DVD Release: The People I've Slept With

You know it. You loved. And now you can have it on DVD (well - you actually have to wait until March 22nd).

The 3/22 Nationwide Release will kick off
At the 3/19 DVD Release Party in Los Angeles at Gallery Aryai
And the 3/22 DVD Signing at Gallery Nucleus

March 8. 2011—Maya Entertainment is proud to announce the nationwide DVD and VOD release of The People I’ve Slept With, directed by Quentin Lee (Ethan Mao, Shopping for Fangs) and written by Koji Steven Sakai. The film will be available on home video everywhere from Amazon.com to Walmart. Watch the official trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUI2YKJpLr0

“We’re delighted to count The People I’ve Slept With as one of our most exciting titles this New Year. Quentin has done an amazing job with pushing the boundaries of sex, romance, and comedy,” said Tonantzin Esparza, Director of Acquisitions of Maya Entertainment, a Los Angeles production and distribution company that deals exclusively in multi-cultural and Latino-themed projects. Maya was founded in 2008 by award winning filmmaker and entrepreneur Moctesuma Esparza, whose motion picture credits include Walkout for HBO (2006), Gods and Generals (2003), Selena (1997) and The Milagro Beanfield War (1988).

The People I’ve Slept With is a sexy, romantic story about Angela (Karin Anna Cheung of Better Luck Tomorrow), a young woman with a zealously active sex life, who after every sexual conquest, makes keepsake “baseball cards” of each of her male conquests. One day, Angela finds out she is pregnant and begins a quest to find the identity of the father. Together with her gay best friend Gabriel (Wilson Cruz of He’s Just Not That Into You, My So-Called Life), the two go on a comical and raunchy hunt through her past hook-ups to find her “baby daddy.” But as Angela peels back the layers of her frisky past, she begins to realize that the answers she is looking for reveal themselves in surprising ways. Featuring a sparkling and daring performance by Karin Anna Cheung (Better Luck Tommorow), The People I’ve Slept With co-stars Archie Kao (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Lynn Chen (Lakeview Terrace, Saving Face) and screen legend James Shigeta (Flower Drum Song, The Crimson Kimono).

This month, People will also be available on Comcast’s Cinema Asian America, a groundbreaking new video-on demand offering, which features Asian American films and videos. For the first time, millions of viewers across the nation are able to watch a monthly-curated series of Asian American and Asian films, which will collect together award-winning films fresh from the film festival circuit and classics which beg to be revisited. These films include both short and feature-length works and the genres range from documentary to narrative to experimental.

“People is a major accomplishment. Smart, sexy and conscious, it is the new wave of American independent cinema, where a very broad appeal and commercial potential go hand in hand with Asian American storytelling. Lee has assembled an incredible cast that speaks to the past and the future, and crafted a film that adds an exclamation point to his already celebrated body of films,” said Chi-hui Yang, curator of Comcast’s Cinema Asian America. Mr. Yang was formerly the Festival Director of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

On Saturday March 19 from 8—10pm, come mingle with the cast and filmmakers of People at the DVD Release Kick-off Party hosted by internationally renowned photographer Sia Aryai at his own Gallery Aryai (http://www.galleryaryai.com) in West Hollywood: 8457 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069, (213) 393-2071.

New original artworks by Aryai featuring actress Karin Anna Cheung will be unveiled in celebration of People’s home video release.
RSVP for party: http://tinyurl.com/peopledvdparty

DVD Giveaway: Children Of Invention And White On Rice

8 questions. 8 days. 8 free DVD's.

All leading up to the Children Of Invention and White On Rice release in NYC on 3/12.

Get your contest on at the Children Of Invention site.

Nice.

Thanks Mynette

On Watching That Patsy Mink DVD

There's nothing like opening up a DVD, getting ready to watch it, and poof - whodathunkit - no DVD in the actual case. You might be asking "Didn't you check it before you bought it?" to which my answer might be the following "Not when it was shrink wrapped."

