Tag: Crime

Livin’ on a Prayer with Takashi Miike’s First Love

First Love has the feel of a madcap chase with all the glory of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World tossed in. It’s the wrong analogy, but that’s what I felt.

Takashi Miike's First Love Movie Poster
Available to purchase or stream on Amazon USA

Release Date: Feb 11, 2020
Well GO USA

Spoiler Alert

Takashi Miike is a filmmaker best known for his wry, dark humour. Some of his best films include the crime-exposition with Ichi the Killer and a live action adaptation of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure which I can only describe as gloriously over the top. When these movies have a manga (cartoon) grindhouse style approach, I’m usually hooked! In his exploration into the criminal underbelly of Tokyo in First Love has a lot going on, and plenty of craziness to pack in!

If processing the subtitles is too hard, this region one home video release comes with a dubbed version. I do wonder if the region 2 version comes with Miike’s Japanese commentary though…

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Dark Horse Comics’ The Mask is Back! & Running for President?

The MaskBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Publisher:
Dark Horse Comics

Released Oct 16, 2019

I’ve been a fan of Dark Horse Comics’ The Mask way before the movies and cartoons. While these alternative takes were fun and light-hearted, I missed the darker quality which existed in the comic books. I kept up when it was shuffled to Mayhem–back when this franchise’s future was in doubt. When other versions took precedence (and the publisher had crossovers, including with a certain clown prince of crime), I took a break.

I’ve been wanting to see this franchise return to its roots and “I Pledge Allegiance” serves up a lot of blood and vindictiveness. This latest chapter can not be any timelier due to the political climate of our times. I’m also amused the first issue is coming off the heels of the just as socially charged The Joker movie.

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[2019 Fantasia] Beware the Ak-in-jeon

The Gangster The Cop and The Devil (Ak-in-jeon) is a mix of a crime and thriller genre, and it’s hard boiled enough to have me guess who is worse.

Ak-in-jeon posterWell Go USA

Plenty of idioms come to mind with this handsomely suave and sinister film from South Korea. The Gangster, The Cop and The Devil (also known as Ak-in-jeon) is a mix of a crime and thriller genre, and it’s hard boiled enough to have me guess who is worse. We have Tae-suk (Kim Moon-yul), a brutal policeman going vigilante on organized crime, Dong-soo (Dong-seok Ma), a gangster who could probably put musician Psy to shame for his sense of style, and K (Kim Sung-kyu) the serial killer who made the mistake of targeting Dong-soo. When this Al Capone wannabe’s reputation is tarnished, he has to do what’s right, and the film is a twisted cat-and-mouse game where no matter who gets whose desserts, the bloody outcome is going to be more than cherry red.

Cop and thief gang up, for lack of a better term, to go after the killer. The action is intense, and the film is all fortune for lots of glory! Plenty of action takes place in the streets, and the wry black humour is sharp. Even though the slow moments drag out the film, the wait for the next bloody conflict makes up for it.

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[Fantasia 2019] Master Z is the Bee’s Knees with the IP Man Legacy

Zhang’s acrobatics puts Jackie Chan’s early work to shame and in, Master Z: IP Man Legacy, I feel he is an action star on the rise.

Master Z The IP Man Movie PosterRelease Date: July 23, 2019
Well GO USA

Master Z: IP Man Legacy is a fast-paced, hard-hitting spinoff from the films about the legendary Wing Chun master Yip Man. Instead of this master of martial arts, we have another sifu whose style (wushu) can rival that of the other; this time, it’s the life of Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang) that we follow. This rival from Ip Man 3 gets his own film. He is trying to escape his life as a trainer.

Despite having lost to Yip, Chi believes his time in the arena is over. He’d rather pursue a simpler life with his son in an unassuming part of late 50s Hong Kong. However, trouble always comes up, and he has to serve up vengeance, Batman-style.

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Making Polterheist, an Overnight Interview with Dave Gilbank

When the budget is tight, and you are dealing with a possession meets crimeland scenario, Polterheist has all the makings of being a cult film.

Director Dave Gilbank, the man behind PolterheistBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Movie Available on Amazon UK
This interview also appears in Absolute Underground Magazine

How can anyone go wrong with a crime heist type film with supernatural elements mixed in? When the budget is tight, and you are dealing with a possession scenario, Polterheist has all the makings of going either way. In what I found when watching this indie work is a huge respect and perfect use of the tropes commonly found in a ghost story.

Quite often, it is not about the scares that can take place. Instead, it’s with how unfinished business gets resolved, especially by those whose life gets cut short. In this hilarious mashup of drama and comedy, I was certainly hooked. This mini-review serves as my intro to Dave Gilbank, the writer-director of Polterheist. He’s been making independent works for about 15 years, and is now based in the UK–the place to experience many a classic haunt due to its millennia-old history–and I had to ask how this story came about.

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Soldier of War, A Movie Review

The MaskBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

Arriving on VOD March 3rd with a DVD following on April 9th

Soldier of War may seem like a misleading title, but this horror crime drama has a lot of terrific layers of backstory to examine. Anyone wondering about what the world might be like should the Nazis successfully invade England or curious about the experiments going on by either side to turn the tide of war is encouraged to check out this film written by John and Peter Adams.

This film is not simply about what gets unleashed from a lost military bunker in Shafton Forest. When the kills come swiftly, I was not disappointed at the Jason Voorhees wannabe. This character was military, and a human. Just what he is now … that’s hard to say when considering how he gets defeated.
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