VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES THE NORTH AMERICAN DEBUT OF THE HIT SUPERNATUAL ANIME ACTION SERIES NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN ON DVD AND BLU-RAY
When Night Falls, The King Of The Yokai Rises Up In This Thrilling Action Series About A Middle School Student With A Secret Life
San Francisco, CA, March 28, 2013 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in North America, gives anime fans a new dose of supernatural anime action as it announces the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN on April 2nd.
The fantasy adventure series about a young man who is part human and part supernatural demon is rated TV-14 and will carry a DVD MSRP of $44.82 U.S. / $43.24 CAN and a Blu-ray MSRP of $54.97 U.S. / $66.15 CAN. The new 2-disc set features Episodes 1-13 presented with original Japanese (with English subtitles) and English dubbed dialogue options. DVD bonus features include production art and the official U.S. trailer. The Blu-ray edition features a color production art gallery, clean opening and the official U.S. trailer.
Rikuo Nura is an average middle school student by day and yokai (a supernatural demon) by night. He’s not just any yokai – he is the grandson of Nurarihyon, the Supreme Commander of the Nura clan! Rikuo wants to live a normal life. However, his grandfather wants him to succeed as the rightful heir. When an inter-clan conflict threatens the stability within their organization, Rikuo must decide whether he will live his life as a human or accept his yokai heritage.
“Anime fans everywhere are going to love the action-packed storyline of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, which incorporates elements from Japanese mythology and updates them into a kinetic new supernatural adventure,” says Charlene Ingram, Sr. Marketing Manager, Animation. “The talented cast of top U.S. voice actors, including Kyle Hebert, Grant George, Mela Lee, and Darrel Guilbeau in the lead role of Rikuo Nura, really brings the action to life. Fans won’t want to miss the entire first season of this riveting anime series!”
The NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN anime series (English-dubbed) is also featured on Neon Alley, VIZ Media’s 24/7 anime channel available for the PlayStation®Network and the PlayStation®3 (PS3™) system, and now also for the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live®.
NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN is based on the bestselling NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN manga series created by Hiroshi Shiibashi (rated ‘T’ for Teens; also published by VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump imprint). Hiroshi Shiibashi debuted in Japan in Business Jump magazine with the series, Aratama. NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN is his breakout hit.
More information on NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN is available at http://www.viz.com/anime/dvd/nura-rise-of-the-yokai-clan-video.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Review: "Biker Boyz" a Disappointment
Biker Boyz (2003)
Running time: 110 minutes (1 hours, 50 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language
DIRECTOR: Reggie Rock Blythewood
WRITERS: Craig Fernandez and Reggie Rock Blythewood (based upon a magazine article by Michael Gougis)
PRODUCERS: Stephanie Allain, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and Erwin Stoff
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Greg Gardiner
EDITORS: Caroline Ross and Terilyn A. Shropshire
COMPOSER: Camara Kambon
ACTION/DRAMA with elements of crime
Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Lisa Bonet, Larenz Tate, Kid Rock, Rick Gonzalez, Meagan Good, Salli Richardson, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Dante Basco, Dion Basco, Tyson Beckford, Kadeem Hardison, and (uncredited) Eriq La Salle
The subject of this movie review is Biker Boyz, a 2003 drama and action movie. The film focuses on underground motor cycle drag racers and was released by DreamWorks Studios.
Biker Boyz probably exists because of the surprising and enormous success of The Fast and the Furious. Heck, the television program, “Fastlane,” probably exists because of Furious, as well as the fact that a popular movie video and film director proposed it.
First, I’ll mention what’s good about the movie. Director Reggie Rock Blythewood uses a lot of really interesting, unique, and visually jarring camera angles and shots. To watch the opening credits is an invigorating experience; it was so cool that I expected even greater things later in the film. Blythewood uses still photography and quick-cut editing to raise the level of excitement and tension in the film, and on many occasions it works…for awhile.
