Don't know if it has anything to do with the Christmas season or not but there are tons of fantastic new Asian DVD releases either out right now or just announced ... here's what you should be looking for:

From China / Hong Kong

Not only has Wong Kar Wai's 2046 just released on DVD in Hong Kong but the early rumblings are that Mei Ah has gone the extra mile and put english subtitles on the bonus features as well as the feature. I haven't seen this confirmed anywhere yet, but my copy's on the way and I'll update this once it arrives. WKW fans should also be looking at Mei Ah's remastered, two disc edition of In the Mood For Love. My copy of this arrived last week and they've done a good job on it ...

The Hong Kong / Japan joint effort Explosive City - starring Simon Yam and Sonny Chiba - is also hitting the streets right about now and word is that it's pretty good.

And if you've been a bit slow off the mark Jackie Chan's New Police Story is pretty easily the best thing he's done in years and is required viewing, as is Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers.

From Korea

The Old Boy Final Edition - yes, the third distinct Korean DVD release of the film this year - hits soon. The long awaited martial arts epic Sword in the Moon has just released as have romantic comedies Windstruck, a reteaming of the director and star behind My Sassy Girl, and Love So Divine, starring Kwon Sang Soo from Volcano High and Once Upon a Time in High School. If you haven't already ordered Kim Ki Duk's 3-Iron I'm afraid I can't talk to you anymore.

From Thailand

No sign of the Thai issue of Born to Fight yet, but art house and festival circuit hit Tropical Malady has just released as has Beautiful Boxer - the true story of a man who becomes a professional muay thai fighter to finance a sex change operation. There's a US trailer for that one here.

From Japan

These are the big finds in my book. The stellar anthology Jam Films - featuring shorts from Ryuhei Kitamura and Shunji Iwai - has just received a dirt cheap Hong Kong release, so there's no excuse not to pick this thing up and if you're the impatient sort the Japanese edition of the second Jam Films collection also includes English subtitles.

And speaking of Iwai, his early film Ghost Soup has just been released while Hana and Alice - his latest - is awaiting a late January release in subtitled form.

Shouting Out Love At The Center of the World - the latest from the director of the incredible GO - hits at the end of the month.

The biggest news, though, comes from a pair of just-announced releases. Kore Eda's Nobody Knows - winner of the best actor award at this year's Cannes film festival - hits March 11th and the hugely anticipated (by me, anyway) Taste of Tea - the latest from the director of Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl - releases February 25th in both regular and limited editions. I've already got mine ordered ... get to it ...

We've posted links to trailers for most of these in the past ... a quick search of the site should turn those up if you want more info ... everything listed here includes english subtitles ...