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Stars: Fiona Dorn, Eric Roberts, Gina Vitori, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Sunny Tellone | Written by Jacob David Smith | Directed by Michael Su

Long before Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, The Asylum was updating and repurposing myths and fairy tales into films like The 7 Adventures of Sinbad, 3 Musketeers, Avengers Grimm and the absolutely bizarre King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Here, they’ve taken the legend of Snow White and thrown in a name check of Kurosawa’s classic Seven Samurai to give us Snow White and the Seven Samurai.

Anya Voight wants her father to consider a change of careers. Considering he’s one of the biggest cocaine kingpins in the country, that’s not an easy thing to do. But she’s adamant, not only is it dangerous, but because of what he does, people keep calling her Snow White.

Their heart-to-heart chat is interrupted by a hooded assassin,...

Stars: Ryan Padilla, Lorenzo Lamas, Zhan Wang, Craig Ng, Alyssa Leanne So, Rylan Williams, Paula Rae-Taylor, Andrew Pinon, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Michael Madsen | Written by Jose Montesinos, Jacob David Smith | Directed by Jose Montesinos

Prepare to Die, the new Tubi original from director Jose Montesinos and co-writer Jacob David Smith begins like many classic martial arts films such as The 18 Bronzemen, as a child watches his family killed in front of them.

In this case it’s young Diego Padilla who sees Blaine Richtefield kill his father and is forced to hear what Richtefield’s goons did to his mother. He tells his driver Silas to kill the boy but instead has him smuggled into China. There he lives and trains in martial arts with Silas’ brother Bingwen and his daughter Xin Yi. He wants to return to Texas and avenge his parents, but Bingwen forbids it. However, when he...

Sf IndieFest is pleased to announce the complete program for the 17th Another Hole In The Head Film Festival which takes place December 11 to 27 via Eventive.org and Zoom.us. The festival will once again bring the freshest new independent genre films from around the world to San Francisco audiences. The festival will include over forty feature films, and over 250 short films – all available on demand through Eventive. Selected content will also screen live on Zoom during special weekend shows, featuring audience Q&As with the filmmakers.

Tickets are $10; a full pass is $125, ten film pass is $75 and five film pass is $40. There are also numerous free programs. For all festival information, visit https://ahith2020.eventive.org/welcome.

Feature Films

An Unquiet Grave – A year after losing his wife in a car crash, Jamie convinces her sister to return with him to the site of the accident and help him perform a strange ritual.

Put aside your preconceptions about independent production house The Asylum for just a moment. Because while, yes, a sizable percentage of their output is given over to made for television creature features and the 'mockbusters' they made famous, they're doing something entirely different with Jose Montesinos' Barrio Brawler. How so? Barrio Brawler a totally original property, for one thing, written by Montesinos as well as directed by him. And while it certainly follows a well established format amongst fight films it's not riding the coattails of anything. Second, as you may have picked up, it's a fight movie. A no holds barred, skilled martial artists in a warehouse beating the tar out of one another, fight flick. Third? Look at the bottom of the poster....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

When it comes to martial arts films, very few dispute the fact that the 80′s and 90′s were a golden era for Hong Kong cinema. Stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao hit their stride during this time, and the genre evolved dramatically because of it. The frantic fights and thrilling stunts impressed viewers, inspiring countless to follow suit in their own ways. That generation has grown up now, but it hasn’t forgotten its roots.

Unlucky Stars is a film that doesn’t simply pay homage to actions films of the past, it takes pride in doing so. Director Dennis Ruel and choreographer Vladislav Rimburg were determined to recapture the essence of what made those films so special years ago. They’ve grown tired of seeing films with cheap tricks and edits, where talent and skill have been overshadowed by someone with a famous name.

When it comes to martial arts films, very few dispute the fact that the 80′s and 90′s were a golden era for Hong Kong cinema. Stars like Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao hit their stride during this time, and the genre evolved dramatically because of it. The frantic fights and thrilling stunts impressed viewers, inspiring countless to follow suit in their own ways. That generation has grown up now, but it hasn’t forgotten its roots.

Unlucky Stars is a film that doesn’t simply pay homage to actions films of the past, it takes pride in doing so. Director Dennis Ruel and choreographer Vladislav Rimburg were determined to recapture the essence of what made those films so special years ago. They’ve grown tired of seeing films with cheap tricks and edits, where talent and skill have been overshadowed by someone with a famous name.

Unfortunately, the current state of the Martial arts genre has been lacking as far as theatrical release films being locally produced in America.  In these dry climate, I often turn to the indie scene to get my fix for skilled-driven action from the fan filmmakers who truly understands and appreciate this art form.  Among these people is the production crew behind Unlucky Stars, an indie martial arts comedy that pays homage to 80's Hong Kong action cinema, specifically Sammo Hung's Lucky Stars trilogy.  It not only showcase old-school hands-on fight choreography but it will also challenge the "fast-farward-to-the-fight-scene" attitude of this genre with quality plot and well-rounded characters. The cast includes Dennis Ruel, Ken Quitugua, Sari Sabella, Jose Montesinos, Roy Chen, Edward Kahana, Giovannie Espiritu,...

Another Earth (12A)

(Mike Cahill, 2011, Us) Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach. 92 mins

It's been quite a year for cosmic arthouse, and like The Tree Of Life and Melancholia, this low-key indie contrasts inner and outer space to stirring effect. Unlike a Kubrick-style space odyssey, it's very much down to earth – Earth One, that is. "Earth Two", a duplicate of our own, is more like a giant metaphor in the sky. Its discovery tragically fuses the lives of two people, and could yet resolve it, which makes for a tender character drama with a shot of sci-fi ingenuity.

Puss In Boots (U)

(Chris Miller, 2011, Us) Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis. 90 mins

Between the Shrek brand recognition, the bright 3D, the broad-spectrum comedy and the prospect of cute cats dancing, it's hard to imagine a more mercilessly commercial proposition than this animated spin-off. It's a predictably polished affair, with Banderas's...

After a woeful two-year hiatus — and actually it had been assumed as a death — the San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival is back from the dead with a vengeance! Once again headed up by the Bay Area’s midnight movie grande dame Peaches Christ, this year’s Sfusff begins at the unholy early hour of 7:30 p.m., so that means tons more fun and outrageousness for the fest this time.

Taking place at the Victoria Theater on April 15, there will be 21 short films, including the centerpiece of the fest: The World Premiere of director xuxE’s Devious, Inc., a musical adventure set in the world of kinky fetish competitions. The film is also not a short film. It’s a feature-length movie that will close the fest at 10:30 p.m. and will be preceded by one of Peaches Christ’s astounding live performances.

In fact, the entire night...