A Conversation with Jerry Horton

Friend and local fillmmaker, James M. Johnston just did a short documentary called, "A Conversation with Jerry Horton" for the West and Clear website. It's about a woman that might potentially lose her house to the eminent domain powers of Chesapeake Energy. Really cool piece from JMJ....


A Conversation With Jerry Horton - West and Clear from James M. Johnston on Vimeo.

Angela's Body

My friend and fellow filmmaker Jon Keeyes and co-star of "Seventy-8" Susanna Gibb are trying to get a film going called Angela's Body.

Caught between the death of her son and a new pregnancy, a dramatic and emotional story of mental illness unfolds as the mother, Angela Gray, spirals out of control through postpartum psychosis that results in depression, self-mutilation, attempted suicide and even graver tragedies.

They recently shot some footage and I edited that for them as a promotional trailer. They are hoping to raise the funds to make the film. So if you know of anyone who might want to front the bill let them know! Here is a LINK to the myspace page where you can get in contact with Jon or Susana. Here is the trailer...


Angela's Body from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

Stanley Kubrick Ad

Check out this LINK to this awesome Stanley Kubrick ad for a Kubrick film festival in the UK. The 65-second promotional spot has been filmed as a one-take tracking shot through the recreation of The Shining set.

Viewers get Kubrick's point of view as he walks through the set, ending up in his director's chair as the crew prepare to shoot the famous scene of Danny Torrance, the son of Duvall and Jack Nicholson's characters, riding round and round the deserted corridors of the Overlook Hotel.

Stop Violence

I don't often discuss my day job as a producer/editor, because quite frankly a lot of the stuff I do is related to a certain industry and even though it airs on TV it's not always the coolest thing in the world. But in this case I thought this was worth showing off. I produced a series of spots for movie theaters in and around the DFW area. (They are the annoying things you have to sit through before the movie starts.) The spots are for Safe City to help stop gang and gun violence around the city. They are only 15 seconds long, and are playing at a theater near you all summer long.

I'm quite fond of these, because of the message they convey and the simplicity of the message is direct and to the point. So much so that the Rave theaters refused to show them because they were too intense and dark. That little conflict was resolved thankfully by cooler heads. All the kids in these spots are no longer with us or disabled because of gangs and gun violence. There are 4 spots and one longer video used for the web...

REVIEW: The Mother of Tears

I am back to blogging after a long absence. I recently moved, so its been a bit hectic getting setup in the new digs, and now they are making me move at work again... It never ends. So back to the blog... and I intend now to pretty much just write about film and things related to film or video.

Went over to Dallas at the Magnolia to check out the latest Dario Argento movie, "The Mother of Tears: The Third Mother." This concludes the trilogy he began in the late seventies with "Suspiria" (1977) and "Inferno" (1980). Make no mistake about it, Suspiria is a masterpiece of horror. One of my all time horror movie favorites. The Goblin score is to this day one of the most annoying and unnerving scores ever. "Inferno" was a really interesting film, but its flaws kept it from Suspiria league. Now 28 years later director Argento enlists the help of his daughter, Asia to topline and complete this Mothers trilogy.

Each film is this series is about a witch. There were three of them called the Three Mothers. At one time they ruled the world with Witchcraft and whatnot, but throughout time they were suppressed and each movie details each mother's turn at resurrection and taking control of the world through darkness.



In Tears, Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento), is an American studying art restoration at the Museum of Ancient Art in Rome, examines an urn found at an ancient, decrepit grave near Viterbo. Bound within are the relics of a witch known as the Mother of Tears, Mater Lachrimarum (Moran Atias). Breaking the seal heralds the return of the beautiful yet malefic sorceress' powers, and the world is plunged into chaos. A wave of suicides and crime sweeps over Italy's capital as witches congregate to pay homage to their reborn queen. Sarah must eventually discover her latent supernatural powers with the help of her deceased mother (Daria Nicolodi) and confront Lachrimarum at the opulent Palazzo Varelli.



As with Suspiria and Inferno, Tears is gory and all the better for it. The murder scenes make you flinch in your seat. But like most of Argento's works the acting takes a back seat to the mood and the music and this is still the case here. After a while you just let it go and let the mood take you. To me Dario has been making mediocre films for about 10 years. His last film, The Stendhal Syndrome was his last work of true significance. It too starred his daughter Asia. Here his ex wife and mother of Asia Daria Nicolodi also returns for the fun. It's an Argento family reunion! But back to the mood point. There are moments that suck you into the Argento universe, as when the lesbian couple are brutally killed by a bald guy and a crazy monkey screaming in the background. The long tracking shot in the house toward the end all bring back fuzzy Argento memories of the past. Does it fit it in with the other two films in the trilogy? Kinda. It's a mixed bag. There are references to both Inferno and Suspiria, and Udo Kier from Suspiria even pops up.



So in short if you are a Argento fan, go see this! If not, you won't like it or even appreciate it. If you like bad acting and gore, then you might find some nuggets of fun. If like me you enjoy starring at Asia Argento, then you will love it. The score by Goblin member, Claudio Simonetti. The biggest problem I had with the sore is that it needed to be bigger. Maybe I am stuck in Suspiria land but the score needed to be outlandish and sick to match the visuals and it seems to take a backseat here. I want Goblin back! If your a fan of Italian horror or Argento check this one out. It's gone from Dallas, but it's touring the country now in the art houses. Check the trailer:

80's Ninja Movies Retrospective Part 2: I'm Afraid of American Ninjas

Oh the greatness begins again. Here it am. Here it am. Part 2 bitches. It's Dudikoff time kids!

