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Captain America Blu-ray (Shout! Factory)

On May 21, 2013, Shout! Factory will unleash the long-awaited 1990 action sci-fi movie classic Captain America, starring Matt Salinger (What Dreams May Come), Ronny Cox (Total Recall), Ned Beatty (Superman), Darren McGavin (The X-Files), Michael Nouri (Damages) and Scott Paulin (JAG), in a special Collector’s Edition Blu-ray™.

Available for the first time on Blu-ray™, Captain America: Collector’s Edition features widescreen movie presentation in astonishing high-definition and insightful new interview with director Albert Pyun and actor Matt Salinger. A must-have for movie collectors, comic book enthusiasts and young aspiring heroes to complete their pop culture library, this definitive collector’s edition release of Captain America: Collector’s Edition Blu-ray has a suggested retail price of $14.97. Pre-order is now available at Amazon.com.

Bonus Content: Brand New Interviews: Looking Back At Captain America with Director Albert Pyun and actor Matt Salinger

Features: 1080p-High Definition Widescreen (1.78:1)/Stereo/1990/Color/97 minutes

Update: The release trailer for Shout! Factory’s Collector’s Edition of Albert Pyun’s Captain America Blu-ray is now online.

Jackie Chan Double Feature: Police Story 1 & 2 (Shout! Factory)

It’s a busy week with plenty of Asian film love to offer, so let’s get started.

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Here are your Blu-ray and DVD releases for the week of 4/16/13:

ASIAN CINEMA

Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story II (Blu-ray/DVD) – two of Jackie Chan’s most beloved action films are now in hi-def, thanks to distributor Shout! Factory

Dragon (Blu-ray/DVD) – the Weinstein Company is behind this release of the celebrated 2011 Donnie Yen martial arts film, also known as “Wuxia.” Beware that this 98min version has been cut compared to the 115min Chinese version. Co-starring Takeshi Kaneshiro (“Chunking Express,” “Red Cliff”)

Message From Space (DVD) – this campy 1978 science fiction movie from “Battle Royale” director Kinji Fukasaku has long had a reputation for being one of the best “Star Wars” rip-offs. Co-starring Sonny Chiba and Vic Morrow

Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System (DVD) – the Criterion Collection’s Eclipse series continues with this selection of films from Japanese director Masaki Kobayashi. Look forward to the titles “The Thick-Walled Room,” “I Will Buy You,” “Black River,” and “The Inheritance,” dating from the 50′s to the early 60′s.

Girl$ (Blu-ray + DVD combo) – in modern day Hong Kong, several young girls have taken to performing “paid dates” for salary men as a way of making money. This 2010 film explores their risky lifestyle

Going By the Book (DVD) – this 2007 Korean comedy, on DVD courtesy of distributor 5 Points Pictures, follows a straight-laced cop who is forced to stage a bank robbery as a police training exercise

At the Gate of the Ghost (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 2011 Thai film is an adaption of the Akira Kurosawa classic “Rashomon”

Summer Wars (Blu-ray) – Funimation presents a 3-disc version of this popular 2009 anime feature film, which is something like a “Wizard of Oz” for the digital age. From the director of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”

Empire of Silver (DVD) – Hong Kong actor Aaron Kwok headlines this 2009 film, a sweeping drama and love story about a powerful bank heir during the end of 19th century China

MARTIAL ARTS/ACTION

Top Action Stars – 8 Movie Collection (DVD) – Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, and Dolph Lundgren share the spotlight in this 8 film collection that includes titles like “Knock Off,” “Universal Soldier: The Return,” and “Into the Sun” for only $12.99

Explosive Cinema – 8 Exhilarating Movies (DVD) – a diverse collection of genre entertainment is offered in this $12.99 set, including Tony Scott’s “The Fan,” Bruce Willis in “Hudson Hawk,” and Jamie Foxx in “Stealth”

Pulse-Pounding Flicks – 8 Intense Features (DVD) – see Chow Yun-fat in “The Replacement Killers,” Christopher Lambert in “The Point Men,” Wesley Snipes in “The Contractor,” and much more for $12.99

MAINSTREAM

Django Unchained (Blu-ray/DVD) – Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 Western – set in a slavery-era South – was a massive success at the box office when it opened last December

Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore (Blu-ray/DVD) – presenting a 2013 direct-to-video Marvel Comics animated adventure, featuring Iron man and the Punisher, done in an anime style

Spies of Warsaw (Blu-ray/DVD) – former Doctor Who David Tennant stars in this 2013 BBC production set in Poland, Paris, and Berlin in the years leading up to World War II

The Colombian Connection (DVD) – Robert Thorne and Tim Sizemore star in this 2013 direct-to-video actioner about a special missions team trying to escape the jungles of Colombia.

