CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.

This is one of the most exciting DVD release weeks in a long time, so be sure to “Click to Read More” to hear all the good news, including the release of Atonement in the UK, a bunch of big releases across Asia and some obscure DVDs of note in North America.

In the United States (Region 1 DVD, NTSC) Julie Taymor’s popular love story Across the Universe will likely be the best-selling title of the week, followed closely by Oscar candidate The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Casey Affleck has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor). Both films are being released on both DVD and Blu-ray disc formats.

The release of Jesse James more or less officially marks the launch of the Oscar DVD onslaught, that will culminate in the March 11th release of No Country for Old Men. Another Oscar contender out this week, for example, is Elizabeth: The Golden Age (in which Cate Blanchett is nominated for Best Actress).

If you want a break from the headier Oscar themes, The Brave One may be just what your looking for — an unabashed revenge film starring Jodie Foster, which is out this week on DVD and Blu-Ray disc. Some criticize the film as being a remake of Death Wish that takes itself too seriously, but personally speaking, anything that amounts to any kind of remake of Death Wish deserves our attention, especially when (as here) it also features an accomplished director, in this case Neil Jordan of The Crying Game fame.

Of course, it is still February, so there isn’t a lot of depth in terms of quality films out this week in the USA, but one exciting title that’s a little more on the obscure side can be found in a double feature from Universal. The long-awaited film noir Portrait in Black, starring Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn, is out this week in a pairing with Madame X (also starring Lana Turner). Look at this as a taster for the next batch of Fox Film Noir due out on March 11th.

There’s also an interesting box set of Russian films out this week from Kino. The Films of Sergei Pardjanov, which includes Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, The Color of Pomegranates, The Legend of Suram Fortress and Ashik Kerib. The release dates for these films range from 1964 to 1988. I’m not familiar with the director myself, but Kino is normally very reliable, so this may be worth checking out.

As for what’s new on the high-definition front, I smell a fat lady. Things have shifted in favor Blu-ray so much in the past two months that I would not be at all surprised if Universal and Paramount changed their policies to release films on Blu-ray and HD-DVD before the end of the summer. We’ll see, but if this week is any measure, HD-DVD is in trouble. Elizabeth: The Golden Years is the sole title being released, whereas Blu-ray can brag of Across the Universe, The Assassination of Jesse James, The Brave One, plus seven other titles including big-ticket catalog releases Wall Street and The Crimson Tide. Let’s face it, if this was a boxing match, the ref would have stopped the fight a long time ago.

In the UK, Atonement, starring Keira Knightley, is out this week only on DVD (Region 2, PAL). The HD-DVD is not scheduled for release until March 10th, which is really annoying. Still, this is way ahead of the US release — I haven’t even heard a stateside release date scheduled. This week also sees the belated release of Cocaine Cowboys (which played the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival) and the interesting documentary series Ross Kemp on Gangs: El Salvador - Cape Town - St. Louis - Moscow, which was named Best Factual Series at the 2007 BAFTA awards. This is a good warm up for the hotly anticipated release of A Very British Gangster on March 31st.

Japan sees the release this week of one of the most anticipated Japanese DVDs of the year — Takashi Miike’s critically acclaimed western Sukiyaki Western - Django, which is out on Feb. 6th. The film was shot almost entirely in English, so don’t let the fact that there are no English subtitles throw you off. The film stars Quentin Tarantino (as an actor), which, for anyone who has seen Destiny Turns on the Radio, should be very interesting. The film is being released by Geneon Entertainment in a standard release, as well as a special 2-disc collector’s edition. Also, coming up on Feb. 27th is Sad Vacation, the new film starring the always-excellent Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer, Last Life in the Universe, Vital) from director Shinji Aoyama, and which played at the Venice International Film Festival.

In Hong Kong this week (Region 3 DVD, NTSC), the highlight title is The Warlords, directed by Peter Chan. Check out this jaw-dropping cast: Jet Li, Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Xu Jin Lei. The story is set in 19th Century China, with Lau leading the rebellion against the Qing dynasty invaders from the North. Perhaps even more exciting, director Johnnie To’s latest action film The Mad Detective, was just released on February 1st, which also reunites To with director Wai Ka Fai for the first time since Running on Karma (they share directing credit). The film stars Lau Ching Wan, Kelly Lin, Gordon Lam and On Zhi Kit. Lau Ching Wan plays the titular mad detective who has “special powers” (!).

