Those of you who who have subscribed to the Asian Blu-ray Guide Feed may already heard it, but I thought I should mention it for everyone else again. Play.com has listed a Blu-ray Disc release of Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer to be released on September 21, 2009 in the UK! There are any details mentioned, but I guess that the disc will be distributed by Optimum Releasing who have already released the DVD back in 2005. It’s also unknown which of the three version(s) (Hong Kong theatrical cut, HK Director’s cut or the crippled international cut) of Chow’s comedy will be included.
I’m not expecting this to be a top quality release but Shaolin Soccer holds a special place in my heart and collection since it was my very first Hong Kong DVD import.
Update: The BD is now also listet at Amazon.co.uk with a running time of 112 minutes, which is (according to IMDb) the running time of the HK Director’s cut version.

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It’s been a while since the first footage consisting of a short teaser and a battle scene for 300 II The Storm Warriors, the Pang Bros. helmed sequel to the 1998 Hong Kong fantasy adventure The Storm Riders has been released. But now the official website has been updated with the first full and subtitled trailer that shows us some more slow motion fighting.

[via Twitch]

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[via FirstShowing.net & IMP Awards]

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European Afro Samurai Fans rejoice! While the coolest and best hair-styled samurai of the last decade created by Takashi Okazaki has been available in high definition in the States for some time now, us Europeans were always locked out because of FUNimation’s strict region code policy.
But no more! Manga UK will release the director’s cut version (meaning more nekkidness than during the US TV airing) of Afro Samurai: Season One and the follow up Afro Samurai: Resurrection on Blu-ray Disc on June 1st. The German market will be supplied with the DC of Season 1 and Resurrection by ufa Anime Universum Anime on July 31 2009.

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I’ve already mentioned this link in a twitter update yesterday, but I thought I should mention it again on the main site. The Akira Kurosawa Digital Archive opened a few days ago and now presents material like never seen stills, production photos, screenplays, notes etc. from the films and private life of (you probably guessed it) Akira Kurosawa on over 20.000 pages.

The archive is a collaboration between the Ryukoku University in Kyoto and Kurosawa Productions. The whole site is in Japanese but I’m sure you’ll find your way around by double-clicking the chronological ordered items on the left side.
[via @jasongray]

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A Yoko fanboy’s wet dream…

[via Japanator]

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If you are thinking about ordering the HMV exclusive Machine Girl Blu-ray Disc announced here, please read this article, check out the full resolution screenshots below and then save your money!
I got my copy from Guernsey today and I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I popped the disc into my BD player(s)…

I don’t know if Cine Asia didn’t get proper source material or if they screwed up during the mastering process but I don’t think material looking like this POS should be allowed on Blu-ray Disc! I’ve tested the disc on my PC drive, a PS3 and my standalone Panasonic DMP-BD80 (yes, I’m a freak!), and it looks absolutely terrible on every machine!
Machine Girl is no Hollywood blockbuster (hell, it’s not even a good movie!), but I wasn’t expecting something like this! Especially if you compare it to the recent Blu-ray Disc release of the low budget Thai horror ‘P’ that was released and supervised by the director Paul Spurrier himself. Either the QC guys responsible for this release didn’t even bother to look or they just didn’t care what they’re selling! The itself disc is region free, but the extra features consisting of a short making-of and some low resolution trailers are in encoded in PAL.
Cine Asia has a contact page, so feel free to tell them what you think about this kind of releases.

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SmallHuge casting update on Paul, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s (what’s Busenkumpel in English?) US sci-fi comedy project.
Today, Frost announced on his massive hilarious Twitter account that the two British stars will be joined by Seth Rogen, Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader and Jane Lynch. Seth Rogen will lend his voice to the alien Paul who gets picked up by the two geeks Graham (Pegg) and Clive (Frost) during a trip across the States. Director Greg Mottola will start the shooting in June.
Nothing personal against Mr. Rogen, but isn’t it about damn time to do some US comedies without him? I think he was already miscasted in Zack & Miri (even though I can’t decide if somebody else could have saved that film) but somehow I just can’t imagine him “acting” together with Pegg & Frost.
[via @nickjfrost & Empire]

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Can you Moe? has posted some nice full resolution (=1080p) screenshots from the Japanese Evangelion 1.11 Blu-ray Disc release that went on sale today.

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