Twitch

So now it's time for Robert DeNiro in "Hide and Seek" to lose a wife, have a freaky little daughter who makes an imaginary friend who doesn't seem to be friendly at all and battle a ghost or some supernatural being in his house. Nothing like just completely saturating the market with crap thrillers directed by the guy who did "Swimfan" eh?

"Hide and Seek" seems about as thrilling as "CandyMan 3" and makes me wonder why people don't seem to realize that when you come across a bath tub full of water in your creepy house there's usually something scary in it. Don't put your arm in. Seriously. Dakota Fanning, Famke Janssen and Elizabeth Shue round out the cast but what's Dylan Baker doing in this (an unfortunate choice for him)?

See the trailer for "Hide and Seek" for yourself here and see why it's better to hide from this thing than viewing it.

Well, the first footage from The Fantastic Four has found it's way online at JoBlo - the download is here, but their server is pretty much swamped so expect to have to try a few times before getting it - and it looks like ass. Seriously. I've had a bad feeling about this film for a while and this is validating every single one of my doubts ... The Human Torch and Thing effects are just horrible and Alba looks pretty out of place as Sue. Check it out and let us know what you think ...

Can't say I saw this coming ... Kartooner is reporting that a third Bill and Ted film is in the works, this one catching up with the duo in their forties and having a mid-life crisis. Call me crazy, but I'd actually pay to see that.

Hallelujah! Born To Fight will release on VCD in Thailand on November 7th, with the DVD expected to follow later in the month. No firm word yet on whether the DVD will include English subtitles as the film has apparently been purchased by a western company and their rights agreement may include subs being with held, which was the case with Ong Bak. But, really, does it matter?

For those who don't already know Born To Fight is the latest film by the director and fight choreographer of Ong Bak. This time out they cast a group of Thai national sports heros and built the action sequences around their unique skills. Once again there are no wires, no body doubles and they claim the film includes the most dangerous stunt ever put on film. Head to the official site for the trailer. Right now. Stop reading this. Go.

Oooh! Oooh! They've added a six minute reel of behind the scenes footage since last time I was there! There's a shot in there that may not beat the truck scene, but it comes pretty close ... download it here.

I've just had word from the folks at Japan's Grasshoppa Productions that Katsuhito Ishii's acclaimed Taste of Tea will be hitting DVD in early 2005 and that, yes, it will include English subtitles.

Ishii is best known in the west as the key animator on the anime sequence in Kill Bill but has also directed a trio of live action films, the highly acclaimed Taste of Tea being the most recent. Check out the trailers here, and a hugely positive review over at Midnight Eye. Canfield caught this at the Chicago Film Festival - under threat of physical violence from me if he missed it - and swears it's one of the best things he's seen in years. Maybe he'll even review it one day.

**** UPDATE ****

I just got a note pointing out that Taste of Tea won the Best Feature award at the just completed Hawaii Film Festival ... details are here.

MGM has just released a pair of still shots from The Woods, Lucky McKee's follow up to the raved about cult-horror flick May. I've yet to see May, but hey! That girl's got a great big axe! And Bruce Campbell has a major role! That's enough for me to trot out and see this one ... the film's official site is here.

Via Dread Central

With his bid to have Fahrenheit 9/11 aired on pay-per-view television prior to the US election apparently hung up in a contract dispute, Michael Moore has turned to alternate means to get the film out there.

Fahrenheit will be available online, on a pay-per-view basis, at CinemaNow.com on November 1st. It's an interesting idea, but really - why would anybody pay ten bucks to for a lousy streaming video viewing on their computer monitor when they can go out and rent the DVD for much less? If he really wants to get an audience that hasn't already seen the film he needs to be giving it away, or at least charging far less than he is.

Via Coming Soon

Kung Fu Cinema has posted a very detailed synopsis of Yoji Yamada's The Hidden Blade.

Yamada's previous film - The Twilight Samurai - won a best foreign film nomination at last year's Oscars and is one of the most acclaimed films to come out of Japan in recent years, and for good reason. Yamada is a master story teller, incredibly skilled at using genre conventions - in this case the samurai film - to tell universal stories. If the trailer for The Hidden Blade is any indication this one will be just as strong as his previous work ...

Via Opus

New still shots from Sha Po Lang have turned up online here and here. All the images that have released so far are looking amazing and this film should be right up near the top of any martial arts fan's 'must-see' list. Why? It's the first significant starring role for the incredible Donnie Yen since Hero and he co-stars with old school icon Sammo Hung and new school phenom Wu Jing in what Yen himself is describing as an old-school kung fu film. What does he mean by that? Tight choreography, no body doubles and no wire work. It's been a while since Hong Kong turned out a film where the fighters were actual fighters rather than quickly trained pop stars and I'm itching for some good old fashioned kung fu ...

There's no official site or trailer yet, but we're keeping our eyes open ...

Via Monkey Peaches

Sure, his previous film - House of a 1000 Corpses - was about as kitsch as you could get yet Rob Zombie still succeeded in creating a fun 70's throwback bloody horror, no matter what crazy things Dave says about it.

This time, comic artist and musican Zombie is back with a sequel to "House" called "The Devils Rejects". It basically starts where "House" left off and turns into a gritty highway murder rampage. Most of the lead cast is back in this one (with the exception of Karen Black) with a few surprises (Rosario Dawson is listed in the cast, though, with no title). Will it be fun - watch the teaser trailer for "The Devils Rejects" yourself here and decide. Also, you can go and mess around on the offical "The Devils Rejects" website here.

Chan Wook Park shows his understanding of psychological horror in a way that's very reminiscent of the 1970's work of noteable Italian directors such as Dario Argento in this short, twisted tale.

It's all here: the very long swooping camera shots, the bright vibrant primary colours, the terror of real-life melted with the terror of the extreme and illogical. Though it's not a pastiche, it's a very individual piece with many Park trademarks and twists of his own.

Continue reading "Three Extremes. "Cut". by Chan Wook Park. R3 HK DVD. Review."

