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Private Eye (DVD) (2-Disc) (First Press Limited Edition) (Korea Version)
Hwang Jung Min (Actor)
| Uhm Ji Won (Actor)
| Ryu Deok Hwan (Actor)
| Park Dae Min (Director)
Private Eye offers a twist on the recent trend of modern noir detective stories by adopting a period setting, making for a change from the usual tortured cops, car chases and neon alleyways. The film marks the debut outing for Korean director Park Dae Min, and was a high profile production, boasting an impressive cast including the award winning Hwang Jung Min (A Man Who Was Superman), young rising star Ryu Deok Hwan (who recently impressed as a murderer in Our Town) and popular actress Uhm Ji Won (also in the excellent horror opus Epitaph. The film is set in Seoul in 1910, and begins as a young medical student called Kwang Su (Ryu Deok Hwan) discovers a corpse in the woods, and decides to... [read more]
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Buttonman (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Francis Ng (Actor)
| Terri Kwan (Actor)
| Leon Dai (Actor)
| Hsieh Cheng Jun
Grim crime drama Buttonman is the latest offering from rising Taiwanese director Chien Ren Hao, previously responsible for The Underground Order. The film is the first from Taiwan to be produced by Hong Kong company Mei Ah, and boasts a suitably impressive cast which includes Francis Ng, Leon Dai, Huang Yue, Terri Kwan and Janet Lee. Although its premise, revolving around a body disposal man, may suggest the potential for a grisly suspense thriller, the film earns kudos for taking a very different and far less conventional route. Hong Kong veteran Francis Ng stars as Wei, the titular Buttonman, a man who works freelance for the gangs, cleaning up after murders, and who apparently earned his... [read more]
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Pretty Ghost (DVD) (Joy Sales Version) (Hong Kong Version)
Tony Leung Ka Fai (Actor)
| Rosamund Kwan (Actor)
| Ellen Chan (Actor)
| Chua Lam (Producer)
It's time again for that most uniquely Hong Kong of genres, the ghost comedy romance, with the re-release of the 1991 outing Pretty Ghost. The film, which apparently also went under the bizarrely inaccurate title of Alien Wife (the film features no aliens, and no wives), marked the directorial debut of Teddy Chan, who went on the helm the likes of Purple Storm, the Jackie Chan vehicle The Accidental Spy, and the forthcoming Bodyguards and Assassins. Offering the usual mix of slapstick gags, ghostly goings on and improbable human-spirit relations, the film handed Tony Leung Ka Fai (Election) an early, if not particularly dignified leading role, and boasted a couple of gorgeous leading ladies... [read more]
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Invitation Only (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Bryant Chang (Actor)
| Jerry Huang (Actor)
| Ozawa Maria (Actor)
| Zhu Lei An (Actor)
Taken globally, Taiwanese slasher Invitation Only is just another film following in the footsteps of the "torture porn" vogue, as exemplified by Saw, Hostel and a bunch of other films that delight in slow, nearly affectionate scenes of human mutilation. Invitation Only has the signifiers that one expects - defenseless victims, severed limbs, buckets of blood, unflinching gore, gratuitous nudity - and qualifies as a perfectly serviceable entry in this notorious genre. Unfortunately, the film also has some of the genre's negative signifiers, like bad dialogue, bad acting, and a premise that's less chilling than it is familiar, especially since this nihilistic genre has become so firmly... [read more]
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Timeless
Khalil Fong (Singer)
Cover albums are tricky for any musician to do. Should the musician create something new at the risk of alienating fans who are so attached to the original song that anything different would be considered blasphemy? Or should the musician stick close to the style of the original songs, and risk being so faithful that the cover ceases to serve any purpose? Khalil Fong chooses to do both in Timeless, his way of paying tribute to his favorite classics, both Western and Chinese. However, Khalil has mostly picked classic songs so untouchable that he ends up becoming too restricted by his love for the songs to do anything more than pay tribute to them. More critical fans won't need to doubt... [read more]
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Opus 69
David Tao (Singer)
David Tao returns three years after the creative slump that was Beautiful with his 6th full-length album Opus 69. Taking on a predominantly rock flavor, Opus 69 strays a little bit away from the R&B style that has made him so influential, but it's also a return to the familiar genre-hybrid style of his earlier albums. However, the rock style here breaks loose from the angst and anger that initially drove his forays into rock in previous works like Black Tangerine and Ghost. For once, he actually sounds like he's having fun in the process, and the result is his best album since the 1999 game-changer I'm OK. However, David still has some steam to blow off via rock, starting with the intro... [read more]
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Fine, Totally Fine (DVD) (UK Version)
Kimura Yoshino (Actor)
| Okada Yoshinori (Actor)
| Tanaka Naoki (Actor)
| Kanie Keizo (Actor)
Surreal humor is brilliantly blended into ordinary everyday life in the indie comedy Fine, Totally Fine, the low-key feature debut by writer/director Yosuke Fujita. The story of three eccentric characters and their intertwining lives in the Tokyo suburbs, the film features impeccable comedic timing, flawed-but-likable characters, and sometimes surprisingly crude humor that all come together to make this one of the most delightful Japanese comedies in years. Fine, Totally Fine sports comedian/usual supporting player Yoshiyoshi Arakawa in his first leading role. He plays Teruo, a park-employed tree trimmer who still lives at home, above a family-owned second-hand bookstore while his father is... [read more]
