THIRST, directed by award-winning auteur, Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) was recently awarded the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival, THIRST is slated to release in select theaters July 31st.

A priest becomes a vampire…another man’s wife is coveted…a deadly seduction triggers murder. Thirst is the new film from director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance). Already a boxoffice smash in Korea, Thirst was honored with the Prix du Jury [Jury Prize] at the 2009 Cannes International Film Festival.

Continuing his explorations of human existence in extreme circumstances, the director spins a tale that he conceived and then developed over several years with co-screenwriter Chung Seo-kyung. Sang-hyun (played by top Korean star Song Kang-ho, of The Host) is a priest who cherishes life; so much so, that he selflessly volunteers for a secret vaccine development project meant to eradicate a deadly virus. But the virus takes the priest, and a blood transfusion is urgently ordered up for him.

The blood he receives is infected, so Sang-hyun lives – but now exists as a vampire. Struggling with his newfound carnal desire for blood, Sang-hyun’s faith is further strained when a childhood friend’s wife, Tae-ju (Kim Ok-vin), comes to him asking for his help in escaping her life. Sang-hyun soon plunges into a world of sensual pleasures, finding himself on intimate terms with the Seven Deadly Sins.

Check out the trailer here and for more info, be sure to check out Focus Features’ official website for the movie here!

Wanna know all about the upcoming Wicked Pixel movie, Ratline? Go here! Eric Stanze’s latest is officially in post production.

 More details coming soon!

AMERICAN rock ‘n’ roll legend Iggy Pop is planning to reform Iggy and the Stooges to perform their seminal album Raw Power, 36 years after it was released.

The news will please Pop and Stooges fans around the world, who, for a variety of reasons, have not seen the group play some of its most famous songs, such as Search and Destroy, Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell and Shake Appeal. Three of the four original members of the Michigan band re-formed as the Stooges in 2003 and toured regularly for five years, including in Australia, but they played nothing from Raw Power because the band’s line-up changed after its first two albums, the Stooges and Funhouse. The band became Iggy and the Stooges to make their third album in 1973, guitarist Ron Asheton was replaced by James Williamson and Asheton played bass.Also, Pop was a heroin addict at the time, one of the contributing factors in the Michigan group’s split soon after the album came out and flopped. Asheton, whose brother Scott is the Stooges drummer, died of a heart attack in January this year. Pop, 62, told The Australian on Tuesday that he had plans to re-unite with the remaining Iggy and the Stooges line-up, with noughties Stooges addition Mike Watt on bassPop said that while the original Stooges ended with Asheton’s death, “there is always Iggy and the Stooges, the second growth of the band”. “I had a meeting in LA last week with James (Williamson),” Pop said. “It was the first time we had seen each other in 30 years. So we talked about doing something together. Raw Power would be the repertoire.” The landmark album, mixed by Pop’s friend David Bowie, has been cited by Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and many other rock stars as their favourite album and is considered one of the most influential in rock history, despite the fact that it sold so poorly on release. He also revealed that Asheton had left six or seven “hard-driving rhythm tracks” that could also be used in a future project. Pop, who has had a largely successful solo career for the past 30 years, has just released a left-field, jazz-influenced album, Preliminaires, inspired by French writer Michel Houellebecq’s novel, The Possibility of an Island. From: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25511689-601,00.html 

SUMMER HEATS UP WIH THREE NEW BLU-RAY RELEASES

TOWERING INFERNO
MY COUSIN VINNY
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA

Cool Off This July & August With Three High-Def Classics Sure To Make A Splash On Blu-ray Disc From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment!

LOS ANGELES, CA – Experience classics from the 70s, 80s and 90s as The Towering Inferno, My Cousin Vinny and Big Trouble In Little China make their remarkable high-definition debut on Blu-ray disc (BD) from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. 

One tiny spark becomes a night of blazing suspense in director Irwin Allen’s (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea) three-time Oscar® winning* masterpiece of suspense, The Towering Inferno, debuting July 14 on BD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. There’s no way out and no way down for Steve McQueen (The Magnificent Seven), Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), William Holden (Sunset Blvd.), Fred Astaire (Daddy Long Legs), Richard Chamberlain (“The Thorne Birds”), Robert Wagner (Austin Powers) and Faye Dunaway (Mommy Dearest), trapped on the 129th floor of the world’s tallest building when the opening night gala turns into a nightmare of unimaginable proportions.  A spectacular disaster epic that defined the genre, The Towering Inferno shocked audiences with its groundbreaking special effects and dizzying scale, garnering 10 Oscar nominations at the 1975 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture.

