Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

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Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

The fourth film from Travis Knight’s stop-motion Laika studios is a spellbinding, poignant adventure. For a film which exalts in the fantastical – from giant sea monsters to talking animals and mythical landscapes – it also packs a heart-wrenching emotional punch which hits with the same force as one of Kubo’s violently strummed power chords. In a magical, hyper-realised vision of ancient Japan, Kubo is a one-eyed child storyteller who can conjure up flying paper figures via his magical lute playing. His origami warriors also work as a clever device to showcase the artifice in the film’s extraordinary stop-motion animation, …

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Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016)

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Never Back Down: No Surrender (2016)

The Never Back Down franchise just gets better and better under Michael Jai White’s direction. This sequel essentially does away with the teen movie themes outlined in the 2008 original – and only mildly observed in the 2011 sequel – and focuses instead on the commercialisation of MMA, which White argues has been overrun by banned substances and unscrupulous promoters. White returns as Case Walker, the ex-con hobo who is built like a tank, who turns heads in a Thai gym when he starts performing his Shotokan karate kata, using scrap material as work out props and drawing on the …

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The Hurt Business (2016)

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The Hurt Business (2016)

This excellent documentary from the producers of Bowling for Columbine shows the consequences of a career in mixed martial arts – America’s fastest growing sport – delving into the personal stories of the people who put their lives on the line in the pursuit of personal glory and the entertainment of others. Just like the sport they inhabit, the film is at times brutal and devastating, but also painfully honest. Michael Guymon’s story is particularly heartfelt; a former MMA star who suffered a career-ending head injury and now struggles with depression and crippling debt. Rashad Evans is another fighter under …

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KFMG Podcast S01 Episode 10: Hwang In-shik / Ricky Baker

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KFMG Podcast S01 Episode 10: Hwang In-shik / Ricky Baker

“I have a lot to thank him (Bruce Lee) for. Without him, I wouldn’t be here today.” Ricky Baker

Here’s a kung fu movie double bill for the final episode in the first season of Kung Fu Movie Guide podcasts! Join me as I have a quick chat with the legendary Korean-born Hapkido master and former action star Hwang In-shik, famous for his role in the 1972 Bruce Lee classic The Way of the Dragon, and his work with Jackie Chan in The Young Master and Dragon Lord. Prior to his early retirement from movies in the mid-70s, Hwang worked predominantly …

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Doctor Strange (2016)

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Doctor Strange (2016)

Mind-bending, universe-hopping, time-traveling sorcery from Marvel, charting the origin story of wise-ass neurosurgeon Doctor Stephen Strange. He’s a mix of Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes, conveniently played by go-to geek icon Benedict Cumberbatch who adds stage-like gravitas to an otherwise very silly movie – aided in no small part by equally laudable supporting thespians like Chiwetel Ejiofor and Tilda Swinton. Strange learns a valuable lesson in humility when his sports car crashes and his bones are destroyed. With all of western science exhausted, he journeys to Kathmandu in search of the healing mind powers of The Ancient One (Swinton) and …

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Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011)

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Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown (2011)

Michael Jai White reinvents the Never Back Down franchise with a socially conscious, character-driven sequel. None of the original characters return, thank god. Instead, White – in his directorial debut – charts the personal and competitive exploits of four angry young men hoping to take part in an underground, UFC-style cage fighting event called The Beatdown. The four bond and eventually fracture over the trials of their ex-con sensei, Case Walker (White), who lives like some kind of buff homeless guy in a trailer and faces perpetual grief from racist white cops. No one is infallible, and the film does …

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KFMG Podcast S01 Episode 09: Jerry Trimble

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KFMG Podcast S01 Episode 09: Jerry Trimble

“My purpose in life is to empower kids. The acting, the writing, the producing, that’s the icing on the cake – that’s the fun stuff.”

Here’s a real treat for fans of competitive kickboxing and martial arts movies, as I have a conversation with former world champion Jerry “Golden Boy” Trimble. Kentucky-born Trimble took the kickboxing world by storm in the 1980s by winning four consecutive world championships before embarking on a highly successful film career. His debut feature was alongside Jet Li in Tsui Hark’s The Master, before taking starring roles in a number of action films produced by the …

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Hard Target 2 (2016)

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Hard Target 2 (2016)

Competent head-thumping action film starring the ever-dependable Scott Adkins, who gets to go native in a Thai jungle while marauding rich folk take a pop at him with their crossbows in sporting reference to John Woo’s fun Van Damme film from 1993. This isn’t a direct sequel as the title suggests; Reiné borrows a version of the same story and updates it with more tech – drones, GPS, missiles on motorbikes and so on – and adds Woo-like symbols of doves, gun fu and slow motion. Adkins – who has become a champion flag-bearer for this type of visceral, low-budget …

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Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)

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Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)

After 27 years, a well-oiled and muscular cast take another run-up at the Kickboxer story. This reboot/remake never quite gets off the ground, due mostly to a confluence of unrealised subplots, a woeful script and some questionable performances. French-Canadian stuntman and walking jawline Alain Moussi spends the film in an expressionless, half-naked bubble as the supposedly bereft and vengeful Kurt Sloane, whose brother (played by the late Darren Shahlavi in his final film role) is murdered in the ring by the silent and deadly Muay Thai champ Tong Po (Dave Bautista, looking extraordinary). Moussi unfortunately struggles to add emotional heft …

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Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

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Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009)

Finally, a decent Universal Soldier sequel. After a number of false starts, John Hyams (son of long-time Van Damme collaborator Peter Hyams) has managed to revive this stunted sci-fi franchise as a bleak, industrial, pseudo-scientific action yarn for the modern age, or something resembling The Bourne Identity‘s idiotic cousin. A rebel militia kidnap the Russian President’s kids and haul up at Chernobyl (it’s actually Bulgaria) strapping bombs to the nuclear reactor and demanding the release of political prisoners. Their secret weapon: a supercharged, indestructible, genetically modified UniSol (played by UFC fighter Andrei “The Pit Bull” Arlovski). Actually, they have two …

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