There are some real cinematic gems out there that go by unnoticed and they never receive their day in the sun. The Film Bear is here to introduce you to some interesting and weird films that you may enjoy!
Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation were actual films based off the video game of the same name but no one would call them cinema gold. The first one was alright but Annihilation was one of the worst movies ever to be produced. Now if this were to be made into film it would have had the opportunity to be one of the best video game movie adaptations ever created! Unfortunately the creators of the video game series weren't too keen on the way the story was changed. Fortunately they have allowed the creators of this short film to do a web series on the game. Check it out here and check out the short below.
Batman: Dead End
The Christopher Nolan Batman was a great trilogy but with director Nolan saying he's not going to be making anymore of these films what is DC and Warner Brothers to do? If they think rebooting the franchise again is the right idea they would be incorrect. They should either just start off with Batman already established, because we all know the back story by now, or they should go with this. Batman: Dead End manages to infuse some life into a franchise that has an unknown future and while I won't spoil it for you it also reinvigorates two other franchises at the same time. You see, a triple whammy.
Time Crisis
First off R.I.P. to Andy Whitfield who is showcased not only in this but also in the first season of the Spartacus series by Starz. He was a great actor. Freddie Wong who partners with Whitfield in this video take out a slew of bad guys... Now I know that I said I hated the "infinite ammo code" in my blog about military films but when it comes to crazy action movies like this or anything John Woo does I give it an pass. No need for reloading when your about to smash a whole bunch of gun-fu into my television. This as a full length feature would be insane!
Food Equivalent:Jell-O... It shouldn't taste good. But it does.
The Best Part: The pointless nature of the whole thing.
The Worst Part: The Ending
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Running Time: 82 minutes
Bonus Points:Telepathic Explosions... And a rabbit explosion.
Official Website IMDB Rotten Tomatoes
I'm just going to let you check out the introduction to this film, because it says virtually everything you will need to know. Just through this three minute long intro alone you will know whether or not you are going to love or hate this film. And more then likely you are just going to end up leaning, in the extreme, one direction or the other.
So there you go. The whole reason for the events of this movie taking place are explained right there. The basic synopsis of the film is that an old car tire has become a living, breathing, self aware being. So what is a newly born formally inanimate object supposed to do with their gift of life? Well blow things up of course! Yeah, the tire has telepathic abilities that allow it to focus it's energy into blowing the heads of it's victims up. But along the way of blowing things up the tire (named Robert by the way) finds a girl. After Robert fails to blow her head up with his powers the tire follows her. This is either presumably to try and blow her head up or to be her lover. You never really find out which.
Happening simultaneously as the tire is killing there is a crowd of onlookers watching the events unfold as if it were a movie. The Sheriff who is the protagonist in the film, mainly because there is no one else to fill the role, keeps the movie (for the onlookers) moving along.
The greatest thing about this film is it's quirky, fun, and lighthearted take on itself and movies in general. The only gripe I can actually find with the film is the pretty slow introduction to the tire, Robert, we get and the very last part of the ending. Everything up to the end is pure gold. At the very end though after the fate of the Sheriff, Robert, the woman, and the audience watching the film within the film are played out there is the type of ending I never like. The ending that doesn't really mean anything. I would have been fine with the "no reason" ending since they make it clear throughout the film that this is what it's all about. But they do one of those open ended endings.
All in all the film is great and worth the watch. Even though the ending was kind of bad the rest of the film more than makes up for it. It's definitely worth a purchase and is a great addition to any film collection out there. They had some great effects going to get that tire roaming and the effects for the head explosions are awesomely cheesy. The script is very smart and well crafted and the Sheriff is comedy gold! As a side note for a little bit I thought that the Sherrif was played by Eric Roberts (brother of Julia Roberts and star of Best of the Best) but it's not folks. So we're in the clear folks.
Since the death of Bruce Lee martial arts films have been on a steady decline... In America at least. Asia has been steadily churning out quality martial arts films. Here are a list of my three favorite fight scenes in Asia cinema since the death of the mighty Bruce Lee.
JACKIE CHAN VS. BRADLEY JAMES ALLEN - GORGEOUS
Jackie Chan has made his name in the United States as being the quirky, stunt performing, comedian of martial arts star. Back in China though he is known for so much more. He puts out serious martial arts films, as well as dramas. This guy is even known as a great singer! So it's no surprise that his best fighting scene is from one of his homelands offerings. Here he showcases not his daredevil side but his martial arts prowess while keeping a little of his sense of humor.
