Opening Thoughts:

When I heard that the Weinstein's new company was starting a DVD label to release some of their Asian films, I must say I was dubious. It's widely known that their track record for releasing foreign films at Miramax was less than stellar. Numerous films were purchased only to be shelved for years, many of which never saw theatrical release in the States. Finally when these titles saw the light of day on DVD, they were usually given mediocre treatment at best. Then there is of course the editing of multiple Asian films released during this time. This infuriated fans to such a degree that they fittingly nicknamed the Disney company "MiramAxe". All this is in the past however, and unlike some people I've been known to be a forgiving person. When I heard the new "Dragon Dynasty" label would be overseen by Bey Logan, a Hong Kong cinema expert who formerly worked for ...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

With Jackie Chan and Jet Li winding down their martial arts careers, Tony Jaa is quickly moving up in the world as the premier Marital Artist in cinema. With Jaa's film The Protector (a.k.a. Tom-Yum-Goong) just reaching the shores of the US, fans are clamoring to see more of his work. Unfortunately one should never judge a DVD by its cover, as Spirited Killer is not what it appears to be.

Movie:

Set in a remote area of Thailand, Spirited Killer starts out with a Voodoo Doctor brewing a magical potion, which several waiting villagers believe will grant them immortality. It turns out the Doctor's definition of immortality is death and after several of the villagers die, the rest flee. With superhuma...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts: The past 18 years has seen plenty of output from the Mobile Police Patlabor franchise. Over that period two OVA series were made, one TV series was produced and three feature length films were made. While I enjoy and appreciate a large portion of anime, I don't quite watch as much as I'd like. Out of the entire Patlabor series, I'd only seen Patlabor: The Movie before this review. Being a huge fan of Mamoru Oshii's (his film Avalon if one my favorite movies of the last 10 years), I was excited to see his second take on the Patlabor franchise.

Movie: Patlabor 2: The Movie is based on a st...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

Sogo Ishii is considered by many to be one of the godfathers of modern Japanese cinema. Filmmakers such as Shinya Tsukamoto, Takeshi Miike as well as many others have been influenced by Ishii's work. Now, one of Ishii's groundbreaking early films, Burst City, is finally available on DVD.

Movie:

Much like the punk revolution that he covered in his films, Sogo Ishii was essentially doing the same thing with his approach to filmmaking. Shooting on anything he could get his hands on, Ishii independently made 3 shorts and a 70 minute feature before exploding onto the Japanese film scene in 1980 with Crazy Thunder Road. Studio execs from Toei were so impressed with Ishii's student film, that they bought the r...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

In the last 4-5 years, Hong Kong cinema has taken a back seat in my film viewing life. This largely has to do with all the great films coming out of Japan, Korean and even Thailand. However, I'm not one to overlook HK films completely these days. Whenever I hear rumblings about a hot film, I'm always eager to check it out. In this case, I happened to hear some very good things about Isabella and it's director, Ho-Cheung Pang (a.k.a. Edmond Pang).

Movie:

In the year 1999, Macau Province is getting ready to be handed over to the Chinese government after 442 years of Portuguese rule. Police corruption and violent crime run rampant through the city leading up to the monumental handover. Isabella takes place du...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

I've been a huge fan of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block since the pre-Swim days of Space Ghost Coast To Coast and Cartoon Planet. Sealab 2021 was one of the first shows to put Adult Swim on the map and also one of its finest. Not only that, but to this day, Sealab 2021 remains my favorite show to air on Adult Swim. With that being said, it saddens me to be reviewing the final chapters of Sealab 2021 on DVD.

Movie:

Sealab 2021 Vol. 4 compiles 5 episodes from Season 4 and the entire run of 9 episodes from Season 5. Of course gone is the much loved and missed enigmatic nut, Captain Murphy (R.I.P. Harry Goz). His replacement, Captain Bellerophon "Tornado" Shanks (voiced by Harry Goz...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts: While I've just recently become a fan of The Dead Zone (thanks to the first three seasons being availible on DVD), it's easy for me to say that The Dead Zone is one of the most underrated shows currently on TV. I'm very interested to see what the producers had in store for Season 4 after everything that happened in the previous season. As I'm writing this review, Season 5 of The Dead Zone is currently in the middle of its run on USA Network. That means the show must have done well during Season 4, right?

Movie: Season 3 of The Dead Zone left a lot of unanswered questions for Johnny Smith and company. Would Johnny have brain surgery, could he still be a suspect in Rebecca's murder, what role would Johnn...Read the entire review

NOTE: Although this Japanese Import DVD is NTSC, it is coded for playback in Region 2 only. In order to watch this disc, you'll have to have either a player coded for Region 2 or a Region Free DVD Player.

Opening Thoughts:

In 2005 Always - Sunset On Third Street swept not only the hearts of the Japanese people, but also captured 12 of 13 possible awards at the '06 Japanese Academy Awards. With the massive buzz coming out of Japan about this film, I was more than eager to find out what all the commotion was about. I'm usually skeptical about films that garner both critical acclaim and popularity with the masses, but then again I'm more than willing to be proven wrong.

Movie:

Set in Tokyo in 1958, Always - Sunset On Third Street...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

2005 was a banner year for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts and PRIDE FC helped spread MMA across the globe. Pride Fighting Championship is arguably the biggest organization in MMA and boasts some of the best fighters from around the planet. For their 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, Total Elimination 2005, PRIDE FC put together a downright amazing card. Could it possibly live up to the hype?

