My Sassy Girl: Director's Cut DVD (Asian Media Rights)
It’s a fun and diverse week of releases, even if there’s not a wealth of Asian films coming out. This is one of those weeks we like to call ‘something for everyone.’ If you’re interested in any of these titles, you can support the site by ordering through our affiliate. We appreciate it!
Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 2/19/13:
ASIAN CINEMA
My Sassy Girl: The Director’s Cut (DVD) – finally on Region 1 DVD, you can enjoy the 2001 atypical romantic comedy that helped kick off the current Korean cinema boom
Bullet Explosion (DVD) – real life brothers Kazuyoshi Ozawa and Hitoshi Ozawa star as two brothers ascending the ranks of the Yakuza in this 2004 high-octane gangster thriller, on DVD courtesy of Asian Media Rights
Zodiac America: The Super Master (DVD) – notorious cut-and-paste movie master Godfrey Ho returns with this ultra-obscure ninja flick from 1987
We Don’t Care About Music Anyway… (DVD) – in 2009, two French documentary filmmakers took a look at experimental noise musicians living in Tokyo – artists who are driven to rebel against their society’s conformity
FOREIGN CINEMA
Bullet Collector (DVD) – distributor Artsploitation has been making a name for themselves with quality releases of obscure foreign films. Here they offer a 2011 black-and-white Russian film that is described as “400 Blows with a nightmarish twist”
Les Miserables (Blu-ray/DVD) – Olive Films presents the 1958 French-language version of Victor Hugo’s novel, fully restored in HD
Dabangg 2 (DVD) – Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is back with a sequel to his mega-hit action film in which he plays a dirty cop with a heart of gold
Don Giovanni (Blu-ray/DVD) – Olive Films also releases this 1979 Italian-language ‘movie opera’ based on Mozart’s noted masterpiece
MAINSTREAM
Argo (Blu-ray/DVD) – director Ben Affleck’s 2012 drama about the Iran hostage situation has been winning awards around the globe and now it comes to home formats
4 Assassins (DVD) – Will Yun Lee (“The Wolverine”) and Miguel Ferrer (“Twin Peaks”) co-star in this 2012 action/thriller set in Hong Kong
The Package (Blu-ray/DVD) – those two granite slabs of men, Dolph Lundgren and Steve Austin, team up for this 2012 direct-to-video action flick. This time, Lundgren plays the villain
Seeds of Destruction (Blu-ray/DVD) – some prehistoric seeds unleash a powerful root system that causes earthquakes in this 2011 disaster flick from Anchor Bay
Factory (DVD) – poor John Cusack appears to be slumming it in this 2013 direct-to-video serial killer thriller produced by Dark Castle Entertainment
Special Forces (Blu-ray/DVD) – in this direct-to-video actioner, Djimon Hounsou plays a member of the French Special Forces out to rescued a kidnapped reporter in Afghanistan
Sushi Girl (Blu-ray/DVD) – a who’s who of cult movie stars, including “Candyman” Tony Todd and Mark Hamill, star in this 2012 story-centric crime thriller
Atlus Shrugged II: The Strike (Blu-ray/DVD) – the low-budget adaptation of Ayn Rand’s famous novel continues with this 2012 sequel
NEW TO BLU-RAY
Top Gun (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray) – director Tony Scott’s high-flying 1986 fighter jet flick put star Tom Cruise on the map…now in 3D!
The Terminator: Remastered (Blu-ray) – were you left underwhelmed by the picture transfer on the previous Blu-ray release of 1984’s “The Terminator”? Then you’re in luck because the film arrives on a newly remastered disc this week
On the Waterfront (Blu-ray) – the Criterion Collection presents a hi-def release of this 1954 American classic that helped launch the career of actor Marlon Brando
The Insider (Blu-ray) – Michael Mann’s 1999 drama takes a scathing look at the tobacco industry and stars acting heavyweights Russell Crowe and Al Pacino
Innocent Bystanders (Blu-ray/DVD) – Stanley Baker (“Zulu”) does his best James Bond impression in this 1972 spy thriller
The Monster Squad (Blu-ray/DVD) – Olive Films presents a new release and new picture transfer for this 1987 cult classic, co-written by “Lethal Weapon’s” Shane Black. This disc is said to have slightly superior visual quality compared to Lionsgate’s 2009 release
The Running Man (Blu-ray/DVD) – Olive Films must have a niche: releasing slightly improved Blu-ray editions of Lionsgate’s catalog, as they do here with this 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger action vehicle
Highlander 2: The Quickening (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 1991 sequel is either one of the worst movies of all time or an under-appreciated cult flick, depending on your taste. The jury is not out yet as to whether or not this new disc from Olive Films features better picture quality than the Lionsgate 2010 release
The Thief of Baghdad (Blu-ray/DVD) – Douglas Fairbanks stars in this 1924 silent epic, one of the most famous adventure films of all time, now in hi-def
CULT
Exploitation Double Feature: Black Cobra Woman/Super Bitch (DVD) – it’s 193 minutes of cult-tastic cinema from Apprehensive Films with “Black Cobra Woman” and Italian exploitation flick “Super Bitch” on one DVD
HORROR
Sinister (Blu-ray/DVD) – Ethan Hawke stars in what many critics labelled the scariest movie of 2012
Night of the Demons 2 (Blu-ray/DVD) – Olive Films releases this kooky 1994 horror sequel in the cult favorite “Night of the Demons” series
Prison (Blu-ray + DVD combo) – Scream Factory presents this little-seen 1988 horror film directed by Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”) and starring Viggo Mortensen
TerrorVision/The Video Dead (Blu-ray + DVD combo) – it’s a Scream Factory Double Feature offering up two 80’s horror cult flicks
The Nest (Blu-ray + DVD combo) – Roger Corman presents this 1988 creature feature about killer roaches, in hi-def courtesy of Shout! Factory
Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (DVD) – an Unrated 2013 sequel to the 90’s horror comedy about a giant, man-eating croc
Interested in any of these movies? If so, we hope that you’ll consider ordering from our affiliate to help support this site. Thank you!
The Terminator: Remastered (Blu-ray) … Movie Distributors just piss me off. I have a problem with the Blu-ray format for films we already have on DVD. When Blu-ray came out, omg it was incredibly expensive and overhyped. K, so if a film is shot in HD, and they release it on BR, wow, looks good. What about the older films? I bought Van Damme’s Kickboxer on BR and CRAP! it’s no different from the DVD version, just slightly better. But the hype on BR! High Definition and all that bullshit! They have our expectations so high that it should be worth the money, and rather we end up wasting money! When I think of Blu-ray, I think of it as complete HD, completely restored and remastered to the point where the picture quality is so damn good that they live up to what they’re putting out for sale. Instead, we don’t get that perfection on all BR formats. Blame it on who? The distributors or the fags who do the conversion? Can’t the consumer sue? Movie lovers should like start a riot and bitch at the people responsible for releasing films on HD that are not in HD! We use our hard earned money to buy this crap. They could at least live up to the Blu-ray hype and take their time to do some actual WORK to restore the picture, remaster it, and use up the disc space to the max to show it in the best quality possible. Why the lack of effort? Ripping people off must be a bliss. Now there is like 3D-HD, and seriously, I don’t care anymore. Movie and Television is going haywire. I miss the old VHS.
Sinister was NOT rated PG-13. It was given an R rating, even when it was in theaters.
Wow, you’re absolutely right. I know one of the co-writers on the film works at Ain’t It Cool News and I could have sworn I recalled an interview on there in which Harry Knowles chided his friend for scripting a PG-13 horror movie. I got that one wrong. Thanks for the correction!