, and he sees his opportunity for great things when he is confronted by a former cellmate.   The two set up a large deal, and Frank must go to a local supplier, Milo, to get the drugs.   Frank owes Milo money from previous deals, and he does not have the money to cover what he is about to take from Milo.   Milo, being the generous drug supplier that he is, gives Frank the drugs on the condition that Frank returns with the money as soon as possible.   All seems to be going well, until the police intervene, and Frank is forced to throw the drugs into a local lake.

What follows is an intense ride through Frank’s life as we witness him doing everything he can to get back the money he owes Milo.   Things go from bad to worse to even worse as Frank’s window of time begins to close in on him.

While there is so much to like about ‘Pusher,’ Kim Bodnia really is the star of the show here.   Frank is in every scene of the film save for one, and even moreso than being a drug dealer, he is a despicable man.   Never thinking about plans for the future, Frank does exactly what is necessary to get him from situation to the next.   He has a girlfriend, a prostitute named Vic, who has deep-rooted feeling for Frank.   Frank only uses Vic for his own purposes, and the only times he makes any indication of having a life with her is when it suits needs first and foremost.   He won’t even have sex with the Vic, because her profession disgusts him so much, yet he keeps going back to her, dragging her along just to get what he needs from one moment to the next.

This level of egoism is made all the more evident when Frank breaks down and goes to his mother for help.   Having not seen her son for years, she wants to know that he is okay, that he is taking care of himself.   All Frank wants is money, and, when he realizes she has none to give, he turns on her, shutting her out of his life once again.   It is a hard moment to watch in a film full of them, and Refn’s implacable sense of place and movement projects the viewer into Frank’s world.

Despite the aversion one might, and probably should, have for Frank, you cannot help but hope he makes it through this situation unscathed.   You keep thinking maybe, just maybe, he’ll come around, find a way to pay off Milo, and run off with Vic to some secluded part of the world.   Most of this level of hope stems from Bodnia’s performance.   Bodnia is extremely likable, almost sympathetic in his portrayal.   You believe Frank, because you want to believe Frank, and you want to believe Frank, because you believe Bodnia’s sincerity in the performance he gives.

You believe the character, also, due to the incredible style Refn gives the film.   Like an unstopping train through the streets of Copenhagen, Refn shoots the city with a vitality that makes the city come alive, the streets Frank must work become a character unto themselves.   Mid-way through the film, you almost begin to believe that the story is Frank against the city, but it becomes all the more evident as time passes that this is a story of one man against himself.

And that is what ‘Pusher’ truly boils down to.   Frank is an addict, but his drug is not anything you can buy or steal.   It’s chaos, and it follows Frank wherever he goes whether he is the source of it or not.   Even when things are beginning to take a turn for the better, Frank finds a way turn it on its ear and come out the worse for it.   He pushes away anyone who might care for him, anyone who might love him, and that alone gives the film’s title a shadowy, comfortless dual meaning.

As absorbing as ‘Pusher’ is, it didn’t find release in the United States until a limited release in 2006.  By that time, the film had spawn two sequels, each delving a little deeper into a secondary character.  ’Pusher II,’ released in Denmark in 2004, follows Frank’s former partner, Tonny, played with colorful fascination by Mad Mikkelsen.  Mikkelsen is probably the most recognizable of the actors in the ‘Pusher’ trilogy, as he went on to play the villain, Le Chiffre, in 2006′s ‘Casino Royale.’  ’Pusher III’ follows the Serbian drug lord Milo, whose story comes full circle in this final chapter of the ‘Pusher’ saga.  Each film opens with each of the lead actors standing against a dark background, hard music driving the beat and bottom-running subtitles giving their names.  Each film is a powerhouse from Refn, but it is his first that is the most memorable.

That goes for all of Refn’s films.  Even the inescapable power from ‘Bronson’ isn’t told with as much raw nerve as ‘Pusher.’  The director has become more polished in his later years, but it is still his first film that remains his crowning achievement.  Told with a cutting style and cinema verite at its grittiest, ‘Pusher’ is a film that, 13 years later, is just as staggering and as weighty as it ever was.

Have you ever been really excited about seeing a movie based on you past experience with a filmmaker, only to be mostly disappointed and become frustrated by your wasted enthusiasm? Well, that’s sort of what my experience with Marc Caro’s newest film ‘Dante 01′ was like.

If you’re not familiar with the name, Marc Caro co-directed ‘Delicatessen’ and ‘The City of Lost Children’ with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, but ‘Dante 01′ is Caro’s first feature film in ten years and he’s gone solo this time. The dark fairy tale fantasy elements that made ‘Delicatessen’ and ‘The City of Lost Children’ such fascinating experiences are absent in this science fiction thriller that attempts to draw more on Jeunet’s style and tone for ‘Alien: Resurrection’.

‘Dante 01′ takes place in the future. The title refers to a remote incarceration station deep into remote space that orbits around a fiery molten planet. The station houses two doctors, three security guards and seven mentally unstable criminal inhabitants. The station resembles a structure made of Rubik’s cube-like blocks with levels referred to as “circles of Hell” as the story is loosely based on Dante’s Inferno, although “loosely” is a term used here with much creative license.

A new prisoner arrives at Dante 01 accompanied by a new doctor Elisa (Linh Dan Pham) and is introduced into the world of it’s psychologically disturbed residents. Elisa attempts to encourage the residing doctors to embrace her new protocols for treatments, but Persephone (Simona Maicanescu) is already beginning to fear the worst for the entire station as the new prisoner, given the name Saint Georges (Lambert Wilson) by his fellow crazies, hides a secret and powerful force within himself. The cast also includes the regular Dominic Pinon (Delicatessen) as one of the seven inmates.

While the backstory of what happened to Saint Georges prior to his incarceration on Dante 01 is dealt with on minimal level, it is revealed that he was found on a ship alone and covered in blood and that he encountered some powerful alien force. Now, held on Dante 01, the “force” is taking him over and will ultimately bring upon the fate of everyone on board. The characters in ‘Dante 01′ are not very well developed and not a single character in the film inspires any empathy or likability from the viewer. Watching ‘Dante 01′ is sort of like watching ‘The Faces of Death’ in that you have no real interest in the characters other than to see the details of their inevitable deaths.

‘Dante 01′ is not all bad, though, despite my distaste for the story and disappointment with the overall outcome. Visually, the movie is actually very engaging and creative. The production design and cinematography are dark and morbid, as opposed to being cold and sterile as was the direction in George Lucas’ ‘THX-1100′, which was another futuristic film with lots of bald people. ‘Dante 01′ has the visual feel and tension of ‘Cube’ combined with the shadow-rich lighting and rich color palette of Jeunet and Caro’s previous two films.

Even with a small budget, ‘Dante 01′ manages to develop some great set design and special effects, even if they aren’t put to the best use. As the story develops further and the events unfold, the use of special effects increase to further enhance the interpretation of what is happening to Saint Georges. By the end of the film, ‘Dante 01′ begins to feel a bit like a French remake of Kubrick’s ’2001: A Space Odyssey’ with it’s solitary depictions of Saint Georges, heavily entrenched in mesmerizing special effects sequences intended to convey the state of his mind and being as he drifts in space, approaching his own fate.

Caro clearly has taken much influence from his previous experiences on films with Jeunet as well as influences from other films to piece together what could be called his first widely released solo venture. In all honesty, the cast did a fine job with the story they had to work with, but Pinon (as usual) tends to stand out. All things aside, ‘Dante 01′ only manages to maintain interest through it’s visual appeal and would otherwise have failed on a more complete level than it did.

The 100-minute ‘Dante 01′ DVD released under the Dimension Extreme banner on April 21, 2009 and features the original French audio along with English and Spanish subtitles and an English dubbed track, which is quite a rare thing to appear on a French film. Aside from the movie itself, the only real perk of the DVD is a making-of featurette which is actually fairly interesting, maintaining the same hypnotic musical score by Raphael Elig and Eric Wenger that presides over the film.

There’s a nice, little website out there that some of you may or may not have heard about.  On it, you answer a series of multiple choice questions about yourself.  Questions range from “What’s your body type?” to “What describes your best sense of balance?” to “How high can you kick?”  You answer all these questions, and, voila, the site calculates for you how many five-year-olds you can take in a fight.  

The website is www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com.  Pretty self-explanatory.  

Of course, whether or not you are physically capable of fighting a child is one thing.  You have to go through the moral dilemma of whether or not you even want to fight a bunch of five-year-olds, something the site doesn’t take into account until the third page in.

And so it is, with Narciso Ibanez Serrador’s film, ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’. Serrador, who claims the novel by Juan Jose Plans was based on his screenplay and not the other way around, asks this question of his main characters and of the audience.  What would it take for you to turn your sense of violence against a child?  Of course, the kids in ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ make this question a whole helluva lot easier to debate.

