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Sweeeeeet ... the teaser trailer for Fatih Akin's Crossing the Bridge is now available online in MPG format here and it looks amazing. With his previous film - the searing Head On - Akin took a fictional, and pretty grim, look at the cultural collision of east and west using his own Turkish roots as a basic. With Crossing the Bridge Akin is working in similar territory, this time from a documentary approach using the music of Istanbul as his reference. The teaser's mighty slick - stylish and loaded with humor - and I hereby consider myself teased. You can check the full website here.

Sweet! I went out searching for some images from this flick myself a little while ago without any success, but Ion Cinema has just turned up a series of shots from Broken Flowers, the latest film from Jim Jarmusch starring Bill Murray. I love the look of this thing and I'm hugely looking forward to seeing these things move ...

Would I care about this if I didn't have a kid? Honestly, probably not, but the boy had a major Spy Kids phase a while back and I've become a bit of a fan thanks to him. Rodriguez just makes solid kids films - inventive, full of action and remarkably unsanitary for kid's fare. The man's got kids himself and his approach to telling them stories is a hell of a lot more interesting than the mass produced focus group approach employed by Disney and their ilk. Anyway, check out the trailer for his latest here. It's in AOL's crappy proprietary streaming video format but looks passable nonetheless.

Lions Gate has released a new internet only trailer for High Tension that basically boils down to a kill reel ... mighty bloody and spoiler heavy stuff. Sadly, streaming Windows Media only. Hit the high res version here.

Via Bloody-Disgusting.

Just spotted this over in the KFC Forums ... the latest from Tsai Ming-liang, the director of Goodbye Dragon Inn, raised a bit of controversy in his native Taiwan where he fully expected a fight with film censors over the film's sexual content. The fight never came, but a Silver Bear at this year's Berlinale did. The film is due for a Hong Kong release soon and the HK trailer has turned up online here in streaming Windows Media. The trailer doesn't show a whole lot but the film is supposed to be one of Tsai's best ...

Following on the from the superb 2003 book 'Agitator : The Cinema Of Takashi Miike', also from FabPress, Mr.Mes' new book is on Tsukamoto. Good year for fans of this particular director.

Amazon.com have it listed as July 10th, Fab Press' own site has it down as June 2005. Again, it seems as though there is both (potentially limited) hardback and paperback editions of this to come.

Amazon listing is here. You can also order direct from the publishers site (in the near future) which is here.

To begin on TV in Japan on July 2nd 2005, a new 38 part show of ULTRAMAN - and it's the responsibility of the production team behind the recent movie 'Ultraman : The Next'.

Those hired to direct episodes include : Shusuke Kaneko, the man behind many recent Gamera movies, the Godzilla movie before 'Final Wars' and the recent 'Azumi 2' amongst others. Akio Jissogi, who is currently making 'Ranpo Jigoku' with Tadanobu Asano, and has helmed more than a few Ultraman movies in recent years. Finally, Takashi Miike is still putting the finishing touches to 'Yokai Daisenso'.

Via Fangoria.

DVDTimes have had a press release with upcoming Premier Asia and HKL releases listed. At the bottom, hidden away is the announcement of the first (as far as I know) official Subtitled DVD for Ong-Bak. By the time October comes around, there's a good chance the USA disc will also have been announced, and it could be out sooner. For now, my radar is partly fixed on this one.

Others announced for UK releases are : (HKL) > Project A Box Set (13th June 2005), Dragons Forever (27 th June 2005), Hand of Death (15th August 2005), Fist of Fury: Platinum Edition (12th September 2005), Wheels on Meals (26th September 2005), Chinese Ghost Story (24th October 2005), (Premier Aisa) > My Wife Is A Gangster (11th July 2005), Once Upon A Time In High School (22nd August 2005), Taegukgi (5th September 2005).

Via DVDTimes.

A few days ago, the PIA Film Festival (PFF) official website updated its "PFF nyûsen kantoku saishinsaku jôei jôhô" page, which provides info on current/upcoming movies by Japanese directors who, in the past, have had movies selected for PFF. The page currently provides info on 14 movies and 1 movie series; they are as follows: Naoko Ogigami's Koi wa go-shichi-go!; Isshin Inudô, Shinsuke Satô et al.'s omnibus movie Inu no eiga; Yuki Iwata et al.'s omnibus movie Hairstyle (Heasutairu); Tetsuo Shinohara, Shin'ya Tsukamoto et al.'s omnibus movie Female (Fîmeiru) [see Twitch articles here and there]; Shion Sono's Into a Dream (Yume no naka e) [see Twitch articles here and there]; Akira Ogata's Itsuka dokusho suru hi; Izuru Narushima's Fly, Daddy, Fly (Furai, dadi, furai) [see Twitch article here]; Kiyoshi Kurosawa et al.'s horror movie series Umezu Kazuo: kyôfu gekijô [see Twitch article here]; Sang-il Lee's Scrap Heaven (Sukurappu hebun); Naoto Kumazawa's Niraikanai kara no tegami; Takahiko Akiyama's Hinokio; Isshin Inudô's Touch (Tacchi); Kentarô Ôtani's Nana; Shun'ichi Nagasaki's Christmas in August (8-gatsu no Kurisumasu); and Isshin Inudô's Maison de Himiko (Mezon do Himiko) [see Twitch article here].

Just a reminder that we're down to two weeks left on our Layer Cake Giveaway ... get cracking on your best bad Madonna / Guy Ritchie movie ideas and send 'em in for your chance to win posters, books and hats. My personal favorite image so far involves a certain former Andy of Mayberry cohort cast as Cthulu ... Check all the details here and get to it.

That the film's being made isn't really news at this point, but Grady at Kaiju Shakedown just had a wee chat with Tony Leung about his upcoming flick for Wong Kar Wai in which he'll play Bruce Lee's master. Check it out here.

Title says it all, really ... new behind the scenes videos on the official Tideland website. Go, now.

