Archive for the ‘Action’ Category
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
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A decorated Coast Guard search and rescue specialist still haunted by the death of his teammates during a disastrous mission off the coast of Alaska is charged with the task of training the next generation of Coast Guard rescue swimmers in director Andrew Davis’ ocean-bound adventure drama. Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) was the best swimmer of his graduating class, but upon surfacing as the sole survivor of an Alaskan rescue mission attempted during a Category Three storm, his outlook on life has grown increasingly jaded. Now, as hotshot young swimmer Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) arrives at Coast Guard rescue school looking to accomplish something meaningful with his life, he will be forced to endure the rigorous training methods of a man who expects nothing less than the very best in order to become a member of one of the most elite rescue squads on the planet. |
| Also Known As: |
The Guardian |
| Genres: |
Action, Adventure Drama, |
| Running Time: |
139:00 |
| Actor List: |
Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Sela Ward, Melissa Sagemiller, Clancy Brown, Omari Hardwick, Alex Daniels, Daniel J. Molthen, Andrew Schanno, Adam Pena, Joe Arquette, Gary Billburg, Joshua Mitcheltree, Rusty Tennant, James Barnes, Stephanie Barnes, Andrea Martynowski, Ron Fien, Nevada Smith, Jay Bingham, Shane Sweitzer, John Heard, Neal McDonough, Joseph “Butch” Flythe, Robert E. Watson, John Hall, Johnell Gainey, Jeff Loftus, Brian Geraghty, Dule Hill, Shelby Fenner, Michael Rady, Peter Gail, Brian Patrick Wade, Benny Ciaramello, Travis Willingham, Matt Laub, Matthew L. Rucker, Tanica Jamison, Paul Wallace, Tilky Jones, Megan Melgaard, Scott Mueller, Jacob Stevens, Austin Lash, Mark Gangloff, Damon Lipari, Roger Edwards, Gregory J. Barnett, Kenny G. Krauss, Gioacchino Brucia, J.D. Evermore, Bryce Cass, Bonnie Bramlett, Richard Davis, James Burton, Tony Brown, Wayne Stewart, Chris “Hambone” Cameron, Mark Ohlsen, Gene Barge, Steve Eisen, Josie Aiello, Devin Thompson, Tina Treadwell, Corrine DeGroot, Greg Sproles, Ron Dean, James Landers, Jesse De Villa, Leigh Hennessy, Tanner Gill, Norm Compton, Donald Fisher, Tommy Rosales, Jr., Vladimir Tevlovski, Henry Kingi, Jr., Dorian Kingi, Deborah Boone, Roxanne Brooks, Conrad Palmisano, Michael James, Danny Cosmo Higginbottom, Gene Hartline, John Rottger, |
Posted in Action, Adventure Drama | No Comments »
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
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Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) races to solve the mystery of his past while being hunted by members of the very organization he was hired into as director Paul Greengrass brings author Robert Ludlum’s popular character back to the big screen for his third feature outing. David Strathairn, Julia Stiles, Joan Allen, and Paddy Considine co-star. |
| Also Known As: |
The Bourne Ultimatum |
| Genres: |
Action, Spy Film, Action Thriller, Unglamorized Spy Film, |
| Running Time: |
115:00 |
| Actor List: |
Matt Damon, Julia Stiles, David Strathairn, Scott Glenn, Paddy Considine, Edgar Ramirez, Albert Finney, Joan Allen, Tom Gallop, Corey Johnson, Daniel Brhl, Joey Ansah, Neal Daniels, Colin Stinton, Dan Fredenburgh, Lucy Liemann, Bryan Reents, Arkie Reece, John Roberson, Russ Huards, Mark Bazeley, Sinead OKeefe, Chucky Venice, Scott Adkins, Branko Tomovic, Laurentiu Possa, Trevor St. John, Jeffrey Lee Gibson, Uriel Emil, Omar Hernandez, William H. Burns, Michael Wildman, Kai Martin, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller, Spy Film, Unglamorized Spy Film | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