The film takes place on a small island just off the coast of Spain.  A couple of English tourists, played by Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome, decide the village that lies on the shore of the island would make a fine getaway for some relaxation.  Once they arrive in on the island, they discover that all the adults are gone, and all that remains are the children, children with creepy gazes, children that have inexplicably been possessed by some, evil force.

Through the course of the film, and this is no spoiler for anyone who knows anything about the film, we learn the children have turned on the adults.  They have killed off every, other adult in the village.  At first, the English couple just try to survive.  Before too long, it grows into an “us or them” scenario, and the couple must make a decision.

Serrador handles the earlier moments of the film with subtety and a surreal visual style.  Before even showing shot one from the film, we are shown documentary footage of horrors that have befallen children throughout history.  It is as if Serrador is mocking us with how awful it is to do harm to a child only to have us proceed to watch a film about killer children.  

Once the story begins, though, Serrador’s intense and dreamlike style continues to shine.  The couple searches the empty streets of the small village, finding nothing but desolation and quiet.  Serrador never appears to be forcing the action.  He lets the quiet settle before the violent nature of the children becomes quite evident.  These early moments are made all the more unnerving by the innocent nature of Fiander and Ransome.  They are both incredibly likeable characters and the actors embrace this innocence in their performances.  You could never believe Fiander would do anything to hurt a child.  Likewise, you know he would do anything to keep his wife from being hurt.  And therein lies the dilemma.

‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ is not a horror film in the sense of blood and death splashed all over the screen.  There are moments of violence.  There is blood, bright and vibrant as it is with most films of this nature.  However, most of what unsettles in this film is the overshadowing sense of dread on this small village.  We know something is horribly wrong.  We know the children are not what they appear to be.  There is some, unexplaind presence within them, something that Serrador keeps locked away like an unanswerable mystery.  There seems to be some form of telikenesis between them, as their plans are never outwardly explored.  

At one point, the couple ventures deeper onto the island in an attempt to seek refuge.  They come upon a small farm where a woman and her children live.  These children are fine.  However, once the children from the village come across them, they appear to infect the good children with some sort of evil virus that only affects adolescents.  It’s a creepy moment when the evil children stare without speaking, and you realize without a word being said between them that the new children have now been turned.  It’s as if an evil switch in their brain has been flipped, and, now, all adults must suffer.

Another aspect of the film that is quite unsettling is the pregnancy angle of the female protagonist.  You know, at some point, with the apparent infection of children on the island, that her pregnancy will come into play.  The scene in which it does, though you have prepared yourself for it, is as unsettling as anything else found within the film.

Fiander’s acting in the climactic moments of the film are genuine and justified.  All the while, his innocent and likeable nature has been building up in our minds, and Fiander has no issues with running through the gamut of emotions his character must face.

Serrador’s film is a hidden gem that, until recently, was difficult to find on DVD.  In June of 2007, Dark Sky Films released the film on a Region 1 disc that includes a making-of featurette with cinematographer José Luis Alcaine, a featurette about handling child actors with director Serrador, and a still gallery.  It is an unpleasant film with dark ramifications, but it is so much more than a throwaway horror film.  The themes explored in ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ are deep and powerful, and they make the overall narrative that much more disturbing.

If I were to ask what the Top 5 best sports on the planet are, my money would probably be pretty safely bet against table tennis. On the other hand, that bet is entirely subject to who you’re asking. For years now, I’ve had a personal fascination with the sport of table tennis from a spectator’s point-of-view. Sure, I’ve played my share of the game, but I’m not any good. Then again, I do love to watch those who are talented. I even make a point not to miss table tennis in the Olympics.

‘Ping Pong’ (2002) is a Japanese film I came across in a “used store” about a year ago and was powerless against it’s magnetic draw it had on my wallet. Without hesitation, I snatched up the DVD from the shelf and upon reading the back the movie was mine. Having never seen the movie before, it was a gesture of faith that the filmmaker would do the subject justice, and that he did.

Directed by first-timer Fumihiko Sori, also known simply as SORI (Visual FX Artist and Producer of the anime ‘Appleseed’),   ‘Ping Pong’ tells the story of two friends who grew up playing table tennis together. Hoshino, aka Peco, (Yà ´suke Kubozuka) is an outgoing and obnoxious player with a questionable understanding of what good sportsmanship is, but it all comes down to a love for the game with him. Tsukimoto, aka Smile, (Arata) on the other hand, is a quiet and reserved person who plays not for the love of the game but because he has nothing better to do. These two friends continue to play through high school, but on different terms, causing some tension between them and their fellow teammates.

The heart of ‘Ping Pong’ lies in it’s character development. Peco and Smile are both very likable characters, but for vastly different reasons. For Peco, it’s a story of losing one’s self in defeat and finding a way to rekindle that fire of passion he once had for the game. For Smile, it’s a story of coping with unwelcome success and the consequences it has had on his friendship with Peco. For both of them, it’s a mutual story of discovering what it means both to be a hero and to have a hero.

‘Ping Pong’ begins as a casual, light-hearted comedy but develops slowly into a wonderful dramedy that takes the essence of ‘Rocky’ and ‘Karate Kid’ and transplants what made those films great into the world of table tennis. Peco and Smile must both contend on various levels with worthy opponents. They both go through vigorous training to take them to the next level and the significant battles that are fought at the tables are every bit as engaging and dramatic as Rocky’s fight against Ivan Drago or Daniel’s match against Johnny in ‘Karate Kid’.

An eclectic arrangement of music is used to further entice the viewer’s interest in ‘Ping Pong’ by appropriately setting the mood for many of the scenes. Visually the movie is fairly straight-forward but does slip several crafty techniques and styles just under the radar in a successful effort to enhance the visual storytelling without getting in the way.

By far, the most gratifying experience to take away from ‘Ping Pong’ is the sincere underlying message of what friendship and personal sacrifice are worth, the value of people having heroes and that the joy of those relationships only work if they are mutually embraced. The movie culminates with a shifting of outcomes between the two friends that actually makes the most sense.

‘Ping Pong’ is based on the best-selling comic book by Taiyo Matsumoto. The film won the New York Asian Film Festival that year and received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Village Voice. The DVD was released in September 2007 as a two-disc special edition that included the following features:

• 54-minute Making of ‘Ping Pong’ featurette
• A 16-minute parody of the film called ‘Ting Pong’
• A 16-minute short film called ‘How to Play Ping Pong’
• Original Japanese Trailers
• Television Spots
• Director & Cast Profiles

***WARNING – SPOILERS AHEAD***

Do you ever have one of those movies that is on your “must-see” list for years and years, and you just never quite seem to work it out? Â  This movie might be on your Netflix queue for months, even years, on end, and you keep telling yourself, “I’m gonna bump that up to the number 1 spot.” Â  Of course, the next week ‘Tales of the Black Freighter’ comes out, and you forget all about your “long-forgotten” film.

Mario Bava’s ‘Bay of Blood’ was that film for me.   And, I’m sure, all of this build-up and anticipation to finally watching this film put a damper on my enjoyment of it.   I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t enjoy ‘Bay of Blood.’   Far from it.   But years and years of hearing about Bava’s most controversial motion picture puts certain ideas into one’s head that no film can, ultimately, live up to.  

There’s no question, whatsoever, of the influence this film had on the horror films that came after it. Â  Released in 1971, it was the first, true “slasher” (or “body count”) film, in which an unseen killer stalks a finite number of people who either most or all end up meeting gruesome and special effect-laden ends. Â  It was an unheard of concept at the time, and many found the film’s level of violence to be quite offensive.

It’s not unheard of to consider ‘Bay of Blood’ as Bava’s most violent film.   Within it, we have stabbings, hackings, decapitations, impalings, and the late addition of a shooting, the latter of which comes totally out of left field.   Christopher Lee reportedly walked out of the screening of the film at the  1971 Avoriaz Film Festival claiming to be completely revolted by the movie.   Hallmark Releasing Corporation, who specialized in exploitation films, picked up ‘Bay of Blood’ for American distribution and slapped the film with a rating of V for Violence!

For fans of horror since the release of ‘Bay of Blood,’ the concept may not be all that original. Â  The idea of people picking each other off for the sake of collecting a premium piece of real estate isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Â  Neither is the idea of a faceless killer stalking several people within the confines of a wooded area. Â  Anyone who has even heard of ‘Friday the 13th’ can grasp where the creators of that franchise got most of their ideas.

In fact, a few death scenes found in ‘Bay of Blood’ were copied almost verbatim in ‘Friday the 13th Part 2,’ the machete-to-the-face and the double impalement of two lovers. Â  Many claim the latter to have been one of the more original killings found in the ‘Friday the 13th’ franchise, but even that was something copied from this earlier piece of film horror.