AMERICAN NINJA (1985)

The mid 80's brought us a new series of Cannon Studio Ninja flicks starting with American Ninja in 1985 starring Michael Dudikoff as American solider Joe Armstrong stationed in the Philippines. It must have been dirt cheap to film in the Philippines in the 80's, because almost every Ninja movie Cannon made seems to take place there at some point. And I guess "Philippine Ninja" does not have the ring to it that "American Ninja" does. Dudikoff plays this fresh faced Private whose truck convoy is hijacked by Evil Mercs while carrying the Colonel's hot daughter. She is played by Judie Aronson of Weird Science and Friday the 13th:The Final Chapter fame. She flees and Dudikoff takes out 25 armed dudes with his fists and sticks. Joe and Girl have a skinny dipping incident on the way back to the base and fall in puppy love.

Several army men in the convoy got killed during the Dudikoff massacre so Joe is in trouble now and as a result gets into a fight with genius B-movie legend, Steve James. After Dudikoff kicks James' ass to earn his respect, they team up to form a deadly duo of martial arts skillz and an acting tour de force. Along the way we flashback to Dudikoff's training on a remote Island with a great Ninja master. Joe claims to have amnesia and only remembers in flashbacks to his Ninja training.



The first AN is pretty standard action fare. Missing is the insanity of the Enter the Ninja trilogy. It's basically Dudikoff sees trouble, and he resolves it. It is not until the very end that he dons the Black Ninja outfit and fights side by side with his Master. The one odd thing about these AN movies is the main baddie Ninja is never Japanese. In this one he wears eyeliner and appears to be a Filipino. This is not my favorite in the AN series. There is some humor in this one but not amped up to the level of part 2. Dudikoff's acting makes Chuck Norris look like Brando, but he gets by just fine on his stoic looks and ninjitsu skill. Steve James is the best in this one. He looks like he is having fun and he is. All the baddies are stock cardboard cutouts. And that trend continues through all four films...

This one is directed by Sam Firstenberg who did Revenge of the Ninja and Ninja III. The Ninja action is a little better here, although a lot of it is basic fighting. Nothing uber fancy and cool. No Ninja III magic to be found here. I give this American Ninja two Steve James biceps and half a blow dart.





AMERICAN NINJA 2: THE CONFRONTATION (1987)

Ah now this one is my personal favorite of the AN Quadrilogy. Dudikoff and James return as Joe and Jackson. Here is the plot down: On a remote Caribbean island, Army Ranger Joe Armstrong saves an old friend from the clutches of "The Lion", an evil super-criminal who has kidnapped a local scientist and mass-produced an army of mutant Ninja warriors.

Now that's more like it folks! Throw in some more bad acting and an annoying little kid sidekick named Toto and bingo instant Ninja greatness. Once on the island Joe and Jackson begin kicking ass immediately. This time Steve James character has bulked up to twice his normal size and since the first movie has been trained to be an African-American Ninja it seems. These Ninja go down with a simple tap to the head. The main bad Ninja has a scar on one eye so you can tell him apart from the spare Ninjas. He resembles one of the extras from The Wild Bunch.



The biggest difference in this movie is the humor. Steve James really hams it up while Dudikoff plays the straight man of course. The chemistry between the two is much better this time out. They both seem to be having fun despite the paper thin plot that more or less takes Dudikoff from one confrontation to the next. Hence the title... The funniest thing in this one is how Steve James will start fighting someone and all of a sudden his shirt is ripped off so he can show off his new cut muscles. It happens every fight. I thought about timing how long it took for his shirt to get ripped off. At one point he fights in his army suit and the bad guys pull his sleeves off!

They travel to this Enter the Dragon-esque island where a scientist who almost cured cancer was taken hostage by "The Lion" an evil drug dealer to make Super Mutant Ninjas out of kidnapped US Soldiers to protect his drug empire. Now wouldn't it make more sense to go ahead and get that cancer cure down before the Super Ninja thing? I think the cure for cancer might sell better than Super Ninja bodyguards. But what do I know. So Dudikoff and James show up and fight the army of Super ninjas, then take out the Lion. Now the Lion looks like a LA guy that may have guest starred on CHIPS or The Love Boat in the 70's. The Super Ninjas come in two flavors here, red and black. The music score is by George S. Clinton and is great 80's action synth music. I saw this when I was 15 or so on video and I loved every horrible minute of it. This is my favorite Cannon Ninja movie. I actually really loved Dudikoff and James in these retarded movies. There are more Ninjas in this movie than you can count. It's like they grow on trees. And I guess they do, because they are growing them in the cancer lab in tubes. The best line is, "Ahh, The American Ninja I presume?, How very nice to meet you." How returning director Firstenberg never won the Oscar is beyond me.

I give this one my highest Ninja rating of 4 throwing stars with poison tips. Check out this great review I found on YouTube. This guy hits it on the head.