CULT

Repo Man (Blu-ray/DVD) – the Criterion Collection offers a new lease on life for this 1984 cult classic, starring Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton and featuring plenty of nihilistic punk attitude

Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures Triple Feature (DVD) – you can’t go wrong with this DVD collection of 3 films previously released by Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder label. The set includes: “The Mighty Peking Man,” “Detroit 9000,” and “Switchblade Sisters”

Samurai Cop (DVD) – the man with the chin that just won’t quit, Robert Z’Dar (“Maniac Cop”), stars in this 1989 cult favorite

The Indestructible Man (DVD) – horror icon Lon Chaney headlines this 1956 feature about a man who realizes he’s invincible after surviving the electric chair

HORROR

Bay of Blood (Blu-ray/DVD) – Kino Lorber has Mario Bava’s influential 1971 horror film, considered the prototype for the slasher genre, scheduled for a hi-def release. However, there’s no cover art available yet so it seems this title might be delayed. AKA “Twitch of the Death Nerve”

A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (Blu-ray/DVD) – this 2013 direct-to-video chiller is a sequel to the 2009 theatrical release “The Haunting in Connecticut”

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dark Sleep (DVD) – this 2012 horror film is said to be an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dreams in the Witch House,” featuring stop-motion animation for the creatures

Escapee (Blu-ray/DVD) – Dominic Purcell of TV’s “Prison Break” plays a killer on the loose from prison in this 2011 slasher

Jacob: Director’s Cut (Blu-ray/DVD) – in this 2011 horror flick, a crazed hillbilly goes in a killing spree to avenge his little sister

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"Death Trance" DVD Artwork

Twitch reports on the possible retirement of Japanese action star Tak Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi rose to fame with the 2001 cult favorite Versus, a movie that managed to combine the low-budget charms of Evil Dead-like horror with blistering martial arts and gunplay. The actor later scored another cult hit with Battlefield Baseball, but has most recently hitched his wagon to the Sushi Typhoon production company.

He’s been behind and in front of the camera, serving as fight choreographer on movies like Tokyo Gore Police and Vampire Girl Vs. Frankenstein Girl. A retrospective on Sakaguchi’s career will be playing at a cinema in Tokyo in early April; the event was announced via a press release that also mentions Tak Sakaguchi retiring from the world of acting.

Sakaguchi’s own management company denies his retirement but it seems likely that Sakaguchi will at least continue to work behind the camera on future projects, whether it’s as a director or fight choreographer. Time will tell if we’ve seen the last of the man as an action star.

Update: Looks like rumors of Tak Sakaguchi’s early retirement were highly exaggerated. Recently, the actor let it be known that he is working on Death Trance II. The original Death Trance was released in 2005 and served as an off-the-wall blend of a fantasy setting with martial arts and gunplay. It wasn’t quite up to Versus standards but the film is still generally well-regarded by action fans, so a sequel is definitely something to get excited about!

BREAKING NEWS: The magazine Monster Attack Team broke the news via Facebook that Tak Sakaguchi is indeed retiring from acting. It’s unsure what this means for the fate of his recently announced role in Death Trance II.

"Old Boy" Teaser Poster

THE MOVIE: An English language remake of the popular 2003 Korean film is being directed by Spike Lee. Josh Brolin stars in the lead role. The original film was by Chan-wook Park but supposedly this version is based more on the manga by Garon Tsuchiya. In theaters on October 11, 2013.

Updates: AICN notes that The Cell’s Mark Protosevich is writing. | Dark Horizons notes that the remake will only loosely be based on the manga and movie. | Comic Book Movie takes a look at the synopsis for the new Oldboy. | Anime News Network has a claim from Lee that the ending will be darker than the original film. Oh, and they might do a different take on the classic hallway fight scene.

Empire reports that District 9′s Sharlto Copley is the latest candidate for the remake’s villain. | Christian Bale, Clive Owen and Colin Firth have all turned it down. | Deadline reports that Sharlto Copley is officially Old Boy’s villain. | Slash Film talks to Josh Brolin about Park Chan-wook’s blessing and some details about the new ‘hammer’ fight.

MTV recently posted an interview with District 9′s Sharlto Copley: “They’ve been very true to the spirit of it. It’s dark, it’s gritty. They’re not sort of softening it, which to me was important.” Copley said. Visit MTV for the full article.

