News

The 1990s was a peak time for martial arts movies, with a distinctive '90s' fusion of old-school kung fu choreography, hyper-dynamic action sequences, and different martial arts styles that thrilled global audiences. Martial arts cinema was making a distinct change at this time as more classic Hollywood elements were being used throughout films as their popularity grew. The best films of this era used those elements while remaining true to Eastern martial arts traditions that focused on stories of honor and redemption to make films that were both exciting and emotionally satisfying.

The 1990s weaving of acrobatic fight sequences with larger-than-life characters made the decade a golden age for performances in martial arts films. Jet Li’s Chen Zhen in Fist of Legend (1996) and Jackie Chan’s Wong Fei-hung in Drunken Master II (1994) both had incredible charisma and depth in their onscreen roles, making the martial arts more than mere action and combat.

Countless incredible martial arts movies have heroes based on real historical figures. As the stories of notable martial artists were intrinsically linked with real history, long-standing myths, and iconic folk legends, its no surprise that many real-life people find their way into action-packed martial arts movies. One notable example was Donnie Yens portrayal of Yip Man in the Ip Man franchise, but there have been several more acclaimed instances of this across the length and breadth of martial arts cinema.

Some of the greatest martial arts movies ever made use real people as the basis for their stories. Classics of 1970s kung fu cinema have taken the iconic stories of Shaolin monks and blessed audiences with incredible, often heavily altered, representations of real stories. This historical context can add extra depth to martial movies, as the social and political circumstances of the eras they represent become even more resonant through...

Since Van Damme and Seagal hit big in the late 80s and early 90s, martial artists started to come out of the woodwork with their own unique brand. As we’ve covered recently on Reel Action, Van Damme collaborator Sheldon Lettich attempted to introduce audiences to both the style of Capoeira and the star power of Mark Dacascos in Only the Strong. Another martial artist that tried his hand at the action title and came away with a cult following was Jeff Speakman as he demonstrated his Kenpo skills in the 1991 film The Perfect Weapon.

Blu-ray.com has the details on a new special edition Blu-ray of The Perfect Weapon. The release will come from Kino Lorber, who will also release Cannon’s Revenge of the Ninja. This upcoming Blu-ray will have an all-new 4K remaster of the film and is set to hit the market on May 21.

The plot description reads,...

Army of Darkness, the third Evil Dead movie directed by Sam Raimi, was released six years after Evil Dead II, but its troubled and lengthy production cycle meant that it actually took over a decade for the film to be completed. Initially titled The Medieval Dead, according to Bruce Campbell in Medieval Times, a documentary about the making of the movie, Army of Darkness transports Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) to the Middle Ages for a Jason and the Argonauts-inspired adventure. Tonally, Army of Darkness jettisons what little horror remained in the series following requel Evil Dead II in favor of a comedic tribute to classic "sword and sorcery" tales.

The Evil Dead series thrives on reinvention: each film in the franchise is notably different from the one before, and Army of Darkness is perhaps the most ambitious of them all. This is due to the noticeably increased budget, thanks to...

Rambo 3's alternate story was not only a better fit for the franchise, but it would have saved the filmmakers from several issues that plagued the final movie. Stallone was at the peak of his movie stardom in 1985, due to the twin successes (and excesses) of Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II. The titular soldier then became the poster boy for action cinema in the '80s, making another Rambo movie inevitable. Of course, Rambo 3 doubled down on what made the second entry so popular, meaning bigger explosions, a bigger bodycount and bigger muscles for Stallone.

Rambo 3 also held the record - albeit briefly - for the most expensive movie ever made. Speaking with Indie Film Hustle podcast, co-writer Sheldon Lettich recalled how he and Stallone settled on the Soviet-Afghan war as the storyline. Stallone had wanted to move away from jungles after the second movie,...

German distributor Tiberius Film has acquired the German-language territory rights and Polish distributor Media Squad has acquired the Poland rights for the upcoming action movie “Fight Pride,” repped by Iuvit Media Sales at the American Film Market.

Directed by Sheldon Lettich, and starring Daniel Stisen (“Last Man Down”), Michael Parè (“Gone”), Sara Pallini (“Catch 22”), Ralf Moeller (“The Tourist”), Natassia Malthe (“Electra”) and Seth Michaels (“Red Notice”), “Fight Pride” is the story of Yank, an outcast steel worker, searching for a sense of belonging, who befriends a bullied homeless boy, but turns brutal brawler after the daughter of a real estate tycoon recruits him to be her fighter in an underground fight league.

