Like STONE COLD or COBRA, TACTICAL FORCE begins with our cop heroes using excessive force to stop an armed robbery at a grocery store. Unlike those movies it has no style and feels amateurish. I was already losing hope even before Steve Austin and Michael Jai White drove up in a SWAT truck together and didn’t look cool. That’s two of my favorite guys right now, I never expected to see them do a movie together, and you give them an entrance like this? I’m sorry, I know you need to protect the head, but Michael Jai looks goofy wearing that big ass helmet. Let him be fake for a second so he can start the movie looking cool. (read the rest of this shit…)
Posts Tagged ‘Michael Jai White’
Tactical Force
Sunday, August 28th, 2011Black Dynamite: The Cartoon: The Pilot
Thursday, August 11th, 2011I know most of you have already seen this (and sent me the link – thanks for that) but I just realized I could embed it on here and it’s like I’m personally presenting it to you. I’m coming out and introducing it, or inviting you over to my apartment to watch it. There will be a Q&A and light refreshments afterwards.
I’m not sure how close they are to having the actual BLACK DYNAMITE cartoon series ready, but the Adult Swim cartoon people have made this 11-ish minute pilot available to prove that it’s a good idea. Click on the thing here for the video and some comments.
Badass Cinema rundown for May 20th, 2011
Friday, May 20th, 2011We got a couple stories in the news worth discussing over the weekend in my opinion. Feel free to add your own topics in the comments as long as it’s Badass Cinema current events related. No cheating. Please use common sense, Paul.
first trailer for NEVER BACK DOWN 2
Sunday, May 15th, 2011In case you haven’t heard, the not-very-good teen mixed-martial-arts movie NEVER BACK DOWN has a DTV sequel coming out. I have high hopes though because it’s directed by Michael Jai White (who also plays the mentor character in the movie). The choreography is by Larnell Stovall (UNDISPUTED 3, the MORTAL KOMAT web thing, the upcoming UNIVERSAL SOLDIER movie).
Now there’s a trailer if you’re interested… (read the rest of this shit…)
THE BADASS CINEMA RUNDOWN for April 8, 2011
Friday, April 8th, 2011Every once in a while there’s enough goings on in this type of movies we love that it’s worth a bunch of quick mentions in one post, to make sure everybody is up-to-date. So here is the rundown in the form of a convenient numbered list.
MJW vs. video games
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010Chud.com, the premiere C.H.U.D. fan websight, posted this video earlier today that they believe is some kind of “proof of concept” or something for a new MORTAL KOMBAT movie. Mr. Faraci explained some reasons why he believed this wasn’t just a fan made video like that one where Batman fights Predator, but one very good reason he left out is that the video stars Michael Jai White. In a later update he claims it was made by Larnell Stovall, who did stunts in URBAN JUSTICE, BLACK DYNAMITE and BLOOD AND BONE and was the fight choreographer for (the MJW-less) UNDISPUTED III.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_MqZn7E-mk
I don’t know about you guys, but I think applying the BATMAN BEGINS pseudo-realism approach to this movie/video game is a really stupid idea, the kind of really stupid idea that I like. As long as they get MJW into that tournament and shoot the fights in a more Isaac Florentine manner this could be a fun time at the movies. I just hope “realistic” doesn’t mean they can’t get back into the funny ninja costumes when they fight.
Trivia: MJW was originally cast to play that same character in MORTAL KOMBAT PART 2, but then left to do SPAWN instead. Some things in life are neither good or bad, they just are.
Universal Soldier III: Unfinished Business & Universal Soldier: The Return
Monday, January 25th, 2010Remember, I said I was gonna review all the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER movies? I wasn’t lying. Here’s my reviews of the third and fourth installments in preparation for the brand new part 3 that comes out next week.
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER III: UNFINISHED BUSINESS continues from part 2, clearly shot back-to-back and even including a “previously on Universal Soldier” type montage. Burt Reynolds is the sleazy CIA director trying to stop Luc Deveraux (Matt Battaglia, not Van Damme) and the reporter from revealing the UniSol program. I’m sure he wouldn’t get in trouble, but Congressional hearings are probly a pain the ass, you gotta go to bed early the night before, get your suit cleaned, send your lawyer a thank you note, all that shit. Easier to just stay out of the headlines. (read the rest of this shit…)
Vern predicts BLOOD AND BONE will be this year’s best picture (direct-to-video category)
Sunday, August 16th, 2009Ladies and gentlemen (although, let’s be honest, mostly gentlemen around here), Michael Jai White has arrived. He has officially gone from “promising” to fully formed action icon. He has earned the right to just be referred to as MJW and have everybody know what it means. It doesn’t matter that Hollywood hasn’t figured out to build movies around him like they do with Jason Statham, that Sly didn’t think to make him an Expendable, that Marvel Comics hasn’t lined up some super hero for him to play. He’s sick of waiting so he’s just taking it.
I believe come this Fall many of you will agree with me on this, and even for those already on board his status in your internal action hero rankings will be elevated. In October you’ll get to see him in the very entertaining blaxploitation homage BLACK DYNAMITE, where he gets to show both his badass presence and his previously untapped comedy chops. That’s a long time from now but you’ll only have to wait until September 15th to see him in a serious DTV action vehicle called BLOOD AND BONE. (read the rest of this shit…)
Attention comic conners
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Remember that movie BLACK DYNAMITE that I liked so much? Writer/director Scott Sanders dropped a line to let us know that he and Mr. UNDISPUTED II: LAST MAN STANDING himself Michael Jai White will be over there at the comic strip festival in San Diego playing “a new never-before-seen clip” at some of the panels:
Spawn
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009In my review of BLACK DYNAMITE I talked about how happy I was for its star, Michael Jai White, and I mentioned that one of the obstacles he overcame was that his first big starring role after TYSON was “one of the worst comic book movies ever.” (Weirdly he’s also in DARK KNIGHT, one of the best comic book movies ever.)
“One of the worst comic book movies ever” is a serious accusation, though. This is a lenient genre that allowed the creation of BATMAN FOREVER, BATMAN AND ROBIN, FANTASTIC FOUR, DAREDEVIL, GHOST RIDER, etc. I mean there’s some good ones and there are just some shockingly horrible ones, that’s the type of deal we got here, the Two Face coin could land on either side.
Since I threw it out there I figured it was only fair that I go back and force myself to watch SPAWN again to make sure it really was the unmitigated crap I remembered it as. Turns out I remembered right, there was no mitigation at all. (read the rest of this shit…)