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This week sees the start of the Barbican’s annual festival focusing on the best of Korean cinema by presenting a brand new batch of box office hits, independent features and animated films from the country. Highlights this year include an exclusive Opening Night Gala Screening of the Director’s Cut of Park Chan-wook’s vampire thriller Thirst (some 10 minutes longer than the theatrical release currently screening), which will be introduced by the director himself, plus a screening of Yang Ik-june’s impressive debut feature, Breathless, followed by a Q&A session with Yang. The London Korean Film Festival 2009 will be held at the Barbican from 5th to 12th November.

» For full details, visit the Barbican website.

For Korean film fans, particularly of Park Chan-wook’s back catalogue, then this week sees the release of several notable films from Palisades Tartan on Blu-ray for the first time, including Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Lady Vengeance, alongside Kim Jee-woon’s A Tale Of Two Sisters, recently remade as The Uninvited. (Not to be confused with the Korean film of the same name, also recently re-released by Palisades… Oh, don’t get me started!)

There’s also the DVD and Blu-ray release of the live-action version of Blood: The Last Vampire – and don’t forget you can still win a copy of the DVD here! The original animation is also released by Manga on Blu-ray today.

And if you still can’t get enough of Samurai sword slinging gore, then there’s Samurai Princess, from the creators of Tokyo Gore Police. Set in an alternative version of feudal Japan, a pair of human-android hybrids is on the rampage raping, torturing and dismembering young women in the name of “art”. Directed by Kengo Kaji (co-writer of Tokyo Gore Police), featuring special effects produced by director and FX wizard Yoshihiro Mishimura (Tokyo Gore Police, Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl) and starring adult video star Aino Kishi.

(…phew! I think that’s it for this week’s releases?)

Regular Japanese readers of easternKicks may spot a familiar name in the September issue of glossy interview magazine Cut (hitting shelves right now) – yep, that’s us! Our interview with Lee Byung-hun was reprinted with permisson and translated into Japanese. (And we’re hoping to bring you some more very interesting interviews very soon… So stay tuned!)

Some very lucky readers will get their copy of Kim Jee-woon’s fantastic The Good, The Bad, The Weird on Blu-ray in the next few days. And don’t forget, there’s still time to enter our competition and you can win an exclusive Blood: The Last Vampire t-shirt and this original Anime version on DVD!

» Click here to enter!

After a delay in production that put back the release a couple of weeks, Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird finally arrives on UK DVD and Blu-ray, and what an awesome package it is! Sure, this might not be quite the Korean 3-disc First Press limited edition release, but it’s still a pretty fine DVD set – particularly for an Asian release, which invariably end up missing out all the best features.

There’s a fantastic hour and a half long ‘making of’ documentary, featurettes on cinematography, action sequences, production and set design, costumes and much more, over 50 minutes of deleted scenes and alternative endings, and an entertaining four-way interview with the director and his three leads. You can read our updated review here.

And don’t forget there’s still plenty of time to bag your self the film on Blu-ray – enter our competition here!

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is released on Blu-Ray and two-disc DVD today by Icon Home Entertainment.

Fancy owning Kim Jee-woon’s fantastically entertaining The Good, The Bad, The Weird on Blu-ray? Well, it’s your lucky day, as we have three to give away! (more…)

With the DVD and Blu-ray release of Kim Jee-woon’s enormously entertaining The Good, The Bad, The Weird now imminent (though a little less than it was due to production problems!) we’re all looking forward to a pretty decent, feature-packed UK version. Here’s an exclusive look at in-case character cards that will be available in DVD and Blu-ray copies for a limited time from HMV only…

Yim Phil-Sung’s captivating take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Hansel And Gretel, is released today by Terracotta Distribution. Special features include; ‘Making of’ featurette; interview with production designer, Ryu Seong-hee; teaser trailer.

You can read our review here »

Based on true events in 1979, director Im Sang-soo’s political satire on the last hours of South Korean President Park Chung-hee is a biting black comedy… (more…)

Kim Jee-Woon’s (A Tale Of Two Sisters, A Bittersweet Life) fantastic The Good, The Bad, The Weird, starring Song Kang-Ho, Lee Byung-Hun and Jung Woo-Sung, will be released on UK on DVD and Blu-Ray on 1 June by Icon Home Entertainment. A big-budget take on the Western genre set in the 1930s Manchurian desert, a search for a map brings together three very different men who seem to exemplify the characteristics of the title. In this Korean-language film, all of the actors – including the top-billed stars – performed their own stunts.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (SPECIAL EDITION) will be released as a two-disc DVD (£19.99) and single disc Blu-ray (£24.99) by Icon Home Entertainment on 15 June 2009. Special Features include: “Running Fast” – making of featurette; “The Good, The Bad, The Weird And The Vicious” (interview with the director and cast); “Analogue” (cinematography, lighting, action sequences, sound); “Space” (production design, costumes, set decoration); deleted scenes with optional director’s commentary; alternate endings (with multi angles); trailers.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is released on Blu-Ray and two-disc DVD on 15 June (postponed from 1 June).

Director Yim Phil-Sung’s dark and beautiful adult fairy tale Hansel And Gretel is making it’s way on to DVD. We reviewed it at the end of last year, and if you didn’t make it to the cinematic release we highly recommend you check out this DVD. You can read what we said about it here.

Special features include; ‘Making of’ featurette; interview with production designer, Ryu Seong-hee; teaser trailer.

Hansel And Gretel is released on DVD in the UK by Terracotta Distribution on 6 April.

Well done to Charlotte of Taunton, the poster is winging it’s way in the post to you now!

(Stay tuned for more competitions coming very soon!)

Yep, if you haven’t entered our competition yet, there’s still a chance to win a poster from The Good, The Bad, The Weird exclusively signed by the director Kim Jee-woon… (more…)

Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, The Bad, The Weird is released in selected cinemas around the UK today, and we’re giving away a poster exclusively signed by the director! (more…)

Takeshi Miike’s first English language film, the Spaghetti Western inspired Sukiyaki Western Django, is released on DVD today by Contender Home Entertainment. The cast includes Hideaki Ito, Koichi Sato, Yusuke Iseya and Masanobu Ando with a cameo appearence by Quentin Tarantino.

You can read our review here »

The director of A Bittersweet Life and A Tale Of Two Sisters talks about his latest movie, a homage to Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad & The Ugly… (more…)

No more mister nice guy. How Korean star Lee Byung-hun is ditching the romantic leads to play the bad guy… (more…)