Best Of The Best 2 (1993)

Best Of The Best 2 (1993): definitely a title I saw in a video store magazine as a kid and was like, “There was a Best Of The Best 1?” Thanks to a VHS rip on YouTube, I know all about the first movie now, which I did enjoy, a late-1980s martial arts melodrama with […]

Nemesis (1992)

Nemesis (1992) is VHS-era low budget cyperpunk sci-fi action that rides off the energy of France’s ‘cinema du look’ and Hong Kong action cinema. It’s all people in shades firing two weapons at one another as they jump out of windows from abandoned buildings out in the middle of picturesque wastelands. Directed by Albert Pyun, […]

In Hell (2003)

If you liked Shawshank Redemption but wanted more bare knuckled fights with Russian dudes who look like Thanos, then welcome to the direct-to-DVD Jean-Claude Van Damme film, In Hell (2003), the last of his three movies with Hong Kong director Ringo Lam. This is more of a brutal drama than an action movie, set in […]

Redbelt (2008)

I love Redbelt (2008) in spite of myself. Writer-director David Mamet has a way with words, but despite all his pretensions, he’s in love with macho bullshit as any other blockbuster action type. The movie is set in the world of Mixed Martial Arts competitions and has an eclectic cast that mixes Mamet regulars like […]

Replicant (2001)

Journeying further into the world of direct-to-video Jean-Claude Van Damme releases from the late 1990s and early 2000s brings me to watching Replicant (2001) for the first time. Released in the waning years of Van Damme’s box office popularity, where his movies were coming out on DVD rather than cinema screens, I had heard some […]