Miike briefly decended into relatively light-hearted David Lynch mode in 2003's Gozu, and returns here with a much more sober, subtle and confusing short film : the first part of the "Three...Extremes" anthology from 2004. All that's missing to let us know when we are reality and when we are not is something so out of the ordinary as a goat-headed man, or something similar.

That's only the beginning...

Continue reading "Three Extremes. "Box". by Takashi Miike. R3 HK DVD. Review."

Yes. This is my openly blatent attempt to increase our female readership on this site. But then again one of my favorite episodes of SNL in recent memory was the one hosted by Justin and he didn't have to come to Toronto to perform during the SARS benefit concert, but he did. And I like tattoos. Bah!

Justin Timberlake topless and tattooed 1
Justin Timberlake topless and tattooed 2
Justin Timberlake topless and tattooed 3
Justin Timberlake yadda yadda you get the idea 4

Doesn't he look dreamy? I mean manly. Manly! Yeah that's it.

via Dark Horizons.

When I first heard that Disney was funding a kung fu based retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves it struck me as one of those rumors that was so strange it had to be true. Well, it is, and by the time it was originally announced it had already attracted big name Asian talent in the form of director Yuen Woo Ping - fight choreographer of the gods - and stars Chow Yun Fat and Kwan Sang Soo.

There's still no word on who will be playing the Snow White role - she will be white and most likely British - but the project now has a writer: Michael Chabon. Que? The man won a Pulitzer for his last novel - The Adventures of Kavalier and Klay - and huge critical raves for Wonderboys. Sure, he's done some writer-for-hire work, notably on Spider-Man 2, but what's a Pulitzer winner doing working on a project like this? I like it but it's leaving me awfully confused ...

The full Hollywood Reporter story is here.

The Japanese trailer for Steven Chow's Kung Fu Hustle has just turned up online. Go, watch, now. Sure, the narration is all in Japanese but this is the first full length trailer for the film anywhere and also the first to show any significant amount of fight choreography and effects work. Looking good? Oh, yes.

Here it is in Real Video and Windows Media formats.

Via FilmRot and The Movie Box.

The folks at Aint It Cool have laid hands upon some set pictures from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No more shots of the Wonka'd up Johnny Depp, but if there was any doubt who was directing this thing they'll all disappear as soon as you see the factory. No doubt about it, we're in Burton-land here ... check the shots out here.

I suppose in was inevitable [what?]. Reports are out that Hollywood is again stumped for fresh ideas and they're going to remake the Horror/Sci-Fi classic The Blob.

Seemingly 30 years between the original in 1958 and the first remake in 1988 [another period of non stop Hollywood Horror/Sci-fi remakes] is just too long for Hollywood execs to wait. Plus, with today's bigger and better means of mass destruction you can surely take out a spot of killer Jell-o with something greater and more spectacular than by freezing it. Cause, y'know, your fridge motor could burn out and then what would happen. You'd have to eat all that ice cream and endure mass destruction at the same time.

No word about writers, directors, or which young spry actors or actresses of the minute will be involved. We may keep an eye on this and let you know. No promises.

via EmpireOnline.

Oh joy. Can Wes Anderson do no wrong? Seemingly not it seems. Granted we have yet to see The Life Aquatic but gosh darn don't those trailers make it look good? And now we have received word about Mr. Anderson's next project The Fantastic Mr. Fox, adapted from the works of Roald Dahl.

But wait, there is another twist in the plot here. Anderson's not going with CGI or Cell animation here. He's going back to the classy and dignified art of stop-animation. Was he inspired to do so by the stop animation work in The Life Aquatic? The work done by Henry Selick who also directed the brilliant James and the Giant Peach, another work by Roald Dahl! Suddenly we have a game of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Regardless, this news has me very excited. While I don't want my appreciation of Anderson's former works, Bottle Rocket Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, telling me I must enjoy The Life Aquatic I am looking forward it and now this news has me very excited. Very excited indeed.

My Bacon number is 4.

via EmpireOnline.

Director James Wan has been making waves with his debut film. A mix of grisly realism and kitschy humor my only question is will it survive it's own pretensions. I think the answer is yes but then mabe that's because somebody kidnapped and chained me in a room with A STINKING T-T-TAPE RE-RE-RECORDER AND THREATENED TO KILL EVERYONE I EVER KNEW IF I DIDN'T GET THIS RE-RE-REVIEW ONLINE. MAYBE I.... OH IT'S YOU, I DID WHAT YOU SAID, NO-NO-NONONONONONONONONO....

Continue reading "SAW REVIEW"

It looked like the city of Boston and the Red Sox weren't the only ones celebrating their World Series win last night. According to reports Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon were in attendance and on the field refilming the ending to their latest production Fever Pitch.

Plot Outline: based on the Nick Hornby novel and movie "Fever Pitch" (1997) starring Colin Firth. Film has been updated to center of a guy and his obsession with the Boston Red Sox. Ben meets Lindsey. They fall in love. All things are wonderful. But their future together is threatened once the baseball season comes around and Lindsey discovers something about Ben...his obsession with the Boston Red Sox.

Read the full Boston Herald article here.

Continue reading "For Boston for Boston, we sing our proud refrain!"

In a sense I don't want to be that guy that's the only one to post about Star Wars stuff on this site. I mean, I don't live in my parent's basement. I have a job. The only flannel I have are the bed sheets. Yes, a girlfriend would be swell. And I try not to geek out on Star Wars. But if no one else will pick up the story then I guess this is a sacrifice that I am willing to make for you the people.

"You don't know what it was like! You weren't there!"

So if you haven't seen it already today Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox released the first teaser poster for Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Click here to see the much bigger and prettier version.

I've gotta admit, I am slightly underwhelmed by this poster. It's not that it pales in comparison to Natalie Portman's sudden and dramatic uh... development in the Episode II teaser poster. This one just looks like it would be something I would have done in high school art class while Mr Whorly sang us Van Morrison songs like Brown Eyed Girl.

Where's the slick? Where's the dang that's cool? Where's the I'm starting to line up now image?

Am I the only one here? What do you think?

They had been reannounced for February 22nd 2005 but now apparently they've disappeared altogether from the release list and are simply TBA (to be annouced).

So, you may want to scrape that extra cash together for either the Japanese DVDs (all with English Subtitles) or the new and upcoming Australian DVDs.

There's no obvious reason this time around for them to be delayed. It was assumed the previous February 2005 dates were intended to coincide with the cinema release of Howls Moving Castle.

Sorry. All yer gettin is a teaser! But I saw Saw!!! Full review up Friday but the bottom line is don't go expecting to find the new Seven. But do expect to be entertained by this doofy psycho thriller that knows better than to take itself too seriously. Those wanting some simple Halloween fun shouldn't worry. Saw's moral point is buried under loads of over the top moments. Reminiscent of Italian giallo it almost qualified for a “ripping” good spoof of same. The cast seems to sense it too. Cary Elwes had our entire audience laughing by the end of the film and I'm still not sure what the intent was re: laughs vs. screams. Awards? No. Plot holes? yes. Fun? Too quote famous Christian Pastor and Apologist R.C. Sproul "If you can't see the humor in dead people eating other people I can't help you." A truer foundational statement was never made for the horror fan. Tune in for my review on Friday.

Kazuaki Kiriya’s Casshern has, by far, been my most anticipated film of the past year. The very first time I saw the trailer online I was completely swept away by the visual style of the thing and there was something there, something lurking just beneath the surface, that got me thinking that this would be one of those films that had substance to back up the style. I found myself returning to the film’s web site over and over again, watching and rewatching the trailer, digging through the image galleries, and trolling the bulletin board system for whatever scraps of information I could find.

I realized that I was setting myself up for a potentially huge disappointment. Asian film has not fared well in the world of live action science fiction and the last time I was swept away by a flashy Japanese sci-fi trailer – that’d be for Returner, by the way – the film was indeed a significant let down. Having received my copy of Casshern on DVD two days ago and given it a first viewing yesterday I am very pleased to say that letdown is not a problem here. Casshern is a visually stunning film filled with complex, multi-faceted characters and a surprisingly topical, and timely, storyline. Kiriya has crafted one of the finest debut films I have ever come across and instantly established himself as a visual stylist on par with Alex Proyas, Ridley Scott and the Wachowski Brothers.

Continue reading "Casshern DVD Review"

According to Bloody Disgusting plans for the DVD release of The Grudge are already in the works and the DVD will include new and extended scenes, an alternate ending and will be unrated. Check out all the details here.

While Spider Forest didn't blow me out of the water when I caught it at the Toronto Film Festival it certainly is a very good film and one worth a second look. The lads at Greencine feel even stronger about it, proclaiming it loudly and repeatedly as one of the best films of the year and deserving of 'best-director' awards. Thus I'm pretty happy to say it's just been given a Korean DVD release date of November 10th.

Check out my film festival review of it here and the official web site here. Then, if you feel so inclined, you can order a copy to call your very own here.

Now, I haven't been able to find any info on this on any of the normal David Lynch sites so take it with a grain of salt, but according to Moviehole Kick Gurry has signed on to play the lead in Lynch's next film. Gurry is pretty much a complete unknown here in North America with his one brief moment in the spotlight coming as the lead in Alex Proyas' Garage Days.

That same article also reports that Gurry has been added to the cast of Daltry Calhoun, which it mistakenly lists as a Quentin Tarantino film. Tarantino was to have an acting role in it, yes, but that was the limit of his involvement. Gurry has just taken over the role that was to be Quentin's which means his over all involvement in the film is now zero. Cue up the 'Quentin Tarantino Presents' ad campaign.

A set of on set pictures from Guy Ritchie's Revolver have turned up here. No sign of Ritchie's famous wife - though she has apparently been given a role - but you do get to see what Jason Statham looks like with hair. Make that greasy, 1970's hair. And handlebar mustache. Nice.

Okay, Toronto folks ... incredibly short notice, but if you want to meet Enki Bilal - the director of Immortel and well known comic artist - head on down to The Beguiling (601 Markham St.) oh, right about now. He's slated to put in an appearance at 3:30 this afternoon. All the info is at the Beguiling web site here.

The trailer for the Japanese release got a lot of peoples attention a while back. And the recent Japanese DVD (without English Subtitles) passed everyone buy it seems.

Thankfully Media Blasters "Tokyo Shock" label will give it a reasonably quick American release, coming our way February 22nd 2005. I haven't read any reviews or gotten much of an impression about the film, but i do remember the trailer did look pretty wacked-out.

If anyone wants to point out reviews for this film, or give impressions if you've seen it, put in the comments below or email me. Thanks.

Spotted again over at asiandvdguide.com (props to Zuba for this and the MPD Psycho info).

First volume is February 22nd apparently. Then volume 2 will hit sometime in Arpil, with the final in June of 2005.

That's a little longer between each volume than the UK issues, but if you want the R1 DVDs because they're often cheaper - go for it. The UK volumes are £11.99 which is cheaper than usual DVD prices.

These American discs come courtesy of Adness / Ventura. Spotted over at asiandvdguide.com.

So, only a few years after the HK edition. I don't really know if this is of much use to anyone except those with a multiregion taste who don't have a multiregion player.

I suppose there's an element of not being in the know as much as some are, and so wanting the basic UK DVD will bring limited sales in.

Oh, and by the listings of the disc I would say it's going to be exactly the same specification as the USA disc which is due soon.

So, shop at Miramax? Buy some nice Asian films? Some company can... Spotted this over at kungfucinema.com a couple of days ago. Been thinking about it a bit : it's odd isn't it, to license all those wonderful films and not release them? Plenty of people kicked up a fuss over the handling of Hero - rightly so - and now it seems to mend it's finances, Miramax may offload all or the majority of it's stuff to someone else.

OK, so this could mean no release for all those Shaw Brothers films. Could be good new, bad news, or a mixture of the two. Miramax has also cut a load of its staff this year, so hopefully they're sorting their act out.

