Looks like the Korean distributors are sloooowly waking up from their sleep when it comes to release domestic films on Blu-ray Disc on their own instead of letting the International licensees spread the big Korean wave in high definition. While many International films are already available in Korea on Blu-ray Disc, only four domestic films (The Host, Taegukgi (Brotherhood), Welcome to Dongmakgol and The Good, The Bad, The Weird) have been released in Korea for the format. Now CJ Entertainment announced to heighten this sad number by releasing Bong Joon-Ho’s 2003 thriller Memories of Murder on December 10, 2009. According to MadMad.co.kr, the Blu-ray Disc release will include English subtitles, just as expected from a Korean distributor. Package wise, the special edition BD looks a lot like CJ Entertainments technically pretty much perfect The Good, The Bad, The Weird release that only suffers from not including the longer Korean cut. Let’s hope CJ will keep up the good work and stays away from those nasty region codes…[Thanks to
Preorder Memories of Murder Korea Blu-ray Disc from YesAsia.com
Mr. 8537935 for the heads up!]

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The good folks over at Wu-Jing.org have found the first (a bit bland and generic) poster and a detailed plot description from the upcoming wuxia film Rain of Swords in The Pugilistic World (Jianyu Jianghu).
Rain of Swords is currently under production by John Woo and Terence Chang with Su Chao Bin directing. It stars Michelle Yeoh, Jung Woo Sung, Barbie Hsu, Paw Hee Ching, Wang Xue Qi and Shawn Yue, and will be released in Summer 2010.

428AD, Bodhi, a Southern India prince became a Buddhist monk and set off for China, earning a hallowed reputation as a mystical martial artist. Following his death, his remains mysteriously disappeared.

Hundreds of years later, Zhang, a high-ranking court official, is assassinated by Drizzle. Zhang’s son Jingxiu, whilst mourning his father’s death, is assailed by a group assassins. They leave him for dead, but somehow he survives and escapes their clutches.

Drizzle, a talented warrior herself, finds herself in possession of Bodhi’s remains, and begins her quest to return them to their rightful resting place at Yunhe Temple. The Black Stone, a team of deadly assassins who employed Drizzle, are also after the remains and the powerful secret they hold. To hide from The Black Stone, Drizzle undergoes drastic facial surgery and changes her name to Zeng Jing (Michelle Yeoh). She flees to Beijing, where she meets and falls in love with Jiang, soon to become her husband.

After a confrontation in Beijing, Zeng Jing’s identity is uncovered and both she and Jiang must flee for their lives. As Zeng Jing kills off members of the gang while they are on the run, she quickly realises Jiang is actually Jingxiu, and he is seeking to avenge his father’s death. This leads to a lethal triangle and a fight to death between our hero Zeng Jing, Jiang and The Black Stone.

The only question remains who will be the last ones standing to uncover the secret of Bodhi’s remains?

[via Wu-Jing.org]

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Fight Club: 10th Anniversary Edition – 20th Century Fox

Specifications
Region: ABC
Video: AVC
Audio:
English (5.1 DTS-HD MA, 2.1 DS), Spanish (5.1 DD), French (5.1 DTS), Portugese (5.1 DD)
Subtitles:
English SDH, Spanish, French, Portugese, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese
Screenshots

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Update: Poster #6
[via Wu-Jing.org & Filmsmash]

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Bargain time for all you cinephiles out there! Amazon.com has started a Criterion Collection sale with DVDs from $13.99 and Blu-ray Discs from $15.99. The sale includes 29 titles including Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai and Kagemusha, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal and the controversial Japanese thriller In the Realm of the Senses (Ai no corrida). European buyers should note that Criterion has so far region coded all their releases to Region A, so bad luck for most of us…

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[via @wildgrounds & Facebook]

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This trailer for the seventh Hellsing Ultimate OVA isn’t exactly brand new, but you can never have enough footage of Seras Victoria kicking some major ass, right?
The OVA will be released in Japan on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on December 23, 2009, sadly the license situation in the USA is still a bit unclear…

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Synopsis via ANN:

The story is set in Makka, a town surrounded by quicksand. With rumors spreading that the legendary robber Gasback has his sights set on the town, the mayor Kepler has brought together bounty hunters to protect the town. These bounty hunters have been following Gasback from town to town in hopes of bagging the prize. Meryl and Milly, two characters previously seen in Yasuhiro Nightow’s manga and the later television anime series, have come to town to assess the situation as insurance agents, but are shocked by this turn of events. Moreover, Vash the Stampede is also in town, along with the female bounty hunter Ameria and the fan-favorite character Wolfwood.

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Just in time for the theatrical opening in Japan, Avex has release two clips from Sunao Katabuchi’s Mai Mai Miracle. The first one shows the first five minutes of the Studio Madhouse anime while in the other one three kinds get themselves drunk with liqueur filled chocolate…

[via Manganimation]

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Looks like once again Japan will get the biggest and sweetest piece of the Blu-ray disc release cake.
While Kim Ji-Woon’s oriental western The Good, The Bad and the Weird has already been released on Blu-ray Disc in several countries, all these releases have some kind of small drawback. The British release by Icon Home Entertainment offers the International version (and the Korean ending as an bonus feature) but suffers from several small cuts that were made because of animal cruelty (falling horses) during the showdown.
The Korean release (looking great in the digipak and sleeve) is fully uncut in this department but only includes the shorter International cut (just like the French release), a fact that has only been announced a few days before the release.
Now Warner Japan announced to bring a release that includes the Korean and International cut (both with falling horses) and English subtitles on February 10, 2010. The only setback could be the price of currently 5,905 Yen (~45 € or 66 US$) without shipping…
[thanks to AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!]

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