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The Korean Society of Cinematographers Golden Cinema Awards were announced today. It's an award judged by one's peers for having the best cinematography in a film from the previous year.

This year's awardees were Kim Hyung-gu for Rikidozan (Golden Prize), Lee Jun-gyu for Arahan (Silver Prize), and Seok Hyeong-jing for R-Point (Bronze Prize). I've seen Arahan and R-Point and both were pretty. I haven't seen Rikidozan so I can't say much on that.

The Best New Cinematographer award was shared between Kim Hyo-jin for Liar, Kim Dong-cheon for Bunshinsaba, and Park Sang-hun for Spin Kick.

via Koreanfilm.org.

HUGE thanks to Brian for pointing this out ...

Slated to appear at this year's Jeonju Film Festival is Soul Dancing, a new 23 minute short from Kiyoshi Kurosawa starring Tadanobu Asano! I'm just about to start looking for more info on this, but in the meantime the official festival listing is here and a batch of photos is here ...

Fresh of its six award performance at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards, Sony Classics has announced release dates for Wong Kar Wai's 2046. The film will launch on August 5th in New York and LA before rolling out to a wider release ...

God bless Alexis Moore. Who? The lovely Sony PR lass who, despite my complete ignorance that such a thing even existed, just dropped me a note to say that I had somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty packs of Kung Fu Hustle trading cards merrily making their way through the postal system to me. I know absolutely nothing about these other than the fact that they are now up for grabs. Want some? Here's what you've got to do: drop me an email here laying out, in detail, what mystical kung fu power you most desire and why. Those who make me laugh loudest win. I'll give you a couple of weeks on this one ... entries accepted until April 15th ...

*** UPDATE ***

I just got JPGs of the cards and they're using the same designs as those character based one sheets we linked to a while back ... they've apparently got vital stats of all the characters on the backs ...

I will admit that a sense of dread came over me when I heard that the hit BBC britcom The Office was being remade for American television. Not surprising for a nation that continually borrows good ideas from other countries [British comedy and Japanese horror to name a couple] but I was not ready to watch them bastardize it. However, upon viewing the first two episodes I may change my tone. Still waiting though. Nothing definitive yet. But, if they continue to roll with just the concept of the series and simply not rehash the other eleven episodes and double episode Christmas special they may very well succeed.

Having said that and gotten that off my chest [what's with the chest references tonight?] I will proclaim to the massess that Steve Carell is a very funny man. From his days on The Daily Show to delivering the best lines in Anchor Man: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and now the oh-so despicable boss, Michael Scott, in The Office Steve Carell is on the rise to further stardom. He's wrapped up shooting on Bewitched and is currently shooting The 40-year Old Virgin.

And today we received word that he is part of the remake of the 60s television show Get Smart...

"They're developing right now, and they are in the process of writing the script so it's somewhere down the road. Right now, the approach is modern day. The basic premise is that both CONTROL and KAOS have fallen on hard times and are not being funded by the government. They're not getting the same kind of funding as (the) CIA. They have one last mission to try to get back on top - it's not retro at all."

Steve Carell is on his way to being a household name. I just hope we don't see the trend of saturating the market with a comedic leading man like we're witnessing with Will Ferrell right now.

via ComingSoon.

You know its been a slow news day when...

Dear lord I hope they mean the kind of chest that is made of wood and full of good and booty, and not Bloom running around with a shirt off. Fingers crossed folks.

I liked the first one. Twas a good romp. Not overly excited about the next ones but I need to keep busy and posting this is keeping me from doing harm to my houseplant while I wait for someone to seed tonight's episode of The O.C.

Click here for a larger version.

via film247.net.

Just been over again to homevision.com to see if they're up and they're up...! Here are small versions of the American discs artwork for Kiyoshi Kurosawas astonishing 'Seance' and 'Charisma'.

Head over to their site to see larger version at each films page; click the relevant name above and then on the small preview shown there.

Cunninghams 'Rubber Johnny' short is due during May on DVD, here in the UK at least. Warp have taken the time to interview Chris about the piece, and have included a few great pictures from the six minute film. Don't look at them in front of your employers or your kids though. Shocking (but cool) stuff. See and read it here.

The Japanese omnibus film female (fîmeiru) was screened at the 29th Hong Kong International Film Festival last Saturday (March 26), and will be screened there again this Saturday (April 2). female is comprised of five shorts. "Momo", based on a story by Kaoruko Himeno, was directed by Tetsuo Shinohara and stars Kyôko Hasegawa (Hasegawa Kyouko). "Taiyô no mieru basho made", based on a story by Yuzuki Muroi (Muroi Yuduki), was directed by Ryûichi Hiroki (Hiroki Ryuuichi) and stars Chihiro Ôtsuka (Ootsuka Chihiro). "Yoru no shitasaki", based on a story by Kei Yuikawa, was directed by Suzuki Matsuo and stars Saki Takaoka. "Megami no kakato", based on a story by Asa Nonami, was directed by Miwa Nishikawa and stars Nene Ôtsuka (Ootsuka Nene). "Tamamushi", based on a story by Mariko Koike, was directed by Shin'ya Tsukamoto and stars Eri Ishida.

Dang it! I hate hearing good news about about this film!!! Hurry up and do your theatrical run so I can buy the DVD already!!! Dang it!

Positive review and brief film overview over at The Korea Times. Attention: possible spoilers.

Well this just plain sucks. Having no previous connection with the Dr. Who universe I rather enjoyed Christopher Eccleston in the title role but the BBC has reported that he has quit the BBC's new Doctor Who series after just one episode of the new series aired. The actor only signed for the current series of 13 episodes.

The first episode attracted around 10 million viewers in its premiere on March 26, and Eccleston feared being typecast, the network said. He said that he is planning new projects and that he found filming the series gruelling. Christopher, who is dating TV actress Siwan Morris, said he found it demanding being away in Cardiff to film the 13 episodes.

He hinted that he could be set to quit, saying: "I might be the first Doctor to just appear in one series, It's been brilliant to make but it's hard work. It's a long time to be away from home. It's hard on anyone in a relationship. It would be great to have a 10th Doctor, then an 11th. The show will go on and on - it's not about me."

Talks are taking place to replace him with the star of the BBC3 show Casanova, David Tennant. According to DailyRecord other contenders included Love Actually star Bill Nighy, Harry Potter actor David Thewlis, and comedian Eddie Izzard.

The good news is that Billie Piper, who plays Doctor Who's assistant, Rose, and is incredibly hot, is expected to continue her role. I could watch her run away from evil all day.

Eccleston's last appearance is expected to be in a Christmas special.

via BBC and DailyRecord.

A lot of people have already commented on how Sin City is the most faithful comic book to film adaptation ever which prompted the good people at FilmRot to ask the question "Can it really be that close?" Apparently the answer is yes, yes it can. Click here to check out their fantastic comparison of comic frames and still shots from the various trailers ...

Just gave the Jeonju Film Festival website another spin and although it's still not fully functional - the english option doesn't seem to be there yet - I was able to turn up some very worthwhile stuff including the first images from Shinya Tsukamoto's Haze, Song Il-Gon's The Magicians and Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Worldly Desires! I'm itching to see the anthology project these are part of ... three fantastic directors with very different styles that I think will work very well together. Song's effort looks very theatrical and I'm intrigued by it being a one take film, Worldly Desires reminds me a lot of the fantastic Tropical Malady and just what is that in shot number five from Haze!?! Tsukamoto's got something odd up his sleeve ...

The entire festival lineup is available here, all nice and alphabetical ...

This has the look of an 'official' leak to me, but even so I doubt it'll be available for long, so act quickly if you want to see it ...

The opening sequence of Danny the Dog (AKA Unleashed) has turned up online and it includes the entire first fight sequence - almost three minutes of goodness. The video file is a little bit dark but it was definitely taken direct from an official source so it's all crisp and clean. Is it good? Oh, yes. And definitely the most brutal fight sequence I have ever seen Jet Li involved in ... just wait till he starts bouncing the guy's head off the floor ...

Happy times start here.

Thanks to Ian for the link.

Okay, all you pinko lefties! Who wants a free copy of The Corporation? 'Cause we've got two of them to give away, the fancy two DVD edition, even. But I want to make sure they go somewhere that they can do the greatest good possible so if you want one, here's what you have to do: email me here detailing your sweatshoppiest guilty pleasure. Got a Nike fetish? A secret stash of Kathie Lee fashions? Gimme your list and the two I judge most needy will be the proud owners of their very own Corporation DVD. You've got till April 5th ...

One of the obvious benefits of running a site like this is that I am often exposed to excellent films that I would otherwise miss entirely. Such is the case with Head On (Gegen Die Wand), a brilliant, searing film that has received little notice on these shores despite winning major awards around the world. I guess there's just not much of a market for Turko-German social critique ...

Head On revolves around Cahit and Sibel, a pair of Turks living in Germany. When we first meet Cahit - a forty-something man who makes a living cleaning up empties at a goth-punk bar - he is about as unappealing as is humanly possible. Unwashed and unshaven Cahit is in the midst of a massive drunk, so degraded and desperate for alcohol that he finishes the last stagnant dregs found in abandoned glasses at his cleaning job. He staggers from bar to bar becoming more abrasive, more abusive at each stop. The binge comes to an abrupt end when Cahit drives his car head on, at full speed, into a brick wall. This is ruled an attempted suicide and Cahit is forced into a psychiatric hospital.

Continue reading "Head On (Gegen Die Wand) Review"

Mmm. Good. Got a note today inviting me to take a quick look at a pair of short films from Simon Burrill, a young film maker out of the UK and they are good stuff. Horseplay is an odd little three minute absurdist piece chock full of fantastic cinematography while Mr. Theobald is ... well ... hard to describe, but pretty fantastic if you're of the Lynch / Maddin appreciation set. Which I am. The player size is frustratingly small but definitely give those two a look ...

The host site is well worth kicking around in as well ... it's a short film site hosted by the BBC to showcase new talent ... in Burrill's words "there's less crap than the usual overflooded shorts sites" which, after a quick perusal, I am quite happy to confirm. Check it out.

Gah! Just went to finish up my order for SARS Wars (see below) and saw that also out today is the Thai VCD of Godzilla Final Wars! This hasn't even been announced anywhere else yet, as far as I know, so go ahead and ask me: do I care that it's dubbed into Thai and doesn't include subtitles? Not a bit. Hell, it's a Kitamura film so it's not like the dialogue's going to matter at all ...

Thai DVDs generally follow the VCD releases by about a week ... I'll drop a note and see what I can find out. In the meantime the VCD is here. And deep inside I just know you want this one, too. How could you say no to Dolph and Jerry?

I have no idea why I'm looking forward to this one so much ... there's just something about the premise that's so incredibly ridiculous that I can't help but smile when thinking of it ... anyway, the Thai DVD for SARS Wars is out now, and English subs are included. A-shopping I will go ...

It's the rumor that won't die ... despite the assertions of director Tsui Hark that the film will not be through the editing process on time to screen there CRI Online is again reporting that the film - along with Jackie Chan's The Myth and Chen Kaige's The Promise - will be premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. They don't cite a source for the information and CRI is not always the most reliable of sources, so take it with a grain of salt ...

Thanks to Chelle for the pointer.

This has got to be just about the biggest piece of news to hit horror circles in a good while ... By now most fans of the genre should be aware of the Masters of Horror, an informal circle of film makers who meet bi-monthly for dinner to shoot the breeze about their chosen genre. Well, Showtime has just commissioned a thirteen part series from the group with the shows made up of single hour films from many of the key directors. You want new Argento? It'll be here. Same with Romero, Tobe Hooper, John Carpenter and a slew of others. The most exciting news for me was that Don Coscarelli's entry will be based on a short story by Joe Lansdale, the author of Bubba Ho Tep. Sweet! Here are the relevant bits from the Variety report:

"Spurred by the recent string of box-office horror hits, Showtime has nabbed rights to "Masters of Horror," a series of 13 hourlong films to be helmed and/or written by the genre's top names. IDT Entertainment's New Arc unit, Industry Entertainment and Nice Guy Prods. are producing "Masters," the idea for which sprung from a bimonthly dinner attended by several of the participating directors ... Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Roger Corman, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, Stuart Gordon, John Landis, Tobe Hooper and George Romero are slated to direct installments ... Showtime will shell out more money than some of the B-movie auteurs are used to getting, according to Greenblatt. He says the budget per film will be comparable to the per-episode cost of a first-season scripted drama --typically $1 million-$2 million ... As for the individual films, helmers will produce new projects and adaptations as well as retellings of classics. Among them are "Deer Woman," which Landis co-wrote with his son Max; "Jenifer," to be directed by Argento based on the comicbook by Bruce Jones and Bernie Wrightson and adapted by and starring Steven Weber; "Incident on and off a Mountain Road," adapted and directed by Coscarelli and Stephen Romano from Joe Lansdale's short story; and "Chocolate," which Garris will direct based on his own short story."

From Comingsoon.net, Hollywood Reporter too: 'Stars' or 'Actors' are Kristen Bell of UPN's "Veronica Mars" and newcomer Steve Talley. Release is by Bob and Harvey Weinstein's Walt Disney-free Dimension Films label. Commercial director Jim Sonzero is making his feature debut on the film.

And just listen to how they describe it and get worried now, "The story revolves around a Web site that turns out to be run by a sinister force. As more people go to the site, the supernatural force begins to dominate the lives of those that log on. Bell and Talley's characters team up to unravel the mystery." Blimey, I am slowly losing all hope to live. If I remember correctly, as it has been a couple of years since I watched Pulse, it's a computer emulation that represents the relationship between people - am I right? They seem to have shifted elements of the story around "a little". It's not about technology as much as its about people and human nature.

Comingsoon also note : The script was written by Wes Craven and rewritten by Vince Gilligan. Craven was once attached to direct.

I'll freely admit that I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan. Yes, the man has a mildly embarrassing over-reliance on big Surprise Twists but he also shoots some gorgeous film and tends to layer some interesting subtext into his scripts. That said for some reason I just couldn't muster a lot of enthusiasm for the news a couple days back that he was setting up a new film - The Lady in the Water - over at Warner Brothers. That is, until now.

Variety has just announced that Paul Giamatti and Bryce Howard will be playing the lead roles. Howard was by far the best thing going in The Village and Giamatti is simply an outright genius who has been jobbed by the Oscars two years in a row now ... I'd go see this on the basis of cast alone pretty much regardless of who the director is but put those two with a guy who writes intelligent scripts and who I still believe will land at least a few major technical awards before he's done and I'm there with bells on. Tinkle, tinkle.

Now hopefully someone at Warners will convince him that he's a good enough writer to drop the whole twist ending angle ... and I have no idea what this film means for his long rumored adaptation of The Life Of Pi, which had been widely touted as his next film ...

I suspect the notion of whether or not to see Queen Latifah’s new movie “Beauty Shop” is either a solid “yes” or a solid “no”, with very little room for “maybe”. I admit that I would’ve ordinarily came down on the side of “no”, but I had nothing else going on the night of the screening, and hey, it was free. That said, I haven’t seen either of the “Barber Shop” movies, which this was spun off from. I hear they’re both pretty funny, succeeding in transcending the obvious racial barriers inherent in such urban-entrenched subject matter. As far as Latifah herself goes, I’ve always perceived her as more of a personality than an actress. (I mindlessly thought this even after she did so great as Mama in “Chicago”. But those ads for “Bringing Down the House” and “Taxi” did little to make me reconsider.) With that in mind I figured why not see what all the hoopla’s about (with both the “Shop” franchise and Latifah’s career as a leading lady.) So how did a suburban white geek like myself enjoy the movie? All in all, it wasn’t great, but I admit it was a lot more watchable than I though it would be.

Continue reading "Beauty Shop Review"

If you’re any kind of fan of documentaries or artists that defy classification, you won’t to miss “In the Realms of the Unreal”, filmmaker Jessica Yu’s affectionate exploration of the work of Henry Darger. If you’re asking who Henry Darger is, and why he’s deserving of your attention, well, that’s the central issue Yu attempts to unravel.

Darger died in 1973, just another quiet and reclusive old man, as far as anyone else knew. He lived very much alone and in poverty for most of his life in Chicago. But inside his small apartment, Darger had meticulously constructed a vivid fantasy world replete with characters and places echoing some of the more traumatic parts of his life. This whimsical but also dangerous world was depicted in hundreds of original breathtaking paintings, as well as a monumentally epic 15,000 page, single-spaced typed novel, “In the Realms of the Unreal”.

Continue reading "In the Realms of the Unreal Review"

Do I honestly need an excuse to post a picutre of Zhang Ziyi? In case I do, both MonkeyPeaches and CRIENGLISH briefly covered todays press screening of Ziyis first Japanese film Tanuki Goten [Raccoon Dog Palace].

Zhang Ziyi says the genre of the film is new for her. She had to memorize a lot of Japanese songs and took singing and dancing classes in Japan to prepare for the part.

Director Seijun Suzuki says he has no complaints about working with Zhang Ziyi saying she is a multi-talented international star. CRIENGLISH

There are other pictures of todays events at Sina.com.

Has A Bittersweet Life become the new Oldboy for the Twitch gang? Admittedly, we're taking a huge risk here ranting and raving about a film that we haven't seen yet. But, we have placed our faith in what we have seen and read about the film and will not stop giving you more info about it. Either you're as excited about this film as we are or you're sick of it. Meh. We like what we see.

Here's another short article in Chosun.com giving director, Kim Ji-woon, and lead actor, Lee Byeong-huns thoughts on different aspects of the movie.

Okay, I lied ... still not sleeping - and I must say that this sort of running commentary would work much better if the site didn't put the newest articles at the top, thus making the commentary run in reverse - but only because this is far too cool. Yep, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the book) expounding on matters relavent to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the movie), all in the soothing, dulcet tones of Mr. Stephen Fry. You know you want to try it.

Oh ... and if you're one of those Winamp-y sorts of people, you can get a HHGG skin for that here.

Could be ...

I'm not going to sit here and re-iterate what someone else has already done a fantastic job of saying, so I'll just say that I agree with everything Moriarty says here and redirect you to the article at AICN ...

And now I go to bed.

I have to get up at five tomorrow to go to work so I really should be in bed right now, but ... but ... Paul Thomas Anderson is making another movie!!!

Why yes, I am a fan. Magnolia is as near to a perfect film as has ever been made. Thus any PTA news is good news for me. Unless, of course, the news is that he's dead. Which this news is not.

Word is he has written an adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel Oil and the early money says that Daniel Day Lewis will star. As of right now everything's apparently ready to go but the financing. Someone give the man some money!

Originally via PTAnderson.com but I spotted it at AICN.

Okay, I've been open in the past about my dislike for Lynch's Dune - the weakest of his films, in my opinion - but if this is true, I'm so there. So very, very there.

"fantastic news today regarding the recently delayed Dune extended edition dvd--it appears that the release date was pushed back b/c lynch had a last minute change-of-heart and decided to revisit the film (which he had previously claimed he was done w/ forever). this means that we will finally get to watch a lynch-approved director's cut of Dune, which is infinitely better than the previously-announced crappy alan smithee tv edit. considering that lynch should have some 5+ hours of footage to work with during the re-edit process, hopefully this new version will add a significant amount of lynch-y goodness and flesh out the scope of the cool-yet-flawed theatrical version. this was totally one of those things, along with fincher revisiting Alien 3, that i thought would never ever happen. very happy about this...

from:
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/#mytwocents"

Big thanks to Jung for the note ...

Hurray for us! Sometime this afternoon Twitch rolled over the five hundred thousand visitor mark. Not bad ... in just slightly over six months we've gone from four or five hundred page loads a day to four or five thousand with the numbers continuing to climb all the time, and those numbers don't even include our forum traffic.

To celebrate I went out and ponied up for another ten gig of bandwidth per month because we maxed out again yesterday.

The Hollywood Reporter has just announced that the Disney / Weinstein Brothers split is complete with Disney retaining the Miramax name and the Miramax / Dimension back catalog while the Weinstein's will take the Dimension label with them on their exit. Bob and Harv will stay with Miramax on a non-exclusive basis until September 30th at which point they're gone for good ...

The big question for me, and the unanswered one, is what the new guy will do with all the titles Miramax is still sitting on ... read the full story here.

Or at least that's the rumor ... I can't turn a list up on Google and the festival's official site won't load up for me ... a little help?

Alright all you commie pinko Canadians, listen up. Tp celebrate the DVD release of The Corporation - It just won a Genie award, you know. Did the broadcast cross the magical Brampton line this year? - director Mark Achbar will be loitering about Toronto on April 1st and 2nd and making himself available for widespread adulation and fondling by groupies.

Okay, I made part of that up. He is going to be here, though. Read on for the full press release. And we should have a couple copies to give away in a contest, probably starting tomorrow if the FedEx notice I found on my door today means what I think it does ...

Continue reading "The Corporation DVD Launch in Toronto"

Title says it all, really. Not bad for a film shot in eight days ...

Well, according to Davis DVD you'll only have to wait until August, when Lion's Gate will be putting it back on the shelves ...

"Lions Gate Home Entertainment plans on re-releasing Takashi Miike's incredible film Audition on DVD sometime this August. Previously released through Ventura Entertainment, Audition will include a new introduction and on-camera interview with Miike, select scene commentary with Miike, a Q&A at the American Cinematheque, a Tour of the Egyptian Theatre, an interview with author Ryu Murakami, a photo gallery, trailers and more."

Another one courtesy of Logboy ...

No specs yet but word is that the Hong Kong DVD of the Pang Brothers' Eye 10 will release May 17th. I haven't seen anyone talking about this one on different asian film boards ... is it just that the Pang's appeal has taken a beating with their recent string of sub-par films or is it so bad that it's not worth saying anything about? I'll probably pick this one up if it's cheap but I'm certainly not itching for it like I have with past Pang efforts ... here's hoping Recycle lives up to that early test footage ...

Via Logboy and DVDAnswers ...

I just got a note from Jung pointing out that the 2005 San Francisco Film Festival site has gone live and, although the program hasn't officially been announced, you can find this year's films here. Yes,yes that link says 2004 on it but I did some poking around and those are really the 2005 films. The list of films having their premieres at the festival can be found here ...

I just got a note directing me to the website for a little film titled Red Doors that looks pretty fascinating ... the director has worked with Scorsese in the past and had a decent number of shorts do the festival rounds and it looks as though she's gone majorly autobiographical with her feature debut. No trailer yet, but I'm writing to find out when one will be available ... here's the word from a student who helped edit it:

"Hi guys, I've always loved the site and finally have something cool to tell you! I attended The Edit Center in NYC this summer as part of a college project for Penn State and 6 months later the dark asian comedy my class worked on has actually materialized into a real film! And it's good! (Edit Center lets folks learn final cut helping on small features, big deal right? They do deserve coverage in their own right, I got to meet Craig McKay and listen to him talk about cutting 'Silence of the Lambs', not shabby for a college kid from PA).

Here are the sites:

reddoorsthemovie.com
bdcfilms.com

It's in competition at Tribeca this year for the NY prize.
The director has won awards for her shorts and was Martin Scorsese's apprentice on Gangs of NY, so there's talent there."

Thanks to Michael for the heads up ...

Oh, sweet lord ... I was one mighty pleased boy when I heard that Tony Scott was going to be shooting a film based on a Richard Kelly script. Why? Though overshadowed by his bigger, splashier brother I've always found Tony to be the more consistent of the two and also the one more willing to take risks that pay off large. His entry in the BMW films series was the strongest of the lot in my view and he's already shown with True Romance that he's more than able to take a script loaded with independent spirit and make it into something that manages to be larger and glossier without coming anywhere close to losing its soul. Which brings us to Domino.

As has been pointed out in the old thread here where the trailer first came to my attention this thing looks like a Tony Scott film - which means big, gorgeous and technically superb - but I, for one, can also see Kelly's fingerprints all over this thing. If there's a big mainstream director out there who shows more respect to his writers than Tony Scott I don't know who it is. For big summer fun that doesn't entirely involve checking the brain at the door, click here. Yum.

Many people including myself have been enjoying the first season (from 2002) of 'Stand Alone Complex', and like me you might have spotted the Second Gig (second season, from 2004) has been coming out in Japan on DVD. When do we get it then? Well, fairly soon after the First Season ends is the answer.

Hopefully this time there will be no slight hiccups in the audio on the discs, which seamed to plague the first couple of discs. Additionally, I know the scale of the story telling goes up and the production values might even get better if that's possible.

There's a great inteview with the Director of the show Kenji Kamiyami at Patrick Macias blog here.

Thai horror flick Shutter is a film that has arrived a couple years too late. Had it been made in the early going of the current Asian horror boom it very likely would have been hailed a minor classic, mentioned in the same breath as Nakata’s Ringu and Kurosawa’s Kairo. Coming this late in the game, however, it seems that a good number of people have taken a look at the early materials, branded it a derivative knock off, and thought no further about it. Those people are certainly justified in their thinking – Shutter IS quite derivative, owing a large debt to Nakata in particular, but it also succeeds in taking what is now a rather tired formula and re-injecting it with life, creating a film that is significantly more than the sum of its parts.

Continue reading "Shutter Review"

No news on English Subtitles. Special Edition catalogue number is BBIJ-5422, and the Standard is BBIJ-5423. The American disc is due in 2005, but loads of us are hoping this first and probably best edition will have Subs when we find more details. For now, just hope.

Man ... this thing just looks better and better the more I see of it ...

Filmacco has spotted the link to the new Japanese trailer for A Bittersweet Life. This one's got fewer 'money shots' in it than previous trailers but thanks to a gradual build that follows the emotional arc of the story I think this is my favorite trailer for the film thus far. It definitely does the best job of balancing the story with the action. It's only available in streaming Windows Media format, which is unfortunate, but at least it loads up fast ... check it out here.

Yes that's right - a decent British film, 'cos it's not trying to be anything other than a film about the British as they are now (well, a slice of the society anyway), and it's not trying to sell itself to anywhere else. It's a titles that's starting to get some decent recognition and reviews. Ashley Walters is being heavily praised for his 'top job' in the lead and from the trailer alone he looks like a very promising talent. It's also worth pointing out the music is by Robert Del Naja (3D of 'Massive Attack').

The 'Verve Pictures' site for the film has the downloadable trailer in QT and WMV (two different sizes for each also) here. The movies official site is here. Great looking film.

The official website for Kittikorn Liasirikun's The Bullet Wives (The mia) is online. There's a downloadable 2 1/2 minute trailer (6 MB WMV file) for the film on the site here.

The Bullet Wives was produced by Avant Co. Ltd. - a subsidiary of RS Promotion PCL. It's scheduled to be released theatrically in Thailand by RS Film & Distribution Co. Ltd. - also a subsidiary of RS Promotion - on April 6.

The nine principal cast members of The Bullet Wives - all of them women - are as follows: Nussaba Punnakan, Methinee Kingpayome (a.k.a. Luk Ked), Apasiri Nitipon, Taranya Sattabusya, Penpak Sirikul, Naowarat Yuktanan, Pornwadee Pongsatit, Pimsiree Pimsee, and Vichitra Triyakul.

Did a bit of searching based on that Udine list tonight and I came up with this one ... Pattaya Maniac is a comedy from the director of Rahtree that apparently did quite well in Thailand.

From what I can tell it's a story of petty thuggery revolving around a low grade karaoke bar. A bit of gangsterism, a bit of slapstick ... the director is known for genre hopping and this looks to be more of the same. It's already out on Thai DVD, but no subs ...

Check out all the familiar faces in the trailer. If you've got even a passing interest in Thai film there are a handful of people that you'll recognize ...

Teaser, trailer, music video one, music video two.

Sweet ... Dreams, the quasi-official Terry Gilliam fansite - has just interviewed the production designer for Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm and have posted a series of design sketches with the article. Just sweet, sweet stuff ... check 'em here.

Via Greencine.

Did we tell you so? I'm fairly certain we did ... the Hong Kong Film Awards have wrapped up with 2046 and Kung Fu Hustle both taking home six awards including a Best Picture nod for Hustle, a best actor for Tony Leung and Best Actress for Zhang Ziyi, and best cinematography to Christopher Doyle. Bai Ling picked one up for Dumplings and Oldboy went home with Best Asian Film. Check the full list here.

The complete lineup for this year's Udine Far East Film Festival has been announced and I find it a little odd in that these are films that I've either already seen - about half of them - or have never heard anything about. Which isn't to say that I know everything about Asian film but you'd expect to at least here a few rumblings about films slated to hit as major a festival as this one ...I'll be doing my best to dig up info on the ones I don't know and any input would be appreciated ... read on for the full list and check out the official Udine site here.

Via the Asian DVD Guide Forums.

Continue reading "Udine Far East Film Festival Lineup Announced"

Didn't like that first Kung Fu Hustle onesheet? Well, you've got ten more to love or loathe now, one for each of the major characters ... this is the sort of thing generally reserved for a major release, so it's nice to see Hustle getting this sort of attention. Check all ten out here.

Via Filmacco.

Sha Po Lang hasn't even released yet but apparently director Wilson Yip knows a good thing when he sees it so he is already chasing after star Donnie Yen to star in and choreograph his next flick, Dragon Tiger Clan. They're still looking for financing but I can't imagine that'll be a problem for long ... the film is based on a popular HK comic about three brothers fighting against evil.

More details at Wu Jing ...

Some would call it dedication. Some would call it research for my impending trip. I call it a distinct lack of social life. Here are a whole bunch of trailers for films appearing at the upcoming Philadelphia Film Festival ... I made it about three quarters of the way through their program before the brain started to melt and I gave up and I'm not including trailers to any of the films (such as Kontroll or IZO) that we've talked up plenty in the past. A good number of these are not work safe, so bear that in mind ...

Stratosphere Girl. Wow ... this one is pretty much a must see, I think. The story of a young German girl who wants to be a manga artist while living in Japan and working as a hostess. Dark, inventive, beautifully shot ... If the finished film is nearly as good as the trailer this is one to look out for.

UNO. A dark Norweigian thriller about a young thug forced to decide between loyalty to his dying father, his mentally disabled brother and a gang of petty criminals. Another must see for me ... there have been a few films in the past year that have really rekindled my interest in Scandanavian film and this one definitely looks to rank up there ...

Erbsen Auf Halb 6. Not really sure how to summarize this one ... a German romantic comedy? Road movie? Both? Neither? Whatever ... it's about a guy who loses his site in a car accident and travels across the country with a young blind woman. The footage looks stunning and frequently very funny. Funny Germans? Who knew? Those genes must have skipped my family ...

Antares. A fairly grim Austrian film that tracks three inerlocked stories of love gone wrong. Very wrong. Not much in the way of brightness and cheer, here.

Astronautas. A Spanish film about a recovering middle aged drug addict trying to live a 'normal' life only to have it interupted by a teen aged girl looking for her missing brother.

Too Beautiful To Lie. Korean comedy about a female con artist.

This Charming Girl. A quiet Korean character study following an introverted woman's life. This one's picked up some major critical buzz and it's pretty easy to see why ... beautifully shot and the trailer's enough to say that the performance of the central character is pretty impressive ...

Lautlos. Another German entry - there are a lot of German films playing this year - this one a spin on the 'hit man with a heart of gold' genre. Cool-ly professional hitman falls in love with intended target, angry boss sends swarms of new hit men to take out original. Much violence ensues. With cross-bows. And, evidentally, a great deal of German cursing.

Somersault. Australian coming of age drama that has won a stack of awards and, again, it's pretty obvious why. Fantastic film work meets a solid lead actress ... it's a good combination.

Quiet As A Mouse. Another German one, this one a broad slapstick comedy. My limited German was enough to have me laughing aloud at the narration on trailer number three ... "Du hast angst ..."

La Promesa. Spanish chiller that I'd likely think much higher of if they'd done even a passable job encoding that trailer ... ick ...casting a frumpy, aging house keeper as the central character may just be a mark of genius, though ...

Mon Tresor. The story of a girl living with her prostitute mother in Tel Aviv. Bright and cheery and it won the Camera D'Or at Cannes.

Kammerflimmern. Another one from Germany ... may be trying a little too hard to be 'edgy' and 'hip' or I may just be being over critical. Definitely a lot to like in there though I'd hold off on the Tykwer comparisons just at the moment ...

Thanks to Aaron - whose eyes are evidently keener than mine since I totally missed this despite reading the same article - for pointing this one out ...

Buried at the bottom of a Hollywood Reporter article on the HK Filmart recently was a wee note - surprisingly not picked up anywhere else - saying that Tartan Films has bought rights to Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves - his follow up to Last Life in the Universe. This thing hasn't even wrapped filming yet so the purchase is a surprising bit of good news. Hopefully they'll get it released promptly ...

Oooh ... thanks to Roraz for pointing this out ...

All five episodes of the second series of Clone Wars are available online at the official Star Wars site here. Cartoon Network's got 'em online, too, but will only let people in the USA watch them ... the Star Wars link is good everywhere ...

Impressive. Not only did the BBC have the guts to bring back something decent, they gave them enough money and freedom to reinvent it sufficiently yet the writers chose to also keep in linked to the past. Christopher Eccleston is a fine choice, very capable and dynamic actor. Rose (Billy Piper) is the ideal side-kick: young, strong-minded, attractive. The relationship looks natural and strong right from the start.

Continue reading "Doctor Who. First Episode 'Rose' Just Finished Here In The UK."

We'll be accepting entries up until April 12th ... in the menatime check out the official website for DIG here and Reconstruction here.

As always, read on for the rules and regs.

Continue reading "Dig and Reconstruction DVD Giveaways!"

Whee! Palm just passed along their coming release schedule and there's some great stuff due to hit DVD soon ... Voila:

May 24 Freestyle
Jun 14 The Nomi Song
Jun 28 Gunner Palace
Jul 12 JSA
Jul 12 Victim
Aug 09 Full Alert
Aug 09 Memories of Murder
Aug 30 The Work of Director Mark Romanek
Aug 30 The Work of Director Stefan Sednoui
Aug 30 The Work of Director Anton Corbijn
Aug 30 The Work of Director Jonathan Glazer
Oct 11 Bomb the System
Oct 11 Calvaire
Nov 08 Cronicas

Oooh ... something I pulled off the KineJapan mailing list ...

"The Council on East Asian Studies, the Department of East Asian
Languages and Literatures, and the Film Studies Program of Yale
University present

Japanese Film Director Aoyama Shinji

Combining genre cinema with a rigorous critique of postwar Japanese
society, Aoyama Shinji is one of the leading figures of contemporary
Japanese culture, directing award-winning films such as Eureka (which
the Los Angeles Times said "will become one of the landmarks of the
world cinema of the first decade of the 21st century"), writing
prize-winning novels, and becoming an intellectual force with his
criticism and theory. Yale University is pleased to have Aoyama visit
for nearly two weeks to show four of his films, direct two weekend
workshops, and participate in several discussions on Japanese film and culture.

Continue reading "Shinji Aoyama Spending Two Weeks At Yale! Screenings and Discussions O'Plenty ..."

Yeah, I've only seen one film in the series - and I honestly didn't care for it all that much - but I just love the poster images. Seriously, what's not to love about a head in a bag?

Jiangtou continues to roam about the far east and taunt us with photos from the HK Filmart ... check 'em out ... poster for a new Oxide Pang produced film down below ...

Continue reading "More Shots From the HK Filmart"

A reader just sent this in and he makes one mighty good point ... I'm pretty shocked a major paper would print this ...

Hi Twitch,

I urge your readers to send Rex Reed of the New York Obsever a message of utter contempt due to his insensitive and almost racist remarks regarding his review of Oldboy, of which he obviously did not like. As quoted from this link : http://www.observer.com/pages/onthetown.asp

"For sewage in a cocktail shaker, there is Oldboy, a noxious helping of Korean Grand Guignol as pointless as it is shocking. What else can you expect from a nation weaned on kimchi, a mixture of raw garlic and cabbage buried underground until it rots, dug up from the grave and then served in earthenware pots sold at the Seoul airport as souvenirs? "

I would understand if he were to focus his opinion towards the film, but not generalize the whole of Korea.

Bloody News has just posted an extensive interview with Paul Schrader and it's a pretty fantastic read. Want the dirt on what went on behind the scenes throughout the whole Exorcist: The Beginning debacle? He spills it he spills it with a good bit of humor and a lot less bitterness than you might expect ... really great stuff. Check it here.

To those people who have written recently asking for news on the Banlieue 13 DVD release, my speculation that the Russian release would likely be the first English option is just wrong, wrong, wrong. My apologies. The French DVD was announced - without specs - months ago for a May release and I've been working on the assumption that, like the large majority of French DVDs, it would not include English subtitles since none were listed in the early announcement. Well, I did me a little looking this morning on something of a whim and while I still haven't found a listing that says anything at all about subtitles you really need to check this out. I've seen that confirmed on a couple other sites, so I consider it pretty solid: Besson and co. have included a Dolby 5.1 English language audio track on the DVD. Yep, they've gone and dubbed it. And though there's nothing specific said about subtitles I can't for the life of me imagine that they'd go to the effort and expense of providing a dub without also including the much, much cheaper subtitles for original language purists ...

The disc is out May 11th. Amazon France has got it here.

So, I gave the long absent Nick a call a couple nights back to see what the story was with our long wayward soul - he's actually just been obscenely busy since starting film school - and received a message on my voice mail in return, one that ended with something along the lines of "Well, I've got to go to this Sin City screening and party now ... you want me to write something up?" Uh, yes? So here are his thoughts ... positive would be an understatement ...

Continue reading "Sin City Review"

When myself and numerous other people had preview discs of the upcoming Angel Guts : Nikkatsu Box Set the discs were simply VHS transfers with non-removeable subtitles. Early reviews then were limited to discussing what was available there on screen in that form. Later, as the discs were completed, final box sets were sent out (i've had mine a few weeks or maybe more), and many updated their reviews with grabs from those final pressings. The discs are beatifully done and the colours rich considering the age, budget and genre of production.

So I am taking this chance to point out you can read my (very long) reviews if you search the archives; i suggest reading the background piece too if you're inclined to. Additionally, I will point out the best three reviews that i've seen and read including grabs so you can see what you would get for your money. For me, this is a great introduction to a genre that comprises the large majority of Japanese cinema over several decades. Not for everyone perhaps, and that's a shame, because there's so much on offer. Over the weekend look at these then : DVDManiacs Review(s), 10K Bullets Review(s), and finally Mondo Digitals Review(s). There's also a whole heap of others linked into via the Artsmagic site here.

There are relatively few Imamura movies on Subtitled Discs, so anything is a welcome addition. Out there already are 'Warm Water Under A Red Bridge' (with Koji Yakusho), 'Unagi' aka 'The Eel' (it seems the R3 Korean is the best edition), and also coming soon in HK on R3 disc is 'Black Rain'. So, now another one : the 1979 crime drama which was a huge award-winning release in its day, and stars Ken Ogata.

The label is Eureka!, and their 'Masters Of Cinema' sub-label. Coming through 2005 is a whole range of earlier Japanese films, a couple from Akira Kurosawa dating back to the early 1950s for example.

See Eureka(s)! page for 'Vengeance Is Mine' here. Click on 'News' to head to a page listing their entire catalogue so far.

The official website for Jira Maligool's The Tin Mine (Maha'lai muang rae) is online. On the site, there's a trailer (in a ZIP file) for the film, as well as some stills here and there. The film is based on a collection of short stories by Ajin Panjapan (b. October 11, 1927). It stars Pijaya Vachajitpan as Ajin Panjapan (at age 22), and Donlaya Mudcha as La-iad. The principal cast also includes Sonthaya Chitmanee, Jumpol Thongtan, Niran Sattar, and Anthony Howard Gould. The film was produced by Dedicate Ltd. and GMM Tai Hub (GTH) Co. Ltd.. It's scheduled to be released theatrically in Thailand by GTH on May 26.

There's a synopsis of The Tin Mine in English here. There are some photos of its cast here; the first one's of Vachajitpan, the second one's of Chitmanee, the third one's of Mudcha, the fourth one's of Vachajitpan and Panjapan....

Not a whole lot of new footage, but IGN's got a new US trailer for Unleashed here in downloadable Quicktime. There may not be much new, but it's still mighty impressive ... this is going to be a great year for martial arts films ...

A plan aiming to back new generation Asian directors titled "Focus: first cuts Asian Young Directors" has been launched.

Andy Lau [House of Flying Daggers and Infernal Affairs] announced he would donate money to finance 6 young directors from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong to shoot Chinese movies.

He told the press that they had already asked established Chinese mainland directors to recommend several outstanding young directors from the mainland to fully implement the program.

Whether this is part of reviving a struggling industry was not clear in the article. One can only assume. Speaking from someone who wishes he was watching a lot of hockey, it is good to have a farm team developing.

via CRIENGLISH.

Loads of DVD companies official sites go for months without an update and then when you think you spot one, it might have been there for ages with nobody having spotted it, or at least you're not sure whats new in the information and what isn't. So, here's a huge list of upcoming Synapse releases : renowned for their top quality jobs at restoration and presentation, they do some great obscure films on stunning DVDs.

BIZARRE (aka SECRETS OF SEX / 1970), THE BOOBY HATCH / LIBERATION OF CHERRY JANKOWSKI (1976), COMING DISTRACTIONS: WEIRD AND WILD FILM TRAILERS (VOL. 1), DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD: REMASTERED, EDGAR ALLAN POE’S ANNABEL LEE, EFFECTS (1978), EXPOSED (aka THE DEPRAVED / EXPONERAD) (1971), HOME SICK (2004), LET ME DIE A WOMAN (1978), LONG WEEKEND (1978), LUCKER THE NECROPHAGOUS: DIRECTOR CUT (1986), MADAME O (1967), NAIL GUN MASSACRE (1985), OLGA’S GIRLS (1964) [Release Date: April 26, 2005], ROCK ‘N’ ROLL NIGHTMARE (1987), ROSARIGASINOS (aka GANGS OF ROSARIO) (2001), SINGAPORE SLING (1990), STREET TRASH – 2 DISC DVD LIMITED COLLECTOR’S EDITION, COMING TO HD-DVD (Late 2005/ First Quarter 2006), THE IMAGE (aka THE PUNISHMENT OF ANNE) (1976), LEMORA: A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL (1974).

For more details visit their site here.

Run Time: 118 minutes
Color
Directed by: Inagaki Hiroshi
Starring: Mifune Toshiro and Katsu Shintaro
Extras: Original Theatrical Trailers; Cast & Crew Biographies; Character Biographies; Interactive Program Notes

I would like to imagine that when Mifune Toshiro and Katsu Shintaro agreed to star in a film made by the other that the deal was settled over Sashimi and Sake. As should most movie deals. And so in 1970, two of Japans biggest stars released films starring each other. Mifune brought his Yojimbo [Bodyguard] character to the screen in Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo. And in return, Katsu portrayed the destitute doctor, Gentetsu, in Incident at Blood Pass, the last time Mifune would appear as Yojimbo on screen.

In Incident at Blood Pass Mifune plays a nameless Ronin [Masterless Samurai] accepts an assignment to go to the village of Imo and wait. He is to receive a letter with a single symbol on it. If it is ‘Mountain’ he goes to Nakasendou, however, if it is ‘Three’ he is to go to Sanshuu Pass and wait until something happens. Yojimbo receives the message with the character 'Three' on it. Sanshuu Pass awaits. Before he reaches the pass he rescues a woman, Okuni, from her abusive husband. She follows him to the pass and they stop at an inn where a collection of characters gather; Yatarou, a young Ronin, Ibuki, an overzealous officer, Oyuki, a young woman who lives at the inn with her grandfather with dreams of something better and Gentetsu, a discredited doctor who lives in the barn behind the inn, intent on keeping his identity secret. Throw in a Kendo drum group, a gang of bandits, shogunate gold and the mysterious employer known only as ‘The Crow’ and you have a recipe for tests of loyalty and betrayal on a massive scale.

When the Ronins assignment becomes clear, to help the gang steal the shogunate gold, he's ordered to kill the inn's residents, including Okuni. He's reluctant to murder innocent people; then he learns that the gold shipment is a trap and he's part of a double cross. How he sorts through these divided loyalties will test his honor and his love for this woman he rescued.

Continue reading "DVD Review: Mifune Toshiro in Incident at Blood Pass"

Some more photos and some sad news from Jiangtou in Hong Kong ... Chungking Express was my first exposure to Wong Kar Wai so this stings a little bit ...

on our way back from a night of drinks and chats about HK film, a
friend and I walked by Midnight Express from Chungking Express and were
upset to find the following.

some locals at the bar next to it said it has been closed for 2
months...

sad sad sad. an example of ignorance and lack of appreciation for
cinema pop culture in HK

Continue reading "RIP Midnight Express"

A couple of days back I got an email from a regular reader asking if I wanted a review of Danny the Dog from a private preview screening. Uh ... yes? Big thanks to M.J. Blackman for sending in his thoughts on one of my most anticipated films of the year ... it's a great read ...

