cityonfire.com | Movie News & Developments |
- Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970) Review
- Jackie Chan to team up with 007 director for ‘The Foreigner’?
- Cityonfire.com’s ‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal’ Blu-ray Giveaway!
- Over Your Dead Body | Blu-ray & DVD (Shout! Factory)
- New clip for the Expendables-esque flick ‘Beyond the Game’!
| Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo (1970) Review Posted: 16 Jul 2015 12:01 AM PDT  "Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo" Japanese Theatrical Poster AKA: Alleycat Rock: Wild Jumbo By Kyle Warner After the success of Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss, a follow-up film was rushed into production and released just three months later. Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo is a messier, cheaper looking film than its predecessor, but somehow that doesn't seem to matter. While the first film played with audience expectations and genre clichés, this movie just wants to have fun. It's obvious from the film's opening scene with young people laughing and frolicking alongside the ocean that Wild Jumbo is going to be a very different kind of film. Gone is the gritty world of gangsters and desperate young people caught up in a world of violence. Wild Jumbo is a youth comedy – albeit one with a dangerous edge to it. The film follows the Penguin Club, a group of five friends (Meiko Kaji, Tatsuya Fuji, Takeo Chii, Yusuke Natsu, Soichiro Maeno) who go from scene to scene goofing off and committing crimes in order to combat boredom. Early in the film the Penguin Club shoots out the tires of a rich girl's car because they think she'd make a good match for Takeo Chii's character Taki. The rich girl Asako (Bunjaku Han) inexplicably falls for Taki and the two start a romance which drives a bit of a wedge into the group of friends. As a way of making nice, Asako later goes to the Penguin Club with plans for a heist. The score will make them rich, but is it worth the risk? Plot and drama are not the chief concerns of the filmmakers here. Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo feels like a collection of scenes connected together by the loosest narrative possible. Not everybody is going to like this kind of free-form storytelling, but I personally think that the individual scenes are good enough that the film often works even if the plot itself remains largely nonexistent for much of the running time. The major reason behind the dramatic shift in tone between films is that director Yasuharu Hasebe's place has been taken by Toshiya Fujita. While Fujita's Lady Snowblood films are well-known and revered by fans of cinema, the remainder of his filmography remains largely unseen in the US (his acting role in Seijun Suzuki's masterpiece Zigeunerweisen was the only other time that I've seen a movie with his name in the credits). Not only is Fujita's Stray Cat Rock film wildly different from Hasebe's first foray in the series, it's also stylistically very different from his own Lady Snowblood films. For someone with only a small sampling of Fujita's work as a director, it's difficult for me to say which genre he felt most comfortable in, because he handles both violent action and goofy counterculture comedy with a confident, authorial hand. Interestingly, over the course of Stray Cat Rock's five film series, the films were split exclusively between Hasebe (films 1, 3, and 4) and Fujita (2 and 5). I'm reviewing these as I make my way through the series, so it'll be interesting to see if the tone continues to switch back and forth between the two directors, or if one director's style begins to rub off on the other. By this time in the series, Meiko Kaji (The Blind Woman's Curse) had cemented herself as the lead. However, the film works because of the ensemble of actors, all of whom bring the goods. Toshiya Fujita gives even minor actors like Soichiro Maeno, who plays the gun-obsessed Debo, scenes where they're allowed to shine. Akiko Wada, the star of the first film, is given "Special Appearance" credit for Wild Jumbo… though all her scenes are really just stock footage taken from Delinquent Girl Boss. There's one scene in which a character acknowledges her from across the street and the stock footage Akiko Wada is awkwardly unaware of his presence. It's weird, but her ‘guest appearance’ and her music are a couple of the only things connecting the two films. Not only was this film rushed to theatres just three months after its predecessor, but the third entry Sex Hunter was filmed simultaneously with Wild Jumbo, with actors splitting time between Hasebe's and Fujita's sets. It's a chaotic, crazy way to make a movie. However, despite the hectic manner in which it was created, Wild Jumbo manages to feel like a personal, genuine sort of movie, and not the sort of cash grab that one usually associates with a rush to a release date. In my favorite sequence of the film, the Penguin Club is driving along when a rival gang drives up and begins taunting them. Tatsuya Fuji can't stand it, so he jumps out of the moving vehicle, steals a dump truck, and proceeds to chase after the rival's car, repeatedly ramming them from behind. Instead of acting surprised or condemning his actions, the other members of the Penguin Club get their own dump trucks and join in on the fun. They're all laughing and cheering as they repeatedly crash into a car and try to drive it off the road. It's madness, but dammit I was laughing, too. The characters of Wild Jumbo are rebels without a cause – or a clue – and I enjoyed spending an hour and a half in their company. Certain films have been dubbed "hang out" movies over the years and I think Stray Cat Rock: Wild Jumbo fits into that category quite nicely. It's weird, goofy piece of comic mischief that could have only come out of the 70s. Kyle Warner’s Rating: 7/10 |
