Okay, okay, okay…. so I took the summer off.  Don’t be hating.  But I’m back – and I got something neat for you.

At the Toronto Film Festival – checked out the martial arts film THE RAID from director Gareth Huw Evans based on all the buzz I’ve been seeing on AICN and BADASS DIGEST.  It’s completely awesome and violent and intense – even from the very front row – and I may even write up some things about it later.  Audience broke out into applause several times from the awesome action on display.  Worth all the hype it’s going to get.

At the Q&A, the director and two of the lead actors were there, and a woman from the back asked the last question – “could we get a display of the martial arts right here?”

And they obliged.  First time in awhile I was superglad to be in the very front row, ’cause here’s some video of the film’s breakout star Iko Uwais showing off his skills from my really inadequate cell phone:

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Dude – his moves were so good that they created real life sound effects.  Now THAT is badass.

Oh – and the woman who requested the demo? Got an actual SWAT vest used in the film as a thank you.

Check out THE RAID when you can – since they said in the Q&A that they’re working on a sequel based on this guy’s character (which you could guess from the way the story was going) – you’ll be seeing a lot more of these guys soon.

Allow it.

Just a quickie post for everyone before the big Memorial Day weekend.  I’ve got a lot of side projects going on right now that’s keeping me full on busy, but Devin over at CHUD threw this YouTube vid up, and it’s pretty damn hilarious.    More than funny, it’s kind of a good poke at how studios are really straining to find new superheroes to put out in movies.

Back when I heard there was a GREEN LANTERN movie in the works… I thought it was ridiculous.  It’s kind of a silly yet cool power – to use a lantern to create things from will – yet as epic as it can potentially be… I always thought it was weird when GL made a big huge green fist that flew threw the air and hit people.  Like he’d run out of ideas, then all of a sudden hit someone with a thirty foot glowing green pie-in-the-face. But that’s just me.

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Let’s get into ATTACK THE BLOCK.

First off, I’d like to thank Mr. Beaks from AINTITCOOLNEWS.COM for arranging this free screening at the Landmark Theaters.  Haven’t met him or anything, and he sure doesn’t know me, but that’s where I found out about the ATTACK THE BLOCK, and thanks to him, I think I just saw my new favorite movie of 2011.  Here’s a brief rundown of the plot:

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We live in a very interesting age.

Growing up, it used to be set in stone that sequels hardly ever lived up to the original, and even more widely believed that a film franchise was almost expected to deteriorate in quality over time (POLICE ACADEMY anyone?).

Not so anymore.

As the Harry Potter series comes to a close this summer, many have commented on how the series feels to have gotten stronger as the story continued.  Many also counted the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film series to have run out of steam, but with MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL underway with Brad Bird at the helm, it seems that franchise is finally figuring out its’ stride as well.

FAST FIVE is hitting theaters this weekend, and having just checked it out at the Arclight Cineramadome in Hollywood, it seems the franchise just got a bigger poker chip in the big game.

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ATTACK OF THE BLOCK – the British sci-fi action comedy about a bunch of street kids who have to defend their city block from an alien invasion – is already drawing a lot of buzz, as well as comparisons to SHAUN OF THE DEAD and the like, so color me interested. The film’s scheduled for release in the UK this May, and now, according to an article from Complex, ATTACK OF THE BLOCK has just secured U.S. distribution with Screen Gems.  Click HERE for further details.

There’s no release date in the U.S. set yet, but judging from this trailer, it’s got a very modern 80’s vibe going, and based on that and SUPER 8’s impending domination… I really like the way this trend’s starting to shape up.

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