‘Bay of Blood,’ however, pulls each of its thirteen (ironic, no?) murders off with stylish fashion. Â  This is thanks in large part to special effects guru Carlo Rambaldi, who would late go on to Oscars for his works on ‘E.T’ and ‘Alien.’

It is also unquestionable of the level of cinematography found in ‘Bay of Blood.’ Â  Due to budget constraints, Bava was forced to serve as his own DP. Â  This wasn’t exactly a difficult situation for the man to find himself in considering he had been working as a cinematographer ever since the late ’30s. Â  With ‘Bay of Blood,’ Bava both improvised in his filmmaking and crafted some amazing shots with his composition and lighting. Â  A child’s toy wagon was used for tracking shots, but those shots look no less professional than anything found in a mega-budgeted film. Â  

The lighting Bava utilizes is spectacular, particularly one of the latter scenes in which a character finds himself in the dark and uses matches to light his way. Â  When it is dark, a heavy, blue hue reflects off his face. Â  When he strikes a match, only his face comes into view, and you half-expect (mostly from the conventions horror has placed on film) to see someone standing directly behind him.

This is something else Bava was far ahead of the curve on. Â  He managed to break or work around conventions even before said conventions were deemed conventional in the eyes of horror fans. Â  

This is found right off the bat in the film’s opening scene. Â  A wheelchair-bound woman, alone in her house, is attacked and hung and by an unknown assailant. Â  She dies, the look on her face vintage, Italian horror fright. Â  The camera cuts to the feet of her killer and begins moving up the killer’s body. Â  It stops on his gloves. Â  He takes them off, revealing a rather large pinky ring. Â  Typical, horror convention, even giallo convention, tells us this is a clue as to the final reveal of he killer’s identity. Â  However, the camera keeps going up the killer’s body ultimately revealing his face. Â  What? Â  Do we know from the get-go who the killer in this film is? Â  Not a chance. Â  A second, unseen killer quickly dispatches of the first killer in brutal fashion, shattering anything we think we might know about where the film’s narrative or structure is headed.

Bava, a master at storytelling and filmmaking, finds a way to trump everything fans of horror think they know about how the genre is supposed to work. Â  He does it, no less, in a film that is nearly 40 years old, a film that was released nearly ten years before the dawning of the “slasher” age of horror.

‘Bay of Blood’ is a must-see for any fan of the horror genre, a truly effortless work of cinema that manages to both create and destroy the horror conventions of the films that followed it. Â  It was Bava in the later years of his career, but the filmmaker, 57 at the time of the film’s release, continued to work his magic around the camera lense and, to this day, continues to influece those who would follow him.

As a quick aside, ‘Bay of Blood’ was ‘Ecologia del delitto’, or ‘The Ecology of Murder’, upon its initial release in Italy. Â  In fact, the film reportedly has more alternate titles than any other film in history. Â  Apart from the various titles it went through during production like ‘The Stench of Flesh,’ ‘That Will Teach Them to Be Bad,’ and ‘Chain Reaction,’ it has gone through several titles after being released. Â  It was released as ‘Bloodbath’ in the UK. Â  In the US, it was originally released as ‘Carnage’ then retitles ‘Twitch of the Death Nerve,’ probably its most identifiable title. Â  It was later reissued as ‘Last House on the Left – Part II’ and ‘New House on the Left’ to cash in on the success of Wes Craven’s first feature.

‘Bay of Blood’ can be found included in The Bava Box Set: Vol. 2, which also includes ‘Lisa and the Devil,’ ‘House of Exorcism,’ ‘Kidnapped,’ and more.  

Shane Meadows’ 2006 film ‘This is England’ is a remarkably chilling look at impoverished teenagers, a harrowing look at the filmmaker’s own country of his youth.

Set in 1983, the film is based on Meadows’ own experiences growing up in the time of the British National Front. Â  In case you don’t know what that is, it is a far-right political party in Britain that only allows whites. Â  It claimed its most amount of power during the ’70s and early ’80s. Â  

‘This is England’ tells the story of a 12-year-old boy, Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) who lives with his widowed mother. Â  His father has died in the Falkland War. Â  On his way home from school one day, Shaun runs into a group of skinheads lead by the charismatic Woody (Joseph Gilgun). Â  Woody sympathizes with Shaun, and the group quickly takes Shaun in as one of their own.

Everything seems to be going fine with the group until Combo (Stephen Graham), the former leader of the group, is released from prison. Â  Combo is sadistic, an openly racist and ethnically hateful militant who follows the ideology of white nationalism like the Bible. Â  Soon after returning to the group, Combo enforces his leadership, splitting the group in two, the non-politicals led by Woody, and the National Front-tied skinheads led by Combo . Â  For a short while, Shaun is pulled between these two, each one trying to win the boy over. Â  

Eventually, however, Shaun decides to stay with Combo. Â   Soon after, the group led by Combo begins down a deep, dark path of violence and eventually murder.

‘This is England’ is Meadows’ ode to his own childhood. Â  The filmmaker captures the harsh realities of the time and the dark background of the seemingly upbeat, early ’80s with amazing direction. Â  

It is a film that, despite its dark nature, proves itself to also serve as a rather poignant coming of age tale. Â  We see this world Shaun’s impressionable eyes. Â  We see the options he must weigh, and, although we disagree, we understand the decisions he makes. Â  Shaun is a lost child, a vulnerable boy who has lost his father and doesn’t really know his mother. Â  He needs something in his life, some kind of guidance, and the skinheads who befriend him give him exactly what he needs.

The acting in ‘This is England’ is what also makes the film so moving.   This was Turgoose’s first film, and the child, though playing an adolescent, brings a sincere maturity to the role.   A funny sidenote for Turgoose is that the child, having never acted before, had been banned from his school play for “behaving badly” and even demanded  Ã‚ £5 to show up for auditions for the film.   Needless to say, he was perfect for the part.

The real standouts, however, are Gilgun and Graham as the oppossing forces tearing the young protagonist apart. Â  Both actors bring a high level of charisma to their respective part. Â  This is more difficult for Graham whose sadistic character must be all the more charming if we are to believe he can win Shaun’s heart, but Graham pulls the role off masterfully.

Driven by its mature filmmaking, its fine acting, and even an eccentricly cool yet appropriate soundtrack, ‘This is England’ is an excellent film. Â  It is an unforgiving yet affecting look at a lost society and the dangerous men who decided to show it some attention. Â  It is a film about pride, regret, and, ultimately, the loneliness of being proven wrong. Â  This truly is England.

Under the direction of Pierre Morel, Liam Neeson is breaking heads and raking in the moolah with ‘Taken’. Â  So far, the actioner has brought in a whopping $122 million worldwide, $53 million of that in US grosses. Â  However, in his native land, France, the director, Morel, is known for another action flick. Â  For those of you who haven’t seen ‘District B13′, you’re missing out on one of the most fast-pace, kickass action films in recent memory.

Set in 2010, which seemed a little more futuristic when the film came out in 2004, the film follows an undercover cop (Cyris Raffaelli) and a vigilante (David Belle) must infiltrate the gang-infested ghettos of Paris. Â  They have 24 hours before a nuclear weapon is set to go off. Â  Much running, jumping, and overall badassery ensues.

If Snake Plissken listened to techno music, and was a whole helluva lot more agile, this is the kind of movie ‘Escape from New York’ would have been. Â  In fact, Morel’s film wears its influences proudly. Â  ’Escape from New York’ is just one of many films to be referrenced here.

What ‘District B13′ is best know for, really, is its usage of parkour. Â  In fact, this is the film that introduced parkour to the world of cinema. Â  For those who do not know, parkour is an activity wherein someone moves from one point to another in quickest, most efficient way. Â  This is even if there are things in the person’s way. Â  People utilizing parkour will climb up sides of buildings, leap over walls, and never slowing down. Â  

If you saw ‘Casino Royale’, the chase scene in the beginning features parkour heavily. Â  The “damn hamster” John McClane is trying to shoot is actually Cyril Raffaelli. Â  David Belle, the star of ‘District B13′, is actually the founder of this sport. Â  90% of the action scenes in ‘District B13′ are real people doing real stunts without the usage of computer graphics or wirework.

Co-written by Luc Besson, ‘District B13′ got its release in France on November 10th, 2004. Â  It made nearly $7 million there before getting a release across the globe. Â  It got its US release on June 2, 2006. Â  It served somewhat of a counter-programming release to Universal’s ‘The Break-Up’, even though it only made $1.2 million in US box office. Â  It got its widest release of 151 screens when it opened, and it was out of theaters in 91 days.

