Written and directed by David Van Tassel as a student at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland, Legacy of Dog is a movie I had the pleasure to star in as the lead villain. The ruthless gang leader, Osiris Munich.

SYNOPSIS (Taken from the Official Facebook Group):

Henry, a young man who grew up in a small village discovers that someone has killed his Master, the man who raised him. Now he is set on a journey of revenge where he must travel to a different world of the big city to exact vengeance.

Creating the fight choreography for the final climactic battle between myself and Henry was a tough task, and one I did not take lightly. Working with rising star Nick McCourt, who had never taken a martial art in his life, I had to instruct him in some Kung Fu basics (the Shaolin styles I have learned under Fundi John Weeks at Self Mastery Systems) including footwork, waist movement, and stances. Nick learned super-quick, and by the time we had to film the showdown, he was a force to be reckoned with.

Before you see the final fight in the finished version of the film, I have a treat for you all to check out: some exclusive behind-the-scenes recordings of the training sessions, edited to Eminem’s “Cinderella Man”. I figured the music was appropriate, because it applies to Nick’s character Henry, who must defy the odds and defeat the evil Kung Fu master, Osiris Munich, so that he can avenge his grandfather and save the town of Bellicus City.

You can also watch the original prequel minisode in which Munich appears for the first time, “Two Brothers”, a role I personally felt was a source of major growth in my acting skills. Instead of playing Munich as a super-angry psycho gangster, I tried a different approach. Let me know what you think! Mad props to David Van Tassel for getting this project off the ground!

LEGACY OF DOG will Premiere Sometime this May!

It’s a couple of days late, but keeping up with tradition I’d like to wish cast and crew member Rob Ramirez a belated Happy Birthday from STRIKE A POSE!!! Films.

As per part of his birthday present, I will release a horribly amusing picture from the Gallery for the whole of the internet to see!

Rob has been with STRIKE A POSE!!! Films since the early days, starring in such wonders as Locked Blades and the now-classic “Joe Belivitz in: Car Trouble.” His most recent cinematic achievement was starring with the guys in Line of Sight (pictured above) for which he also garnered a credit as Fight Choreographer.

Also in celebration, Rob’s Cast and Crew page has now gone live. Rob is the second cast member to receive such an honor, so be sure to check it out and congratulate him, as well as give him his best on this most holiest of occasions!

Thanks Rob, and Happy Birthday, without you, we certainly couldn’t STRIKE A POSE!!! WACHAAAA!

Westhavenbrook, our sorta adopted-older-brother-that-doesn’t-quite-know-it-yet (see Street Fighter: Alpha the movie), has released the awesome second part to their webseries, Battle Jitni in: The Danger Element. See part one here.

SYNOPSIS:

Doctor Trevor Elymas (Doug Jones) is only one step away from completing a diabolical plan. Battle Jitni (John Soares), member of a secret order of vigilantes, must wrench The Danger Element from Doctor Elymas’ grasp before it can be stabilized and installed in his machine.

Battle Jitni has escaped the clutches of Doctor Elymas with the Danger Element, but a new party has taken interest. Persued by mister Saltzman and his mysterious employer, Carlotto, Battle Jitni finds unexpected help.

Westhavenbrook’s sci-fi-fantasy-martial-arts-steampunk adventure is the latest flick in a long chronichle of video’s featuring John Soares’s action hero character, Battle Jitni. Second only to Ronnie Cordova in notoriety, John and his team’s work with this character and other’s have been a constant inspiration for STRIKE A POSE!!! Films. Make sure to support this one- the fight scenes in it kick modern-day Hollywood’s ass!

Be sure to check out their website and new Youtube Channel for more AWESOME videos from the guys that brought you Sockbaby, Gauntlet of Sorrow, and Go Sukashi!

Dear Fans of Strike a Pose!!! Films,

I have an announcement to make. Well it’s really an announcement about an announcement, but regardless it is HUGE.

