Scott Glenn sports a truly horrific bowl cut in his first leading role, starring alongside Toshiro Mifune in the Frankenheimer-helmed The Challenge. Featuring a score by Jerry Goldsmith and a supporting cast that includes Sab Shimono and Clyde Kusatsu, the film is a pretty solid action entry though it wasn’t the film Glenn and Mifune…
Tag: martial arts
Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) – Mark L. Lester
Brandon Lee and Dolph Lundgren are mismatched cops in this goofy, but undeniably fun 90s action flick, Showdown in Little Tokyo. Filled with silly stunts; Lundgren jumps over a car, goofy banter, tons of nudity and martial arts, it’s just a hoot. They are joined in the cast by Tia Carrere and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, it’s…
Code of Silence (1985) – Andrew Davis
Chuck Norris stars in this 1985 actioner which is arguably some of his best work. Honestly, having just gotten through it, and without sounding too harsh, that’s not saying much. He may be a great athlete and martial artist, but his acting skills still aren’t great. Originally tooled as one of the many Dirty Harry…
The Delta Force (1986) – Menahem Golan
Chuck Norris has never really done it for me when it comes to action movies. No matter what his martial arts skills, he’s not the best actor, and consequently, he found himself stuck in lower-budget action films, much like The Delta Force. But with all of it’s trappings and tropes, the film has a really…
9th Annual Old School Kung Fu Film Fest: Joseph Kuo Edition – The 18 Bronzemen (1976)
The 9th Annual Old School King Fu Film Fest continues in Queens today at the Museum of the Moving Image in conjunction with in Subway Cinema. Screening at 1pm is writer/director Joseph Kuo’s The 18 Bronzemen, a fast-paced film that delivers a story of vengeance and the wishes of the father carried out by the…
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995) – Bryan Spicer
I never quite got into the Power Rangers, nor understood the appeal, but they are my next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book. I never really saw much of the television show, and anything I did see, seemed fairly low-end, but the film tries to embrace a big budget theatrical look with a Point Break…
Issues Vol. 18
It’s a quiet week for me at West End Comics, but Kirk still had a couple of interesting titles to throw my way, so without further ado let’s see what I was reading this week… Wild’s End: The Enemy Within (Boom Comics) issue 1 (of 6), written by Dan Abnett, art and letters by I.N.J….
The Protector 2 (2013) – Prachya Pinkaew
The stunts and actions are bigger and louder this time around as Kham’s (Tony Jaa) loses his elephant again. Actually it’s stolen from him and he ends up in a fight club of sorts, run by L.C. (RZA). But for the most part, the further along you get into the film, the less sense…
The Delta Force (1986) – Menahem Golan
Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin take on cardboard cut out bad guys led by Robert Forrester and terrorists in this 80s action flick. It’s one of those ones that you don’t realize how bad it actually is, until you watch it. And let’s get this out if the way, whether they have or not,…
Ong Bak (2003) – Prachya Pinkaew
101 Action Movies allowed me to take another look at this fantastic Thai martial arts film, showcasing the amazing fighting style of Muay Thai. Working with the simplest of stories, it merely serves as a jumping off point for some jaw-dropping fight sequences that use absolutely no computer generated engancements. It’s all real, in fact,…
The Mind Reels 