The critical acclaim for ‘District B13′ was startling. Â  It currently has an 82% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Â  Critics referred to the film as “the most (maybe the only) fun action movie of the summer” and “both ridiculously hyperactive and a muscular feat of absolute confidence”. Â  Richard Schickel of TIME Magazine said of the film, “‘District B13′ makes everything Hollywood has lately done in the action genre look clumsy, dull and stale.”

A sequel to ‘District B13′, tentatively titled ‘District B13 Ultimatum’, began filming in August of 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. Â  Both Raffaelli and Bell are reprising their respective roles, but Morel is not returning in the directing chair. Â  Luc Besson is still on writing/producing duties, but Patrick Alessandrin has stepped into the director’s chair.

‘District B13′ really is a film that any fan of action should check out. Â  It is a hyperkinetic film that never lets up, and, unlike ‘Taken’, it hits you right from the start. Â  There are a few moments of cheese and the film’s conclusion is predictable and hokey, but the film looks spectacular and the action involved is mind-blowing.

Considered by many fans, critics and historians to be among the very top of the hill when it comes to Kung Fu movies, this one clearly has had it’s influence on the entire genre. Someone less inclined towards quality martial arts movies may view this the first time and think, “hey… this movie doesn’t have all that much action!”

In this observation, the viewer would be partially accurate. There is “action” in the movie, but it depends on how you define action. In the traditional mainstream sense, the actual fighting scenes (“action”) appear near the end of the film. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of worthy content in the rest of the film. One of the most successful elements of this movie is it’s story. No other martial arts movie has done such a fantastic job of taking the viewer into what a Shaolin monk is made of, what makes them tick, how they became the masters they are?

‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ (Shao Lin san shi liu fang) stars Chia Hui Liu as San Te, a student who becomes disenfranchised with the academic life as he witnesses the oppression brought upon his family and friends by the tyrannical Manchu rule. After witnessing countless people murdered and tortured undeservedly, San Te decides he must travel to Shaolin to learn Kung Fu. His journey is long and an injury to his leg nearly kills him along the way, but he sneaks into the monk’s food cart to make it up the mountain to Shaolin. When they find him, he’s in a coma and the nurse him back to health. Reluctant at first, the monks choose to allow him to stay and live amongst them.

>>> Semi-Spoiler Warning! The remainder of this article divulges much of the plot! <<<

For the first year, San Te is quiet and obedient, but is frustrated that he has been cleaning and doing menial tasks and hasn’t learned one thing about Kung Fu. When he approached one of the higher monks about this concern, the monk replies that he may learn Kung Fu at any time, if he chooses. At this time, San Te is introduced to the 35 Chambers of Shaolin. These are the halls in which monks learn the art of Kung Fu, one crucial lesson at a time. A monk much master the focus of one chamber before he is granted permission to move on to the next. This is a fascinating journey, one that entertains and enlightens. There is a sense of awe in watching a monk develop his skills and knowledge. The process certainly does not occur over night and there are many humorous scenes as we watch San Te fail at his tasks several times before he masters them. However, it’s a truly powerful tale of human perseverance and will as San Te not only masters these skills, but becomes the highest-performing and most advanced of all the monks in training.

The idea behind this film is less about San Te getting revenge on those who have wronged him and his family and more about what is at the heart of Shaolin Kung Fu. When San Te first decides to learn Kung Fu, his goal is to use it to strike back at the unfair rulers. Once he begins his training, he finds himself frustrated with what he feels is unrelated to learning Kung Fu. There are moments of ‘Karate Kid’ (although the influence is obviously the other way around) throughout San Te’s education. Think… “Wax on, wax off.”

The youthful resistance that San Te exudes eventually transforms into a more mature and confident strength. He earns the respect of the other monks who once teased him and is offered the honor of taking charge of one of the chambers if he can best a senior monk and teacher in a spar, using the weapon of his choice. This becomes an integral part of San Te’s formation into a Shaolin monk. He struggles to defeat his opponent, who has developed an effective style of fighting with double swords. San Te begins with a plain bamboo staff, moves onto a metal staff with crescent blades on the ends and after several failed attempts he has an epiphany while practicing. He develops the hinged triple staff, a sort of cross between nun chucks and a staff.

Once San Te has completed his training and proven himself, he is given the choice of chambers. San Te chooses none of the 35 chambers and asks to create a new 36th chamber that would exist outside of the Shaolin temple, whereas he would spread the teachings of Shaolin Kung Fu to the people so that they may defend themselves. San Te is denied and is sent to the village to beg as punishment. When he returns to the village, San Te learns the true lesson of Kung Fu and that one should never use Kung Fu on another unless they are forced into it through self-defense.

The film has been released under the titles Master Killer and Shaolin Master Killer, but neither of these titles properly convey what the movie is really about. Dragon Dynasty released the film on DVD under the title ‘The 36th Chamber of Shaolin’ in June of 2007. It’s a great movie and a great DVD for any true fan of martial arts movies.

DVD Features:

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There’s been a rise in the Thai filmmaking industry, especially in the action movie genre. The American audience got it’s first significant wide-release taste of this new era of Thai cinema with rising action star Tony Jaa and ‘Ong Bak’. This was followed by ‘The Protector’ and now a sequel to ‘Ong Bak’ is in the works. Tony Jaa is being considered by some to be the next Jackie Chan or Jet Li. However, there is more to this increase in Thai action films than just Tony Jaa.

‘Born to Fight’ was released in 2004 and, while many have never heard of it, was widely released on DVD by Dragon Dynasty in April 2007. The story follows a young agent named Deaw who leaves the force after his partner/commander is killed during a bust. Deaw joins a group of athletes on a trip to a remote rural Thai village to deliver food and supplies and visit with the children. While visiting the village, a group of rebels loyal to an imprisoned general attacks the village and sets up camp. Their plan is to hold the villagers hostage and threaten to kill them if the government does not release the general.

The fascinating thing about ‘Born to Fight’ is that the film builds an incredible human drama as the story of the massacre unfolds. The filmmakers went out of their way to build a relationship between the villagers and the audience and does so effectively, without resorting to sappy, melodramatic techniques. We truly feel touched and care about these people. The lengthy section in the middle of the film when we get an immense dose of how the villagers live, what they’re like and who they are has the feel of a documentary recording real lives during a good will visit from a group of athletes. This sets us up in a unique way to root for those who fight against the rebels.

‘Born to Fight’ opens with a long action sequence depicting the events which lead Deaw (Dan Chupong) to his new life as an athlete. This scene introduces us to the Thai answer to action films, which are laden with incredible stunt work performed in realistic ways without wires or computer effects. Sure, this isn’t anything new. Jackie Chan has been doing this for years. Now that Jackie is getting older, you may have noticed he’s doing more movies that rely on computer effects, but we can’t discount how he started. Tony Jaa and the other Thai action stars like Dan Chupong are picking up the torch where Jackie left it. The stunts in ‘Born to Fight’ are simply amazing and it has more than your average moments that make you say “Oh, that had to hurt!”

Once Deaw and the other athletes find out that the rebels plan to launch a nuclear missile into the heart of Bangkok, they decide that they’d rather risk death by fighting the rebels that sit around as hostages waiting to die as millions of Thai people in Bangkok are incinerated. With this new fire to survive and fight evil, the athletes go on the offensive, showing off their skills and abilities. One of the cool elements of this extended battle portion of the film is the creative way of showing the athletes integrating their sporting disciplines into their fighting style. Soccer players are kicking balls, rocks and tea pots into rebels heads, gymnasts are slinging devastating swinging kicks from bars and beams and of course, Deaw is just plain kicking ass with his acrobatic and deadly martial arts training. At one point, even a little villager girl of about 8 years old is inspired to show her budding Muay Thai talent against one of the rebels. What makes this all work is that it maintains a serious and dramatic tone instead of accentuating the outlandishness of the events taking place on screen.

For a film I was eagerly anticipating when I first went into the viewing, I came out of the viewing even more enthusiastic by how entertaining it was and how professionally made the production turned out. If you enjoyed ‘Ong Bak’ then you’ll likely enjoy ‘Born to Fight’. Give it a chance and you won’t regret it… and stick around during the end credits for some Jackie Chan style stunt out takes that truly illustrate what these filmmakers go through just to entertain us. Oh yeah, and did I mention this Dragon Dynasty release is a two-disc ultimate edition?

DVD Features:

Disc One -

• Movie, plus Feature Commentary with Hong Kong Cinema Expert Bey Logan

Disc Two -

• The Making of an Action Epic, a 60-Minute Documentary
• Action!: On the Set of Born to Fight
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• U.S. Promotional Trailer

Early in his career, horror director Dario Argento became the man who perfected the giallo. Mario Bava is known as the father of the genre, but Argento’s films like ‘The Cat o’Nine Tails’, ‘Four Flies on Grey Velvet’, and ‘The Bird with the Crystal Plumage’ (these three making up the unofficial trilogy known as the “animal trilogy†�) put his voice at the forefront of the giallos.

