Synopsis:

The Tree of Life is the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950′s. The film follows the life journey of the eldest son, Jack, through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn) finds himself a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the origins and meaning of life while questioning the existence of faith. Through Malick’s signature imagery, we see how both brute nature and spiritual grace shape not only our lives as individuals and families, but all life.

[via IMDb]

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While the first reviews for Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch are rather mixed, I’m still looking forward to finally see the full film. Especially after watching these three new animated shorts that tell us a bit more about the enemies the girls have to face…
Feudal Warriors

See two more after the jump…

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Synopsis:

In the era of the Shogun, an evil young lord rapes and kills, assured of immunity by law. But he didn’t count on the Thirteen Assassins. A feared secret force, each with their own deadly skill, the Assassins undertake a suicide mission to wipe out the Lord. As he embarks on a perilous journey, the Assassins close off his escape route and ambush him in a village of death. But little do they know, they are outnumbered four to one by the Lord’s crack team of bodyguards.

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Ruairí­ Robinson’s short film starring Max Records about the fun-loving toy robot BLINKY finally found it’s way to the net after the first teaser trailer starring Max Records warmed our hearts back in November…

[via io9]

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Amazon and CDJapan just added the Japanese Blu-ray Disc release of Studio Ghibli’s latest film The Borrower Arrietty (Karigurashi no Arrietty) to their stock!
The full specs haven’t been announced yet, but CDJapan tells us that the disc will include English, French and Japanese subtitles with the French, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese dub next to the original Japanese audio track. The supposed release date is set for June 17th.
Judging by the cover artwork from Amazon.co.jp, this one will look great next to the Japanese releases of Nausicaä, Laputa and My Neighbors the Yamadas.

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Warner Bros. has released a nice animated feature called The Trenches for Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. Guess I’ll never see zombie soldiers the same way again after this…

[via FirstShowing.net]

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The official website has been updated with a first full trailer for Hiroaki Ando’s CG anime project Norageki! which, contrary to the first teaser trailer actually shows some real footage instead of some early sketches. I’m still no fan of the rendering style, but at least this looks better than Bandai’s noodle project Freedom. Plus, Dai Sato (GitS:SAC, Ergo Proxy) is responsible for the script, so this could really be good.

Norageki! is supposed to be released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in Japan on March 25, 2011, most probably without English subtitles.
Synopsis:

In an isolated prison, a young man who seems conscientious, a sexy woman, a middle-aged ex-army man, an otaku girl, a mysterious old man and a cat are confined there. One day, they get freed after a blackout. In a strange way, all the prison guards have disappeared and they don’t know why they are released. They try to escape from the prison, however an extraordinary event occurs…

[via ANN]

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The team of Nippon Connection has announced the full program for the 11th edition of the Japanese film festival. Despite the current events in Japan, the festival will take place in Frankfurt from April 27th to Mai 1st.
Currently the program isn’t available on the festival’s website, so read on for a quick peek taken from the press release.

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Synopsis:

The film centers on Asuna, a girl who spends her solitary days listening to the mysterious music emanating from the crystal radio she received from her father as a memento. However, she embarks on a journey of adventure to meet a boy again, and thus comes to know the cruelty and beauty of the world, as well as loss.

[via ANN & Catsuka]

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Sweet! Too bad Magnet Releasing (part of Magnolia Pictures) decided to put Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins into VOD-hell in March before a proper home video release on DVD or BD…

[via Cinematical]

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