Before we begin, I’d like to point out that, yes, I am aware that the film has been universally (or at least, to my belief) retitled as Unleashed, and many feel as if this is a superior title; I would like to also point out that they are wrong. Anyone who claims to care about serious action cinema as a means to tell tender, heartfelt and sometimes severely profound dramas on life itself will agree with me. But then some find Bad Boys II a pleasingly moronic, yet effective and (shockingly) highly entertaining paradigm of the stereotypical ‘rip-roaring rollercoaster’ of mainstream entertainment. Myself included (shockingly).

Continue reading "Danny the Dog (AKA Unleased) Review"

I suppose that there's an inherent trade off to independence. On the one hand Cory McAbee's fiercely independent work ethic must have been absolutely integral to the creation of The American Astronaut, as distinctively surreal a film as you're ever likely to see. On the other hand McAbee's insistence on controlling all aspects of the film has ensured that virtually nobody has had the chance to actually see the thing, a situation only just beginning to change now that the film is available on DVD.

The American Astronaut is the stuff that cult legends are made of. Shot for no money by a little known performance art band in starkly beautiful black and white the quasi-musical sci-fi flick occupies a space somewhere between David Lynch and Guy Maddin but with a far goofier b-flick sense of humor.

Continue reading "The American Astronaut Review"

Survive Style 5+ is, on a few different levels, one odd little film. Dressed up as an absurdist, hyper stylized comedy the film proves to have some serious art house aspirations. Far less manic in tone than the trailers and synopsis would have you believe, the film is a multi layered experiment in metaphor and narrative structure dealing - in wildly surreal terms - with the creation and destruction of different relationships and the consequences thereof.

Does it work? Not entirely ... the serious ambitions undercut some of the wild humor while the tongue in cheek tone sometimes takes away from the serious goals. There are moments when it needs to more fully commit to exactly what sort of film it wants to be. But when it's on it is ON, coming across as a much funnier and more thoughtful, distinctly Japanese take on Tim Burton.

Continue reading "Survive Style 5 Review"

Yoshihiro Hoshino's Cursed ('Chô' kowai hanashi A: yami no karasu) and Ataru Oikawa's Tokyo Psycho (Tôkyô densetsu: ugomeku machi no kyôki) are being released on DVD in Hong Kong on Thursday (March 24). Both DVDs apparently will be all-region NTSC, and have English subtitles. The Japanese official website for Cursed is here; the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) entry for it is here. The Japanese official website for Tokyo Psycho is here; the IMDb entry for it is here. There's an English-subtitled trailer for Cursed here, and one for Tokyo Psycho here.

Thanks to Mike Thomason, whose "Okay, what the heck are these?" post over on the DVD Maniacs Forum brought these upcoming releases to my attention.

GP Museum Soft is releasing Katsuya Matsumura's Beau-ti-ful? (Ki-re-i?) on DVD in Japan on Friday (March 25). Unfortunately, that region 2 NTSC DVD (catalog no.: DMSM-6046) won't have English subtitles. There's a trailer for the movie on GP Museum Soft's website, however, and the imminent DVD release provides a good excuse to post this link for it. More info on the movie is available on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) here.

Matsumura previously directed the All Night Long (Ôru naito rongu) pentalogy, as well as Concrete-Encased High School Girl Murder Case (Joshikôsei konkurîto-dume satsujin-jiken) - a controversial movie from 1995 that was based on the same real-life murder case as Hiromu Nakamura's 2004 movie Concrete (Konkurîto).

The full lineup for this year's Philadelphia Film Festival has just been announced and it's a good one with a hugely broad range of stuff making it in. Even better I just realized that this trip I had planned to the west coast that just fell through overlapped with the festival dates so this big block of open time I've been griping about means that I can actually head to Philly and catch some flicks ... Anybody got couch space for a tall Canadian?

Check out the official Festival Site here and read on for the full press release.

Continue reading "Full Philadelphia Film Festival Schedule Announced"

Man ... remember how I said yesterday that there was a lot of buzz around Sha Po Lang at this year's HK Filmart? Well, here's a wee example of how much. It was announced yesterday that Darclight Pictures had picked up international sales rights for the film and I just got a note from Chelle at DonnieYen.us - if you think I'm a fan of the man you aint seen nuthin' till you've headed over there - saying that distribution rights have already been sold for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and France, with Darclight having already made arrangements for Pathe to distrubte the film in France. That, boys and girls, is a good day's work. The rest of the world can't be too far behind. She also pointed out that the film has now been assigned a mid-November release date in its native Hong Kong. It's a bit longer than I'd really like to wait but at least this means that things are falling into place and - thinking purely on selfish terms - a November HK release could very well mean a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. I know you're reading this Mr. Geddes. You shall bend to my will.

A full news article on this is up here and I just noticed that they've also converted the trailer into Real Player format for those who'd prefer to download it.

Firstly, the Premiere for 'Final Wars' by Ryuhei Kitamura will be in June in the USA : at the 'Giant Monster Festival' which takes place at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. No news on USA widespread cinema release or any subtitled DVD yet.

Secondly, TokyoMonsters has put up a 13 minute preview video for the 'Final Box' set which contains all the movies and comes out on 22nd of April 2005, without subtitles though.

Follow the information you see when you go to the site for the location of the file.

Thankfully, as i am not a stamp collector and not used to looking at things stamp-sized like the first issue of the trailer in QT. So try again, and actually see what's going on here.

Wow! I'm in the minority on this one. I liked it. Hideo Nikata does recycle elements from Dark Water and other Ring films but he remains truer to the essence of the Ring mythology than many fans have given him credit for. And he has the guts to tell a more interesting ghost story than most directors who are content with a simple series of loud BOO!'s.

Continue reading "THE RING TWO REVIEW"

A pair of excellent new interviews with Terry Gilliam turned up on the Tideland website today. Hit the website here and click the 'Behind the Scenes' link to check out his thoughts on the casting process and working with his young star ... sounds like that's twice now that Gilliam has had good luck with Canadian female child stars ...

The first TV spot for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has turned up online and, well, it falls into pretty much every cliche the previous trailer mocked. Which is disappointing. It does, however, feature some mighty pretty new footage ... check it here in downloadable Quicktime.

And I can't find a source on this, but I'm hearing that Jason Schwartzman has a voice role, which I'm rather pleased about ...

Oooh ... just got a note from Jiangtou who is currently attending the Hong Kong Filmart ... he's promised to send along a bit of a write up of his experiences there (apparently the buzz on Sha Po Lang is pretty massive) but in the mean time he's just sent along this batch of photos to, you know, taunt us all with the fact that he's there and we aren't ...

Continue reading "Photos From the HK Filmart"

Ooh, those lu