The Playlist reports that Samuel L. Jackson will have a small role. | Bruce Hornsby, who is also scoring Lee’s Red Hook Summer, will score Oldboy. | Cinema Blend reports that Red Tails’ Nate Parker is taking a small role in Spike Lee’s Oldboy. | Variety reports that Nate Parker has been replaced by James Ransone, who worked with Spike Lee on Red Hook Summer. | Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake get a October 11, 2013 release date. | Check out the first set photos, featuring Josh Brolin. | Collider has new images, featuring Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Brolin.

BREAKING NEWS: Check out the teaser poster for Spike Lee’s Old Boy.

"Dragon Tiger Gate" Chinese Theatrical Poster

Martial arts fans who were pleased by Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse’s 2006 collaboration Dragon Tiger Gate should be happy to hear that the two actors are teaming back up for a new project. Yen and Tse, easily two of the biggest stars in Hong Kong right now, will square off “emotionally and physically” in Enter the Master.

The action film is set in a US-based Chinatown where Donnie Yen’s martial arts master is pulled into the middle of a deadly Triad war thanks to his friendship with a new immigrant, played by Nicholas Tse.

Is it just us or does this almost sound like Donnie Yen’s take on the Shaw Brothers classic Chinatown Kid? Either way, Enter the Master is to be directed by Chan Hing-Kai. Donnie Yen will serve as action director as usual.

Film Business Asia does mention there are hopes of turning Enter the Master into a franchise if the first film is successful.

Update: Twitch offers word that Enter the Master is now titled simply The Master, which may or may not cause confusion with both the 1989 Jet Li movie of the same or Paul Thomas Anderson’s recent work. Directing duties have been handed off to Soi Cheang, who helmed last year’s excellent Hong Kong action racer Motorway. The film will begin shooting this year.

Also on Donnie’s docket as part of his recently launched production company Super Hero Films is a collaboration with director Derek Kwok (Gallants, Journey to the West) titled Dragon City. Just like The Master, the story is set in the 70′s, and follows Donnie as an ace cop fighting crime in Kowloon Walled City. The City has since been demolished but during that era, Kowloon was a massive structure with over 30,000 residents – it was also largely ungoverned and ruled by the Triads. Do a Google image search and you’ll start to see that the possibilities for a cool action movie set there are nearly endless! It will be interesting to see how the production designers go about recreating the now destroyed city.

"Point Break" Korean Theatrical Poster

Deadline reports that Ericson Core is set to to remake Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 heist action film Point Break. Mostly known for his 2006 debut feature Invincible (with Mark Wahlberg), Core started his career as a cinematographer for films such as The Fast and the Furious, Daredevil and Payback. The remake – which starts shooting at the end of 2013 – will be about an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates an extreme sports-lovin’ criminal gang.

The original, which starred Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey, was a box office success and has gathered a worldwide cult following. It has been referenced in numerous action films, most notably Johnnie To’s Fulltime Killer. Check back with us for more information regarding the Point Break remake.

"Gatchaman" Promotional Poster

For a generation of kids who grew up in the early 80′s, much of their favorite Saturday morning fare was – unbeknownst to them – anime that had been dubbed and re-edited from Japan. Thus, Japan’s Macross became Robotech and Beast King GoLion became Voltron.

Along those same lines, the long-running Japanese anime Gatchaman was introduced to American audiences as Battle of the Planets. The show followed a group of super-powered young people (who may or may not be cyborgs) tasked with protecting the Earth from the villainous aliens of Spectra.

Now, Japan is preparing to unleash a live-action movie based on the series and it looks to boast some spectacular production values.

A teaser trailer was released today but it’s definitely a ‘tease,’ offering only some voice-over and a glimpse of the hero’s costumes. Twitch assures us that a talented team has been assembled to work on the film, including visual FX from the team behind Returner and the live-action Space Battleship Yamato movie. Stay tuned to Cityonfire.com for further updates on this ambitious project.

"The Man With the Iron Fists" Theatrical Poster

You won’t see The Man with the Iron Fists on any London, Manchester or Edinburgh cinema listings now, but it’s worth catching on DVD for martial arts fans. That said; it’s not without its problems.

Development of this movie first began way back in 2005 and after close to two years of development RZA and Eli Roth managed to get financial backing in May 2010.

Filming of the movie was finally able to begin in in December of that year with a $20m budget. It was finished in March the following year.

