Film reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and deep dives into cinema from a filmmaker’s perspective.
310 posts
Arnold Schwarzenegger has always been the quintessential larger-than-life action star, commanding the screen with explosive charisma and iconic one-liners in films like Commando (1985), Predator (1987), and The Terminator (1984). With Sabotage (2014), however, Schwarzenegger steps into murkier territory—an ultra-violent, morally ambiguous crime thriller that…
By 2013, the golden era of ’80s action heroes was long gone, but Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger had found ways to keep their legendary names alive in modern Hollywood. Escape Plan serves as a team-up vehicle for these two titans, promising a prison-break thriller…
The Last Stand marked Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role after his tenure as the Governor of California, and it seemed designed to reintroduce him as the action hero fans loved in The Terminator (1984) and Commando (1985). Directed by South Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon, the…
Quentin Tarantino hat es wieder einmal geschafft: Mit Django Unchained erschafft er einen Western, der nicht nur als Genre-Hommage an die italienischen Spaghetti-Westerns seines Lebens funktioniert, sondern auch als kraftvolles Statement gegen die brutale Realität der Sklaverei im vorbürgerkriegsamerikanischen Süden. Für mich ist dieser Film…
By the time The Expendables 2 hit theaters in 2012, the idea of reuniting every major action star of the ‘80s and ‘90s had lost some of its novelty. The first Expendables (2010) was a fun but flawed celebration of testosterone-fueled mayhem, weighed down by…
Since Monday, I've been working while standing. No more seat for me. There are various reasons for this, among the top ones are my (over-)weight as well as the back pain that I had in Japan from shooting handheld and with a six kilogram heavy…
Check out the teaser trailer to my upcoming documentary "Souls of Zen - Ancestors and Agency in Contemporary Japanese Temple Buddhism": You can visit the official website at www.soulsofzen.com and stay updated through our Facebook page.
SHANGHAI — At a Shanghai building site, a man in a black Stetson looks over his shoulder at two approaching thugs. Four others appear, fists raised. They lock eyes and the cowboy springs up in a whirlwind of kicks. The scene is from "Shangdown: The…
While embezzling $14 billion from a Chinese bank for the US government, two Western bankers grab $15 million in cash for themselves. They store it in an upright bass case and wander the streets of Shanghai, waiting for their morning departure. When the more experienced…
SHANGHAI — September 27th 2010 /PRNewswire/ — The new full-length trailer for MK Media Productions' highly anticipated motion picture Shangdown: The Way Of The Spur debuted today. Shangdown: The Way Of The Spur, starring Christian Bachini and The Way Of The Dragon's famous villain Jon…