Jiu Jitsu

[GeneChing]

...there was no motion on it anyway...

Russian jiu-jitsu tournament ends in mass brawl as fighters & guests attack each other in sports hall (VIDEO)
21 Jan, 2020 14:05

Police have launched an investigation after participants were filmed being slammed to the floor and kicked in the head in a violent conclusion to a jiu-jitsu tournament at a venue in the suburban Moscow town of Krasnogorsk.
The furious fracas broke out following a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament – called Moscow Winter BJJ Cup – for children and adults last Saturday, with participants and guests embroiled in the scrap.



In the footage, an initial angry stand-off explodes when two younger men start exchanging punches. Right after that a man who supposedly was trying to stop the fight, can be seen hoisted into the air and smashed to the floor before others weigh in to the row.

More assailants join in with kicks and punches to both sides of his body as the scene descends into chaos.



The video of the brawl went viral over the weekend and gained hundreds of thousands of views across different social media platforms in Russia.

Unsurprisingly, it also caught the attention of Russian law enforcement. Talking to local media, the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed its plans to investigate the situation.

[GeneChing]

JIU-JITSU: Alain Moussi Action Sci-Fi Bows In November Launching The Avenue Distrib Banner
Lee B. Golden III by Lee B. Golden III September 9, 2020 in Acquisitions and Release


Alain Moussi, Tony Jaa, JuJu Chan, Frank Grillo and Marrese Crump on the set of Jiu-Jitsu

Dimitri Logothetis is currently plotting a return to Cyprus for the production of Man Of War, details pending. In the meantime, his new sci-fi martial arts adventure, Jiu-Jitsu, will bow on November 20 courtesy of The Avenue Entertainment, Highland Film Group’s U.S. theatrical release venture announced on Wednesday.

Jiu-Jitsu hails the reunion of Logothetis and actor, martial arts star Alain Moussi, since reviving the Kickboxer franchise for two films with superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme in a supporting capacity. Moussi plays Jake Barnes, a war hero championing Earth’s liberation in an epic BJJ match that happens every six years against waves of alien invaders. Actor Nicolas Cage stars as Wylie, the leader of a team of jiu-jitsu fighters who take in Jake must and help him recover his memory and strength following his foreboding defeat at the hands of Brax, the indomitable alien leader.

Rounding out the cast are Frank Grillo, JuJu Chan and Tony Jaa, with Rick Yune, Marie Avgeropoulos and Marrese Crump. Logothetis co-wrote the script with Jim McGrath, his writing partner on Kickboxer: Retaliation, the sequel to Kickboxer: Vengeance.

Jiu-Jitsu is branded as an LBE Jiu Jitsu AVC production. Logothetis is producing with Martin J. Barab and Chris Economides, and with Highland CEO Arianne Fraser, Highland COO Delphine Perrier, and Gary Wood exec producing.

Highland is handling international sales.


From L to R: JJ Caruth, Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier

JJ Caruth is appointed President of Domestic Marketing & Distribution of The Avenue, which will handle theatrical distribution of six to eight titles per year, with titles comprised of selections from Highland and other third party acquisitions. The company has signed an agreement with Paramount Home Entertainment to handle Blu-ray, DVD, VOD, and Digital distribution.

Funding for The Avenue is provided by Cygnus Film Group, LLC which has entered into a financing agreement with R.U. Robot Ltd, managed by Barab and by Petr Jákl.

“For 10 years, Highland Film Group has gained a strong reputation as an independent worldwide sales, production, and film financing company. Our passion and commitment for this industry are key in guiding our strategic efforts to make Highland Film Group a global entertainment group providing services at every stage of the content’s life cycle. This is the perfect moment for the group to expand its horizons into US distribution. We are thrilled to take this next step in the company’s growth,” said Fraser.

“I am thrilled to be joining the The Avenue at a time of great change, evolution and exciting opportunity in our industry. Arianne and Delphine have impeccable relationships with filmmakers which creates the perfect springboard for this new distribution venture,” said Caruth.

Been wondering about this project. Been wondering about a lot of projects during the pandemic.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

Oh man, this is worse that expected. It's basically Predator, only it's set in Myanmar and instead of the alien being a trophy hunter, it just likes to fight humans. And there's this inexplicable band of humans who are chosen to duel against the alien, one on one.

Nic Cage's goofball performance is a welcome relief. There needed to be a whole lot more of him. I confess I like Nic. He's the only redeemable character here. That says a lot.

There are some decent fights. The opening fight sequence when Tony Jaa breaks Alain out of a paramilitary camp is 2 remarkable 2 minute one-ers back to back featuring Jaa & Moussi, but it's spoiled by pretentious camerawork where the viewer darts in and out of the Alain POV, and there's too much Bollywood-fight-scene-esque gratuitous slo-mo to show impact. It's got some astonishingly complex choreo, but the cinematography is too eccentric in that wannabe-artsy way that it's easy to loose track of the action. That scene is early on, so you could fast forward to that.

The rest of the movie moves from random fight to random fight, and the rest aren't nearly as good. There needed to be more Frank Grillo.

The budget was $25M. They barely cleared $90K.

Sword fights. Yup. This alien can shoot alien shuriken and has bloody-mary-style blades that spring from its wound-healing armor but it prefers swords. That's to its credit, I suppose.

[Kevin73]

The movie is on Netflix right now. I attempted to watch it and didn't get too far into it before turning it off.