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Stars: Chad Michael Collins, Ryan Robbins, Luna Fujimoto, Josh Brener, Dennis Haysbert, Matthew Sim, Toshiji Takeshima, Eugenia Caruso, Marko Nikolic, Paul Kissaun | Written and Directed by Oliver Thompson

It’s hard to believe that of All the action franchises that have come and gone over the years that the Sniper series would still be going strong some thirty, yes Thirty, years after the debut of the original film. Since that debut we’ve had ten films – this latest one, Sniper: G.R.I.T. included – all of which have adapted with the times yet have still managed to find a consistency that has kept audiences coming back time and again. It also helps that, since 2011’s fourth film Sniper: Reloaded, we’ve had a consistent lead in actor Chad Michael Collins, playing Brandon Beckett the son of Tom Berenger’s original lead Gunnery Sergeant Tom Beckett.

This time round Brandon...

Yakuza Princess goes for the jugular with visceral katana-slicing action, but unfortunately gets bogged down by sluggish pacing. Adapted from the graphic novel "Samurai Shiro" by Brazilian comic book artist Danilo Beyruth, the film has striking cinematography and intriguing characters. It takes a deep dive into Japanese organized crime, samurai culture, and sword fighting tactics. Issues arise when the mystery that drives the narrative drones on. The tension established continually deflates with melodramatic lulls. A brutal finale swerves Yakuza Princess back on track for a recommendation.

In 1999 Osaka, Japan, a family gathering turns into a bloody massacre. Twenty-one years later in São Paulo, Brazil's Japanese district, Akemi (Masumi) struggles with the random murder of her beloved grandfather. She follows his wishes and continues to practice Kendo with her nearly lifelong master (Toshiji Takeshima). Meanwhile, two seemingly separate events have major repercussions. Takeshi (Tsuyoshi Ihara), a fierce Yakuza lieutenant (kanbu), learns a long kept secret.

A young woman discovers she’s a crime family heiress in “Yakuza Princess,” a grimy action-thriller set in the neon-drenched streets of São Paulo’s Japanese district. Adapted from Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel by Brazilian filmmaker Vicente Amorim (“Motorrad), “Yakuza” delivers stylish shootouts and eye-catching swordplay but lacks the dynamic characters and story-telling panache required to lift it into the top grade. Starring Japanese American singer Masumi in her first feature role, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers as an amnesiac assassin, this well produced item still packs enough punch to satisfy undemanding action fans and should perform respectably when released in U.S. theaters and on VOD on Sept. 3.

Considering São Paulo is home to the world’s largest ethnic Japanese community outside Japan (an estimated 1.6 million people), it’s surprising how rarely the city’s Nikkei Burajiru-jin (Japanese Brazilians) have been granted leading character status in feature films. “Gaijin:...

Yakuza Princess Review — Yakuza Princess (2021) Film Review from the 25th Annual Fantasia International Film Festival, a movie directed by Vicente Amorim and starring Masumi, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Kenny Leu, Eijiro Ozaki, Mariko Takai, Toshiji Takeshima and Nicolas Trevijano. Yakuza Princess is a mostly unconventional yet occasionally routine action picture that keeps audiences [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Yakuza Princess: A Fast Moving Flick with Guns and Swords [Fantasia 2021]...

"What follows is a work of fiction. So is the United States political system. Any resemblance, in either fiction, to real persons, live or dead, is coincidental." Dark Star Pictures has revealed an official trailer for an indie drama titled When I'm a Moth, which is being described as an "un-biopic", kind of an unofficial biopic about the early days of Hillary Rodham, before she became known as Hillary Clinton. It premiered back in 2019 at a few film festivals and is finally getting a VOD release this month for anyone interested. A parable on the ambiguity of political narratives. The film is set in 1969 up in Alaska. "Possibly a collective dream about a young woman with only the most abstract connection to the politician. Possibly both." The film stars Addison Timlin as Hillary, plus Tj Kayama and Toshiji Takeshima. This looks like a very unique, artsy film with tons of...

Sometimes you see a movie trailer that makes your eyes get real big while you wonder aloud: what in the world is this? And why is it so intriguing? The trailer for “When I’m A Moth,” an indie drama from Dark Star Pictures about the time Hillary Clinton spent in Alaska in 1969, is definitely one of them. Watch the trailer exclusively above right now.

