When The Fast and the Furious (2001) sped into the psyche’s of illegal street racing enthusiasts, with a penchant for danger and the psychotic insanity of arrant automotive adventure, the brusque bearish, quasi-hero rebel, Dominic “Dom” Toretto was caustic yet salvationally portrayed with the power of a train using a Vin Diesel engine. Justin Lin’s […]
The Wrath of Man: Good Ire, Error Actor
Guy Ritchie’s The Wrath of Man, which plays like a knock off of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (story presentation wise; 1994) starring Mick Jagger as the dancing hitman ala John Wick 3 (villains all dressed in bulletproof armor; 2019) starring Dustin Hoffman as the assassin extraordinaire, came up way short of what could have been a […]
NE ZHA: Worthy of Disney/DreamWorks Animation, Yet Distinctly Chinese with Impassioned Chinese Style Action
With a beautifully constructed allegory mirroring William Ernest Henley’s 1875 poem Invictus that asserts, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul,” the record breaking Chinese 3-D animated feature Ne Zha, which is loosely based on a Chinese mythological martial arts legend drawn from the Ming Dynasty novel The […]
EL CAPITAN MARVEL: A Mountainous Movie with Cliffhanger Acclaim and Waterfall Fights
By Drs. Craig and Silvia Reid. Of all the superhero movies I’ve seen as a film critic/fan, through a martial artist and fight choreographer’s eye, what started off as a poorly shot, jumbled, non-linear perfunctory directorial method approach to the first 40-minutes, with fight scenes akin to a local martial arts school putting them together […]
SDAFF 2018: Food, Martial Arts and Whaaat? — Part 2: Brian Hu
By Dr. Craig D. Reid In less than a week, in what USA Today says is one of the Top 10 things to do in San Diego, the 19th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival (aka SDAFF 2018), which is the second biggest Asian Film Festival in North America, will be screening 160+ films from […]
SDAFF 2018: Food, Martial Arts and Whaaat? – Part 1: Kent Lee
By Dr. Craig D. Reid It’s that time of year again in San Diego, Fall, and if you’re a major fan of Asian films like me, then you’ll be chomping at the bit and ready to be surrounded my more bees that have discovered a city-sized flower garden full of peonies. These bees aren’t bugging you […]