cityonfire.com | Movie News & Developments |
- Day of Anger | aka Gunlaw (1967) Review
- New trailer for Takeshi Kitano’s new Yakuza comedy!
- Christopher Cain to direct martial arts film ‘Legion of One’
- Three time’s the crime for the Johnnie To-produced ‘Trivisa’
- Will Johnnie To explore eastern gangs with ‘The Old Guy’?
- Yoshihiro Nishimura is back with ‘Ninja War of Torakage’
- Vincent D’Onofrio to give the ‘Magnificent Seven’ hell?
- Hard-hitting trailer arrives for Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Southpaw’
| Day of Anger | aka Gunlaw (1967) Review Posted: 28 Mar 2015 08:58 AM PDT  "Day of Anger" Blu-ray Cover Director: Tonino Valerii By Kyle Warner Sergio Leone's westerns made a star out of Clint Eastwood, who was mostly thought of as a TV actor up until that time. And though it pales to the significance of Eastwood's newfound stardom, the Leone 'spaghetti westerns' also revived the flagging career of actor Lee Van Cleef. After the success of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Van Cleef stayed in Italy and became one of the major stars of spaghetti westerns throughout the 60s and 70s. One of the finest westerns he made during that period was the 1967 film Day of Anger (aka Day of Wrath, aka Gunlaw). Scott Mary (Giuliano Gemma) is the street cleaner in the small but prosperous town of Clifton. Scott's a bastard that never knew his mother or father. His only friend in the world is the old man that runs the stables and imparts life lessons on how to be a good man. To the rest of the town, Scott's the lowest of the low, and they bully him mercilessly. All of that changes when an aging gunfighter named Talby (Lee Van Cleef) rides into town. Talby seems to like the boy, or at least he treats him with more respect than Scott is surely used to, so Scott makes it his mission to become the gunfighter's apprentice. The film is interesting because it's more than just a shoot 'em up western, it's also something of a morality play. Talby teaches Scott lessons that counter much of what the young man had learned from his first mentor – Talby teaches Scott how to be a killer. Talby's plan involves taking over the town of Clifton through extortion and violence and Scott is entrusted to be his right-hand-man. The townspeople see the young man changing and they don't like it, but why should he listen to them? Before Scott had been a man that was only suited for handling other people's trash and waste, whereas now he has power over much of the town. At one point a resident says to Talby that he's turned Scott into a rabid wolf. Talby replies, "He was always a wolf. You're the ones that made him rabid." Day of Anger is a tale of corruption as Talby – who also represents the long absent father figure – turns a harmless innocent into something violent and vengeful. Much has been made about the fact that Day of Anger's director Tonino Valerii (My Name is Nobody) started out as the assistant director to Sergio Leone. After working for Leone, Valerii went onto direct more than a dozen films, but never quite managed to escape his mentor's shadow. You can see a bit of Leone's influence on Valerii's work: many of the scenes and characters have similarities to those you might see in a Leone film. However, stylistically they're very different directors. Don't go into Day of Anger expecting those signature shots that Leone's famous for. Day of Anger shows Valerii to be a great storyteller, but his visuals are not very impressive. The sets look too new, like they were just constructed and painted yesterday. One set – which, in all fairness, actually is constructed in the middle of the story so its newness is not an issue – is a saloon that Talby builds in Clifton, complete with giant wooden pistols acting as columns outside the front entrance. The saloon looks more like something you'd see in a modern day Wild West show or perhaps a tacky Texas-themed restaurant. It's all a bit much. On another note, one of the film's biggest shootouts has Lee Van Cleef and another gunman ride towards each other on horseback with single-shot rifles like they're in some kind of a gunslinger jousting match. It's exciting but I think it's poorly shot because there's very little done to establish setting and placement between the two actors. At one point the editing would make them seem within spitting distance of each other, and the next moment they're riding towards each other and must be hundreds of feet apart. I think the film's strongest asset is the screenplay co-written by Valerii and Ernesto Gastaldi. It's a script full of drama and good, quotable dialogue. Talby probably