“Fight Pride” is inspired by the stage play “The Hairy Ape,” by Eugene O’Neill. Like O’Neill’s play, the story of Yank is a dramatic, character-driven journey of self-discovery of a societal outcast and abused...

As we eagerly anticipate the release of the latest Mortal Kombat movie, many find themselves looking back on Mortal Kombat’s 1995 big-screen debut. While that film has its charms and its fans (myself included), the movie has rightfully been criticized over the years for lacking many of the best qualities of the game as well as many of the best elements of the martial arts movies that clearly inspired it.

Of course, the relationship between Mortal Kombat and martial arts films has always been close. Not only did the game utilize a then-revolutionary form of motion capturing that gave it a standout cinematic look, but many aspects of the title were practically taken directly from some of the best and biggest martial arts movies of that era.

As the years go on, though, it becomes more and more clear that no martial arts movie impacted the development of Mortal Kombat more than Bloodsport.

In his latest interview/podcast, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks with writer/director Ross Boyask about his new film I Am Vengeance: Retaliation and a celebration of 5 Great Action Movies – which include:

Project A (1983) Dir. Jackie Chan & Sammo Kam-Bo Hung; written by Jackie Chan & Edward Tang; Jack Maeby (English adaptation) Revenge Of The Ninja (1983) Dir. Sam Fisterberg; written by James R Silke Commando (1985) Dir. Mark L Lester; written by Steven de Souza Roadhouse (1989) Dir. Rowdy Herrington; written by R Lance Hill and Hilary Henkin Double Impact (1991) Dir. Sheldon Lettich; written by Sheldon Lettich & Jean-Claude Van Damme

I Am Vengeance: Retaliation, starring Stu Bennett and Vinnie Jones, is available to rent on most VOD platforms and available to stream for free on Netflix UK.

There will never be another studio like the Cannon Group, the company co-owned by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who famously churned out dozens upon dozens of low-budget genre films in the 1980s. Though known for producing mostly schlock, the Cannon run of the ‘80s is one of my favorite periods for movies, probably because they made exactly the kinds of movies I grew up loving and still do to this day.

A shameless combination of Flashdance, The Exorcist, and a ninja movie, Ninja III: The Domination is the third installment of Cannon’s “ninja” trilogy, none of which have anything to do with one another except that Sho Kosugi appears in all of them, each time playing a totally different character. It begins as all ninja movies do: on a golf course. We’re then introduced to Lucinda Dickey (Breakin’), who stars as a woman who works on telephone...

Scream Factory takes viewers into a dystopian future of cannibal pirates, human/robot hybrids, and Jean-Claude Van Damme in their new Collector's Edition Blu-ray release of Cyborg, and with the cult 1989 sci-fi thriller out now on home video like never before, we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers!

---------

Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Collector's Edition Blu-ray copy of Cyborg.

How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:

1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:

https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/

2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to [email protected] with the subject “Cyborg Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on May 1st.

Jean-Claude Van Damme? Check. Cyborg hybrid? Check. Flesh-eating pirates? Check. On April 24th, Scream Factory will release the Collector's Edition of Cyborg (1989) on Blu-ray, and we have three high-def clips and a trailer from the sci-fi gem to share with Daily Dead readers:

Cyborg Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as the future's most fearsome warrior in this adrenaline-charged sci-fi thriller.

Deteriorating from a deadly plague, 21st-Century America is descending into a barbaric nightmare. Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a beautiful half human/half cyborg, has the knowledge necessary to develop a vaccine. But during her quest to gather data and bring the cure to the world, Pearl is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates who plot to keep the antidote for themselves and rule the world. Now, only saber-wielding hero Gibson Rickenbacker (Van Damme) can rescue her and save civilization.

Bonus Features

New 4K Scan From The Original Film...

Pitting Jean-Claude Van Damme against the Flesh Pirates, the 1989 sci-fi thriller Cyborg is coming out on a Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Scream Factory this April, and we have a look at the full list of special features, including several interviews and a new audio commentary from writer/director Albert Pyun:

Press Release: Los Angeles, CA – Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as the future’s most fearsome warrior in the adrenaline-charged sci-fi thriller Cyborg, available on Blu-ray in a Scream Factory Collector’s Edition set loaded with new bonus features, on April 24, 2018.

Deteriorating from a deadly plague, 21st-Century America is descending into a barbaric nightmare. Only Pearl Prophet (Dayle Haddon), a beautiful half human/half cyborg, has the knowledge necessary to develop a vaccine. But during her quest to gather data and bring the cure to the world, Pearl is captured by cannibalistic Flesh Pirates who plot to keep the antidote...

