It’s always a nice surprise when you discover a Japanese R2 DVD release will have English subtitles. Not only because we get to watch the movie months, if not years ahead of the normal turn-around, but because Japanese DVD releases are usually so much better than the treatments we get here in the US. The downside? They’re expensive as hell.

Japanese distributor Pony Canyon is big on offering English subs with their releases, and thankfully they’ve continued that trend with their release of Koki Mitani’s smash hit, The Magic Hour, due out December 3rd. There will be 3 versions: Standard Edition, Special Edition (standard disc + bonus features disc), and Blu-ray. See links below for specs.

Standard Edition DVD
Special Edition DVD
Blu-ray

Also, if you haven’t been paying attention to our DVD release schedule (RSS feed), there have been a few other notable R2 DVDs with English subs released or announced recently:

The Glory of Team Batista
Kekkon Shiyo yo
700 Days of Battle: Us vs. the Police
Fine, Totally Fine
Gachi Boy
Cyborg Girl
Shaolin Girl

Some notable releases that don’t have subs? “Cyborg Girl”, “Real Onigokko”, and “Sushi King Goes to New York”. That’s cold.

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Iwahashi (Tatsuya Nakadai), a member of the Enoki-ya gang, was recently released early from a 10-year prison sentence for killing the boss of rival Kan’non-gumi. However, he returns to find Kan’non-gumi and Enoki-ya finalizing the process of merging under the careful orchestration of a manipulative politician (Tetsuro Tamba). Iwahashi tries to be as supportive of the new changes as possible, even when he’s passed over as new boss, but when a pattern of corruption and assassination is slowly revealed he can no longer sit back and let it continue.

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Coinciding the recently-concluded Beijing Olympics, the 150-year anniversary of the opening of the port of Yokohama coming up in 2009, and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, China and Yokohama have their own significant milestone. 100 years ago the first elementary school for the children of Chinese immigrants was established in Japan. Currently there are 5 of these Chinese schools throughout all of Japan, and two of them are located in Yokohama. Working with a grant from the Fund For the Promotion of Art and Culture, Nozomi Kataka filmed students at a Yamate Chinese School in Yokohama for 3 years, starting with their first day in elementary school. The end result is the documentary, Chukogakko no Kodomotachi (The Kids of Chinese School).

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Children at Yamate Chinese School in Yokohama are filmed over a 3-year period, starting with day 1 of first grade.

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Quint at AICN has some new exclusive production stills for Rian Johnson’s upcoming film, “The Brothers Bloom” starring Rachel Weisz (♥♥♥), Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, and—most importantly—Rinko Kikuchi as an explosives expert named “Bang Bang”. Included in the stills is Bang Bang in all her detonation-poised glory, as you can see to the left. But you’ll have to check out their article for the huge version of awesomeness.

Also, you may recall from when I posted the trailer that this film was originally slated for release on October 24th. Well, I guess someone thought better of that, because instead of fighting for attention during a very crowded October and November, national release is being being pushed back to early 2009, with only a limited release in December. God forbid anyone miss gems like “Saw V” and “High School Musical 3: Senior Year”. What the flying F.. I’m moving to another planet.

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