The Directory, filling out the last section of DK Canada’s marvellous The Movie Book, brings me a 90s action classic. One that set the standard for Honk Kong cinema, and found fans all over the world with its style of balletic violence, beautifully crafted shots, and fantastic set pieces. Not to mention, the exemplary Chow…
Tag: action sequences
Gemini Man (2019) – Blu-Ray Review
It should have worked. An Academy Award winning director (though action is not his forte), a bankable lead actor, a solid supporting cast, and the seed of a solid story. Will Smith gets his Bourne on (a couple of times) in Gemini Man, the Ang Lee action film that comes home on blu-ray and DVD from…
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2010) – Voyage of Temptation, Duchess of Mandalore, and Death Trap
“Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.” The Mandalore arc continues this week in this story written by Paul Dini which first aired on 5 February, 2010. Traveling aboard a vessel to Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi (James Arnold Taylor) and Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) are assigned to protect the Council of Neutral Systems,…
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) – Gore Verbinski
The third volume of Disney’s theme park attraction turned tentpole franchise is the next selection in DK Canada’s Monsters in the Movies book as I explore the chapter on Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales. I’ll admit this instalment in the series is a little top heavy with a convoluted plot, but as showcased in the…
Toronto After Dark 2019: Contracts (2019) – Alex Chung
Tonight’s entry in the Toronto After Dark film festival is the one film in this year’s lineup that I find a little dubious. I love that the festival embraces genre films from all over the world, and that they showcase some fantastic films, but Contracts seems like a bit of misstep. In a post-John Wick…
Indiana Jones and the Dinosaur Eggs (1996) – Max McCoy
1933 Indiana Jones, the globe-trotting archaeologist, sets out on his tenth novel adventure, and the second one by Max McCoy, and much like its predecessor, the author continues to show that he knows how to tell a fairly solid Indy story, marry it with history, mythology, and legend and tie it in to what has…
Underworld (2003) – Len Wiseman
Kate Beckinsale kicks ass and looks stunning doing it as she plays Selene, a death dealer, or vampire, in Underworld, the next recommendation from DK Canada’s highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies by legendary director, John Landis. There has been a war raging around humanity for centuries as vampires and werewolves, or death dealers and…
Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018) – Peyton Reed
Opening this Friday is the next instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man and The Wasp. While lacking the originality of the first film (and its desire to repeat the beats and moments that made the first one such a unique success), this one still succeeds and does so best when it focuses on the…
The Incredibles 2 (2018) – Brad Bird
It’s been twenty-three years since Pixar became THE name in family entertainment, and it has been fourteen years since we last checked in with the Parr family, known collectively as The Incredibles. Brad Bird, the writer-director of the first film serves in the same capacity in this film. And while we may have waited fourteen…
Samurai Rebellion (1967) – Masaki Kobayashi
Toshiro Mifune headlines in this fantastic film that is the next recommendation on the What Else to Watch list in DK Canada’s The Movie Book following my screening of Rashomon. A movie that centres on honour, pride, justice and love Kobayashi’s film is a riveting watch, with a brilliant climax. Mifune stars as Isaburo Sasahara, a…
Seven Samurai (1954) – Akira Kurosawa
The next film recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is yet another iconic film from Kurosawa’s oeuvre. In a catalogue of films that are all exceptional, it’s tough to pick a favourite, but this may very will be mine. I love the American remake from 1960, The Magnificent Seven, it’s…
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) – Gore Verbinski
Who would have thought that Disney could turn one of their oldest theme park attractions into a tentpole franchise back in 2003? Sure the series has floundered, and perhaps overstayed its welcome since, but that first film, directed ably by Verbinski, with a definitive score by Klaus Badelt, and featuring an A-list cast delighted audiences…