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The Housemaid (DVD) (Korea Version)
Kim Ki Young (Director)
| Kim Jin Kyu (Actor)
| Lee Eun Sim (Actor)
| Um Yang Lan
Fans of Korean cinema have a real reason to be excited with the long awaited release of the 1960 classic The Housemaid on DVD. The film was directed by Kim Ki Young, who was known for his controversial features, which often tackled head on themes of sexual obsession through horrific subjects. Although a popular box office hit on its original release, the film has remained unavailable for years, despite persistent rumours of its quality. Following a successful retrospective of Kim Ki Young's works at the 1997 Pusan International Film Festival, it has gained praise and popularity around the world, and has been digitally restored and re-mastered by the Korean Film Archive and World Cinema... [read more]
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alan Debut Mandarin Album (CD+DVD) (Regular Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
alan (Singer)
Score one for either cross-platform marketing or just really good timing; Avex managed to expose their first signed Chinese artist alan (it's pronounced "Ah Lan") into the Greater China region twice within a year with the theme songs for the two Red Cliff films for which it served as a co-investor. Having established herself as a musician in Japan with nine singles and a Japanese-language album, alan makes her re-entry into the Greater China region with her first original Chinese-language album Orient of the Heart. But before Chinese-speaking fans get excited, Orient of the Heart is comprised almost entirely of Chinese covers of tracks from her first Japanese album Voices of Earth. Even the... [read more]
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Team of Miracle: We Will Rock You (DVD) (3-Disc Special Edition) (Hong Kong Version)
Gigi Lai (Actor)
| Eric Suen (Actor)
| Zhang Jin (Actor)
| Tats Lau
Directed by Adrian Kwan, previously responsible for the likes of The Miracle Box and the Sam Lee horror Scaremonger, turns his attention to the age-old sports underdog story with Team of Miracle: We Will Rock You. The film is based on the true story of the Hong Kong homeless football team, following them and their Christian social worker as they try to beat the odds and make it to the Homeless World Cup Finals in Germany. Featuring an amiable cast of familiar Hong Kong and Mainland faces, including Eric Suen and TVB actress Gigi Lai in her last cinema role, the film attempts to inspire and to put forward a universal message of courage in the face of adversity - and generally succeeds, if... [read more]
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Kung Fu Girl (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Cheng Pei Pei (Actor)
| James Tien (Actor)
| Au Wei (Actor)
| Lo Wai (Director)
Kung Fu Girl, also known as None but the Brave, was originally released back in 1973 as a vehicle for Cheng Pei Pei, the former Shaw Brothers martial arts queen, who had been lured back to Hong Kong by Golden Harvest after apparently giving up her career and moving to the US. Having starred in the likes of Come Drink with Me, Golden Swallow and The Lady Hermit, she had chosen to retire at the very top of her profession, and indeed the film marked her second last appearance for almost a decade before she gradually moved back to the genre in the 1980s and 1990s, culminating in her major comeback role in Ang Lee’s 2000 blockbuster Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Kung Fu Girl was directed by Lo... [read more]
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Love Connected (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Stephy Tang (Actor)
| Kay Tse (Actor)
| I Love You Boyz (Actor)
| Justin Lo (Actor)
Love Connected is the latest outing from Hong Kong director Patrick Kong, who previously enjoyed commercial success with the likes of Nobody’s Perfect, Marriage with a Fool and Love is Not All Around. Although 2008 did see him dabble in the horror genre with Forgive and Forget, here he returns to more familiar ground with a series of interconnecting tales about love and human relationships, backed by an all star cast of familiar faces. Of course, as usual Kong takes a bittersweet look at romance, though here his touch is somewhat lighter than usual, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the film hit screens on Valentine's Day. Taking place on February 14th itself, the film revolves around 5... [read more]
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Ichi (Blu-ray) (English Subtitled) (UK Version)
Sugimoto Tetta
| Takeuchi Riki
| Osawa Takao
| Kubozuka Yosuke
Ichi has an interesting premise, being a reimagining of the enduringly popular Japanese tale of Zatoichi, the blind masseur and master swordsman, who was previously the subject of a long-running film and television series from the 1960s to 80s, and the 2003 blockbuster from Kitano Takeshi. Here, Vexille and Ping Pong director Sori Fumihiko adds a twist by recasting the protagonist as a young woman, played by gorgeous actress Ayase Haruka (recently in Cyborg She). The film boasts an impressive samurai pedigree thanks to the presence of fight choreographer Kuze Hiroshi, who worked on several Akira Kurosawa epics, including Ran as well as Yamada Yoji's masterpiece The Twilight Samurai. The plot... [read more]
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Boy Director (DVD) (Korea Version)
Kim Young Chan (Actor)
| Kim Sang Ho (Actor)
| Lee Woo Yul (Director)
