Just took a gander over at KaijuShakedown and Grady is reporting distressing news. Todd spent all that time praising what should have been a remarkably decent release of an Asian action movie and the manufacturer of the disc has made some changes and cancelled some of the features. First let’s recap what Todd reported…

* Commentary with Donnie Yen and Hong Kong Expert Bey Logan
* Born to be Bad: Interview with Martial Arts Legend Sammo Hung
* First Amongst Equals: Featurette with Star and Action Director Donnie Yen
* Echoes of Darkness: Interview with co-star Simon Yam
* A Dragon Rising: Interview with SPL villain Jackie Wu
* A Man Apart: Interview with Director Wilson Yip
* Never Seen Before Footage
* SPL Making Of Documentary
* Breaking News: Footage from Hong Kong Press Conference for launch of SPL
* Trailer Gallery
* Master in Motion: Martial Arts demonstration by Wu Shu impressario Jacki Wu

According to an e-mail from a KS reader, an e-mail was sent out to those who pre-ordered the disc through HKFlix. Here are the changes…

Valued Customers-
Thanks for your pre-order of the new “SPL” ("Killzone") DVD at HKFlix.com! We are writing to inform you of some changes that have been made to this DVD since you made your purchase. We were notified of these changes today by the manufacturer:

The artwork will also be changed, and will be updated on our site within the next few days. All the other features previously advertised are still correct.”

So even though some of these cuts I can understand [hands up anyone else itching to watch the press conference footage?] it is still sad to read that the Wu Jing and Never Before Seen Footage will be cut. Boo-urns.

Only three days since the movie opened in China and there are already plans for a sequel.

After three days of the premiere of movie Dragon Tiger Gate, the Hong Kong box office accumulated more than 5 million Yuan and mainland with 12 million Yuan. While attending a Hong Kong movie function yesterday, manager Wong Bak Ming plans to film a sequel with the same staff. The topic of the sequel will focus on ‘Wong Siu Foo’ (黃小虎) played by Nicholas Tse.

Donnie Yen has said a sequel to Dragon Tiger Gate would be available by the summer of 2007. Key figures, Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and director Wilson Yip are expected work on the sequel. Yen said the main villain in Dragon Tiger Gate was defeated but not dead, and he would show up in the sequel. Li Xiaoran, who played the lover of Donnie Yen’s character will return as her sister.

I wanted my first stab at a Twitch-O_Meter column to be personal and, for me, there is no more personal type of film than the horror film. But rather than asemble yet another scariest movies of all time type list I’ve opted for the direction least travelled amongst my spirutla minded fellows. What is it about seeing the human body assembled, dissassembled, re-assembled and justplain membled that draws us all into darkened rooms with strangers. These are the gore moments that most shaped me and I hope the following helps us all remember why we love the classics.

Continue Reading "THE FIVE FILMS THAT MADE ME LOVE MOVIE GORE"...

Quinceañera gracefully maneuvers a dance between tradition and innovation, cognizant that without such a dalliance, neither can exist. Traditions are furthered through innovation just as innovation requires tradition as its source. Capturing the heart of this dance, codirectors and real-life partners Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland won Audience Favorite and the Grand Jury Prize for Drama at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. They enthusiastically sat down with me in the Mark Hopkins Ambassador room to talk about their successful indie film.

Continue Reading "QUINCEAÑERA—Interview With Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland"...

Just a reminder that today is the final day to enter our V for Vendetta and Broken Saints giveaways. If you’ve been waiting for the last minute to enter, that minute has arrived.

I’ve made no secret of my feelings about Danish screenwriter and occassional director Anders Thomas Jensen - I love him. In a manly way, of course, but if Jensen is involved you’ve got my full and complete attention. And so I’ve been following the progress of Sprængfarlig Bombe ever since it was first announced. Not only is Jensen (Anders Thomas) the screenwriter, but it’s helmed by another quality Jensen (Tomas Villum) and stars the excellent Ulrich Thomsen (Adam’s Apples, Allegro), Thomsen’s devastating moustache, and Nicholaj Lie Kaas, whose presence is also a virtual guarantee of quality. So when I received an email from the film’s producer asking if I’d like to see an English subtitled version of the film’s brand new second trailer I, of course, said yes. And when it arrived I laughed very, very hard. And now I share it with you.

Synopsis:

“Tony (Thomsen) has just gotten through a sentence for violent behaviour. He promises to improve his ways and is finally granted a few hours alone with his two children. They celebrate the reunion by going to the movies to see a new film by the famous, critically acclaimed Danish director Claus Volter (Kaas). But the film is not the masterpiece it is said to be on the poster; the children are crying and Tony cannot get the money back he spent on tickets and candy. Tony does not give up; he seeks out Claus Volter in order to get an explanation and a refund. It is however easier said than done to get money out of a world-renowned filmmaker.”

