‘Royal Warriors’
Glorious! Michelle Yeoh, at the age of 23, stars along with Michael Wong and Henry Sanada as law enforcement officers fighting a nasty group of criminals. The action starts on the streets of Hong Kong, lifts into the sky as a hijacking is foiled through a mid-air gun battle / martial arts confrontation, continues through [...]
‘Mad Detective’ Review
I’m glad to see that Johnny To has become a recognizable, marketable name on the international film festival circuit. His trio of excellent and stylish films in 2006 (ELECTION, ELECTION 2, EXILED) generated considerable enthusiasm beyond the niche of loyal, hardcore Hong Kong film fans. Even more exciting for me, though, was the prospect of [...]
‘Dog Bite Dog’ Review
Grabs you by the back of the neck and body slams you into the mud. Before you can catch your breath, your face is scraped along a broken concrete highway, leaving a long, bloody trail. All that’s left is for a speeding truck to crush your head like a grape. Read my entire review at Twitch.
Love for Adults Only
One more DVD release for the week that I missed on Tuesday: ArtsMagic DVD presents the latest in its “pink” line. Love – Zero = Infinity “One of the infamous ‘Four Devils’ of the Japanese pink movie scene, who dominated the erotic cinema of the 1980s and 90s, Hisayasu Sato delivers his own unique take [...]
A cello, electric shadows, and other DVDs
Perusing the wonderfully useful Twitch DVD Release Calendar, here are my picks of the Asian films to be released this week in Region 1. Cello “A cellist is haunted by strange events after a car wreck.” 2005. South Korea. 92 minutes. Tartan Video Directed by Lee Woo-cheol Featuring Jeong Ho-bin, Jeong Yu-mi, Park Da-an, Seong [...]
‘The Concrete Revolution’ Review
A friend of mine recently returned from a week-long business trip to Beijing. He talked about the tremendous size of the city, the ten traffic loops that surround it, the incredible cleanliness (people mopping the roads), and the complete absence of birds (as far as he could tell). He also noted that bulldozers were busy [...]
New Jackie Chan; Miike is Missed
Jackie Chan revived his Police Story franchise by slapping New in the title and making it more dramatic — his squad is killed in front of his helpless eyes and he becomes an alcoholic until a young cop gets him back in the game. If I were to rate the series, I’d put this fifth [...]
Yes, it is Late Spring
Dig deep into your pockets, folks, it’s time to fork over two twenties for another Criterion release. Here’s the sales pitch in their own words: “One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu‘s family portraits, Late Spring tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent [...]
Is Mountain Patrol coming to your town?
In view of the dearth of any new Asian films being released on Region 1 DVD this week, we direct your attention to the limited release of Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (official web site). Is it just in New York City this week? According to the site, only a truly limited number of US communities will [...]
Sam Anderson: Lost but Really Cool
Admit it. You’re staring at the middle-aged actor playing Bernard on Lost and thinking: I know this guy. Doesn’t he live down the street from me? Bernard is the white dentist married to the black lady of faith. Bernard is a very decent man and that was proven tonight. Very nice to see Rose and [...]
18 Fingers May Kill You
Sorry for the delay in posting this week. This is an arid time for Region 1 Asian releases, so if you’re aimlessly wandering around the “New Releases” section of your local rental shops and come across 18 Fingers of Death!, beware. Supposedly it’s a “mockumentary” directed by James Lew. I’d never heard of it before, [...]
Rural Laughs, Gorgeous Beauty
Fighting for shelf space against Brokeback Mountain and The Chronicles of Narnia, look for Gong Li in The Story of Qui Ju. Amazon lists the DVD as being released last week, but whatever the case, it might be hard to find at a brick and mortar retailer. It’s being released through Sony Pictures, which should [...]
Tough Miike
Once upon a time, prolific Japanese auteur Takashi Miike was barely represented on Region 1 DVD shelves. Now, thanks to companies like Arts Magic DVD, more and more of his prodigious output is coming to light. “Regarded as a milestone in cult maestro Takashi Miike’s career, Osaka Tough Guys (Naniwa Yuuky-den) is the bridge between [...]