Also out on February 1st is the latest Edmond Pang film Trivial Matters, a collection of seven short stories, featuring Eason Chan, Shawn Yue, Edison Chen, Gillian Chung and many more. I’d also like to note the recent release of the drama Lost in Beijing, starring Tony Leung and directed by Shi Lei, which seems to be getting a lot of buzz, and The Pye-Dog, a film starring Eason Chan as a low-level triad assigned the unenviable job of going undercover as a janitor at a grade school to discover the identity of a rival triad’s son. One of our favorite Hong Kong actors here at CSB, Eric Tsang, has a role in the film, which is also directed by Derek Kwok. Finally, there is another batch of exciting catalog titles out this week (Feb. 5th) in Fortune Star’s “Legendary Collection”: Black Cat (starring Simon Yam), Black Cat 2, The Occupant (starring Chow Yun Fat), Once Upon a Rainbow, Silent Love, and Fatal Vacation (starring Eric Tsang).

By the way, for those that are wondering the December 21 release of Lust Caution (Region 3, NTSC) does NOT have English audio or subtitles (fear not: a Region 1 release is scheduled in the next couple weeks). And finally, as a heads up for a big upcoming Hong Kong release, keep your eyes peeled for the Feb. 18th release of Wong Kar Wai’s latest: My Blueberry Nights, scheduled for release WITH English subtitles from distributor CN Entertainment.

Alright, enough of my babbling. A complete list of this week’s highlights follows below. Enjoy!

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Released This Week On DVD in the USA (February 5, Region 1, NTSC):

9 Star Hotel (Koch Lorber Films)
2007, Israel, Director: Ido Haar

Across the Universe (Sony Pictures)
2007, USA, Director: Julie Taymor

The Aristocrats (Disney)
1970, USA, Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Home Video) (Also avail. on Blu-ray)
2007, USA, Director: Andrew Dominik

The Brave One (Warner Home Video) (Also available on Blu-ray)
2007, USA, Director: Neil Jordan

Descent (City Lights Media)
2007, USA, Director: Talia Lugacy

Dresden (Koch Vision)
2006, Germany, Director: Roland Richter

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Universal) (Also available on HD-DVD)
2007, USA, Director: Shekhar Kapur

Fierce People (Lionsgate)
2007, USA, Director: Griffin Dunne

Films of Sergei Parajanov (Shadows of Foreign Ancestors, The Color of Pomegranates, The Legend of Suram Fortress, Ashik Kerib) (Kino)

Gallipoli (Cinema Epoch)
2005, Turkey, Director: Tolga Ornek, Starring: Jeremy Irons

The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Pictures) (Also available on Blu-ray)
2007, USA, Director: Robin Swicord

The Jewish Americans (PBS Paramount)
2008, USA, Director: David Grubin

Madame X (Universal) (Double feature with Portrait in Black)
1966, USA, Director: David Lowell Rich

The Monastery: Mr. Vig & the Nun (Koch Lorber)
2006, Denmark, Director: Pernille Rose Gronkjaer

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection - Vol. 10.2 (Giant Gila Monster / Swamp Diamonds / Teenage Strangler / Giant Spider Invasion) (Rhino Home Video)

Phantom Empire (VCI Entertainment)
1935, USA, Director: B. Reeves Eason

Portrait in Black (Universal) (Double feature with Madame X)
1960, USA, Director: Michael Gordon

Storm Warning (Weinstein)
2007, Australia, Director: Jamie Blanks

Tammy and the Bachelor / Tammy Tell Me More / Tammy and the Doctor (Universal)
1963, USA, Director: Joseph Peyney

Two Days in Paris (20th Century Fox)
2007, USA, Director: Julie Delpy

When a Man Falls (Universal)
2007, USA, Director: Ryan Eslinger, Starring: Sharon Stone, Timothy Hutton

Also available on Blu-ray: Breaker Morant, Crimson Tide, Me Myself & Irene, Suburban Girl, Wall Street

Also available on HD-DVD: zilch

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Released This Week On DVD in the UK (February 4, Region 2, PAL):

And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Walt Disney)
2007, UK/Ireland, Director: Anand Tucker

The Aristocrats (Disney)
1970, USA, Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Atonement (Universal) (HD-DVD won’t be available until March)
2007, USA, Director: Joe Wright

Hallam Foe (Walt Disney)
2007, UK, Director: David Mackenzie

Paris, Je T’aime (Universal)
2007, various

Ross Kemp on Gangs: El Salvador - Cape Town - St. Louis - Moscow (2 Entertain Video)
2005-2007, UK