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An elite former cop with a serious drinking problem and a sizable gambling debt is offered an opportunity for a fresh start when a wealthy stranger buys up his debts and proposes a deadly partnership. There was a time when Matt (Steven Seagal) was a happily married husband and father, but these days his only companions are an empty bottle and a handful of casino chips. His luck has run out, and now his wife is married to another man and his daughter has a new father. Just when it seems as if things couldn’t get any worse for Matt, a mysterious old man appears to offer him the opportunity of a lifetime: Should Matt agree to assassinate one of the city’s most feared gangsters, his astronomical debt will be paid in full. But Matt isn’t used to being a hired gun, and in order to successfully execute his dangerous mission he will first have to familiarize himself with the complicated system of underworld politics. As clarity takes hold and the prospect of redemption comes within his grasp, this once honest cop realizes there is much more to his assignment than meets the eye as he prepares to make the decision that will change his life forever. |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller | No Comments »
Saturday, November 21st, 2009
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Evil Dead 2 meets Street Fighter by way of The Matrix in this wild and woolly zombie/yakuza/samurai/kung fu/splatter flick directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Throughout the world there are 666 portals to the other side; the 444th is Japan and is called the Forest of Resurrection, where good has battled evil for time immemorial. The film opens with prisoner KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi) and his fellow cellmate escaping a maximum-security prison and ending up in the forest where they are supposedly to be picked up by a band of gangsters in a shiny Mercedes and taken to a safer place. Instead, the gangsters try to use them and a female hostage (Chieko Misaka) as pawns in a larger power struggle. A gunfight ensues killing KSC2-303’s colleague and the mob boss, but just as the standoff is about to yield more violence, an odd thing happens — the dead get up and attack the living. In the chaos, KSC2-303 and girl disappear into the forest with a band of slickly coifed yakuza in hot pursuit. High-kicks, machine guns, and rampant disembowelments ensue. This film was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller, Horror, Martial Arts | No Comments »
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
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A minor crook finds himself in major peril when a “hot” weapon goes missing in this violent crime thriller. Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) is a low-level “mechanic” in the Mafia who hopes to rise through the ranks by doing whatever is needed. One night, a drug deal goes very wrong when police show up and try to close down the operation; shots break out and a battle ensues, with a pair of of cops meeting a particularly violent fate at bad end of a gun barrel. Joey is given the gun that killed the policemen and is told to make it disappear so it can’t be used as evidence; however, before he can do that, the weapon is stolen by Oleg (Cameron Bright), a friend of Joey’s young son, who takes the pistol and uses it to shoot his abusive stepfather. Now that the gun is implicated in high profile crimes, it’s vitally important that Joey find it as soon as possible, but his search for the firearm is complicated by the fact that Oleg’s stepdad is affiliated with a rival gang of Russian mobsters, and that Rydell (Chazz Palminteri), a seriously corrupt police detective, is hot on Joey’s trail. Joey’s search for the gun takes him through the grim criminal netherworld of the city, where he must face off against nearly every sort of crook, con artist, and deviate that has ever walked the earth. Running Scared is from writer-director Wayne Kramer, who made a name for himself with the well-reviewed independent feature The Cooler. |
| Also Known As: |
Running Scared |
| Genres: |
Action, Thriller, Action Thriller, Gangster Film, Crime Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
121:00 |
| Actor List: |
Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Karel Roden, Johnny Messner, Ivana Milicevic, Chazz Palminteri, Alex Neuberger, Michael Cudlitz, Bruce Altman, Elizabeth Mitchell, Arthur Nascarella, John Noble, Idalis de Leon, David Warshofsky, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller, Crime Thriller, Gangster Film, Thriller | No Comments »