Hollywood Reporter have annouced the right for Casshern in America have been signed over to Dreamworks. OK, so now we know there will be a DVD release sometime down the line, but expect to wait around a year (possibly) because they will probably do a cinema run first. Even then you can't be sure you will get a disc as good as the Japanese edition which has just come out.

The official Casshern site has been redesigned slightly so you can now see a really nice photo of the DVD packaging, if you desire, here

Yours truly is proud to offer you a chance to glance over my latest (and certainly not last) Halloween Update. But this one comes to you courtesy of Home Vision Entertainment who asked me to cover their Halloween oriented fare for their website. Crass marketing ploy? far from it. HVE has some hard to find titles that any self-respecting horror fan should familiarize themselves with.

Continue reading "HVE: SCREAM YOUR BRAINS OUT THIS HALLOWEEN"

I doubt there is a single more under appreciated film maker in North America today than Errol Morris. Yes, he won an Oscar last year but go out and ask someone on the street if they've heard of him and I'll bet that better than ninety percent of the time the answer will be no. The man is a master of his craft, spinning these odd little documentary films that unfold to reveal just incredible things about human nature.

In many ways Morris - with his quiet, subtle style and insistence on remaining firmly off camera - is the anti-Moore, as stylistically opposed to Moore's in your face antics and bluster as is humanly possible but if they agree on one point it's politics. While Moore continues to make waves with Fahrenheit 9/11, Morris has just shot and posted online a series of pro-Kerry election ads in which he finds people who voted for Bush in the previous election but are voting for Kerry in this election and simply lets them explain why. The spots are vintage Morris, simple, minimalist, and very effective. Check them out here.

via Greencine

The Japan Times has just run a review of Blood and Bone, a violent family drama starring Takeshi Kitano that drew rave reviews at the Pusan Film Festival with many declaring it the performance of Kitano's career. The Times' take? Five stars, "the finest performance of [Kitano's] long career", "Kitano has found the role he was born for". That's high praise directed at a man who is already an international critics' darling. Read the full review here and check out the official website - with a trio of remarkably pointless trailers, here.

Yeah, you read that right. And, yeah, it's a spy movie based on the series of yellow-covered instructional books. What are you thinking, John? I know you hit a bit of a dry patch after Windtalkers and Paycheck both tanked but are you trying to throw your career away? Spy Hunter, He Man and Espionage for Dummies. This is not a production slate to be proud of. The full story is here.

We originally ran this review a solid month ago but with the discs about to hit shelves it seems like a good time to revisit this. Enjoy.

It seems like Artsmagic is making it their personal mission to dig up and release every Takashi Miike film ever made and, given how prolific the man is, that's no small task. The latest to come down the line are the two films from the Young Thugs (Kishiwada Shonen Gurentai) series that Miike directed. These films have been virtually impossible to find outside of Japan which is a shame as they showcase a seldom seen side of the director as he delves into nearly autobiographical territory. These are very personal films for Miike - he has gone on record saying the second entry is his personal favorite of his entire extensive canon of work - and that is shown in attention to detail and rich characters.

Continue reading "Young Thugs: Innocent Blood & Nostalgia DVD Reviews"

I hit the theatre at least every weekend to catch a show. Now, I am in the fortunate position that when I am not convincing old age pensioners that they should get life time warrenty brake pads for their 1977 Toronado I do get Friday's off so I will usually catch the first matinee show of the day on opening weekend. So I save a couple bucks and will the see the movie usually before any of my friends do while they're stuck at work. Huzzah!

But how much can getting good seats, let alone tickets in Korea suck? Apparently it can suck a lot.

Continue reading "All the good seats are taken? How much does this suck?"

Is this the first image of Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka? While it is yet to be confirmed England's The Sun Newspaper is claiming it is. Let's keep in mind that this is the same paper that builds it's readership on the Page 3 Girls.

Tim Burton's remake of the 1971 classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will hit theatres July 15, 2005 and is currently filming on the other side of the pond in England at Pinewood Studios.

via ComingSoon.

It appears that someone other than you has already seen a rough draft version of Revenge of the Sith minus some special effects and musical score.

There's no telling how long this review will be up on the message boards over at TheForce.net before someone at LucasFilm comes over with a baseball bat. A warning though. It looks to contain heavy spoilers so if you're like me and you don't want to know then don't read it. The choice is yours of course.

Click here to read the first review of Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

via EmpireOnline.

Ben, Ben, Ben, we hardly knew ye ... first the Thuderbirds, then Suspect Zero and now BloodRayne. I hope you're being well paid, because you're in the midst of a streak of Very Bad Films.

I cringed when I heard that Kingsley was set to appear in a film by Uwe Boll, a man whose talent for making immensely bad films is surpassed only by his talent for writing angry rants defending said very bad films as 'art'. A note to Uwe: saying your film is better than Resident Evil (a debatable claim in the first place) is not really a firm base to work from when arguing for quality.

BloodRayne actually managed to attract an interesting cast, a fact that made me at least consider the possibility that the suck factor may be significantly lower on this one than earlier Boll projects. But no. The trailer is available for download here. What were you thinking, Ben? And what's with the wig?

No word yet on just how wide a release this will be but Film Threat is reporting that Geneon has set a release date of January 14th for Appleseed. This is a bit later than they were originally aiming for but I'm just happy that it will be getting theatrical screenings because this one looks like it really needs to be seen on the big screen ...

Based on a manga by Masamune Shirow - the man behind the classic Ghost in the Shell - Appleseed uses an entirely new method of CG animation and it looks goooooooooood. Check out the trailers on the Japanese site here.

There are certain things in life that are just inevitable. One of them is that when a film pulls in four times more at the box office than it cost to make studio heads will begin to salivate and make plans for a sequel. Thus it is no surprise that after The Grudge - made for a measley $10 million - generated $40 mil in it's opening weekend people at Sony were merrily talking up a sequel.