Starring Addison Timlin as college-aged Hillary Rodham alongside Tj Kayama and Toshiji Takeshima, and co-directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak, “When I’m a Moth” is a fictional account of that year that would seem to be, at least judging by the trailer, satirizing the politician that she would become over the subsequent five decades.

The trailer opens with a disclaimer: “What follows is a work of fiction. So is the United States political system. Any resemblance, in either fiction, to real persons, living or dead,...

Stars: Masumi, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Eijiro Ozaki, Jonathan Rhys Meyers | Written by Vicente Amorim, Kimi Lee, Tubaldini Shelling, Fernando Toste | Directed by Vicente Amorim

Based on Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel Samurai Shiro, Yakuza Princess takes a familiar story and gives it a new twist by setting it in São Paulo Brazil. Why there? Because it’s the home to over 1.6 million Japanese and Brazilians of Japanese ancestry, the largest Japanese community outside of Japan. It’s also, like most Brazilian cities, overcrowded and rife with poverty, crime and corruption. What better place to set a film about the Yakuza?

Twenty years ago in Osaka Japan we watch as a family photo session turn into a massacre as a gunman opens fire, killing everyone. In Present day São Paulo Shiro wakes up in the hospital. Badly injured and with no memory of his past. His only possession an ancient katana.

Akemi...

Yakuza Princess Trailer — Vicente Amorim‘s Yakuza Princess (2021) movie trailer has been released by Magnolia Pictures. The Yakuza Princess trailer stars Masumi, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Toshiji Takeshima, Eijiro Ozaki, Mariko Takai, and Kenny Leu. Crew Fernando Toste and Kimi Howl Lee wrote the screenplay for Yakuza Princess. Fabiano Krieger and Lucas Marcier [...]

Continue reading: Yakuza Princess (2021) Movie Trailer: Masumi & Jonathan Rhys Meyers Wage War Against Half of the Yakuza...

"To fulfill it... You and your sword must become one." Magnolia has launched the first official trailer for a badass action film titled Yakuza Princess, from filmmaker Vicente Amorim, set in the expansive Japanese community of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Two action films about taking on the Yakuza in one day...?! Oh my!! (You should also watch the trailer for Kate here.) This is premiering at the upcoming 2021 Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal later this month. Japanese pop star Masumi stars as Akemi in this, who discovers the truth about her heritage when she turns 21. The heiress to half of the Yakuza crime syndicate forges an uneasy alliance with an amnesiac stranger who believes an ancient sword binds their two fates. She must unleash war against the other half of the syndicate who wants her dead. Described as a "rip-roaring, violent action-thriller." The film's cast includes Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Tsuyoshi Ihara,...

Evidently shot in 2016, but premiering on the festival circuit after the filmmakers’ more recent “The Wall of Mexico” (which debuted at SXSW a month earlier), “When I’m a Moth” is a pretentious and off-putting enterprise one can well imagine sat on the shelf for a while. It does have an intriguing hook, yet that hook turns out to be the most awkward and mystifying element here, since co-directors Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak have decided to make an obscurantist, heavily symbolic drama set in the Alaskan wilderness … with young Hillary Clinton plopped in the middle of it.

That’s not a joke — but oh, if only it were. There is, in fact, some smidgen of a real-world basis to the premise here: Clinton (then Rodham) has noted that right after graduating from college in 1969, she journeyed to Alaska with some friends, intending to work the summer at a cannery in Valdez.

Recently,CBS delivered the new,official synopsis/description for their upcoming "Hawaii Five-o" episode 12 of season 6. The episode is entitled, "Ua ola loko i ke aloha" is Hawaiian for "Love Gives Life Within," and it turns out that we're going to see some pretty interesting and dangerous stuff go down as the Five-o team aggressively tries to hunt down bomb thieves, and more! In the new, 12th episode press release: While McGarrett's Aunt Deb Visits Oahu On A Special Personal Mission, Five-0 Must Uncover Who Stole Unstable Japanese WWII Bombs Left Hidden On The Island, On "Hawaii Five-0," Friday, Jan. 15. Press release number 2: While McGarrett's Aunt Deb is visiting Oahu on a special personal mission, Five-0 is going to have to locate who stole unstable Japanese WWII bombs left hidden on the island. Entertainment legend Carol Burnett returns as McGarrett's Aunt Deb, and Taryn Manning returns as his sister,...