Was lucky enough to catch this in a theatrical screening.
Brilliantly captures the feeling of ennui that one can feel in a run-down urban area... cannot emphasize that enough. The art direction in this area more than makes up for the limited animation in other areas.
As far as tone goes: its a great dark comedy, very dry sense of humor... I laughed out loud several times.
Definitely would recommend trying to seek this out if it plays an arthouse theater near you, or keep an eye out for if/when it arrives on VOD.
Reviews
5 Reviews
Have a Nice Day
(2017)
Great use of light and sound to showcase a decaying landscape
11 February 2018
Ninja Busters
(1984)
Martial arts vanity project buddy comedy plus ninjas! All of the above actually works.
23 August 2015
I've only seen one other Paul Kyriazi movie to date -- Death Machines -- and that film felt like it ran out of money halfway through (I'm fairly certain it did). This movie, on the other hand, starts out as a goofball buddy comedy and ends with three successive ninja vs. karate fights with dozens of extras and stuntmen. What a difference a budget makes. A good screenplay helps too: martial artist Sid Campbell in a self-penned role as a lovable klutz, is quite good for a non-actor. He's rockin' a Sonny Bono/Ringo Starr vibe here that I dug. There is some unintentional comedy here (as in a lot of b-movies), but much of the intentional comedy lands surprisingly well (a rarity in my experience with b-movies). Featuring such unique delights as hot tub dojos, breakdance-fu, mustache-and-turtleneck-fu, ninjas in scrapyards, ninjas in aerobics studios, and ninjas in Latin dance clubs. Coming soon to Blu-Ray via Exhumed Films. Mark two down on the Kyriazi filmography for me, and he's 1-1. Up next: "The Weapons of Death ," "One Way Out," and "Omega Cop."
Devil's Express
(1976)
Brilliant, Bizarre Genre Mash-Up
23 August 2015
One reviewer described this as like "Black Belt Jones vs. The Galaxy Invader," but that only scratches the surface. Exhumed Films calls it "a Blaxploitation/Horror/Kung-Fu absurdist masterpiece," which they very correctly note "could only exist in the exploitation heyday of the 1970s." This gets a bit closer. You're really getting 3 or 4 different movies in one here. Possibly my favorite plot of all-time: a soul-brother karate instructor travels to Hong Kong to learn and master his art, where his buddy and protégé steals an ancient amulet which (unbeknownst to him) has the power to control a demon. The demon follows them home to NYC where it hides in the subway and begins killing innocent (and not-so-innocent) bystanders. Oh, and by the way? The amulet-stealing buddy is also a drug dealer with an ongoing vendetta against the local Chinese crime gang. That's at least 2 movies right there. The film now shifts gears to another buddy of the karate instructor, who is a cop investigating the subway killings. This portion of the film now plays like a supernatural/creature hunter/police procedural/X-Files kinda thing. Again, this could be a movie in its own right. Everything comes to a head when the black kung-fu-ers and the Chinese gang realize it might not just be their street fights that's killing off their members, and that maybe the cops are on to something when they say something is lurking in the subway, waiting to mutilate its next victim. This all ends with what is the trippiest final fight sequence since Zardoz. I would not have believed such a movie could exist had I not seen it. I *have* seen it. You should too.
Radioactive Dreams
(1984)
Guilty Pleasures
23 August 2015
I don't know what happened to Albert Pyun between this movie and Cyborg, but I like *this* Albert Pyun. This one made a post-apocalyptic/film-noir/comedy/adventure. (The closest comparison I have is Circuitry Man minus the romance and robots. Does that help clear things up? Probably not.) Featuring wanna-be 40s detectives, 50s greasers, 60s cannibal hippies, sociopathic 70s disco kiddies, and 80s slam-dancin' punks. Michael Dudikoff, playing the Jerry Lewis-style comic relief. Sue Saad, as a Pat Benatar for the Rocky Horror crowd. George Kennedy as the b-movie, small-role-character-actor king of kings. Giant rats. Giant rats! Only near the end, in an overlong, mostly slo-mo shootout climax, did I get hints of the Pyun of Cyborg. But all is well with a swing-dance finale! I... I really liked this movie.
Terminator Genisys
(2015)
Squandered potential
1 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I would call myself a casual fan of this franchise. I have seen all four previous films, but I am unfamiliar with the 'extended universe' of the TV show, comic books, etc.
