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Well, here's some happy news! The good people at Palm Pictures have offered us a pair of free copies of each and every one of their upcoming DVD releases to give away to you, the fine readers of Twitch. Why? Because they love us, and we love you. And also because they see you as a viable target market. But, hey! Free stuff! Damn cool free stuff!

Read on for contest details and to enter the draw for free copies of Springtime in a Small Town and Time of the Wolf!

Continue reading "Palm Pictures DVD Giveaway! Time of the Wolf! Springtime in a Small Town!"

Just a reminder that you've got slightly more than a week left to throw your hat into the ring for one of these House of Flying Daggers posters we're giving away. Click here for contest rules and details.

In a related note I have been told that we absolutely WILL have some copies of the House of Flying Daggers soundtrack to give away as well, but as they have not come in yet we will be giving those away in a seperate contest ... keep checking back ...

My copy of Artsmagic's release of 9 Souls arrived this morning. I love this film ...

The American trailer for Ong Bak has just turned up on the Apple site here. It's far from the best trailer out there for the film, but it does mean that Magnolia is now fairly seriously committed to their current release date of February 2005 ... there's a fighting chance that I'll be seeing Tom Yum Goong - Tony Jaa's next film - on DVD before Ong Bak hits the big screen here in Toronto, but I'm still pretty excited for the chance to see this thing properly projected ...

Well, that didn't take long ... Fox Searchlight has announced that I Heart Huckabess will be coming to DVD on February 22nd, 2005. The film will be released as a two disc set, jammed with features. You can check out the complete DVD specs here and my review of the film - which I love, incidentally - here.

Reviews of the premiere screening of Godzilla: Final Wars have started to turn up over at AICN. Positive? Yeah, you could say that ... who knows, maybe this will be the film that finally restores my faith in Kitamura. Check it out here.

I need to declare right up front that I'm a big fan of Joaquin Phoenix ... as far as big, mainstream Hollywood actors go it doesn't get a whole lot better. I was mighty happy when I heard that Phoenix had been cast to play Johnny Cash in the upcoming biopic Walk the Line, and I got a whole lot happier when I saw this. Vanity Fair has just run a series of photos from the film shoot and they look incredible, an absolutely pitch perfect recreation of the era. Not only is Phoenix a perfect fit in his role, but all of the casting looks flawless ...

Via Greencine

Though it's not due to begin production for another year and a half or so, John Woo has already started dreaming aloud about a cast for his Battle of the Red Cliff ... How's this for a dream cast? Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li, Tony Leung, Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi. Earlier reports said he was also looking at young Korean star Kwon Sang Soo. There were also early rumors that Chow Yun Fat had taken himself out of the running, but if this is accurate he may have re-thought ... it's not like he's real busy with anything else these days.

Actually casting all of these people would cost Woo a fortune, but the film's financiers are already anticipating that this will be the most expensive Chinese production ever, so it just might happen ...

via Monkey Peaches.

The Hollywood Reporter is, er, reporting that Nick Cassavetes has gotten the nod to helm an adaptation of Marvel Comics' Iron Man for New Line. He will also be doing a final polish of David Hayter's script for the film.

Now, The Notebook notwithstanding, I like this decision. Cassavetes is an interesting, diverse, and very intelligent film maker ... just take a look at Blow, which he wrote, for proof of that. He's still establishing himself as a director but his pedigree is impeccable and he's already produced an impressive body of work as a writer and actor ... check out the full list here.

The Sundance Film Festival has announded their 2005 lineup ... the titles that jump out to me include Lonesome Jim, directed by Steve Buscemi; Thumbsucker, directed by Mike Mills who I'm assuming is the R.E.M. bassist; a new documentary from Werner Herzog; and the Anders Tomas Jensen penned Brothers. Read on for the full list.

Continue reading "Sundance Announces 2005 Lineup"

In an effort to boost revenues local theatres in your area may be adopting a more traditional philosophy of business. Selling your old crap to visiting weekenders and passing it off as antiques.

No. Not really. What you're seeing is the Chronicles of Narnia standee that will be showing up in theatres this Christmas. Hot on the heels of the release of some concept art yesterday morning Narnia Web got the first images of this promotional display.

Click here to view a wardrobe sized image of the Chronicles of Narnia promotional standee.

Ask and thou shalt receive, etc etc ... I dropped a note to the Canadian co-financer of Terry Gilliam's Tideland a week or so back asking if they could free up any pictures of the film and figured that was a string of data that would vanish without a trace into the ether. I was wrong. Today the film's publicist sent me these two photos of Gilliam at work directing the young Jodelle Ferland on set ... it's the first time I've seen any pictures of the young actress and, yeah, she looks like she belongs in a Gilliam film ...

Click here for a larger version of the first pic and here for a larger version of the second.

It's always fun when smart people make stupid films and this looks to be the case with Mr and Mrs Smith ... the married-assassin-action-comedy from Doug Liman, director of Swingers. He proved he could pull of action with The Bourne Identity and now it looks like he's trying to fuse his action chops with his trademark snappy dialog. And yeah, Vince Vaughan does make an appearance. As do Angelina Jolie's skimpy underthings. Check the trailer here ...

Dark Horizons has landed themselves a quartet of high res concept art still shots from the upcoming live action adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I read these books over and over again as a child - I still have some of my original copies, others I wore out and had to replace - so I've been kind of nervous that they were going to do some of my favorite childhood memories some damage with this. Well, the original concept art I saw looked quite good and these look even better ... I think it's now safe to say that, at least as far as production value goes, they're doing one mighty fine job on these ...

Click here to check out all four shots ...

A six minute preview for the Extended Edition of Return of the King will launch online at the official website today ... there's already a two minute teaser up - including footage of the much talked about Mouth of Sauron - but no sign of the full six minute job yet ...

**** UPDATE ****

I take it back ... full six minute version is now live ... purty ...

Whee! A new Kung Fu Hustle trailer has turned up online, this one from Taiwan ... the dialog has all been left untouched, but the voice over is in English, which makes me think this may be an early version of what we're going to see in theaters here. Regardless, it's a good one with plenty of action and effects sequences included. Check it out here. Word is this'll hit US theaters in late March ...

Via City on Fire.

We've been tracking the progress of the Luc Besson-produced Banlieu 13 for a good while around here and for good reason: this thing stars a couple of Frenchmen who just may be able to challenge Ong-Bak's Tony Jaa for the 'next international action star' title ... these guys actually created their own martial art and, while I have no idea how useful it would be in an actual fight, it looks mighty fine on screen.

Well, things just got weird for this film ... the two largest theater complexes in Brussels have refused to screen it over security fears. It's rated for viewers under sixteen and has no political element at all: it's simply an adrenaline kicking action flick. But despite the gentle rating and the fact that the film sold over half a million tickets in France through its opening week it will not be screened in Brussels because "it could provoke spectators to behave violently".

Now I realize that Europeans have always viewed the North American casual attitude towards violence a little askance but this is well beyond anything I could have predicted and the producers of the film have now gone so far as to suggest what's actually happening here is anti-French racism. Check the full story here, and a previous story we ran with a stack of trailer links here.

Digital Spy reports that Godzilla Final Wars will premiere today in the US. Joy! If someone could just turn the big guy a bit to the north and send him up here that would be much appreciated. I don't want to go to work today and I need someone to step on the auto shop.

Final Wars "will compile the fruits of 50 years' work and put an end to the series", the BBC reports Yukihko Mochida of Todo studio as saying. However, Mochida added that the creature may make a return if a "new generation of directors emerge or a brand new film-making method is found to create a whole new world."

New generation of directors? Brand new film-making method? Gotta admit I'm not sure what Yukihko is reaching at here. Ryuhei Kitamura is pretty new to the film industry. Granted, he's losing favor with Todd and things haven't been the same since Versus but he's still relatively new. What we don't need is an McG type of Godzilla. And we can all agree that the Roland Emmerich Godzilla sucked nuts but perhaps with the advances in digital technology since '98 we can make a bigger and better Godzilla? But then you're messing with tradition, man. Fanboys and girls will go nuts if you don't go with the 'Man in Suit'.

The Godzilla Final Wars site is here.

::: UPDATE :::

According to an article on MercuryNews.com Godzilla was also honored on Hollywood's Walk of Fame with his own star before the movie premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.

Quite bizzare news coming out of France this weekend. Variety reported that a Paris court had ruled that director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement is really a Hollywood movie. This ruling will deny the producers access to the Gallic subsidy system, CNC, The National Center for Cinematography. 2003 Productions, a French company acting as the delegated producer for Warner Bros. would have been eligible to claim a share of the box office for reinvestment in future French productions under this system.

But the court canceled the CNC approval, saying that 2003 Productions was created solely "to allow the company Warner Bros. France ... to benefit from financial help even though (the fund) is reserved for the European cinematographic industry."

The head of 2003, Francis Boespflug, denieds the allegation that his company is a cover for Warner. "This film, which tells a French story, adapted from a French novel, filmed entirely in France, in French, with the participation of more than 2,000 French people, over thirty French actors and actresses and about 500 French technicians for 18 months, is suddenly no longer considered a French film!"

And it just gets worse for Jeunet and his crew. With this ruling the movie cannot compete in the Cesar awards - Gaul's equivalent of the Oscars - except as a foreign film, and excludes its actors from being nominated.

Jeunet's movie cannot even become a candidate for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival awards because it will have been screened outside its country of origin, France. Movies shown at Cannes must not have been screened outside the country where they originate ahead of the festival.

"A Very Long Engagement" also faces legal action from Corsicans angered by what they consider to be the movie's demeaning treatment of the population from the French Mediterranean island.

Jeunet can still hope for honors in the United States but not the best foreign film Oscar, because the film did not open in France in time to qualify. It is, however, eligible for Oscar nominations for best picture, actress or director.

It's not much of a silver lining but we'll take what we can get.

via ComingSoon and Yahoo! Movies.

Of course, the date is "subject to change" but any exact date looks at least 99% firm. Momentum Asia, a new DVD label (it seems) from the people at Momentum Pictures, are set to release a whole load of titles during 2005. Oxide Pangs "The Tesseract", as I mentioned recently, plus all these :

The Heroic Ones, Heroes Two, The Spiritual Boxer, Death Duel, Human Lanterns, The Magnificent Trio, The Trail of the Broken Blade, The Master, The Water Margin, All Men Are Brothers, Two Champions of Shaolin, Invincible Shaolin, Born to Fight.

...a lot of these are from the 30 titles Momentum have licensed from the Shaw Brothers Collection, the rest are fairly recognizable too. See a press release at DVDDebate and a news piece at DVDTimes.

You can never get enough Nicole Kidman in my books and if you get over the whole Mrs. Cruise thing, she's been in some great films (Dogville, The Others, Moulin Rouge, Batman Forever - ok that last one was a lie). So if seeing her naked in bath tub with a 10 year old boy in "Birth" didn't really work for you, then your in luck, because she's got at least two more coming out next year.

"The Interpreter" co-stars Sean Penn, the under used Catherine Keener as well as the movies director Sydney Pollack and revolves around a UN interpreter who over hears members of the UN plotting an assassination attempt. The trailer looks pretty straight forward, let's just hope this one doesn't fall into the fold of Pollack's last directorial mission Random Hearts eh Dav-O!

"Bewitched" is the quite possibly a little too late big screen version of the television show that my brother, sister and I used to watch when we were home sick from school. Nicole Kidman plays the Samantha role but the one saving grace of this film may be that Will Ferrell is Darren. I don't really know why this movie had to be made but any use of Will Ferrell is a good thing, but I'm still unsure of how much "Will Ferrell" will be in his role.

I'm downloading this as I type, but there is now a full length English subtitled trailer for Wong Kar Wai's 2046 online, and in Quicktime format even ...

Ooh ... brief pause for viewing ... it's purty. Download it here. I need to go fill in the gaps in my Wong Kar Wai collection ...

via MonkeyPeaches

With Dario Argento in a marked decline Italian film maker Eros Puglielli has decided to pick up the horror-thriller torch on behalf of his country with Eyes of Crystal and if the trailer's any indication he's put together one fine looking film. Serial killers and taxidermy ... what's not to like? It may prove to be a disappointment on par with Matthieu Kassovitz's gorgeous but hollow Crimson Rivers but I could look at these pictures all day ...

