Above: Aaron Toney starts things off in 'Round 2'! Quarantine Fight Challenge!
Below: Full 5 minute film on YouTube
Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report and Action-Flix.com readers, Aaron Tony
over at Zero Gravity has created a brand new quarantine video with
many of his action friends! This one has high production values and
just amazing editing! Many of the actors dressed in the costumes of
people they double. This one has studio quality editing and action
and could easily be in film festivals when they get started again. It
is really amazing what Aaron and his buddies have come up with. Most
of the earlier action videos, while amazing and creative, are simple
shot on Iphones or phone cameras, this one really is high quality
with stellar audio!
Special
mention to the entire VFX team! Miguel Fernandez, Dave Macomber,
Brian Ho, Caine Sinclair, Omar Zaki, and Chris Clements. You guys did
a really pro job, I say get the team together again on a feature
action flick!
Amy Johnston becomes a sultry Sonya Blade with a sword in 'Round 2'
Aaron
used four people as stunt coordinator, Including Brian Ho, Chad
Bellamy, Monique Ganderton, and Noon Orsatti. All amazingly creative
pushing the limits of human action. Stunt Coordinator Monique Ganderton has an
equine action sequence including jumping off as Laura Croft from Tombraider! See photo below:
My
friend Lauren Mary Kim is of course The Mandalorian! Hah!
The 5
minute short, has some seriously high production values, and of
course it can not be monetized as the actors are dressed like various
superheroes! Aaron made this short to keep his skills and the skills
of the various performers in the video sharp. Plus in this new real
of social distancing, experiments have to be made and tested to see
what sort of entertainment will be allowed. I see more of this, and
yes drive In movies and concerts!
Above: Gangs of London Poster from IMDB (C) 2020 Sky TV Used for promotional purposes only not monetized.
Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report and www.action-flix.com
readers. I could not wait, NowTV and Sky networks have unleashed what
I call, the finest action series ever. It happened. Gangs of London
checks every single box in the action/crime drama saga, skirting a
level only the first two Godfather films could hope to achieve. Even
as amazing as the Sopranos was, it left many questions unanswered,
and ambiguous characters. Gangs of London defines the players,
defines the good and bad characters, then tells you not to believe
what is shown.
Above: Colm Meaney the bad ass gangster! (C) 2020 Sky Networks, for promotional use only not monetized.
What
happens here is with a proper budget, Gareth Evans (The Raid) along with
fellow co-directors Xavier Gens and Corin Hardy, have fleshed out
literally a gangster tale where the story is not implied, but unfolds
in front of us, the audience. We do not hear about people getting
tortured and killed, we are thrust into each scene with an fervor
unmatched. I refuse to spoil any of this series as so many events
happen that a crucial to the development of the intricate story. I
will say this, the series is NOT for the faint at heart as, there are
limbs being severed, heads being drilled and a water torture scene.
Gangs of London, is shockingly intense in violence, but there is such
a detailed story to back it up. Keep binging and re-watch.
Above: Michelle Fairley (C) 2020 Sky Promotional use only not monetized
Essentially
there are several factions. You have the Wallace family with Mother
Marian Wallace, played by Michelle Fairley ('Game Of Thrones'), and
her two sons Sean and Billy, who are part crazy and part scared, but
always aggressive. Michelle Fairley's Marian is perhaps my second
favorite character, she is given a lot to do and say and she has some
motherly instincts yes, but being around my age ha she has a wily
veteran aggressive streak that is quite refreshing! The second big
family is the Dumani family lead by Ed Dumani, deftly portrayed by
Lucian Msamati. The family is an enigma, as the father is a big crime
lord yet his son is up to be mayor. There is a group of mercenaries
seemingly going rogue and working for whoever is paying them. Kind of
like a paramilitary force. The basically go in an leave no survivors.
Incidentally, Wallace family also includes in an extended cameo, Colm
Meaney from Star Trek fame, he plays like the uncle and OG violence
patriarch. My favorite of the lot is Narges Rashidi as Lale, she
portrays a part that is worth exploring further. Overall some very
memorable character development and dialogue in 'Gangs of London'
Here
is an excellent short documentary on the female characters of 'Gangs
of London'
Above: Narges Rashidi as Lale, just being her aggressive and tormented self! (C) 2020 Sky Network for promotional use only not monetized.
The
character of Lale would in ever other movie or TV show be some
bearded stereotypical Middle Easter man, and more often than not, a
nondescript throw away character. Kudos to the entire show production
team to recognize the extremely high level of talent Narges possess,
and really develop an aggressive yet sympathetic character. No
spoilers of course but there is a scene in which Narges basically
goes on a killing rampage, and in real life Narges hard to escape the
horrors of the 80s Iran/Iraq War. The powerful scene, is not just
random killing, there are emotional scars on her face, and as her
character goes further into the series, she becomes the anti hero.
