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Within the martial arts genre, women have  never  been thought of as second rate.  Michelle Yeoh’s recent Oscar win might be an outlier (hopefully not the last) here in the States, but in Hong Kong she was part of a wave of female stars who kicked butt even  harder  than the boys.  And two newly released titles, previously part of the  In the Line of Duty I-IV  box set, are amped-up examples of the golden age of Hong Kong filmmaking…and proof that it doesn’t take a Y chromosome to take down the bad guys! Yes, Madam!  (1985) was Michelle Yeoh’s first starring role and it’s one hell of an introduction.  After thwarting an armored truck robbery in grand style, Inspector Ng (Yeoh) is paired up with Scottish investigator Carrie Morris (Cynthia Rothrock) to recover a missing microfilm that’s accidently passed through the hands of a group of dimwitted thieves.  The tone of this one bounces schizophrenically between toug...

Although his social media rants are becoming more irrelevant and out-of-touch by the day, there was a time when Paul Schrader was at the cutting edge of cinema.  Only four years after the success of his screenplay for  Taxi Driver , he was both writer  and  director of the most talked about film of 1980:   American Gigolo .  A spot-on skewering of the capitalism obsessed decade to come, what’s most surprising about the film today is how chaste and naïve it plays to a modern audience, where sexual appetites are an expected part of society’s conspicuous consumption. In the sex-for-hire business, Julian (Richard Gere) is the cream of the crop, sought after by upper crust clients and welcomed into the most exclusive establishments.  But his ego is his own worst enemy when he’s framed for the murder of a one-night-trick.  Targeted by an unsympathetic detective (Hector Elizondo) and abandoned by his so-called friends, Julian’s o...

Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...

The war over film vs. video was anticlimactic at best; a couple of months of debate and by 2010 celluloid was in the rear-view mirror with only a few heavyweights like Spielberg and Tarantino insisting their work be captured chemically rather than digitally.  And, to be honest, not much has been lost.  Speaking as the last generation of film schoolers to cut their own negative, the process flat-out sucked and essentially served as a technical gatekeeper to discourage the masses.  Even parodies and memes, tossed together today during a bathroom break, were an $8,000 labor of love.  Take  Hardware Wars  (1978) for example, a 13-minute spoof that road the coattails of the era’s biggest cinematic phenomenon. Essentially an extended trailer that takes potshots at what had already become mainstream iconography, writer-director Enrnie Fosselius’ film actually goes pretty easy on George Lucas’ space opera.  Fluke Starbucker and Augie “...

The dirty cop story has been kicking around cinema screens since the days of film noir.  So, any attempt at updating the clichés has better bring something new to the table. 2002’s  Narc  relies on its cast and characters – not to mention the gloomy urban landscape of Detroit, which is really another character unto itself – to elevate the material.  Which they do.  Trouble is writer / director Joe Carnahan’s script is a studiedly serious exercise is recycled plot devices and narrative dead-ends that wastes all the gritty authenticity it’s got going for it. Former undercover narcotics officer Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) is lured back onto the force by the promise of a steady paycheck and a cushy desk job if he can close the case of murdered cop, Michael Calvess.  Calvess’ former partner, Henry Oak (Ray Liotta), a hotheaded rule-breaker from the old school, is brought in to assist.  But Tellis sniffs out a conspiracy that runs dee...

Action star Mark Dacascos always seemed like too much of a nice guy to be a bad ass.  Working his way through video store favorites like  Double Dragon  and  Kickboxer 5 , no one could deny he had the skills, he just lacked the necessary attitude to rise above the fray.  So, it was great to see him get a chance to shine in 2019’s  John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum , even if it was too little too late. And it’s a treat to go back to 1996’s  Sabotage , a conspiracy thriller that throws in the so many plot twists  and  familiar faces you might forget who you’re supposed to be rooting for. Dacascos plays Michael Bishop, a former special forces vet who was dishonorably discharged and now works as a freelance bodyguard.   But when his latest client is assassinated, he teams with the investigating agent, Louise Castle (Carrie-Anne Moss), to outsmart a meddling CIA spook (Graham Greene) and take down a hired killer ...

There’s not much of a market for short films.  Even the Academy Award nominated shorts, which get some theatrical play, are little more than auditions for directors looking for feature work.  But like a short story collection in the literary world, an anthology film is an entirely different experience, offering viewers a buffet of cinematic flavors…and filmmakers a better hit-to-miss ratio.   Pandemonium  (2023) isn’t exactly an anthology by design, but production circumstances wound up fitting the format quite nicely as a fog-shrouded wraparound segment bookends two powerful stand-alone films.  After waking up to the aftermath of a car crash on a misty mountain road, Nathan discovers he’s stuck in some sort of purgatory…and he’s not alone.  Daniel, also involved in the crash, explains their situation and suggests they’re meant to use the two doors that have mysteriously appeared, one accompanied by a heavenly chorus, the other screams o...