Kali Diaries 7! Lauren Mary Kim and Amy Johnston!!

Above: Pre-Photo of Lauren Mary Kim and Amy Johnston working on Kali Diaries 7!!


Greetings valued Dan's Movie Report readers, on the heals of the incredibly shot Kali Diaries 3, comes a return blast with Lauren Mary Kim and Amy Johnston. Kali Diaries 3 won the Artemis Award for Best fight! It was also shown in Texas, at IDTV Action Fest!  http://dansmoviereport.blogspot.com/2018/05/kali-diaries-entry-3-wins-best-fight.html


Lauren Mary Kim: Kali Diaries 7 Sneak Peak Pics!!!Apocalypse Fight against the beautiful & fabulous Amy Johnston Our follow up to KD3! Staff versus double sword
📸 & edited Vladislav Rimburg
Fight Choreography
Alvin J Hsing Brendon Huor
💄 & Hair Talya Boz
Location Caryn Mower
Wardrobe Dolls Kill
Props Brad Yuen


Amy: Lauren Mary Kim is one of my favorites to work with and I'm excited for the release of this apocalypse fight for #kalidiaries 7 very soon! Here are some stills 💙 Staff vs Double Sword⚔️
Shot & Edited: Vlad Rimburg
Fight Choreography: @alvin_hsing @brendonhuor
Hair & Makeup: @teebozzmua
Location: @carynmower
Wardrobe: Dolls Kill
Props: Top Quest Inc @trufflemaker7
#fightlikeagirl #fightscene #stundouble
#marvel #action #girlfights

Please check out my interview with Lauren @  http://dansmoviereport.blogspot.com/2016/04/action-actress-lauren-mary-kim.html
Amy Johnston has been featured numerous times on Dan's Movie Report, Interview: http://dansmoviereport.blogspot.com/2014/08/actress-amy-johnston-interview-c-2014.html

Watch for more, later in 2019, on Dan's Movie Report!! 

The Car: Road To Revenge (2019) Movie Review © 2019 Dan's Movie Report

Above: DVD cover to The Car: Road To Revenge (credit: IMDB)

Greetings valued Dan's Movie Report readers. In 1977 a solid underground movie called The Car was released. The movie was about a car possessed. Actually, this film came out before the Stephen King penned novel and eventual movie Christine, which was unleashed in 1983. That said, both films are excellent in suspense and intrigue, plus some maniacal action. Since the 80s so many possessed vehicle films, and films about vehicles have been made, a clever one being Maximum Overdrive, essentially about Semi Trucks taking over a rest stop, humor is also interjected.

Fast forward to 2019, a very loosely based sequel on the original film The Car is released. In this film a high powered, egotistical megalomaniac has a special bio chip that is wanted by nefarious factions. Gone, is the enjoyment, fun, and sadly story of the films in the 80s. Universal 1440 entertainment is a indie direct to DVD branch of Universal Pictures, and some of their indie films are very entertaining. This was a bare bones DVD, in the era of 15 dollar, bigger budget films putting special features, I feel a bit ripped off, but again, it is buyer beware.

The Car: Road To Revenge is dark, brooding and ominous, but just has no heart. Director G.J. Echternkamp, who also healmed Deathrace 2050, actually not a bad remake, all be it cheesy it was pretty entertaining. I realize many people panned that film, but stacking up against The Car: Road To Revenge it is far ahead.

The costuming of the villainous characters are right out of an 80s punk rock scene, but here it kind of looks ridiculous, like the entire film was shot in a dark small studio, reworked for each scene. Again, more time should have been allowed by the producers to properly work on the project.

For violence and gore fanatics there is plenty of it, copious, gratuitous, as the DVD states it is the unrated edition. At under 90 minutes including credits crawl, unrated, again seems like padding to make this a longer films. This is where some director commentary, extended scenes, maybe a behind the scenes would have added some additional time to see inside the minds of the creators. Of course this is not a flick for the kids as copious use of the bad language and nudity occur,

Full disclosure, I actually heard about the film from Actress/Singer Nina Bergman. She is in the film as a villain who broods and looks bad ass, sadly as most of the characters in the film, she is underused. Deaths occur swift, and often, never enough time to emotionally connect to the characters.