Thanks to the loyal viewership of this site, Clarity has received more views than almost any film on this site, and in record time! Because of this incredible progress it is with great pleasure and admiration to you, the fans, that I announce we will begin a 6 month long release schedule of new film content starting in March and lasting EVERY MONTH until we run out of old work and have to start making new stuff!

Rob seems pretty thrilled with the release of Line of Sight!

This will include the Summer of 07 Sister Project to Clarity, LINE OF SIGHT, two tales from Max Action’s living room: The Worst Stories Ever Told, and even one very large and magical production I’m sure none of you ever expected to see on the net. We’ll keep that one quiet for now, but expect to see new teasers and trailers in the next two months!

Sam REALLY wants to see Line of Sight on the site! OR ELSE

The release schedule will be finalized hopefully in just a couple of weeks, but I can tell you this little nugget for now: Line of Sight WILL premiere over the week of MARCH 21st 2010, to celebrate Spring, new beginnings, and co-star Robert Ramirez’s personal achievements at his martial arts school, Self Mastery Systems! A further update on the Line of Sight release, including trailer and Behind the Scenes teasers, will come out next week! Be sure to check it out!

Bob is truly surprised that we are finally releasing Line of Sight!

Also to note- there is possibly a string of updates involving the martial arts documentary I’ve been working on finally coming to fruition, with Project 100 Days going into action very soon. Visit the martial arts link I posted above to find out more.

Alright folks, that’s step one of the big news!

Thank you for your ongoing support of myself, these great performers, and amateur film making in the Montgomery County Area! Stay tuned for bigger news and always remember to STRIKE A POSE!!!

Sincerely, Your Humble Entertainer

Dylan Hintz

I’ve been busy working. A lot. I got a job at Six Flags America, finally putting my fantasy action mindset/obsession to good use as a stunt man in a Pirate Show. Go figure.

What can I say in terms of updates? Quick stuff–

During this Summer I saw… four movies, in theaters, me thinks?

Let’s backtrack!

9—
I most recently saw this little gem. Its being marketed as “not a kids movie” but well, if I was a kid and I saw this thing I would probably think it was the coolest thing ever. 9 succeeds in bringing some excitement and mystery that has long been lost to children’s films since the late 90s when Pixar and Dreamworks opened up shop and explained everything at all times (with the exception of, maybe Toy Story and Wall-E). 9 is exciting, simple, unique, and effective in its final moments at giving you hope for the future. In that it provides excellent entertainment, if little more. Word of note– a LOT of this movie reminded me of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, and I mean that in a GOOD way.

This was probably the best main-stream action movie of the summer. Suck it, Transformers, Wolverine, Terminator, etc etc. You got schooled by a First Time Feature Director.

Inglorious Basterds—
or however the hell you spell it. Tarantino does it again, bringing us a more-clever-than-it-really-needs-to-be storyline with some great scene chewing by Brad Pitt. But the real treasure to this piece of historical fiction (or is it fictional history? I always get the two confused!) is Christoph Waltz, a man you’ll all here of very soon as this gig will most likely land him a Best Supporting nod (as the trademark laughing villain will, I predict, forever be added to the character roster for the event) and also netted him the role of the villain in the Seth Rogen lead Green Hornet film. Considering Stephen Chow dropped out and they replaced him with a pop-singer in one of Bruce Lee’s trademark original roles, this is currently the best thing Green Hornet has going for it.

Basterds is his first American movie, and he speaks 5 languages. Fluently. With better acting than any American I’ve seen in years, across the board. I believe this to be an intentional effect of Tarantino’s, as he wants to make Americans sound like stupid cliches, and make the “foreigners” sound honest and real. Its ironic his name bares such striking similarity to another actor with incredible charm and dark humor. If you can guess in the comments who I mean, I’ll send you a virtual cookie.

Entertaining dialogue ripples throughout but a dearth of action really dragged this piece under, even in its final act where we expect a little bit more than what we’re given. The only reason I complain about this is because Tarantino DOES have a knack for action scenes and he totally wastes some of his greatest potential (really, this could have been twice as exciting as Kill Bill since its more grounded), by only showing the Basterds being Inglorious for about 20 minutes of the film, with only 5 of that being action. Its 2 and a half hours long, QT, if you sell us a movie about killing NATZIS, kill us some FUCKING NATZIS.