AMERICAN NINJA 3: BLOOD HUNT (1989)

Oh my, it can't be true could it? An American Ninja flick without Dudikoff? Yes it happened, but there is a silver lining here. In 89 we got the straight to video, American Ninja 3 with a new white boy Ninja, David Bradley, a real life martial artist. This is Bradley's first movie and it shows in his limited performance. However, he is very likable. Thankfully Steve James agreed to return, and he is back in fine form as Jackson, the African-American Ninja. He and Bradley have decent chemistry, but they throw in this annoying sidekick character who almost ruins the movie single handed.

The plot is that Bradley's dad is shot and killed when he is a child at a martial arts contest by some baddies. A master Asian dude rescues him from the bad guys that killed his Da and trains him to be a Ninja. Flash forward years later, where Bradley meets Jackson at a martial arts tournament they have entered. There is a reference to Dudikoff during a fight scene, where Jackson says "I thought I left Ninja's behind in the army where I left Joe" So fear not, it appears our country is still being protected by the Ninjas by Dudikoff. Some funny things of note in this movie are the outfits worn by Bradley. In the first big Ninja fight Bradley takes on numerous Ninja in acid wash jeans and jean jacket with white Nike shoes. Now back in the day I thought that looked bad ass. With some retrospect, not so much. In this movie we are introduced to the new Blue ninjas. These guys look very similar to Cobra Commander from GI Joe. And no joke, the bad guy is named The Cobra...hmm.



There is one fight scene I believe may be a first... An underwater Ninja fight! Yes, you read correct. Ninjas punching each other underwater. This is a much cheaper movie (if that is even possible) than the first two AN movies. It looks like it was filmed in some third world country shanty town. The bad guy is again using a scientist to develop a Super Ninja and trying to poison everyones blood or some shit like that. The "Cobra" looks Patrick Duffy with a bit of Larry Bird thrown in. Very odd casting choice. He looks like he sells carpet. Bradley is drawn to yet another isolated Super Ninja factory to seek his kidnapped master. Once there he discovers it's a hoax and is imprisoned with a female ninja. She escapes and enlists Jackson to help her bust him out. (Oh and yes Jackson gets shirtless in EVERY fight scene again) To his credit, Bradley's martial arts skills are much better than Dudikoff's. You can actually see him doing some decent moves here and there.

Some lines to look out for are when a local cop gets in Steve James face and James tells him, "You're breathing my air". The music score here is still from George S. Clinton and most of it is from AN2, with a few new cues thrown in. The director of AN3 is Cedric Sundstorm who would continue with AN4. I remember liking this when it came out and it indeed has some great AN moments and I give it props for keeping the series alive. It's a little more serious than the last one, which is bad cause it robs James of some good lines. He does call the female Ninja, a Ninjette. Sadly this was the end of the line for Jackson's character in the AN series. James passed away from prostate Cancer at the age of 41 in 1993. This guy was so huge and fit, it just reminds you that we are all human and can leave this Ninja infested life at any moment. I'm sure that much like in the AN movies, Steve went down fighting. He made several other films before he passed away including I'm Gonna Git you Sucka, The Player, and Weekend at Bernies 2. Peace out to you brother Jackson...

I give American Ninja 3 a low two poisonous darts to the eyes. Enjoy this scene of the Ninjette as she takes her mask off...






AMERICAN NINJA 4: THE ANNIHILATION (1990)
Went to see this with my hommie, Tony Cardenas at the Ridgmar General Cinema in the summer of '90. You would think that someone going to see this in 1990 could not possibly graduate from a respectable University seven years later, but it happened. We were highly anticipating this movie because it brought both American Ninjas to the screen for the cost of one movie! How could it go wrong? If the subtitle is The Annihilation could it mean that both American Ninjas could wipe out the entire Ninja race? Bringing AN3 director Sundstorm back was the first problem here. The other was no Steve James and without James these movies have no humor and without that it's a bad day in Hazzard. So let's get into it shall we...



In this one Bradley is captured yet again like in the last movie by Ninja terrorists while trying to rescue some Delta Force gents sent to find a nuke to blow up NYC. (I am beginning to question his Ninja creditentals at this point when he gets captured in every movie) Right at the get go, you can tell this movie has a much larger budget with which to work from. There are steadicam shots, tracking shots, and all sorts of crane shots not seen before in a AN movie. Cannon probably had theatrical deals in place if they could team up the two AN stars together, much like Star Trek with Kirk and Picard. (OK, that may be a stretch) So when the new American Ninja is down who do you call? The original American Ninja who like in the last Rambo film is in the Peace Corps, living a quiet reflective Ninja life teaching poor children. However this time the stakes are higher, we are talking big bombs terrorist style, NYC. So look out Bin Laden. Fuck Stallone, Norris, and Van Damme. It's Dudikoff time beotch!

Things that popped out to me as weird: When parachuting from a plane into a jungle is it normal to wear a Members Only leather jacket? I guess you need to look cool on the ground when your jean jacket from part 3 is in the wash. Is it in the Cannon rule book that every AN movie has to have a young annoying sidekick in tow? At least this time his name is not Tito. We are introduced to the Yellow Ninja in this one, and the Red, Blue and Black all come out to play again. The bad guy carries a whip around and looks like your local child molesting Uncle who lives in the abandoned house on the corner. Dialog watch from bad guy: "Lick my boots, you fool!" Another gem from Dudikoff teaching kids in the peace corp: "Ok kids, go outside and find something from the environment and bring it back in and we will discuss it." Huh? Teach those kids how to beat the F out of a Ninja dude! And apparently only the White Ninjas are allowed to carry nuclear bombs.



