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Peter Chan’s The Warlords, which premieres at this years London Film Festival on Monday 20 October, will be released by Metrodome in UK cinemas on 7 November. The film stars Jet Li and Andy Lau.

Johnnie To and Wong Ka-Fai’s latest collaboration Mad Detective is released on DVD and Blu Ray by Eureka on 3 November.

Read our review of Mad Detective here »

The much-anticipated Chocolate, from Ong-Bak director Prachya Pinkaew and starring martial arts star in the making JeeJa Yanin, is released on DVD today by Cine Asia.

You can read our review of Chocolate here »

From Hideo Nakata, director of the acclaimed Japanese horror flicks Dark Water, Ring and Ring 2 comes DEATH NOTE: L - change the WorLd, the final movie in the live-action Death Note trilogy. Released on DVD as a limited edition two-disc set that includes a 24-page book and over 3 hours of extra features, the film presents the stunning conclusion to the supernatural saga that continues to thrill manga, anime and movie fans worldwide.

The two-disc DEATH NOTE: L - change the WorLd (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£19.99) by 4Digital Asia on 29th December 2008. Special Features include: 24-page book; A Slice of “L Change the World” (Making of); Interview with star Kenichi Matsuyama; Production Wrap Press Conference; Asia Promotion Campaign (Jump Fest 2007); Japan Gala Premiere; Opening Day Stage Greetings; Japan Tour; original Japanese trailers and TV spots; UK trailer; image gallery.

From prolific Japanese auteur Takashi Miike, director of extreme cinema cult classics such as Audition and Ichi The Killer, comes Sukiyaki Western Django, a deranged exercise in movie genre splicing that not only redefines the spaghetti (or, in Japanese terms, ‘macaroni’) western in Miike’s own inimitable style but also stars Quentin Tarantino (returning the favour for Miike’s cameo appearance in Hostel).

Five years after their award winning performances in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, co-stars David Carradine and Daryl Hannah are reunited in the action-packed, period martial arts adventure White Crane Chronicles, released on DVD (£19.99) by Brightspark Productions on 29th December 2008.

Fancy watching some free kung fu movies? Fancy getting them in an iPod or iPhone friendly format? Not too picky about the quality – whether that happens picture, dubbing or even the actual movie itself?

Well, if you’re using iTunes, just follow the link below to the Cult of Kung Fu podcasts, a special branch of the Cult of UHF who release a lot of ‘public domain’ b-movies. (Still not really sure how these films become public domain in the first place, but there you go…) There you’ll find a growing selection of American dubbed Hong Kong movies, including Shaolin Invincibles and Shadow Ninja. Many of these have been available in some format or another before on low cost video or DVDs (though often not cheap enough considering the dire quailty!)

Entertaining if not brilliant, they coud be just what your daily commute needs…

See the current list on iTunes

Sergio Leone meets The Wacky Races in Kim Jee-woon’s Asian Western – it’s a real blast!… (more…)

Johnnie To and Wong Ka-fai’s terrific Hong Kong thriller Mad Detective is released today on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK by Eureka Entertainment.

Both releases will include:

Q&A with Johnnie To at the Cinémathèque Française - Johnnie To retrospective

Exclusive cast interviews shot during the Far East Film Festival featuring Lau Ching Wan, and Lam Suet

Interview with Johnnie To for the French theatrical release of Mad Detective

Original UK theatrical trailer

16-page booklet containing specially commissioned essay by David Bordwell (Jacques Ledoux Professor of Film Studies,University of Wisconsin-Madison)

You can read our review of the film here »

Okay, sure it’s Hollywood! Sure it’s a kids movie! But this Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little, The Lion King) movie starring Jet Li and Jackie Chan – together for the first time ever – is a whole lot better than you’d expect! And with action scenes directed by Yuen Woo-ping, there’s plenty for adults too, so if you missed this at the cinema it’s well worth catching up on…

You can read our review here »

From 6 November next week the Barbican Centre plays host to The London Korean Film Festival 08. As well as a preview showing of Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird – with the director himself and lead Lee Byung-hun in attendance, their also be other new films like Seven Days – starring Lost’s Kim Yun-jin, May 18 and Forever The Moment, some classic movies from the 1960s, and a Lee Chang-dong Retrospective including Green Fish and his latest film Secret Sunshine.

For a full listing and information on how to book, click here.

Peter Chan’s The Warlords, starring Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kineshiro, is on limited release in London and around the UK by Metrodome.

You can read our review here »