Deadly Bet (1992)

Deadly Bet merely confirms what I’ve long thought about addictions and the way the various experts preach to address them – that it’s all micromanaged bunk! The various fill-in-the-blank Anonymous cults over complicate things with all their “steps”, meetings, talking, sponsors, prayers and sign in sheets. Fudge, I need a drink and a tub of ice cream just to take the edge off the stress thinking about all those requirements! I had less trouble getting into law school than that!

Jeff Wincott‘s down on his luck martial arts expert Angelo though knows the real score on how to lick all those demons that have kept him in Las Vegas, cost him the love of his life, and put him into debt with a ruthless loan shark! Training montage! Continue reading “Deadly Bet (1992)”

Misfire (2014)

Kickboxing and low budget action movie legend Gary Daniels has been making movies most people have never seen for the last 25 years. He’s on the other side of 50 now, but being an old action hero doesn’t necessarily mean you should hang up your prop gun and stop kicking guys in the head. Jean Claude Van Damme is also over 50, Steven Seagal is over 60 and well into his 70s, Chuck Norris is the action Methuselah! But your movies have to try to hide your advanced years, not call attention to it! Continue reading “Misfire (2014)”

Hawk’s Vengeance (1996)

The local crime boss is using a skinhead gang to capture members of a Chinese gang so that their organs can be harvested. A local cop gets a little too nosy and is snuffed out by a pair of hitmen employed by the crime boss. His step brother, Hawk, travels back to the United States from his native England to attend the funeral and decides to dig a little deeper into his step brother’s death.

Hawk has some help from a Chinese buddy who knew his brother as well as his brother’s former partner, a blonde chick prone to lecturing Hawk on staying out of her investigation while standing around in a bra and leather skirt. Most of Hawk’s help though comes from the fact that he’s the very best British Special Forces marine ever! In short, this is your typical Gary Daniels movie. Thank God! Continue reading “Hawk’s Vengeance (1996)”

Recoil (1998)

Recoil DVD CoverThe final and greatest of the three films beginning with the letter R that Gary Daniels and PM Entertainment made together, Recoil jettisons the ridiculous set ups of both Rage and Riot, dispenses with annoying subplots involving reporters and Sugar Ray Leonard, and allows Gary to navigate a series of impressively destructive and violent action scenes that leave the viewer with a single burning question: does the guy in charge of PM Entertainment have some kind of bizarre fetish for cars sailing through the air and crashing in spectacular fashion? Continue reading “Recoil (1998)”

Rage (1995)

Rage DVD CoverExceeding expectations. That’s where success lies in life. I know this is true because it applies to sports and a concept that you can successfully apply to sports is one in which I have blind faith.

As an example, every week before a big football game, I have to hear the coach of my favorite team talk about how awesome the next opponent is. The guys they’re going up against are a combination Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Teddy Roosevelt, Dracula, and Zeus. Never mind this team finished 0-11 last year and is called North Dingleberry A&T Tech. Continue reading “Rage (1995)”

Riot (1996)

RiotCoverLike Don “The Dragon” Wilson, Gary Daniels (Pocket Ninjas, Firepower) is a former kickboxing champion who has parlayed his titles into a film career starring in action movies no normal person has ever heard of.

And like Olivier Gruner (another ex-kickboxing champ featured in a series of movies invisible to the mainstream), Gary possesses that bland, inoffensive charm that convinces you he’s a decent sort of guy who kicks ass only because he’s forced to.

I mean, Gary only destroys an entire softball team after they say that he and buddy Sugar Ray Leonard are gay for each other! So parents can feel good about the positive message this film teaches about tolerance: don’t call tough guys queers! Because they won’t tolerate it! Continue reading “Riot (1996)”

Bloodmoon (1997)

This movie reaffirmed my faith in our kickboxing lord and savior, Gary Daniels. So much of Gary’s teachings involve showing us that if we bear the crosses he gives us (stupid plots, poorly executed scenes of guys flying through the air on wires, hideously untalented and unappealing co-stars), our reward will not be the eternal damnation that lesser action stars (Van Damme, Don “The Dragon” Wilson, and the Great Satan himself, Steven Seagal) routinely deliver like a cold, soggy pizza the driver spit, shat, and pissed on, but an everlasting peace brought about by his love of kicking and punching scumbag killers! Continue reading “Bloodmoon (1997)”