Director and documentarian Mark Hartley scores both a film history and comedy success with this ‘wild, untold’ account of the 1980s film studio that was both revered and despised by everyone who had contact with it. The ‘cast list’ of interviewees is encyclopedic, everybody has a strong opinion, and some of them don’t need four-letter words to describe their experience!

Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

On a double bill with

Machete Maidens Unleashed!

Blu-ray

Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region

2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99

Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...

Stars: Alexander Nevsky, Kristanna Loken, Adrian Paul, Robert Davi, Robert Madrid, Matthias Hues, Oksana Sidorenko, Emmanuil Vitorgan, Olga Rodionova, Polina Butorina | Written by Brent Huff, George Saunders | Directed by Alexander Nevsky

So let me get this straight; we have a brand-new direct to DVD film, the second feature from star/director Alexander Nevsky, who’s been dubbed the “Russian Schwarzenegger”, that is exec produced (and apparently re-written) by Sheldon Lettich, the writer/director of Awol, Double Impact and Only the Strong, and who also wrote Rambo 3 and Bloodsport. Not only that, the film stars a who’s who of 90s action including Adrian Paul, Robert Davi and – surprise, surprise – villainous action movie stalwart Matthias Hues. And… it comes from the writing team of Brent Huff, writer/director of the awesome 90s action flick The Bad Pack, which also starred Robert Davi; and George Saunders, who penned Bloodsport 4 and co-wrote the...

Shortly after running our last piece, How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with Frank Dux, the Real-Life Inspiration for Bloodsport, I was put in touch with Sheldon Lettich. This was significant not only because he wrote the screenplay for Bloodsport, but also because Dux had said some unflattering things about the writer. So when […]

The post How Did This Get Made: A Conversation with Sheldon Lettich, Screenwriter of Bloodsport appeared first on /Film.

Jean-Claude Van Damme: Double Impact (1991) ReviewStory65%Acting68%Action73%Directing72%Van Damage85%Lots of Van DamageVan Damme Times Two is a lot of funTruely early 90s vibe Cheesy as hell (but this can be seen as a good thing as well)Loses some speed during the end2016-02-2477%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (2 Votes)72%

Van Damme. Times Two. They`re damn quick. Damn cool. Damn hot.

Double the fun. And Double…. The Van Damage!

With the above stated words, audiences in 1991 were introduced to Double Impact, one of my personal favorite, if not my very favorite, Jean-Claude Van Damme film. Just fresh from the success of Bloodsport (1988), Kickboxer (1989), Lionheart (1990) and Death Warrant (1990) Double Impact was the next smash hit Van Damme had at the box office, making him a household name in the early 1990s. With split screen effects Van Damme is able to portray two roles; the role of twin brothers Chad and Alex.

American Sniper meets Lassie? We take a look at Max, which has quietly slipped into UK cinemas...

It feels like the dog movie might have had its day. Although we still get a few films every now and then where a canine performer plays a pivotal character, this once-booming genre bracket is largely reserved for the booming direct-to-video market- Disney's Air Buddies spin-off franchise is going strong and as of 2014, the Beethoven saga is up to its eighth instalment (and its fifth to skip cinemas.)

The unusual logline for Max appears to be 'American Sniper meets Lassie', but it's not without charm. With staggering earnestness, it plays out the tale of a Belgian Malinois called Max, (played by Carlos) whose Us Marine handler Kyle (Robbie Amell) is killed in action while apprehending a suicide bomber during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Brought back to the States from Afghanistan, Max has suffered...

Jingoistic propaganda and heart-tugging cornball melodrama about a dog with Ptsd. It’s how we are Enduring Freedom. God bless America. I’m “biast” (pro): love dogs

I’m “biast” (con): hate propaganda

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Like American Sniper, except about a dog, and with a Hardy Boys vibe. In Texas. At the Fourth of July.” I’m pretty sure that was how Max was pitched, and here we are. It would be bad enough if this jingoistic bit of propaganda had stuck to its literal flag-waving and heart-tugging cornball melodrama about a bomb-sniffing Marine dog with Ptsd (canine actor Carlos) and the teenage boy, Justin (Josh Wiggins: Hellion), grieving the death of his soldier brother, the dog’s handler (Robbie Amell: The Duff), who will help each other heal, natch. But that was not enough for writer (with Sheldon Lettich) and...