| Jackie Chan to team up with 007 director for ‘The Foreigner’? Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:47 PM PDT  "Polce Story 2013" Japanese Theatrical Poster Perhaps Jackie Chan is taking a page from Liam Neeson’s playbook and realizing that, even at the ripe age of 61 years-old, there’s no reason he has to retire from a life of action. That would explain why the concept for the actor’s next project, titled The Foreigner, sounds so much like a movie Charles Bronson might have starred in his heyday. In the film, based on a novel by Stephen Leather, Jackie Chan would play a humble restaurant owner who is pushed to violence after a band of terrorists take his daughter’s life in an attack. Jackie Chan currently has a pack of movies on his agenda, including The Civilian, Kung Fu Yoga, Railroad Tigers, Chinese Zodiac 2 – and possible sequels to the popular Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon franchises – but The Foreigner is already expected to go this Fall. The film is currently without a director, although sources indicate Nick Cassavetes (Alpha Dog, John Q) is circling the project. Stay tuned for future updates on The Foreigner and other Jackie Chan features. Updates: According to Deadline (via FCS), Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Edge of Darkness) is currently in talks to direct The Foreigner. We’ll keep you updated! |
| Cityonfire.com’s ‘Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal’ Blu-ray Giveaway! Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:46 PM PDT  Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal | Blu-ray & DVD (Well Go USA) Cityonfire.com and Well Go USA are giving away 3 Blu-ray copies of Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal to three lucky Cityonfire visitors. To enter, simply add a comment to this post and describe, in your own words, this trailer. We will be selecting a winner at random. Be sure to include your email address in the appropriate field so we can contact you for your home address. Additionally, you must 'Like Us' on cityonfire.com's Facebook by clicking here. The Blu-ray & DVD for Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal will be officially released on August 4, 2015. We will announce the 3 winners on August 5, 2015 and ship out the prizes immediately. CONTEST DISCLAIMER: You must enter by August 4, 2015 to qualify. U.S. residents only please. We sincerely apologize to our non-U.S. visitors. Winners must respond with their mailing address within 48 hours, otherwise you will automatically be disqualified. No exceptions. Contest is subject to change without notice. |
| Over Your Dead Body | Blu-ray & DVD (Shout! Factory) Posted: 15 Jul 2015 08:00 PM PDT  "Over Your Dead Body" Japanese Theatrical Poster RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2015 Shout! Factory presents the Blu-ray & DVD for Over Your Dead Body, directed by Takashi Miike (Audition, 13 Assassins) and starring Ebizo Ichikawa, Kou Shibasaki, Hideaki Ito, Miho Nakanishi and Maiko. In this atmospheric and gory-looking horror film, we follow two young stage actors who find their roles bleeding over (no pun intended) into their real lives. Based on the trailer, Miike appears to be pulling out all the stops with this one! Pre-order Over Your Dead Body from Amazon.com today! |
| New clip for the Expendables-esque flick ‘Beyond the Game’! Posted: 15 Jul 2015 07:47 PM PDT  "Beyond the Game" Teaser Poster Ever since Sylvester Stallone's Expendables trilogy brought back some of our favorite 80′s heroes to the big screen, other “copycats” have – or will have – followed! Copycats like Asylum’s Mercenaries; the soon-to-be released Showdown in Manilla; in-development projects like Avi Lerner’s The ExpendaBelles and Adi Shankar’s “other” all-female untitled film; Indonesia’s take, Garuda 7; then we have the uncertain B-Team and Blood Raid, headed by Don “The Dragon” Wilson. And let’s not forget about the possibility of a Chinese version of The Expendables, led by Donnie Yen. Well, it’s time to add one more Expendables-esque film to the mix: Beyond the Game, the sequel to 2008′s Lost Warrior: Left Behind. You might want to grab a snack or something, because this film has one heck of a lineup: Beyond the Game stars Olivier Gruner (Nemesis), Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Skin Trade), Armand Assante (The World at Our Feet), Eric Roberts (The Expendables), Mark Dacascos (Drive), Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3), Kelly Hu (Crade 2 the Grave), Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, Danny Trejo (Machete), Costas Mandylor (Fist of the North Star), Tony Todd (The Crow), Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 1), Kevin Sorbo (Kull the Conqueror) and Bai Ling (The Crow). Also appearing in the film is Martin Kove (The Karate Kid), Steven Bauer (Scarface), Billy Zane (Titanic), Patrick Kilpatrick (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory), Ralf Moeller (Best of the Best II), Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Aki Aleong (Pound of Flesh), Natalie Burn (The Expendables 3), Michael Jai White (Skin Trade), Matthias Hues (Raging Thunder), Don 'The Dragon' Wilson (White Tiger), Cynthia Rothrock (Yes, Madam), George Cheung (Rambo: First Blood Part II), Richard Chaves (Predator), Silvio Simac (Man of Tai Chi) and Lorenzo Lamas (Snake Eater). BREAKING NEWS: Watch a new clip (courtesy of Lucas Nunes Sampaio). In case you missed it the first time, here’s the trailer! |
| You are subscribed to email updates from cityonfire.com | Movie News & Developments To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment