The Furious, a Edko Films, Zhejiang Hengdian Film, XYZ Films production, is directed by action film director Kenji Tanigaki and produced by Bill Kong, Shan Tam, and Frank Hui. Mak Tin Shu, Lei Zhilong Sin, and Frank Hui wrote the script. The Furious follows Wang Wei (Xie Miao), a retired deaf martial arts fighter working as a quiet and unassuming tradesman, whose daughter Rainey, played by 13-year-old Enyou Yang, is kidnapped by a major network of human traffickers. It seems the traffickers are tied to the police chief.

Even before the action starts as Wang looks for his daughter, The Furious begins with action when a journalist disappears. The journalist had evidence against the child traffickers and now she is gone and her husband Navin, played by Joe Taslim, is looking desperately for her. He was close to buying the kidnapped children as an infiltrated trafficker secretly looking for his wife, when Wang Wei shows up ready to beat-down everyone to find his daughter.

When the two join forces to find Wang's daughter and Navin's wife that is the heart of The Furious R-Rated film - action-packed, emotional and funny. Along with the audience I was cheering them on during the fights, wiping away tears at the ugliness of human trafficking and then laughing at the film's many "comic relief" moments that are really needed! Offering all those things to the audience is masterful and done in a way that at the end of the film everyone is applauding.

The Furious also stars Orange County, California Vietnamese martial arts expert Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Manatsanum Phanlerdwongsakul, Guo Junqing, Winai Wiangyangkung, with a special appearance by Indonesian martial arts artist Yayan Ruhian (Star Wars: The Force Awaken) who plays the trafficking network's enforcer and Jija Yanin.

Xie Miao, a Beijing native, started out starring next to martial arts legend Jet Li in The Legend of Shaolin and then again in My Father the Hero. In The Furious, Xie shows that he has been busy building his own legacy as a martial arts star - and he's explosive so watch out for him.  www.AMCTheatres.com

Wakana, a Smooth Jazz Japanese musician, is a genius saxophonist. Her style and sound transcend languages, countries and genres because of her emotional delivery. She puts so much expression into her style. I was so impressed when I heard her for the first time. That's when I reached out for an interview.

Born in 1984, Wakana is a member of Japanese band called The Jazz Avengers. They performed in 2023 at the Billboard Live Yokohoma event as a ground-breaking band. The band consists of Wakana on alto sax; Miho Terachi on alto sax; Ami Nakaono on soprano sax; Miku Yonezawa on tenor sax; Marie Takeda on keyboards; Chizuru Segawa on guitar; Juna Serita on bass, and Senri Kawaguchi, the leader of the band, on drums.

I asked Greg Manning, who himself is a 2-time Grammy Award nominated Jazz keyboardist, what he thought of Wakana the first time he heard her play the sax and he said, "I said, ‘Wow! There's something there. It intrigued me."

"We actually go way back," the Switzerland native continued about his connection to Wakana. "My former manager introduced me to her 10 years ago at the Long Beach Jazz Festival. She had flown in from Japan. I started producing for her."

I was told her English was not too good which is why I was interviewing Greg, the owner of her new record label, and the Las Vegas resident said, "Her English is ok. She is just shy. She speaks...very slowly. My ex-wife is Japanese, so I began hiring my son, he is bilingual, to translate for me."

The "After Hours" single is also accompanied by a music video which, in four months, has collected over 20,000 views. The single is produced and mixed by Greg and co-written by Wakana and Manning. Wakana's YouTube page has almost 7,000 subscribers. You can hear Greg on the keyboard, drums and bass and Morris O'Connor (Earth, Wind & Fire) is on guitar on "After Hours."

"I just wanted to do good music," Manning said about Wakana's single "After Hours." "We settled on ‘After Hours.' Recorded it last summer...when my son graduated in Japan with a bachelors in New Media...I played it. He is teaching at two schools (in Japan) - math and English."

I asked Greg Manning, who has garnered 15 Billboard #1 hits as a solo musician, what type of artists/musicians is he looking to sign to his record label EQuity and he said, "I don't judge musicians...I listen for emotion."

Aside from 15 of his own #1 Billboard hits (via Kalima Music) in the Jazz genre, Greg is a fluent musician in R&B, Soul, Funk and Hip-Hip. The same week Wakana's "After Hours" reached #1 on Billboard, another project Manning produced reached #1 too - saxophonist Jeff Ryan's "Speakeasy" reached #1 on Billboard and Mediabase Charts. Other musicians signed on Manning's Equity Records label include New Orleans trumpeter Patches Stewart (Quincy Jones, Anita Baker) and harmonist and bass player Patrick Bettison. Greg is a featured musician on the works of 8-time Grammy Award/Tony Award winning Herb Alpert and #1 Billboard Chart-topper Blake Aaron and he produced projects for Alpert and Choice Award winning Will Downing.

Wakana and Greg Manning are currently working on another single. He is also producing a new single in honor of his mother with trumpeter Patches Stewart and saxophonist Jimmy Reid titled "Jolanda."  www.EQuityRecordsMusic.com www.WakanaSax.com www.GregManningMusic.com

SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: Dr. Eunice Moseley has an estimated weekly readership of over one million for her column The Pulse of Entertainment. She is the publisher of the digital magazine www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com, which has an estimated 160,000 visitors a month. An entrepreneur, Dr. Moseley’s company, Freelance Associates, is a business management/public relations strategic planning and consulting firm that is celebrating 32 years in 2025. Dr. Eunice also serves as professor for the School of Business at Stanton University in Anaheim, California and serves as promotions director (at-large)/journalist and business consultant for The Baltimore Times. Dr. Moseley founded the Uplifting Minds II Foundation (www.UpliftingMinds.com) in 2023, a 501 C3 with a mission to empower the underserved through three major programs – One Stop Business Shop, the ULMII Professional Conference and the ULMII Academy (business management and public relations). EVENTS: "Uplifting Minds II" Entertainment Conference (ULMII), was launched by Dr. Eunice in 1999, to educate aspiring artists/musicians about the business of entertainment – www.UpliftingMinds2.com. Next ULMII Entertainment Conferences for Baltimore on Saturday April 18, 2026, presented by Security Square Mall and The Baltimore Times, and for Los Angeles on Saturday, November 7, 2026, presented by The Pulse of Entertainment and the ULMII Foundation. The ULMII conferences are free with virtual access via Zoom. ULMII entertainment conference offers a Professional Panel Q&A Session, a Professional Talent Showcase and International Talent Competition where the top three scored acts receive the ULMII Best Act Award and over $20,000 valued in prizes/product/services and cash!