Laurence Fishburne is Smoke, the "King of Cali," a legendary motorcycle racer in California. The Kid (Derek Luke), a former member in training of Smoke’s gang, The Black Knights, wants Smoke’s mythical crown, his racing helmet. Smoke would have to surrender it if he ever lost a face, and he hasn’t in over 25 races. However, bike racing, among the mostly African American bike clubs is hierarchical, a governing board has to vote to let Kid play; he has to earn the right to tackle Smoke. Kid forms a club of his own, The Biker Boyz, and sets about throwing his weight around to get his way. But does the older Smoke, whom Kid views as an enemy, have something to teach the brash, young biker?
Just this last line tells you that what could have been a good racing movie turns into a mush fest. That’s just the tip of the bad. The story of the young up-and-comer challenging a revered leader is familiar, and, when done correctly, can make for an entertaining story. However, as good as Blythewood is with camera work and quick cuts, his sense of storytelling is abominable. Things develop so slowly that the film actually seems to grow longer as it progresses. The problems stem from the relationships between the characters. Every time the film stops to give two characters a chance to connect with each other, the film literally grinds to a halt; you can almost hear the film’s gears crunching and dragging. It becomes deliriously dull, and I mean that it gets so dull that it made me delirious. I was going to walk out, but to be fair, I wanted to see the entire film so that I could properly review it for you, dear reader. Never say that I don’t care for you.
Late in the film, Kid and his mother, Anita (Vanessa Bell Calloway), meet to make up, and the movie stops cold. I was ready for her to just make her apologies and get the heck out of Kid’s apartment so that he could go race. Ms. Calloway’s character had potential, but like all the others, she’s wasted by Blythewood’s inability to tell a story through his characters. As long as he can do tricks with his camera, he’s fine, but the moment people stop to relate to one another, Blythewood is struck dumb.
Biker Boyz has lots of supporting characters, and the actors playing them (Kid Rock, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Lisa Bonet, Tyson Beckford) might interest moviegoers. But they would be shocked how listless and dull their favorites are in this surprisingly poor film.
2 of 10
D
Happy Birthday, Phil
I forgot the birthday of an old schoolmate and pal who was actually born a few days after me. So (belated) Happy Birthday, Phil (the first of many Phil's I'd come to know).
Kurt Russell to Appear at Screening of "Escape from New York"
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ANNOUNCES FRIDAY NIGHT LINE-UP FOR “CAPETOWN FILM FESTIVAL”
SPONSORED BY TNT’s FALLING SKIES AT THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE
Film Legend Kurt Russell to Make Rare Appearance for May 3rd Q&A and Exclusive Screening of Escape from New York
Six Day Festival to Run April 30th – May 5th in Los Angeles
Entertainment Weekly today announced the coveted Friday night slot for the recently announced EW CapeTown Film Festival (CapeTown ) in Los Angeles. The inaugural film festival, in conjunction with American Cinematheque and sponsored by TNT’s Falling Skies, will bring a new print of John Carpenter’s 1981 futuristic sci-fi cult classic, Escape from New York, back to the big screen. In a rare on-stage appearance, Kurt Russell will join fans for a 40-minute Q&A with Entertainment Weekly senior writer Geoff Boucher to discuss his role as the gritty, one-eyed Snake Plissken; a role that helped change the course of his career. It also began a feature film partnership between Russell and Carpenter that lead to additional classic genre feature films that included The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), and Escape from L.A. (1996).
Escape from New York will be one of the six days of programming and will be accompanied by a special free big-screen preview presentation of the season three premiere of Falling Skies, the TNT sci-fi series that stars Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood and traces the post-invasion struggles of humanity to fight against the invaders -- and to fight against extinction. The Friday night program of the Falling Skies preview and Escape from New York screening will begin at 7 p.m with a brief intermission in between the two.
The EW CapeTown Festival will run from Tuesday, April 30th through Sunday, May 5th at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The film fest will offer sci-fi, super-hero, and fantasy fans the opportunity to see their favorites on the big screen, and hear from the visionaries and biggest stars from the genre who have brought them to life.
The complete festival line-up with dates, times and ticket sales information will be announced on April 4th and tickets will go on sale April 8th.
