Dragon Eyes Movie Review

Above Pic: Poster for Dragon Eyes


It has been awhile since I reviewed a straight ahead action flick.  Dragon Eyes was just what the action Dr ordered! MMA fighter/actor Cung Le famous for his MMA style and transition in to movies, delivers his quiet intensity and unique style in Dragon Eyes.


The story of Dragon Eyes is told in a non-linear style with a series of flashback from the prison where Cung Le and Jan Claude Van Damme are held. Van Damme plays Tiano the only man in the gang run town who stood up to the corrupt Mr. V played with maniacal fervor by Peter Weller. Van Dame's role is very limited, would have been nice to see him more in the town prior to being incarcerated.

Cung Le (Mr Hong) finds his way to to St Jude after being released from prison for the accidental shooting of his lady while he was chasing a thug. He stays in a small appartment run by Rossana (Crystal Mantecon) and her grandfather. Mantecon plays up the mousy not wanting to get involved person well and does not want any trouble from the war between 6th St Kings and East side gangsters. The rival gangs have been tearing up the town and the corrup sargent Mr V always takes his cut.

The movie heats up when money goes missing from the strong boxes of the the rival gangs and now an outside even more violent gang The Devil Dogs is recruited by Mr V to clean up the mess and retrieve his money and kill Cung Le. Dragon eyes is full of enough fists and kicks to keep even the most discerning MMA and action fan happy, Cung Lee and the rest of the cast are put through the action ringer.

Few words are spoken throughout Dragon Eyes and sometimes, as in this case the fewer the better, the visuals tell the story. Director John Hayms, who has directed several NYPD blue episodes and  the latest two Universal Soldier flicks was an excellent choice, as he handles the gritty style with ease.

The fight scenes are well lit, all the moves can be seen in violent detail, some fighting sequences are interspersed with slow motion, but in this case it works as Cung's movement is so quick that the audience might miss the action and only see the result.

Sari Cummings as Honey Darling and a couple of junkies provide the only lighter moments, as this is a serious film all the way. It is a reccomended rent or purchase, I rate it 6.5 out of 10.

For more info on Cung Le's happenings double kick your browsers over to:www.cungle.com

Alex Ferrari's Lipstick & Bullets Blasts to Blu-Ray in the UK on April 16th

Above Pic: Blu-Ray Box Art for Lipstick & Bullets


It is time for some more short film madness this Easter and Passover weekend. Filmaker Alex Ferrari releases his four award winning shorts on one Blu-Ray! The film is available for the first time in the US on Blu-Ray on Amazon and includes several hours of additional footage!
Broken, Cyn, Red Princes Blues (Animated and Live action) are included.

Follow this link Below!



I watched a screening of Alex's short film called Broken in 2004 in Florida, and I own the subsequent DVD release. That particular DVD has over 4 hours of additional footage, almost like a series of instructional classes on ultra-low budget film making. The detailed, informative DVD covers everything from special effects, to action and fight scenes, to story boards. I recommend this Blu-Ray as it has all of Alex Ferrari's four short films, plus behind the scenes.

The highlight of the disc is the 2010 film Red Princess Blues, the 11 minute short follows a smarmy carnival man threatening an innocent girl, but there is a rough lady (Rachel Grant) at the bar he underestimates, an epic fight ensues and unlike most bar fights, no one else wants to get involved, and the patrons go out of the way to place the tables out of harms way haha. Definitely one to watch hard to believe someone that cute and sweet like Rachel is capable of that level of viciousness. This film was only available before as an IPAD/IPOD App, as a non IPOD/IPAD owner it nice to see it get a proper release. Also included is the animated prequel shot in 2007 Red Princess Blues, voiced by talented and sexy Paula Garcés.

Also included on the Blu-Ray is a film called CYN, a mysterious dark tale, a five minute blast of insanity shot in 2007 in Florida.

Rather then hunting all of these down separately I feel this is a I valuable, quite convenient compilation and I hope it inspires other indie short film makers to compile their micro-masterpieces into in this fashion. Worth noting the Blu-Ray displays Alex's progression in quality of product I rate Lipstick & Bullets a solid 8 out of 10,

Mercs: Production Log

Currently in pre-production in the UK is a film called Mercs, the story follows a team of mercenaries hired to get back secret weapons stolen by a rogue state. The film will be produced by Hollywood Vision, the same folks who produced the 2011 horror film The Hike. Special effects wizard Ryan Lewis will handle the behind the scenes effects.

Rumoured cast are Tamar Hassan, Toby Kebbel, Dirk Bennedict, Peirce Brosnan, Ben Loyd Holmes, Zara Phythian.

A few production pictures have surfaced see below:

Above pics: (C) 2012 Mercs Movie

For further information like the film on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/#!/MercsTheMovie

Air Collision Movie Review

Above pic: Air Collision poster


Having watched a couple of dozen movies from The Asylum, I was wondering why they never really tried their hand at a disaster film. Straight from the pages of the Airport films of the 70s comes a half a decent effort with Air Collision.

In this disaster tail a new satellite radar system is activated. The system not only tells the air traffic controllers where the planes are it controls their elevation and flight plath. In theory this should eliminate human error, but apparently does not allow for easy override if the system should fail.

The system is activated, and there is apparently some sort of solar storm, although it is never fully explained, and the satellites begin to fall from the sky, not a couple but dozens of them, and they do not burn up in the atmosphere they fall to earth doing damage.

Air Force One, has the system, and during the malfunction it re-routs the plane on a direct collision with a smaller DC9 passenger plane. There is nothing the air traffic controllers can do as the solar storm has interrupted the digital communication to the aircraft, and disrupted the radar. that is one hell of a storm!

As far as low budget films go Air Collision is not bad, the acting by Jordan Ladd, is fun, even though at times a bit over the top. No one really stands out, but the film is not boring and there is a decent amount of tension.

The science is slightly askew to be kind as to cover up a gaping hole in the passenger plane is completed by stacking up carry on luggage, and apparently that is so tight that it can establish proper pressure in the cabin. Huh?

Overall night a bad effort, worth a rent, I rate Air Collision a 5 out of 10.

Grimm's Snow White Movie Review

Above Pic: Poster for Grimm's Snow White


With the release of two Snow White related films this year, it is no wonder that The Asylum has decided to throw it's hat into the ring and put out their low budget version of the tale. This film is ultra low budget and so poorly acted that the story is actually hard to follow. The actors and actresses just basicaly read their lines with little or no emotion and make what is already a drab story seem even more uninspiring.

There are dwarves, who happen to be taller than the regular people in the film,cgi dogs and forest monsters that look so badly composed it is laughable. Eliza Bennett tries her best as Snow White, but her ability is muddled by lack of direction. It is like they gave her the script and said read, but did not tell her what body language to show or facial expressions to portray.

No one else was any better, and the 90 minute film became rather hard to watch. With The Asylum's more original efforts out their this film really did not need to be made, and  sadly the company has taken a major setback with this effort.

Overall I have to give Grimm's Snow White a pass and rate it a 4 out of 10.