SKIN TRADE (Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2014)

[Jox]

Yes it's a very good one. I posted it in the INTERVIEWS section.

[Jox]

There is only one daily show at 9.15pm in LA so don't expect it to be a hit in theatres (of which I'm not sure the 6 big city markets initially planned in the US will be)...

Ad from the L.A. Weekly:

[viendammage]

Fun night of controlled chaos. Full on security, check in, red carpet and press. Met and shook hands with likes of Ron Perlman, Jason Statham, Chuck Zito and Tony Jaa. Got to chat with Dolph for about 5 seconds before introducing him to the audience!

http://www.dammagedgoods.com/2015/05/pr ... trade.html

[Jox]

There is only one daily show at 9.15pm in LA so don't expect it to be a hit in theatres (of which I'm not sure the 6 big city markets initially planned in the US will be)...

It really is playing in L.A. only, in one theatre with a one showing a day: even the surprise and unannounced releases MISSIONARY MAN, ICARUS (as "The Killing Machine") and THE PACKAGE (and US4 because it had NYC and a third city as well ) had better engagements with one theatre but regular showings all day long... I guess theatre programmers weren't that hot about it after all. As my LA-based friend says, "This has been the way of things with certain distributors for a while. Just fulfilling contracts with the most minimum effort required."

Premiere and after party
http://redhot-society.com/skin-trade-mo ... ere-party/

More reviews
http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/fi ... 201491402/
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/skin-trade-2015
http://screenfish.net/skin-trade-action ... cial-bent/
http://www.ramascreen.com/skin-trade-review/
https://fnews.com/film-review-skin-trade-qu6r
http://lockerdome.com/6169491277094977/7658024332430356

[dude hallenbeck]

It looks like too many of these reviewers seem to be expecting The Raid 3 here.

[Jox]

I kept saying a lot of people will be disappointed because they expect it to be a Tony Jaa vehicle, with all the extravaganza it entails... Dolph said it himself, there wouldn't even be as much action and martial arts if it wasn't for Tony being in the film. It's also a Thai production but co-produced with the US so you just can't make it the crazy way the Asians sometimes do it.

BaggySpandex
How much time do you set aside per day to sniff out crime?

Well, you know, I'm not a cop. I work against human trafficking. I do something every day with this CAST organization. I'm just trying to my best to help save some trafficking victims. That's what I'm doing right now.

The cause of human trafficking, which is portrayed in SKIN TRADE, is very important to me. After working on this movie for more than a year, I'm now involved with an organization called CAST - Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. And the film has been a good experience. I feel good that it's being released. But the cause itself is even more important to me.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3 ... wanna_ask/

EDIT:

Tony Jaa’s Skin Trade may face a difficult release in India!

Film maker Ekachai Uekrongtham’s most talked about action-thriller Skin Trade starring Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren will face a difficult release in India it seems. The film is imported by a company called Pozod Media who appointed a distributor to release the film on 22nd May 2015.

Now we hear Pozon Media was about to change their hands at the last minute and the Distributor (name kept hidden on request) is willing to approach the court of law and slammed a public notice in trade and media. The distributor also claims he has invested a huge amount of money on recreating Promotional Materials and Marketing plans for the film.

Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren has a huge following in Indian viewers and one of the Trade Analyst said “Because of people like Pozon Media, Indian Film makers face embarrassment in Hollywood market. As far as I know, stars such as Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren has a great amount of fan following here in India. I hope the matter get’s sorted soon and the film sees the light.”

http://boxofficecollection.in/hollywood ... Yer8E.dpuf

[dolphage]

The rogerebert.com review claims that: "at 6'5'' and with a heavy Swiss-German accent, Lundgren never quite cut it as a square-jawed alpha-hero-type", which they could have checked with a quick google.

[Jox]

Why would they, we all know Dolph is just a big blond dumbass action hero who can't even be as entertaining as his peers...