Now let's talk about the "annihilation" and the Ninja battle to end all Ninja battles. Right before the big battle, Dudikoff teams up with a Beyond Thunderdome-esqe biker gang to help deal with the Ninjas. One scene has Dudikoff dressed as priest as he subdues a Nazi with a Star Trek Vulcan neck pinch. Also of interest is that instead of changing costumes in a phone booth like Superman, the American Ninja changes in a dirt ditch in less time. Dudikoff infiltrates the dungeon where Bradley is being held hostage and discovers that he has been brainwashed to fight Dudikoff so that the audience can see the great American Ninja face-off. This is a very sad scene because we want the American Ninjas to kick ass together, when Dudikoff kills Bradley, we discover that like in Part 3 some Ninjas wear masks, and some of those masks look identical to actor David Bradley. David is actually outside chilling about to be burned to death at the stake. Then boom Dudikoff appears and lays down some wicked smoke bombs and frees American Ninja Bradley setting in motion the Ninja fight to end all Ninja fights. but sadly it's a let down. Team Yellow, Blue, Red, and Black all take turns getting their asses collectively kicked by the AN's. Then the Thunderdome Biker Gang shows up to clean up the rest.



The bad thing about this movie is that it's too big for it's britches. I mean I admire the scope of it. They spent some money on this one for sure, but in all the cool shots and lighting they pull off, they forgot the basics. Ninjas. There is way too much plot and talking and not enough Ninja love fighting before the finale. In AN2 Ninjas where all over the place. If you went to the bathroom at a cafe, chances are there would have been a Ninja in stall number three. In AN4 you would be able to urinate in peace while discussing the environment. All in all I would have to give this one only 2 and half fire arrows.



There is an American Ninja 5 with just David Bradley going solo. This one has NADA to do with the series here. It's a bad David Bradley movie with Pat Morita that sucked so bad the only way to get it released was to call it AN5. I have seen it, and I don't remember liking a single frame of it. I don't actually like to admit it exists. If you are in the need of a Dudikoff/James team-up they did another movie together called Avenging Force and it's actually pretty good from what I can remember. If memory serves, it's a take on The Most Dangerous Game in a swamp.

So that's it for the American Ninja Quadrilogy. I had a blast watching these again. Yes, they are not the greatest, but as a kid they were a dream come true. As a kid it made you think maybe someday you could be the American Ninja. So as I stalked my hood looking for bad people thinking I was a Ninja, these movies gave me some hope!


As a treat I did some searching and found Michael Dudikoff's email addy. If you would like to email the American Ninja himself you can do so by clicking HERE! I'm sure Michael would appreciate the fan mail. According to his site which I found HERE he will sign photos of himself if you send a SASE to him. I will be doing this soon as i have an original press kit for AN2. I know, I know, I am a geek. (and I blog)

Once

I really have not had a chance to talk much about this little movie that could. (and did) The movie is called "Once" and if you have not seen it, you should. It's one of the most refreshing films in a long time. Here is the plot line courtesy of IMDB:

An (unnamed) Guy is a Dublin guitarist/singer-songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad's Hoover repair shop by day, and singing and playing for money on the Dublin streets by night. An (unnamed) Girl is a Czech who plays piano when she gets a chance, and does odd jobs by day and takes care of her mom and her daughter by night. Guy meets Girl, and they get to know each other as the Girl helps the Guy to put together a demo disc that he can take to London in hope of landing a music contract. During the same several day period, the Guy and the Girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs.



The big star of this movie is really the feelings these characters have, and the drive they have for something they believe in no matter what the odds might be. The music is really great and my favorite song of the year, Falling Slowly actually won the Oscar this year for best song. I don't think that will ever happen again in my lifetime. This movie is about as low budget as you can get, but the great thing is, you don't care after a while. It's filmmaking in its purest form. PLEASE GO GET THIS FILM!!!!! Ive enclosed some clips of the trailer and a really moving acceptance speech by them at the Oscars.

80's Ninja Movies Retrospective Part 1: Enter the Revenge of the Domination

About a month ago, I was watching the awesome new HD channel on satellite called MGMHD, and they started playing the Cannon Films classic from 1981, "Enter the Ninja". I had a blast watching that movie, because at the time it came out I was about 8 years old and I didn't see it till a few years later, and by that time the 80's Ninja craze was at an all time high. Now these movies were never any good as far as deep cinema goes, but as a kid I wanted to be a ninja because of these movies. How could you not want to put on the black outfit and take out dudes with stars, swords, blow darts, and other assorted weapons. I even went over to an older kid's house one time where he had built a Ninja fort which had weapons and a throwing star range. He even showed us some secret ninja magazines that were not available in the states where you could purchase secret Ninja weapons from Japan. Suffice to say I did not become Ninja, I did however take Tae Kwon-Do in college and got a belt or two. But the one thing I always dug no matter how bad they were were the 80's Ninja movies. So this will be a 3-part retrospective of those movies I thought were cool back in the day.