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Released This Week On DVD in Japan (February 6, Region 2, NTSC):

Sukiyaki Western - Django (Geneon Entertainment)
2007, Japan, Director: Takashi Miike

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Released This Week On DVD in China (February 4, Region 3, NTSC):

5 Centimeters Per Second (Proware Multimedia)
2007, Japan, Director: Makoto Shinkai

Black Cat (Joy Sales)
1991, Hong Kong, Director: Stephen Shin

Black Cat 2 (Joy Sales)
1992, Hong Kong, Director: Stephen Shin

The Drummer (Joy Sales)
2007, Hong Kong, Director: Kenneth Bi

The Inugamis (NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES)
2006, Japan, Director: Kon Ichikawa

Lost in Beijing (Modern Audio) (Released Jan. 25th, but who’s counting)
2007, China, Director: Li Yu

Mad Detective (Mei Ah) (Released Feb. 1st)
2007, China, Director: Johnnie To, Wai Ka Fai, Starring: Lau Ching Wan

The Occupant (Joy Sales)
1984, Hong Kong, Director: Ronny Yu

Once Upon a Rainbow (Fortune Star)
1982, Hong Kong, Director: Agnes Ng

The Pye Dog (Tai Seng)
2007, Hong Kong, Director: Chi Kin Kwok

Silent Love (Fortune Star)
1986, Hong Kong, Director: David Chiang

Trivial Matters (Kam & Ronson)
2007, Hong Kong, Director: Edmond Pang

The Warlords (Kam & Ronson)
2007, China, Director: Peter Chan, Starring: Andy Lau, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Jet Li

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Additional Links:
::: DVD Calendar — a Look at What’s Coming Up
::: Discuss This Week in DVD with Others in the Movie Forum Lounge
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“Are you speaking in code? What do you mean by saying some DVDs are Region 2, PAL or NTSC?

DVDs are encoded by region — there are 6 Regions for DVD. A Region 2 disc will not play in a Region 1 country and vice-versa unless you have a special “all region” DVD player. If you’re not sure if you have an “all region” DVD player or not, then don’t worry about it, you don’t have one. These are not things you stumble across by accident, so you would only have one if you had sought it out.

Generally speaking, Region 1 is the USA and Canada, Region 2 is most of Europe and Japan. Hong Kong and South Korea fall under Region 3. Mainland China has Region 6 all to itself (and to date I’ve never been able to find a Region 6 DVD that wasn’t actually a VCD or Region 0 bootleg), and the rest of the world chops up Region 4 and 5 (Australia is Region 4). As an added twist, a DVD that is not region coded is marked Region 0 and in theory can play everywhere (but see the PAL/NTSC explanation below).

Whether you can play DVDs that are “PAL” vs. “NTSC” is another potential hurdle — most of Europe is PAL and most other countries release in NTSC. The actual difference is a technical one and relates to the number of frames per second that the film is recorded at. Almost all of the “all region” players also convert between PAL and NTSC (they wouldn’t be much use otherwise), but if you don’t have such a player, then you will likely only be able to play either PAL DVDs or NTSC DVDs, depending on where you live (or bought your TV), even if the DVD is Region 0.

By the way, these problems all potentially apply to high definition format releases as well, but exactly how they will apply is still in flux (they have the ability to be region coded, but to date many have not been, and in any case I have not yet heard of an all-region Blu-ray player).

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“Why aren’t you listing films from the country of _________”

We love international movies from all over the world, and if I had my way, everything from popular Nigerian action movies to Taiwanese television dramas would be on here each week. But often release information is not available to us in advance (or at all), and truth be told we sometimes run out of time to cover what we do know. As a result, many hugely important film industries too often are not covered above (including for India, Iran and much of Europe, to name just a few). Please do not interpret this as an affront to you, your country, your mother or anything else. On the contrary, if you have any helpful information or links, please email us — we’re dying to know more.

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“Hey! This isn’t a full list of this week’s titles! Where’s my Tae Bo exercise video!!!!”

Here at Cinema Strikes Back our goal is to sift through the masses of dvd information so you don’t have to — to cut straight to the good stuff, or at least what us handful of film geeks think is the good stuff. That means that many dvd releases are left off the list, either because they suck or more likely because we don’t know better. Although I can’t promise we’ll include everything sent to us (”ARRGH, How could you not include Postnatal Rescue or Topless Fight Club in this week’s lineup!”), we always welcome feedback, and I invite you to email me here if I’ve forgotten any important releases this week.