{"id":4647,"date":"2012-02-25T23:30:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T05:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=4647"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:52:30","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:52:30","slug":"iow-ed-knows-ho-in-ninja-tmf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=4647","title":{"rendered":"IOW: Ed knows Ho in NINJA TMF"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we mentioned in Thursday\u2019s post about PRESS START ADVENTURES<\/strong><\/a>, the Dark Maze Studios<\/strong> gang has even more ninja tricks hidden up their collective ninja sleeves as evidenced by the new 10-part ninja Web series, NINJA THE MISSION FORCE<\/strong>. Those familiar with Ed Glaser<\/strong>\u2019s DEJA VIEW<\/strong> series will not be surprised to see him riff international genre cinema on a narrative level here; MISSION FORCE<\/strong> doles out comedic nods to the cobbled-together Eighties and Nineties action flicks produced by Hong Kong<\/strong> mainstays Godfrey Ho<\/strong> (NINJA DESTROYER<\/strong>) and Joseph Lai<\/strong> (NINJA STRIKE FORCE<\/strong>), who notoriously stretched their bottom dollar by splicing pre-existing movies into their own minimal original footage. Dark Maze issued a press release<\/a> about the series yesterday, Friday, February 24<\/strong>, although the first two episodes, \u201cNinja Begininator\u201d (first embed below) and \u201cNinja Godfather\u201d (second embed below), already went live during the past two weeks.<\/p>\n

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NINJA THE MISSION FORCE<\/strong> stars Glaser as Interpol<\/strong> agent and ninja master \u201cGordon,\u201d referencing the \u201cNinja Master Gordon\u201d character played in numerous Ho\/Lai productions \u2013 via repurposed material, of course \u2013 by burly character actor Richard Harrison<\/strong>, who also<\/em> appears in \u201cNinja Godfather\u201d via public domain footage from an Italian gladiator epic! Such reciprocal silliness will be a hallmark of the series in which Gordon races against arch nemesis ninja \u201cBruce,\u201d played by Brad<\/strong> Jones<\/strong> from the Springfield<\/strong> indie thriller PARANOIA<\/strong> and The Cinema Snob<\/strong><\/span> Vlog site<\/a>, to collect six \u201cavian ninjas\u201d (read: ninja rubber duckies) and gain \u201cUltimate Ninja Power\u201d \u2026 whatever that<\/em> turns out to be.<\/p>\n

Written by Meagan Rachelle<\/strong> and photographed by Glaser and PARANOIA<\/strong> director Ryan Mitchelle<\/strong><\/a>, MISSION FORCE<\/strong> also stars Joshua Stafford, Alex Mitchell, Jillian Zurawski, Sarah Lewis<\/strong>, and \u2013 in the PD mash-up spirit of the series \u2013 Brandon Lee, Ernest Borgnine, John Travolta, Orson Welles, Sonny Chiba, Charles Bronson<\/strong>, the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD<\/strong> cast, and stop-motion dinosaurs. Oh, and groan-inducing jokes, too.<\/p>\n

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Speaking of groaning, leering, grimacing, seething, and teeth-gnashing, we drop a bonus video at the end of this post featuring Jones doing what he does best \u2013 eviscerating bad cinema \u2013 in a critique of the 1980 Italian underground cannibal shocker ANTROPOPHAGUS<\/strong> a.k.a. THE GRIM REAPER<\/strong>. It has nothing to do with NINJA THE MISSION FORCE<\/strong> other than to demonstrate what can happen when the Cinema Snob bares the whites of his eyes and<\/em> canines. Poor George Eastman<\/strong>, we hardly knew ye … inside or<\/em> out.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n


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