Check out the film's website here, trailer (in Quicktime) here, and Screendaily's review here. You've gotta give that trailer a moment to get going ... the black screen at the beginning is intentional. And it's not particularly work safe ...

Yoichi Sai's Blood and Bones - currently winning rave reviews around the world - has been picked up for distribution in North America and the UK by Tartan Films.

How good is this film? Screen Daily's Mark Schilling - a man not prone to exaggeration - has labelled it by far the best film to come out Japan this year and a career best performance by 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano. It sounds like a fairly bleak, brutal and uncompromising film; a bit of a surprise considering Sai's last film was a massive box office success about a labrador retriever puppy.

You can check out Schilling's review here and the film's official website here.

Now that the Scorsese remake has undergone a complete makeover, even a name change, making it utterly unrecognizable by fans of the original saga, if there is any opportunity for you to see the original Infernal Affairs you must drop everything that you're doing - be it delivering a baby, saving the world from global domination one tear drop at a time, or baking a cake - and go! Go now! Now we tell you!

Now I do apologize to the rest of the world because Infernal Affairs is playing at one of Toronto's rep theatres The Royal this week. Click here for showtimes this week. If we got your hopes up and it's not playing in your area - we're sorry.

Here's the premise. The film follows the parallel lives of Ming, a cop who secretly reports to ruthless Triad crime boss, Sam; and Yan, an undercover police officer who poses as a Triad member in the gang. The only person who knows Yan's true identity is his mentor Superintendent Wong. When Wong's officers come face to face with Sam's gang, both leaders realize there are moles in their midst. Soon Yan and Ming must track each other down, leading to an inevitable confrontation.

The Infernal Affairs trilogy is one of the finest contributions to the crime genre in recent years. You really should give it a go.

And if you want your very own copy to cradle and love you can order it here. Don't let the cover scare you. We think it blows too.

A Charlize Theron fansite has posted the first image of the lanky lass in her Aeon Flux kit. It may be scanned from an unknown magazine but it loses none of it's... uh... effectiveness.

The link above goes straight to the fansite or click here to see the first pic of Charlize as Aeon Flux.

Your cold shower awaits you!

Haven't seen enough of the "Blade: Trinity" footage online yet? Well lucky you then because here's 9 new clips to run through your little brain until you can watch the movie completely on a screen somewhere. Sorry but, even though it's a French website, no Jessica Biel nudity is included.

Some of the clips have footage from the trailers and countless other clips released but with more footage included from the scene. The clips don't get away from showing just how crap Jessica Biel fights though (which I've said from the start) - I wonder if the director just thought to himself during filming - "Damn, is it too late to get Neve Campbell" (that's a joke). It reminds me of the time I beat up Jason Georgio when I was 11 with a bag of Oreo cookies on my lawn - a complete waste of violence.

So check 'em out for yourself and feed the need for vampires, industrial dance music, violence and silver. "Blade: Trinity" is sneaking it's way into theatres December 8, 2004.

Via Film Rotation.

The recent USA DVD of Oxide Pangs "The Tesseract" has only just popped onto the shelves in the USA, and so here's a chance to see the artwork for the UK DVD, due in a few months time.

By the way : Oxide Pang = "The Eye", which was quite good. I watched it quite happily, and although it has it faults, it wasn't in the direction. I think Todd knows more about this, so perhaps it's worht searching the archives if you want more info on the film itself.

OK, I know the pic to the left is tiny. For a much bigger pop-up version click here. From DVDtimes.

The Ultimate Edition : for those of you who want to buy the film twice, for the sake of a nice box.

Anyhow, opinions aside, I must admit that at least it is a very nice box... And now its evident you're going to get more than you initially imagined. It's clear though, that it's geared towards those who've already seen the film, once you see how that copper box comes packaged. Lovely purple carboard box for it to "sleep in" too.

The origin of these pics is a Korean DVD sellers site, and just incase the listing goes missing i've copied the pictures out and put small versions below (so click to view the extended entry), or you can look at the larger versions here. Warning though, they are large files at that site, and I don't know if they took them or are simply putting them up.

Continue reading "Oldboy. Ultimate Edition. 18 New Shots Of Packaging."

Looking to view something other than the last minute oscar film throw out on christmas day this year? Well your in luck because Dimension/Miramax are releasing (supposedly - we know how often Miramax changes release dates) spanish shot, english spoke "Darkness" on christmas day.

I didn't hear about this movie until I just watched the trailer, so after careful, scienctific research (ie, called my mom), she told me this is quite a creppy flick that's been sitting on the shelves for some time now. In 1964, 6 children vanish from a house never to be seen again, leaving the house empty until 40 years later when a new family moves into the house and they begin to experience why it's been empty for 40 years. Really? Who have thought?

The film stars Anna Paquin, Fele Martinez (who was great in the upcoming "Bad Education"), Lena Olin and a group of "hey, I've een you before in...." spanish actors. The trailer does seem promising - though, can anyone pick up the total rip off shot of "The Shinning" in it other than me? The bad thing is I heard it was re-edited so as not to get the MPAA "R" rating and go for the more family oriented, christmas heart warming "PG-13". I'm sure after christmas day though, every parent will be wishing someone will come and steal their children away.

Anyone else know anything more than me about this one? Let us know. Please, I have children to feed (well, if they don't vanish that is).

Seriously, I don't have kids. I'm enough of one for everyone around me. Jerks! Just watch the trailer here ok!

Came across this while checking out that Grudge DVD news. Again this comes via DVDFanatic via DavisDVD and so on and so on and so on. Spanish language site zonadvd.com has sweet images of that Ultimate Matrix Box Set that comes out on December 7th.

Go see the purdy pictures of the Ultimate Matrix Box Set here.

Then place your order for a box set of your very own here.

DVDFanatic.com looks to have early spec details on the release of Columbia Tristar's The Grudge via DavisDVD.com. And they told two friends. And they told two friends. You get the idea. And while DavisDVD is saying there are more spec details to come on Monday take a gander at what they know so far. Niiice!

Audio Commentary by Executive Producer Sam Raimi and Actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ted Raimi

"Under the Skin" Featurette

55-minute Documentary split into these sections:
"The Birth of The Grudge"
"Myth of Ju-on"
"Culture Shock: The American Cast in Japan"
"Designing The Grudge House"
"A New Direction"
"Understanding Takashi Shimizu"

Whether or not I buy this edition remains to be seen. It still scares the bajiggers out of me and I am quite content with my Japanese originals.

Eyes in the security camera!!! Dear lord the eyes in the security camera!!!

Okay ... I'm majorly short on time (going to see the Pixies tonight and I need to leave pretty soon) but I wanted to get this posted before I left ... Sony has just posted the full length North American trailer for House of Flying Daggers and it is sweet. They've managed to include a good number of money shots in there without spoiling the film at all ... check it out in all its Quicktime-y goodness here. And don't forget to enter our House of Flying Daggers giveaway contest while you're at it.

Hi Twitchers.

Dave Canfield with Imagine 'Dat! here. before I head out with the fam for our out of town turkey day celebrations I thought I'd share the turkey with you. Or more aptly Phil Forsyth's review of a turkey named Alexander. Should this movie gobble up yourpost dinner dinero? It was all Greek to Phil.

Thanks to Todd for sharing the content and thanks to you for giving "Alexander" Stone the box office spanking he deserves. Go see The Incredibles again and leave this one alone.

Continue reading "ALEXANDER REVIEW: HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!!"

There are so many pieces basically reporting that "Howls Moving Castle" had a great and record-breaking opening weekend in Japan, and the briefest of snippets of reviews from sites like AICN.

I prefer the professional journalist to have his or her say, in English preferably. So, thankfully, Mark Shilling at JapanTimes has written this.

Thankfully, although comments I have read have hinted at the possibility that it's the rarest of all things when thinking of Ghibli films, a dud, he does infact rate it highly. Now, if only I could have the DVD to watch without having to wait the usual 9 months for the Japanese release.

Aw nuts. Are any of us surprised? Really now. Firefly writer/creator Joss Whedon got on the forums of WHEDONesque yesterday and broke the news that his big screen version SERENITY would be pushed back to September 30th from it's original April 22nd date. Read on for Whedon's take ...

Continue reading "Hostility felt - Serenity is pushed back."

Look at that lovely poster to the left. You want one of those? Of course you do! Conveniently enough the good folks at Sony have offered us some to give away ...

We're trivial people so it's going to be another trivia contest. Answer the question below by midnight Friday, December 10th and the winners - yes, that's plural on purpose - will be drawn at random from those who answer correctly. Send your answers here.

Without further ado, the question:

Though Zhang Ziyi is best known for her work in martial arts films she did not originally train as a martial artist. What was her original training?

Whoops ... a bit of a retraction here ... I posted a day or so ago that the listing for 2046 had disappeared from YesAsia and concluded from this that they'd been hit with a cease and desist order from the North American rights holders. Well, before you go cursing Fox Searchlight for going all Miramax I should tell you that I was a mite premature. The listing's back, they're accepting orders now, and they're cheaper than Layoyo. English subtitles are looking increasingly unlikely, though, as both the Layoyo listing and this one state that the film will only include Chinese subs ... if someone has heard otherwise from someone close to the source I'd appreciate hearing it ...

Anyway, the YesAsia 2046 Page is here. And, while you're at it, they're also taking preorders for Yesterday Once More - the latest from Johnny To - here.

**** UPDATE ****

A kind soul has just written in to say that Sensasian has just added the Hong Kong 2046 disc to their site and they say yes, there are english subs. Thanks Aaron!

The Palm Pictures DVD for Springtime in a Small Town released in North America today and it's another good one ... it's a tight little romantic drama / social allegory, well acted and sumptuously shot by acclaimed cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing. Check out the film's official website here, the trailer (in Quicktime) here, and read on for a more detailed review.

Continue reading "Springtime In a Small Town DVD Review"

Thanks to everybody who entered out Alexander Giveaway Contest! The polls have now closed and we have a winner, Mr. Miles Kinnee who was well aware that all three questions were true. Take a bow Miles.

Thanks to Film Rotation I'm now a little weak at the knees and can't concentrate at work anymore. Amazon.com is exclusively offering The 2004 Criterion Collection Holiday Gift Set that includes 241 titles (such as - "Battle of Algiers", "Rushmore", "George Washington", "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Fat Girl") and I want, want, want it.

One of the only disapointing things about this collection is that there are around 21 titles out of print that are not included in the set ("Straw Dogs" being the one I would would miss the most). Also, the fact that it cost $4,999 US to purchase caused me to shed tears. Tears I say! I guess this is one of those times I regret not marrying for money.

So for the film geek/snob/dweeb on your christmast list, or for that oh so charming and handsome online film blog writer out there (ahem!) this seems like one of the best film collection gifts to gain yourself a life time of love and admiration.

Check out the complete list of films and specs of the 2004 Criterion Collection Holiday Gift Set here.

I don't know why I'm pretending to be surprised to hear that Lions Gate Film's will begin shooting the sequel to "House of the Dead" this week in California. Actually, nothing in this industry surprises me anymore considering Jennifer Lopez still has a career and people didn't like "Casshern".

The only information that's being circulated right now is that Uwe Boll will not have anything to do with this film. I guess he's too busy trying to justify the first "House of the Dead" film to people that it was better or just as good as Resident Evil (as Todd has said many times, this man is INSANE).

Mike Hurst is the new eye behind the camera - couldn't find any information about this guy but Mark Altman, the original writer is back, so I can't say the new director is going to make any difference in this giant crap pile of a movie being made.

How's that to ruin your Tuesday morning eh?

Via Creature Corner.

Here's the first firm details of the fruits of the new relationship between IVL of Hong Kong, who are releasing Toei (Japan) films on a regular basis : now starting November 25th 2004.

The first three titles i have spotted are, from left to right in the picture to the left, "Battles Without Honour or Humanity" (coming soon in the USA as part of the "Yakuza Papers" boxset), "House on Fire" and "Rage of Life". All three are ofcourse Kinji Fukasaku films, the latter two dating from the 1980s.

All have english subtitles, and are being listed on HK DVD sites at $90HK each (roughly $12 US Dollars, or just over £6 each plus postage).