Overall, I would have to say pass on The Car: Road To Revenge, it is not a good film, rather bad, uninspired, and a cheap DTV, that should have been left alone. The Car: Road To Revenge rates a 3 out of 10.

Walmart and Amazon both have the film for sale, for 15USD now.

Redbad (2018) Movie Review (C) 2019 Dan's Movie Report

Above: Redbad poster from IMDB

Greetings valued Dan's Movie Report readers. After conducting two detailed interviews with Roel Reine, one about Hard Target 2 and one about Marvel's Inhumans: 

Inhumans:

http://dansmoviereport.blogspot.com/2017/09/director-roel-reine-exclusive-interview.html

Hard Target 2: http://dansmoviereport.blogspot.com/2018/08/producerdirector-roel-reine-2018.html

I was very interested in viewing his epic Redbad film. The film is an embellished account of the life of Redbad the King, although this mainly tells the story of his rise to power. Wikipedia gives an historical account of his rule, though since it was 1300 years ago, not as much is known. Most of the struggles were lead against the impending Christian rule. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbad,_King_of_the_Frisians

Historical significance aside, Roel again uses artistry and imagery to tell a compelling story. Again this was an entirely Dutch production with mainly Dutch actors and a budget of only around 9 million Euros (APPX 10.5 mil USD) Comparing that to Alexander which was released in 2004, adjusted for inflation the budget would be around 200mil, it was already 155mil. To make a massive scale historical drama on this budget is quite impressive. Sadly due to poor release schedule, Summertime, virtually zero promotion, the movie was a bomb, garnering only 400,000euros in the box office. Many factors played into it, even if it was released in the winter, Redbad probably would have struggled to make back it's entire budget smaller country, huge budget. Ultimately, Epic pictures in the U.S. Picked it up for home DVD release.

Redbad is two hours and forty minutes, however Roel stated that more was filmed and it aired in it's entirety of four nights on TV. The DVD contains some behind the scenes, but for the USA, it was limited, and again I felt that more needed to be put on there, perhaps a 2 disc set. I liken the release to the John Woo epic film Red Cliff, which he split into two separate films, a total of 4.5 hours yet when it came to the theaters in the USA it was under 3 hours, and combined as one film. By chopping this much off Red Cliff, the audiences watching the USA version were not treated to a large portion of the story development. Redbad has that same feel, yeah it is long, epic, but needed the complete story.

Above Loes Haverkort in Redbad from IMDB

The acting in Redbad is quite good. Gijs Naber portrays Redbad, quietly and understated, again this film is about his initial banishment and rise to prominence. Basically prior to his long reign as King. Loes Haverkort as Frea and Lisa Smit as Fenne, are very pro actors. Actually there is many battle sequences and a balance of action is added with a female warrior. Special mention goes to Malin Kirjonen http://www.malinkirjonen.com/ wow she put in some epic action. Currently she is doubling Milla Jovovich for Monster Hunter.

The story is a bit weak, but it is hard to tell what was written vs what was ultimately filmed. Difficult to judge. Perhaps Redbad would have worked as a limited series better than a film, which was released as four episodes. The dialogue is in Dutch with English subs for an obvious push towards the U.S. Release. Perhaps the best part of the writing occurred prior to a young Redbad being banished, as little is known historically about his very young life, thus writer Alex van Galen, was very creative and dramatic. A great story build up.

Once again Roel, who is both Cinematographer and Director proves his mettle. The film is aesthetically well framed, many wire cameras, drones and tricks to be able to completely maximize a very small, relatively to scope budget film. Many of the battles are during the day, and it is not about the detailed conflict but the scope. The look of the film reminded me of Neil Marshall's Centurion. The actors are on point an prepared. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Roel was given a 20 mil budget. He directed the IMAX episodes of Inhumans, and is also directing episodes of the upcoming Wu Assassins for Netflix! Roel also writes some of the music for his film and has performances on a modular synth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WFiqj5g_oM very diverse talent.

Back to Redbad, overall the film should please fans of historical and foreign films. There is some action, again though it is not an action film. Honestly, Redbad is a difficult sell to much of the U.S.A., as seems are attention spans are too short. The film is good, and deserves to be seen by a wider audience, and rates a 7 out of 10.  Amazon prime members in the U.S. can watch the film through the service with no extra charge.