Maybe some other time Patsy.

DVDs: I Corrupt All Cops, And The Longest Night in Shanghai

One a little newer, one a little older. Both begging to be watched.

I Corrupt All Cops



The Longest Night in Shanghai

Random DVD Post

Five second reviews of a few things I've seen over the last few weeks.

My Sassy Girl (Remake) 2008



I don't really know what to say about it - nothing I can write sums up how bad it really was. I tried stringing together some adjectives to describe how I felt, but it's almost like the movie didn't deserve even that. I guess I just thought "They can't all suck can they?" but I was wrong.

Dynamite Warrior (2006)



When you have a story that involves flying zombies, rockets, the menstrual blood of a virgin (to fight evil with of course), kick ass martial arts scenes, crocodiles, and cattle rustling - I just don't know if it gets any better than that and I'm not exactly sure why it's taken me so long to see this - but I'm just glad I did.

La sconosciuta (The Other Woman) 2006



This was just a great movie from top to bottom and while it might be a little too dark for some people - there's really nothing quite like a good revenge story.

Crash Season One (2008)



Definitely mixed. Brian Tee and Ken Choi hold their own on the screen and they're great to watch. But while all the characters have flaws I can't help but have this itch when I think about the layout of the characters of color - not necessarily how we seem them, but more where we see them.

The Union: Business Behind Getting High (2007)



B.C. Bud, Canada, old film clips, professors, Tommy Chong - in the end you just might become a believer.

SK DVD: Secret Couple (AKA: My Girlfriend is an Agent)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith done South Korean style featuring Kim Ha Neul (Lovers of Six Years) and Kang Ji Hwan (Rough Cut).

Please come fast September 29th.

DVD Round Up

Spider Lilies



I saw this on a whim and I'm definitely glad I checked it out. It's the second feature by Zero Chou and won the Teddy Award for best feature film down at the Berlin International Film Festival and got released on DVD in the U.S. this summer. If you like love stories with a twist - specifically some of the dream sequences that character Takeko has - I think you'll enjoy it.

It stars pop icon Rainie Yang as webcam girl Jade (in her first lead role) and Isabella Leong as tattoo artist Takeko.



The Go-Getter



Released this summer and put out on DVD last month, I'm not exactly sure what I liked about this film - but I liked it - and that's pretty much all I wanted to say about it (and this is the reason why I'm not a film reviewer for a living).

Here's the trailer which is what made me check out the film in the first place.



Bella



I have to admit that I think sometimes I just get lucky when I pick out films to see. I'll just grab them, or pop them in my queue, or order them online and hope for the best - and in Bella, which got released on DVD this year it seems I was lucky again. Love, redemption, great acting, and a killer soundtrack to boot. What more can I ask for?



American Fusion



So this is an older Asian American film - it technically came out in 2005 - but it's still been going strong (picking up awards at the 2007 VC Film Fest) and it's actually going to be released on DVD in early 2009, but I happened to be able to borrow a copy of it from a friend who happened to have a screener of it. It's definitely a fun movie which made a good point, but didn't beat you over the head with it like a PSA (although it does play up the stereotypes but seemingly for a good cause). Sylvia Chang, Esai Morales, and the whole cast are really enjoyable so make sure to check it out on DVD when it comes out next year (January of 2009).



The Forbidden Kingdom



They can't all be winners, and even though I didn't expect much from this - almost nothing - I still thought to be fair I would give it a view, but I didn't expect that it was going to be so bad that I would turn it off after the first 10-20 minutes.

Seriously. It was that bad.

DVD: My DNA Says I Love You

If you're looking for a romantic comedy which happens to take a dark corner or two at times and then slides right into slime - yes I did say slime - and you're willing to look past the fact that you have two women taking gene pills to make themselves "better" (initially) - head on down to your local movie store and pick up My DNA Says I Love You.

If it doesn't sound like it's your cup of tea - don't worry - you aren't missing anything Oscar worthy.