Friday, September 18th, 2009
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Beat Takeshi Kitano directs and plays the title role in this tribute to the wildly popular “blind swordsman” of Japanese cinema who was the hero of more than 20 movies and a television series from the early ’60s to the late ’80s. In Kitano’s version, Zatichi wanders into a town harassed by criminal gangs, and helps two geishas take revenge on the men who murdered their parents. His mission leads him to a final, bloody confrontation with the gang’s mastermind and his hired assassin (Tadanobu Asano), a swordsman with a reputation as lethal as Zatichi. |
| Also Known As: |
Zatoichi |
| Genres: |
Action, Martial Arts, Samurai Film, |
| Running Time: |
116:00 |
| Actor List: |
Beat Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusa, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, Akira Emoto, Michiyo Ookusu, |
Posted in Action, Martial Arts, Samurai Film | No Comments »
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
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The best-selling suspense novel by late author Robert Ludlum comes to the screen for a second time, following a 1988 made-for-TV movie. Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne, a barely alive amnesiac with a pair of bullet wounds in his back, pulled from the Mediterranean by Italian fishermen. Bourne’s only clue to his own identity is a bank account number etched on a capsule implanted in his body. He quickly finds the Zurich bank where money, a gun, and a few identification documents await, but after he’s pursued by security goons at the American consulate, Bourne realizes he can trust no one and offers a German gypsy named Marie (Franka Potente) ten thousand dollars for a ride to Paris. Encountering more professional killers bent on his destruction, Bourne discovers that he possesses a surprising degree of skill in combat, martial arts, and linguistics — handy talents that clearly indicate his past includes work as a spy and assassin, but for whom? With Marie’s reluctant help, Bourne edges closer to the truth, something CIA officials want concealed at all costs. The Bourne Identity co-stars Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, and Julia Stiles. |
| Also Known As: |
The Bourne Identity |
| Genres: |
Action, Spy Film, Action Thriller, Unglamorized Spy Film, |
| Running Time: |
118:00 |
| Actor List: |
Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Clive Owen, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Gabriel Mann, Walton Goggins, Josh Hamilton, Julia Stiles, Orso Maria Guerrini, Tim Dutton, Gil Amelio, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Judy Parfitt, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller, Spy Film, Unglamorized Spy Film | No Comments »
Friday, August 28th, 2009
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This kung fu classic weaving fact and myth earned a theatrical release in the U. S. from Miramax eight years after it was produced, following a successful retrospective screening at the 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival. Wong Kei Ying (Donnie Yen) is a master of the Hung Gar style of boxing in mid-19th century China. His son, Wong Fei Hung (Sze-Man Tsang), though still just a boy, will grow up to become a martial arts legend, a nearly mythical figure in Chinese history. When Wong Fei Hung is kidnapped, his father is forced to use his daunting skills in the service of the abductor, a dishonest politician plagued by the Robin Hood-style thief known as Iron Monkey, a mysterious masked avenger stealing from the rich, delivering the spoils to the poor. Wong Fei Hung’s only allies are the kindly Dr. Yang (Yu Rong Guang) and Yang’s assistant, Orchid (Jean Wang), who are protecting an important secret. Iron Monkey (1993) director Yuen Wo Ping is also the masterful martial arts choreographer behind The Matrix (1999) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); his father served as action choreographer on a series of popular, long-running films centered around the Wong Fei Hung character in the 1950s. |
| Also Known As: |
Iron Monkey |
| Genres: |
Action, Adventure, Martial Arts, Action Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