Just for a quick history lesson, for those who do not know about the giallos, they were a series of thrillers made in Italy throughout the ’70s that paved the way for the modern slasher film. The word “giallo†� means yellow in Italian and the genre was named for the yellow-covered murder mystery novels that inspired the films. Giallos are murder mystery films that are generally known for their extreme violence, nudity, and a faceless killer who wears black gloves. In fact, the general equation to making a giallo is the three Bs: blood, boobs, and black gloves.

Getting back to the film at hand, Argento took some time away from the genre in the early to mid-’70s. After making two Italian TV dramas and a comedy, he returned to the genre with the 1975 film, ‘Profondo rosso’. The film is known as ‘Deep Red’ in the states, and general consensus states that this is the best giallo ever made. Some even claim that it is Argento’s best film, and the film has garnered a massive cult following in recent years.

The film follows an English jazz pianist (David Hemmings) living in Rome. Late one night while walking home, the pianist witnesses the brutal killing of a psychic medium (Macha Meril) in her apartment window. The pianist runs up to aid in a rescue, but he is too late. However, after the event and upon recollection, he begins to feel he saw the killer’s face somewhere in the apartment.

With the aid of a reporter (Daria Nicolodi, whom Argento would later marry) and the medium’s associate (Glauco Mauri), the pianist sets out to remember what he saw and pinpoint who the killer is. Shortly after, people around him begin dying vicious deaths.

‘Deep Red’ is the absolute best of the giallos. It is a thrilling masterpiece by one of the three unofficial Godfathers of Italian horror (Bava and Lucio Fulci are the other two). The film tells a very intricately crafted story, unlike Argento’s supernatural films like ‘Suspiria’ and ‘Inferno’. It is also a great introduction to giallos for anyone who has yet to check them out but find the genre interesting.

The film also marked the start of Argento’s long-going collaboration with the band Goblin and, in particular, Claudio Simonetti. Simonetti and Goblin would go one to score ‘Suspiria’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’ for George Romero.

Between the subject matter, the set pieces, and Argento’s incredible camera work, ‘Deep Red’ is a film that has inspired and influenced countless filmmakers since. Particularly horror filmmakers have drawn inspiration from ‘Deep Red’. Among the most evident is a death scene the film shares with ‘Halloween II’ involving scalding water and a woman’s unfortunate face. ‘Deep Red’ was also referenced in films like ‘Terror Firmer’, ‘Cigarette Burns’, and ‘Kill Bill: Volume 1′. Fans with a quick eye will also catch a brief reference in the trailer for ‘Don’t’ that Edgar Wright directed for ‘Grindhouse’. However, the most obvious source for inspiration comes from a small scene involving a character being terrorized by a mechanical doll. The doll, creepy as hell, would later inspire the doll from the ‘Saw’ franchise.

‘Deep Red’ had two DVD releases through Starz/Anchor Bay. One was the Dario Argento Collection 3 that included ‘Deep Red’ and ‘Tenebrae’, another one of Argento’s above average giallos. The other disc only contained ‘Deep Red’, but both of those have been discontinued. In 2007, Blue Underground put the director’s cut of ‘Deep Red’ out on DVD. The DVD has not been discontinued, but it is unavailable at the moment. The film can also be found on 2005’s Chilling Classics box set that includes 50 films in total.

However you find it, you should definitely make an effort to watch this film. ‘Deep Red’ is a film that fans of the genre should make every effort at checking out. In fact, it is a staple when it comes to Italian horror and the giallos. It was Argento’s maturation when it came to filmmaking and it is still considered by many to be his best work. Even the director himself claims that ‘Deep Red’ is his favorite of his films.

Before you even ask, I’ll make it clear that this is NOT about the 1988 film titled ‘Above the Law’ starring Steven Seagal. Nothing against that movie, as it was one of Stevie’s better films, before he got totally ridiculous, but the film I am writing about is the 1986 movie of the same title (originally ‘Zhi fa xian feng’ and also released in Hong Kong with the English title ‘Righting Wrongs’) directed by Corey Yuen. This 80′s classic of lesser-known stature in the West can be considered a significant influence in the type of action movies we Westerners would see made in the following years leading into the 90′s. In this first feature in a limited series focusing on the re-released martial arts and action flicks from Dragon Dynasty, I take an in-depth look at Corey Yuen’s Above the Law (1986).

As I playfully mentioned above, this is not the Steven Seagal film, but one can certainly see the influence this movie had on the Seagal film which appeared two years later. Corey Yuen’s film follows a prosecutor named Hsia (Baio Yuen) who decides to take the law into his own hands when he realizes that the justice system is flawed and allows for too many dangerous criminals to escape punishment. His methods are carefully planned and are reserved for only the most severe offenders. However, when the death toll begins to rise, a special investigator named Cindy is brought in to track down the vigilante. The snag is that this new string of murders are not the work of Biao, but he’s quickly framed and accused by Cindy, played by Cynthia Rothrock. With this begins an action-packed story with one cop after another cop while the real killer is allowed to run free and unhindered in his ruthless killing spree. It turns out that there’s a good guy/bad guy twist to the story and the question of who the bad guy is gets blurred a bit, allowing for a bit of mystery to the story, albeit somewhat predictable.

I’m going to jump ahead a bit here and talk about Cynthia Rothrock. Here’s the deal… Rothrock is not the main character in this movie, but she plays an important role with LOTS of screen time. ‘Above the Law’ is really sort of the movie that caught the eye of filmmakers for Rothrock, which would take her career that had basically just started in 1985 and propelled her into a female action star in the late 80′s and early 90′s, including a role in Brandon Lee’s totally awesome and under-rated 1988 action flick ‘Rapid Fire’. There was a time when Rothrock was the female answer to Chuck Norris. She was petite and blond, but she was also fierce and could kick your ass in the blink of an eye if you so much as looked at her wrong. This tough as nails but cute as a button attitude plays strong in ‘Above the Law’. In particular, there is one lengthy fight scene near the end between Cindy and a female baddie, played by Karate champ Karen Shepard, that offers some truly classic and butt-kicking bodacious martial arts choreography (pre-special FX) mixing hand-to-hand, aerial martial arts and even some creatively cool fashion accessory turned deadly weaponry from the assassin chick she fights.

As if Yuen, Shepard and Rothrock didn’t combine to create enough martial arts credibility for you to check out this movie, finally having been released (5/29/07) in the States, ‘Above the Law’ also features a supporting cast role for kickboxing champion Peter Cunningham as an assassin. He only has a couple of scenes, but one of them is a pretty cool fight scene with Hsia. ‘Above the Law’ is a masterfully crafted hybrid of the martial arts school of action and the gun-toting renegade cop school of action a la John Woo. The better part of the story is fairly straight-forward and not excessively unique or groundbreaking, but the film’s ending is certainly foreign to what the American audience is accustomed to experiencing. I won’t outright ruin the ending, but I’ll simply state that death occurs for two characters that we Westerners would never have expected. What? So, now I’ve got your attention? Great! Watch the DVD to find out who dies…

DVD Features:

• Alternate Endings
• The Vigilante – An interview with Producer and Star Yuen Biao
• Action Overload – An interview with leading lady Cynthia Rothrock
• From the Ring to the Silver Screen – Featurette w/ co-star and kickboxing champ Peter Cunningham
• Feature-length Audio Commentary w/ Hong Kong cinema expert Bey Logan
• Trailer Gallery

Delicatessen (1991)

‘Delicatessen’ is a dark tale set in a post-apocalyptic French town which is home to one crumbling building, owned by the butcher named Clapet (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) who has his shop downstairs. With rations virtually non-existent, the butcher hires unsuspecting men to help as handymen in the building, then kills and slaughters them in order to feed his tenants. The movie has a strong Grimm’s Fairy Tale feel to it and, despite the subject matter, is actually a playfully charming film.

The story is actually one of two young people who meet and fall in love, but must overcome an over-protective father in order to pursue their passion for one another. Dominic Pinon plays Louison, the handyman hired by the butcher, whom quickly falls for Julie (Marie-Laure Dougnac), the butcher’s daughter, and vice-versa. The problem presents itself when the tenants are getting restless and hungry waiting for the butcher to slaughter him as their next batch of meals. Julie tries her best to warn Louison of the danger and then attempts to convince her father to let him go, but times are tough and he must feed his tenants.