Sprængfarlig Bombe Trailer One (downloadable Quicktime, Danish only)
Sprængfarlig Bombe Trailer Two (downloadable Quicktime, English subtitled)

Following the confusion around the inaccurate posting of a DVD release from the latest by anime auteur Satoshi Kon the good people at Sony have just passed along some details on their planned release of the film in North America.  The DVD release is currently not set but the film is tentatively slated to receive a theatrical release in March 2007, which places the North American release only three months behind the Japanese - not such a bad delay.  Updates as we get them.

With the UK rlease of Terry Gilliam’s Tideland just around the corner - it hits theaters there August 11th - a new, UK trailer has hit the web. Voila.

Tideland UK Trailer (Downloadable Quicktime)

Check the review archive for dissenting takes on the film ...

A trailer for Minoru Kawasaki‘s Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu has just been added to the website of Walkerplus K.K. (K.K. Wôkâpurasu).

As was previously reported here and there on Twitch, the screenplay for Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu was written by Kawasaki and Masakazu Migita, based on the eponymous novella by Yasutaka Tsutsui - which itself was a parody of the science-fiction books Nippon chinbotsu (ue) and Nippon chinbotsu (shita) by Sakyô Komatsu. (Shinji Higuchi’s 2006 movie Sinking of Japan (Nihon chinbotsu) is based on the two books by Komatsu, as was Shirô Moritani’s 1973 movie Submersion of Japan (Nippon chinbotsu).) The movie’s principal cast is as follows: Kenji Kohashi, Shûji Kashiwabara, Masatoshi Matsuo, Takenori Murano, Hiroshi Fujioka, Mio Dohi, Blake Crawford (Bureiku Kurofôdo), Kira Raichevskaya (Kira Raichebusukaya), Delcea Mihaela Gabriela (Derucha Mihaera Gaburiera), Ricaya Spooner (Rikaya Supunâ), Yôichi Okamura, Ijirî Okada, Shirô Tsubuyaki, Zico Uchiyama (Jîko Uchiyama - PDF file), Takashi Matsuo, Dave Spector (Dêbu Supekutâ), Tsutsui (see above), Arthur Kuroda (Kuroda Âsâ), Hirohisa Nakata, and Minori Terada. It was supervised by Akio Jissôji.

KlockWorx Co. Ltd. (K.K. KurokkuWâkusu) and Tornado Film K.K. (K.K. Torunêdo Firumu) plan to release Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu theatrically in Japan later this summer.

Those who are interested in Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu may also wish to read the most recent Twitch article on Higuchi’s Sinking of Japan.

Kawasaki’s previous directing credits include Kani Goalkeeper (Kani gôrukîpâ), Jissha-ban: Maicchingu Machiko sensei: Tôdai o-juken daisakusen!!, Executive Koala (Koara kachô), Kabuto-O Beetle (Kabuto-Ô Bîtoru) - a.k.a. “Beetle, the Horn King” - and The Calamari Wrestler (Ika resurâ).

Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu large trailer (1:33; streaming Windows Media)
Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu medium trailer (1:33; streaming Windows Media)
Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu small trailer (1:33; streaming RealMedia)
Nihon igai zenbu chinbotsu official website
Sinking of Japan trailer #4 (0:33; downloadable 6.2 MB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan trailer #3 - ED (1:31; downloadable 20.9 MB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan trailer #3 (1:32; downloadable 16.8 MB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan trailer #2 (1:15; downloadable 13.6 MB MOV file)

Sinking of Japan trailer #1 (1:11; downloadable 8.4 MB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan 15 sec. TV spot (0:15; downloadable 1.7 MB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan 05 sec. TV spot (0:05; downloadable 590 KB MOV file)
Sinking of Japan official website

Don’t want to wait a week to read K-film related news? Want to see the latest box office listings, or preorder sales, updated daily? Here’s your chance. Although we’ll continue dedicating single posts to major news, it’s much more efficent to give all the rest its own little space, removed from the ‘weekly schedule’, with a newspaper like format - hence the (silly?) title. Be it news updates, reactions to the latest Korean movies released in theaters, you’ll find something new every day here.

Just another way to make our Korean coverage a little more complete, immediate and—most importantly—not driving yours truly crazy looking for news every Monday.

Major Updates - July 31
- Updated Box Office
- Updated Reactions in Brief for 스승의 은혜 (To Sir With Love)

Continue Reading "[Chungmuro Daily (K-Film News/Box Office)] Updated July 31"...