About Entertainment Weekly and EW.com
Entertainment Weekly, with a combined print and digital audience of over 17 million loyal, engaged fans, helps readers have fun. It is your all-access pass to Hollywood’s most creative minds and most fascinating stars. The print weekly was introduced by Time Inc. in 1990 and is America’s leading consumer magazine in the entertainment category, with a guaranteed circulation rate base of nearly 1.8 million. It is a winner of four National Magazine Awards (two for General Excellence, one for Design and one for Special Interest) and was named one of min’s 25 Most Notable Magazine Launches of the Last 25 Years. Entertainment Weekly is the first to know about the best (and worst) in entertainment, and with sharp insight and a trusted voice, EW keeps readers plugged into pop culture. This is where buzz begins.
Each day, EW.com publishes myriad of online-only articles, blog posts, videos, and photo galleries – plus a complete archive of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Over the last year EW.com has received more than a half dozen industry awards including the 2012 Min Editorial and Design Award for our feature writing and a 2012 Folio Gold Eddie award for Best Online News coverage. In July 2012, the site set new records with 130MM pageviews. As of Dec 2011, Entertainment Weekly is also available on the iPad®, NOOK Color™, HP Touchpad, Kindle Fire and select Android™ devices.
On social media, join the Entertainment Weekly community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
About American Cinematheque
Established in 1981, the American Cinematheque is a 501 C 3 non-profit viewer-supported film exhibition and cultural organization dedicated to the celebration of the Moving Picture in all of its forms. At the Egyptian Theatre, the Cinematheque presents daily film and video programming which ranges from the classics of American and international cinema to new independent films and digital work. Exhibition of rare works, special and rare prints, etc., combined with fascinating post-screening discussions with the filmmakers who created the work, are a Cinematheque tradition that keep audiences coming back for once-in-a-lifetime cinema experiences. The American Cinematheque renovated and reopened (on Dec. 4, 1998) the historic 1922 Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. This includes a state-of-the-art 616-seat theatre housed within Sid Grauman's first grand movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard. The exotic courtyard is fully restored to its 1922 grandeur. The Egyptian was the home of the very first Hollywood movie premiere in 1922. In January 2005 the American Cinematheque expanded its programming to the 1940 Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
www.americancinematheque.com
SPONSORED BY TNT’s FALLING SKIES AT THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE
Film Legend Kurt Russell to Make Rare Appearance for May 3rd Q&A and Exclusive Screening of Escape from New York
Six Day Festival to Run April 30th – May 5th in Los Angeles
Entertainment Weekly today announced the coveted Friday night slot for the recently announced EW CapeTown Film Festival (CapeTown ) in Los Angeles. The inaugural film festival, in conjunction with American Cinematheque and sponsored by TNT’s Falling Skies, will bring a new print of John Carpenter’s 1981 futuristic sci-fi cult classic, Escape from New York, back to the big screen. In a rare on-stage appearance, Kurt Russell will join fans for a 40-minute Q&A with Entertainment Weekly senior writer Geoff Boucher to discuss his role as the gritty, one-eyed Snake Plissken; a role that helped change the course of his career. It also began a feature film partnership between Russell and Carpenter that lead to additional classic genre feature films that included The Thing (1982), Big Trouble in Little China (1986), and Escape from L.A. (1996).
Escape from New York will be one of the six days of programming and will be accompanied by a special free big-screen preview presentation of the season three premiere of Falling Skies, the TNT sci-fi series that stars Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood and traces the post-invasion struggles of humanity to fight against the invaders -- and to fight against extinction. The Friday night program of the Falling Skies preview and Escape from New York screening will begin at 7 p.m with a brief intermission in between the two.
The EW CapeTown Festival will run from Tuesday, April 30th through Sunday, May 5th at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The film fest will offer sci-fi, super-hero, and fantasy fans the opportunity to see their favorites on the big screen, and hear from the visionaries and biggest stars from the genre who have brought them to life.
The complete festival line-up with dates, times and ticket sales information will be announced on April 4th and tickets will go on sale April 8th.