On April 23rd, 2005 at the Osaka dome in Japan, 16 of the worlds best Middleweight fighters (183-205lbs) convened for the first round of a three round MMA tournament, Total Elimination 2005. Some of the biggest names in Mixed Martial Arts from around the globe participating in this event included Wanderlei Silva, Qu...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts:

British humor isn't for everyone. Let's face it, in the US the average Joe who watches Two and a Half Men isn't going to enjoy Spaced, Black Adder or the British version of The Office. However, there are legions of fans who swear by Britcoms and I'm one of them. Waiting For God is a show I've been waiting to see on DVD for some time. Now that the first season has finally been released in the US, I hope it lives up to the hype.

Movie:

Waiting For God follows the misadventures of Tom Ballard (Graham Crowden) and Diana Trent (Stephanie Cole) at the Bayview Retirement Village. Tom has recently moved into Bayview and soon finds himself living next to the resident troublemaker, Diana. Diana is witty, outspoken, cynical and bitter to the core. Tom on the other hand is charismatic, optimistic, friendly and a ...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts: I've heard nothing but good things about Running Out of Time for quite some time now, but for some reason never got around to seeing it. I'm a fan of most of Jonnie To's work and lets face it, everyone's an Andy Lau fan. This is one of great actor/director duos to work in HK cinema and they rarely disappoint when teaming up.

Movie: Running Out of Time (or Am zim) starts out like may "super" cop movies. Inspector Ho Sheung-Sang (played by Chin Wan Lau) is called in to negotiate a hostage situation and boldly handles the crisis with ease. Little does he know, he's being closely watched by a mysterious man named Cheung (Andy Lau). Cheung soon robs a finance company and takes a hostage to lure Inspector Ho to the scene. Soon the two are face to face and Cheung tells inspector Ho that he wants to "play a game with him for 72 hour...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts: I'll be honest, for some reason I never watched Coach when it was originally broadcast or in syndication. I'm pretty sure my blind love of Seinfeld had something to do with it. Any way, if there's one thing I've discovered with TV on DVD, it's the joy of finding a show you passed up and now have the opportunity to experience. I'm hoping Coach will be one of these TV shows.

Movie:

Coach follows Hayden Fox (Craig T. Nelson), the head football coach of the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles. The primary location of the show is Hayden's office, where we usually find him and two of his coaches Luther Van Dam (Jerry Van Dyke) and Dauber Dybinski (Bill Fagerbakke). Both coaches are hilarious in their own way and always seem to have something to say. Assistant coach Van Dam is pessimistic at heart and is always expecting the worst...Read the entire review

Opening Thoughts: Newly remade as The Lake House starring Neo and Mrs. Jesse James, this wonderful Korean romance gets a re-release of it's own on DVD. Let's hope it's better than the original Korean DVD (fingers crossed).

Movie: Il Mare (or Siworae) was released in Korea in 2000, which was right around when Korean cinema started blowing up internationally. While it didn't make a huge splash in the Korean box office, the film has won critics and fans world wide over the years. So much in fact that Hollywood took notice and decided to add the film to its growing stable of Asian remakes. Il Mare ('the sea' in Italian) was released by Warner Bros. in the US as The Lake House in June of 2006.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22155 Sun, 11 Jun 2006 06:02:33 UTC Highly Recommended

Opening Thoughts: 2005 turned out to be a mixed bag in regards to films released in the US. King Kong failed to ignite the box office as expected, while Wedding Crashers raked in cash by the truck load. Then along comes a movie like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang which received acclaim from both critics and fans, but barely reached 200 theaters and went unseen by the masses. Now that the film is available on DVD, does it live up to the buzz it created?

Movie: Trying to summarize the plot of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang would be an exercise in futility. You know, like trying to skate on an ice rink filled with Jel...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/22026 Sun, 04 Jun 2006 16:36:06 UTC Highly Recommended

Opening Thoughts: Burt Munro, the real life individual portrayed in The Worlds Fastest Indian was asked in an interview, "Why do you like going fast?" Burt's reply, "Well, who doesn't. Everybody breaks the speed limit… Don't they?" How true indeed. But not all of us speeders can claim breaking a world land speed record. Let alone at over the age of 60.

The Movie: The Worlds Fastest Indian follows 60 year old motorcycle enthusiast Burt Munro (Anthony Hopkins), a New Zealander from the city of Invercargill. Much to his neighbor's displeasure, Burt constantly tries to improve his 1920 Indian "Scout" motorcycle at all hours of the day. His techniques are rudimentary and unorthodox, but in the end they get the job done. This "dirty ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21923 Mon, 29 May 2006 14:31:15 UTC Rent It

Opening Thoughts: Here's the scenario: Ten scantily dressed Texas girls sweating, skating and fighting their way around 300 feet of a banked, wooden track. Meanwhile over a thousand screaming fans cheer them on to victory. Sound exciting? Well it is, but how well does it translate well into a reality television show?

Movie: Roller Derby has been around in one form or the other in the United States since the mid 1930's. I even remember as a kid watching (and enjoying) some bouts on TV in the mid 80's. The sport has seen its ups and downs over the years, but is trying to make a comeback thanks to small organizations across the country. Rollergirls follows TXRD, a homegrown all women's Roller Derby organiza...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/21735 Wed, 17 May 2006 12:58:27 UTC Rent It

Opening Thoughts: Perhaps you missed Grandma's Boy when it hit the theaters just a mere 5 months ago? Well you're certainly not alone. Have no worries, because thanks to a lightning quick Theater-to-DVD turnaround you can see what you missed (or didn't).

The Movie

The director for Grandma's Boy, Nic Goossen, summarizes the film in three words: Video Games, Grandmother's and Weed. That's pretty spot on, but the three words' I'd use to summarize the film would be: Ninja Blood Orgy. Confused? Good, because that's the way the Tae Kwon Do monkey like's his opponents!

Made by Adam Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions, there are plenty of familiar faces in this picture (minus Mr. Sandler). Actor/Writer/Produce...Read the entire review

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