This shaggy tale of an army dog with Ptsd is more ideological treatise than family fare

This tonally barking mash-up of Lassie and Coming Home bequeaths a military sniffer dog with canine Ptsd to his fallen handler’s ingrate brother (Josh Wiggins), then watches as mutt schools sulky teen in duty and responsibility.

Thomas Haden Church and Lauren Graham give stoically professional turns as the kid’s God-fearing, flag-flying, thoroughly heteronormative folks – you never catch them sniggering – and director Boaz Yakin pulls off the best (read: only) kids-on-BMXs-defeat-grownups-with-guns finale since The Goonies. Yet with every clunking homily to obedience in the script by Rambo III’s Sheldon Lettich, Max starts to feel less like wholesome family entertainment and more like some ideological project.

Continue reading...

Chicago – From Rin-Tin-Tin to Lassie to Benji, American movie goers have loved the heroic dog. As the film “Max” throws its leash into the ring, the expectation was a dull family drama just about Max the dog himself. What a surprise to learn it was also a poignant meditation on people.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

And those people had to heal. What begins in a middle class Texas town, where a young man from there is serving in Afghanistan, ends with his family coming to terms with that war, and what is left behind. Max the dog is the catalyst for all this, and does an appropriate heroic turn, but what really becomes important in the story is what he symbolizes for a family, and how his presence will create a new presence in their own lives. This is a perfect example of how to take one part of a story situation – a...

.Max,. the movie about a heroic dog, arrives in theaters this weekend but is the movie good? And is it worth your time and money? One thing is certain, it will tug at your heartstrings.

Here.s the official synopsis for Max:

A military dog from Afghanistan is adopted by his late handler's grieving family in the U.S., where his close bond with the soldier's brother leads to a life-altering revelation in this family-friendly adventure from MGM and director Boaz Yakin (who penned the screenplay alongside writer Sheldon Lettich). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi...

If you've seen one dog movie, you've probably seen them all, and Boaz Yakin's (Remember the Titans) red-blooded, family-friendly military feature Max isn't going to give you much of anything you haven't seen before. There are dog antics, petty kids coming into their own through their new animal friends, family drama and an obvious villain who just can't have a dog mucking up their plans. It's repetitive, it's lazy, it's narratively tired and plain-faced, but, most of all, it's just plain boring. But it's also entirely inoffensive -- save for some cringe-worthy Mexican stereotypes -- and it's hard to necessarily get mad at a film as vanilla as this. It's tacky, but it's almost like kicking a dog. Literally. As overlong and overplayed as Yakin's movie is, it wears its purebred, red, white and blue intentions on its sleeve, and causing an uproar won't do anyone any good. Good or bad,...

Max Warner Bros Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B Director: Boaz Yakin Screenwriter: Boaz Yakin, Sheldon Lettich Cast: Josh Wiggins, Robbie Amell, Lauren Graham, Thomas Haden Church Screened at: Warner, NYC, 6/16/15 Opens: June 26, 2015 In much the way movies that would be rated “R” forty years ago are now given MPAA judgments of “PG-13,” what was considered “PG-13” then is now simply “PG.” This phenomenon is brought out by Boaz Yakin’s “Max,” about a boy and a dog, but not the Disney-esque sentimental pap in which nothing really sad occurs. Instead it’s full of explosions, gunplay, violent death, and assorted scares. Kids [ Read More ]

The post Max Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Chicago – Thomas Haden Church has the recognizable name, and a long career of character roles in comedy and drama. His laid-back persona gets a bit more intense as a conflicted father in the new film “Max,” about a military dog who comes home to an uncertain future with a grieving family.

What may look like a standard family film is actually an exploration of the mourning and the healing process, and the waste of war. Church is Ray Wincott, an early 1990s “Desert Storm” veteran, who sees his son Kyle (Robbie Arnell) follow in his Marine Corp footsteps to the Afghanistan conflict. One of the Kyle’s duties is to care for Max, a German Shepard who sniffs out bombs in the region. When Kyle is killed in action, Max is sent back to the Wincott family to get over his companion’s demise, but will only respond to Ray’s other son,...

Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 100 advance-screening movie seats up for grabs to the new family adventure “Max” about a veteran military service dog!

If you win, choose between a family 4-pack of tickets or admit-twos!

“Max,” which opens on June 26, 2015 and is rated “PG,” stars Josh Wiggins, Lauren Graham, Thomas Haden Church, Robbie Amell, Luke Kleintank, Mia Xitlali, Dejon Laquake, Jay Hernandez and Owen Harn from writer and director Boaz Yakin (“Remember the Titans”), writer Sheldon Lettich and a producer of “Marley & Me”.

