Earthling will have its debut at the SXSW festival in just a few months time. Take a look at the dreamy teaser below and let me know what you think. I’m all in.
Thanks to the good folks at Quiet Earth for the heads up.

A young police officer (Ryan Kwanten) must survive his first day’s duty in a small country town.
Trailer for Patrick Hughes’ Red Hill has got me pretty excited.
Check it out below and let me know what you think. Thanks to both Twitch and Quiet Earth for the linkage.

Ole Bornedal’s (Nightwatch) Just Another Love Story definitely snuck in under my radar. This 2007 noir thriller garnered rave reviews at a number of festivals and was released to DVD in the U.S. May 9th. Thanks to Twitch for posting their review of the film which you can check out here, as well as the nifty trailer you can see below. I already ordered my copy from Amazon. I suggest you do the same. Enjoy.

1. The Haunting in Connecticut
After a family is forced to relocate for their son’s health, they begin experiencing supernatural behavior in their new home, which turns out to be a former mortuary.

What’s good about it:
Zero. There is not a single shred of originality, entertainment value, or style in this film. It’s like an episode of Full House, but with ghosts.
On the upside there are no Olsen twins!

What’s bad about it:
See the above statement.

Bottom Line:
Director Peter Cornwell vomits this celluloid waste on to the screen with, what seems like, zero regard for the genre of horror. Avoid at all costs.

2. The Horsemen
A recently widowed detective still grieving over his wife’s death discovers a shocking connection between himself and the suspects in a serial killing spree linked to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

What’s good about it:
Strong performances by Dennis Quaid and Ziyi Zhang. Zhang is particularly creepy (and hot) as Kristen. Director Jonas Akerland has a strong visual style that keeps the Horsmen afloat for most of its duration, and the film’s gore is very well done.

Bottom Line:
Wait for cable. Horsemen will pass for slight entertainment for fans of the genre, but its cliched characters and ending will leave most of you disappointed.

Blu-Ray Releases of Note

1. The Towering Inferno

At the opening party of a collosal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Absolutely one of the best disaster films ever made! Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Paul Newman, Susan Blakely, Richard, Chamberlin, Fred Astaire, and Robert Wagner! You can’t really go wrong! This film is a must own.

This BD contains a plethora of special features. The full list follows:
Commentary by F.X. Feeney, film historian
Scene-specific commentary by Mike Vezina, special effects director on ‘X3′
Scene-specific commentary by Branko Racki, stunt coordinator on ‘The Day After Tomorrow’
32 extended and deleted scenes
Alternate opening sequence
10 featurettes:
Inside the Tower: We Remember
Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an Inferno
The Art of Towering
Irwin Allen: The Great Producer
Directing the Inferno
Putting out Fire
Walking on Fire
Still the World’s Tallest Building
The Write Stirling Silliphant
AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno
Six storyboard comparisons
Vintage promotional materials:
NATO presentation reel
Two original 1974 featurettes
Irwin Allen 1977 interview
Trailer farm:
‘The Towering Inferno’ teaser
‘The Towering Inferno’ trailer
‘The Poseidon Adventure’ trailer
Interactive galleries:
American Cinematographer article
‘The Towering Inferno’ and how it was filmed
Photographing the dramatic sequences for ‘The Towering Inferno’
“Action Unit” lives up to its name while shooting ‘The Towering Inferno’
Stills galleries:
Shot compositions
Publicity
Behind the scenes
Conceptual sketches
Costumes

2.Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon / Curse of the Golden Flower / House of Flying Daggers Box Set

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Three visually arresting martial arts epics in one blu-ray box set. I just wish that they offered a bit more in the way of special features. I’ll likely wait until they are released separately with all the extras these films deserve. You should do the same.

Audio commentary with Ang Lee and James Schamus
A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh
Unleashing the Dragons: Making Of Featurette
Photo Gallery

The Curse of the Golden Flower Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Los Angeles Premiere Featurette
Secrets Within: Making Of Featurette

The House of Flying Daggers Blu-ray will feature the following bonus materials:

Storyboards
Creating the Visual Effects Featurette

3. Death Trance


Living in an undisclosed time and location, a master samurai known as Grave is on the constant lookout for a battle worth his energy. He finds this fight in a quest for a coffin from the Tougan Temple, a journey that puts a young woman from the temple grounds on Grave’s path.

I’m not sure how well this will turn out in HD, but I’m willing to give it a shot. While Death Trance is not a great film it certainly is visually stunning. I haven’t been able to find any specs or extra features information online so if you’ve bought the disc or have a link to the info drop me a line.