89:00 |
| Actor List: |
Yu Rongguang, Donnie Yen, Jean Wang, Tsang Sze Man, Yuen Shun-Yi, James Wong, Yam Sai-Kun, Yen Yee Kwan, Lee Fai, Wong Tsing-ying, Hau Yin Chung, Yu Wing-Kwong, Cheung Fung Nay, Chun Kwai Bo, Chan Siu Wah, Yip Choi Nam, Ko Man Dick, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller, Adventure, Martial Arts | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009
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An international assassin known only as Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) carries out high-profile hits for a mysterious organization known only as “The Agency” in this adaptation of the popular Eidos Interactive video-game series. Agent 47 is an elite, genetically engineered assassin who takes great pride in his work. His lethal grace, steady shot, and unparalleled precision have all served to make him one of the most sought after assassins in the world. But when the killer without a conscious is faced with an unanticipated series of developments, his entire perception of reality begins to shift. On assignment to take out a Russian head of state Bellicoff (Ulrich Thomsen, Agent 47 is caught off guard by the appearance of presidential look-a-likes. When the high profile hit captures the attention of such powerful intelligence organizations as the CIA and Interpol, agent Mike Whittier (Dougray Scott) is dispatched to reign Agent 47 in. Meanwhile, a mysterious Russian prostitute named Nika (Olga Kurylenko) has walked into Agent 47’s life, causing the methodical killer to become overwhelmed by emotions that were previously foreign to him. |
| Also Known As: |
Hitman |
| Genres: |
Action, Action Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
93:00 |
| Actor List: |
Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Offei, Christian Erickson, Eriq Ebouaney, Joe Sheridan, Jean-Marc Bellu, Nicky Naude, Abdou Sagna, Ilya Nikitenko, Loic Molla, Youssef Diawara, Patrick Ligardes, Ancuta Radici, Peter Hudson, Cyril Guei, Ivan Yurukov, Vladimir Kolev, Maxim Genchev, Kamen Ivanov, Stefka Yanorova, Yasmine Meddour, Iosis Shamli, Desislava Bakardzhieva, Paul Barrett, Viktoria Dimova, Svejen Ivanov Mladenov, Bilyana Ognyanova Petrinska, Emile Abossolo-M’Bo, Paul Bandey, Nikolay Valentinov Lukanov, Boyko Boyanov, Deyan Donkov, Sabine Camille Crossen, Assen Blatechki, Dobrin Dossev, Vili Dimitrova, Anatolli Nachev, Blagovest Argirov, Nikolay Stoyanov Ilchev, Milko Marinov Milanov, Elvis Delannay, Dessislava Zidarova, Lisa Jacobs, Atanas Srebrev, Samantha Timmerman, Patrick Albenque, Borislav Parvanov, Velizar Nikolaev Binev, Hristo Neykov Neykov, Nikolay Milev, Alexei Kuznetsov, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller | No Comments »
Saturday, August 15th, 2009
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Producer/director/star Clint Eastwood takes his sweet time getting Firefox started. Eastwood plays Mitchell Gant, a past-his-prime U. S. pilot, smuggled into the Soviet Union to steal a new Russian supersonic fighting plane. Fortunately the KGB men are as burnt out as Gant, enabling him to abscond with the plane with the greatest of ease. The rest of the film is a protracted chase, pitting Gant against scores of impersonal MIG pilots. Based on a novel by Craig Thomas. |
| Also Known As: |
Firefox |
| Genres: |
Action, Action Thriller, |
| Running Time: |
137:00 |
| Actor List: |
Clint Eastwood, Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke, Ronald Lacey, Kenneth Colley, Klaus Lwitsch, Nigel Hawthorne, Stefan Schnabel, Thomas Hill, Clive Merrison, Dimitra Arliss, Bernard Behrens, Ward Costello, Oliver Cotton, Michael Currie, Richard Derr, Marion Dougherty, Woody Eney, Bernard Erhard, Hugh Fraser, David Gant, John Grillo, Czeslaw Grocholski, Barrie Houghton, Neil Hunt, Vincent J. Isaac, Alexei Jawdokimov, Wolf Kahler, Eugene Lipinski, Curt Lowens, Lev Mailer, Fritz Manes, David Meyer, George Orrison, Tony Papenfuss, Oliver Pierre, George Pravda, John Ratzenberger, Alex Rodine, Gene Scherer, Mary Selway, Warwick Sims, James Staley, Malcolm Storry, Alan Tilvern, Austin Willis, Kai Wulff, John Yates, Alexander Zale, |
Posted in Action, Action Thriller | No Comments »