Wow ... too much good stuff to recap it here, suffice it to say that Stauffen's turned up a bunch of new films from Japan that I'd not heard of yet ... Check 'em out here.

Here's a little something to console all of us Canadian folk still distraught over last year's collapse of the sequel to Strange Brew ... the long rumored feature film from The Trailer Park Boys is a go with Ivan "Mr. Ghostbusters" Reitman's Montecito Pictures at the controls ... Nice ... Hit the Screendaily story here and the official TPB website here.

What better way to celebrate the release of Todd Solondz Palindromes than by posting an interview of the man hissef. Todd Solondz isn't a house hold name but his iconoclastic output ranks as some of the most interesting American cinema in recent years. His new film Palindromes is drawing the usual hate love responses from audience and critics alike but in conversation he proves himself to be anything but a hater. Ever get the feeling a movie was watching you? That's exactly where Solondz wants his audience.

Continue reading "INTERVIEW WITH PALINDROMES' DIRECTOR TODD SOLONDZ"

Well, this is an interesting development ... the future of film distribution is going to be a whole lot different than the way things work now and it looks as though Mark Cuban and Steven Soderbergh have just given things a big ol' kick forward ...

Soderbergh has just signed a six picture deal with Mark Cuban's 2929 Productions / Magnolia Films, which is good news in and of itself, but here's where it gets interesting. All six films will be produced in HD video so that they can be simultaneously released in theaters, on DVD and on pay TV simultaneously. Id' brush this off as a pipe dream but not only is Cuban a billionaire, but he's a billionaire who happens to own his own film production company, chain of theaters and HDTV pay movie network. If he wants this to go, it'll go. The first film of the six will be the now-in-production Bubble, a muder mystery set in a doll factory.

Check out the full article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Place yourself for a moment in the Japan of the early seventies. Sick of government corruption and fearful that rising capitalism will destroy their way of life the student protest movement has turned radical and violent. The Japanese film studio system, slow to adapt to the cultural changes, has failed with some studios going bankrupt and others surviving by making a wholesale switch to producing 'pinku' films - a wholly Japanese form of soft porn and exploitation film. While this time largely devastated the film industry in Japan it also allowed a small handful of performers and producers to launch the first significant independent film movement in the country's history. One such man was Shintaru Katsu.

Best known for his very long running role as Zatoichi - the hugely popular Blind Swordsman featured in a long running television series and a lengthy run of feature films, with Katsu's signature role recently being reprised by art house auteur Takeshi Kitano - Katsu was left adrift when Daiei Studios closed their doors. Perhaps seeing an opportunity in his new found freedom Katsu launched his own Katsu Productions, a production shingle soon to be responsible for a pair of now legendary cult film series.

Continue reading "Hanzo The Razor Box Set Review: Sword of Justice, The Snare, Who's Got the Gold?"

Not rocket science to figure out that since it's the first of many books, it could be the first of many films. Disney is apparently considering the option to do more. Theres a piece which embelishes this here. I would suggest that since there's no talk of anyone having signed to do any more (at this point) that the speculation is only founded on the amount of material available, and that the original contract to produce the film would more than likely have contained the option for more films on other books in an automatic attempt to cover the possibility that the first film does really well. As time goes on, and more countries show the film, we will see if any more develops from this.

Not wanting Goms hard work to go to waste, as I emailed him after spotting theres a listing for a recently made Kekko Kamen movie turning up on R1 soon. I have see a couple of trailers for the distincly B-grade looking but still very tempting stuff. Recently there has been a resuregence in interest in making new films based on the work of Go Nagai, with 'Cutey Honey' being the one I am primarily looking out for a subtitled (official) disc of, plus "Devilman" and so on.

Here's the details Gom dug up. Hoping we can get someone (maybe Media Blasters) to confirm what they're releasing exactly. He says :

My understanding is that Media Blasters will be releasing all four of the movies in Art Port's Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy. The four movies in Art Port's Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy are Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen), Mask of Kekkou: The MGF Strikes Back (Kekkô Kamen : Mangurifon no gyakushû), Mask of Kekkou : Returns (Kekkô Kamen: ritânzu), and Mask of Kekkou :Surprise (Kekkô Kamen: surprise). Note that the English titles are the ones used in Japan; the "ou" at the end of "Kekkou" represents a long vowel (chôboin) 'o', as in "Toukyou" ("Tôkyô"). All four movies were directed by Takafumi Nagamine, and premièred in Japan in 2004.

Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy official website : Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) subsite.

Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy official website : Mask of Kekkou : The MGF Strikes Back subsite.

Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy official website : Mask of Kekkou: Returns (Kekkô Kamen: ritânzu) subsite.

Mask of Kekkou (Kekkô Kamen) tetralogy official website : Mask of Kekkou: Surprise (Kekkô Kamen : surprise) subsite.

Japan Home Video K.K. (Japan Hômu Bideo K.K.) : Kekkô Kamen trilogy DVD.

Came across this in Movies.com. Clive Owen has signed on to star in an adaptation of a P. D. James novel about a futuristic society in which the men are sterile. Owen plays a man who protects the first pregnant woman in 20 years.

In the near future, all human males are sterile and England has fallen into anarchic chaos. The arrival of warden Xan Lyppiatt, who puts the country under martial law, changes that, until the unexpected pregnancy of a woman (with the first child in 27 years) inspires a group of revolutionaries. Movies.com

The film will be helmed by Alfonso Cuarón, director of Y tu mamá también and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. His films look great to begin with and he is sharing some of the writing responsibilities for the movie. Should be good. We'll keep an eye on this one for you.

In a show of support for the troops, Asian cross-over star and bonafide hottie, Bai Ling, visited 'The Lineup' for Star Wars Revenge of the Sith outside The Chinese Theatre yesterday. It was part of a promotional stunt by NetFlix which has been doing some hardcore promotion on the line itself providing movies and subscriptions for the faithful.

Mrs. Mack... ahem... I mean Miss Ling has a small role in Revenge of the Sith.

Strangely though, none of the male fans stood up to shake her hand and pose for photos.

First Volume, May 24th. That's three months wait between volumes. Or potentially three months to work out the plot. Yes, It's difficult to follow. Far less explicit artwork for America too, just a green eyeball, no exposed brain or anything so obviously on display.

All of the series is already out in the UK, but the discs may not be upto much in comparison (picture wise, and eventually in the extras) to these American discs.

Notriously nasty Spanish horror, recently announced as "August / September" by Unearthed Films, now has a firm date and artwork as show here. Unearthed haven't announced that themselves, I've dug it up - now, this isn't a challenge (and I've said that before about their releases) but if you interested in horror, aren't at work, have the stomach or prior knowledge to take a nose, go see the trailer at their site by using the link above.

'Aftermath' synopsis : " woman dies tragically in an automobile accident but the true horror awaits her after death. What happens to the body after the spirit has moved on and the corpse is at the mercy of those who manhandle the dead? What manner of creature is it that tears our bodies apart only to put them back together again? Whether we like it or not, we are all at the mercy of the coroners knife and the abuse and indignities we suffer are strictly up to him."

'Genesis' synopsis : "A sculptor is traumatized by the death of his wife in a car accident. He builds a sculpture in her memory. As the lifelike sculpture begins to bleed through the cracks of clay, the sculptor's flesh mutates and crumbles away."

Again, assuming they're created as a press release and used as standard practice within listings. I have been looking forwards to this one for a year or so. Can't wait.

Recently discovered this was coming along as Patrick Macias mentioned he was working on the liner notes for an upcoming Adness DVD of the film. It's retitled 'Swords Of Vengeance'.

So, now i have found the artwork and specifications I can post this, and you can add it to your preorders (if you want). Surprising that this isn't one those Homevision releases, or any other label, and glad the artwork isn't as generic as all those Sonny Chiba discs from Adness.

It seems according to the listing I am looking at the film is full frame (let the debate begin), and that the disc only includes a Surround 2.0 sound mix, and only seems to have a trailer as an extra.

The synopsis, which must have been written by Adness and will be widely seen reads, "When Asano, the young master of Ako Castle, draws his sword on his elder, Lord Kira, he is ordered to dissolve his clan and commit hara-kiri. With the help of the now-masterless Ako warriors, Asano's devoted chamberlain Oishi (Kinnosuke Yorozuya, Shogun's Samurai – The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy) begins to plot an elaborate revenge, two years in the making. As the lines of loyalty and betrayal are drawn, the stage is set for an explosive battle with swordplay expertly choreographed by Chiba himself."

Only just realised what i had been looking at when i saw these on the Kino site a few days back. Tatsumi Kumashiro is regarded as one of the best Japanese Directors of the 1970s - he was the man responsible for the 1979 'Jigoku', but these two films look a whole lot saucier than that.

'Woman With Red Hair' is a Nikkatsu Roman Porno which stars Junko Miyashita from 'A Woman Called Sada Abe', and is getting a new lease of life here now that Kino is its' new home, as is 'World Of Geisha'.

Hopefully I will be able to look into the genre more (as I have previously tried to) and see 'Wife To Be Sacrificed' amongst others soon. Any other Pinku R1 DVD suggestions welcomed.

Well, the good news is that Japanese actor Yosuke Kubozuka of Ping Pong and GO fame is finally back in action following the fall he took off of his apartment's balconey. The bad news is that the film is directed by Kenta Fukasaku, the man responsible for the horrible Battle Royale sequel. No trailer yet, but the website is here.

Via Stauffen.

If you didn't buy the original Korean, the reissued and remastered (final) Korean, the special edition Korean, the nice R2 UK 2-disc, or any other edition so far - you can get this one. It will be a 2-disc set too, so it should match the specifications of the R2 one.

In WIndows Media / Quicktime & Various Sizes. Just watch, see if you're smiling in a few minutes time. Here.

Via AICN.

I was going to go to bed and the medication will soon be through my blood stream so I'll make it quick before I melt down because this is freakin' brilliant.

Empire has posted an hour-long transbribed conversation between Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, creators of Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, and Jersey's favorite son and indie film god [small g], Kevin Smith. The topic of their conversation? Star Wars.

::: Insert silly stupid grin on face :::

Start here and let the Star Wars geekdom overflow you.

Now. I don't care, if you saved up all your 50ps. Take your pocket money, and GET OUT!

Oh, sweet mother ... here's a little something I would've missed entirely if not for something Crazybee posted over at the KFC Forums (and yes, bee, I did pilfer your screen capture) ... tucked away on disc two of Media Blaster's Sky High DVD is a five minute promo reel for something called Death Trance. And what is Death Trance? A new film starring Tak Sakaguchi of Versus and Battlefield Baseball fame directed by the action director from Versus. And it looks INCREDIBLE. Now, this thing isn't available online anywhere yet, so I've opted to rip it from the DVD, post it here, and hope that Media Blasters appreciate the free publicity rather than getting angry and having me take it down.

A couple notes on the video file ... yeah, the image is small and a little bit grainy. It's really, really long so I had to scale it down a bit to (hopefully) avoid killing my bandwidth before my webhost gets my note asking them to up my limit. And, for some reason the ripper that I used seems to have slightly compressed the image in the horizontal, so the aspect ratio isn't quite right. Basically if something seems wrong with the file blame it on me. All the good stuff is pure Tak ...

*** UPDATE ***

Okay, this thing ate better than two gigs of bandwidth over four hours in the middle of the night, the quietest traffic time here, and that's just not sustainable on our server so I've pulled it down. Anybody have access to a bit-torrent tracker they'd like to share?

Stephen Fung's House of Fury is now available for pre-order! Hit it here for trailer links and here to order.

That's the word according to JoBlo ... Apparently Robert Rodriguez will start rolling on two sequels to Sin City, shooting both back to back, starting in February of next year.

Good news for fans of smart comedy on this side of the ocean ... word is that HBO has picked up rights to Extras, the new show from Ricky Gervais best know for his work on The Office. The Emmy he won for that probably didn't hurt and neither does the guest list for the new show, a list that includes names like Samuel L Jackson and Ben Stiller. Check the full article here.

A Korean edition of Hirokazu Kore-Eda's debut film Maborosi has been announced for a May 10th release and will include English subtitles. Kore-eda, of course, is the acclaimed director of multi-award winning Nobody Knows, a film that is also coming to Korean DVD on May 10th. We'll add an ordering link just as soon as YesAsia gets these added into their system ...

I love it. It harkens back to the days of the brush and tempra paint. Before the days of the digital artist. It has that classic old school horror film feel to it. I love it.

Click here to see a full sized image of the new poster.

The Hollywood News also has three still shots you can see here.

Just a couple days left until I can stop avoiding all reviews of this film for fear of spoilers ... and yet I am not afraid of watching footage. Strange. Voila.

We're Gonna Die
Vogsphere Slaps
Whale Scene
Thanks for the Fish Song
Zaphod's Election Video

Everybody stand back while Triflic fills his shorts ...

The Japanese DVD of Shinya Tsukamoto's Vital has got itself a release date of June 24th and is now available for pre-order! There are two releases, both of which include English subtitles. The single disc edition appears to be pretty much the film only, with an anamorphic transfer and DTS sound. The double disc edition comes in specialized packaging - sadly no pictures available that I've seen yet - and features a second disc of almost certainly un-subbed special features. Check the trailer here and hit the links above to pre-order now.

Thanks to Aaron for the heads up ...

Well, sort of. Maybe. But not so much. Here's Rex's response to the furor over his comments on Oldboy:

"Finally, a word about Korea. A few weeks ago, in my broadside against the gory Korean movie schlockfest Oldboy, I apparently raised the hackles of several readers who objected to the way I mentioned the Korean film industry and the fermented Korean national dish called kimchi in the same sentence. I’m not an admirer of political correctness in first-person byline opinion writing, but that doesn’t make me a racist, so if I inadvertently offended anyone who misinterpreted my humor, I apologize. I like Koreans. In truth, I have probably spent more time in Korea than any of the irate letter-writers currently bombarding me. I even lived there for several months while making a movie called Inchon! with Laurence Olivier, Jacqueline Bisset, Ben Gazzara, Richard Roundtree and Toshiro Mifune. We had many happy times, admired the lush landscape and liked the friendly people. We all hated the kimchi."

Way to take the opportunity to name drop, Rex. Nothing like patting yourself on the back to take the stink off of insulting the culture of an entire nation ...

Thanks to Alison for pointing that out ...

Hurray for Papa Luc! This hasn't been officially announced anywhere yet - not that I'm aware of, anyway - so you're going to have to take my word on this one and trust me when I say the person that told me is in a position to know. Word on the street is that Citizen Dog - the sophomore film from the director of Tears of the Black Tiger, which I adore - has had its international rights purchased by Luc Besson's Europa Corp. So if you, like me, are lamenting the lack of English subs on the Thai DVD, buck up! Quality western editions are in the future! Huzzah!

Huzzah! A fourth Batman Begins trailer is online and it kicks serious whoopee cushion hiney! It rules like lords! Don't believe me, look for yourself. Gosh it's going to be fun!

Click here to the fourth Batman Begins trailer.

via AICN.

The RikiTakeuchi.com subsites for Masahiro Asao's Deserted Dogs (Suteinu) and Takeshi Miyasaka's Hallucination (Genkaku) are now online. As was previously reported here on Twitch, the movies will have limited-tariff theatrical releases in Japan in the next two months. Both were executive produced by Riki Takeuchi. Deserted Dogs stars Takeuchi, Eugene Nomura (a.k.a. Yûjin Nomura), Yûto Nakano, Takamitsu Ôkubo, Akio Kinjô, Masaki Nishimori, Ken'ichi Endô, and Banshô Shinra (a.k.a. Manzô Shinra). It's scheduled for late-show screenings at Theatre Ikebukuro in Tokyo starting May 28. Hallucination stars Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Kimika Yoshino, Hitomi Miwa, Yoshimi Tachi, Tomohiro Katô, Sayumi Yanawa, Shinra, and Takeuchi. It's scheduled for late-show screenings at Theatre Ikebukuro starting June 11.

The official website for Shion Sono's Into a Dream (Yume no naka e) is now online, although there's no trailer for the movie on the site yet. As was previously reported here on Twitch, the movie's principal cast is as follows: Tetsushi Tanaka, Yûna Natsuo, Jun Murakami, Jô Odagiri (a.k.a. Joe Odagiri), Miwako Ichikawa, Ryô Iwamatsu, Akaji Maro, Yôichi Nukumizu, Tôru Tezuka, Rena Komine, Asami Usuda, and Nahana.

Sono is perhaps best known as the director of Suicide Circle (Jisatsu sâkuru), a.k.a. "Suicide Club".

A fifth 'making of' (mekingu) short has been added here to the official website for Jun'ya Satô's Yamato (Otoko-tachi no Yamato). Not to be confused with Shinpei Hayashiya's monster movie (kaijû eiga) Reigo vs. Yamato (Reigô tai Yamato), Yamato is a World War II blockbuster based on Jun Henmi's non-fiction books Ketteiban otoko-tachi no Yamato (ue) and Ketteiban otoko-tachi no Yamato (shita). Starring in it are Takashi Sorimachi, Shidô Nakamura (Nakamura Shidou), Jundai Yamada, Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Dai Watanabe, Hiromi Sakimoto, Kenta Uchino, Ryô Hashizume (Hashidume Ryou), Kyôka Suzuki (Suzuki Kyouka), and Tatsuya Nakadai.

For more info on Yamato, see Twitch's third, second, and first articles on it.

AnimeNewsNetwork is reporting the arrival of a site which represents both the upcoming 'XXXHolic' (Director - Tsutomu Mizushima) and 'Tsubasa Chronicle' (Director - Itsuro Kawasaki) movies.

Both are in being made by Production I.G and are based on Clamp projects, so it's interesting to see these two recent and highly-loved series as the become movies from such a high-class animation studio and the amazing creative team at Clamp. They seem to be due this August.

Recently I.G have ramped their production of TV series somewhat, now they may be expanding further to cope with more regular movie work too. Speculation : but I wonder if the production values in these films will match those Directed by Mamoru Oshii.

The dual site is here. Official Clamp site is here.

via AnimeNewsNetwork.

Got money to burn and a lust for all things Pixar? A limited edition - only 5000 copies - Japan-only box set for The Incredibles is slated for a June 15th release. It looks as though the DVD content is the same as on the North American release but the box includes an Art of the Incredibles book, a numbered art print and a watch. With what this'll retail for I'm guessing that you probably won't want your kids playing with the extras ...

Link by Logboy®

I received an updated release schedule from Artsmagic today - a good number of date changes contained within - and what jumped out was the inclusion of a couple Shinji Aoyama titles that I don't recall seeing on the list at all before. The current list calls for Aoyama's Wild Life in August and An Obsession in November. Read on for the current complete release schedule ...

Continue reading "More Shinji Aoyama Films Coming Via Artsmagic!"

Just surfaced from my Hanzo the Razor boxset - two down, one to go - to check my email and found a note from Logboy directing me here: the official Eureka Project website, a new giant robot anime from Bones - the studio behind Wolf's Rain among other things. Gotta say the character and mech designs are sweet and the trailer looks mighty nice as well. You can find more clips here.

The show starts hitting DVD in Japan in July and will also be one of the first titles available on the PSPs new UMD format ...

An Insider’s Review. In the summer of 2003, I worked as a set dresser on the 1950 period soccer film, “The Game of Their Lives”. Directed by David Anspaugh and written by Angelo Pizzo, the duo who brought us “Hoosiers” and “Rudy”, “Game” had an air of legitimacy not often found on the sets of other movies shot here in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. Of course, not being any kind of sports movie buff, I’ve never actually seen the former two films. But hey, their reputations were good, and despite the prospect of hauling large amounts of furniture around in 100+ degree heat for two and a half months, the notion of working on a halfway decent movie for a change was appealing. (“Game” was my sixth feature as a crew member, give or take a few smallish local ones. The most well known prior to it was “The Big Brass Ring” with William Hurt. Remember that classic? Didn’t think so.) And then I read the screenplay…

Continue reading "The Game of Their Lives"

No, no. We're not that fortunate here to have interviewed one of Koreas hottest directorial exports. But ComingSoon.net did and you should give it a read. And then you should pay very close attention to theatre listings over the next couple weeks as 3-Iron starts to open this weekend.

Read the ComingSoon.net interview with 3-Iron director Kim Ki-duk here.

Wu-jing picked up another article with photos from the set of Jet Li's next film Legend of a Fighter, helmed by Ronny Yu.

I could not make much from my bleak translation of the original article but what I could piece together is that these may have been taken the day of shooting the final part of the movie in which Li's character Huo Yuan Jia competes in the ring against foreign challengers in Shanghai. The competitors include that behemoth in the Rex-Kwon-Do shorts.

Click here for a bigger image of Jet Li and a Big Bald Man in tight shorts.

Hey, screw the upcoming American remake of The Eye, we're going to Bollywood! I just spotted a link to Naina over on the KFC Forums and it looks to be a note for note remake of the Pang Brothers' original. Yes, Dave it even has the 'what are you doing in my chair?' scene ... hit the site at the link above and the full trailer here.

Oooh ... Grady over at Kaiju Shakedown has scored himself a wee interview with Wu Jing, mostly about his role in upcoming Hong Kong actioner Sha Po Lang. That's two people I know now who have seen the film and both swear that it absolutely rules. The interview's short but sweet. Check it here.

According to the J-Horror Theater (J horâ shiatâ) official website, Takashi Shimizu's Rinne - the third movie in the hexalogy - began filming (crank in / kuranku in) last Saturday (April 23). The screenplay for the movie was written by Shimizu and Masaki Adachi (given name may be "Masanori", etc.) - who directed the story "Seven Rooms" in the omnibus movie Zoo. Starring in Rinne are Yûka, Karina, and Kippei Shiina. It's scheduled to be released theatrically in Japan by Tôhô on January 7th of next year.

Let me state my general bias right up front: ever since Ryuhei Kitamura burst onto the scene with the exhilarating Versus he has proven to be something of a polarizing director. Some absolutely adore him and everything he’s done. Others tend to find him incredibly frustrating. I belong in the second group. Here’s why. I think the man’s got a masterpiece in him but he keeps finding ways not to make it.

Kitamura is very obviously an enormously gifted visual director with style to spare. With Versus Kitamura made a film that was openly about nothing more than that style – cramming as many ridiculous shots and extended fight scenes into his film as he possibly could on his restrictive budget. It worked because it didn’t take itself too seriously and because it had a star with major charisma in former street fighter Tak Sakaguchi, who has strangely been limited to only cameo appearances in Kitamura’s work since. With every successive film Kitamura’s budgets have gotten bigger and he has taken his stories more seriously and the dissenters have gotten increasingly more vocal insisting that the man needs a script editor in a big way. There are as many impressive shots as ever but his films tend to be over long and the characters a little bit thin, and he has this disturbing habit of casting fight oriented films with actors who make for some mighty appealing eye candy but very unconvincing fighters. Sky High falls neatly into this mold. If you’re already a fan you’re going to love it, if the weaknesses of his earlier films drive you nuts then this will likely do the same.

Continue reading "Sky High Review"

This is shaping up to be a fantastic year for fans of Shinya Tsukamoto. Not only are his cyber-punk masterworks getting the special edition treatment but by year’s end virtually his entire catalog will be easily available to North American fans for the very first time.

The latest Tsukamoto title to hit these shores is Hiruko The Goblin released by Fangoria via Media Blasters. Those who know Tsukamoto only through the thoroughly bizarre Tetsuo: The Iron Man or the recently released and starkly beautiful A Snake of June or Bullet Ballet are in for an enormous surprise here. Tsukamoto has a sense of humor! And he’s not afraid to use it! Hiruko the Goblin is a throwback to the cheaply made serialized science fiction of Tsukamoto’s youth and comes complete with all the camp humor and odd characters that you’d expect from that genre along with a healthy dose of blood, gore and genuine suspense.

Continue reading "Hiruko The Goblin Review"

Todd asked me to review a film that many consider a classic of pan-Asian horror, the South Korean Memento Mori. Set in an all girls high school this latest release from Tartan's Asia Extreme label explores ideas of acceptance and human community set agianst a backdrop of gossip, suicide and ghostly visitation.

Continue reading "MEMENTO MORI DVD REVIEW "

Oooh ... there have been rumblings about this for a while, but it looks as though it's official now. Logboy just sent me the listing for Kino's upcoming Maiku Hama trilogy boxset, made up of the first three films in the Maiku Hama series - The Most Terrible Time In My Life, Stairway To the Distant Past, and The Trap. The box releases July fifth and, yes, those of you who picked up the first film on it's original release can pick up the second two individually. Check the details here.

Between this and Facets' upcoming Forest With No Name release it's a good time to be a Hama fan ...

Okay ... a little help here? I stumbled across this review of the latest from the director of Candyman over at Screendaily and it caught my attention but it doesn't seem to have any sort of presence online at all. As near as I can tell this is the same film as Man With a Movie Camera but both titles are utterly useless as far as Google is concerned - go ahead, you do a search for Snuff and wade through all the crap that comes up - and the production company info isn't any better ... can anybody help out with still shots or a trailer?

We posted a link to the trailer of The Empire of the Wolves - the latest actioner from Jean Reno and the director of Kiss of the Dragon - a while back and, lo, it has now hit screens in its native France and Screendaily's got a detailed review here. They're a bit mixed on it but they can be a bit wobbly on genre stuff there ... here's that trailer again if you missed it first time around ...

Nope, we haven't got it, but with a bit of help we can and we'd even share it with all of you ... just got a note from Canfield saying that the trailer for The Woods - which has strangely still not turned up anywhere online that I can find - is included on disc one of the recently released box set of the original three Amityville Horror films. If someone out there has the box and is able to rip the trailer we'd happily host it here ... I want my Bruce ...

Oooh ... just went hunting for information on this and - surprisingly - wasn't able to turn up even a single in depth review. Visions of Europe if a compendium film commissioned to mark the expansion of the European Union to twenty five member states. Each member nation is represented by a single film maker and each film maker was given an identical budget and a five minute limit to shoot a short film reflecting how the EU affects their life. Sounds like it could be a bit dry, but check out the contributing film makers: Reconstruction's Christoffer Boe, Head On's Fatih Akin, slain Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh, and the UK's Peter Greenaway are among the more prominent, but the whole line is impressive. No word on a DVD release for this yet - though it's pretty much inevitable - and no trailer - which would generally be pretty pointless for this type of project - but a detailed website is here.

I'm feeling rather Danish these days, but this time here's a link to something you've actually got a shot at seeing ... the latest from Susanne Bier is in limited release through the US right now and is a family drama set against a UN mission in Afghanistan and features one of my very favorite combos in actor Nicholaj Lie Kaas and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen ... here's Trust Film's synopsis:

"Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife (Connie Nielsen) and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing in action - presumed dead - and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same..."

Trailer here.

Trust Film has just added a subtitled trailer for Dagur Kari's Dark Horse to their website here. I spotted the title while looking up the films playing Cannes this year but what I missed was that this is the new film from the director of the excellent Noi Albinoi. This on follows another slacker lead character but is shot in striking high contrast black and white ... looks sweet ... the film's official website is here. There are additional - unsubbed - trailers here and here.

The trailer is there in the site if you didn't manage to download it a few days back after i posted the links here that had appeared at AICN. Don't know what else is there yet, about to go over and take a look after i post this... go now.

Via AnimeNewsNetwork / Nausicaa.net.

CRIENGLISH reported that China has become the worlds third largest film making country behind United States and India.

Now, before everyone goes around giving the other guy the coorporate slap on the butt with a 'Good job' punctuating it China is still a long ways off. It's a third. But it is a very distant third.

China made 212 films in 2004. The domestic box office income was around $180 million, the size of some hollywood movie budgets on their own. But their international box office numbers combined with the movie channel of China Central Television yielded $433 million.

Furthering the reality check just three movies accounted for %60 of that box office total income; House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle and World Without Thieves. Only 3!

Part of the problem has been a steady decline in the quality of the product over the years. Zhang Pimin, vice director of the film bureau of State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, "But problems still exist in China's film industry. We have very few good films, for example."

China also lacks appropriate cinema infrastructure and needs to capitalize on these missed opportunites. Zhang said, "China's 1.3 billion people share only 1,200 cinemas, or 2,500 screens. The United States, however, has 36,000 screens for its 200 million people. Modern cinema complexes built in Beijing and Shanghai in recent years are all making good profits." Multi screen complexes take in around %80 of the domestic box office. The good news is that Warners has made arrangements to build 8 new multi=screen venues this year.

We wish China a speedy recovery. Your Get Well Soon card is in the mail.

A full-length trailer (2:58) and promo video (9:10) have been added (in ZIP files) to the official website for Jira Maligool's The Tin Mine (Maha'lai muang rae).

As was previously reported here on Twitch, The Tin Mine 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.

It's a cam job that just screams studio plant - it was apparently shot at a film maker only screening and goes out of focus on the closing money shot - but Aint It Cool has the trailer for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe available here and what you can see looks niiiiiiiiice ... the final test will be to see how closely the finished product matches the books, but they've certainly nailed the look ...

Oooh, spiffy ... the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Guide has just had a wee update and now includes entries for eight of the film's main characters, including the John Malkovich role Douglas Adams created specifically for the film. Check it here.

Optimum Releasing will be bringing Michael Winterbottom's anatomically correct 9 Songs to DVD in the UK in June and, while I doubt anyone would care all that much about the film without all the skin, they're including some features that could make it a mighty worthwhile pick up. For one thing the film is being introduced by the author of a book on film censorship, a contentious issue if ever there was one. Check a much larger version of the cover art and a full list of specs at DVD Times.

Link by Logboy®

Logboy spotted this over at Gorezone - the cover art for the upcoming Tartan remastered special edition of Tetsuo The Iron Man. It's still slated for a June 28th release and should kick the crap out of the bare bones release currently floating around out there ...

The Criterion site hasn't yet been updated with their latest batch of titles but the good folks at DVDBeaver have gotten word that Seijun Suzuki's Story of A Prostitute and Gate of Flesh are both slated for a late July release. I've read about both of these in the Midnight Eye book but haven't had the chance to see either so this is good news indeed ...

This one spotted by Logboy ...

Oooh ... regular Twitch reader and total Guy Maddin fanatic Triflic just dropped me a note directing me here for some happy news ... Two new flicks from Guy Maddin, quite likely the most distinctive film maker ever to spring from my cold northern homeland. The one he's written himself is most likely the previously announced The Brand Upon the Brain! but if anyone had heard talk of the Isabella Rosellini penned script before now they've kept it to themselves ...

There's no official website (yet) for Kei Nakata's Muhito: The Matchless Man (Muhito); however, there are a few stills from it here on Hisao Maki's official website. Maki wrote the eponymous novel on which the movie is based, and adapted it for the screen. In addition, he executive produced the movie, and appears in it. The cast also includes Sanae Kikuta (who's in Nakata's Tsurugi: The Future Swordsman (Tsurugi)), Wataru Shihôdô, Saki Kurihara, Yumika Hayashi (who played the mother in Tamakichi Anaru's Mother and Daughter: Spit-Swapping Seduction (Hahako (boshi) no daeki (shizuku)), and is in Shinpei Hayashiya's monster movie (kaijû eiga) Reigo vs. Yamato (Reigô tai Yamato)), Yôko Satomi (who was in Daisuke Yamanouchi's Kyoko vs. Yuki (Saikyô joshi Kôsê densetsu: Kyôko vs Yuki), and starred in his Girl Hell 1999 (Shôjo jigoku ichi kyû kyû kyû)), Hitoshi Ozawa (who stars in Atsushi Muroga's Yûsha no hihô), Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masakatsu Funaki, Hajime Kazumi, Tatsuya Iwasaki, Katsuo Tokashiki, Ryûta Noji, Enson Inoue (Ensen Inoue), Tiger Mask (Taigâ Masuku), and The Great Sasuke (Za Gurêto Sasuke - who's in Nakata's Ecstasy Express (Shiberia Chôtokkyû: yokubô ressha)).

Finally, the hydroplane racing sports flick that the world has been waiting for. “Madison” tells the by-the-numbers tale of a team of middle-American small town motorboat racers who, in their effort to prove that they can go the distance, end up with the fate of their town hanging in the balance. Positively oozing with the type of overly familiar sentimentality and underdog woe usually reserved for the small screen, there are no surprises to be found in this waterlogged heart-warmer. “Madison’s” only saving grace is that it is based on the true story of the 1971 Madison Regatta Race, so we know that, at least to some degree, this isn’t completely a case of the Hollywood Plot Recycling Machine churning out another clone for the whole family to enjoy. Nonetheless, the film is one heartwarming cliché after another, right down to the deadly experimental fuel that the team concocts for when their boat needs that extra boost. “It’s too risky! You can’t endanger your family’s future!” “But if I don’t do this, I’m nothing!” (Not actual dialog, but not far off.)

Continue reading "Madison Review"

Either bored out of their skulls or it was a slow news day at the Telegraph office. The folks put together at Top Twenty list of the greatest film openings ever. You would have to register to see the complete list, but I'll save you the trouble...

Take a gander at their Top Twenty. I've left the descriptions of the more familiar ones. What do you think of the list? Are there any glaring omissions? What about the order? Seriously, I thought Star Wars might have been up a little higher than seventh.

Continue reading "The twenty best film openings ever?"

Toshiharu Ikeda is the Director of 'Evil Dead Trap' and 'Angel Guts : Red Porno'. I know both those split people, so feel free to wrangle that out in the comments - but if you noticed in the extras of the Angel Guts Boxset recently, Ikeda is very well respected by some important American Directors as having a great skill (if not always a great result?).

The IMDB entry for Ikeda shows no obvious mention of this film, and the title when searched for over there doesn't yeild anything either, but it was somehow clearly picked up on by TheGLine in his regular trawl at Amazon for interesting releases (if anyone knows how to effectively traverse their listings to do the same, let me know).

It's a Ventura Distribution release and their page for the film is here.

In case you're looking for a R1 disc of this film, it has been long in the works. Hopefully not too long, as there are still those who at least wanted to see this in the not too distant past. Anyhow, Subversive have finally managed to get it done, and have posted at DVDManiacs a long list of all the extras (7 Hours worth), plus specifications for the quality of the discs. I've seen this listed for $20, about £10 - so it's good value.

Norm Hill from Subversive says it contains :

A brand new 5.1 mix only on the Subversive release, A new 16x9 widescreen (1:85.1) grain reduced transfer only on the Subversive release. All of the following extras are fully subtitled only on Subversive release. Full length commentary track with cast and crew. 2 Making of documentaries. Deleted scenes and outtakes. Karaoke Video. Two short KUBRICK figure versions of the film. Short film, Ramen. Battlefield Baseball Premier in Japan. 3 Battlefield Baseball trailers. Trailers for upcoming Subversive Cinema releases.