DONNIE YEN VS. SAMMO HUNG - SHA PO LONG
Any martial arts film aficionado could comprise a favorites list full of Donnie Yen fights alone. But Sha Po Long (Killzone in the United States) stands out for a few reasons. Firstly just look as Sammo Hung. Who would have thought he could fight like that? Secondly this brawl takes place in the coolest setting ever! What a night club! And finally they smash everything that looks breakable on that set!
DONNIE YEN VS. COLLIN CHOU - FLASHPOINT
There is only one fight scene in my mind that trumps Donnie Yen in Sha Po Long. The lengthy final fight scene in Flashpoint has just about everything you could want from a movie fight. Donnie Yen and Collin Chou showcase their skills in various martial arts all in one fight and it looks like neither of them are going to let up. Ask most people what their favorite martial arts movie fight scene is and this will be consistently in most lists.
So there you have it. My favorite fights from a movie. There were so many more that I wanted to list but had to leave out so here are the honorable mentions: Steve Adkins, Tony Jaa, and Jeejaa Yanin are all great martial artists and have great fight scenes as well.
It has been a long known fact that the two worst movies ever created are Manos The Hands of Fate and Troll 2. Both horrendous movies that were ostracized at the time of their release but over time have now become highly regarded masterpieces of filming so bad that its actually come full circle and ended up being good. It's a rare feat that a film achieves greatness through complete garbage. But those films also have something special about them. An aura surrounds them and you can't help but like them. The Room has now shown up to dethrone the worst movie ever royalty of Manos and Troll 2 but unfortunately it doesn't share any of the charm of charisma of either of those films. The Room is (I think) about a banker whose life starts to fall apart at the seams? Yeah I purposely ended that sentence with a question mark. His fiancee and best friend start cheating on him for the first time like three different times. He has a creepy future serial killer college kid that comes to his house all the time. There are also a handful of other characters that have plot points brought up only to be dropped literally a scene later. One guy even shows up mid movie after no introduction or mention and we are just supposed to know who he is. If my synopsis for this movie doesn't make any sense to you well now you know how I felt through this whole movie. This movie is like people who gawk at automobile accidents or actually like watching NASCAR. I can't explain anymore, it's giving me a migraine. Here look at this scene and you'll understand just how bad everything is.
Please don't be mad at me about wasting those two minutes of your life. But that is just one scene. I went through 99 minutes of scenes exactly like that. My explanation for why this movie is so out of sync with what we call reality is because Tommy Wiseau (writer, director, producer, distributor, and star of the movie) dropped the script and all the pages became mixed up. And since Tommy didn't bother to number the pages he just shuffled them back together and said, "It's fine." Here check out this scene for a good laugh.
Watching The Room is more akin to being in a trap from Saw than it is an actual film. I'm not sure why it's even called The Room because there is nothing roomish about it. It takes place mostly in a townhouse and it's roof but that is a lot bigger than a room. The House should have been the title... I can actually feel myself losing strength by continuing to talk about this movie. Let's just see the bear's score on this horrible curse placed upon man.
Here in San Antonio we are known for a lot of things. The city has over 3 million people and has the odd capability to ingest surrounding cities into it's ever expanding borders. Alas poor Converse, Helotes, Alamo Heights, Live Oak, and Schertz, I knew them well. I mean we got a lot of stuff here. There is basic training for the Air Force, the Alamo, an awesome neighbor to the north in Austin, and the River Walk.
A near perfect recreation of the Chocolate River from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
But one thing we don't have here is a very good film industry. Why? Maybe because San Antonio is conservative. I mean Austin has a great film industry going for it mainly because it's weird. I can't say that San Antonio is entirely devoid of though. There have been films here it's just too bad that many of them are bad. Here is a list of some of the films San Antonio has been a part of:
Now that is not every movies filmed in San Antonio but as you can see this list is pretty pathetic aside from Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Serial Rabbit. San Antonio's stock in the film industry is so low that even the 2004 film about The Alamo with Billy Bob Thorton wasn't made here! Fortunately we are making forward progress. Thanks to the Austin based Alamo Drafthouse offering Fantastic Fest and Horrific Film Fest the city is at least gaining a pulse in an industry that has been dominated by the west for too long.
San Antonio has the potential to be the Midwest's Los Angeles. Right now that honor would go to Austin but San Antonio has the means to take the title. The economy, cost of living, and stability of this city alone would allow it to thrive. Now I leave you with the mighty sun bear quoting one of his favorite movies. G'day.