District 9–
I don’t think many of you out there would realize how sore I felt when site co-creator Ryan told me that this movie was somewhat underwhelming. I was vehement– this movie was supposed to CHANGE summer block busters– fix what Pirates, Spidey and Transformers (two more than one) had broken!

Well to a degree, it does. Its smarter, better crafted (more efficient in pacing and consistent in style), and shorter than all three of the above films. It provides a clever and original story that bears some relevance to current events. Its satirical, it makes us think, like many Schwarzenegger movies actually used to do. The special effects are fresh and fun, and are employed inventively. With all of this, what could go wrong?

Well, the main character is almost completely unforgivably annoying, the plot twist is predictable and takes forever to get to the point, the pacing is way off early on and the final act isn’t as big as it should be. There’s some strange similarity in the pacing issues between this and Inglorious Basterds, but I think this movie, with its 45 minute first act (though I didn’t record the time, it sure as hell felt that long), really took forever to start tying together threads. And then when it finally did? Felt totally rushed for the rest of the film.

My favorite example of this is the weapons used in this sci-fi achievement, and by that I mean “weapon.” While about three types of alien guns were employed at one time or another, director Blomkamp decided using the one microwave-explodey-goo-gun every 5 seconds until the end of the film would be the most exciting choice. While the sight of someone popping like a zit because they got hit by lightning never did get old, it got…well. Old. I dunno, I think you’d have to see it to know what I mean. Even when the film’s best special effect, a freaking MECH ARMOR comes into play…it still uses the same damn space blaster! What the hell?!?!

On the positive side: District 9 has the greatest final frame of a movie I have seen in YEARS.

I still recommend seeing this movie whole-heartedly. Give Blomkamp MORE money so he can make MORE movies. He deserves whereas people like Michael Bay squander. Proof is in the pudding: District 9 cost 30 mil to make, and Transformers 2 cost over 200. If you genuinely liked Transformers 2, third grade math is beyond you and you probably can’t tell the difference between those two dollar amounts, so don’t worry, let what I mean just go right over your head anyways, you’re probably 6.

Finally:
and the Best Movie of the Summer award goes to…

The Hangover–
Clever. Crisp. Refreshingly SCRIPTED (my scorn flows over to your side of the table, Apatow), and angular.

This movie had humor that most guys are familiar with but told from the perspectives of three very dissimilar men trying to survive a most peculiar situation. They go to Vegas, their best friend (and soon husband to be) disappears, and well…chaos having already ensued the night before lets just say CATASTROPHE WREAKS UTTER HAVOC.

Yeah, this movie gets nuts. Mike Tyson playing real life punch out, a wild tiger in a bathroom, a baby’s mama situation, naked asian trunk ninjas, and autistic super-gambling are just a few of the great moments spread throughout this frenetic piece of comedy. A lot of these moments are laugh out loud, a feeling I haven’t had in theaters since Superbad and very little previous to that.

Whats even better about this flick is that it contains such a great little mystery plot to drag you along. Its Screenwriting 101 but put to GOOD use. You never find yourself bored, and you usually find yourself smiling. The referencing back to the bride-to-be character keeps the compelling nature of the piece always at the front WHERE it NEEDS to BE and the final twist to the whole thing just…well it kicks you in the teeth. Its one of those moments when you just look to the person to your right. Look forward again. Smile at the screen, unable to look sad, and just go “Damn.” And that’s it. Its all you can say, cause you just had your mind blown.

When was the last time a comedy actually did that to you? Not I, said the cynical film critic.

Alright, its getting late, I have a lot of homework to do, and that was really written just to fill space on the blog. Please comment if you’ve seen any of those movies and let us know what you think. Also be sure to swing by the forums, as they’ve been slightly rejuvenated and are in serious need of some threading love.