KFMG Podcast S05 Episode 57: Loren Avedon

Posted in Podcasts

“I’m just grateful to have been a part of the golden age of Hong Kong cinema.”

When Loren Avedon answered a call to the Jun Chong Martial Arts Academy on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles late one night in 1987, little did he know that the call would prove to be life-changing. With only a matter of days until filming was scheduled to start in Thailand on the sequel to the 1986 martial arts hit, No Retreat, No Surrender, both of the film’s contracted stars – Kurt McKinney and Jean-Claude Van Damme – had pulled out, leaving producer Roy Horan with …

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Profile: Loren Avedon

Posted in Profiles

Date of birth: 30 July, 1962 (Los Angeles, California)

Full name: Loren Rains Avedon

Occupation: Actor, producer, martial artist.

Style: Taekwondo, Hapkido.

Biography: The martial arts film star Loren Avedon was born in Los Angeles in 1962. He is the nephew of the fashion photographer, Richard Avedon. His father, Burt S. Avedon, was a US Naval Aviator who served in the Second World War and Korean War. His mother worked in advertising as a producer and director. His first on-screen appearance was at the age of five in a series of Carnation Milk commercials. From the age of 10 to 11, Loren lived in London, …

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Gundala (2019)

Posted in Reviews

Big-screen outing for Indonesia’s favourite comic book superhero, Gundala – the ‘Son of Lightning’, inspired by DC Comics’ The Flash and created by Indonesia’s answer to Stan Lee, the late Harya ‘Hasmi’ Suraminata. Writer-director Joko Anwar approaches the subject matter with the same dystopian, foreboding seriousness as Christopher Nolan’s Batman films; in particular, The Dark Knight, not just stylistically, but also in terms of its anarchic characters and bleak setting, with Jakarta stepping in for Gotham City complete with its atmosphere of lawlessness, class division and broiling social unrest. Gundala embodies the spirit of the underdog, born into a divided …

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Profile: Stu Bennett

Posted in Profiles

Date of birth: August 10, 1980 (Penwortham, Lancashire, UK)

Full name: Stuart Alexander Bennett

Other names: Wade Barrett, Bad News Barrett, King Barrett, Stu Sanders, Lawrence Knight.

Occupation: Wrestler, actor, TV presenter.

Biography: Stu Bennett is a semi-retired professional wrestler, a five-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and former King of the Ring, known by his ring name, Wade Barrett. Bennett lived in Preston, UK, until the age of six (he is still a fan of the local football team, Preston North End) until he relocated with his family to Wales. He watched wrestling as a child and was inspired by WWF stars including British Bulldog and …

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KFMG Podcast S05 Episode 56: Stu Bennett

Posted in Podcasts

“I remember going to the pub and telling everyone, ‘I’m going to be a professional wrestler in WWE’, and they were just laughing at me like it was the most ridiculous thing ever. I was this skinny, shy, awkward kid at the time. Somehow, it managed to work out. Thankfully.”

Stu Bennett‘s transformational story from a shy, skinny kid growing up in the north of England to five-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and ‘King of the Ring’ – known by his pro-wrestling name, Wade Barrett – seems like a dream come true. The story belies years of hard work and even harder …

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The Old Guard (2020)

Posted in Reviews

In this contemporary-set action fantasy based on a graphic novel by the scriptwriter, Greg Rucka, Charlize Theron plays the world-weary leader of a group of immortal warriors who have seemingly been involved in every major injustice throughout human history; from the Crusades to the Salam witch trials to the Napoleonic Wars to terrorism in the Middle East. Despite such strong lineage, their centuries-old secretive operations have now been sprung by a CIA turncoat (Chiwetel Ejiofor) working in cahoots with an obnoxious tech millionaire-turned-mad-scientist who wants to use their regenerative powers to make a load of money. The film never quite …

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Profile: Isaac Florentine

Posted in Profiles

Date of birth: 28 July, 1958 (Israel)

Real name: Yitzhak Florentin

Style: Karate

Occupation: Director, stunt coordinator, fight choreographer.

Biography: Isaac Florentine in an Israeli filmmaker who works in the martial arts genre, directing mostly for the direct-to-video market. Isaac is the son of Greek parents and Holocaust survivors. His earliest film memories involve watching Bruce Lee and Sergio Leone films in Israel. He made his own films at high-school using his dad’s Super 8 camera. Upon graduating, he completed his mandatory service in the Israeli army for three years before studying Film & Television at Tel Aviv University.

He began training in martial arts from …

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Profile: Bryan Larkin

Posted in Profiles

Date of birth: August 7, 1973 (Glasgow, Scotland)

Occupation: Actor, writer, editor, producer, director.

Biography: Bryan Larkin was born in East Kilbride, Glasgow, in 1973 to a midwife mother and a father who was a mechanic and prosthetic engineer for the Royal Air Force Police. His first passion was weight lifting, becoming a junior Scottish champion and winning several competitions as a teenager. He developed a love of acting and enrolled in evening classes, joining a local drama group before training at Langside College (now Glasgow Clyde College). He started his acting career in theatre, with parts in touring productions of Harold …

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The Boxer from Shantung (1972)

Posted in Reviews

An intense, blood-soaked, career-defining moment for former Shaw Brothers extra, Chen Kuan-tai, one of the only genuine kung fu fighters at Movietown who makes the film’s highly kinetic choreography look effortless. Chen’s star potential was only spotted by Shaws after his starring-role debut in the 1972 Ng See-yuen indie, Bloody Fists, before the studio then stole him back to cast him in this much-revered head-basher, playing real-life boxer Ma Yongzhen. Ma’s rags-to-riches tale set in the underworld of 1930s Shanghai was well-known to native audiences at the time, and the film’s emotional and visceral resonance certainly left a lasting impression …

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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)

Posted in Reviews

In a bid to add emotional depth to Tom Cruise’s dour Jack Reacher, a domestic conceit is set-up for the sequel in which Reacher and an army major (Cobie Smulders) must protect a moody teenager (Danika Yarosh) who is being targeted by hoods for allegedly being Jack’s daughter. For Reacher – an ex-military tough guy who lives in the shadows, jumping out occasionally to duff up the bad guys – the extra responsibility really cramps his style, and many of the sequel’s best moments show him having to develop the art of compromise. The story – a US military conspiracy …

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