War (Widescreen Edition)
by Philip G. Atwell
from Lions Gate Films
After his partner is brutally murdered by the infamous assassin Rogue (Jet Li) FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) vows to find the elusive killer and personally avenge his partner's death. But Crawford's thirst for vengeance jeopardizes his professional judgment and as the violence escalates he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between two rival Asian gangs. Now nothing is quite what it seems and he must be prepared for WAR! System Requirements:Run time: 99 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 031398221807 Manufacturer No: 22180
Pitting Hong Kong legend Jet Li against UK tough guy Jason Statham seems like a surefire way to generate on-screen heat, and action fans will get a good deal of just that from the action-heavy War. Unfortunately, they also have to slog through a clichéd-riddled story about world-weary FBI agent Statham, who's gunning for Li, the master assassin that killed his partner years before, and who's currently neck-deep in a turf war between yakuza and triad gangs. Philip G. Atwell's style-over-substance direction doesn't help matters either, though he does have a way with shootouts and other combative set pieces. As for Li and Statham, their scenes together are surprisingly limited; there's also a twist in the film's final third that begs for serious suspension of disbelief. In short, those that found the duo's last movie team-up (2001's The One) lacking won't find much here to supplant that memory. The DVD includes three commentary tracks: one by Atwell, one by screenwriters Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley (it's the liveliest of the lot) and an audio trivia track that delves deep into the film's production, which is also covered in detail by nine separate featurettes. A gag reel and deleted/extended scenes round out the supplemental features. -- Paul Gaita
Audition (Uncut Special Edition)
by Takashi Miike
from Lions Gate
If you want the full sledgehammer-to-the-stomach effect of Audition, stop reading this review now. Just watch it and take the consequences. At first glance, Takashi Miike's jack in the box of a movie works like a romantic comedy: amiable widower Shigeharu Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) decides it's time to find a new wife, and a friend suggests holding a fake audition to find the right girl. It soon becomes clear that there is something wrong with Aoyama's choice. This is no ordinary Fatal Attraction-style thriller, however; Audition slowly and carefully builds into a wrenching exploration of both deep male fears and the stereotype of the cute, submissive Japanese woman. Audition is by no means an easy movie to watch--even hardcore horror fans may have trouble--but it will stay with you for a long, long time. --Ali Davis
Moon Child
by Takahisa Zeze
from TLA Releasing
Japanese pop stars Gackt and HYDE star in this wild hybrid of futuristic science fiction, John Woo-style gunplay, and Gothic vampire horror. MOON CHILD follows a group of childhood friends as they advance in a futuristic criminal underworld. Sho (Gackt) feels he is doomed to walk in his idol Kei's (HYDE) footsteps as a vampire with the gift of eternal life and the curse of blood thirst. Over time, their tight friendship becomes corrupted because of their rivalry and love for the same woman. Filmmaker Takahisa Zeze brings a stylized sting to the blood draining and hyper violent proceedings. Japanese with English subtitles.
Suicide Club (Suicide Circle)
by Sion Sono
from TLA Releasing
A wave of unexplainable suicides sweeps across Tokyo after 54 smiling high school girls join hands and throw themselves from a subway platform into an oncoming train. Detective Kuroda (Audition's Ryo Ishibashi) and the rest of the police force are baffled as the bloodbath triggers a wave of suicides across the city. When a cryptic phone call tips off police to a strange website that appears to be tracking the suicides before they happen the question becomes are they really suicides at all? This outrageously bizarre wicked social critique in the form of a creepy and enigmatic detective mystery examines the despair of the disaffected Japanese youth and the influence of pop culture on their lives. From international film festival favorite to cult sensation Suicide Club is a study of contemporary morality that is gruesome darkly comic and vividly original.System Requirements: Running Time 94 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: NR UPC: 807839000580 Manufacturer No: TLA049
Trapped Ashes
from Lions Gate
In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror films such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT KAIDAN and DEAD OF NIGHT TRAPPED ASHES features five stories of the surreal erotic and terrifying directed by five of Hollywood's most unique filmmakers: Joe Dante (GREMLINS THE HOWLING) Ken Russell (ALTERED STATES TOMMY THE DEVILS) Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY THE 13th) Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP COCKFIGHTER) and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on THE MATRIX Trilogy).In addition multi-Academy Award winner Robert Skotak (TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY ALIENS) is serving as Visual F/X Supervisor on the film and the soundtrack is by acclaimed Japanese composer Kenji Kawai (THE RING DARK WATER GHOST IN THE SHELL I and II).System Requirements:Running Time: 105 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/SLASHER MOVIES Rating: R UPC: 031398236160 Manufacturer No: 23616
The Grudge
by Takashi Shimizu
from Sony Pictures
It's not the scary hit that The Ring was in 2002, but The Grudge makes a similarly convincing case for American remakes of popular Japanese horror films. Barely a year passed between the release of Takashi Shimizu's creepy ghost story Ju-On: The Grudge and the production of this American remake, set in Tokyo and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in her first post-Buffy horror film. About the only significant difference between the two films is the importing of a mostly-American cast (including Bill Pullman, Clea DuVall and Grace Zabriskie), but The Grudge was reconfigured (by screenwriter Stephen Susco) to allow Shimizu to refine and improve the spookiest highlights of his earlier version, which enjoyed previous incarnations as a short film and two made-for-Japanese-video features. Surprising box-office analysts with a $40 million opening weekend, The Grudge may disappoint hard-core horror fans because it lacks gore and graphic violence, but as a creepy tale about a very haunted house, it's guaranteed to send a few chills up your spine. --Jeff Shannon