To win your free passes to “Max” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our social media widget below. That’s it! This screening is on Monday, June 22, 2015 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! Completing these social actions only increases your odds of...

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the new video of Blake Shelton’s version of “Forever Young” from the Max movie soundtrack. Check it out, along with the new TV spot, below.

A precision-trained military dog, Max serves on the frontlines in Afghanistan alongside his handler, U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott. But when things go terribly wrong on maneuvers, Kyle is mortally wounded and Max, traumatized by the loss of his best friend, is unable to remain in service.

Sent stateside, the only human he seems willing to connect with is Kyle’s teenage brother, Justin, so Max is saved when he is adopted by Kyle’s family. But Justin has issues of his own, including living up to his father’s expectations, and he isn’t interested in taking responsibility for his brother’s troubled dog. However, Max may be Justin’s only chance to discover what really happened to...

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the first TV spot for Max, a family action adventure from writer/director Boaz Yakin (“Remember the Titans), starring Josh Wiggins, Lauren Graham and Thomas Haden Church.

Blake Shelton’s special version of “Forever Young” from the ‪Max Movie‬ soundtrack is now available on iTunes! Get it now: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/forever-young-single/id998028981

A precision-trained military dog, Max serves on the frontlines in Afghanistan alongside his handler, U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott. But when things go terribly wrong on maneuvers, Kyle is mortally wounded and Max, traumatized by the loss of his best friend, is unable to remain in service.

Sent stateside, the only human he seems willing to connect with is Kyle’s teenage brother, Justin, so Max is saved when he is adopted by Kyle’s family. But Justin has issues of his own, including living up to his father’s expectations,...

Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, Ashley Johnson. Brian Thompson, Voyo Goric, Michel Qissi, George McDaniel, Eric Karson, Ash Adams, William T. Amos, Roz Bosley, Dennis Rucker, Billy Blanks | Written by Sheldon Lettich, Jean-Claude Van Damme | Directed by Sheldon Lettich

When looking at eighties action heroes Jean-Claude Van Damme managed to make a name for himself in a genre built upon already big names and even bigger egos. Although A.W.O.L. (aka Lionheart) was released in 1990 I think it is fair to still class it as an eighties movie, the fashions shown on-screen pretty much confirm it (they are bad). Released this week on Blu-ray as part of 101 Films Cult Movie Collection it stands as a perfect example of everything that made Van Damme a star of the action genre.

When Lyon Gaultier discovers his brother is injured and the Foreign Legion with which...

The story of a boy and his dog is never out of favor with audiences, and the tear-jerking factor gets even more potent when the story includes heartbreak and war-produced tragedy. MGM and Warner Bros.’ latest film, “Max,” features just that. The film is directed by Boaz Yakin and written by Yakin and Sheldon Lettich and stars Robbie Amell, Jay Hernandez (who was just announced as the latest castmember in “Suicide Squad”), Thomas Haden Church, Lauren Graham, Josh Wiggins and Luke Kleintank. The film focuses on the life of a teenage boy who comes to grips with loss through the help of his brother’s dog. “A coming-of-age story about a [ Read More ]

The post A Dog Helps Grieving Teen in Max, Coming to Theaters This June appeared first on Shockya.com.

One heroic dog helps a grieving family heal in a trailer for family drama Max.

Lauren Graham and Thomas Haden Church play parents who take a war dog into their home following the death of their soldier son (The Flash's Robbie Amell) in a combat mission.

The dog Max forms a bond with the couple's introverted teenage son (Josh Wiggins), and the two team up when the boy's father is abducted.

The family drama also features Friday Night Lights star Jay Hernandez as a veteran who had a close bond with the family's lost son.

Remember the Titans director Boaz Yakin collaborated with Us Marine veteran Sheldon Lettich (Bloodsport) on the screenplay for Max.

Max will open on June 26 in the Us.

“The nose of a dog, the heart of a Marine – sounds like a Hero to me.”

Warner Bros. Pictures and MGM have released the first trailer and poster for the upcoming family drama Max.

A military working dog Max returns from service in Afghanistan after his handler’s death. He’s adopted by the man’s family to help the grieving family heal.

Have your tissues ready.

A precision-trained military dog, Max serves on the frontlines in Afghanistan, alongside his handler, U.S. Marine Kyle Wincott. But when things go terribly wrong on maneuvers, Kyle is mortally wounded and Max, traumatized by the loss of his best friend, is unable to remain in service.