‘Atragon’ Review
The Mu Empire ruled the Earth twelve centuries ago before sinking below the waves of the Pacific Ocean. Now it is ready to rise again and regain its rightful position, subjugating the nations of the world to slavery, but first it demands that Japan turn over the mighty submarine Atragon. Filled with a fair number [...]
Slow News Day
No new releases this week. Takashi Miike’s Osaka Tough Guys is due from Arts Magic next Tuesday, so get your pre-orders in now.
Chilling and Bizarre
Minor health problems have plagued me for the past month, salvaged by a mostly enjoyable week-long working vacation. Back to the DVD salt mines! Out on R1 DVD today is Marebito, the latest from the director of Ju-On and its remake The Grudge. Here’s the description from distributor Tartan Films USA. “Masuoka (cult filmmaker Shinya [...]
Scared Soldiers, Life in a Theme Park, Adultery and Beauty
DVD releases this week give Region 1 readers an opportunity to catch up with two recent festival favorites as well as check out two classics by Zhang Yimou that star Gong Li. R-Point Korean film from late in 2004 about soliders investigating a mystery with unexpected results received some festival exposure in 2005 and is [...]
Erotic, Bizarre, and Arid
Between Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh, and Michelango Antonioni, which is which? Wong’s film is a riff on 2046 that feels warm and sticky. The heat emanates from subtle gestures, sneaky glances, and flashes of flesh. With Gong Li and Chang Chen. Soderbergh’s segment is evidently meant to be humorous, but it comes across as a [...]
Howling for Howl
Sundance is over (though Rotterdam is ongoing) and the Oscar noms are out today. Movie City News has a nicely-formatted list. Howl’s Moving Castle was deservedly nominated for Best Animated Film. The other nominees are The Corpse Bride (out on DVD today) and Wallace & Gromit. Here’s my review of Howl’s Moving Castle from last [...]
Thunderbolt and, uh, I forgot…
Sundance occupies the cinema blogosphere right, and rightly so, but it’s not easy to find much about foreign-language films premiering there. On the other hand, Region 1 dwellers might easily find a couple of new Asian pictures on disk. Thunderbolt 1995. Hong Kong. 111 minutes. New Line DVD. Directed by Gordon Chan. With Jackie Chan. [...]
Where Everybody…
Sorry for the long interlude between posts, but I departed for greener work pastures at the beginning of December, and have been limited in what I’ve been able to see, Asian movie-wise. My most recent reviews have appeared at Twitch, where I was invited to become a contributing writer. There you can read thoughts on: [...]
AFI FEST 2005 Reviews
My reviews, posted at Twitch: SPL (Hong Kong) My initial reaction was “Zowie!!” The action is fierce and fabulous, the picture looks terrific — neon-tinged primary colors dominate the palette — and it’s wrapped up in a classic police story. A second viewing still rocked my house as I became more attuned to the melodramatic [...]
Gather Ye Forces
Kenji Mizoguchi’s UGETSU (1953) came out last week. It sounds fabulous (details here at the Home Vision site). The PINKY VIOLENCE COLLECTION has been delayed a few weeks, and is now set for release on December 6. Read the details at the Panik House Entertainment web site. Wong Kar Wai’s THE HAND was the first [...]
Post Fest Mode
AFI FEST concluded this past Sunday. I saw 30 films, many quite good, and others not to my taste. Of the Asian films, SPL was the stand-out, but SUNFLOWER was extraordinarily powerful. I could admire the artistry of SHANGHAI DREAMS but not love it. DEAD RUN began in a more straightforward vein before plummeting into [...]
Off to See the Wizard
No Asian films out on DVD in Region 1 this week. American Film Market starts today, so check the trades for deals daily; all the reports are that this is expected to be a very busy market. AFI FEST starts tomorrow night with the Opening Night Gala Presentation of WALK THE LINE. Andrew Lau and [...]