The Korean independent cinema scene continues to thrive with Boy Director, written and directed by documentary filmmaker Lee Woo Yeol. Here, he tries his hand at narrative form, whilst still keeping to his realist sensibilities, with a film about film making as seen through the eyes of a child. Originally released back in 2007, and having played the Puchon International Film Festival, it now arrives on DVD, though unfortunately with a box cover which misleadingly seems to suggest it to be a cutesy kids' comedy. The plot follows a young lad called Sang Gu (played by Kim Young Chan, who recently starred in The 11th Mother) who lives in a rural village in the Taebaek Mountains. One day he... [read more]
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Trail of the Panda (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Harashima Daichi (Actor)
| Zhang Qi (Actor)
| Yu Zhong (Director)
| Feng Li (Actor)
Disney attempts invasion of the China market again with the family-friendly drama Trail of the Panda. The Mouse House's second China production after the live-action/animated film The Magic Gourd, Trail of the Panda attempts a global marketing masterstroke through the presence of China's super-cute bamboo-eating national treasure, the Giant Panda. The filmmakers also multiply the cuteness factor by employing not just a Giant Panda, but an adorable Giant Panda cub. The only way this idea could be even more foolproof is if the panda knows kung-fu. Told in flashback, the story concerns Lu (Daichi Harashima of Lost in Time), a young boy living in the mountains with his foster guardian Lao Chen... [read more]
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Morning
Janice M. Vidal (Wei Lan) (Singer)
An auspicious debut and a few mediocre albums later, Janice Vidal finally gets a shot at proving her vocal talent in her native language with the English-language album Morning. With boss Leon Lai determined to not let family matters stop Janice's career, Morning is easily the young singer's most promising album since her debut in 2005, and the one with the most potential to go abroad. Written by familiar collaborators like Mark Lui and Jone Tsui, Morning offers very little in the way of pleasant surprises, though it is mostly pleasant. An altogether different type of surprise though lies in the lyrics by new Amusic talent Aarif Rahman. Filled with overused pop cliches, the words of the... [read more]
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Grotesque (DVD) (Unrated Edition) (Japan Version)
Shiraishi Koji (Director)
| Nagasawa Tsugumi
| Kawatsure Hiroaki
In these post-Hostel days, with the so called torture porn genre having largely taken over the horror field, viewers have consistently been let down by cheap rip-offs and anaemic pretenders which fail to deliver the gore goods. As such, it is no small relief to report that Grotesque not only lives up to its title, but also to its billing as "the cruellest Japanese splatter movie ever" - a bold claim indeed, considering that the country was churning out the likes of Guinea Pig, Red Room and others long before Eli Roth's American Pie gone bad style antics ever painted screens red. The film was directed by Shiraishi Koji, somewhat of a veteran in Japanese horror, having previously been... [read more]
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Written By (DVD) (Hong Kong Version)
Lau Ching Wan (Actor)
| Wai Ka Fai (Director)
| Kelly Lin (Actor)
| Mia Yim (Actor)
A message about living wrapped in numerous self-referential layers, Written By is about dealing with pain by writing a story about writing a story about writing a story. Got that? Wai Ka-Fai's bittersweet fantasy-drama features characters who cope with grief by writing an alternate reality, and the film becomes so steeped in its own layers of character-created fiction that it simply begs discussion. Stepping back a bit, screenwriters in the real world actually did write Written By's story, so one has to ask: were co-writers Wai and Au Kin-Yee exorcising some personal demons when they wrote their story about writing a story? Is this a metafilm about the catharsis of creativity? Or is this... [read more]
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Gu Gu The Cat (DVD) (English Subtitled) (Hong Kong Version)
Koizumi Kyoko (Actor)
| Kase Ryo (Actor)
| Ueno Juri (Actor)
| Inudo Isshin (Director)
On the surface, Gu Gu the Cat seems like just another Japanese animal film with a lovable cat and likable humans like Kyoko Koizumi and Juri Ueno. However, writer-director Isshin Inudou has concocted something a little different from your usual animal film, inserting observations about Tokyoites’ favorite neighborhood Kichijoji, some silly physical comedy, and even an appearance by Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman. The result is a strange hybrid of different genre elements that never quite gels as a coherent whole, but has enough to at least charm lovers of cats and/or Tokyo. Based on the pseudo-autobiographical comic by Yumiko Oshima, Gu Gu the Cat tells the tale of Asako Kojima (Koizumi),... [read more]
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The Scarlet Letter (DVD) (Special Edition) (Korea Version)
Lee Eun Joo (Actor)
| Han Suk Kyu (Actor)
| Sung Hyun Ah (Actor)
| Uhm Ji Won (Actor)
Originally released in 2004 and now being re-issued on DVD, The Scarlet Letter is sadly best known for having been the last film of feature actress Lee Eun Joo, who took her own life shortly after production had been completed. Bearing no relation to the famous novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne with which it shares its title, the complex drama also marked the third and last directorial effort to date from Daniel H. Byun, previously responsible for Interview. Although not particularly popular upon its original domestic run, in part due to its adult themes and content, the film has since enjoyed a successful international release, and has brought in more curious viewers, no doubt mainly due to the... [read more]
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