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Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone (2021)
Green Ghost Lost
Was it worth the wait? The first Green Ghost trailer was uploaded to YouTube in 2016, giving the impression of a brawl tournament type of movie. In the trailer, Charlie Clark/Green Ghost was actually featured and named last. A few years later a second trailer surfaced which was a bit longer than the previous one and again, made it look like a fight tournament movie. Both trailers have been removed by Charlie Clark ever since.
Well, Green Ghost and the Master of the Stone is nothing like the two old trailers suggested, and it is nothing like the campy but fun zero budget Green Ghost mini series from the, I assume 2000s, also starring Charlie Clark.
The movie version is a PG-13 rated action adventure martial arts fantasy family comedy, and it is a drag. The plot is silly, the characters are shallow and the fights are mostly overlong and look like a martial arts stunt demonstration. I didn't care for the fantasy elements, I'm here for the fights and they are literally lacking punch. If anything, the best fight was the first fight with Bobby Lashley. What should've been the highlight was Marko Zaror vs. Cain Velasquez, but it turned out to be the worst fight. I don't even remember if Charlie Clark/Green Ghost had any fights at all. In the mini series he was beating up and knocking out huge muscle guys by the minute. In the movie version he is in training, like the Karate Kid.
There's really nothing else to say about this film. It's not good and not memorable. If you like Danny Trejo it might be worth a rental but watch at own risk.
The Liberator (2017)
Battered Hero: Taking a closer look at the fights
Reviewing fight scenes involving the Liberator only. I should note that our hero The Liberator (Ben Lettieri) not only beats up people but he also takes several beatings as well. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. He never dominates any of the fights from start to finish, and he never really kicks ass in a traditional way. He's not tormented by dark secrets, and he certainly is not the underdog type (he is actually taller than most of the cast) and he sometime needs help to make it through a fight. Which I thought was very odd for a main character. Lettieri is probably one of the most average and flawed action heroes to hit the screen.
Fight #1 - The Liberator vs. Baldy
Drawn out club interrogation. Not really a fight even though Baldy takes a fighting stance, the Liberator back-fist punches and later k.o.-slaps the guy. Obviously made for comedic reasons.
Fight #2 - The Liberator vs. Tight Shirt
The only opponent that matches the Liberator physically and in skillz. One of the better fights that sees the Liberator taking several hits and even landing on the floor. Tight Shirt is finished off with a series of elbow blows. Very unusual technique to knock somebody out but hey, whatever works. Detaching half point for not showing the final k.o. Blows.
Great Opponent Casting: 4/5 - Very Good Fight: 3.5/5
Fight #3 - The Liberator vs. Big Muscles (The Liberator gets his ass kicked Part 1)
Your classic novelity fight done strictly by cliche textbook rules. Big Muscles seems unbeatable, immune to every punch. He manhandles the Liberator, and the Liberator is all wide-eyed and says "oooof" and "whoa" because, you know, Big Muscles is so strong. After BM had his fun it is the Liberator's turn to dish out and wouldn't you know it, Big Muscles is actually easy to defeat. All it took was a few kicks and a punch to the crotch to get him dazed. In the movies most idiotic moment Big Muscles pulls out a pair of nunchucks from his sweat pants. Of course he is disarmed in a fraction of a second and the Liberator gets to show off his nunchuck skillz. After his demo he finishes BM with the weapon, leaving him in a pool of blood. In the movie's second most idiotic moment the Liberator coughs up and spits out a gallon of blood. They didn't want to end the scene with BM in a pool of blood. It would have made the Liberator look like a cold blooded killer. So he all of sudden coughs up blood only to show that "hey, he made me bleed, too!", justifying the bloody violence. It's stupid stuff like that adding to the many flaws of the movie.
Robster Le Monster (Big Muscles) is a bodybuilder turned wrestler and he is the only person in the film with a memorable onscreen presence. Too bad he was wasted in a bad cliche fight.
Perfect Opponent Casting: 5/5 - Very Bad Cliche Fight: 0.5/5.
Fight #4 - Friendly but rough sparring with a much smaller friend. (The Liberator gets his ass kicked Part 2)
Some sort of friendly kickbox sparring with a friend. The purpose of this scene was to give the small guy a chance to show off his skillz. He gets to roughen up the Liberator a bit (no real hits or punches), and the Liberator then acrually taps out of the fight because the small guy is so good.
Fight #5: The Liberator knocks out random hoodie dude.
Fight #6: The Liberator vs. Blondie (1) (The Liberator gets his ass kicked Part 3)
Blondie (a.k.a. "Skinny Arms") dazing the Liberator with a couple of punches and then defeating him with a bpdy slam. Just a warm up for the big showdown and to show that the Liberator not only bleeds, but can be easily defeated as well.
Fair Opponent Casting: 2/5 - Fair Fight: 2/5.