The Subversive site has been updated and give details of some other upcoming projects and releases. Can't see any sign of Shinya Tsukamoto film 'Gemini' yet though...

The issue of piracy in a different form. This time, as the sales of DVD make more money for the studios than the cinema releases do (last year DVD ($27bn) taking were three times those of Cinemas ($9bn)) they seem to be considering quicker or potentially simultaneous releases for films to disc. Of course there are dozens of reasons why people both love and hate the cinema, and the same goes for those shiny little discs we buy and the Home Cinema experience too.

Barry Myer of Warner Brothers spoke to the Hollywood Reporter and suggested that the current situation of the cinema being the primary market for films could switch and become the "added value" film experience instead. This would mean buying a DVD and going to the cinema if you wanted to experience it that way, rather than the DVD as a reminder or alternative to that.

Additionally, this would be an attempt to combat pirates selling camcordered VCD / DVD copies of films on the streets outside a theatre - a phenomena not so predominantly Eastern as it may have been in past years.

Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures and Peter Chernin of the Fox Group also believe this to be the situation and a possible solution. But : "Where piracy tends to thrive is where the consumer perceives that goods and services are not convenient and price is out of whack," added Mr Chernin. People do already seem think prices on DVDs are too high all too often, plus they vary so dramatically from country to country, and although the price would potentially be different if Home Cinema was the primary market (and a DVD purchase is permanent), there's a whole host of arguments against this switch of focus too. For one thing, would it change the kind of films people make?, those films that are popular? (many films rely on the Big Screen to drive the experience for example), or indeed the focus on domestic product and its' market could be lost to some extent?

In the end, the primary concern for any film fan is the film, not the format.

Via BBC. To some extent.

This compelling and sometimes stylish documentary is intended to be your one-stop guide to the most notorious act of corporate fraud ever committed in the United States. For all intents and purposes, and admittedly without having researched this subject to any depth beyond viewing this, I’m inclined to say the filmmakers succeeded with that goal. Directed by Alex Gibney and adapted from the acclaimed book “The Smartest Guys in the Room” by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, “Enron” perhaps surprisingly manages to avoid becoming muddled in the numeric ins and outs of the mechanics of the scandal, instead wisely focusing on the corrupt executives themselves (Kenneth Lay and Jeffery Skilling), and how they brought down their once-great company.

Continue reading "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room Review"

Sweet! Logboy just dropped me a note pointing out that Facets Video - the people responsible for the recent release of The American Astronaut - will be releasing Shinji Aoyama's A Forest With No Name in North America on May 24th! For those who don't know, Forest is Aoyama's entry into the long running series of Mike Hama detective films and is apparently one of the stronger titles in the series which began with The Most Terrible Time In My Life. As far as I know this is the first time this has been available with English subs ... nice ...

Niiiice ... this is the third of these behind the scenes packs, this one focusing on the sets and locations ... check it here.

Turns out I wasn;t the only Twitch type at the just concluded Philadelphia Film Festival ... turns out regular reader and sometimes contributor Collin Armstrong was there as well and he's chimed in with a trio of excellent reviews ... et voila:

I took in the last few days of the Philadelphia Film Festival, and it turns out Todd and I ended up seeing a lot of the same pics while there (not sure whether or not we were at the same screenings). Since he’s gone into detail on THE PROMISE, SOUNDLESS, SURVIVE STYLE 5+, QUIET AS A MOUSE, CUTIE HONEY, KONTROLL, STRATOSPHERE GIRL, and KARAOKE TERROR, I’ll offer up the bulk of my thoughts on the pics I caught that he didn’t – the new Alex de la Iglesia offering FERPECT CRIME, blaxploitation documentary MACKED, HAMMERED, SLAUGHTERED, AND SHAFTED, and the Spanish comedy ONLY HUMAN.

Continue reading "Philly Fest Report: Ferpect Crime, Only Human, Macked Hammered Slaughtered and Shafted"

Just in case people missed the note in today's big Cannes post, Celluloid Dreams has posted a quartet of very high res still shots from Johnnie To's Election. As I'd expect from a To film they look fantastic ... check 'em out here, here, here and here.

There's no official website for Norihisa Yoshimura's Killer Bee (Satsujinbachi - kirâ bî); however, there's a trailer for it on the goo (NTT Resonant) webpage for it. The movie stars Saki Kagami, Miku Ueno (who also stars in the story "Zesshoku" in the Umezu Kazuo: kyôfu gekijô horror movie series), Hazuki Suzuki (Suzuki Haduki), Ayano Yoshikawa, Natsume Sano, Yuriko Sakuma, and Nana Kasai.

Three new 'making of' (mekingu) shorts have been added to the official website for Jun'ya Satô's Yamato (Otoko-tachi no Yamato). The first one is simply comprised of production footage, the second is comprised of an interview with actor Takashi Sorimachi that's primarily set to production footage, and the third is comprised of an interview with actor Shidô Nakamura that's largely set to production footage.

Principal photography for Yamato began on March 26. The budget for the film reportedly is ¥1.5 billion (approx. $14 million U.S.) - the same as the official production cost of Masaaki Tezuka's upcoming Civil War Self-Defense Forces 1549 (Sengoku jieitai 1549).

For more info on Yamato, see Twitch's previous articles on it here and there.

Okay ... here we go with the Cannes stuff ... these are in no particular order beyond the order the films appear on the Cannes site ... I'm just working my way through the list ...

Continue reading "Cannes Stuff O' Plenty"

EMPIRE caught up with Nick Frost [Shaun of the Dead & Spaced] at last nights Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy premiere and managed to get a few words out of him about Simon Pegg and Edgar Wrights next project, Hot Fuzz.

...we were certainly all ears when it came to Hot Fuzz. "Simon and Ed have finished the first pass… they've taken their time, and written a great draft, and it's gonna be good. I hope."