Shipped stateside, the only human he seems willing to connect with is Kyle’s teenage brother, Justin, so Max is adopted by Kyle’s family, essentially saving his life. But Justin has issues of his own,...

"Animals can come down with post-traumatic stress the same as people can." If for some reason you thought American Sniper would be better with a dog than Bradley Cooper, we have some good news. Max is just that, as the film from Remember the Titans director Boaz Yakin follows a dog who has just returned from being a military canine in Afghanistan, but has trouble adjusting to life back in a family's home. It's literally the same kind of war drama we've seen before, but through the eyes of man's best friend. It has some flares of E.T. and Air Bud along with the typical Ptsd drama, but it does look pretty cheesy. Watch? Here's the first official trailer for Boaz Yakin's Max, originally from Yahoo: Max is directed by Boaz Yakin (Safe, Remember the Titans) from a script he wrote with Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact, Bloodsport). The story...

For the second consecutive year, Warner Bros. Pictures International has exceeded the coveted $3 billion mark at the international box office. This benchmark comes on the heels of the release of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, which surpassed $400 million at the international box office this weekend and is still going strong.

Nine Warner Bros. Pictures films have exceeded $100 million internationally, topped by Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (with Paramount Pictures), which has taken in an astounding $467 million outside of the U.S. to date, and Godzilla (with Legendary Pictures), which has earned $327 million overseas.

Four titles – Doug Liman’s Edge Of Tomorrow (with Village Roadshow Pictures), Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s The Lego Movie (also with Village Roadshow Pictures), and Noam Murro and Zack Snyder’s 300: Rise Of An Empire (with Legendary), along with the 2014 spillover grosses from The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug...

“Army Wives” alum Joseph Julian Soria has joined the cast of MGM's family adventure film “Max,” which Boaz Yakin is directing from a script he co-wrote with Sheldon Lettich, TheWrap has learned. Story follows a military dog left traumatized by his handler's death in Afghanistan. Adopted by the soldier's bereaved family, the dog bonds with the soldier's troubled 14-year-old brother (Josh Wiggins, “Hellion”), and together they begin to heal one another. Also read: Andy Garcia Joins ‘Max Steel’ in Pivotal Role as Mysterious Scientist Soria will play Emilio, a tough gangster who crosses path with the titular animal. Karen Rosenfelt and Ken Blancato are.

Max

Lauren Graham ("Parenthood," "Gilmore Girls") will join Josh Wiggins, Thomas Haden Church and Jay Hernandez in Boaz Yakin's family adventure "Max" at MGM. Filming begins in May in North Carolina. Graham will play the lead boy's mother, a woman who lost her eldest son to war but now has to heal her youngest.

Yakin and Sheldon Lettich co-wrote the script about a military dog traumatized by his handler's death in Afghanistan and is adopted by the soldier's bereaved family. He bonds with the soldier's troubled 14-year-old brother (Wiggins), and together they begin to heal one another and discover a secret about the soldier's death. [Source: THR]

Scouts vs. Zombies

Sarah Dumont has scored the female lead in Christopher Landon's horror comedy "Scouts vs. Zombies" at Paramount Pictures. Dumont plays a high school dropout that has guys panting and who will ultimately teach the scouts to man up in their fight.

Newcomer Josh Wiggins stole scenes from the likes of Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis in Kat Candler’s family drama Hellion after being plucked from YouTube obscurity.

Now, the 15-year-old Texas native is set for his first big, starring role in the family adventure Max. Inspired by true events, Max tells the story of a Belgian Shepherd working in Afghanistan alongside Marines. When his handler is killed, the man’s devastated family adopts the dog — erratic and still suffering from the traumas of war — who ends up bonding with and helping their troubled 14-year-old son, Justin (Wiggins).

Remember the Titans...

After scripting this year's Now You See Me, Deadline reports writer and director Boaz Yakin has lined up a family adventure at MGM. Yakin has directed a variety of films from the respected Remember the Titans to forgotten films like Uptown Girls and the 2012 Jason Statham thriller Safe. Now he's set to direct Max, a film Yakin will write with Sheldon Lettich. Inspired by true events, the film takes cues from Lassie and Benji as it follows a Belgian Shepherd Malinois military dog returns from active service in Afghanistan traumatized by his handler’s death. Though dangerous, Max still ends up adopted by the mourning family. Of course, the tense and traumatized dog ends up bonding with the deceased Marine's 14-year-old brother. Somehow, the dog and his new teenage companion unravel a secret behind his brother’s death and pull a family together again. This has all the makings of...

Boaz Yakin ("Remember The Titans") has been set to direct the true story family adventure film "Max" which begins filming March 1st. Yakin is writing the script with Sheldon Lettich

The story follows a Belgian Shepherd Malinois military working dog who returns from active service in Afghanistan traumatized by his handler’s death. Adopted by the bereaved family, the dog bonds with the Marine’s troubled 14-year old brother and together they unravel the mystery about the death.

In other directorial news, "Kill Your Darlings" helmer John Krokidas has been set to helm "Standard Loneliness Package," a film adaptation of the short story by Charles Yu. Keith Bunin is adapting the script.

The story follows a recent college graduate who gets an entry-level job at a tech company where he’s paid to experience painful events in other people’s lives. He falls desperately in love with his boss, and...

Exclusive: Boaz Yakin has been set to direct Max, an original family adventure film that will begin production March 1. Yakin is writing the script with Sheldon Lettich and he will be exec producer. It’s Yakin’s first family film since Remember The Titans. He most recently wrote Now You See Me. Sunswept Entertainment’s Karen Rosenfelt is producing, while MGM‘s Jonathan Glickman and Cassidy Lange are overseeing. The film is inspired by true events. A Belgian Shepherd Malinois military working dog returns from active service in Afghanistan traumatized by his handler’s death. Erratic and dangerous, Max is adopted by the bereaved family and bonds with the Marine’s troubled 14-year old brother. Together they unravel the secret behind his brother’s death and pull a family together again. Yakin is repped by ICM Partners.

“If images don’t do anything in this culture,” I said, plunging on, “if they haven’t done anything, then why are we sitting here in the twilight of the twentieth century talking about them? And if they only do things after we have talked about them, then they aren’t doing them, we are. Therefore, if our criticism aspires to anything beyond soft-science, the efficacy of images must be the cause of criticism, and not its consequence—the subject of criticism and not its object. And this,” I concluded rather grandly, “is why I direct your attention to the language of visual affect—to the rhetoric of how things look—to the iconography of desire—in a word, to beauty!” I made a voilá gesture for punctuation, but to no avail. People were quietly filing out.  —Dave Hickey, The Invisible Dragon.

“Originally, the embeddedness of an artwork in the...

Born in the Big Apple in january of 1951, Sheldon Lettich moved with his family to the West Coast at a young age. After finishing High School, he joined the Marine Corps, serving his country for four years, one of them as a Radio Operator in Vietnam.

Partially based upon his experiences in Southeast Asia, he co-authored Tracers, a play seen in the Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and London stages, to great acclaim; It subsequently won the prestigious Drama Desk and L.A. Drama Critics Awards.

The writing of screenplays seemed like a natural progression and his writing eventually began attracting the attention of many Hollywood producers.

Since then, Lettich has become known as expert in testosterone-driven action extravaganzas, many of the films starring some of the silver screen´s best-loved slugfest protagonists: Sylvester Stallone (Sheldon shared screenwriting credit with Sly in the third cinematic episode of the Rambo series,...

Do you feel that The Expendables 2 just isn’t going to provide enough Jcvd to satisfy your needs? Don’t worry, because Jean-Claude Van Damme is preparing to double up with a sequel to the ’90s action classic Double Impact, according to reports from NextMovie. They have word from Van Damme’s own mouth that he has completed the script to the sequel in collaboration with his longtime partner, writer and director of Double Impact, Sheldon Lettich.

Blast-from-the-past day continues here at Movies.com – first it was the potential return of Bill & Ted, and now we bring you the latest on Jean Claude Van Damme’s attempt to turn 1991’s Double Impact into an action franchise. What’s next – the return of Commando? Van Damme, who’s currently doing publicity for his appearance in The Expendables 2, told website Next Movie that he’s reteamed with screenwriter Sheldon Lettich to pen a follow-up adventure for the pair of butt-kicking siblings who wind up on opposite sides of the law. “I wrote the script with a friend of mine, Sheldon – he [cowrote] Bloodsport and Double Impact with me. Hopefully, somebody smart enough, like an agent or a producer, can put that back...

Read More...

Directed by: Josh Becker

Written by: Josh Becker, Scott Spiegel, Sheldon Lettich, Bruce Campbell

Starring: Brian Shulz, Sam Raimi, Robert Rickman, John Manfredi, Tim Quill

The cracked fever dream of a movie titled Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except is best known for its impressive Evil Dead pedigree, featuring several key players from that classic indie film both in front of and behind the camera.