This retrospective will not cover any Asian made ninja movies, that is a whole other ball of wax. This will cover just the American made ninja movies. Part 1 covers the original Cannon Films trilogy starring Sho Kosugi that began with Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III:The Domination. Part 2 will cover Cannon's American Ninja films 1-4. (We don't count part 5..more on that later) Part 3 will be an assortment of Ninja films, like Rage of Honor, Pray for Death, The Octagon, and 9 Deaths of the Ninja. So let's throw some smoke bombs and do this.



ENTER THE NINJA (1981)

This is the first Ninja movie I probably ever layed eyes on. And its sad to think that, because it really isn't the greatest ninja movie ever. As a kid it was a lot of fun. So this movie stars Italian actor Franco Nero from "Django". If you had seen "Django", a (spagetti western classic) before you saw this, you might not like this movie. I didn't so it didn't bother me at the time. Now that I've seen Django recently in fact, going back and seeing Nero in Ninja is odd. In "Django" Nero was a very slow moving loner, but could shoot fast when needed. In Enter he is a back flipping ninja with super human martial arts skill. So it's a bit of a leap of faith. (no pun intended) This films starts with Nero as the white Ninja being chased in Japan by a bunch of red Ninja and a evil black Ninja played by the legendary Sho Kosugi. Franco playing a Vietam vet is in his final test of becoming the first American ninja, even though he is Italian... stay with me. The black Ninja is upset because he thinks it is against tradition to let an ex-spagetti westerner to become a Ninja. The head Ninja in charge disagrees and allows him to become a Ninja. Nero packs his white suit up and heads to the Phillippines to chill with his land mogul Nam buddy who happens to have a hot wife played by Susan George. A crazy real estate gangster played by Christopher George tries to bully his buddy into giving him his land which sets in motion the conflict. Nero destroys about 80 of George's henchmen before the 50 minute mark.



George sends someone to Japan to find his own Ninja to fight Nero. They of course find Sho and he comes back for the final confrontation. Some of my favorite scenes include Nero's buddy telling him that he can't "get it up" anymore for his hot wife, Susan George. So instead of saying hey its all good man, just keep trying, Nero goes back to his best buddy's house and does his wife, so she won't have to suffer anymore. WOW! Great friends are hard to find. As expected the Nam buddy dies before the hands of the evil Ninja played by Sho Kosugi, but not before a Nam flashback reveals that he saved nero's life back in Nam, setting up a final battle in some sort of elaborate cock fighting ring. And this is another of my favorite scenes here as Christopher George who demolishes all scenery in his award winning performance as the bad guy. I mean this has to be the worst acting I have ever seen...



At then end Nero wins and all is right with the world as expected with a Django Ninja in the Phillippines. Now the fighting scenes are what people payed money to see these things at the time. There are some cool Ninja fighting scenes, by 80's fighting standards I suppose, but those mostly are the ones involving Sho Kosugi. Nero was in fact in no shape to be a Ninja. So his fighting scenes were all doubled by fight choreographer Mike Stone. The film is directed Menahem Golan who was half of the Golan/Globus producing giant, Cannon Films. His direction here is sub-par at best. He just kind of sets the camera down and waits for shit to go down. Very little energy.

On my Ninja scale I give this 2 throwing stars and half a blow dart. Enter the Ninja is not on DVD, so if you see it on VHS somewhere, grab it, it might go for something on ebay. Enjoy one more Christopher George performances please...



REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983)



In this follow-up to Enter the Ninja, we go a new route and find Sho Kosugi playing a different character this time around in Japan protecting his family by deadly Ninja's. While Sho is chatting with his buddy Dave, a group of Ninjas show up and kill his entire family except his baby boy. Dave tells Sho that he must go to America to get away from the Ninja insanity that is his life to protect his son from any future Ninja attacks. So he does of course. Because all Ninjas must eventually live in L.A. and open some sort of store that will get robbed. Now Sho teaches his son, played by his real life kiddo the art of the Ninja but not to practice it on people, only honor the tradition. WHATEVER! This little dude can ball! He kicks four little kid's asses then beats the shit out of his Dad's big breasted girlfriend. In fact this actress continues the tradition of bad Ninja acting... Oh it hurts me!



This movie still suffers from stiff direction although new director Sam Firstenberg has a better feel for the action this time out. Being his first feature he has some nice sequences here with Sho taking the baddies downtown and back again. There are some decent fight scenes and a cool van chase. There are stars to the head, more exploding smoke balls, and by far the best scene in the film, torture by by hot tub jets. Classic. Sho fights his friend Dave, who of course happens to be a Ninja and has been shipping heroin in Sho's Japanese antique dolls. This is just a thought, but if you were a Ninja and you had a best friend, wouldn't you know he was a Ninja too? The final battle takes place on top of a roof in LA on a Tennis court... Yes a Tennis court. Is there a deep meaning here? No, it's just a Tennis court.



Sho is good here. His acting is horrible, but so is everyones. What set's this movie apart from the others, is Sho and his skills as the Ninja. Much more believable than Franco Nero in the original. I give this one 3 throwing stars and dirt with leaves to the face. Revenge of the Ninja is available on dvd so you can netflix that bitch or buy it on the cheap HERE.