The visual style of ‘Delicatessen’ clearly shows the influence of the pair’s years of working on animated projects together. The colors are rich and vivid, but maintain the antique sheen that gives the movie it’s timeless touch. While the specifics of the war that has destroyed their town and sent them into an abysmal pit of famine and despair are not revealed, the film can easily be interpreted as a fictional fantasy of post-WWII France.

Music plays a significant role in ‘Delicatessen’ as Julie and Louison connect through their love of their instruments. Julie plays the cello, while Louison, formerly a clown, prefers the eerie and alluring sound of the long flexible lumber saw, which he plays with a violin bow. Together, the two of them perform a beautiful duet. Indirectly, music also makes a few interesting cameos throughout the film. One of which is an interesting scene when Louison is called upon by the butcher’s mistress to fix a creaky bed spring. In an attempt to locate the faulty spring, Louison sits and bounces on the bed with her in perfect rhythmic timing as he carefully listens for the source of the creaking sound.

‘Delicatessen’ is a marvelous film that presents some common ideas in some creatively charming and uncommon ways. The film has various other elements that refer back to the times of WWII, including the mysterious underground movement of the Troglodistes, which possibly references the underground movements opposing the Nazis from the French and others. Whether you watch this film for it’s underlying meaning or for its fanciful beauty, you’ll quite likely find yourself wrapped up in this dark delicacy.

‘Delicatessen’ was re-released as a Special Edition DVD on 8/26/2008 with the following features:

• Fine cooked meats: The Making of Delicatessen
• The archives of Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Audio commentary with Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Theatrical trailer, Teaser & Photo gallery

Ingmar Bergman’s 1960 films, ‘The Virgin Spring’, or ‘Jungfrukallan’, as it is known in its native language, is an emotionally powerful film about loss, revenge, and redemption in the eyes of God. The themes wrestled with here are as dominant and as stark as the incredible black and white imagery that goes with the story. Bergman’s career is an ocean, and ‘The Virgin Spring’ is but one drop of water, a drop that typically gets lost amidst his other, more notable, films like ‘The Seventh Seal’ and ‘Cries and Whispers’.

Like those other films, the central theme of ‘The Virgin Spring’ is mortality and how one deals with death, either of themselves or of their loved ones. Despite this central theme, ‘The Virgin Spring’ is not your typical Bergman film. For one, it was not filmed from a screenplay written by Bergman. Screenwriting duties fell to Ulla Isaksson, who wrote ‘Brink of Life’ for Bergman two years prior. He based the screenplay on the thirteenth-century, Swedish legend, “Tores dotter I Wange†�.

The story, set in medieval Sweden, tells of a Christian farmer (Max Von Sydow) whose daughter (Birgitta Pettersson) is raped and murdered by a group of herdsmen on her way to church. The herdsmen then, unknowingly, seek shelter at the farm. Soon after, the farmer and his wife (Bergitta Valberg) discover that these were the men responsible for their daughter’s disappearance. The father, torn between his rage at the men who killed his daughter and the responsibilities he has towards his Christian life, decides to take revenge on the herdsmen.

Another atypical aspect about ‘The Virgin Spring’ is in the cinematography. Up until then, Bergman had regularly collaborated with Gunnar Fischer, but that DP was busy working on a Disney feature. Bergman chose Sven Nykvist as his new cameraman. Bergman had worked with Nykvist previously, but this was the first, full feature Nykvist shot for Bergman, and the results are astounding. The Virgin Spring’ is beautifully shot and perhaps his best usage of framing outside of ‘The Seventh Seal’.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1961. It also won the Golden Globe that year for Best Foreign Language Film. It was nominated for the Golden Palm at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and Marik Vos-Lundh received an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White.

Upon its release in the United States in 1962, Fort Worth, Texas banned showings due to the disturbing rape scene. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the ban.

The story was later adapted by Wes Craven for his 1972 film, ‘The Last House on the Left’.

‘The Virgin Spring’ is available on a Criterion Collection DVD that includes a high-definition digital transfer, an audio commentary by Bergman scholar Birgitta Steene, video interviews with actresses Gunnel Lindblom and Birgitta Pettersson, an introduction by filmmaker Ang Lee, an audio recording of a 1975 American Film Institute seminar by Bergman, an optional English-dubbed soundtrack, and a new English subtitle translation. The DVD also comes with a 28-page booklet featuring essays by film scholar Peter Cowie and screenwriter Ulla Isaksson, the medieval ballad on which the film is based, and a letter from Bergman on the film’s controversial rape scene.

‘The Virgin Spring’ was released just after ‘The Seventh Seal’ and just before ‘Through a Glass Darkly’. All three are considered masterpieces. Masterpieces or not, this period of time was an integral point in Bergman’s filmmaking life, and ‘The Virgin Spring’, though Bergman, himself, never fully recognized the film as a major achievement, is the center-point of that period. It is an incredibly moving piece of cinema that should be experienced by fans of film of all kinds.

More affectionately known as ‘Five Fingers of Death’ (Tian xia di yi quan), this classic of the martial arts genre is said to have started it all. All of what, you ask? All that is the modern martial arts genre beginning with the 70′s. From the exaggerated bloody special effects to the just slightly fantastical physical capabilities of the masterful martial artists, ‘King Boxer’ delivers on many levels.

Lieh Lo plays Chao Chih-hao, a promising young martial arts student who chooses not to jump at every chance to fight. Chao has his heart set on his master’s daughter Yin-Yin, but when his master poorly defends his school against a local gang of troublemakers he sends Chao to study under a far superior master named Shen Chin-Pei. He tells Chao that if he competes in an upcoming tournament and defeats the cruel Ming Dung-Shun, he may have his daughter’s hand in marriage.

Chao arrives under Shen’s guidance as his and a rival school prepare to compete in the tournament. During his training, the two schools endure unsanctioned fights of honor and revenge, Chao meets a young singer creating a sort of love triangle and Shen is severely wounded by a dishonorable blow during a fight to protect his school. As a result, Shen gives Chao his secret manual and instructs Chao to go off alone and learn Iron Palm, also referred to as Iron Fist. This powerful technique uses the flow of Chi in a way that makes ones hands extremely hard and tough and increases the strength of one’s blows.

There is far more to the story evoked in ‘King Boxer’ than we typically find in most martial arts films. It’s this very complexity and depth of storytelling that helps immensely in making this a fantastic cinematic experience. Of course, the choreography and cinemtography of the fights and the blending of styles also adds it’s own touch of brilliance. At one point in the film, the rival school hires on a Japanese samurai to eliminate the competition. This plot element adds some fascinating additional layers to the story as well as the visual style and fight chemistry. While watching this film, one should also take note of the way in which the blood and gore (relatively minimal compared to modern cinema) are handled and realize the influence this film first has had on many more recent movies.

As incredible as ‘King Boxer’ is, I found the feature-length audio commentary on the DVD equally as entertaining. Once you see this film, you’ll understand how influential this film was over the work and film philosophy of Quentin Tarantino. Anyone familiar with Tarantino’s work will instantly point out the various styles, sounds and scenes that would become major elements in Tarantino’s awesome two-part ‘Kill Bill’ movie. It’s a great eye-opening realization and the best part is we get to hear all about these and many other movie-related Mega Movie Geek stories and insights from Quentin Tarantino and film scholars David Chute and Elvis Mitchell. This Dragon Dynasty DVD release also includes interviews with action director Lau Kar-Wing and director Chang-Hwa Jeong.

“Nothing sorts out memories from ordinary moments. Later on they do claim remembrance when they show their scars. That face he had seen was to be the only peacetime image to survive the war. Had he really seen it? Or had he invented that tender moment to prop up the madness to come?”  

French filmmaker Chris Marker’s 1962 short film, ‘La Jetee’, is a remarkable work of photography and story telling. Â  Running just 28 minutes, the film is told almost entirely through still photography and voiceover narration. Â  Even such, the world that Mark creates in this sci-fi tale is both hauntingly beautiful and epically tragic.

For anyone who has seen Terry Gilliam’s ’12 Monkeys’, ‘La Jetee’ was essentially a precursor to that film. Â  In ‘La Jetee’, World War III has ravage the planet, and inhabitants of a destroyed Paris live underground in the aftermath. Â  There are scientists among them who research time travel. Â  Time-travel experiments are done on a prisoner hoping to send the man back and forth in time to bring supplies to them. Â  The prisoner has a recurring dream of an event he witnessed as a child, a man being shot at an airport terminal and a woman witnessing the shooting.

Unlike ’12 Monkeys’, a somewhat overblown and sometimes quite silly film, ‘La Jetee’ tells the same story in a stark, unflinching manner and at a fourth of the time Gilliam’s film takes. Â  It’s one of the most incredible science fictions stories ever put to film. Â  Just the manner in which the story plays out is so innovative, it is a style that has rarely ever been seen since. Â  Marker took hundreds of optically printed photographs and ran through them as a photomontage. Â  There is only one, brief shot that was shot with a motion-picture camera.