The winner of the SuperGirl singing competition in 2005 [think Idol for chicks I guess] will play the lead role in Stanley Tong’s version of the Hua Mulan story. A role once rumored to be offered to Zhang Ziyi [here and here] Li Yuchun will be announced in the coming week for the lead in one of two Hua Mulan movies coming in the near future. This will mark her debut into film while she has yet to release a full studio album.

Oddly enough this may be suitable in a way. Part of Li Yuchun’s success in the competition was her refusal to be sugary and bubbley, preferring to sing songs usually sung by men. Granted this tomboy image worked for her before and part of the Hua Mulan story is her portrayal of a man to get into the military this is the only bright spot I can see so far. Yep. Grasping at straws here.

TIME Asia aritcle here

[source]

Sina.com. The ever wise and knowing Sina.com is reporting that Donnie Yen is currently involved in talks to take the role of Bruce Lee in the reported biopic being prepared by his family.
The project’s financial backer demands the actor playing Bruce Lee must be a Chinese, a real martial-artist, a good actor and someone [who] has Hollywood experience. According to the website, Donnie Yen is very much interested in playing Bruce Lee. He said Lee was just like an idol to him and Lee’s spirit had great influence on him.
Pardon me financial backer and Donnie Yen but I think this is a horrible idea. First of all, what the hell does Hollywood experience have to do with who gets the part? Donnie Yen’s Hollywood experience really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Is that all you need to qualify for someone with Hollywood experience? And second, a good actor. Donnie? And as far as physical resemblence goes, Donnie doesn’t fit. Yes, he is more than qualified as a martial artist. But wow, I just don’t see it.

Am I the only one that thinks you shouldn’t go with star power on this one and find someone I think would be more suitable, if not perfect, for the role? I think the trap we would find ourselves in would be distinguishing the actor from the role. Dare I say it, it is like watching Tom Cruise in any of his movies. It isn’t a character. It is Tom Cruise portraying a character and I think Donnie Yen might fall into this same distinction. I wouldn’t be watching Bruce Lee. I would be watching Donnie Yen play Bruce Lee.

There were other suggestions in our last post about this project that would make more sense.

Although I’d love to review in depth every single Korean film that’s released, you’ll understand that’s pretty much impossible. Not only because it takes time, but also because, as you’ve probably noticed by now, I’m not exactly able to contain myself when I start writing. But as the posters on our forums suggested, perhaps focusing only on big titles leaves some valid alternatives out of the picture, which would be a shame. So we came up with this little idea. A few quick words about all the Korean DVDs released over the latest few months (NOW IN A MONTHLY FORMAT), just to preview the DVDs, to give you a general idea about their value. These are not reviews, mind you, but just a few quick thoughts about the films. We continue the ‘look back’ with the DVD released in April 2006.

This is not necessarily indicative of the best DVDs (as obviously my taste for the films themselves comes into play, and could skew the results for you), but just a quick way to determine what’s really worth your money with no reserves.

Continue Reading "[Korean DVD Roundup] April 2006 - Part 1"...

Although I’d love to review in depth every single Korean film that’s released, you’ll understand that’s pretty much impossible. Not only because it takes time, but also because, as you’ve probably noticed by now, I’m not exactly able to contain myself when I start writing. But as the posters on our forums suggested, perhaps focusing only on big titles leaves some valid alternatives out of the picture, which would be a shame. So we came up with this little idea. A few quick words about all the Korean DVDs released over the latest few months (NOW IN A MONTHLY FORMAT), just to preview the DVDs, to give you a general idea about their value. These are not reviews, mind you, but just a few quick thoughts about the films. We continue the ‘look back’ with the DVD released in April 2006.

This is not necessarily indicative of the best DVDs (as obviously my taste for the films themselves comes into play, and could skew the results for you), but just a quick way to determine what’s really worth your money with no reserves.

Continue Reading "[Korean DVD Roundup] April 2006 - Part 2"...

The first trailer for Elio Quiroga’s The Cold Hour (La hora fría) has appeared online and while it doesn’t contain anything in the way of money shots - the film is still in post production - it does set the mood and tone nicely.

A group of eight people live isolated in crumbling installations. They cannot abandon the complex and they live in a constant state of vigilance. The food supplies are running out and they urgently need medicines and ammunitions, but in order to find them they must abandon the secure area. What lurks outside the small area they inhabit, however, is so menacing that they dare not even speak of it.

La Hora Fria Trailer (YouTube)

Thanks to Uruloki for the pointer.