Fight #7: The Liberator vs. Fatty (The Liberator gets his ass kicked Part 4)
Probably the most pointless fight. I didn't like this one because the opponent was the worst opponent in the entire movie. Couldn't they do better? Casting? Hello? They made Fatty look like a dangerous fighting machine with mad weapon skillz. He gets to act like Mike Tyson and beats up and drops the Liberator with a series of punches. This scene made me laugh. Fatty is knocked out with an elbow blow to the top of his head.
Awful Opponent Casting: 0/5 - Awful (Pointless) Fight: 0/5.
Fight #8: The Liberator vs. Masked Men (The Liberator gets his ass kicked Part 5)
Three masked men destroy the Liberator in a staircase fight. The Liberator's little sparring friend comes to the rescue. Not really a fight, rather a quick beatdown with the masked men kicking and stomping on the Liberator laying on the ground. The little friend than has to hold and carry the Liberator because the Liberator is still reeling from the beatdown.
Fight #9: The Liberator vs. A bunch of baddies
The Liberator and his small friend beat up a few bad guys. Nothing special, nothing stood out. The little friend helps out the Liberator struggling with an opponent. At this point I was thinking why didn't they just cast the little guy as the Liberator? He is obviously the better fighter.
Fight #10: The Liberator vs. Blondie (2)
No shirtless fighting, and no weird techniques and silly weapons in the final fight. Whatever was lacking in previous fights they packed it all in the final battle. Any movie that shows slow-mo punches to the jaw gets a thumbs up from me. Sadly the end fight is interrupted by two lame side fights, cutting back and forth. Very distracting, very annoying. Imagine The Way of The Dragon, Bruce vs. Chuck, and they interrupt the fight with another silly fight. Ugh. Anyway, the final fight would have been perfect but I had two issues. Mainly, the finisher: kicks followed by an chest kick. I don't mind kicks when done right. Technically, they were fine but van Damme vs. Bolo set the standard but I guess they didn't get the memo. The lack of detail (close up) during the kicks was disappointing. The way it was shot looked more like your average stuntmen demonstrating kicks. I was simply not feeling it. The biggest issue was the final chest kick. Who ends a fight with a chest kick? Blondie wasn't even knocked out, so he could hear whatever the Liberator had to say to him. Yawn. Very frustrating fight ending to say the least. As Idris Elba once said: "The most satisfying feeling you'll ever get is to knock out your opponent"
Excellent Fight: 4.5/5
and as Scott Adkins once said about these kind of fight finishers:
"He went out like a biatch"
with that said, The Liberator is a good bad movie. I really hope Ben Lettieri will do more.
Christmas with a View (2018)
The Three Hunks of Christmas
Clara, a restaurant manager at a ski resort starts a bumpy but tender romance with hired reality-show chef Hunk-Shane (he breaks eggs and hearts), who is on a secret mission to uncover a sweet holiday secret of his dead parents. Meanwhile, Clara has confusing feelings for her hunky boss Huge err Hugh who turns out to be a double crossing Grinch. Clara seeks advice from co-worker and bestie Bonnie who is occupied with her new hunky boyfriend Clive. Clara's mom Lydia isn't much of help either - too busy building gingerbread houses and serving bagels with lox for breakfast. This all spirals into a happy ending with Clive and Shane taking off their shirts for no reason.
Holiday squirt from Netflix with the usual unrealistic altered universe ingredients. The christmas setting is lavish, the snow is real (Canada). There is usage of a fake green screen snowy mountains backdrop though, but Vivica A. Fox's (Lydia) holiday attire is remarkable. The rest is a christmas slow burn of sweet nothings with some of the most mundane dialoge ever. In other words, recommended.
Firmin (2007)
Entertaining fluff
Firmin, a retired boxing champ, becomes a mentor for young boxer Mohammed. Soon enough Mohammed rises to the top but is drained of motivation before an important fight after a dispute with Firmin.
Watchable underdog boxing dramady based on a fictional comedy sketch character named Firmin. Plenty of sympathetic characters and decent choreographed bouts including real life MMA fighters Jurgen Goemans, Makusu Kimfuta and Ben "Mr. Perfect" Dandois as Mohammed's boxing opponents.
Horror of the Hungry Humongous Hungan (1991)
Tromatized Trash
Where to begin? Mad scientists create creature made of body parts from the dead. Soon enough this re-animated thing with a deadly claw (ala Freddy Krueger) goes on a roaring rampage of human mutilation while spitting radioactive liquid. Meanwhile some teenage chick is having premonitions of said creature, but she still joins her friends on a camping trip in the woods. Doomed! Yes, this is a Z-grade hot mess, but I must admit it comes with a certain charm. The entire movie feels like a friends and family production filmed in rural county in the mid 1980s (Nightmare on Elm Street, Bruce Springsteen and Pee-wee Herman references), and most of the young male cast are shown shirtless sporting horrible mullets (short in the front, long in the back). A cheesy time capsule worth a watch if you dig local backyard filmmaking with home movie qualities.