Day 287: Seventh Moon (2008)

There are some films that you just look at the DVD cover art and you immediately want to see the film or just one name can do that trick too. Both of those instances rang true or me when I chose to watch Seventh Moon for today’s film. Amy Smart (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!) and Tim Chiou (The New Adventures of Johnny Karate & Golden Delicious) are newlywed couple Melissa an Yul who decided it would be fun to go to Yul’s homeland of China for their honeymoon. While in China, they come across a festival known as the hungry ghost festival where sacrifices are made left in their honor. While continuing on their journey, they come across a town where that hungry ghost festival is actually a real thing. Noe the couple have to try and survive the night or it’s become sacrifices to the moon demons that lurk only during the seventh full moon. The film also stars Dennis Chan (The Man With The Iron Fists) as Ping, and the film was written and directed by Eduardo Sánchez (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series). To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies. 

Day 236: American Gangster (2007)

It’s Tuesday which can only mean one thing and that is that it is time for Based on a Truesday Story. Based on a Truesday Story is a segment I did on my other blog where we watch films that are based on a true story and for today we are doing American Gangster. Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) is an African American drug lord from Harlem, New York who decides that the best way to take over the competition is to fly directly to the source in Vietnam. He quickly becomes the drug kingpin of New York, but that attracts the wrong kind of attention. Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) is an honest cop who gets put on the case to track down Frank Lucas and shut him down completely and anyone else corrupt as well. The film also stars Chiwetelu Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) as Huey Lucas, Josh Brolin (The Goonies) as Trupo, Lymari Nadal (The Blackout) as Eva, Ted Levine (The Silence Of The Lambs) as Lou Toback, Roger Guenveur Smith (He Got Game) as Nate, John Hawkes (Lincoln) as Freddie, RZA (The Man With The Iron Fists) as Moses Jones, Carla Gugino (Watchmen) as Laurie, Idris Elba (Thor) as Tango, Common (Selma) as Turner Lucas, TI (Ant-Man) as Stevie Lucas, Armand Assante (Judge Dredd) as Dominic Cattano, and the film was directed by Ridley Scott (Alien).

What happens when you put Denzel Washington in a leading role of a film? Well, I hope that you are preparing yourself for one hell of a performance because that is exactly what you are getting with this film. The thing I loved about this film is that you sort of get two stories in one where you have one guy who wants to make his teacher and his family proud by being at the top of his game while you have another who feels that honesty is the best policy and it will lead him over the dirty cops. I have to be honest in saying that if I found a million dollars as a cop, I may skim a few off the top of it. It’s kind of the story of the two roads with the one less traveled and you can guess who took which road in this film. There are so many actors that appeared in this film that I couldn’t fit above that deserved honorable mention like Cuba Gooding Jr., Ruby Dee, Jon Polito, John Ortiz, and many more who do a terrific job in the film. Now we all know that Hollywood takes some civil liberties with their films, but this one seems to have a lot according to an article on historyvshollywood.com. One story is that Frank says in the film that he drove for Bumpy for 15 years. Reports indictate that Bumpy was released from prison in 1963 and he died in 1968 leaving only a five year window. Check out more of the facts vs fiction in that article that I provided. The film is excellent with a very good story, amazing cinematography, and it’s the kind of gangster movies we love here in the states. So, what more could you possibly ask for? I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.

Day 132: IP Man 3 (2015)

For this week’s Ass Whoopin Wednesday, I wanted to finish something that i had started some months ago when I began watching a series about the famous Grandmaster Ip Man. Now I present to you what seems like the final film in the Wilson Yip (IP Man) directed series in IP Man 3. The film once again follows IP Man (Donnie Yen) as he is a lot older (because Bruce Lee is now a teenager), but not a lot has changed in Hong Kong since we last seen him. The city is now being run by a notorious boxing gangster named Frank (Mike Tyson) and he is trying to buy up all the schools in Hong Kong to try and close them down, but IP Man will not stand for it. IP Man also has to answer the challenge of a jealous Wing Chun master by the name of Cheung Tin-chi (Max Zhang) while also trying to take care of his sick wife (Lynn Hung). The film also stars Patrick Tam (Port Of Call) as Ma King-Sang, Karena Ng (Magic To Win) as Miss Hong, Kai-Chung Cheung (Keeper Of Darkness) as Chui Lek, Kent Cheng (IP Man 2) as Fatso, Ka-Yan Leung (The Man With The Iron Fists) as Master Tin, and Kwok-Kwan Chan (Kung Fu Hustle) as Bruce Lee. To see the rest of the review, please click here to go to Moshpits and Movies.

Day 20: The Man With The Iron Fists 2 (2015)

One of my favorite Martial Arts films from 2012 was The Man With The Iron Fists which starred Wu-Tang Clan member and now actor RZA (Brick Mansions) as Thaddeus, the man with the iron fists. The film was an ode to the old martial arts films about Shaolin monks and he is back for the sequel The Man With The Iron Fists 2. Thaddeus is now sort of a man on the run, but from his past. He is trying to make it to a temple so that he can ask for forgiveness and cleanse his soul of the violence. He takes a detour when he is attacked and found by some mining villagers who have a problem of their own. The villagers are being controlled by an evil man and villagers are dying left and right. So, with Thaddeus’s help, the villagers leader Li Kung (Dustin Nguyen) will revolt against the evil faction to gain their freedom. The film also stars Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Mortal Kombat) as Mayor Zhang, Kowit Wattanakul (Only God Forgives) as Jia Hang, Grace Huang (The Man With The Iron Fists) as Gemini Female, Pim Bubear (Ninja II) as Innocence, Carl Ng (New Police Story) as Master Ho, Charlie Ruedpokanon (Only God Forgives) as Li Guang, and the film was directed by Roel Reine (The Marine 2). To see the stats and the review of the film, please visit the site here.