Spotted this over at animatednews.com: a link to a trailer for the CGI movie "Through The Mobius Strip", which is, of course, a Mobius film. You should all hopefully be familiar with the famous French illustrator: if not, Google away.

The film apparently began animation in March 2001, so these 150+ animators have been going at it for 3 years. It's pretty much like "Kaena" in its' "Saturday Morning Kids Cartoon" look; there must be Mobius fans out there. Worth a download I think. Right click and save this. AnimatedNews.com is here.

No word on the specs yet but the date is starting to float around in such a way as to confirm it's solid. No official statement yet, so the news wont be put up on various specific DVD sites.

This also seems to be the date for the long-delayed "Orgazmo" DVD too. If you haven't seen that I do highly recommend it: it does have some of the dodgy logic of Stone / Parker, but is also very funny for some reason. Uncomfortable viewing to some extent too...

More news on Team America: World Police as soon as the specs are announced.

Starved to contribute to this site once again, I stumbled across somethng while looking for leads for possible posts. Considered by us here at Twitch to be one of the greatest film debuts, Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko is a cult film fan's delight. And now with a Director's Cut floating around we have that much more to enjoy.

But check this out. The guys over at Lego Artworks have put together what is arguably one of the best tributes to this film. That, and something called the 'sex chair'. Yeah. I don't know either.

Click here for an amazing Lego tribute to Donnie Darko.

Thank you FilmRot.

Spotted this being talked about over the weekend in one of the many forums I visit regularly. It's a website for Toyota, containing advertisements featuring some of the great young Japanese actors of the moment.

Thankfully the page doesnt contain links to streaming nonsense, or huge quicktime movies: they're all embedded and easily viewable if you have broadband. Witness Tadanobu Asano, Masanobu Ando, and Ryuhei Matsuda and some cars here.

A stack of set pics from Tony Jaa's upcoming Tom Yum Goong have turned up online here. For those not in the know this is the latest flick from the director and star of Ong Bak ... word is Tom Yum Goong will release simultaneously in Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea and Japan in February, 2005. And yes, western rights have already been purchased (by Besson's Europa Corp, I believe) so the film will be coming to American screens soon ... a trailer please? Anyone?

Via the KFC forums.

This just may be the worst decision a film studio has made all year. Tom Stoppard, you know the genius who's won just about every writing award known to man because he is - as mentioned above - a flat out genius, has reportedly been replaced as the screen writer for His Dark Materials by Chris Weitz. You know. The guy who directed American Pie.

You dumped an Oscar winner for American Pie boy? On an adaptation that most people thought couldn't be done thanks to the level of complexity? Slap yourselves. Hard.

The full story is here.

I still have some mighty serious doubts about the wisdom of making a Crusades based Christans vs Muslims battle epic with the world in its current state but Ridley Scott's doing it anyway - my detailed thoughts on the issue are here - and Monsters and Critics has gotten their hands on the very first high res still shot from the film. It's Orlando Bloom in full medieval gear doing his very best Johnny Depp impression ... click here for the high res version.

Terry Gilliam is such an insanely snake-bitten director that I've adopted a 'don't believe it until there's something tangible' approach to all the rumors around his work. Well, Tideland's got something tangible, namely a teaser poster. There's absolutely no way that will be the final mass market shot - can you imagine seeing that on bus shelters around the city? - but it's pretty sweet in a twisted, Terry Gilliam sort of way ... you can see a larger, higher res version here.

Now if only Bob Weinstein would remove his head from his rectum and put the completed Brothers Grimm into theaters ...

Okay ... this had already propgated so widely by the time I first spotted it that I was going to let it slide, but the more I think about it the more I think it bears comment ...

James Cameron's adapting Battle Angel Alita. Not exactly news as it's been rumored for ages and a lot of people look at Dark Angel as being an early attempt to do just that, but where things get interesting is on the tech side ...

First, he's shotting the film in 3D, using the camera system he developed for his Titanic documentary. This could be interesting, but it seems pretty gimmicky ... the only other major film maker using 3D right now is Robert Rodriguez and his pair of 3D flicks - his upcoming Lava Boy will use the same techniques used for the Spy Kids flick - are both intended for children, something that will definitely not be the case with this one. Are adults gonna bite on technology they remember from shoddy b-flicks in their youth being used in serious sci-fi? Only if it's damn impressive.

Second, it's a live action film but the lead character will be all CGI. Err, James ... you did see the Hulk, right? Read the press? People aren't so big on CG characters taking over the screen. The only one to gain any wide acceptance so far has been Gollum, who was firmly in a secondary role ...

Now whatever else people may think about Canada's resident filmic megalomaniac you can't deny that he's got some serious technical skills. If anybody can pull this off it's most likely James Cameron, but still ... the man doesn't make cheap films and this could prove to be one seriously high priced flop.

Monkey Peaches has a flurry of still shots from Steven Chow's Kung Fu Hustle and the upcoming live action adaptation of Initial D, as well as set shots from the new Zhang Yimou drama posted here. Go check out the goodness.

Whee! Just got home from an insanely frustrating shopping trip - I loathe shopping - to find a batch of screener DVDs from Palm Pictures awaiting my return. At the top of the stack was Last Life in the Universe - one of my very favorite films - with a complete spec sheet. Here's what we'll be getting:

Anamorphic Widescreen
5.1 Surround Sound
Cast and Crew Interviews
Behind the Scenes Footage
A Collection of Artwork From Cinematographer Christopher Doyle

AND

A Christopher Doyle Commentary Track!

Now, not only is Doyle one of the very best cinematographers in the world, he's also one mighty fine interview and I can't wait to hear what he's got to say about this ... he's a funny, sarcastic, bitingly intelligent man and I'm betting he's got a story or two to tell about Tadanobu Asano, Takashi Miike and Riki Takeuchi ...

Thanks to a reader in Greece for sending this along ...

"Hello

I’m from Greece, you can call me sethdove, and I’m attending the 45th Thessaloniki Film Festival ( Festival site here) where Kiyoshi Kurosawa is present because there is a tribute to his work ( Kurosawa page here)

I just came back from a press conference in which I asked a couple (let’s say I asked more than a couple…) questions about his past and future films!