About Entertainment Weekly and EW.com
Entertainment Weekly, with a combined print and digital audience of over 17 million loyal, engaged fans, helps readers have fun. It is your all-access pass to Hollywood’s most creative minds and most fascinating stars. The print weekly was introduced by Time Inc. in 1990 and is America’s leading consumer magazine in the entertainment category, with a guaranteed circulation rate base of nearly 1.8 million. It is a winner of four National Magazine Awards (two for General Excellence, one for Design and one for Special Interest) and was named one of min’s 25 Most Notable Magazine Launches of the Last 25 Years. Entertainment Weekly is the first to know about the best (and worst) in entertainment, and with sharp insight and a trusted voice, EW keeps readers plugged into pop culture. This is where buzz begins.
Each day, EW.com publishes myriad of online-only articles, blog posts, videos, and photo galleries – plus a complete archive of Entertainment Weekly magazine. Over the last year EW.com has received more than a half dozen industry awards including the 2012 Min Editorial and Design Award for our feature writing and a 2012 Folio Gold Eddie award for Best Online News coverage. In July 2012, the site set new records with 130MM pageviews. As of Dec 2011, Entertainment Weekly is also available on the iPad®, NOOK Color™, HP Touchpad, Kindle Fire and select Android™ devices.
On social media, join the Entertainment Weekly community on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.
About American Cinematheque
Established in 1981, the American Cinematheque is a 501 C 3 non-profit viewer-supported film exhibition and cultural organization dedicated to the celebration of the Moving Picture in all of its forms. At the Egyptian Theatre, the Cinematheque presents daily film and video programming which ranges from the classics of American and international cinema to new independent films and digital work. Exhibition of rare works, special and rare prints, etc., combined with fascinating post-screening discussions with the filmmakers who created the work, are a Cinematheque tradition that keep audiences coming back for once-in-a-lifetime cinema experiences. The American Cinematheque renovated and reopened (on Dec. 4, 1998) the historic 1922 Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. This includes a state-of-the-art 616-seat theatre housed within Sid Grauman's first grand movie palace on Hollywood Boulevard. The exotic courtyard is fully restored to its 1922 grandeur. The Egyptian was the home of the very first Hollywood movie premiere in 1922. In January 2005 the American Cinematheque expanded its programming to the 1940 Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.
www.americancinematheque.com
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
"Easy Money" Finds the Mean Streets of Stockholm
Easy Money (2012)
Snabba Cash (2010) – original title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Sweden; Language: Swedish and others
Running time: 125 minutes (2 hour, 5 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violence, pervasive language, drug content and some sexuality
DIRECTOR: Daniel Espinosa
WRITERS: Maria Karlsson with Hassan Loo Sattarvandi, Fredrik Wikström, and Daniel Espinosa (based on the novel by Jens Lapidus)
PRODUCER: Fredrik Wikström
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Aril Wretblad
EDITOR: Theis Schmidt
COMPOSER: Jon Ekstrand
CRIME/DRAMA/THRILLER
Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Matias Padin Varela, Dragomir Mrsic, Lisa Henni, Mahmut Suvakci, Jones Danko, Lea Stojanov, Dejan Cukic, Annika Ryberg Whittembury, Fares Fares, and Maxim Kovalevski
Snabba Cash is a 2010 Swedish crime thriller from director Daniel Espinosa. In 2012, it was released in the United States as Easy Money. The film is based on Snabba cash, a 2006 novel by Jens Lapidus, a Swedish author and criminal defense attorney. The film follows a poor college student who becomes involved with drug dealers in order to maintain his double life.
Johan “JW” Westlund (Joel Kinnaman) is a promising student at the Stockholm School of Economics, but he leads a double life. JW is a poor man pretending to be a rich man in the upper class areas of Stockholm. He illegally drives a taxi and does odd jobs for shady businessman, Abdulkarim (Mahmut Suvakci), in order to earn the money that helps him keep up the façade of his pretend lifestyle. After he meets wealthy heiress, Sophie (Lisa Henni), JW believes that he needs more money and is lured into Abdulkarim’s world of drug dealing and violence.