NINJA III:THE DOMINATION (1984)



"No thanks I don't use soft drinks." This classic line of dialog is just one of so many in my favorite titled film in the Cannon Ninja trilogy. I couldn't find this one anywhere around town, and let me tell you i think I would rather ask for the porn, Manhammer than Ninja III:The Domination again at the video store. I had to search deep into the web to find a copy of this one. But alas I have it! The Domination!!! Ninja III has nothing to do with the other two as far as I can tell. But let me tell you something, you have NEVER seen a Ninja film like this. This film is FAR out there. I'll try my best to sum it up...

Lucinda Dickey, star of director Firstenberg's "Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo" stars as Christie a telephone pole repair person that finds a Ninja that has just survived about 10,000 bullet hits from the police and is possesed by the dying Ninja's spirit. Yes this ninja is supernatural people. So now we got ourselves a female Ninja. Well she keeps the sword and reports the dead Ninja to the cops. This is where we get this stirring scene of drama...



Soon she discovers her ass kicking skills by fending off goons outside a gym. She then falls in love with one of the cops that killed her previous Ninja self. As the killings around the city mount, Sho Kosugi is called in to kick bitchy ninja ass. This time he does not play himself from Enter or Revenge but a new character named, Yamada who wears a strange eye patch. Christie lives in a VERY 80's art deco place and even has her own arcade game inside. One night after screwing the cop, a glowing sword floats out of the closet on two strings. The next night the arcade game comes on and she is possessed again by the spirit of the Ninja only this time its "Tron" style...check this out!



Next she goes out and kills some more cops responsible for the death of her Ninja spirit. Now if getting possessed by a video game isn't enough fun for you it gets even awesomer. She goes to some S&M dungeon where James Hong (Blade Runner and Lopan from Big Trouble in Little China) tries to perform an exorcism on her. So now we have a female video game possesed exorcism crazed ninja non-soft drink using beotch. But fear not, Sho is on the way.

I did learn some things about a Ninja's skill level in this film. First, when doing a standing back flip over a ten foot high chain length fence it is necessary to remove your leather jacket before doing so. Second, If you are a Ninja attending the funeral of a cop that you killed it is good to hide in the trees and assassinate as many other cops as you can using your bow and arrow while they all fall into the same grave. Good use of surrounding resources. When fighting Sho Kosugi you might want to mention you starred in Breakin' 2: Electric Bugaloo. Who knows, he could be a fan.



Christie and Sho battle in a Shaolin Monk temple in the end and she turns into a Zombie Ninja and then turns the monks into an army of living dead kung-fu fighters against the mighty Sho. As silly as this movie is, it really is entertaining from all the horrendous 80's cliches of headbands, aerobic leggings, and bad synth scores it's too much fun to not recomend. Director Sam Firstenberg has a better feel for the action this time around. Sure it's ludricras from start to finish, but who gives a crap it's a Ninja movie!The only way this movie could have gotten four throwing stars is if during the final battle Sho told Christie that the Ninja spirit inside her was in fact Sho's gay lover. Now that's an ending. You can't get this movie anywhere unless you find it on an old VHS from '85. On ebay it was going for upwards of 80 bucks!



This is the end of part 1 covering the Cannon Ninja trilogy. There are reports of a new Ninja movie that will be called "Return of the Ninja" with Sho returning to his most famous part. But nothing new has been on that front for years it seems. Keep your fingers crossed! Look for Part 2 of the Ninja Retro soon!

Oh my, this looks fun...Iron Man

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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DVD REVIEW: Justice League: The New Frontier

As a big fan of DC Comics and it's characters I always look forward to any new movies, toons, or comics that might offer me something new. Having not heard of Darwin Cook's graphic series, New Frontier aside from seeing the action figures at the comic shop I was anxious to see this new take on the Justice League series. I grew up loving the Justice League comics and TV shows as a kid. Loved the tension between Batman and Superman in the league. To me the best incarnation of the JLA was not too long ago on the Cartoon network's Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. It really had a cool edge to it, that the old Super Friends show did not. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the old Super Friends show, but it was for kiddos and once you got into the comics you realize how much they really missed on that old show. Cutting to the chase, several years ago, Darwin Cook wrote this version of the JLA that takes place in the 50's/60's that shows our heroes dealing with the issues of the day ala JFK, MLK and other relevant social issues. It's a more realistic world and the violence that happens is not fantastic it's real. Which brings us to the DC Direct to DVD movie...In the first scene, Hal Jordon (AKA Green Lantern) is shot down by a communist jet and lands in an enemy trench, he struggles with a commie, until finally shooting him in the head with blood splattered on his face after he pulls the trigger. Like I said this is not Super Friends.



The animation is stripped down and very 50/60's style. It is stylized but in a good way. The characters seem fresh this time around. Many of their origins are shown here, like Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern. A lot of this movie takes place around the time of the Space Race, so The Green Lantern is more or less the main character of this one. However he does not become the Lantern till almost the end of the movie. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Flash are the main characters. They recently disbanded the Justice Society because of disagreements on how to handle situations. This disagreement is somewhat of an analogy for the situation that America is in with racism and communism trials. Its a really brilliant idea, and one can only hope that the current in production live action Justice League can muster a tenth of this story's significance.