Carrie Ann Inaba And Tokyology

Even though this has been out for a few months on DVD, since I made a DWTS reference in the post below and happened to catch another article on this in a magazine a few days ago, I just thought I'd mention that Tokyology - hosted by Carrie Ann Inaba - can now be had for a pretty good price of $12 down at Right Stuff Anime Superstore (which you can get to by following the main link above).

July DVD Releases

A quick post on some DVD's that will be coming your way during the rest of the July:

1. John Chu's Step Up 2 The Streets comes out on the 15th.
2. Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira's movie 21 starts shipping on the 22nd.
3. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (standard and two-disc edition) smokes its way in on the 29th.

DVD: TIME

Even though I'm a Kim Ki-duk fan, I just sat down this weekend and caught his 06/07 film TIME (Shi gan), and for the most part it was pretty much what you would expect from Kim - and the performances by Park Ji-Yeon (pre face-lift) and Seong Hyeon-a (post face-lift) were pretty convincing (although even for a Kim Ki-duk moviegoer who knows what they'll get, the time twist in the beginning and the end does kind of leave you going "Are you sure?").

Recommend checking it out if you need something to watch on DVD and you dig the arthouse flicks or are into Kim Ki-duk's previous films like 3-Iron or Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring.

DVD: Tokyo Streets

Microcinema who also brought you Slant Vol. 1 have released a new flick called Tokyo Streets all about the fashion of Tokyo. Here's the synopsis:

Following the success of their first DVD – Swiss Fashion Design, the creative designers of fashionshow.ch would like to introduce to the world the lifestyle of the residents of Tokyo. The images gathered over a month’s stay in Tokyo are the
basis of a DVD entirely dedicated to urban fashion trends of the Japanese capital.

Our first DVD focused primarily on fashion designers and fashion shows for enthusiasts. The “Tokyo Streets” DVD shows
how in Japan fashion is more a form of popular expression than a world reserved for people in the fashion industry. Our DVD tries to show the raw emotions felt by westerners during their trips to Japan where they experience this fascinating new world.

We consider our DVD as a new multimedia genre and not as a simple means of dissemination for a film. The menu will be based on a metro visit to some of Tokyo’s neighborhoods. You will be able to see the movie in one go or chapter by chapter.
We are trying to promote a visual system that can be functional for people of all cultures.

You can check out more at the microcinema site here and view the YouTube clip below.

Hollywood sets to launch $285 million Asian film fund

According to information down at the International Herald Tribune, The Weinstein Company has initiated a fund that will directly invest in Asian-themed projects. While it is still unclear whether or not all the money has been raised and there is only limited information available, apparently some high-profile names have signed on already including:

• Zhang Ziyi who is signed on for Mulan and The Seven Samurai
• Tony Jaa for a yet to be titlted movie
• Andrew Lau and Tony Krantz
• Quentin Tarantino, who will help manage the Dragon Dynasty label of 10 movies released on DVD.

The Host on DVD

In case you missed it, The Host came out on DVD last week in the U.S. - if you were waiting for it to come out on DVD to see it - now is your chance - and YES - it takes the monster movie to a whole new level.

From Wikipedia:

The Host (괴물, Gwoemul “Creature” or “Monster”) is a 2006 South Korean monster film, which also contains elements of comedy and drama films. The film was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also co-wrote the screenplay, along with Baek Chul-hyun. Starring in the film as members of an unremarkable family thrust into the middle of extraordinary events were Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Ko Ah-seong.

Following the success of the director’s previous work, Memories of Murder, The Host was heavily anticipated and hyped. It was released on a record number of screens in its home country on July 27, 2006 and broke box-office records throughout its domestic run. By the end of its run on November 8, the film had been seen over 13 million times, making it the highest grossing South Korean film of all time, beating the previous leader The King and the Clown, which had attracted 12.3 million people. The film was released in the United States on DVD, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats on July 24th, 2007