"Sleepless Night" American Theatrical Poster

The 2011 French action-thriller Sleepless Night has garnered rave reviews online, with some critics even dubbing it ‘Die Hard in a nightclub.’ The film follows a disgraced police detective out to save his young son’s life by returning some stolen drugs to a mob boss. The drug deal is set to take place in the boss’ swank club but everything that can go wrong, does go wrong and it ends up becoming a, well, sleepless night for all parties involved.

Written and directed by Frederic Jardin, the film’s action sequences have already drawn comparisons to the Bourne movies and 24. You can check out the trailer courtesy of Apple Quicktime. Sleepless Night will be available on iTunes and other On Demand services starting April 17th, with a limited theatrical release set to follow on May 11th.

"Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" Chinese Theatrical Poster

The first three months of 2012 set a new record for box office earnings in China, according to the website Chinese Films. Domestic titles like Tony Leung’s The Magician and the romantic comedy LOVE earned high grosses, however no Chinese films managed to reach 200 million yuan in sales.

In comparison, the Hollywood blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol has bagged a whopping 647 million yaun – and is still being screened in China.  In fact, 46% of the box office in China this year belongs to American films, which are proving to be stiff competition for homegrown features. Read more at the link.

"Dragon Eyes" UK Blu-ray Cover

THE MOVIE: In New Orleans, a mysterious man looks to unite two warring gangs against the lawmen who have been using them to advance their corrupt agenda. Directed by Universal Soldier: Regeneration’s John Hyams and starring Cung Le, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Peter Weller.

Updates: Check out an interview with Cung Le here. In addition to horror, After Dark is now producing action films in collaboration with Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment. One of the titles announced will be Dragon Eyes, which is scheduled to be released later this year. Cung Le uploaded a documentary to YouTube which is mostly about him training for his UFC fights but if you fast forward to about 21:58, you can see some new footage from Dragon Eyes. Teaser poster, courtesy of impawards. To me, it sorta looks like a fan made poster. Whatever the case, it will do for now.

The UK Blu-ray/DVD is coming April 09, 2012. UK trailer is now available. It looks like May 11, 2012 will be American audiences’ first chance to see Dragon Eyes via Video On Demand or in select theaters. The film will be part of After Dark’s new Action fest, the details of which you can read over at Beyond Hollywood. Other films to look forward to include Scott Adkins in El Gringo and a Dolph Lundgren thriller called Stash House.

BREAKING NEWS: New extended trailer.

"Nightfall" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Nightfall is a 2012 Hong Kong murder mystery from director Roy Chow (2009’s Aaron Kwok thriller Murderer). The film features a host of familiar faces including Nick Cheung (The Stool Pigeon), Simon Yam (Full Contact), and Michael Wong (Knock Off), as well as Shawn Dou, Janice Man, and Kay Tse. The story is about a hardened detective investigating the death of a Hong Kong celebrity. As he digs deeper, he discovers a conspiracy that challenges everything he thinks he knows about the case.

Nightfall arrives in Chinese theaters later this year. In the meantime, Beyond Hollywood has the trailer and a more detailed synopsis. Nick Cheung and Simon Yam are no slouches in the acting department so this should end up being a Hong Kong thriller to keep an eye on.

Updates: According to sources, this Nightfall promotional poster, which features Nick Cheung in a mugshot pose, led people to believe the star was arrested in real life. In preparation for the film, Nick Cheung spent half a year on physical training. Our source has posted bloody photos of Nick fighting Ken Lo.

Twitch has a new, full-length trailer. Beyond Hollywood has posters, images, and a brand new trailer for the film.

HKtopten reports that Michael Wong, who plays a deranged father, wants to prohibit his kids from watching the movie. Apparently he was “too in character” and is worried about his own image as a father.

BREAKING NEWS: Despite competition from the likes of Hollywood’s John Carter and Andy Lau’s arthouse film A Simple Life, action-thriller Nightfall has become a breakout success across China. The movie has already garnered 40 million yuan at the Mainland box office, with an additional 14 million yuan in Hong Kong. Nick Cheung, who spent 7 months getting in shape for the role, even made two surprise appearances at movie theaters in Guagzhou to thank fans for their support.

