HARD BOILED: WHY JOHN WOO'S MASTERPIECE IS STILL THE GREATEST ACTION MOVIE OF ALL TIME (full article at Diabolique Magazine)

While the 1980s might generally be considered the heyday of the action movie, or at least the decade with the biggest wealth of nostalgia attached to it, the 1990s was an equal, arguably better decade for high octane, high concept celluloid. Action classics were hitting us left, right and centre and these films were made all the better for their unspoken but collectively loose regard for believability...

...John Woo’s prolificacy from the mid-80s onwards made his name synonymous with slow motion action, double gun wielding protagonists and a lot of agitated, flappy birds. He delivered several outright classics in the form of A Better Tomorrow (1986), Bullet In The Head (1990) and The Killer (1989) before his undoubted masterpiece, and the subject of this particular love letter, Hard Boiled (1992).

Hard Boiled a.k.a God of Guns a.k.a. Ruthless Super-Cop, sees tough, play-by-his-own-rules cop, Inspector ‘Tequila’ Yuen (Chow Yun Fat) on the trail of underworld gun runners led by the evil Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong). Unbeknownst to Tequila, one of Johnny Wong’s lieutenants, Alan (Tony Chiu-Wai Leung), is an undercover cop who has infiltrated the gang to such a degree that he behaves exactly as a genuine gang member. Justifying homicide in the service of a greater good. Not only that, but Alan’s undercover operation is being run in total secrecy by Tequila’s own boss, Superintendent Pang (played by real life ex-policeman Philp Chan).

Read the full article at Diabolique Magazine:
https://diaboliquemagazine.com/hard-boiled-why-john-woos-masterpiece-is-still-the-greatest-action-movie-of-all-time/

IMDB: Hard Boiled

POINT BLANK (full review at Screen Realm)

Point Blank is a Netflix produced crime thriller from director Joe Lynch and a remake of the French thriller A Bout Portent, by Fred Cavayé.

The story sees emergency room nurse, Paul (Anthony Mackie) tending to unnamed man brought in to the hospital with injuries sustained from a car accident. It transpires that the man is Abe Guevara (Frank Grillo), who is wanted by police in connection to the assassination of a district attorney. While Abe is under police guard, Paul’s pregnant wife, Taryn (Teyonah Parris), is abducted by Abe’s brother, Mateo (Christian Cooke), who gives Paul an ultimatum. Free Abe from the hospital or his wife will be killed.

With no choice but to do as he is asked, Paul takes Abe on the run, with two seasoned cops, Lewis (Marcia Gay Harden - The Mist, Miller’s Crossing) and Masterson (Boris McGiver – House Of Cards) in their tail. The story leads us down a winding path of corruption and duplicity.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/point-blank-movie-review-frank-grillo-anthony-mackie-netflix/

IMDB: Point Blank

BUBBA HO-TEP (Issue #55 of Scream Horror Magazine)

Okay so here’s some cool news. I’ve written a piece on one of my all time favourite movies, Don Coscarelli's BUBBA HO-TEP,  for Scream Magazine. It’s also the first time my writing has appeared in print so that’s pretty exciting. The magazine is July / August issue #55, and is available in the UK in places like WH Smiths. For the Rest of the World you can get it on the internets or try your trusty comic shop.

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (full review at Screen Realm)

Spider-Man: Far From Home is the sequel to 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and the second official Spider-Man movie since Marvel and Sony agreed to collaborate and bring their beloved wall crawler into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s also the first Marvel movie since Avengers: Endgame and as such, it must broach those events in what is essentially now a post-Avengers universe. Therefore, while you can enjoy Far From Home without prior knowledge, it goes without saying that if you’ve seen Endgame first, you’ll get a bit more out of it.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/spider-man-far-from-home-movie-review/

IMDB: Spider-Man: Far From Home

STAR TREK DISCOVERY SEASON 2 (full review at Screen Realm)

Star Trek Discovery returns for its second season, streaming internationally on Netflix, with fourteen episodes comprising the second season. Unlike season one, there is no mid-season break so it allows a single consistent arc to run throughout, avoiding the sectional feel of the debut series. With Discovery being a co-production with CBS in the US, new episodes drop weekly, which might seem old fashioned in these days of binge watch TV, but it seems wholly appropriate for Discovery as it echoes the weekly episodic format of the iconic originals.