Ghost Cop: it’s a 3 minute film and he said that it’s nothing special. He and some friends gathered in his house and had a party. He filmed it, then cut it down to 3 minutes, that’s all! He doesn’t consider it as a film.

New Film: not resulted in a final name yet (Shi No Otome is under consideration), just entered post production and it’s his first love story with just a touch of horror (in one scene there is a ghost). Koji Yakusho doesn’t star in it (why???), neither major actors. Mostly newcomers.

He also said he doesn’t have a clue about why the Kairo remake is “frozen” and if it’s still on the line for future production but stated that he finds American remakes a very positive thing for they awake Japanese producers in throwing more money in Japanese films.

Finally, I asked a question about the suicide scene in Kairo (thanx Elias) and he said that it wasn’t a monoplane, it was made in three parts with the actor bungee-jumping from different heights then edited in one scene. It was the first time someone in his team engaged in bungee and while shooting everybody had their eyes closed! (hehe)

Eventually, I shook his hand, thanked him for his time and patience and left the conference holding my signed DVD copy of Kairo! Wheeee!!! I’m a happy man!"

A new Kurosawa film in post!?! Sweet! That makes Todd a happy boy ... And I've always wondered how they did that jump scene. That's one of the most realistic and disturbing things I've ever seen in my life ...

Nausicaa.net have managed to get early info on the opening days takings for Hayao Miyazakis' "Howls Moving Castle", which opened this past weekend in Japan.

So : it earned roughly 1400 million yen ($13.5m) in the first two days (effectively its' opening weekend). The is the new record for highest opening weekend takings in Japan. An estimated 1.1 million people saw the film, helping it to take 40% more than "Spirited Away" managed in the same time.

Nausicaa.net have now posted two trailers (each in several formats) which aired on TV in Japan a month prior to release and the day before release. Head over there to take a look.

As much as I will miss the dashing styles of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, it's now being reported by the Superman V website that Kevin Spacey has freed up his schedule from performing at the Old Vic theatre to film the new Superman film in Sydney next year.

Now we just have to wait and see if this holds up as complete and utter truth but I must say the inclusion of Kevin Spacey in Bryan Singer's new "Superman" film seems like a great fit. With the shave of the head I think "Mr. American Beauty" will make a great Luthor and would strengthen the worries of many on the recent casting notes (ie, Brandon Routh). No worries on this man's brain though, I think the Routh, "unkown" choice is for the better.

Via Film Rotation.

Don Brown sent out an email over the weekend to various subscribers to the KineJapan mailing list. It reads :

"TOKYO Nov. 21 Kyodo - A fire broke out in the Kadokawa-Daiei movie studio in Chofu in western Tokyo early Sunday morning, burning down one of the studios, according to the Tokyo Fire Department and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

The blaze that started at around 12:45 a.m. at the No. 3 studio of the Kadokawa-Daiei Studio completely destroyed its one-story, 720-square-meter building but no one was injured, the departments said, adding that styrene foam and paint stored in the studio were burned."

...so. This is the studio where Takashi Miike is or was filming "Big Spook War" apparently. Wether the production has been effected or not, i am sure it will at least suffer a slight delay. Anyone find out any more on this?

So, the film was pretty good. Heavy-handed product placement, and typical "Will Smith-isms" aside, it was surprisingly deep for a Hollywood Blockbuster. And, as you might be aware, i really hate it when people spend a fortune on special edition DVDs. Not only is it a waste of money, you could be buying other films...

Anyhow : the Japanese are good at doing some odd things for DVD releases. Witness now, in all its glory, Sonnys' head as a DVD case : limited to 5000 editions and priced at 15000 yen ($145 / £80 roughly). Click to pop this picture up here.

Nobbled from DVDTimes.co.uk.

OK, so we went through the whole "GD Face" issue again with the Chinese DVD for 2046, just like people did with "Hero" a few months earlier. Yes that disc was rubiish, everyone said so. Some still bought it, and others have been holding out for the HK disc.

So, the higher quality Hong Kong edition has finally been announced for December 10th 2004. Available in a Standard Edition, and 2-Disc Colelctors Edition. The Disc is issued by Mei Ah, and should have English Subtitles, though early listing might suggest otherwise.

**** UPDATE ****

Hey ... Todd with some more news on this ... I've just done a bit of digging around and saw that the advance listing for this at YesAsia has been removed. This says to me that they've been hit with a cease and desist order from the US owner of the film and are not being allowed to import the Hong Kong disc. If that's true for them you can bet it's true for all of the North American based importers ... Layoyo, however, is based in Hong Kong from whence they can sell as many as they want. They've got the two disc version listed here and the single disc here. No free shipping and the border monkeys might hit you with customs fees, but Layoyo's cheap and good ...

Here's a surprisingly timely post considering Logboy just brought the man up ... Digital Spy is reporting that Ricky Gervais will be producing an animated film based on his book, Flanimals. Not only has Gervais been given the green light on this, but he's been given a hefty budget of fifty million pounds.

Now, I'm sure Logboy will correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I flipped through a copy of the book a few weeks ago and I didn't really spot anything reminiscent of a plot ... it looked more like a catalog of imaginary animals so I have absolutely no idea what sort of story line this thing would follow ...

OK. So, i know people in the USA loved "Shaun of the Dead" and "Spaced". I also know there's a certian amount of positive response to "The Office" from more discerning comedy fans. Here in the UK, "The Office" is probably the most noteable comedy for years : sure we get pretty good stuff all the time, infact we're probably spoilt for substantial comedy compared to other countries. I just don't like wise-cracking american comedy much, you see. Personal Preference.

Anyhow. Ricky Gervais has recently done a childrens book (bought mostly by adults) called "Flanimals", a second live DVD called "Politics" (after the first, "Animals"). Also, "The Office Xmas Specials" is out now too. See an exclusive Interview here. See a review of "Politics" (with clips!) here. See a review of the Xmas specials here. A review of "The Office" season one, here.

Look!!! It's Nic Cage doing his best Lara Croft impression as he watches his action hero status fall into the abyss that is National Treasure.

Supposedly in development for awhile this under-cooked, over-budgeted action adventure is MORE boring than history class. How could Harvey Keitel, Christopher Plummer, Jon Voigt and Nic Cage be so wrong? Read on to find out.

