Legendary Japanese anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki will make a special appearance at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con. He will be in town promoting the soon to be US-released Ponyo film. This will be the first time Miyazaki will make an appearance at the largest pop culture event in the state-side.

Imprint

I thought I had just about seen it all when it came to crazy, insane action movies. I really did. Then I watched the (not really safe for work) trailer for RoboGeisha and witnessed a saw blade pop out of a geisha’s mouth and then she shot rockets out of her boobs and I realized that no, no I had not even remotely seen it all when it comes to crazy, insane action movies. And when mouth blades and boob rockets are the most normal items on display in a trailer, well, you just might have something…well, something. RoboGeisha is from Noboru Iguchi, the same guy who brought you Machine Girl, and he’s teamed up with the special effects wizards from Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl and Tokyo Gore Police and they’ve brought us such delightful delirium as Handicap Gun and buildings that bleed in this movie.

 It’s The RoboGeisha Trailer (via TwitchFilm)

By Stewart Smith

BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE is about to release before you know it! A favorite for some of us, Jeon Jihyun (aka Gianna Jun) makes her international debut in this blood thirsty live action based on the anime/manga. To boost the BLOOD hype, New York - Tokyo has some BLOOD goods to give away to a lucky lad. We have a poster and some books/manga to give away. To enter the giveaway, check after the jump!

Herb & Dorothy by Megumi Sasaki touches upon the value of art and how you don’t need to be rich to be a collector. This documentary about Herb and Dorothy who thought up of a way on how they can afford art with their middle class life style.

EM

Our good friends, Subway Cinema have once again started this year’s NY Asian Film Festival over the weekend. With a great selection of films and 8 years of hard work, it is sure to be a success. We had the chance to attend the press screening of Be Sure to Share directed by Shion Sono on Monday night. Sono is best known as a cinematic provocateur who caught the attention of the West when he had 54 schoolgirls leap to their deaths in front of a train to kick off his 2002 film, Suicide Club. Since then he has kept up his reputation with films like Exte -Hair Extensions- (2007) and Love Exposure (2008). Love Exposure, another feature at the festival, is his wild four hour exploitation extravaganza about God, religion, the Virgin Mary, up skirt photography, martial arts, sex and porn. Be Sure to Share is about a young man Shiro and his father who happens to be dying from cancer. The movie follows their relationship back to Shiro’s childhood when his father was a tough soccer coach. There were bonding and heartwarming moments in the film. If you’re interested in watching this movie, Be Sure to Share will be the closing night film of the NYAFF on July 5th at the Japan Society.

In addition to Be Sure to Share, there are over 25 Japanese films and many films from China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and Malaysia.

The full schedule can be seen here:
http://www.subwaycinema.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=160

It’s just a couple more weeks until the theatrical release of the live-action update of “Blood: The Last Vampire.” The advance word I’ve been hearing has the film pegged as a lean flick (it only runs 89 minutes) that doesn’t skimp on the action or monster gore. Judging from the trailer, (check it out on the film’s Web site) that certainly seems to be the case here. Director Chris Nahon did a respectable job with Jet Li in “Kiss of the Dragon” and fight choreographer Corey Yuen can definitely bring the goods, so this ought to be a pretty fun time. Hit the jump for a look at the film’s official one-sheet, as well as some additional info if you’re not too familiar with the film’s story.