Moviehole is reporting that Sony would like to have the sequel ready to roll by the new year, which shouldn't be difficult to pull off if they simply do a close adaptation of the second Japanese film. They're also saying that they'd like this to launch a franchise, which could be considerably more difficult considering that director Takashi Shimizu is on record saying that the third Ju-On film will be the final one.

As recently as a year ago I wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me that cult director Takashi Miike was making a big budget children's film, but then along came the brilliant Zebraman which, once again, totally blew away all my pre-conceived notions of the man's ability.

Miike's Big Spook War - described by some as a Japanese answer to the Harry Potter phenomenon - is the story of a young boy fighting monsters in a magical land and stars Chiaki Kuriyama of Battle Royale and Kill Bill fame. It has jumped right up to the top of my must view list and it doesn't look like I'll have to wait much longer. The cast and crew recently held a press conference for the film, details of which have been archived here. There's even video footage, which includes the cast posing with an assortment of monsters from the film, in both Real Video and Windows Media formats. It's all in Japanese, of course, so I don't have a clue what they're actually saying, but it's worth looking at to check out the monsters and costuming ...

Thanks to Tom for the tip ...

OK, so Todd made a promise Twitch would be the first place you would find the trailer for Shimizus "Marebito". Well, I found it for you.

First, go here and hunt around to find the chirashi (advertisement) for the film (shows both sides). Also there in the few links shown is the English publicity information.

The film apparently came out October 16th in Japan, and runs for 92 minutes.

So : the trailer. It's not got an official site, the film, it seems. Found this in an odd place and it took me 2 hours - so listen up. Go here. You've got he AOL japan entertainment page for the film.

Click on the little blue speech bubble and you will get the 2.5 minute stream Real One Player version of the trailer in a small window. If anyone can copy the stream into a standalone file I would appreciate that. Enjoy.

EDIT : The Gomorrahizer contacted me to say download here (QT version), and site for the series of films (of which Marebito is a part) here. Seen this site before but couldn't work it out.

CIFF 2004 was exhausting, and exhilerating. Soon I'll have reviews up of Journey Into Bliss, Grey Gardens, McDull Prince De La Bun, The Taste of Tea, The Woodsman, Primer, Bitter Dream, and a host of others. But let me start with some coverage of a Special Screening of Kinji Fukasaku's Battles Without Honor and Humanity hosted by the good folks at Home Vision Entertainment.

Continue reading "CIFF 2004 MEMORIES: KINJI FUKASAKU'S BATTLES WITHOUT HONOR AND HUMANITY"

I don't know why, but the 26th seems to be one of those days thats only comes once a year : there's loads of stuff coming out - and for some reason loads of it suits me. Takashi Miike fans get "Young Thugs : Innocent Blood" and "Young Thugs : Nostalgia" (reviewed by Todd a while back, here) - as well as "Kintaro : White Collar Worker" (and on the 28th, ahem - "Andromedia").

Also released on the 26th : Ryuhei Kitamuras' "Alive" in both R-Rated and Uncut versions. Volume 1 of "Paranoia Agent" from Satoshi Kon is also there (seen it, got it early - superb). Also out is "Killing Machine" from the Sonny Chiba collection (superb pic quality on this Adness disc), and a Bill Hicks Live DVD with a painfully long title.

And, only a couple of days ago was "Zero Woman : Red Handcuff" and "Casshern". A painful time for the old CC.

Kind of semi-vague this. Big fan of Kiyoshi Kurosawa personally. Lovely films.

Anyhow, I know IMDB lists "Ghost Cop" as his latest entry after "Doppelganger" (which i personally loved), but according to jasongray.net there's also "Shi no Otome" or "Maiden of Death) to come. The site, which i found yesterday, shows in a september post and a couple of small pics. Jason says he has a copy of the screenplay but hasn't read it (he's also in the film!) - it's also apparent Jason has connections with Artsmagic and seems to be conducting interviews for other DVD releases.

"Ghost Cop" i believe to have been shown at a recent "Cop Film Festival" in Japan, but i cant find any more info. "Shi No Otome" (as far as i know) han't been mentioned anywhere other than Jasons' site. Anyone got any more on either of these?

For all those in the UK who don't want to wait for the USA DVD until they see the film, or alternatively want to see it on a big screen first and then make up their mind : you can venture to the Leeds Film Festival and put down your cash.

It seems to be only getting two screenings. One on the 6th November, and then again the following day. Both days fall on a weekend, so it should make it as convenient as it's going to be.

Visit the Film Festival site here for more info.

A quickie. Bandai Entertainment are expanding their Anime division into Canada. Don't know exactly how this affects anime distribution in Canada, but there you go. From Bandai Official Site news piece.

Additionally, Bandai have had their American West Coast warehouse flooded by the heavy rains. Shipping has temporarily been suspended until they sort themselves out. From AnimeOnDVD.

Here's a breakdown of new info regarding the recent Boxset for "Fist of The North Star" Tv Series from 1984.

Boxset : 6 DVDs, each contain 6 episodes. 2.5 hours per disc, 900 min across the set. The box has incorrect times on. Each episode almost 25 minutes long.

Set includes episodes 1 thru 36. At this rate (if licensed) you would need around 3 more boxsets. Manga only have the license to these 36 episodes.

Discs contain English Dub and Japanese Audio (with accurate Subtitles). Audio is in Mono. Manga may (apparently) try to license more episodes depending on how this first set sells (!). Some episodes previously released in the UK had cuts made by the BBFC. It's not know if the set is now uncut.

This info from post at sexgoremutants forum by Pooch. Thanks for the info.

One of the highlights of the 2003 Toronto Film Festival was the chance to see Takashi Shimizu’s Ju-On in a theater crowded with over nine hundred souls all itching for a good scare. They did not leave disappointed. Ju-On was one of the high points of the Japanese horror explosion of the late nineties and beginning of the twenty first century. It’s an atmospheric, creepy ride – a continual cycle of slow building tension and scream-out-loud payoff. When I heard that it had been picked up for a North American remake it was no great surprise, but when word got out that Evil Dead director Sam Raimi would be producing with the original director back behind the camera the remake jumped right up to the top of my anticipated films list.