The crap she has to put up with, and being a leader of men, even
though she is not a man, is truly astonishing. I say EMMY!
Finally
of course there are the police officers, who actually are integrated
into the story as some are corrupt, yet some are just a step behind.
Although she has a smaller role, I kind of liked Jing Lusi as
Detective Inspector Vicky Chung. Even though she is often late on the
scene she knows what is going on and warns her fellow officers. My
only small gripe is she was just not given enough to do, but
hopefully she will be back for season 2.
Actor
Lee Charles has a crazy fight in Gangs of London and look for a
future interview on Dan's Movie Report, I wish he was in the show
longer. Many of the what I call single episode or minor characters
actually are quite entertaining.
The
accouterments of the show are very solid, lighting, acting, scenery
musical score, yes it is a BRITISH crime drama, I am USA based and I
can understand it, not that hard, I see people complaining. I say get
headphones and turn up the volume and be non distracted watching it.
Don't play on your phone, put the dogs and kids to bed. And watch it.
I would say watch it two episodes or three per day for the duration,
do not stop an episode halfway through let it play out, they are
53-58 minutes in length and the season of Gangs of London is 9
episodes. I mean, during this Covid situation, no real excuse not to
binge the show in a two week period.
Overall,
the series is just excellent, having all of the elements in action of
'The Raid' with the quality story telling of 'The Godfather', and the
character intricacies of 'Goodfellas'. Gangs of London season one
rates a 10 out of 10, it is my third perfect score in my 11 years
writing on Dan's Movie Report. Binge, binge, and binge again,
watching out for the ladies of Gangs of London, they are the crazy
ones!
Above: Poster from IMDB (C) 2020 Samuel Goldwyn Films
Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report and Action-Flix.com readers. Director Jesse
V. Johnson has sent back his interview for the second installment of
the Debt Collector series!
Check
out the Synopsis: Debt collectors French and Sue get to work doing
what they do best _ cracking skulls and breaking bones _ as they
chase down the various lowlifes who owe money to their boss, Tommy.
They're summoned to Las Vegas to collect from a dirty casino owner,
who happens to be a vicious ex-lover of Sue's. Meanwhile, a notorious
drug kingpin is on the warpath to kill French and Sue to avenge his
brother's death. Facing danger from all angles, the pair will have no
other choice but to fight their way out of an explosively dangerous
situation. Written by
mehradkins
Above: Poster of The Room, from IMDB, used for promotional purposes only not monitized
Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report readers and lovers of very odd thriller
films. Although 'The Room' came out in 2019, the service Shudder, has
it now for streaming and I thought during these crazy times, what
else could I possibly do than watch this off the wall flick. 'The Room'
is at the core a film about dreams. A young, well relatively young,
couple buy a fixer upper home to start a new life together.
The
couple, Matt played by Kevin
Janssens and Kate played by Olga
Kurylenko are cautiously optimistic when they purchase their
new home in a lovely countryside. Once settled in, they stumble across an unusual room. This
room is a seeming gateway to endless wishes, and boundless wealth.
All is not what it seems as the couple wishes for more and more
outlandish items, including million dollars and priceless artwork,
sadly once these items leave the house, they turn to dust.
I mean
the plot concept is pretty amazing, but some of the execution is a
bit flat, I wanted to see more of the couple's lives prior to getting
in the house and some more day to day interplay. That said, I did
enjoy the acting of Kevin and Olga, both actors had to really go
through a serious amount of emotions. Anger, fear, frustration and
Olga's uncanny motherly power comes to fruition in the third act of
'The Room'. Olga straddled the line of mother and protector, while
Kevin Jame's Matt came across as a man descending into madness as the
time in the house wears on.
The
big wish, and I will say (SPOILER) is the couple wishes for the one
thing they cannot have, a child, although I refuse to spoil what
happens after they get this star/miracle baby, I will say you will
not see this coming. The plot thickens and even becomes delightfully
convoluted and confusing. Normally I would hate this, but in 'The
Room' it works. The pacing becomes frantic, rules are broken and
nothing is conventional, and Olga proves she deserves to be in these
high quality acting films not just action flicks like Bond,
Centurion, and The Courier.
I
actually watched 'The Room' a second time to see what director
Christian
Volckman wanted to do from the original Idea he had to the
collaboration of other writers. I mean there are some great ideas
here, I kind of wish the team had a bit of a higher budget for the
house, but, the film works as basically a single setting entity save
for an insane asylum of a John Doe, who apparently lived in the house
prior.
Overall
I will recommend this film especially on the Shudder streaming
service, and rate it a strong 7 out of 10! If you have Amazon Prime it is a 4.99 monthly add on. Either
that or go to https://www.shudder.com/
Watch
Dan's Movie Report for more Shudder releases in 2020!
