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!

"Straw Shield" Japanese Theatrical Poster

Remember that scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker tries to convince Gotham’s citizens to kill a Wayne Enterprises employee before he can spill Batman’s secret identity? Well, director Takashi Miike has taken a similar premise and spun it into an entire movie. His next project is a slickly-produced action thriller titled Straw Shield, about a police unit who must protect a confessed killer after the relatives of one of his victims puts a bounty on his head.

You can check out the teaser trailer here!

Look for none other than Tatsuya Fujiwara, of Battle Royale and Death Note fame, in the role of the killer. Fujiwara has been stretching his acting chops as of late with movies such as this and I’m Flash!, possibly in an attempt to break out of his ‘pretty boy’ image.

Straw Shield is based on a novel by author Kazuhiro Kiuchi and arrives in Japanese theaters on April 26th, 2013. Thanks to Far East Films for the story.

Update: The full-length trailer is here but, sorry, no English subtitles yet.

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" Japanese Theatrical Poster

THE MOVIE: David Fincher (Social Network) is remaking 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The film has yet to be green lit, but Disney has placed a 3-month hold on Fincher while they decide to move forward with the project or not. There’s already a script in the can, which is penned by Seven’s scriptwriter, Andrew Kevin Walker.

Richard Fleischer’s 1954 film starred Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas and Peter Lorre. Based on the book by Jules Verne, the plot involves a ship that’s sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings.

Updates: According to Cinema Blend, looks like Brad Pitt may no longer be attached to the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake. Instead, G.I. Joe’s Channing Tatum is now being approached by the studio.

"The Departed" Theatrical Poster

The latest news out of the Berlin International Film Festival is that Martin Scorsese will serve as executive producer on Andrew Lau’s next film, called Revenge of the Green Dragons. Our readers probably don’t need reminding that Scorsese’s hit film The Departed was an English-language remake of Andrew Lau’s Infernal Affairs – but, hey, Scorsese did thank Lau when he won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Production is scheduled to begin on Revenge of the Green Dragons in April. The film will presumably be shot in English; this isn’t Andrew Lau’s first American endeavor as he helmed the little-seen 2007 serial killer thriller The Flock, starring Richard Gere. Green Dragons is based on a New Yorker article and will follow two Chinese immigrants who arrive in the States only to become embroiled in the New York crime world.

"Real" Japanese Theatrical Poster

Kiyoshi Kurosawa was once one of the foremost genre filmmakers in Japan, thanks to his unique brand of unsettling horror as witnessed in films like Kairo (AKA Pulse) and Curse. To this day, Kairo remains arguably the finest example of ‘J-horror.’ In 2008, Kurosawa took a break from scaring audiences with the acclaimed drama Tokyo Sonata, which even won accolades at Cannes.

After that Kurosawa dabbled in the world of Japanese television to direct the 5-episode mini-series Penance, which would explain why we haven’t heard from the director in North America for awhile. That changes with the impending release of Real. While this film isn’t a return to horror for Kurosawa, the film appears to be a psychologically gripping, sci-fi influenced story.

In Real, a young woman is sent into a coma after a failed suicide attempt. Her devoted boyfriend utilizes an experimental form of technology to dive into her comatose mind and try to uncover the reasons for her depression, which stem from an event during childhood. Could this be Inception by way of The Cell, with a uniquely Kiyoshi Kurosawa twist?

Check out the first trailer for Real here. The film is slated for theatrical release in Japan on June 1st, 2013.

Shin Ha-Gyoon is the "Running Man"

A new Korean action-comedy titled Running Man is slated for release in theaters over there this April 2013 – but it’s not what you think. No, this isn’t a remake of the popular 80’s Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle. Instead it’s a completely new story about a man (Shin Ha-Gyoon) who is wrongly accused of murder and decides to walk/run/drive as far away from the police as he can, turning himself into a fugitive. Actor Shin Ha-Gyoon is likely best known for his role in Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance.

Helmer Jo Dong-Oh’s sole previous directing credit was 2006’s martial arts fantasy The Restless, which did actually receive a North American release courtesy of Genius Products. The teaser trailer for Running Man is online with English subtitles and it looks to offer non-stop chase sequences and auto destruction in the vein of that other Korean hit, Quick. Thanks to Far East Films for the heads up.