Continue reading "NATIONAL TREASURE REVIEW: SOME TREASURE SHOULD STAY BURIED"

Whee! More Life Aquatic clips! These just came in and I'm actually so excited to share them that I'm posting the links before even watching them myself ... Following the 'them based' style the established with those 'jaguar shark' bits this is a two parter built around Ned Plimpton, Owen Wilson's character in the film. The clips are available in all three major video formats but I'm just giving them to you in the big Quicktime versions, because I'm a video format bigot. Voila:

Meet Ned Plimpton Part 1
Meet Ned Plimpton Part 2

Wow. Just wow. I'm fairly convinced that one day Vin Diesel will stumble across a perfect role or two and make himself a classic film but this aint it. The Pacifier is essentially a retread of Kindergarten Cop but it looks much, much worse. This is even more painful than that Son of the Mask trailer ... Click here to view the horror.

Hi, Dave Canfield from Imagine 'Dat! here to introduce a newbie. His name is Jim Tudor and he's been writing for Imagine 'Dat! for quite awhile. I'll be posting his reviews alongside my own. He's a good writer and a fast thinker and he'd love to get your feedback which you can send through me.

Look for Tudor Brand comic reviews, film reviews and DVD reviews in the very near future.

Til then enjoy his review of Sideways.

Continue reading "SIDEWAYS REVIEW"

I'm still pretty upset about Darren Aronofsky being turfed from the upcoming adaptation of The Watchmen, but you've got to give the studio some credit: they weren't kidding when they said they were serious about having this thing ready to go for the summer of 2006. They've already moved along and hired Paul Greengrass to take over the helm.

I have mixed feelings about this ... on the plus side his Bourne Supremacy was one of the better spy thrillers of recent years and demonstrated amply that he has no inclination towards dumbing his stuff down. That willingness to challenge his audience will be a key ingredient to making The Watchmen work ... if they try to simplify it or make the characters 'softer' they'll gut the story of all it's power. He also seems to be strong when it comes to drawing performances from his actors and he's got good working relationships with some interesting people. If he can pull off the American accent I'm thinking maybe Clive Owen as the Comedian? On the negative I didn't see a lot in Bourne that made me think he had the sense of style needed for this sort of film ... that's not to say it isn't there, I just haven't seen it yet.

This news is all over the place now, but I first spotted it here ...

Why? Because this guy's been on the set of The Hanging Tree, the just-wrapped new film from Toshiaki Toyoda. Follow that link. What the article lacks in firm detail it makes up in well-deserved enthusiasm. Toyoda is, beyond a doubt, a genius and he keeps getting better with every film. Must see this film ...

The trailers really don't do the films justice, but check 'em out anyway thanks to the lovely people at Artsmagic who have already brought one of Toyoda's previous films to our shores and have another one coming. Blue Spring is here, 9 Souls here. You can also check my review of Blue Spring here and Opus' review of 9 Souls here ... my own 9 Souls review will be turning up closer to the DVD release date ...

Via Greencine.

Screen Daily has just run a review of Yoji Yamada's Hidden Blade and it sounds like he's produced another good one. There are a lot of obvious similarities to The Twilight Samurai, Yamada's previous film, but considering that one garnered itself an Oscar nomination this can hardly be considered a bad thing ... Read the review here and check the film's trailer here.

Palm Pictures has aquired the rights to a stack of fantastic Asian films over the last year and, now that their theatrical runs are coming to an end, they've all got shiny new DVD release dates.

6ixtynin9: January 11th
Last Life in the Universe, Purple Butterfly: February 15th
Dolls, Bright Future: March 8th

The big guns on that list are Last Life in the Universe and Bright Future, both of which star Tadanobu Asano and both of which I adore. I was going to make some outrageous claim about words being unable to express just how much I love Pen-Ek Ratanarueng's Last Life until I realized that was patently untrue. The review I wrote for Opus is here. Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Bright Future is currently in a to-the-death wrestling match with Cure for the title of favorite Kurosawa film in my personal pantheon ...

Singling those two out is in no way intended to slight the others, though ... Ratanarueng's 6ixtynin9 is not quite as accomplished as his later work but it still stands as a compelling crime / mistaken identity caper; Purple Butterfly features stunning cinematography and some powerhouse performances (check Opus' review from the 2003 Toronto Film Festival here); and Dolls is a compelling - and very different - piece of work from Japanese auteur Takeshi Kitano. Just plan on buying them all.

You want trailers? We got trailers:

6ixtynin9
Last Life in the Universe
Purple Butterfly
Dolls
Bright Future

Now this is some unexpected news ... According to Variety Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Rob Tapert will be producing a remake of The Evil Dead through Raimi's Ghost House label. Raimi will not direct the film himself and is current leading a search team for a director to "reinvent the franchise before a script is written."

I'm more than a little surprised to see them revisiting this old material and I can only think of one really solid reason to do it: showing investors the series can turn a solid profit to generate funding for the long-rumored Evil Dead 4. Here's hoping ...

OK. Spotted the 3-Iron DVD coming up in Korea, visited a retailers site and decided to have a look around. Also spotted this one.

So, if you were one of the many that started watching anime in earnest when Akira made it over here in the late 80s / early 90s then you should at least have heard of Robot Carnival. It's a 1987 collection of 9 short films : two are by Akira mainman Katsuhiro Otomo, and one is by Yusuomi Umetsu of "Kite" and "Mezzo Forte" fame.

As far as i know, this is the only DVD with English Subtitles of this : or at least it's the first DVD i have spotted. Anyhow, it's a first for me, so I will be buying it. See the listing here. IMDB here.

So. 3-Iron is coming, December 17th 2004. And : It has English Subtitles! Woot! (as people seem keen on saying these days...).

Kim Ki Duks' latest film surprised everyone by not getting the nod to represent Korea at the Academy Awards (that honour goes to Taegukgi instead). Personally, I don't know much about this film, as living in the UK means either limited film festivals with long travelling distances : and although it's a small island, have you used the trains or driven the roads?!

Check out all the usual retailers. Specs in Korean here.

[A note from Todd] This was pretty easily my favorite film of this year's Toronto Film Festival ... truly amazing stuff ... check my review here. It's the last one on the page ...