And now The Grudge is here, bringing a string of questions with it. Does it live up to the original? Does the horror translate? Will it live up to the expectations created by the overwhelming success of The Ring, another Japanese horror remake? The answer to all of the above is yes and no.

Continue reading "The Grudge Review"

The next couple of months are full of highly anticipated film releases to the big screen (House of Flying Daggers, A Long Engagement and more) as well as the number one need to see film on my list from Wes Anderson - "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou". From the previous trailer already released here it looks to be another right on the mark hit from Anderson and now there is a new trailer with recently released footage cut into the old trailer. Also the website is up and running as well so go on over and join Team Zissou there. Now, only if December wouldn't take so long getting here.

Thanks for the heads up Cinema Confidential

Apple has just posted the trailers for Danny Boyle's Millions and Alejandro Almenabar's The Sea Inside.

Boyle, of course, is the Scottish director of Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and 28 Days Laters and, though I missed his latest at the Toronto Film Fest, I've heard nothing but good things about this one. Spain's Almenabar - director of The Others - got that country's nomination for the Best Foreign Film Oscar over Pedro Almodavar's Bad Education and for pretty good reason. This is the sort of thing that awards voters lap up and it's my pick to win the best foreign film award.

Yes, I know the reviews are mixed. Still waiting for Casshern so I can judge for myself.

Anyhow, getting mine sent from someone i know in Japan. Expecting an invoice yesterday, I sent an email; two minutes later on the news was the Typhoon damage. All is OK apparently "just a little flooding; what you have to worry about is the Earthquakes...".

OK, sent another email today to see if it had arrived "Any news?..." i politely asked. Went to sit and watch the news and "News Flash : Earthquake hits Tokyo". Oooops. Anyhow, friends OK. Just shows : they're only films!

Anyhow. Casshern is out. Reminder over.

Here's one for you, Mack ...

Long before The Fast and The Furious was inflicted upon the youth of this land anime fans with a yen for street racing were plugged into Initial D, a long running anime series revolving around a group of young street racers and their heavily modified cars. Well, the anime is now being made into a film in Hong Kong with many of the key people from Infernal Affairs involved and Monkey Peaches has just linked to some behind the scenes footage. Click here to see Edison drive real fast ...

Freeze Dried Movies has posted some pictures from George Romero's Land of the Dead here. They show you, well, pretty much nothing, really, but at least you can brag to all your geeky little friends that you some them first.

Does anybody know where this is actually filming? That's not right in Toronto ... looks a little like Unionville, or maybe Georgetown ...

Screen Daily has run a review of A Very Long Engagement - the latest meeting of Amelie's director and star - here.

This is by far one of my most anticipated films of the year. I'm a huge fan of Jeunet and this overwhelmingly positive review makes it sound like he's still on top of his game ...

After years of plodding along with one of the uglier sites on the web - not a good thing when you're a company selling visuals - Aardman Animation have just launched a pretty new flash based site here. Among other things the site now includes a show reel - plenty of streaming video of their commercial, television and film work. Thus, those of us in North America can now check out the Wallace and Gromit cracker ad, the Creature Comforts heating ads, and a lovely little space odyssey in favor of condom use from the comfort of our own homes.

I've just noticed a little problem with our comment posting system ... it appears that our spam filter is being just a little over zealous. If you receive an error message saying that you need to be registered to post or that your post needs to be approved by a moderator, that's the filter kicking in. We don't use a moderation or registration system here. I'm not certain what all can trigger it but it appears that posting multiple links in a comment (hello, Kurt!)sets it off. If you get one of these error messages drop me a note and let me know ... the system saves your message, I just need to go and approve it manually.

Thought I'd offer a post interview review of Brad Anderson's excellent film The Machinist. I find more to this film every time I watch it.

Continue reading "THE MACHINIST REVIEW"

So, I was wondering this morning (as I have done most mornings recently) "..when wil Steamboy get announced for DVD?...". And here it is. The bad news is as expected. No Subtitles in English (from what i can gather).

The announcement is on the official website; it says it will be availble for rental in Japan from March 11th, then on sale to the public from April 15th 2005. There's two different editions : a bog-standard and a memorial box (that's about $90).

See the cdjapan listing here. See the Official site here. Post tearful comments below.

I tried to set this up last night but everything went tits up on my computer. And it seems that it is happening again so I will make this short.

Word is that we're going to get to see the first trailer for the final Star Wars movie on November 5th when we go see Pixar's next amazing project The Incredibles.

Hyperspace subscribers will get to see it the day before on November 4th.

How sweet is that? You get to see the trailer of the next film of the guy who made Pixar possible in the first place. Nice.

Via EmpireOnline.

The site has been in existance for some time, but today it's reopened with some actual content.

So, now you can get a brief overview of the story, some character images and background, a complete staff / credits list, and links to buy tickets for when it opens (November 20th in Japan).

Unfortunately the contents all in Japanese ofcourse, and there's no official trailer on there yet. But keep looking.

Oh, and there's this odd spinning coloured-wheel thing i can't work out for the life of me. Anyone figures it out, let us know. Thanks. Site here.

Spotted listed over at monkeypeaches, so plopping it here as a quickie.

So, head on over if your interested in the new Stephen Chow movie, by clicking here. It's probably been up a while, but apparently it's now completely finished and has all its content in place.

There's loads of other posts about the film here at twitch in the archives.

The Submissions list for next years oscars are here. For "Best Foreign Language" film anyhow. You can view them here, at Oscar Watch, or click down below for a copy.

Probably one of the fairest awards given out, i think. I remember watching an interview with an academy award voter who said that he, like many, would simply pick who they had worked with in the past and gotten along with pretty well : it's the "He's a nice chap" approach to a meritocracy.

Anyhow, note the inclusion of "Taegukgi" from Korea, out now on DVD in various editions in various asian countries. I honestly don't know anything about the others : educate me. Oh, and also note the list apparently contains many errors, so any corrections welcome too.

Continue reading "77th Academy Awards. Foreign Language Film. Submissions List."

So, we've been teased for a while with the air-brushed painted costumes and characters from the "Fantastic Four" - but now, thanks to the good ole people at Comics2Film we've got a look at them in action filming in Vancouver. Some are quality, some are just of the street (great shooting) but it's a chance to see how they've actually made "The Thing" look. Check out the film shoot pictures here for the "Fantastic Four" and see for yourself.

Via filmrot

Joy. I loved Ocean's Eleven. I've been a big Steven Soderbergh fan ever since The Limey. Loved it! Loved them all! Well, Full Frontal was sort of 'Meh', and I didn't bother with Solaris, but the rest of them? Nice.

And here's the first full trailer for the sequel Ocean's Twelve. Enjoy.

While you're waiting for the trailer to download take a look at that cast list over on the right. Pretty impressive stuff. But I want to draw your attention to that very last name there. Right at the very bottom. Could it be? Oh yes it is my friends. British comedian Eddie Izzard, everyone's favorite Executive Transvestite, is part of the cast. Now, will he or won't he be wearing his fake breasts as ear muffs?

Via EmpireOnline.

In case you haven't already been persuaded, let Johnathan Ross try. If you head over to the BBCs "Film 2004" website you can currently stream Mr.Ross' 3+ minute review of the great Korean revenge masterpiece.

The review does ofcourse contain a lot of footage you won't see in the trailers currently being posted.
Be quick though, the site regularly updates; which also makes it useful for regular news, reviews and trailers. Go here.

Nothing in the way of a trailer at the Official Site which has just opened. There's some text. In Japanese.

Anyone know any more about this new Sonny Chiba movie? It's not on IMDB yet, and as far as his listing over there goes, he hasnt done a film since Kill Bill Volume 1.

Don't know why Todd hasn't posted this yet, at least he seems not to have : the Official Site for Shinya Tsukamotos "Vital" is here. Theres a trailer in there (Quicktime, no subtitles).

And, if you go to Goldview : who are distributing the film, you can search the English Language Version of the site for the Director listings and scroll down to find the Vital entry and right click + save on the "trailer" icon to actually download rather than stream the bigger English Subtitled version.

Both trailers contain different footage.

Here's a flying guess based on what i've seen. Hinokio, a small "Robot Boy" wants to become a "Real Boy". Watch his strange adventure(s) as he begins to realise he can't become real, but people love him anyway.

I think it looks like something potentially great, but anything with such a cool looking robot has potential to some extent.

Also : it's from Japan, so it's bound to be different. Even though it does appear to be a highly commercial movie.

Anyone able to find out more, get more english-language info? Here's the Official Site. Not seen this talked about anywhere yet.

So. It officially came out on Monday the 18th October 2004. The Edko / Hong Kong DVD of "House of Flying Daggers".

Many might be waiting to see some pictures of the image quality (at least) before buying. So, i stumbled across this page. Note it has large screen grabs, pictures and a nice bitrate diagram. Cool.

I am still waiting for my disc to arrive from DDDHouse.com : it should be here this morning. Fingers crossed (still).

AICN aka Aint It Cool News has put up a link to the Tetsujin 28 site overnight. Thing is, it was posted here weeks ago by Todd (i think?). Infact, I can't even find it in the archives here at Twitch : but who knows, someone might have spotted it here and told AICN about it. Bit late guys.

Anyhow : I can't tell them over there. So, anyone with the ability to post at AICN, can you please tell them and everyone else we were on the case.

The only snippets i've heard about the film so far suggest theres little CGI in it and its "paced for shit", as a forum poster put it. Still, thats opinion in part so lets wait and see for ourselves, hopefully in 2005.

Whilst perusing the web this evening I stumbled across a fine young man saying kind things about us over at Cinema Minima which, in turn, led me to the same young man's glowing review for Gusher No Binds Me, a low budget Japanese sci-fi flick I've been lusting after since first spotting a trailer almost a year ago. This thing invokes images of Terry Gilliam and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's love child strung out on some high-potency Japanese crack and if the review is any indication the film is every bit as solid as the trailer.

A trailer, you say? Well, glory! That same review included a link to an English subtitled trailer here, courtesy of the film's international sales agent, and a little further digging on my part turned up this: the first trailer for Shinya Tsukamoto's Vital I'm aware of anywhere, also subtitled in English.

Artsmagic? Tartan? You paying attention? Somebody buy these things. Happy viewing.

A good, cheap option for Studio Ghibli films on DVD. In Australia. But don't worry...

You can buy them from great online Australian sites like EzyDvd for around £12 plus postage each. Thats relatively cheap : nice artwork too.

Out Now : Laputa, Grave of The Fireflies, Kikis Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away. Coming Soon : Nausicaa, Totoro, Only Yesterday, Proco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of The Heart, My Neighbours The Yamadas, and The Cat Returns.

Check out the Madman site for box shots, details, screen shots and more. Thanks to Anime News Network.

Whoopsie. Been slacking off the last couple days and just realized I hadn't posted this yet. Voila, the official Sony one sheet poster for the North American release of Pedro Almodavar's Bad Education. Click here to see a larger version.

In the Toronto area? Want to be a zombie in George Romero's Land of the Dead? Here's how. Call 416-633-2442 or fax 416-633-9440 with your contact info. I just made the call myself and it looks legit ...

Via Bloody-Disgusting and FilmRot

Here's an interesting rumor and one that I could actually see working. According to a couple scoopers over at Aint It Cool Jean-Pierre Jeunet has let it be known that he's been offered a Harry Potter film.

Throwing some water on this is the fact that he himself has said he's not so interested; the fact that, yes, his Alien Resurrection was looking to be the hands down winner of the 'Worst Alien Film' award by a comfortable margin until ol' Paul WS came along; and the fact that he'd have to reign in some of his stylistic excesses to conform with the tone of the earlier Potter films.

But even with all of that in mind I've got to say I find this a fairly compelling idea. He's an incredible visual stylist, has a keen grasp on the sense of fantasy and whimsy needed for this kind of thing and can veer into harder edged tones when necessary. I don't think it's going to happen but it's nice to see that Warner's is at least thinking along potentially risky but also potentially hugely rewarding lines ...