Two New York teenagers travel down south through rural Alabama when a series of coincidences lands them in jail charged with first-degree murder in the Oscar® winner** My Cousin Vinny, arriving on BD August 4 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.  Not being able to afford an attorney, the teens, Bill (Ralph Macchio, “Ugly Betty”) and Stan (Mitchell Whitfield, “W.I.T.C.H.”) turn to Bill’s cousin Vinny (Joe Pesci, Goodfellas), an inexperienced lawyer who took six tries to pass his bar exam.  Never having been in a trial, Vinny has to defend his clients and battle an uncompromising judge, some tough locals, and even his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler) who just does not know when to shut up, to prove his clients’ innocence.

Directed by John Carpenter (Halloween), Big Trouble in Little China stars Golden Globe® nominee*** Kurt Russell (Tombstone) as the All-American truck driver, Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi (Dennis Dun, “Midnight Caller”) rescue Wang’s green-eyed girlfriend (Kim Cattrall, Sex & The City) from bandits in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  In order to save her, the two men must go into the mysterious underworld beneath Chinatown, where they battle kung-fu masters and face a 2000-year-old ancient sorcerer named Lo Pan (James Hong, Kung Fu Panda) who mercilessly presides over an empire of spirits.  Big Trouble in Little China will be available on BD August 4 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Each BD includes the feature film presented in high definition.  Additional bonus materials and specs by title are as follows:

*1975: Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Song
**1993: Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Marisa Tomei
**1983: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, Silkwood

Towering Inferno Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, 4.0 Dolby Surround and Spanish Mono as well as English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Commentary by F.X. Feeney-Film Historian
·Scene Specific Commentary by Mike Vezina, Special Director on X3
·Scene Specific Commentary by Branko Racki, Stunt Coordinator on The Day After Tomorrow
·32 Extended and Deleted Scenes
·Alternate Opening Sequence
·Inside the Tower: We Remember Featurette
·Innovating Tower: The SPFX of an INferno Featurette
·The Art of Towering Featurette
·Irwin Allen: The Great Producer Featurette
·Directing the Inferno Featurette
·Putting out Fire Featurette
·Running on Fire Featurette
·Still the Worlds Tallest Building Featurette
·The Write Stirling Silliphant Featurette
·AMC Backstory: The Towering Inferno Featurette
·6 Storyboard Comparisons
·Vintage Promotional Materials:
-NATO Presentation Reel
-Original 1974 Feaurette #1
-Original 1974 Feaurette #2
·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

My Cousin Vinny Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Commentary by Director Jonathan Lynn
·2 TV Spots
·Theatrical Trailers
·Fox on Blu-ray Trailer Farm TBD <FOX TO PROVIDE>

Big Trouble in Little China Blu-ray Disc Specs:

Presented in widescreen with English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio and French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital as well as English, French and Spanish Subtitles.  Bonus features include:
·Feature
·Theatrical Version
·Extended Cut
·Commentary by Director John Carpenter and actor Kurt Russell
·9 Deleted Scenes
·Extended Ending
·Vintage Featurette
·Music Video
·Richard Edlund Interview
·Trailer A & B
·6 TV Spots
·Behind the Scenes Gallery
 

TOWERING INFERNO
Street Date:                  July 14, 2009
Order Date:                  June 17, 2009
Pricing:                         $34.99 U.S. / $37.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260000
Feature Run Time:        165 mins.
MPAA Rating:               PG
Closed Captioned         YES
MY COUSIN VINNY
Street Date:                  August 4, 2009
Order Date:                  July 8, 2009
Pricing:                          $34.99 U.S. / $37.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260278
Feature Run Time:        119 mins.
MPAA Rating:              R
Closed Captioned         YES
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA
Street Date:                  August 4, 2009
Order Date:                  July 8, 2009
Pricing:                         $29.99 U.S. / $32.99 Canada
Catalog Number:          2260276
Feature Run Time:        99 mins.
MPAA Rating:              PG-13
Closed Captioned         YES