‘La Jetee’ is more readily available than one would think a short, French film from the ’60s would be. Â  Theaters will often run this in front of feature-length films. Â  In fact, ‘La Jetee’ was first shown in theaters before Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Alphaville’, another incredible science fiction film. Â  ’La Jetee’ is shown from time to time on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) or on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). Â  College courses on film and photgraphy alike will often show ‘La Jetee’. Â  It is available on a Criterion Collection DVD that also includes another short film by Marker, ‘Sans Soleil’. Â  This DVD is available on Region 1 and Region 2 discs.

The critiques of the film found on Rotten Tomatoes are almost universally positive. Â  Some critics call the film a “masterpiece”, “powerful, haunting, unforgettable”, and “one of the best of all SF films.” Â  It is Bryant Frazer of deep-focus.com who puts it best, though. Â  In his review for the film, he states, “It’s no exaggeration, finally, to say that ‘La Jetee’Â  may represent film’s closest approach to poetry.”

‘La Jetee’ has been an inspiration on film for decades. Â  ’Akai Megane’ (‘The Red Spectacles’) is a Japanese film from 1987 directed by Mamoru Oshii (‘Ghost in the Shell’, ‘Avalon’). Â  Oshii has stated that ‘La Jetee’ is one of his favorite films, and ‘Akai Megane’ was inspired by Marker’s film. Â  Gilliam’s 1995 film, ‘Twelve Monkeys’, is essentially a feature-film version of the same story, only the world has been ravaged by a virus instead of a global conflict.

In 1996, the MIT Press released ‘La Jetee’ in book for. Â  In it, the film’s original photos were reproduced and the script, both in English and in French, was written out. Â  The book was out of print until April of this year when Zone Books re-released it.

‘La Jetee’ is essential viewing for all fans of film. Â  Even movie watchers who are not keen on the idea of science fiction will admire the work and poetry that went into making this film. Â  It is truly one of the greatest science fiction films ever made.

Mr. Takashi Miike is not exactly known for his family films. Â  Some of the most whacked out, disturbing, off the beaten path films I have ever seen have had the title Directed by Takashi Miike in their credits.

‘Visitor Q’. Â  ’Ichi the Killer’. Â  ’Audition’.

That’s just a small smattering of the strangeness that has come from Miike’s vision. Â  There are things in ‘Visitor Q’ that cannot be unseen. Â  Just hearing that Miike has a film called ‘Zebraman’ conjures up so many images in the mind it’s not even funny. Â  So imagine the surprise when you discover that, strange or not, ‘Zebraman’ is a film that is perfect for the entire family.

‘Zebraman’ tells the story of Shinichi Ichikawa, a teacher who escapes from his mundane existence into the guise of Zebraman. Â  Back in the 1970s, Shinichi was infatuated with a television series called Zebraman. Â  Now, as an adult, he dresses, poorly, no less, as the fictional superhero and begins fighting crime. Â  In his adventures, Zebraman takes on giant, evil crab men, killer schoolchildren, and aliens that are seemingly made of Jell-o. Â  What’s stranger is that as he is fighting, Shinichi begins developing super powers that weren’t there beforehand.

‘Zebraman’ is a great, family film that raises many existential questions while being incredibly entertaining at the same time. Â  Shinichi has a family that he must balance while fighting super villains, and the interaction between Shinichi and his two children reminds you of the way Bruce Willis and his son interacted in ‘Unbreakable’.

The action in ‘Zebraman’ is full of cheap special effects and cheesy dialogue coming from both good guy and bad. Â  It really reminds you of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Â  Given the surreal feeling the rest of the film brings about, this type of kitschy action is just what the doctor ordered. Â  The film is quite surreal, almost fantastical from time to time, but anyone who is a fan of any particular one thing will immediately recognize and respect Shinichi’s passion for his alter ego.

What’s even greater is the comedy in ‘Zebraman’. Â  Most of this stems from the absurdity of the situations. Â  The ZebraNurse/regrowing of an arm scene was among my favorites.

‘Zebraman’ was initially released wide in Miike’s native country of Japan on February 14th, 2004. Â  Information on how it did at the box office is quite scarce, but it has been described as being a huge hit. Â  The only other two countries where it got a theatrical release were The Netherlands and the US. Â  It played at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in The Netherlands on January 30th, 2004 and opened wide there on August 26th of that same year. Â  It played at the Toronto Film Festival on September 16th, 2004. Â  It was released on DVD in France on February 16th, 2006. Â  It played at the New York Asian Film Festival on June 30th, 2007 and opened in New York on August 15th that same year.

Upon its American release, ‘Zebraman’ was met with not so gracious reviews from American critics. Â  It has a 46% fresh rating from 13 reviews. Â  The less than friendly critics referred to the film as “wearisom”, “inert”, and “arbitrary”. Â  Among the positive reviews, Jeannett Catsoulis of the New York Times said ‘Zebraman’ had “come to save our summer from bloated Hollywood product that takes itself but not its audience seriously”. Â  Kam Williams of NewsBlaze said the film was “utterly delightful” and referred to it as “a loving spoof on the Ultraman tradition of 1960s and ’70s low-budget Japanese TV superheroes”. Â  V.A. Musetto of the New York Post said of the film, “This is something you could take your whole family to see.”

Musetto is absolutely right. Â  ’Zebraman’ is the type of film that movie geeks should be showing their children, a great, fantastical action flick that is also kid-friendly while not allowing itself to pander or dumb itself down.

The film’s screenplay was turned into a five-part Manga written by Reiji Yamada. Â  The Manga focused more on the relationship between Shinichi and his two children, and Zebraman never develops super powers. Â  It’s just Shinichi in the tattered costume he pieced together fighting crime.

‘Zebraman’, thankfully, is available on a Region 1 DVD. Â  It is presented with both English subtitles and a dubbed track. Â  The DVD also features a trailer for the fictional, 1978 series, the theatrical trailer for the film, TV spots, and more. Â  You can order it from Diabolik DVD by following this link. Â  It’s exactly what you would expect from a superhero, family film from Miike. Â  Literally everyone young and old can enjoy ‘Zebraman’. Â  Miike is extremely prolific, and, hopefully, a sequel to ‘Zebraman’ will be on his slate sooner than later.

Travis:

‘Volcano High’ (2001) [originally titled 'WaSanGo'] is a South Korean action-comedy written and directed by Tae-gyun Kim. The story follows Kim Kyung-soo (Hyuk Jang), an outcast student who is continually expelled from his high schools for violence. The problem is, Kim is a magnet for bullies and when he’s attracted, his “special” abilities come out and he has little control over his own power.

Deemed as a threat and a menace, Kim is enrolled in the last remaining high school that will take him. Volcano High is notorious for it’s violence. Kim vows never to use his powers again, but he’ll find it a difficult promise to keep, surrounded by students who all possess a special talent for the martial arts. The students belong to various clubs specific to their devoted forms of martial arts. One bully will do anything to retain his rank of the most powerful fighter in the school.

Mr. Ma is the leader of the group of five teachers charged with disciplining the students at Volcano High. They also protect a secret manuscript that is said to hold great powers for he who possesses it’s secrets. Song Hak-rim is truly the most powerful fighter in the school, but he was framed and is imprisoned for trying to steal the secret manuscript. After Kim discovers him, Song helps Kim to discover the true extent of his powers and the ability to control them. Now Kim must become the hero and save the day for the entire school, threatened by Mr. Ma’s “tough love” approach towards controlling the students.

‘Volcano High’ is a great modern martial arts movie that’s lots of fun. The movie offers good action, fight choreography, stylistic cinematography and an original and entertaining story. On it’s own, ‘Volcano High’ is a 4-Star movie that pleases anyone that enjoys the newer action/fantasy fare coming from the Far East. However, the MTV version released in the US with an English dub featuring several prominent rap and hip-hop icons is an entirely separate experience.

Re-scored with tracks from the artists features in the English dub, the music works well with the tone and action of the movie. For some reason, martial arts and hip-hop have become an unexpected marriage of success. The major characters in the film have been re-voiced by the likes of Andre Benjamin, Snoop Dog, Big Boi, Method Man, Mya and comedian Tracy Morgan. The “new” voice cast does a decent job, some working better than others, but it takes some of the attention away from the original version’s atmosphere, ultimately resulting in a slightly less-effective film.

‘Volcano High’ is certainly worth watching, especially for fans of the genre. The DVD is available for $9.99 through Amazon.com and is typically fairly easy to find for rent, especially online. The DVD includes both the MTV dubbed version and the original, so you can can choose, or watch both and compare. The DVD also includes a Making of ‘Volcano High’ featurette.

