Imagine if, you will, that Hershel Gordon Lewis and Looney Tunes had a Kung Fu baby. Got that picture in your mind? No? Well, we just watched that Kung Fu baby in Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. Based on a manga and accurately described as a Kung-Fu Splatter film, Riki-Oh lives up to the hype as the first Hong Kong film to be slapped with a Category III rating (NC-17 equivalent) for violence. If a thin story and exploding heads are your thing, then it's a MUST watch for you.

In a dystopian future where art and emotions are outlawed, one of the Clerics sworn to crush the resistance will see the light and join the fight for freedom! We're talking about 2002’s Equilibrium starring Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Taye Diggs, and Emily Watson! We dub this one the “Thinking Man's” action movie for its phenomenal acting, tough scenarios, and the introduction of the martial art known as Gun Kata!

Don't just watch Action, B-Action!!!!

Pete wraps up his birthday month with the Korean vengeance masterpiece Oldboy. We implore you to please watch this film before listening. We'd hate to spoil the events in this film that will leave you speechless. This film is as beautifully shot and acted as it is difficult to stomach the subject material. You've been warned.

By the grace of Godzilla, the gang was able to finish recording despite the podcasting god's best effort to sabotage today's episode. Anna got sick (get better buddy), and our online recording tool dropped us a record 4 times. Regardless, the team was determined to start the Nate/Pete dual birthday month lovingly coined Big Beautiful Brutal Bloody Bonanza Bonkers Birthday. Nate goes first and selected the little-known South Korean hyper violent blood bath movie called Project Wolf Hunting. Remember way back when we as a podcast watched Monkey Kung Fu and collectively asked the question, "Can a kung Fu movie have too much Kung Fu?" Well, we now have to ask ourselves, "Can a horror/action movie have too much action/horror?" Project Wolf Hunting is on Prime and Tubi so it's easy to get your hands on. Good luck making sense out of this one. We didn't.

What's the JOB?! B-ACTION looks to the modern era of movies for a hidden gem in 2013 called Homefront starring Jason Statham! Former undercover cop “Phil Broker” (If that is his REAL name) is looking to settle down with his daughter in a quiet rural town in Louisiana. What he finds is meth dealers, family drama, and some good old boys looking for trouble! Not only is the cast list in this movie STACKED, the fight scenes and action sequences stand toe to toe with some of the best action films!

Don't just watch Action, B-Action!!!!

Finally, after 3ish years, Pete brings a movie that is the definition of what Give Me Back stands for and yet still succeeds in going off script having never watched it. Stuart Gordon's "Dolls" is a reminder of just how much fun low budget horror films were back in the 1980s. Delicious gore, shockingly good stop-motion, a creepy house, and a kid that genuinely does not suck at acting are the charming elements we see on full display that made movies of this era so much fun. This one isn't for everyone but it's only 77 minutes long and free on Tubi. You have no excuses. Go see it.

GUYS! GUYS! We found him!! We found Charlie!!!

Turns out that our fearless leader has a side hustle as an NSA agent. Now that we know all about it, Charlie has to kill us but not before we watch a gem of an action movie. One of our bestest buddies Dustin from the Flicks and Friends podcast, B-Action, and The Barrens Hideout podcast joins us this week while we cover xXx, starring Vin Diesel as a professional extreme sports punk turned NSA secret agent. Is this the first "spy" movie we've done? It's a baller either way. xXx is silly and dumb in all of the right ways.

It’s the Trash man! No, Not that one! Enzo G. Castellari takes us on a trip into a dystopian New York in 1983’s Escape from the Bronx! Trash leads the gangs in an underground rebellion to fight against a private corporation attempting to cleanse the streets with extreme violence! We’ll explore the physics of blowing up helicopters and armored trucks with revolvers and then pivot to the ethical concerns of roasting homeless people with flamethrowers. We're bringing the Italian action so you bring the marshmallows!

Don't just watch action, B-Action!!!!

Our continued search for Charlie led the team to Mexico and we ran into a native tribe that offered us a delightful tea to quench our thirst. As we took our first big swig of tea, we hear a giggle coming from behind us. We turn to see one of our best podcasting buddies in the world Erin from Manic Movie Monday.  Anna asked what the giggling was about, and Erin just smiled an all-knowing smile and said, "ummmm...just give it a minute or two. heehee"

"Minute or two," Pete asks, "What do you mean by....wooooah..." 

After a few days, Erin was finally able to track down Anna and Pete. Anna had found her way into a museum and was molesting a copy of Michelangelo's David while Pete was verbally accosting a dodgy looking cloud that turned out to be a cotton candy machine. Shockingly, he still had his pants on.  Anywho, Erin cat-wrangles Anna and Pete and suggests watching Altered States to understand what might have happened during the lost time.  While we all thought the movie was a hoot, we were getting frustrated in the fact that Charlie was still missing.  Remember that old chestnut?

Our continued search for Charlie led to a delightful encounter: Nate intercepted our search to help lend a hand. After long days of searching, we all decided to take a break and talk about M3GAN 2.0. It's clearly been a while since we all have talked, and our conversation went all over the where. In the end we all liked the film for different reasons and unanimously agreed that both M3GAN films are wonderful gateway movies to the horror and action genre. The team even workshopped M3GAN 3.0 and hope that Blumhouse runs with the story premise.