has to rank among Lee Van Cleef's most complex characters. He begins the film as a hero and ends it as a villain. The character doesn't change at all, but our understanding of the character changes, and I really liked that. Day of Anger was released in two versions, the original 114 minute version and a shortened 95 minute version for international audiences. Both cuts, as well as Italian and English audio, are present on the new Blu-ray from Arrow Video. Interestingly, the shorter version includes an additional scene that doesn't appear in the longer cut. This deleted scene is also included separately on the special features so you don't need to go digging through the truncated version of the film in search of it. After receiving a new restoration, Day of Anger looks magnificent on Blu-ray. Fans that've only seen it on DVD before are in for a treat. Additional special features include an archival interview with director Valerii and new interviews with screenwriter Gastaldi and Valerii biographer Roberto Curti. My favorite feature is the interview with Gastaldi, who's very energetic and tells amusing stories about Valerii and Sergio Leone. Spaghetti westerns gave us a lot of classic films… and also a lot of stinkers. I think Day of Anger is one of the better examples of the genre that I have seen. It might fall a bit short of the classic status held by the Leone spaghetti westerns, but it's a highly enjoyable film worth rediscovering. Fans of Lee Van Cleef's westerns should definitely check it out, as it features one of the best roles of his career. |
| New trailer for Takeshi Kitano’s new Yakuza comedy! Posted: 28 Mar 2015 08:57 AM PDT  "Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen" Japanese Theatrical Poster Following 2010′s Outrage and its 2012 sequel, Outrage Beyond, Takeshi Kitano is back for another round of Yakuza action. Only this time, it’s a comedy called Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen, which is a playful nod to Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. According to FBA, the film is about a retired crime boss (Tatsuya Fuji) who calls up his old gang after he becomes the victim of a scam. The film also stars Masaomi Kondo, Akira Nakao, Akira Onodera, Toru Shinagawa, Ben Hiura, Yoshizumi Ito and Ken Yoshizawa. Kitano wrote, directed and edited the film. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a solid role, but he does have a cameo appearance. Ryuzo and His Seven Henchmen opens domestically on April 25th, 2015. Don’t miss the trailer. Update: Watch the 2nd trailer (via Sam the Man). |
| Christopher Cain to direct martial arts film ‘Legion of One’ Posted: 28 Mar 2015 01:56 AM PDT  "The Next Karate Kid" Japanese Theatrical Poster Director Christopher Cain (Young Guns, The Next Karate Kid) will be directing Legion of One, a martial arts action film that tells the story about an orphan raised in the Shaolin Temple. The US-China co-production will be executive produced by Jerry Weintraub (producer of the original Karate Kid trilogy, the 2010 remake starring Jackie Chan and the Ocean's Eleven trilogy). As of right now, there are no stars attached. Filming will most-likely commence once Gain completes his latest action-thriller, Terra Infirma. Stay tuned for more updates! |
| Three time’s the crime for the Johnnie To-produced ‘Trivisa’ Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:34 PM PDT  "Breaking News" French Theatrical Poster An exciting project that has recently been announced by Hong Kong's Media Asia Film Distribution is Trivisa, a new crime thriller to be produced by Johnnie To and Yau Nai Hoi (Eye in the Sky). Three up-and-coming directors, Frank Hui, Vicky Wong and Jevons Au, will be helming the film with a cast that includes Richie Ren (Breaking News), Jordan Chan (White Vengeance) and Gordon Lam (Election 2). The film is about three notorious criminals who cross the border from China to make their fortune in Hong Kong. We’ll keep you updated about Trivisa as we hear more. Stay tuned! |