"Chinatown" Japanese Theatrical Poster

There are literally no live-action Asian movies releasing this week, and that ain’t no April Fool’s joke. Disappointing, but I guess we’ve just got to move on and hop that next week is more promising. Regardless, we get “Chinatown” on Blu-ray for the first time so that’s something to celebrate. Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 4/3/12:

ASIAN CINEMA

Howl’s Moving Castle (Blu-ray) – we usually don’t include anime here but this is the only Asian disc being released this week! Too bad this 2004 Mayazaki animated film is only available as an Import so the pricetag is a whopping $59.99. At least it has English subs!

FOREIGN CINEMA

Miracle of Marcelino: Restored 1955 Version (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 1955 Spanish-language film was a Grand Prize Award winner at the International Cannes Film Festival and tells the heart-warming story of a young boy who creates miracles

Four Flies on Grey Velvet (Blu-ray) – Dario Argento’s 1971 giallo is available from Amazon on Import Blu-ray for $39.99

The Double Hour (DVD) – this 2011 Italian film is billed as a suspenseful, psychological update on the giallo genre

Question Mark (DVD) – not much info is available on this flick but it appears to be a Hindi-language ‘found footage’ film about some college students who disappeared in the woods, I’m guessing from around 2010

INDEPENDENT

Angels Crest (DVD) – when a young father’s child dies in a tragic accident, he finds his entire small town turning against him in this 2011 indie film

The Odds (DVD) – ever wonder about the underground world of high school sports gambling? This 2011 indie flick might clue you in

Truth About Kerry (DVD) – a young woman travels to a remote village to unravel the truth about her friend’s death, but discovers a shocking conspiracy in the process in this 2010 film

MAINSTREAM

War Horse (Blu-ray/DVD) – Steven Spielberg’s 2011 inspirational World War I-era horse tale is on home formats this week

Alien Opponent (DVD) – at last, the team-up you’ve been waiting to see: Jeremy London (“Mallrats”) and ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper (“They Live”) join forces to fight an alien menace in this low-budget 2010 sci-fi/action movie

Miramax Double Feature: Equilibrium/Renaissance (Blu-ray) – Christian Bale – in his most ass-kicking role – teams up with the voice of Daniel Craig in this Miramax Double Feature offering the 2002 Orwellian sci-fi/action flick “Equilibrium” and the futuristic, black-and-white 2006 French CG cartoon “Renaissance” 

CLASSICS

Chinatown (Blu-ray) – forget it, Jake, it’s – well, now it’s on Blu-ray! Roman Polanski’s classic 1974 neo-noir starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway

The Corsican Brothers (DVD) – Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars in this 1941 black-and-white swashbuckler

HORROR

Hellacious Acres: The Case of John Glass (DVD) – Bloody Disgusting Selects offers this 2011 film that promises not to be your typical post-apocalyptic tale

Demons 2 (Blu-ray) – I love Lamberto Bava’s 1986 Italian shlockfest “Demons 2” with all my heart but even I have to admit that $44.99 is pretty ridiculous to pay for this Import Blu-ray

Enter Nowhere (DVD) – bet you never thought a movie starring the son of Clint Eastwood and the daughter of Bill Paxton would go straight to DVD, but that’s just what happened with this 2011 ‘cabin in the woods’-style horror flick

The Afflicted (DVD) – a 2010 horror flick starring Kane Hodder, who played the part of Jason Vorhees in many of the “Friday the 13th” movies

The Midnight Disease (DVD) – a 2010 horror thriller about what happens when an uninspired writer uncorks a jar and discovers his muse in the form of a beautiful but possibly deadly woman

The Prophecy Collection (Blu-ray) – 344 minutes of “The Prophecy” movie franchise have been compressed onto one Blu-ray, which doesn’t offer much hope for the picture quality but at least you get to see Christopher Walken, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen hamming it up in this Biblical horror series

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"Guns N' Roses"

Guns N’Roses is a curious title for a movie, no doubt about that, but when the action looks this fierce we can give the filmmakers a break. The alternate title for director Ning Hao’s upcoming Chinese heist movie is A Big Gold Robbery.

The film is set in the 1930’s, when the Japanese army had set up a puppet state in Manchukuo, and follows a ragtag group who plans to steal from a supposedly impregnable Japanese bank.

Sure, it’s getting a little old for the Japanese army to serve as the villains in every Chinese historical picture but, judging from the trailer at Far East Films, Guns N’Roses should be a wild and entertaining ride. It opens in Chinese theaters this Summer 2012. The Global Times has more details here.

Update: Hop on over to Chinese Films for a new trailer. Of the movie, director Ning Hao says: “I want to talk about how people make their choices when stuck between desire of power and humanity.“