The Japan Times has just run a review of Wong Kar Wai's 2046. The early response to the film has been pretty evenly divided between those who are simply overwhelmed by the film and those who find it a bit of a self-referential letdown next to WKW's earlier work and the Japan Times review falls into the latter camp. Still, they find an awful lot to like ...

So. Japan gets this for the standard DVD (and several lush special editions), and in America you get that over there... that horrible, washed out, cheap-ass cartoon, idiotically misrepresentative pile of cack.

Forgive my language. It's not like me to be so upset over something so trivial as a DVD cover, but this USA cover for "Ghost in The Shell : Innocence" is THE WORST EVER. If I had the money, and was completely bothered, I would have a trophy made to show them they won that particular competition, and have it shipped over to America to let them know.

But, all I can do is let you take this opportunity to "sign" this little petition : leave your comments on the cover here and I will then email them all to Dreamworks Home Entertainment in exactly one week.

Please, tell everyone where they can add their comments - the more the merrier. Thanks.

UPDATE : larger image of cover in window (*click*). Now with added AICN quote.

Let me begin by saying that if nearly half his cast hadn't gone and died, thus preventing him from finished the thing, Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom would stand as an absolute classic in the realm of world wide horror film. As it is the two completed segments are a cruel, cruel tease for fans, every bit as strange and compelling as David Lynch's Twin Peaks and the Steven King penned American remake / interpretation / completion of the story was an utter travesty. I am one of those fans who has been hoping in vain that Von Trier would find a way of completing the Kingdom cycle, for years trolling the web from time to time hoping to stumble across some glimmer of possibility. Back when it looks as though labor strikes in Hollywood were going to shut down the production of Dogville there were rumors of Von Trier re-casting and completing his classic miniseries, but no ... the labor dispute was resolved and the Kingdom faded back into the mists.

So I'm mighty happy about this. After years of spinning art house philosophy and trying to change the way films are made around the world Von Trier is returning to 'commercial film making' and the horror genre with Antichrist. Currently editing Dogville's sequel Von Trier has been quoted as saying that he needs "to earn some money" before shooting the third and final film of his American trilogy and, thus, once he has finished editing Manderlay he will launch production on a new horror film "for a wider audience, a horror film not with vampires but more in the style of The Kingdom ... I don't want to say any more. It is kind of an Antichrist with international distribution, based on the theory that it was not God but Satan who created the world."

Yeah, I'll be in line day one. Go rent The Kingdom. Right now. Hell, just buy it.

You are in for a treat come February. If you haven't see Ong-Bak you will have your chance soon. Famed french director and producer Luc Besson recut the film and secured a U.S. distribution deal with Magnolia Pictures. No word on Canadian dates yet but one can only hope.

In the meantime I came across an article proclaiming Tony as the new Bruce Lee. Bruce, huh? We here at Twitch has always compared him to Jackie and Jet. The athletecism and grace of Jackie combined with the ferocity and power of Jet. Regardless, Tony kicks huge ass and you will be converted once you see him in action.

You can read the full TIME Asia Tony Jaa Ong-Bak magazine article right here.

You can also visit the Japanese web-site or the French web-site as well.

Via KungFuCinema.

I like Viz. Well, I liked Viz i should say. It was superbly funny and strangely sophisticated for toilet humour when i was a teenager. So, more than a decade later, they made a film of "The Fat Slags" - probably the most outright offensive strip in it.

Cue cameo appearances from people who will forever regret it : the movie bombed without much of a trace. Infact i hadn't the slightest clue it was finished let alone released.

So : not only was it worse than the abomination that was "Sex Lives of The Potato Men". It's also worse than the laden-with-british-comedy-talent "Churchill : The Hollywood Years". That's some achievement.

What's more : Viz have decided the films sheds such a bad light on the Magazine, they're ending the original strip in the 25th Anniversary issue, which is due out soon. Blimey.

See the BBC article.

Not entirely sure of the state of gossip on a decent French Language (with English Subtitles) release of "Switchblade Romance" aka "Haute Tension". So, I emailed the UK distributors and they've replies quickly to say it's pencilled in for a Januray / February 2005 release.

That's relatively soon after the recent UK cinema release, and not entirely uncommon nowadays - but it's good to know that it won't be too long (surely) until the final date comes, and preorder listings begin to appear.

I have been tempted by the dubbed and uncut Thai DVD, and the unsubbed and uncut French DVD, and sometimes even the cut Korean DVD. But the holy grail at the moment is this UK Disc.

Okay okay okay. We've taken our shots at John for a while now. I will still admit that I love the man and I dearly hope that he can bring things around. I still haven't given up hope on him though he makes it really hard with news like the live action He-Man.

But here's some news that has me quite intrigued. After Spy Hunter and The War of the Red Cliff [He-Man is in there somewhere] it appears that John is gearing up to do a remake of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1970 crime caper, Le Cercle Rouge.

Why all the fuss? Jean-Pierre Melville's films had a huge impact on John. Le Samourai being one of the biggest. So you would think that John would take the upmost care to honor a man who influenced him so much. And honestly, crime and gangster movies is where John has been most successful.

Everyone else is saying it so I might as well. Hopefully this return to gangster noire will have brought John around full circle? [snicker]

via Empire and ComingSoon.

Since trailers reveal everything these days it seems only natural that film companies would start releasing large chunks of the movie before it gets released. Jerry Bruckheimer's new Nicolas Cage vehical "Natural Treasure" is not content with just giving you a trailer, oh no, the first 10 minutes of the film are now available online for you all to see here. "National Treasure" also has quite an elaborate website as well (as posted by Todd a while ago) so if you haven't checked that out yet view the website and piddly little "trailer" here. "National Treasure" opens Novemeber 19/04.

Via filmrot.com

I knew about this yesterday, and emailed Homevision. Anyhow, i haven't had a response yet : but someone else has. So : the release date initially shifted back a week and now its simply "Coming Soon".</