| Will Johnnie To explore eastern gangs with ‘The Old Guy’? Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:14 PM PDT  "The Old Guy" Promotional Poster Another title announced at the 2015 Hong Kong International Film Festival is The Old Guy, an action film directed by Johnnie To (Fulltime Killer). So far, not much is known about it, but judging from the film’s poster, we’re thinking it’s in the “gangster” category for sure. In fact, the preliminary poster design for The Old Guy generated some controversy when it was discovered that the concept art was a direct rip-off of David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (click here to see them side-by-side). According to HK Top 10, InLook, the film company responsible for the poster, had this to say: “This isn’t the film poster, only a concept design.” In the meantime, To – who had nothing to do with the poster – is currently hard at work on the crime-thriller Three on the Road and the in-progress Eight & A Half, an eight-part anthology feature that he will direct alongside Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Anne Hui, Sammo Hung, Yuen Woo-ping and Patrick Tam. To’s latest complete project, a musical titled Design for Living, will be making its theatrical debut sometime this year. BREAKING NEWS: According to sources (via Sam the man), the Chinese media are reporting that Johnnie To has denied that he has anything to do with The Old Guy. |
| Yoshihiro Nishimura is back with ‘Ninja War of Torakage’ Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:13 PM PDT  "The Ninja War of Torakage" Theatrical Poster The trailer for Yoshihiro Nishimura's latest film, The Ninja War of Torakage, has just been released. The director behind such cult films as Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl is at the helm and also co-writes the script for this film. Synopsis (via AsianWiki): Set in the Sengoku Period, Torakage (Takumi Saito) is retired ninja. He lives his life peacefully, but turmoil comes as he becomes involved a fight over treasures. The Ninja War of Torakage stars Yuria Haga, Tatsuki Ishikawa, Ryohei Kuroyanagi and Eihi Shiina (Audition and Tokyo Gore Police) The film is due for release in Japan in June 2015. |
| Vincent D’Onofrio to give the ‘Magnificent Seven’ hell? Posted: 27 Mar 2015 10:13 PM PDT  "The Magnificent Seven" Japanese Theatrical Poster A remake of John Sturges 1960 classic, The Magnificent Seven is in the works by director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer). The film will be based off a script by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and Nic Pizzolatto (The Killing). The original The Magnificent Seven – a remake itself of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai - starred Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and Horst Buchholz. The plot involved seven American gunmen who are hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of Mexican bandits. Check out HKFanatic’s review for the original. So far, the Magnificent Seven remake features the following all-star cast: Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Haley Bennett and Ethan Hawke. Updates: Variety (via Sam the Man) reports that Vincent D'Onofrio (Run All Night) is in talks to play the villain in the Magnificent Seven remake. Production is expected to commence next month. |
| Hard-hitting trailer arrives for Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Southpaw’ Posted: 27 Mar 2015 12:00 AM PDT  Jake Gyllenhaal in "Southpaw" The first trailer has arrived for Jake Gyllenhaal's new film Southpaw. This time, the fine actor teams up with director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer) and co-stars Forest Whitaker, Rachel McAdams, Rita Ora and 50 Cent to bring us what looks to be a hard hitting and emotionally intense boxing drama. Synopsis: Billy "The Great" Hope (Gyllenhaal) is the reigning Junior Middleweight Champion whose unorthodox stance, the so-called "Southpaw," consists of an ineloquent, though brutal, display of offensive fighting… one fueled by his own feelings of inadequacy and a desperate need for love, money and fame. With a beautiful family, home and financial security, Billy is on top both in and out of the ring until a tragic accident leaves his wife dead and sends him into a downward spiral. His days now an endless haze of alcohol and prescription drugs, his daughter taken by Child Services and his home repossessed by the bank, Billy's fate is all but sealed until a washed up former boxer named Tick agrees to take the bereaved pugilist under his wing so long as he agrees to his strict ethos. Relentless and utterly committed to a fighter that thinks as much as he throws punches, Tick rebuilds Billy into a new man: one that is agile, fearsome and uncompromising in the ring while thoughtful, loving and disciplined outside of it. Now, as he works to regain custody of his daughter and mounts a professional comeback, Billy must face his demons head-on as he learns that, sometimes, your greatest opponent can be yourself. The film, due to open in theaters on July 31, features music by Eminem and the trailer has premiered on his music channel on YouTube. |
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