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With an engaging mix of goofy comedy, charming romance and a heartfelt, if somewhat trite, message of ecological sanity, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid has achieved massive financial success. After less than two weeks in release, it has become the highest-grossing Chinese language film in history, soaring past last summer’s Monster Hunt. The story of a mermaid sent by her people to assassinate the real estate developer who has been trashing their home waters, but who instead falls in love with the guy and leads him to a new ecological awareness, the film lacks much of the anarchic edge or verbal dexterity of Chow’s early mo lei tau comedies, or the transcendent martial arts climaxes of his Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. It is nonetheless packed to the gills with the kind of moment-to-moment weirdness that characterizes Hong Kong cinema in general and the films of Stephen Chow in particular,...

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

The 10th Victim (1965)

Synopsis: It is the 21st Century, and society’s lust for violence is satisfied by “The Big Hunt,” an international game of legalized murder. But when the sport’s two top assassins (Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress) are pitted against each other, they find that love is the most dangerous game of all. As the world watches, the hunt is on. Who will become The 10th Victim? The 10th Victim is the international cult classic whose wild action and sexy style has influenced a generation of movies, from The Running Man to the Austin Powers series. Remastered from original archival negative materials, this outrageous satire is presented here in its original Italian language with optional English subtitles. — highdefdigest.com

Special Features:

Marcello: A Sweet Life (2006) (102 Mins.) Theatrical Trailer

3 Women: The Criterion Collection (1977)

Synopsis: In a dusty,...

Turner Classic Movies' look at Arabs in Hollywood movies continues this evening with six movies. Why exactly Gabriel Pascal's film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) is one of the six, I don't know. Caesar was a Roman-born emperor; Cleopatra, a descendant of Greek royalty, was an Egyptian queen long before the Arab conquest of Egypt. Now, I may be puzzled about its inclusion, but Caesar and Cleopatra is very much worth watching chiefly thanks to Claude Rains' brilliant performance as the first half of the title role and Vivien Leigh's highly theatrical but enjoyable star turn as the second half of the title role. Kismet (1944) would have been more enjoyable had it been directed by Henry Hathaway, Michael Curtiz, Frank Lloyd, or even Lloyd Bacon. William Dieterle, best known for several ponderous Warner Bros. biopics of the '30s, had a heavy hand...

We showed you the one-sheet (here) for Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend, China’s first 3D film, which follows Su Qi-Er as a wealthy man living during the Qing Dynasty, who loses his fortune and reputation as a result of a conspiracy against him. After being forced out onto the streets, Su dedicates his life to martial arts and reemerges as a patriotic hero known as the “King of Beggars“.

First Showing has some new set pics from the film, which Indomina Releasing is releasing in a limited theatrical run May 13th.

I can’t imagine how amazing this will be, due to Yuen Woo-Ping’s prior action films like Iron Monkey and The Matrix.

True Legend

Stars: Man Cheuk Chiu, Xun Zhou, Michelle Yeoh | Written by To Chi-long | Directed by Yuen Woo-ping

Yuen Woo-ping is considered by most, including myself, to be the absolute daddy when it comes to choreographing a fight scene that will make you salivate like a drunken toddler. The Wachowski brothers played a large part in making him the go-to guy in Hollywood, when they hired him to create some of the most memorable fight sequences ever committed to film for The Matrix Trilogy and this was also instrumental in his hiring for the Kill Bill double bill by Quentin Tarantino. I had the pleasure of writing a massive dissertation at King’s College on whether or not Woo-ping can be considered an auteur and from my research I found that there is a particular style and essence to his fight sequences that really are unrivalled by most other people anywhere in the world.

The Alamo Guide

for January 21st, 2010

I would just like to inform the general public that after the Alamo Iron Chef show last night, our own John Bullington came out the victor! However, Parkside still remains delicious. They have some wicked seared foie gras that I can’t seem to stop ordering everytime I go there.

We’ve got a whole buncha goodies coming up this week! First of all, A Town Called Panic finally opens this Friday, and we’ve been waiting for the day every since we saw it at Fantastic Fest. It’s a great time so def check it out if you can. Also, if you’ve been following this whole Leno vs. Conan debacle, you may be interested to know that we’re showing the Final Episode Of The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien. We’re definitely Team Coco. Our Valentine’S Day Feasts are selling strong,...

A new trailer chock full of fights (but short on plot and dialogue, which is not necessarily a bad thing) and two short but very cool TV spots for action master Yuen Woo-ping’s return to directing in the martial arts/fantasy movie “True Legend” have shown up online. If you absolutely need a plot for this thing, you can find that below. It also looks like the film has been pushed back to 2010. Su Qi-Er, a wealthy man living during the Qing Dynasty who loses his fortune and reputation as a result of a conspiracy against him. After being forced out onto the streets, Su dedicates his life to martial arts and reemerges as a patriotic hero known as the “King of Beggars.” Starring David Carradine, Michelle Yeoh, Cung Le, Jay Chou, Xun Zhou, Man Cheuk Chiu, Andy On, Conan Stevens, and Xiaodong Guo. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping. Trailer:...

Is that the drunken monkey?

Su is a wealthy man living during the Qing Dynasty who loses his fortune and reputation as a result of a conspiracy against him. After being forced onto the streets, Su dedicates his life to martial arts and reemerges as a patriotic hero known as the 'King of Beggars'.

Trailer after the break.

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He’s known for being the martial arts choreographer of 'The Matrix' films, the Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the 'Kill Bill' flicks, but Yuen Woo-Ping has also had quite the accomplished directorial career. Drunken Master, released in 1978, made a star out of a then-obscure Jackie Chan, and both Fist of Legend and Iron Monkey are considered classics of the genre.

After more than a decade without any directorial efforts, Yuen is getting behind the camera again for True Legend, which tells the tale of Chinese folk hero Su Qi Er. Also known as the King of Beggars, Su is a wealthy Qing dynasty patron whose status and riches are falsely taken from him, but manages to rise up from poverty again, thanks to his martial arts abilities and a few trusted pals. The movie features Vincent Zhao as Su, internationally-recognized stars Michelle Yeoh and Gordon Liu,...