The story centres around a 19th century village in the Chinese Jungle, where rival clans are fighting one another. When one of the leaders of a clan called the Lion Clan agrees to watch over a shipment of imperial gold, he falls victim to the betrayal of two of his underlings; the so-called Silver and Bronze Lions – played by Byron Mann and Cung Le respectively.

The Lion clan then attacks its rival Hyena clan whilst making a deal with Madam Blossom, the local brothel owner and whilst all this is happening, the leader’s son Zen-Yi is hurrying back into town. And if all that wasn’t confusing enough, there’s Thaddeus the blacksmith, played by RZA, who supplies everyone with weapons as he saves up to elope with his girlfriend.

There are so many things about this movie that are great – the plot is interesting and the action is set against a backdrop of rap music which always works well. On the other hand, most of us go to martial arts movies for the fight scenes. But with The Man with the Iron Fists, the fight scenes are decidedly average. It all depends on how much realism and plot you’re after versus unbelievable fight scenes we’ve become increasingly used to in the latest movies in the genre.

Perhaps The Man with the Iron Fists is indicative of the way things are heading – perhaps not. If you’re a real martial arts aficionado, you probably won’t like it. But if you like a great story and aren’t overly bothered about the fight scenes – be sure to watch it.

"The Grandmaster" International Theatrical Poster

While the Weinstein Company has finally announced an August 2013 release date for Wong Kar-wai’s highly anticipated anticipated martial arts epic The Grandmaster in North American theaters, we still don’t know which version of the film it will be. Given the Weinstein Company’s history, there’s always the chance that they’ve further edited the movie to cut down on the runtime or some other form of censorship.

Why take the risk? The Grandmaster is coming to Import Blu-ray and DVD on April 23rd, 2013, and the Region A Blu-ray will play on your standard North American Blu-ray player or Playstation 3.

Trusted retailer DDDHouse is offering the Region A Blu-ray for $29.49. Meanwhile, if you have an import player you could opt for the Region 3 DVD for $17.31.

Hardcore collectors might want to spring for the Limited Edition Steel Book Blu-ray for $63.86. One advantage to the Steel Book is that it releases earlier, on April 15th.

"The Tomb" Promotional Poster

THE MOVIE: A prison security expert is framed and forced to escape his own high-tech security prison. Sly Stallone is taking on a role previously considered for Bruce Willis. The Tomb will be directed by Derailed’s (the Clive Owen movie, not the Van Damme one) Mikael Hafstrom is set the direct. Road House 2′s Miles Chapman wrote the original script and Machine Gun Preacher’s Jason Keller is doing a rewrite.

UPDATES: An official press release announced today that Arnold Schwarzenegger will star opposite Sylvester Stallone in the action/thriller The Tomb, which will be directed by Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom. “I am thrilled to be making The Tomb with two film icons – Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger,” said producer Mark Canton. “It is the perfect pairing for this high octane thriller.”

AICN reports that Jim Caviezel has joined the cast. | Variety reports that Amy Ryan, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vinnie Jones and 50 Cent have joined the cast. | Summit Entertainment has solicited a press release stating that the film is officially in production. Screen Rant has a detailed plot synopsis. | Twitch Film has the first pics of Arnold and Sly acting together in The Tomb. | Cinema Blend reports that filming for The Tomb has wrapped up. They also posted a new image of Arnie and Sly in jail.

BREAKING NEWS: The Tomb is now called Escape Plan and a release date has been set for September 13, 2013.

Universal's Limited Edition Steel Book Titles

For DVD and Blu-ray companies, times are getting a little rough. With streaming, cloud storage and digital downloading becoming more and more popular, studios are thinking of ways to give the consumer “extra added value” when it comes to their physical movie catalog. Whether it’s packing a double, triple or quadruple feature onto a single disc or offering extras exclusively on Blu-ray or DVD, it’s apparent they’re doing everything they can to compete with virtual media.

One company is putting a creative spin by offering something that will look just as good on your shelf as it does on your big screen TV. On June 25th, Universal will release a series of Limited Edition titles that will be newly packaged in a Steel Book casing with impressive comic book-like illustrations. Although this isn’t exactly a new idea, this is the first time it’s being done to 16 titles on a single release date.

Some of the titles (which will include the Blu-ray, DVD and UV versions of the film) include Scarface, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shaun of the Dead, The Big Lebowski, The Incredible Hulk, Pitch Black, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Doom, Death Race and many more (click here for the full list).

Some will say this is a greedy move (“double dipping”) by Universal; others – say, die hard movie collectors – won’t think twice about spending money on a movie they may already own. And for those who are buying the movie for the first time, more power to you. Whatever the case, you can’t deny that the artwork is impressive.

