May, we barely knew you and now you’re almost gone. This week is slim pickings as far as Asian cinema is concerned but hopefully we can all find something to enjoy. Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 5/22/12: ASIAN CINEMA Mutant Girl Squad (Blu-ray/DVD) – the latest and greatest in Japanese splatterpunk from Sushi Typhoon. This 2010 film receives a belated North American release courtesy … Continue reading →

The crazy movie news keeps rolling out of Cannes 2012. The Hollywood Reporter relays word that Crystal Skys CEO Steven Paul is planning a prequel to the 2010 live-action Tekken movie, based on the popular video game of the same name. This is despite the fact that the first Tekken movie become embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit. It gets even better. Steven Paul claims that Prachya Pinkaew of Ong Bak and … Continue reading →

Ain’t It Cool News has the exclusive one-sheet poster for Assassin’s Bullet, the next big movie from Isaac Florentine, director of the Scott Adkins-starring films Special Forces and Undisputed II&III. The cast includes Christian Slater, Donald Sutherland, Elika Portnoy, and Timothy Spall. The film is being released in some territories under the title Sofia as it is set in Sofia, Bulgaria. Apparently Assassin’s Bullet is more of a psychological thriller … Continue reading →

File this one under ‘cool things that will probably never happen but really should.’ Twitch Film reports on a piece of conceptual poster art at Cannes that envisions a movie directed by Ryuhei Kitamura of Versus and Azumi fame, and starring Nicolas Cage. The poster is ridiculous, with Cage’s head floating atop an ultra-chiseled torso, but at least the plot sounds promising if anyone actually decides to fund this movie … Continue reading →

Cityonfire.com has received the following press release from Shout! Factory: Quick, A Major Motion Picture from the filmmakers behind Tidal Wave, starring Lee Min-Ki, Kang Ye-Won and Kim In-Kwon. Packed with explosive visuals, full throttle action sequences, extensive bonus content, and more! Own it on Blu-ray and DVD. In stores nationwide on August 21, 2012 from Shout! Factory Disc Details: Spectacular street chases and pulse-pounding action are taken to new heights on August 21, … Continue reading →

Director Lee Myung-Se’s 1999 film Nowhere to Hide was a top-notch Korean action-thriller that turned heads even before that country became one of the hottest film industries in the world. Now Lee Myung-Se is back with his first film in five years, the action-packed Mister K. The story almost sounds like a riff on James Cameron’s True Lies since the main character is, unbeknownst to his wife, a globe-trotting spy. When … Continue reading →

Now this does not look like your typical Japanese film. Helter Skelter is an adaptation of the popular manga by Kyoko Okazaki. It appears to be a bit of a ‘psychological horror’ story that follows a young actress/model who slowly goes insane thanks to the rigors and demands of the Japanese entertainment industry and her own addiction to plastic surgery. Far East Films has a teaser trailer which doesn’t show … Continue reading →

We’re already well into the month of May and, for better or worse, the studios are using it to put out their double and triple (and quadruple) film sets. So hopefully you don’t mind those. Well, let’s get started. Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 5/15/12: ASIAN CINEMA Norwegian Wood (DVD) – New Video Group releases this 2010 adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel of the … Continue reading →

Here at Cityonfire.com, we previously reported that Tsui Hark plans to helm a 3D gun-slinging wuxia called Tracks in the Snow Forest for the Bona Film Group. Today, Twitch offers word that Jacob Cheung, director of the Andy Lau-starring Battle of Wits AKA Battle of the Warriors, is also helming a 3D film for Bona. Cheung will be putting together a new take on the same wuxia novel that inspired Ronny … Continue reading →

I think we can agree we all could use a little more puncking and kicking in our lives. Thankfully, After Dark has us covered. They’re known for their yearly selection of horror films but for 2012 After Dark is launching their very first ActionFest – and it starts today! At select theaters across the country and On Demand right now, you can check out a stellar line-up of new action … Continue reading →

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 →