Action & Adventure Movies

John Bianco directed this straight-to-video crime thriller, about four friends who undertake a high-risk diamond heist. The plan soon goes awry, and the perpetrators must evade both the Mafia and the police; meanwhile, mistrust and betrayal erupt among the thieves and threaten to tear them apart. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Wings, the first feature film to win an Academy Award, tends to disappoint a little when seen today. Too much time is afforded the wheezy old plotline about two World War I aviators (Buddy Rogers, Richard Arlen) in love with the same woman (Jobyna Ralston), while the comedy relief of El Brendel is decidedly not to everyone's taste. But during the aerial "dogfight" sequences, the film is something else again: a grand-scale spectacular, the likes of which has never been duplicated, not even by more expensive efforts like Hell's Angels (1930) and The Blue Max (1965). Twenty-eight-year-old director William Wellman, himself a wartime aviator, was fortunate enough to have the full cooperation of the US War department at his disposal (even though his legendary temper nearly lost him that cooperation on more than one occasion!) Brilliantly handled though the aerial scenes may be, they are matched by the Earthbound combat sequences, including the now-famous shot of a long trench caving in on hundreds of unfortunate doughboys. The storyline is as follows: Jack Powell (Rogers) and David Armstrong () hate each other during basic training, grow to like each other, and fall out again while competing for the affections of Sylvia Lewis (Ralston). Mary Preston (Clara Bow) sacrifices her own nursing career to save a drunken Powell from disgrace, Powell goes on a rampage when he believes his pal Armstrong has been killed, inadvertently shoots down Armstrong while decimating the German air corps, and is finally reunited with the nurse. Wrapped up in nurse's garb throughout most of the film, the ebullient Clara Bow is permitted a sequence in which, disguised as a Parisian floozie while trying to rescue a revelling Rogers, she displays a great deal of epidermis. One of the film's chief claims to fame is its "introduction" of Gary Cooper (who'd actually been in films since the early 1920s), in a brief but crucial role as veteran flyer with a cheerily fatalistic attitude. When originally released, Wings included a sequence lensed in the wide-screen "Magnascope" process; even when seen "flat", however, the film contains some of the best flying sequences ever captured on celluloid. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In Extreme Blows of Fate the Just Milieu Bring Death mingles real documentary footage covering contemporary (1975) German politics with a spoof of spy stories. The stories include: a woman prostitute who gets even with men by stealing their wallets and cars, and a female Marxist spy who is so boring to her handler that she gets fired. The Miss Germany beauty pageant is one of the settings in which these stories take place. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The skillful Ma Teng (Ti Lung) has discovered a method of defeating the dreaded Flying Guillotine, prompting the emperor to develop a more lethal version of the weapon and putting it in the hands of his fierce female warriors. Now, in order to defeat the nefarious emperor, Ma must create a deadly new weapon capable of unparalleled destruction. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

O'Malley (Tom Selleck) is a heavy-drinking, tough biplane pilot flying the skies of China for fun and profit when Eve (Bess Armstrong) seeks him out to help her find her father before he is declared dead and she loses an inheritance to the evil Bentik (Robert Morley). O'Malley does not really want Eve around, but adventure and the challenge beckon. If only their journey together had been sparked by a little excitement, clever humor, snappy dialogue, and seductive romantic chemistry, this bland film would be a different trip altogether. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Blue Lightning stars Sam Elliot as an American private eye operating in the Australian outback. Robert Culp is co-starred as a super-criminal in search of a valuable opal. Culp is forced to fight the ethically suspect Elliot for possession of the gem, while Rebecca Gilling vacillates as the heroine. Written by William P. Kelley, who won an Oscar for Witness but no awards for this, Blue Lightning has the distinct aroma of a busted TV pilot. It was first telecast May 7, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A sexy federal agent teams with a timid shaman to defeat a drug-fueled satanic cult that's been carving up the citizens of Mexico City, and draining their blood for the Prince of Darkness. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director Jingle Ma (Tokyo Raiders) puts a fantasy twist on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in tale of star crossed lovers starring Charlene Choi and Chun Wu. Posing as a boy to train in a renowned Chinese martial arts academy that doesn't accept women, Zhu Yanzhi (Charlene Choi) forms a strong bond with her superior Liang (Chun Wu) that soon evolves into something deeper. Later, when Zhu returns home and reveals her true identity, her burgeoning relationship with Liang is threatened when her parents arrange for her to marry Ma Wencai (Ge Hu). As the wedding date draws near, Zhu and Liang watch helplessly as their hope for a happy future drifts ever further out of reach. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A Qatar engineer moves to Thailand and becomes a Muay Thai fighter, only to find that winning in the ring won't be his biggest challenge in this action {\drama] inspired by actual events. Ahmad Al-Sulaiti was a hard working man stuck in a go-nowhere job. Fired by his abusive employer and with no other job prospects, Ahmad travels to Bangkok to try his luck as a fighter. Just when it looks as if his luck has run out, kindly Apidej and his granddaughter Katoon invite Ahmed to train at their traditional Muay Thai fighting camp. Later recruited to fight in an underground match against K-1 champion Kaoklai Kanorasing, the determined foreigner realizes that the rules favor home grown champs over scrappy newcomers. Now if Ahmad can just prove himself to the people who put their trust in him, he'll be on his way to becoming a true champion. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Three young detectives take on the biggest case of their career after receiving an invitation to South Africa as the popular series of adventure novels makes the leap to the big screen. As the adventure gets underway, the Three Detectives race to help a desperate young girl from Cape Town, and capture a ruthless treasure seeker in search of untold riches. Later, the sleuthing trio has a tense encounter with a mythical beast known as "The Tokolosh" that few people have actually seen and lived to tell the tale. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

500 years after being charged with the murder of his master and imprisoned in a painted scroll, mischievous Taoist student Woochi (Kang Dong-won) is released by his elders to battle goblins in the modern world. As Woochi and his sidekick Chorangui (Yoo Hae-jin) attempt to make sense of their strange new surroundings, they discover their goblin adversaries are now a greater threat to humanity than ever before. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Special-effects artist D. Kerry Prior makes his feature directorial debut with this oddball horror comedy concerning a fallen soldier who joins the ranks of the living dead, and embarks on a vigilante mission to rid the streets of human scum. Bart Gregory (David Anders) has just died -- so why is he still up and walking around? The only person Bart can turn to is his best friend Joey (Chris Wylde), and before long the two pals have surmised that Bart needs human blood in order to survive, and he requires a steady supply of the red stuff. Unfortunately, most folks are fairly protective of their own plasma, so Bart and Joey are forced to get creative. Convinced that no one will miss the drug dealers and killers who have transformed the city into a swirling cesspool of crime and vice, the twosome decide to do law enforcement a favor by cleaning up the streets while collecting the precious blood needed to keep poor Bart from withering away into dust. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Four friends race to get rid of the dead hooker discovered decomposing in their trunk, and learn that disposing of a dead body isn't nearly as easy as it looks on TV. A tough-talking babe, her nerdy sister, their God-fearing friend, and a junkie rocker are preparing for another typical day when they make a grim discovery. Someone has murdered a hooker and stuffed her in their trunk. But who did it, and why? As the quarreling foursome search for a place to dump the deceased streetwalker, the police close in and the freaks come out of the word work. Meanwhile, a serial killer is on the loose, and an eccentric cowboy pimp has some pretty big plans for the troublesome cadaver. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi