Jackie Chan Double Feature: Police Story 1 & 2 (Shout! Factory)
It’s a busy week with plenty of Asian film love to offer, so let’s get started.
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Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 4/16/13:
ASIAN CINEMA
Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story II (Blu-ray/DVD) – two of Jackie Chan’s most beloved action films are now in hi-def, thanks to distributor Shout! Factory
Dragon (Blu-ray/DVD) – the Weinstein Company is behind this release of the celebrated 2011 Donnie Yen martial arts film, also known as “Wuxia.” Beware that this 98min version has been cut compared to the 115min Chinese version. Co-starring Takeshi Kaneshiro (“Chunking Express,” “Red Cliff”)
Message From Space (DVD) – this campy 1978 science fiction movie from “Battle Royale” director Kinji Fukasaku has long had a reputation for being one of the best “Star Wars” rip-offs. Co-starring Sonny Chiba and Vic Morrow
Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System (DVD) – the Criterion Collection’s Eclipse series continues with this selection of films from Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi. Look forward to the titles “The Thick-Walled Room,” “I Will Buy You,” “Black River,” and “The Inheritance,” dating from the 50’s to the early 60’s.
Girl$ (Blu-ray + DVD combo) – in modern day Hong Kong, several young girls have taken to performing “paid dates” for salary men as a way of making money. This 2010 film explores their risky lifestyle
Going By the Book (DVD) – this 2007 Korean comedy, on DVD courtesy of distributor 5 Points Pictures, follows a straight-laced cop who is forced to stage a bank robbery as a police training exercise
At the Gate of the Ghost (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 2011 Thai film is an adaption of the Akira Kurosawa classic “Rashomon”
Summer Wars (Blu-ray) – Funimation presents a 3-disc version of this popular 2009 anime feature film, which is something like a “Wizard of Oz” for the digital age. From the director of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”
Empire of Silver (DVD) – Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok headlines this 2009 film, a sweeping drama and love story about a powerful bank heir during the end of 19th century China
MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION
Top Action Stars – 8 Movie Collection (DVD) – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Dolph Lundgren share the spotlight in this 8 film collection that includes titles like “Knock Off,” “Universal Soldier: The Return,” and “Into the Sun” for only $12.99
Explosive Cinema – 8 Exhilarating Movies (DVD) – a diverse collection of genre entertainment is offered in this $12.99 set, including Tony Scott’s “The Fan,” Bruce Willis in “Hudson Hawk,” and Jamie Foxx in “Stealth”
Pulse-Pounding Flicks – 8 Intense Features (DVD) – see Chow Yun-fat in “The Replacement Killers,” Christopher Lambert in “The Point Men,” Wesley Snipes in “The Contractor,” and much more for $12.99
MAINSTREAM
Django Unchained (Blu-ray/DVD) – Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 Western – set in a slavery-era South – was a massive success at the box office when it opened last December
Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore (Blu-ray/DVD) – presenting a 2013 direct-to-video Marvel Comics animated adventure, featuring Iron man and the Punisher, done in an anime style
Spies of Warsaw (Blu-ray/DVD) – former Doctor Who David Tennant stars in this 2013 BBC production set in Poland, Paris, and Berlin in the years leading up to World War II
The Colombian Connection (DVD) – Robert Thorne and Tim Sizemore star in this 2013 direct-to-video actioner about a special missions team trying to escape the jungles of Colombia.
CULT
Repo Man (Blu-ray/DVD) – the Criterion Collection offers a new lease on life for this 1984 cult classic, starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton and featuring plenty of nihilistic punk attitude
Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures Triple Feature (DVD) – you can’t go wrong with this DVD collection of 3 films previously released by Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder label. The set includes: “The Mighty Peking Man,” “Detroit 9000,” and “Switchblade Sisters”
Samurai Cop (DVD) – the man with the chin that just won’t quit, Robert Z’Dar (“Maniac Cop”), stars in this 1989 cult favorite
The Indestructible Man (DVD) – horror icon Lon Chaney headlines this 1956 feature about a man who realizes he’s invincible after surviving the electric chair
HORROR
Bay of Blood (Blu-ray/DVD) – Kino Lorber has Mario Bava’s influential 1971 horror film, considered the prototype for the slasher genre, scheduled for a hi-def release. However, there’s no cover art available yet so it seems this title might be delayed. AKA “Twitch of the Death Nerve”
A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 2013 direct-to-video chiller is a sequel to the 2009 theatrical release “The Haunting in Connecticut”
H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dark Sleep (DVD) – this 2012 horror film is said to be an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dreams in the Witch House,” featuring stop-motion animation for the creatures
Escapee (Blu-ray/DVD) – Dominic Purcell of TV’s “Prison Break” plays a killer on the loose from prison in this 2011 slasher
Jacob: Director’s Cut (Blu-ray/DVD) – in this 2011 horror flick, a crazed hillbilly goes in a killing spree to avenge his little sister
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