Spearheaded by Josh Becker (who worked on The Evil Dead ’s second unit) and Scott Spiegel (co-writer of Evil Dead 2), this “Marines vs. the Manson family” saga from 1985 has built a solid cult of its own over the years. Much like The Evil Dead, it began as a short film made to raise funds for a feature-length production. The shot-on-8mm Stryker’s War (also the alternate title for the feature) starred Bruce Campbell as Sergeant Stryker and included much of the same plot and dialogue.

★★★☆☆ Twenty years after its original cinema release, Sheldon Lettich's Double Impact (1991) gets another DVD release courtesy of Second Sight Media. Double Impact (not to be confused with the awful Double Team [1997]) is commonly viewed as one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's best movies and tells the story of twins Alex and Chad Wagner (both played by the 'Muscles from Brussels') who are separated when their parents are killed by a gang, but reunite years later to take down the murderers.

Read more »...

While Jean-Claude Van Damme now prefers to make narcissistic reality TV shows I had the chance to revisit one of his earlier works this week as Double Impact returns to DVD on 19th September. Made in 1991, Double Impact marked Van Damme’s first foray into the acting challenge of the dual role, here playing twin brothers separated at birth and distinguished by slightly different hairstyles.

Van Damme plays Chad and Alex Wagner who are separated as infants when their parents are brutally murdered by members of a Hong Kong criminal cartel. 25 years later, Chad has moved to California via Paris, by way of explanation for his unusual accent, to become a karate teacher and Alex, who stayed in Hong Kong, has become involved in the criminal underworld. The pair are reunited in Hong Kong by the family bodyguard Frank (Geoffrey Lewis – Every Which Way But Loose) with a plan to...

Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables was a surprise hit last summer, thanks in large part to the all-star cast that he managed to recruit for the film. It was packed with action stars from both past and present, but there were still a few big names that were notably absent -- people like Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. While Seagal would eventually end up in Machete instead, Jcvd was supposedly offered a role in The Expendables, but decided to turn it down because the character was not very well written. Now it appears that he may have had a change of heart, because it is being reported around the web that he will be appearing in The Expendables 2. According to a post on The Van Damme Fans [1] message board, long time Jcvd collaborator Sheldon Lettich (Double Impact, Bloodsport) has revealed that he will play a villain in The Expendables 2.

Source: FilmShaft - Van Damme To Fight In ‘The Expendables 2′?

In a move that increases the meat factor by at least 20%, Jean Claude Van Damme fansite Vandammefan.net has reignited rumours that the action star will be appearing in The Expendables 2. The site was told by Sheldon Lettich - writer of ‘Rambo III’ and a close friend of Van Damme - that the actor has been signed up to play a bad guy in the sequel to the 2010 film.

The film’s predecessor – a huge hit in the Us, UK and China – featured the raw muscular magic of 80s heavyweights Sylvester Stallone, Dolph “dead eyes” Lundgren and Mickey Rourke, as well as the redneck beer chugging “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and cameos from Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Although it received a critical battering, the film’s worldwide commercial success all but guaranteed a sequel, and with star...

If the latest reports are to be believed, Jean-Claude Van Damme is joining Sylvester Stallone and co. in The Expendables sequel.

Having turned down a role in the first Expendables film, Van Damme seems to have been swayed by Sylvester Stallone to take part, in the wake of the first movie’s commercial success.

In a web Q&A hosted by VanDammeFan, The Muscles from Brussel's collaborator, Sheldon Lettich confirmed that his Belgian pal has signed on to play a baddie in The Expendables 2.

Lettich said, “He said he's going to be in The Expendables 2, playing a villain.”

Sylvester Stallone - who wrote and directed the first film - will not return as writer or director. It is unknown who will pen the script and take charge of the supreme heavyweight cast and at this stage.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to confirm his involvement in The Expendables 2,...

If the rumour mill is right, then Jean-Claude Van Damme is joining the festival of testosterone that is Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables 2…

For the past few months, as Sylvester Stallone has overseen the coming together of the assorted parts for The Expendables 2, the involvement of Jean-Claude Van Damme this time around has become more strongly rumoured. In fact, all concerned seemed to suggest that this was going to happen.

And guess what? It looks like they were right.

Over at VanDammeFan, posters there got a chance to pop questions to Van Damme's regular collaborator, Sheldon Lettich, and it was he who confirmed the news that Jcvd will be in The Expendables 2. In the words of Lettich, "He said he's going to be in The Expendables 2, playing a villain."

Furthermore, Bruce Willis is reported to be returning for the sequel, too.

As things stand, Sylvester Stallone is not directing the movie,...