Reading comics and especially The Justice League made you feel as kid that if you work as a team with others you can make a difference in the world no matter how large the problems may be. It gave me hope as a kid. And this film represents that hope once again that we need heroes, we need hope. The animation and voice work here is really good. I missed some of the voices from the recently canceled JLA Unlimited, but the new voices are still very good, just takes getting used to. There are also several documentaries on the disc including a long one chronicling the history of every era of the JL in the comics. There is also a great documentary on the evolution of the Legion of Doom.

So if you love Superman, Batman, or any of the Justice League heroes check this movie out. It's rated PG-13 and it means it. To see the official website click HERE. The trailer is down below, and a great review can be found HERE.

Equilateral on Atombomb.tv !

My good buddy, Jon Keeyes was nice to let my short film site, Atombomb.tv show his short film, Equilateral. It's a comedy spoof of the Christian Bale movie Equilibrium from a few years back. It's very well crafted and directed by Mr. Keeyes. Lot's of local talent from Ft. Worth involved in this short. Also check the behind the scenes video produced exclusively for Atombomb.tv.

Equilateral: In a futuristic world, comic books have been outlawed. To destroy the rebels, a militant faction called The Shredders has sprung up. Now, one of the Shredders will have to decide between the law he enforces and the world of free thought and expression.

Hope everyone enjoys the film, I hope to up production on these shorts soon, so there will be more! Again, check back and enjoy the other shorts on the site, send them to your friends, embed them on your sites, blogs, and myspace pages.

DVD Review: Highlander: The Source

I reviewed this earlier on the blog back in the summer I think when it came out on the Sci-Fi Channel. As an avid Highlander fan I was underwhelmed to say the very least. Well now its out on DVD, and I decided to give it another chance, if anything for the extra features. On the sci-fi broadcast it was very hazy and cropped to hell. Well at least on this nice new dvd, you can see it in the proper anamorphic aspect ratio and the special effects don't look as bad. However, the movie itself is still a total mess. (This is Highlander part 5 for those of you counting)If you are a strict and completest Highlander fan, then there is a terrific tribute to Highlander producer Bill Panzer who passed away before this movie came out. He had produced all the movies and the long running Highlander TV series. Also there is documentary of the making of The Source that is really cool. For one its tons of B-Roll from pre-production to the end of production and is really interesting to see the Highlander team do their thing. The documentary is actually longer than the movie itself! Too bad the movie itself is such rubbish. Still if your a Highlander fan, a dvd you must put on your shelf. It will make a nice bookend with Highlander 2:The Quickening! There can be only five. The dvd comes out on Tuesday, Feb. 26th.

Do the Mavs really need this...again

Review: There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day Lewis is a BADASS. He owns this movie. At no point did I ever say to myself, I'm watching Daniel Day Lewis. The guy just transforms himself into his character of Daniel Plainview an oilman of the early 1900's oil boom in America. A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

This film besides King of Kong is one of my favs for 07. PT Anderson is a favorite director of mine ever since Hard Eight and Boogie Nights. Here he continues his growth as a storyteller and a director. The supporting cast is nothing short of great. This movie feels real. The photography and the music are spot on. The score by Jonny Greenwood is much like the Shining. Yes the score is almost anti-score, like shrieks and howls. Very moving. I would put this movie in the all time classic category if not for the very predictable ending, which is sad considering the build up of the last 2 hours. Although I enjoyed seeing what happened to these characters in the future I didn't like leaving them in the present. I didn't like being ripped from that world and thrown into the future.

And my favorite part of the film was Dillon Freasier's portrail of Plainview's son, HW Plainview. HW is only about 6 or 7 years old but goes everywhere with his dad, even to meetings. And once you see this movie you will want HW to be in every meeting you;ve ever had. He is that cool.



A truly great film that belongs in the upper tier of classics. A true film in every respect, the kind that people discuss for years. This is truly one film experience you will never forget on the big screen.

Seventy-8 will be Unleashed!

Seventy-8 trailer from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

Great news on the Seventy-8 front! Director Uwe Boll's company Boll World Sales picked up Seventy-8 for Worldwide distribution. They plan on releasing the film in several territories including Australia, New Zealand, and Germany among others. They also plan on taking it to the film market at Cannes in May '08 to try and sell it in more territories. So keep your fingers crossed. There is no U.S. release yet... We are working with Brightlight Entertainment in Vancouver on the dvd stuff now. We will keep you updated on any new information as it develops. Thanks again to all of you who worked so hard on the film, this kind of stuff does not happen without all of you.

As a token of my thanks, I'm gonna leak the gag reel... and a fresh version of the trailer.

Thanks
e.


78 gag reel from Atombomb.tv on Vimeo.

My Rambo Review

GDMF on Atombomb.tv

Finally! There is a new short film on Atombomb.tv. Sorry for the delay, but after "Death by Powerpoint" in September my day job producing commercials got hectic yo. So after a nice Holiday break we got back on track with this great short from Fort Worth filmmaker and master vegan chief James M. Johnston. I saw GDMF a year ago at the Dallas Video Festival and became a fan of James style. GDMF is a film that challenges you and makes you pay attention. I've always been a big fan of improv filmmaking. If its done bad, it comes off as pretentious, but GDMF works. James worked to give the actors a story and the crew a sense of the scene, paying attention to all the details while letting the story shape on its own through its characters.