Overall: 4 Stars

I make the comparison, because the two films share an incredibly similar storyline. Â  Both are “based on true events” though not the same even nor are either completely true to life. Â  ’Ils’ was based on a story out of the Czech Republic where an Austrian couple was murdered in their vacation home.

Much of ‘Ils’ was fabricated by the filmmakers to heighten suspense and horror. Â  Who the killers ended up being in the real case was carried over, however, and that is a surprise that is revealed at the end of the film. Â  It’s a surprise that I won’t give away here, but it is quite shocking.

‘Ils’ was written and directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud. Â  It takes place somewhere in Romania and tells the story of a French couple who are staying in a large, secluded house. Â  In the middle of the night one night, they are awakened by strange noises and even stranger phone calls. Â  Panic and horror ensue.

The film played on the festival circuit throughout 2006 and 2007. Â  It received its first, theatrical release in South Korea on April 20, 2006. Â  It played at the Canned Film Market in May of 2006 and got a release in France on July 19 of that same year. Â  It played at South by Southwest in 2007 and didn’t get a release here in the states until August of 2007.

It never played in more than five theaters in the US and raised only a little over $50,000. Â  It made $2.6 million in foreign box office. Â  It was release in the US on DVD on March 25, 2008 and has gained cult status ever since.

Reviews for the film were hit and miss. Â  Looking at the Top Critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 50% fresh rating from only 12 reviews. Â  Those who recommend ‘Ils’ call it “taught and remorseless” and “a pared-down French thriller that trades splatter and gore for tense efficiency”. Â  One critic referring to the film’s final 20 minutes said that they “contain some of the best, uncontrived twists of any post-Sixth Sense American suspense film, but there is a good reason for that, as the co-directors reveal with a shocking epilogue”.

At only 77 minutes, ‘Ils’ has no time for slowing down and tells an extremely focused horror story that is every bit as scary as anything else seen in recent years. The story is so centralized and action-oriented that you could even watch the film in its original, French language without subtitles and not miss much of what is going on.

The film is scary, and not in the jump-out-and-attack-you way that most thrillers are. Â  ’Ils’ is very atmospheric and relies heavily on the layout of the house for most of its more frightening moments. Â  It is much akin to ‘[REC]‘ in that way. Â  In fact, make it a double feature with this and ‘[REC]‘ for a truly terrifying evening. Â  Both have extremely short running times, so you could easily watch them together in less than three hours.

When the promos for ‘The Strangers’ were being released, there was much talk about it being a remake of ‘Ils’. Â  It is not, but there are a lot of similarities between the two. Â  Regardless, ‘Ils’ is a much scarier film that succeeds in creating much more intense situations for its characters.

Unfortunately, the directors, Moreau and Palud, took the adoration they gained from making ‘Ils’ and got sucked into the Hollywood remake machine. Â  They directed the 2008 version of ‘The Eye’ starring Jessica Alba, probably one of the worst horror remakes in recent memory.

Nonetheless, their first film,’Ils’, is yet another entry into the new wave of French horror films that are getting better and better with each one. Â  However, if you are more into thrills and suspense with your horror as opposed to the guts-spilling gore that other French horror films have to offer, ‘Ils’ is definitely the way to go.

The film centers on a young, television reporter who is doing a piece on firefighters working the night shift. In the middle of the night, a call comes in about an elderly woman trapped in her apartment. The young reporter and her cameraman follow in tow. Once they enter the building, all hell breaks loose.

Just a fair warning, there be spoilers ahead.

‘[REC]‘ is scary as hell. The first part of the film offers some clever surprises even to diehard fans of the genre. What makes the scares work even better is that many of them were kept from the actors during shooting. The gimmick of the found footage fit in well with the story, and, unlike ‘Cloverfield’, you never get the sense that the person with the camera would have stopped filming long ago. He and the reporter are there to get an interesting story, and what is more interesting than an apartment building overrun with zombies?

And yes, for those who have not seen the film, it is zombies running loose in the building. However, these are more ’28 Days Later’ zombies as oppossed to Romero zombies. They run up the stairs clawing at the people they are chasing. Simply holding a door shut in front of them will not slow them down. This was a good choice. Unlike Romero’s last, ‘Diary of the Dead’, we really get a sense of tension here. Being in such a confined space and with the zombies running at full speed, there isn’t really much time to think about what is happening.

‘[REC]‘ has received tremendous praise from critics and fans of the horror genre. on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 93% fresh rating. It’s only from 14 reviews, but those are from such sources as Empire Magazin, Fearnet, and Variety. Okay, the chick from Variety panned it, but she doesn’t even seem to have seen the movie. She said the film “offers nothing new for genre fans”. I wholeheartedly disagree with her.

Now, about ‘Quarantine’, the American remake. On one hand, I hope the film is a shot-for-shot remake of the original. If it is, ‘Quarantine’ is going to be one of the scariest, American films in recent years, probably since ‘Blair Witch’. On the other hand, if the film is a shot-for-shot remake, than I have a bone to pick with the marketing. Why you would show the last shot of the movie not only in the previews and commercials but on the poster for the film is beyond me.

One part of me hopes that is the end of the film, because it is highly effective. In fact, the last ten minutes of ‘[REC]‘ had me glued to the screen in anticipation. Another part of me hopes there is something else to offer those of us who have seen ‘[REC]‘. Still, another part of me wishes that ‘Quarantine’ were never made.

‘[REC]‘ is an easily accessible film for American audiences. It would have been much cheaper to just buy the rights to it and release that film to American audiences. They could even dub in English to adhere to people who hate reading subtitles. That would have been a much more satisfactory way of getting ‘[REC]‘ out to the public.

If you haven’t seen ‘[REC]‘, than, by all means, check it out. Unfortunately, the film is only availabe on region 2 disc, and even that is out of stock at most places. Sony Screen Gems was suppossed to have a copy out before the release of ‘Quarantine’, but that seems to have not been followed through on. Maybe your best bet is to see ‘Quarantine’ in theaters if that is the best way to experience how scary the film really is. However, I can’t guarantee it will be as scary or as intense as ‘[REC]‘.

Based on actual events that occurred in the former province of Gevaudan in south-central France, ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ takes palce during the reign of King Louis XV.   A mysterious beast, rumored to be the devil, has been terrorizing the region killing women and children.   Accompanied by his Native American friend, the Chevalier de Fronsac is dispatched to the region by the Royal Court to uncover the truth behind the mysterious killings.   The two are met with hostility by the local authorities, and what transpires is both horrifying and remarkable.

The Beast of Gevaudan is a French myth that dates back over 300 years.   Between 1764 and 1767, one or more strange beasts actually killed 113 people and injured another 49.   Many wolves were killed during this period, but the attacks continued.   What the Beast of Gevaudan actually was remains a mystery, but theories range from werewolves to punishment by God, himself.

Gans’ film takes this myth and builds and builds upon it.   He wraps a conspiracy-laden story around the attacks and give them an explanation.   By the end of the film, we know what the beast is, and it’s an explanation that is both surprising and entirely plausible.   The film takes many creative liberties with the myth making the film all the more entertaining.

‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ got its initial release in France on January 31, 2001.   It became a worldwide success, and, over the course of the next year and a half, got theatrical releases in more than 40 countries.   It made over $70 million worldwide, $11.2 million coming from the US alone.   Its production budget was an estimated $29 million, so the provit the film pulled was impressive.

The film was also met with much critical praise.   On Rotten Tomateos, the film garnered a 72% fresh rating from 29 reviews (21 good, 8 bad).   Most of the criticism for the film was aimed at how cluttered and chaotic the story gets.   Many of the critics who even approved of the film had this issue with it, but they were able to look past that.   Terry Lawson, the film critic for The Detroit Free Press, put it best when he referred to the film as “ridiculously entertaining”.   Roger Ebert said the film “plays like an explosion at the genre factory”, but he gave it a positive review.   Kenneth Turan called the film “the cinematic equivalent of fusion cuisine”, but he, too, praised the film for how much fun it is.

The film was a hit at the 2002 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.   Although it didn’t go home with any Saturn Awards, it was nominated for eight including Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, Best Special Effect, Best Writing, and Best Director.

‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ would work just fine as a werewolf movie set in 18th century France.   What Gans does with this story, and how insane the film gets, is what makes this a favorite among movie geeks.   The horror, the carnage, and, yes, the incredible martial arts by fight choreographer, Philip Kwok (‘Hard-Boiled’, ‘The Bride with White Hair’) make ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ a geek-fest to end all geek-fests.

If you haven’t seen ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’, do yourself a favor.   Rent it from Netflix, pop it in in on a rainy Saturday evening, and enjoy the hell out of this film.   You won’t be disappointed.