The new year brought some real cheer when the third season of Cobra Kai finally arrived
on January 1.
Picking up after the high school brawl that sent Miguel to the hospital and left Robby
on the run, Cobra Kai season 3 ushers in some major changes for the dueling dojos and their
students.
If you've already binged your way through season 3 and you're looking for what to watch
next, here's some good news: we've put together a list of a few films that should pack just
the right punch.
In the 2016 action-adventure film Enter the Warrior's Gate, Jack Bronson is a badass fighter
-- but only when he's sitting at the computer.
In the real world, he has absolutely no combat skills and even has to duck into his boss'
antiques shop to hide from a few neighborhood bullies who taunt him.
"Look at me.
Do I even look like I have one ounce of brave in me?"
Once his boss gives him a magical family heirloom called the Warriors Gate, though, everything
changes.
Suddenly, he awakens to find a real warrior named Zhao putting a sword to his neck and
telling him that he must help protect his kingdom's princess, Su Lin.
Jack and Zhao have to team up to rescue her from the vicious barbarian king Arun the Cruel
before he can use her to become an emperor and then destroy her.
Like Cobra Kai, this film is filled with tense action sequences and exhilarating fight scenes,
but it's also packed with heart and a whole lot of laughs.
"Warrior Zhao is on his way.
Kill him.
Brutus!
Not him...kill Zhao."
The French drama Brother centers on a teenaged boy named Teddy who is sent to serve time
at a youth correctional facility after being accused of killing his father.
And, much like Robby's experience in juvenile detention in Cobra Kai, Teddy learns just
how compelling violence can be for people dealing with some of life's most bitter moments
while he's in custody.
However, Teddy also forms an unlikely partnership with Enzo, who begins as his bitter enemy
but becomes a friend after an even more vicious peer takes him down.
The two join forces to get away from the mayhem of their facility and to confront the truth
about Teddy's past and the crime that started it all.
Fans of Cobra Kai will no doubt appreciate this film's statements on setting aside rivalries
and animosity, along with learning to control one's temper in the heat of the moment.
The film also touches on some of the seemingly impossible complications that can arise between
families and just how far a person might be willing to go to protect someone they love.
Speaking of difficult family circumstances, First Match is a perfect fit for Cobra Kai
fans who enjoy the show's exploration of parent-child dynamics.
Based on writer-director Olivia Newman's own 2010 short film of the same name, the movie
follows a young woman named Monique, a.k.a. Mo, who has had a troubled youth in and out
of foster care.
Mo wants to reconnect with her estranged father following his release from prison.
To win his attention, she joins a boys' wrestling team.
"I said, you still letting people on the team?"
"It's a boy's team."
"Could have fooled me.
Besides, I need a positive outlet for my anger, right coach?"
Mo's father, who was a wrestling champion in his own youth, is finally intrigued by
her fighting skills, but he begins to consider other, less scrupulous opportunities for her
to use them.
Just as the kids in Cobra Kai sometimes must choose between what they think they want and
what's really best for them, Mo finds herself at a major crossroads in this compelling 2018
drama.
Cobra Kai fans who enjoy the buddy comedy-style relationship that develops between Johnny
and Miguel will find some similarly good-humored exchanges in the Australian dramedy Go Karts.
"You know, because a platypus lays eggs and produces milk, it's the only animal that can
make its own custard."
This coming-of-age sports film introduces us to the world of competitive go kart racing,
as Jack Hooper, the new kid in town, attends a birthday party at a local track and gets
hooked on the rush of racing.
Jack enlists the help of a no-nonsense trainer named Patrick to prepare him for the national
championships.
Patrick takes a page from the playbooks of Mr. Miyagi and Johnny Lawrence, using strange
and menial tasks to teach Jack about discipline.
"Place your hands on the wheel.
Wrong."
Though Jack has some natural abilities behind the wheel, he's also got some stiff competition
in the ruthless champion Dean Zeta.
They may not be taking swings at each other on the mat, but that doesn't mean things won't
get vicious between these two as they prepare to face each other at the big tournament.
Before John Kreese showed up and turned Cobra Kai back into a dojo full of hardened aggressors,
Johnny Lawrence assembled a pretty ragtag team and molded them into fine fighters.
And in Feel the Beat, we find the movie's lead, April, facing a similar challenge.
After failing to achieve her dreams of making it big on Broadway, April returns home to
a small town in Wisconsin and takes a job teaching the kids of a small dance studio.
"Feel the beat.
There is no syncopation here."
"Then where can the sink go on vacation?"
"You.
Pushups."
Just like Cobra Kai's earliest students, each of these children has their own individual
needs, and April must find a way to help them function as a cohesive team if they'll have
any hope of dancing their way into the national competition.
At the same time, April must grapple with her own professional and personal disappointments
and decide who she really wants to be.
"I gotta ask…
Do we have any fans of robot boxing here today?"
Real Steel might be set in the year 2020, but the technology involved in this science-fiction
pic is far more futuristic than that.
The movie takes place in an era when boxing matches are done by remote-controlled robots
rather than humans.
But at the same time, the story in Real Steel is a classic, as it centers on the relationship
between a former boxer named Charlie Kenton and his young, estranged son Max.
After the death of Max's mother, Charlie arranges for his late-ex's sister and brother-in-law
to take custody of Max.
But Charlie will still need to care for his own son temporarily while they're out of town
on vacation.
Charlie and Max then spend that time preparing Atom, an old robot they've found, into a formidable
fighter.
As Max encourages his dad to enter Atom into one contest after another, the ultimate challenge
is whether he and Charlie will ever forge the father-son bond he's been waiting for
his whole life.
Mr. Miyagi takes a whole new student under his wing in The Next Karate Kid.
The film is the fourth installment in the Karate Kid movie franchise and the first that
doesn't feature Daniel LaRusso.
Instead, Mr. Miyagi travels to Boston for a Japanese-American World War II veterans'
commendation event and meets his former commanding officer's widow and her granddaughter Julie
Pierce, played by Hilary Swank.
Miyagi decides to stick around and help Julie learn to control her anger issues - by teaching
her karate.
"Very good, Julie-san.
Try again."
Julie has not yet appeared in Cobra Kai, but there's always a chance she'll show up.
Cobra Kai fans will probably want to brush up on The Next Karate Kid just in case.
Thanks for watching.
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