Jorge Salinas (Matias Padin Varela) is a fugitive from prison, on the run from both the police and Serbian mobsters. Jorge hopes to broker a massive drug deal with Abdulkarim that will allow him to leave a life of crime forever. Mrado (Dragomir Mrsic) is a hit man and errand boy for Radovan (Dejan Cukic), a Yugoslavian mafia boss based in Sweden. Radovan sends Mrado on a hunt for Jorge, but Mrado’s efforts are complicated by the unexpected arrival of his 8-year-old daughter, Lovisa (Lea Stojanov). JW’s life becomes entangled with Jorge and Mrado in a dramatic struggle for life and death.
The press material for Easy Money’s DVD release declares “Martin Scorsese’s Presents ‘Easy Money’.” I can see why Scorsese might admire Easy Money. Director Francis Ford Coppola created the epic film series, The Godfather, which detailed the drama of American mafia royalty. However, Scorsese’s epic crime dramas, like Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995), center on the mob’s middle-management and assorted street-level types, like capos, local bosses, hit men, enforcers, and armed robbers. In his bid to win the heart of a rich girl and enter the world of the well-to-do, JW follows the easy money breadcrumb trail to a Goodfellas-like life. This is a darker side of the lower-class, one that can be unfamiliar, even to one of JW’s working-class roots.
Like Scorsese’s crime films, Easy Money is a tale of complicated, messy relationships between men who are criminals. Some of these relationships are born out of long held associations; others come about when men unite because of necessity. That’s what makes this movie so brutally real – the character drama that focuses on the bonds of men, bonds that are convincingly authentic to the viewer.
Director Daniel Espinosa wowed people with his 2012 Denzel Washington-Ryan Reynolds international thriller, Safe House, by unveiling the complexities of both Washington and Ryan’s characters. In Easy Money, Espinosa has a lead character in JW, but he turns his film into something like an ensemble character drama with JW as an axis. Thus, Espinosa gets strong, leading man-type performances from the rest of the cast, especially Matias Padin Varela as Jorge and Dragomir Mrsic as Mrado, in addition to the intense turn from Joel Kinnaman, who does his fiercest hawk-like face for the camera.
One glaring weakness of Easy Money is the relationship between JW and Sophie, which doesn’t make sense. Where are the scenes that convince us that Sophie would be so crazy-in-love with JW? Yeah, it’s cool that Sophie is ultimately a down-ass chick, but it’s difficult to see in the film where, when, or why that happened.
Easy Money is not an art house foreign film. It plays like the best of the big boys of American crime films. This isn’t a slick tale about cool anti-heroes and murderous hoods, like The Fast and the Furious. Easy Money follows in the footsteps of Scorsese and even Quentin Tarantino. The language barrier can’t stop the easy-to-like and hard-to-resist Easy Money from entertaining crime film fans the world over.
8 of 10
A
Monday, March 25, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
New "World War Z" Poster
Release Date: JUNE 2013
OFFICIAL SITE: WWW.WORLDWARZMOVIE.COM
https://twitter.com/WorldWarZMovie
https://www.facebook.com/WorldWarZMovie?fref=ts
The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop a pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.
Up-and-Comers Headline "Lotus Eaters"
LOTUS EATERS
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED By Alexandra McGuinness
STARRING: Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Johnny Flynn, and Benn Northover
SYNOPSIS:
LOTUS EATERS features a cast of young up-and-comers lead by Antonia Campbell-Hughes, a former fashion model; Johnny Flynn, lead singer of the popular English folk-rock band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit and Benn Northover, who appeared in a number of acclaimed films including Kidnapped Abroad and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.
The film, the directorial debut of Alexandra McGuinness, follows a group of young Londoners as they struggle to find meaning in their lives while masking their discontent with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. The story centers on ex-model and aspiring actress Alice (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) as she struggles with her relationship with Charlie (Johnny Flynn), her drug-addicted ex-boyfriend. The fashionable group of friends epitomizes a new modern “lost generation” reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway and his cohorts
Running Time: 78 minutes
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