Before starting in on season two it is worth noting there are four short films that sit in between the two series. They work as nice stand-alone mini episodes, but also become relevant to the series overall.

The first episode, Runaway, features Ensign Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and an alien stowaway and serves as some significant backstory for the later episodes of the season.

The second episode, Calypso is of note because it is written by the brilliant Michael Chabon, author of such wonderful novels as The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union and Wonder Boys. He is a writer on the upcoming Picard series and this short film serves as a nice testing ground for his immersion in the Star Trek Universe.

The third short, The Brightest Star, involves Saru’s backstory on his homeworld of Kaminar and ties in to the episode The Sound of Thunder. Finally, the best of the short films is Escape Artist and sees the return of Rainn Wilson in the role he was born to play, as Harcourt Fenton (Harry) Mudd. Wilson also directs the episode and at 15 minutes long, it is a short, light hearted Star Trek episode that is played to absolute perfection.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/star-trek-discovery-season-2-review/

IMDB: Star Trek Discovery

TRIPLE THREAT (full review at Screen Realm)

For action movie fans, Jesse V Johnson’s Triple Threat must be one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It assembles a dream cast of the best movie fighters and action flick tough guys currently working - Iko Uwais (The Raid, The Night Comes For Us), Tony Jaa (Ong Bak, Warrior King), Tiger Hu Chen (Kung Fu Man, Man Of Tai Chi), Michael Jai White (Spawn, Undisputed 2, Dragged Across Concrete) and prolific action movie dynamo Scott Adkins (the Undisputed franchise, The Debt Collector, Doctor Strange). It divides them into good guys and bad guys and pits them against each other. Simples. Triple Threat is basically Ocean’s Eleven for fight movie connoisseurs and direct-to-video action fiends.
   
Triple Threat kicks off with a mercenary team on a jungle incursion, attacking a heavily guarded compound. The film gives a solid tip of the hat to the opening of Predator as the team uses its bloody, unsubtle M.O. to extract mysterious prisoner, Collins (Scott Adkins). Meanwhile, left for dead in the jungle, Jaka (Iko Uwais) vows revenge on the mercenaries who destroyed his life in the process. Back in the city, the mercenary team is revealed to be a criminal gang, hired to assassinate Xiao Xian (Celina Jade) a rich philanthropist dedicated to using her considerable inheritance to wiping out crime and corruption. Jaka teams up with ex-gang members Payu (Tony Jaa) and Long Fei (Tiger Hu Chen) to stop them. Cue several double crosses, some kinetic fisticuffs, and a lot of guns blazing.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/triple-threat-movie-review-adkins-uwais-jaa-jai-white/

IMDB: Triple Threat

HELLBOY (full review at Screen Realm)

Neil Marshall’s fifth movie, Hellboy, is not so much a reboot of the franchise popularised by Guillermo Del Toro’s two movies, as it is a more faithful adaptation of Mike Mignola’s popular comic series.

Hellboy (David Harbour), reluctant steward of Armageddon, plies his trade working for his father Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (Ian McShane) at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defence (B.P.R.D.), protecting the world from monstrous and ancient threats. While out on a routine mission to hunt some giants, the B.P.R.D. learns that ancient witch Nimue a.k.a. The Blood Queen (Milla Jovovitch) has risen from the grave, intent on bringing about a deadly plague to wipe out humanity and bring forth the apocalypse. After which the ancient monsters of the Earth will rise to reclaim it under her rule. Hellboy must team up with telekinetic Alice Monaghan (Saha Lane) and the secretive, Captain Daimio (Daniel Dae Kim) to stop her.

By now it’s unlikely you will not be aware of the critical lambasting Hellboy has taken over the past week or so since its release. It has copped flack from all sides and while some of the criticisms are valid (particularly in regard to the quality of the CGI), the fact of the matter is that it’s just not that bad. Mike Mignola’s stories have always been dark, and Neil Marshall’s movies have always violent. Basing the film on a story that involves a nasty medieval plague and a lot of swordplay suits Marshall’s sensibilities down to the ground. So what we get is a dark, violent, very weird take on a dark, violent and very weird character. Yes it has flaws, but not enough to mark it as the disaster it’s been heralded as.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:

www.screenrealm.com/hellboy-movie-review-2019/

IMDB: Hellboy