That said, when I had a chance to see the new movie on the night of June 30, the first time it was available in wide release in the US, I was excited.
I had already read some of the early reviews, and most were negative. I tried to temper my expectations and view the movie with an open mind...
The first half of the film is a pretty interesting re-imagining of the original Terminator movie, with some winks to T2. Undeniably the best part of this film.
The halfway point brings a twist. Without getting too spoiler-y...one of our heroes becomes a villain (if you've seen the trailers, you've seen this moment). The explanation why this happened felt pretty weak to me. This still could have been an interesting plot point, but the filmmakers abandon any emotional effects of this betrayal and give us a generic baddie who could have been anyone.
The second half of the movie becomes just another Terminator sequel, with the new villain chasing the good guys and Arnold's T-800 acting as the protector. A fight sequence set in a hospital is pretty good, but the action becomes increasingly repetitive after that. Overall, this part felt about the same as T3 in terms of quality - average on action, lousy on everything else.
The real bummer for me, and what ultimately leaves an average movie leaning towards a lousy one, was the ending. It really put a sour note on everything that came before. Skynet plans to launch via a cloud computing operating system (topical!) that reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson's villain's schemes in the much sillier (and more enjoyable) Kingsman: The Secret Service. In attempting to take down this evil OS, called 'Genisys,' our heroes run into a holographic projection that embodies the consciousness of Skynet. Or something. I'm not sure. This was a fairly minor moment, but it was *so* dumb. This was a mistake also made in Terminator Salvation (which featured Helena Bonham Carter as the personification of Skynet), but Terminator Genisys found a way to make it even stupider. This was the absolute low point of the movie, and the remaining action finale was frankly one of the most bland in the film...
Overall a disappointment, made worse by the potential I saw in some of these plot ideas. They just didn't follow though with any of that potential. It's like a cover band playing a set. They do one or two cool covers. You think, this is pretty decent. And then they're like, "Hey, this is one of our original songs, hope you like it"... ugh. The "cover band" part of this movie is good. The rest not so much.
In 5 years, I'm sure I will enjoy this on basic cable. You won't miss that much waiting until then.
That said, when I had a chance to see the new movie on the night of June 30, the first time it was available in wide release in the US, I was excited.
I had already read some of the early reviews, and most were negative. I tried to temper my expectations and view the movie with an open mind...
The first half of the film is a pretty interesting re-imagining of the original Terminator movie, with some winks to T2. Undeniably the best part of this film.
The halfway point brings a twist. Without getting too spoiler-y...one of our heroes becomes a villain (if you've seen the trailers, you've seen this moment). The explanation why this happened felt pretty weak to me. This still could have been an interesting plot point, but the filmmakers abandon any emotional effects of this betrayal and give us a generic baddie who could have been anyone.
The second half of the movie becomes just another Terminator sequel, with the new villain chasing the good guys and Arnold's T-800 acting as the protector. A fight sequence set in a hospital is pretty good, but the action becomes increasingly repetitive after that. Overall, this part felt about the same as T3 in terms of quality - average on action, lousy on everything else.
The real bummer for me, and what ultimately leaves an average movie leaning towards a lousy one, was the ending. It really put a sour note on everything that came before. Skynet plans to launch via a cloud computing operating system (topical!) that reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson's villain's schemes in the much sillier (and more enjoyable) Kingsman: The Secret Service. In attempting to take down this evil OS, called 'Genisys,' our heroes run into a holographic projection that embodies the consciousness of Skynet. Or something. I'm not sure. This was a fairly minor moment, but it was *so* dumb. This was a mistake also made in Terminator Salvation (which featured Helena Bonham Carter as the personification of Skynet), but Terminator Genisys found a way to make it even stupider. This was the absolute low point of the movie, and the remaining action finale was frankly one of the most bland in the film...
Overall a disappointment, made worse by the potential I saw in some of these plot ideas. They just didn't follow though with any of that potential. It's like a cover band playing a set. They do one or two cool covers. You think, this is pretty decent. And then they're like, "Hey, this is one of our original songs, hope you like it"... ugh. The "cover band" part of this movie is good. The rest not so much.
In 5 years, I'm sure I will enjoy this on basic cable. You won't miss that much waiting until then.
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