I hate to compare films to each other but I can't help to compare this to John Cassavetes films. When I first walked out of the screening last year Cassavetes and "Buffalo '66" popped into my mind. Sometimes a writer can't capture a moment in time. Good dialog is great and all, but does not always work in certain situations. I think James film is great example of improv filmmaking and I look forward to his next film, "Merrily, Merrily".

So head on back over to the Atombomb.tv site HERE and check out GDMF. Be warned that the film is for adults, so prolly not a good idea to watch it at work. Oh and check out all the extra bonus features below on the film page. James did commentary, articles, and all sorts of fun stuff. New film next month I promise!!!!

Diary of the Dead trailer!

Diary of the Dead - Exclusive Trailer

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R.I.P. HD-DVD... January 4th, 2008

Just when I was having fun buying cheap hd-dvd's. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. HD-DVD: The Look and Sound of "Almost" Perfect is hanging by a thread. All hail the mighty BLU.

Click HERE to read the sad news for HD-DVD devotees.

The Possibility of Hope

I finally got the chance to see "Children of Men", and enjoyed it very much. There is a documentary on the hd-dvd called "The Possibility of Hope" which kind of gives you an overview of our world and how we F it up and continue to do so. I found it to be very scary yet fascinating. Check it out in 3 parts:

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This makes me smile...

When Hitchcock Meets Scorsese...

Yummy Japanese Pizza!

Mayonnaise and Shrimp filled crust. Awesome.

The Forbiddon Kingdom trailer

If this had come out about 10 or 15 years ago I would spoiled my pants. Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same kung-fu epic! Still this looks fun.

Rambo 4 trailer

It's on bitches...



nostalgia goosebumps!

The Format War Rages On !

Hola. It has been a while since I have been blogging. Work has been quite steady at the old Immotion Studios. I finished my two rough cuts this week on our two big videos this month, go great feedback and high praise for the work, and today I find myself completely burned to a crisp creatively... Hopefully over the next month or so I should be blogging about more crazy films, and even some good news from the filmmaking front here in Funkytown.

I have seen a few films recently... 28 Weeks Later was a lot of fun to watch. I really hope they make one more to complete a really sweet trilogy. Also watched Mr. Brooks, a serial killer movie with Kevin Costner. I thought it was decent, but could have explored the inner self more than getting caught up in the procedural side of things.

I have been really into the high def dvd market for a while now. It has been almost 2 years now since both hd-dvd and blu-ray came out, and blu-ray still is kicking arse it seems. However as much as I am a supporter of the Blu, a funny thing happened on the way to Wal Mart the other day. It seems that Toshiba (the only manufacturer of HD-DVD players) got super desperate the other week and decided to offer the old HD-DVD A2 player for 98 bux at Walmart and Best Buy. Granted there are many wonderful films that are only on HD-DVD that I am dying to peep in HD, that I can't get my blu-ray hands on, so i took the plunge, and picked one up and got 5 free hd-dvds to boot. So actually the player was free in one sense.

So now after reading all the articles about which one is better and so on, I had the chance to check it out with my own eyes. And the truth is, the difference is minimal as expected, but what i found on some heavy extras discs, there is not enough storage capicity to but everything on a single platter, so again like in normal dvd we are back to the flipper disc, or the double disc set. The image itself looks great on films, though this 98 buck player only outputs 1080i not p like the blu's do. But unless you have a highly trained eye, it won't matter too much to the average movie lover. Now the one thing I am totally digging about hd-dvd at the moment, is the "In Movie Experience" on some discs. What it is, is that you start your flick, and turn on this feature and boom while you are watching the movie, a little PIP window pops p and gives you insight into the making of the film. Wheter it be an interview with crew or cast, its really cool. Now this dvd player also has a ethernet pot to where you can take that experience even further and say you see a sweet ass car in Miami Vice and want to know more about that particular car, you can scroll over the car and it hooks up to the web during the movie and gives you info on that car as you are watching it. Pretty sweet! Apparantly blu-ray will have this next year.

So am i traitor for this act of home video treason? Nah, I just wanted to see Batman Begins in HD! If you really stand back and look at this current format war, its kind of sad that Toshiba is having to basically give players away to stay in the game, but hey for home entertainment geeks like myself it gives me the chance to get a few movies i really love and see them in a better light. And after its all said and done, thats what its really all about, is seeing movies the best way possible and to enjoy them the best way you can. In the immortal words of the Highlander, there can be only one. I think that will be Blu-ray when the holiday wars settle. It's a more robust and advanced technology that came out too quick to try and get in there before hd-dvd took over. And by the way, "2001" on blu-ray is un freaking real.

I'll try and write up some hd-dvd/blu-ray reviews on vacation. There are a bunch of titles waiting for me at home to spin, like Close Encounters, Oldboy, Children of Men, etc. To keep up with the mighty small war, i would go to this site called HighDef Digest. Click HERE

Slso a good article on the war is over at dvdfile.com:

Click HERE for that one.

D-Harp

Was watching the pre-game show for the Mavs/Blazers game on Saturday night. Found this to be most interesting....

Congrats to the Draganic's!!!

My partner in crime at Immotion Studios, Marjia had her baby this Monday in the front seat of a car on the way to the hospital. (and if you know her, this makes total sense) Fox 4 was there!

Darth Vader Fun Time!