Ever have one of those screening experiences that makes you tingle all over? No... not that kind. I'm talking 'bout the kind you have when you meet one of your cinematic heroes. I almost skipped this screening of A Very Long Engagement but I had business on that end of town anyway. When I got there I found out that none other than mon director Jean Pierre Jeunet himself would be doing a Q &A afterwards.

Continue reading "A Post-Screening Q&A With Jean-Pierre Jeunet! Delicatessen Finally Coming to DVD in the US! A Firm No To Harry Potter! And His New Film Aint Bad, Either ..."

OK, so we all know that Japanese films, or foreign films in general seem (at least) to get a raw deal when it comes to their artwork for release outside those tiny islands...

So what do you think about these? Here's a large picture for Porco Rosso, Nausicaa, and The Cat Returns.

I've not bothered to read over the specs in detail, but they seem to all offer botha dub and english subtitles. The second disc is given over to storyboards for each of the films (as they are in the Japanese issues).

If you want buying advice : Nausicaa is astonishing to say the least. Porco Rosso is quite light hearted, fun and very worth while, The Cat Returns is probably for completists only. See the DVDTimes piece with the specs here.

Okay kids, it’s that time of year again. You know, the time of year where we celebrate the coming of the Messiah by spending more than we can afford on consumer goods for ourselves and our loved ones. And then some more on ourselves. But what to buy for the special geek on your list? Never fear! Us Twitch-ers are here to guide the way with our massive list of quality geek-pleasing items. Read on!

Continue reading "Twitch Goes Christmas Shopping ..."

Those who know Japanese cult director Takashi Miike only through his shock and gore films – Ichi the Killer and Audition are both absolute classics of the genre – will be in for a surprise with The Bird People of China. Bird People stands as absolute proof that, although Miike will likely always be best known for his more extreme films, the man has a surprising degree of depth to him and is more than capable of turning out world class serious film.

Continue reading "Bird People In China DVD Review - DVD Releases Today!"

Whee! DouglasAdams.se has gotten their hands on a trio of concept art drawings for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. These three images are over and above the batch that Yahoo posted last week. Go look. Now. The DoglasAdams.se site also has the most complete cast list that I've seen so far (granted, I haven't really been looking for info beyond the key players) and how happy am I to see the League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton in a significant role? Very. You bet.

February is going to be a good month to be an Asian film fan in the UK ... Tartan UK has just announced their February releases and it's a mighty impressive lineup ...

Topping the list is a two disc edition of Chan Wook Park's Old Boy, complete with a new English translation, audio commentaries, an interview with the director and more. They will also be releasing a new remastered collector's edition of Park's previous film, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. No word yet on what features that will include. Also on the way are the Korean genre hopper Save the Green Planet, and Ringu helmer Hideo Nakata's psychological thriller Chaos packaged in a set with Nakata's previously unavailable television series Curse Death and Spirit.

No word yet if the eventual US DVD release of Old Boy will mirror this UK edition, but there's no reason to think it won't with Tartan handling the release in both regions. The strong feature set makes this the release to have for non Korean speakers ... the collector-geek in me is still hoping that someone, somewhere releases a set that includes a wood handled claw hammer with the Old Boy logo burned into the handle ...

Via the DVD Times and our very own Logboy.

Okay, given how much money the company's worth it's more like he's suing them for a sock - and a frayed one at that - but still, that wacky Roger Avary is one busy boy. Though he's still hard at work prepping the film adaptation of Silent Hill with Christophe (Brotherhood of the Wolf) Gans the Pulp Fiction screenwriter has just filed a thrity million dollar lawsuit against tech behemoth Microsoft claiming that their Yourself! Fitness! XBox title is a knock off of a yoga based game he pitched to them.

Avary has set up a blog to chronicle the suit's progress here and you can download the legal complaint here.

OK so one of the numerous Star Wars forums had a picture posted that's clearly a frame from "Revenge of The Sith". It is Yoda, in a room.

See this scene in the film here.

Check out the concept art for the scene here.

Only view if you're not too bothered about the potential for it to spoil one or more moments of the film. You have been warned. By the way, the pic of the concept art looks like its from one of the posts from behind the scenes or the recent DVDs.

Wow ... I wouldn't have called this one, but Variety is reporting that Keanu Reeves has been cast as the lead in Spike Lee's The Night Watchman. Apparently production will launch as soon as Reeves is finished doing promo work for Constantine ...

I'm not one of those who bashes Reeves as a matter of principal but he's only shown himself to be good within a fairly narrow range. Go outside that range and it's a horror show ... anybody else remember his shot at Shakespeare? Shudder. Were Lee to retitle this The Dazed and Slightly Disoriented Because It's Night and He's Tired Watchman I'd feel slightly better about it. As it is I sincerely doubt that this will be the film to pull Lee out of his current slump ...

Now that the film is releasing throughout Canada and the US it seems like a good time to link back to some of our Machinist reviews ... we're fairly split on the film around here. Having seen it a second time I hold with my original, fairly middling, opinion from the Toronto Film Festival. Canfield, however, has already seen the thing at least six times and adores it. Check out my review here, Canfield's here, and Canfield's interview with director Brad Anderson here.

Will Pixar go back to Disney and renew their distribution deal? Time will tell. According to an article in The New York Times renewing with Disney is just one of the options chief executive Steven Jobs is considering when their current deal with Disney expires after Cars is released this time next year.

"We are not going to make a decision until the last possible moment," Jobs said. Jobs says a major reason why are the changes in executive positions at the studios in upcoming months. Sherry Lansing, Paramount's chairwoman, recently said she would leave when her contract ends in 2005, and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner will retire when his contract ends in September, 2006. :::Mack swears he hears cheering when he typed that:::

Given the proven and almost guaranteed success that each Pixar film has in the market you would think that studios would be clamoring to get in line to offer Pixar a deal. According to an article over at ComingSoon Jobs has admitted that two other studios, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, could provide the type of distribution deal they're looking for.

Personally? I think it's time for Pixar to move to greener pastures and try a deal with another studio. I would think that they would get more attention to themselves instead of sharing the limelight with Disney. That's how it's always been. Pixar and DISNEY! They needed the name before to get people to