Big Fan is the darkly funny story of Paul Afiero (Patton Oswalt), a hardcore New York Giants fan whose chance encounter with his idol unexpectedly ends in violence. It’s also the directorial debut of The Wrestler scribe Robert D Siegel. All signs point to awesomeness. Check out the trailer below and leave me some damn comments.

1. Street Fighter : The Legend of Chun Li

In trying to right the wrong that was done with Van Damme’s 1994 version of the video game director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom, Exit Wounds, Rome Must Die) have only done, well, more wrong. This time the story centers around Chun Li (Kristin Kreuk) and her quest for vengeance against Bison (Neal McDonough) for wrongs done against her family when she was a child.

What’s good about it: Nothing really. Yes Kristin Kreuk is impossibly hot, but unless you’re a huge fan of wirework stunts and cheesy martial arts flicks you won’t find much here.

What’s bad about it: Everything you could possibly imagine. The characters are shallow, the script is lazy, the direction is standard at best, and sadly they even leave room for a sequel. Not that it’s likely to get made.

Bottom Line: Don’t rent it. Don’t buy it. Don’t even look at the dvd. Well maybe look at the dvd. Kreuk is still amazing to look at. Which is why chose the pic above instead of the awful movie poster.

12 Rounds is essentially the same film as Die Hard 3. Protagonist (John Cena) kills someone close to antagonist, in this case by accident. Antagonist (Aiden Gillen) comes back years later to exact revenge by putting protagonist through a series of rigorous tests and “games” keeping the entire police force busy while antagonist steals truckloads of money.

What’s good about it: You guessed it, not much. Renny Harlin has never been bad at putting an action sequence together, and there are some decent ones here but nothing you haven’t seen before.

What’s bad about it: The wooden acting, derivative material, and uninspired direction.

Bottom Line: Be glad they didn’t rehire Harlin to direct Die Hard 3, because this is what we would have ended up with. If you’ve seen more than a few action movies, you’ve seen this film. Stay away. Very far away.

3.Tokyo!

Three talented directors (Michel Gondry, Jooh-ho Bong, Leos Carax) tell three very different stories all involving one city. Tokyo!

What’s good about it: Gondry’s segment “Interior Design” is beautifully shot and acted. It’s likely my favorite. Joon-ho Bong’s “Shaking Tokyo” is a quirky, fun, and atmospheric love story involving a junk collector and a pizza delivery girl.

What’s bad about it: Leos Carax’s “Merde” segment isn’t exactly bad, but it’s certainly the weakest link in the group. While it’s well shot, Merde, seems to try the patience of it’s viewers in the last act.

The Bottom Line: If you own a Blu-Ray player this is worth buying. It’s scenes of Tokyo as seen through the eyes of these directors are absolutely awesome.

Chan-Wook Park’s amazing looking tale of a priest accidentally turned vampire will be releasing to select U.S. cities July 31st. Park is the man responsible for giving us the vengeance trilogy*, and if you haven’t seen those you’d better get off your ass. If early buzz is any indication Thirst might be Park’s best film to date. Check out the trailer below and make sure to get out and see it as soon as it hits your city.

* The vengeance trilogy is Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

Tony is a loner with an unhealthy obsession for action films, but that doesn’t stop him trying to make friends – with, for instance, the drug dealers who hang out near his home, and the ladies who advertise their services in call boxes. Neighbors, TV license inspectors, gay cruisers and junkies are all welcome at Tony’s flat… as long as they behave themselves. But when a local child goes missing, his odd lifestyle begins to attract attention – and his secrets must surely be exposed.

That’s the synopsis for writer/director Gerald Johnson’s debut Tony. The teaser trailer does exactly what it should. It sets the tone for what will likely be one bleak brutal film experience. At least that’s what I’m hoping for. Check it out below.
Exclusive Tony teaser

* You can check out Quiet Earth’s review of the film here.

Invictus, previously known as The Human Factor, is Clint Eastwood’s drama about the life of Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) after the fall of apartheid during his first term as president when he campaigned to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup as an opportunity to unite his countrymen. The film snagged a December 11th, 2009 release date and will compete against Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones. Both films are being released in the heat of Oscar season and are expected to be top contenders. I already smell nominations for Freeman as Mandela and possibly for Matt Damon who plays the Rugby team captain Francois Pienaar. Who do you have your money on? Jackson or Eastwood?

Director Yorgos Lanthimos took home the Un Certain Regard prize from Cannes film festival last week, but sadly Dogtooth still has no US distribution. Check out the synopsis and beautifully bizarre trailer below and let me know what you think. Remember it’s NSFW. It’s got boobies all up in it.