Beyond Hollywood gives word that Gavin O’Connor, director of the critically acclaimed MMA fight flick Warrior starring Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy, is slated to direct a new action-thriller titled Yakuza. The film will be set in post-Tsunami Japan and follow what happens when an American intelligence agent gets caught up in the seamy underworld of Japanese organized crime. Well, this definitely sounds promising. Gavin O’Connor will rewrite the script currently penned … Continue reading →

The film never ceases to compel. As the layers of deceit are peeled back, Byun seems in complete command of her material. Her narrative dexterity flaunts an audacious Chinatown-like clue to the missing woman’s whereabouts without pre-empting the climax. -Russell Edwards, Variety Byun’s film uses [Miyabe Miyuki’s] book as a framework upon which to hang more current issues… Byun also floats questions of how much we can truly ‘know’ those closest … Continue reading →

We may be at least a decade on from the heyday of Asian horror, but the genre is clearly alive and well. Far East Films has the teaser trailer for a new Chinese-language suspense film titled The Zodiac Mystery and, thankfully, it looks to avoid most of the genre’s cliches, with the trailer instead highlighting the slick cinematography and an attractive cast being menaced by the supernatural. The plot concerns a group of … Continue reading →

Far East Films has the first trailer for the new Korean-language film from Im Sang-Soo, the director of 2010’s critically acclaimed The Housemaid. His next project, titled The Taste of Money, is an erotic thriller about a young man hired by a wealthy family to take care of their business-related and private matters. This being a thriller and all, it’s not long before the poor sap is pulled into a world of … Continue reading →

Snow White and the Huntsman’s Kristen Stewart has signed on to play the lead in Cali, an ultraviolet drama that’s reminiscent of films like True Romance and Bonnie and Clyde. According to Variety, the plot of Cali concerns a couple who decide to make a chunk of money by producing and selling a fake snuff film (a motion picture genre that depicts the actual murder of a person or people); of course, … Continue reading →

Ain’t It Cool relays news via Deadline that Never Back Down director Jeff Wadlow has written a screenplay for Kick-Ass 2, which Universal Pictures might just greenlight and slot Wadlow to direct. Despite the fact that director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jane Goldman won’t be returning, Universal expects that principal cast-members Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass), Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl), and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Red Mist) will don the costumes for their respective … Continue reading →

Recent Japanese films like Drop and Takashi Miike’s Crows: Episode Zero have carved out their own little niche of bone-crushing movies about Japanese high school delinquents who like to drink, cuss, and get into brawls. A new film headed for Japnaese theaters this fall is attempting to put a fresh spin on this now well-worn subgenre. Blazing Famiglia is all about what happens when those same delinquents grow up, get … Continue reading →

It’s almost hard to believe it’s been over a decade since Japanese films like Ringu (1998) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kairo AKA Pulse (2001) explored the notion of the supernatural interacting with the living via technology, and did it so well. Even Takashi Miike’s 2003 film One Missed Call was a nice little update on this particular subgenre, though it didn’t seem to have quite the same influence. Now here we are … Continue reading →

This week sees the release of two high profile Asian films and not much else, unless you’re a fan of the “Underworld” series. But hey, let’s get cracking. Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 5/8/12: ASIAN CINEMA The Front Line (Blu-ray/DVD) – Well Go USA brings this 2011 critically acclaimed Korean War-era drama to North America Shock Labyrinth 3D (Blu-ray/DVD) – “Grudge” director Takashi Shimizu takes … Continue reading →

Put Up Your Dux is a documentary about Frank W. Dux (pronounced “dukes”), an American martial artist who was the inspiration for the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme film, Bloodsport. Put Up Your Dux explores Dux’ controversial martial arts career (many believe he is nothing but a fraud), his undercover government agency rumors (he supposedly trained Navy Seals), and his legal battle with Van Damme (Dux demanded profits from 1996’s The Quest, claiming … Continue reading →