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Sure, I know what you;re thinking, but it’s true – Zhang Yimou (Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, Not One Less, Raise The Red Lantern) has remade the Coen brothers classic Blood Simple as a historical Chinese drama called A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop,aka A Simple Noodle Story.

Will it work? Who knows. Either Yimou is being rather clever or lost the plot completely, but it’s about time an Asian filmmaker got their own back for all the Western remakes. (Even if, if this trailer is anything to go by, it’s all a little close to the original…)

Coming soon to American theatres, from 3 September. As for when we’ll see it in the UK…?

Yes, The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk aka Fong Sai Yuk, another Jet Li classic, finally makes its way onto UK DVD in its original language (though sadly still the US Dimension cut of some 10 minutes less!) – courtesy of Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty. Directed by Corey Yuan it’s fun, silly, and with some of the most inspired fight scenes ever – this is unmissable!

Don’t believe me? Just check out this clip…

Yep, I’d forgotten just how much I enjoyed some of the action scenes in Invisible Target (and how good Nicholas Tse was in them!), so here’s a special treat for you. And there’s loads more – it’s like all the best bits from Divergence and New Police Story without the, well, schmaltz.

The UK DVD and Blu-ray versions are out today (at last!) and it’s a pretty solid release. Basically this is the US Dragon Dynasty release, which itself transfers most of the content from the outstanding Hong Kong 2-disc and 3-disc releases. The big difference is the original commentary is supplanted with a new one with DD fave Bey Logan and stars Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue and Andy On. And the Blu-Ray is even out a few days before the US gets it!

You can read our full review here »

Gosh! Has someone got it in for Disney or what? No sooner does Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo finally get a UK release, loosely based on the same Hans Christian Anderson that gave us The Little Mermaid, than a live-action version of the Chinese legend that inspired their film Mulan gets a UK release too.

(Okay, so Pixar/Disney chief John Lasseter executively produced the English version… you’re not gonna tell me he didn’t have fun with that?)

This new live-action version stars the lovely Vicky Zhao in the lead – an actress who I’m never really convinced by in period settings, but always keen to give a chance – with co-stars Jaycee Chan and Jun Hu, and directed by cinematographer turned director Jingle Ma, responsible for the highly enjoyable Tokyo Raiders and the highly rubbish follow-up Seoul Raiders.

Will it be any good? Let’s hope so… these historical dramas seem so hit-and-miss nowadays. (And we’ll let you know soon…!)

Mulan (cert. 15) will be released as a two-disc Ultimate Edition DVD  and as a single disc Ultimate Edition Blu-ray  by Cine Asia on 21June 2010.

UK in shock release of Hong Kong film really, really, really close to it’s original debut on DVD and Blu-ray. Yes, that’s right – only a couple of months since its release, Storm Warriors, the highly-anticipated sequel to Storm Riders, directed by the Pang brothers (The Eye, Bangkok Dangerous, Re-Cycle), will be released in the UK by Cine Asia.

Directed by Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs, Initial D, Confession of Pain), the original The Storm Riders marked the first major use of CGI effects in a Hong Kong film, a watermark point in cinema. (Whether those effects stand up to close scrutiny now is largely inconsequential.)

Reuniting the original stars Ekin Cheng and Aaron Kwok as Wind and Cloud, Storm Warriors promises to be a visual feast…

(..I know I can’t wait!)

Storm Warriors is released by Cine Asia on DVD and Blu-ray on 12 July.

Yes that’s right – Ponyo is released this Monday, but we have one of three copies of the wonderful Ponyo to give away, courtesy of Optimum Home Entertainment! To be in with a chance of nabbing a copy, all you have to do is fill in the form below…

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Hayao Miyazaki’s latest delightful film Ponyo comes to UK DVD and Blu-ray on Monday, 7 June. Miyazaki’s (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away) latest animated feature with Studio Ghibli, which he helped found, is a wonderful contemporary update of Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid.

Though we may have all been a little flabbergasted by Optimum’s decision to release Ponyo theatrically some eight months after the US (and therefore nearly two years after its original release!) this DVD and Blu-ray comes packed with bonus features, including interviews, featurettes, and a conversation with Hayao Miyazaki and John Lasseter, who acted as executive producer on the Englsh version. (Oh, how he must have chortled to himself when Miyazaki decided to use the same source material as Disney did not so long ago!)

Ponyo is released on 7 June 2010 by of Optimum Home Entertainment.

On DVD and Blu-ray from today, the latest from Ghost In The Shell director Mamoru Oshii, his superb The Sky Crawlers. Read our full review of The Sky Crawlers here »

Also out today, Teddy Chan’s Bodyguards And Assassins. Read our full review of Bodyguards and Assasssins here »

Yep, half-term must be coming up. You can always tell when these things are coming up – but weirdly, looks like the root is quite manga…

First up is the DVD and Blu-ray release of Astro Boy, getting a big budget CGI makeover courtesy of Flushed Away director David Bowers and featuring an eccentric mix of voice actors including Freddie Highmore, Kristen Bell, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson , Charlize Theron, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Matt Lucas and Eugene Levy. Oddly the source material, the manga by Osamu Tezuka and following highly influential animated series, the godfather of all things Anime, don’t even seem to get a mention.

Arguably a little closer to the source comes Sleeping Bride, adapted from another work by Tezuka, The Glass Brain. An offbeat love story between a boy and a girl in a coma, it was directed by Hideo Nakata between his Ringu films and the ultimate J-Horror (actually it’s so good let’s not even label it) Dark Water. (His second English language film Chatroom, after the almost entirely unconnected The Ring Two, having debuted at the Cannes Film Festival to mixed reviews).

Both films come out this Monday, 31 May – though I’m betting the latter is a lot less orientated towards kids, and maybe a lot more interesting…

Proving it’s not just America that looks to Asia for inspiration, Newsmakers is released today – a Russian remake of Johnnie To’s Breaking News by Swedish director Anders Banke (Frostbiten aka Frostbite). Here’s the UK trailer to keep you going while we work on the review.

Also out today, Blood from Shinobi director Ten Shimoyama, the latest kung fu kicking, samuari slicing vampire flick. Review coming soon…!

Jet Li’s classic martial art film Fist Of Legend, a stunning reinterpretation of the events that Bruce Lee’s Fist Of Fury was based on, finally gets released on UK DVD and Blu-ray in an unbutchered form.

Directed by Gordon Chan with action choreography by Yuen Woo-ping, this Dragon Dynasty edition is packed with extras…

(Review coming soon…!)

Finally out in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, starring Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung and Simon Yen. Here’s the UK promo to give you a taster…

Read our full review here »

From the man (Yoshihiro Nishimura) behind the outrageousness of Tokyo Gore Police and The Machine Girl comes this crazed response to both Twilight and Let the Right One In, a film that consistently overwhelms the viewer in its sheer dementia……

High school student Mizushima receives Valentines Day chocolates from the new student, Monami. Little did she know that the chocolates contained traces of Monami’s vampire blood. He gets infected from eating them and Monami confesses that she wants to live with him forever as vampires. Meanwhile, Mizushima decides that he wants to fully become a vampire with Monami’s help. Keiko, Mizushima’s girl friend, sees the two on the school rooftop kissing and in a state of hysteria, attempts to throw Monami off the roof but falls off herself instead.

Keiko dies but her father, Kenji Furano, the mad scientist, resurrects her as Franken girl. Thus begins a deadly combat between Franken Keiko and Vampire Monami in the name of love. As we all know, this kind of Vampire vs. Frankenstein conflict can only be solved by fighting, beating, stabbing, chewing, clawing and a showdown high atop Tokyo Tower!

Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (cert. 18) will be released on DVD (15.99) by 4Digital Media on 15TH March 2010.

It’s no accident this has been causing such a stir! Intelligent with a fantastic premise, surely this one of the finest Hong Kong films of the last decade… (more…)

After the rather dark and overly serious Ong Bak 2 (sorry, Ong Bak: The Beginning for UK readers), the proper sequel is on the horizon – slated for release in Asia in April 2010.

As previously mentioned, Ong Bak: The Beginning is now available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK.

The highly enjoyable Ip Man – based on the life story of the man who taught Bruce Lee kung fu – is released on Blu-ray and DVD today courtesy of Cine Asia/Showbox Entertainment. We spoke to star Donnie Yen, director Wilson Yip and action choreographer Sammo Hung last week about martial art films, Bruce Lee, Wing Chun and much more besides…

Also out today…

Palisades Tartan continue to reissue their back catalogue with gusto. Today sees two box sets released: Asian Horror – Essential Collection, featuring Takashi Miike’s Audition, ‘Ring‘ Director Hideo Nakata’s Dark Water And The Pang Brothers’ The Eye. A second box set, Korean Horror – Essential Collection, collects Kim Sung-Ho’s Into The Mirror, Park Ki-Hyung’s Acacia And Won Shin-Yeon’s The Wig. They also release Blood Rain today, an inventive thriller set in the 19th century starring Cha Seung-won (Eye For An Eye, Kick The Moon).

4Digital release Cyborg She, lighthearted sci-fi love story about a lonely young man and his female cyborg from the future starring Haruka Ayase (Ichi).