The Best (2023) - Short and Explosive Wrestling Tale!

 

"To be the best you must beat the best. Don't poke the wrestling bear and expect him to go out gently."

The trailer for the upcoming short action film called The Best (2023) starts with this simple premise. From here, the same trailer showcases a ring and what is soon to be the grounds for an incoming wrestling match but does it with a lot of tension and expectation. Thanks to a powerful music tune and the blood-red color effect - all in less than a minute - the same trailer manages to set the stage for what could be an iconic short wrestling film.

The film is based on the tale of a young wrestler and his journey to turn into the very best of this unforgiving and demanding business. From its shots and soundtrack, the film promises a sharp and hard experience, which is completely in line with the same tough-as-nails entertainment industry. Of course, the professional background of the crew working on the film definitely adds to this as well.

The Best is directed by Marc Ash, a veteran of the industry, who is also starring in it. Besides him, the film also features Thomas Bragg and Malcome Dhark, but also introduces Laurie Lennon Williams. Between them, the same crew has decades of experience in the wrestling and movie domains, and that immediately shines through.

The Best is available on video-on-demand services and any wrestling fan should check it out - that goes most of all for those who are willing to go beyond the multi-million dollar spotlights and see the same space in a new, gritty, and very much authentic light.

Two-Paragraph Review: How to Blow up a Pipeline (2023)

An effective thriller needs little to be successful, especially in terms of things like locations and props. The Standoff at Sparrow Creek showcases this concept in a highly specific setting but with so much force and an equally strong effect on the viewers. How to Blow up a Pipeline takes that notion to an even bigger level, using a deserted house (as compared to a huge warehouse in The Standoff at Sparrow Creek), set in a southern US backwater to create a gripping story of the modern capitalistic trajectory of environmental destruction and the inevitable but unclear backlash.

In this tale, that backlash comes in the form of a group of environmental activists who are now seeking to take radical action and blow up a part of the pipeline on US soil in Texas. The film, masterfully directed on a knife edge by Daniel Goldhaber, showcases all of their previous lives and the courses of some type of suffering at the hands of the present political and economic system which led to this point. Finally, all of that culminates in a very effective and bold ending, which could also sadly prove to be very prophetic in the years to come.