[Jox]

Some reviews are definitely not good but I think it's the effect of being released and shown among the other theatrical films out there. If they claim the movie is 1991 then their review is certainly written like they were back then...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... ade-Review

[DRC2013]

Sheldon Lettich reviews Skin Trade over at the Van Damme forum:

"Skin Trade" has far better production value, and actually looks like a big budget studio movie. The cinematography and art direction are particularly noteworthy. You can tell that the d.p. was not rushed; he had enough time (and enough lights) to get the lighting just perfect. The locations are awesome, colorful, and well utilized. The cast is noteworthy -- names that everyone knows -- and they are also well utilized. If you've got both Dolph Lundgren and Tony Jaa starring in your movie, then you better make sure the two of them have a great fight together, and they do. The fight between them is so much better -- and visible! -- than the fight between Dolph and Jet Li in that "Expendables" movie. All the fights are good, a few are great, and there are lots of 'em.

The one major downfall of ST is the script, which is overly simplistic and by-the-numbers. Story-wise, there are no major surprises, nor is there any noteworthy dialogue or character development. ST looks like an "A"-list movie, but it's built around the framework of a DTV screenplay........

......That's my overall impression of the two movies, which I saw projected on big screens on two consecutive nights. POF was not hard to sit through, but it's not a movie that I could easily sit through again. It's simply not any fun; too grim and too heavy. ST, on the other hand, is a blast, despite the grim underpinnings about human trafficking and a few very disturbing scenes. It would be easy to watch again, although I would probably keep my finger poised on the fast-forward button.

http://thevandammefans.vandammefan.net/showthread.php?21396-Red-Carpet-Premiere-for-POF-in-LA-on-7th-may-2015&p=622567&viewfull=1#post622567

[Jox]

Premiere pics from Magnolia:
https://www.facebook.com/skintradefilm/ ... 5203945753

Tony Jaa’s Skin Trade may face a difficult release in India!

Film maker Ekachai Uekrongtham’s most talked about action-thriller Skin Trade starring Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren will face a difficult release in India it seems. The film is imported by a company called Pozod Media who appointed a distributor to release the film on 22nd May 2015.

Now we hear Pozon Media was about to change their hands at the last minute and the Distributor (name kept hidden on request) is willing to approach the court of law and slammed a public notice in trade and media. The distributor also claims he has invested a huge amount of money on recreating Promotional Materials and Marketing plans for the film.

Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren has a huge following in Indian viewers and one of the Trade Analyst said “Because of people like Pozon Media, Indian Film makers face embarrassment in Hollywood market. As far as I know, stars such as Tony Jaa and Dolph Lundgren has a great amount of fan following here in India. I hope the matter get’s sorted soon and the film sees the light.”

http://boxofficecollection.in/hollywood ... Yer8E.dpuf

http://urbanasian.com/featured/2015/05/ ... -in-india/

[Tom]

Some reviews are definitely not good but I think it's the effect of being released and shown among the other theatrical films out there. If they claim the movie is 1991 then their review is certainly written like they were back then...
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... ade-Review

It's remarkable the turn around in reviews from the reasonably positive in the early slew of reviews on the Action orientated/B movie websites, now to the more general critics where reviews are pretty awful. But again this will happen a lot when you release a DTV level actioner theatrically (even on a few screens).
This is clearly not Unisol 4 which took the mainstream critics by surprise.

[DRC2013]

Michael Jai White was on the Adam Carolla Podcast promoting Skin Trade and mentioned that he's heading back to Thailand to direct a movie he'll be also starring in with Tony Jaa. Anyone know what that project is?

It was a good interview, but they barely mentioned Skin Trade, there was more talk about this new project (though no details) and Thailand in general and other stuff.

[Jox]

NEVER BACK DOWN 3...

[Tom]

I don't think Jaa will be getting the US boost he quite hoped for. I see him appearing in a lot of DTV stuff, with perhaps the occasional cameo in Fast. He may get in on Expendables 4 now though.