"Elysium" Teaser Poster

THE MOVIE: Neill Blomkamp, the visionary director behind District 9, is prepping a new high-concept science fiction film starring Matt Damon. In Elysium, the world of the future is divided along harsh class lines: the rich live in a pristine orbital space station while the poor are left to populate a ruined Earth.

Matt Damon plays a presumably normal Earthling who is sent on a daring mission that might just bring equality to a fractured world.

Elysium co-stars Jodi Foster, Wagner Moura, Sharlto Copley, William Fichtner, and Diego Luna. You can expect the film in theaters on March 1st, 2013.

Updates: While we wait for a trailer, Ain’t It Cool Newshas this bad-ass image of Matt Damon from the film. Collider has a new image of Matt Damon from Elysium. | Collider has the first image of Sharlto Copley as the Villain Kruger. | Collider has pack of new photos. | The first poster is here.

BREAKING NEWS: Watch the trailer.

Sony's "Mastered in 4K" Blu-rays

As you can see in our recent article about Universal’s new Blu-ray collector’s editions, movie studios are trying their best to squeeze some income out of the waning days of physical media.

Eager to cater to consumers who are investing in new high-end televisions capable of displaying 4K resolution, Sony has announced plans to unveil new ‘4K-mastered‘ Blu-ray discs on May 14th.

Select titles include Ghostbusters, Taxi Driver, Spider-Man, and the Total Recall remake. Click here to see available titles.

So what’s the catch? Digital Bits reports that while the discs have been mastered from a 4K source, the films still only display in 1080p like your standard Blu-ray. Sony says these discs are optimized for 4K televisions but the difference in quality will be apparent on current 1080p TV as well. To quote Digital Bits: “If you can master Blu-rays in better quality, why haven’t you been doing it all along?” Only time will tell if the 4K Blu-rays will catch on at retail.

"The Avengers" Japanese Theatrical Poster

THE MOVIE: This announcement shouldn’t come as an earth-shattering surprise, considering that the Avengers movie earned an obscenely amount of money, but Disney confirmed that Joss Whedon is signed on to write and direct Avengers 2. Disney isn’t talking a release date but Summer 2015 is a likely target.

So, who do you think the Avengers are likely to face in the sequel? Captain America 2 is bringing Cap’s old partner Bucky into the present as the brain-washed baddie Winter Soldier, while Thor 2 is going to the trouble of introducing a whole slew of new Asgardian foes. But don’t forget, the post-credits teaser of Avengers revealed a certain celestial foe was pulling Loki’s strings.

The Playlist notes that The Avengers 2 will be in theaters May 1, 2015.

Update: It’s looking likely that Marvel will turn their attention to a second Hulk movie once Avengers 2 reaches completion. Marvel movie head Keven Feige suggested to MTV that the studio might consider adapting the comic book storylines ‘Planet Hulk’ or ‘World War Hulk’ for Hulk 2. In ‘Planet Hulk,’ the other heroes shoot Hulk into space for the safety of Earth but the Green Goliath ends up stranded on a war-like alien planet. In ‘World War Hulk,’ the Hulkster returns to our world to have his revenge.

AICN suggests we might see Emily Blunt (Looper) or Ruth Wilson (The Lone Ranger) as the female superhero Ms. Marvel in Avengers 2. | Joss Whedon says the script for The Avengers 2 will be complete in a few months. Instead of topping The Avengers, he says he wants to delve deeper into the characters. “Don’t go bigger; go deeper,” he told MTV (via The Playlist).

AICN says those rumors about the end of Avengers 2 setting up a Hulk movie based on the comic book storyline “Planet Hulk” are totally bunk. This is due at least in part to the fact that Bruce Banner doesn’t feature at all in the Planet Hulk storyline and Marvel Studios is keen to keep Mark Ruffalo front and center as Bruce Banner for at least five more films.

Jean-Claude Van Damme commented on his official Facebook page: “I read that Chris Hemsworth would like me to costar in The Avengers 2 movie! Well, it would be fun to play one of these types of amazing comic book characters again. By the way, I am a big fan of Marvel’s superhero Silver Surfer (see our latest on the Fantastic Four reboot) and also another heroic fictional character known as Doc Savage – the Man of Bronze!”

BREAKING NEWS: Actor Morris Chestnut (Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) has fueled internet rumors that he may be auditioning for the role of the popular Marvel superhero Black Panther for Avengers 2.