From filmmaker Sam Raimi (Spider-Man® Army of Darkness) and acclaimed Japanese director Takashi Shimizu comes a terrifying tale of horror in the tradition of The Ring and 28 Days Later. Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV s Buffy The Vampire Slayer ) stars as an American nurse who has come to work in Tokyo. Following a series of horrifying and mysterious deaths she encounters the vengeful supernatural spirit that possesses its victims claims their souls then passes its curse to another person in a spreading chain of horror. Now she must find a way to break this supernatural spell or become the next victim of an ancient evil that never dies but forever lives to kill.System Requirements:Running Time: 91 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: PG-13 UPC: 043396062603 Manufacturer No: 06260
The Grudge 2 (Unrated Director's Cut)
by Takashi Shimizu
from Sony Pictures
Acclaimed producers Sam Raimi Rob Tapert and Taka Ichise have re-teamed with director Takashi Shimizu and screenwriter Stephen Susco to present this heart-stopping sequel to the smash-hit thriller The Grudge. When Aubrey Davis (Amber Tamblyn TV's Joan of Arcadia) learns her sister Karen (Sarah Michelle Geller) has been hospitalized she immediately flies to Tokyo. Once there she learns her sister's horrifying story and discovers that the fatal supernatural curse has been unleashed. Now as the grudge spreads across the world a new host of unsuspecting victims are about to become infected by the force that can't be stopped - and won't be killed.System Requirements:Run Time: 102 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 043396174924 Manufacturer No: 17492
The Grudge 2 is a spooky installment in Takashi Shimizu's hardworking Ju-on/Grudge series of horror pictures. It doesn't carry the disorienting thrill of the very first Japanese Ju-on features, but it's a lot creepier than anybody could have expected. The story picks up from the end of the first Hollywood version of The Grudge, and has nothing to do with Ju-on 2, Shimizu's Japanese sequel. Sarah Michelle Gellar returns (a distinctly supporting role) as an American woman traumatized by her experiences with a haunted house in Tokyo; younger sister Amber Tamblyn flies over to help out. This particular storyline doesn't have much meat on it; the murder house is still there, and people who go inside have a disconcerting habit of dropping dead. Fortunately, two other plots thread into the basic one: a group of American schoolgirls in Tokyo become intrigued by the legend of the house, and some Chicago apartment dwellers are unsettled by domestic anxiety and the weird sounds coming from next door. (This storyline, featuring Jennifer Beals, gives the film its extremely satisfying opening sequence.) As usual with these movies, sequences come to us in non-chronological order, and it's up to us to piece it together. You can guess where the film is going, but the slow trajectory toward its final sequences is surprisingly involving. The movie was widely panned upon its release, which says more about the presumption of the law of diminishing sequel returns than the film itself--it's a decent little horror flick. --Robert Horton
Stills from The Grudge 2 (click for larger image)
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War
from Lions Gate
After his partner is brutally murdered by the infamous assassin Rogue (Jet Li) FBI agent Jack Crawford (Jason Statham) vows to find the elusive killer and personally avenge his partner's death. But Crawford's thirst for vengeance jeopardizes his professional judgment and as the violence escalates he finds himself in the middle of a conflict between two rival Asian gangs. Now nothing is quite what it seems and he must be prepared for WAR! System Requirements:Running Time: 99 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 031398221814 Manufacturer No: 22181
Brother
from Sony Pictures
It's hard to describe the hypnotic authority of director and actor Takeshi Kitano. In his first American venture, Brother, Kitano plays a yakuza who's been exiled from Japan after the death of his boss. In Los Angeles, he discovers that his half-brother has become a small-time hood. Kitano quickly takes over, casually setting in motion gang wars and killing sprees. But a basketball game gets as much emphasis as an assassination; Kitano's camera watches a dead body lit up by the flash of gunshots, completely ignoring the shootout that's causing the light. Yet his movies don't seem arty, just efficient--and effective: you may not know whether to laugh or flinch, but you will not stop watching. As an actor, Kitano slouches, twitches, and stares blankly--but you won't stop watching him either. If you like Brother, check out Fireworks and Sonatine; gangsters will never seem the same. --Bret Fetzer
American Yakuza
by Frank A. Cappello
from Image Entertainment
In America, they call it the Mafia... In Japan they call it Yakuza. When they meet they call it war! Viggo Mortensen (G.I. Jane) and Michael Nouri (The Hidden) star in this explosive action-thriller about the first American accepted into the savage brotherhood of Japan's criminal underworld. Sent to infiltrate the American arm of the Yakuza, FBI agent Nick Davis (Mortensen) rises through the ranks of assassins and is soon adopted into the powerful Tendo crime family. His work brings him into brutal conflict with not only the Italian mob, but also a hard-nosed FBI taskforce guided by unscrupulous Agent Littman (Robert Forster). Caught dead center in a war between the Yakuza, the mob, and the FBI, Davis must decide what's more important: his old loyalties--or his new bond of blood.
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