I don’t really talk about imports at Amazon USA very often, since usually you can get a better deal buying them from the Amazon in the country of origin.

When it comes to Australia though, there is no Amazon there to make life easy for us.

It appears that some upcoming Australian releases from Icon have been listed at Amazon, due roughly a week after the Australian release.

The titles cover both international art house titles and New Zealand / Australian titles, all of which seem unlikely to get a US release soon, if ever.

Down under movies include The Piano, Once Were Warriors and Eagle vs. Shark, while Amelie, Emma, Scoop, The Motorcycle Diaries and Rules of Attraction add international flavour.

I am hoping that Amelie will finally be a good quality release with English subtitles!

The prices range from $23.99 to $27.99, so while they are not cheap, they are still in line with new US releases – not too bad for import titles.

I have good news for fans of the documentaries made by German director Werner Herzog.

Revolver Entertainment has scheduled Werner Herzog – Encounters in the Natural World Boxset for Blu-ray release on August 31st, 2009.

This will be a 5 movie set that includes the films Encounters at the End of the World, Grizzly Man, White Diamond, La Soufriere & Flying Doctors of East Africa.

The Amazon UK price of £40.39 makes this an excellent deal – just over £8 per movie.

Amazon France currently has a sale where you can save 50 Euros on the purchase of 5 Blu-ray Discs.

Select from over 60 Warner titles in this sale, including a few that are not available in the USA.

Since Warner is pretty much all region free, this is a nice opportunity for importers or for Euro types alike to save.

This has been going on for a while but perhaps deserves additional attention.

Amazon UK has a pay for 2, get 3 Blu-rays offer at the moment that covers a wide range of titles.

The best news is that many of these titles are listed for 10 pounds or less, making it an excellent deal.

Simply order by price: low to high to see the best deals.

With the weakened GBP and the removal of the VAT, it makes some of these titles a great deal for US residents, even with the international shipping considerations.

You can use your US Amazon account and credit card to order at Amazon UK.

Be sure to work out which titles are coded for Region B though!

I see a few interesting new listings for the UK.

Watch for Ghostbusters from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on June 15th, 2009.

Van Helsing has been listed by Universal Pictures UK, scheduled for April 7th.

Also watch for Revolutionary Road from Paramount Home Entertainment on June 29th.

South Pacific has a different distributor in the UK – watch for this from 2 Entertain Video on June 15th.

Just a personal aside – I am sure that some have noticed a posting slow down this week.

Those who follow me on Twitter will be aware that my previous day job evaporated and I have been seeking new employment, since sadly the website far from covers the cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The good news is that I secured a new job today with a nice increase to boot – however I expect this will mess with my routine somewhat.

So the erratic posting may continue until I am settled in my new schedule.

I am also working on a new version of the site code and am considering making this public early for the keen folks amongst you to beta test.

If there is enough interest in comments, I will put a pointer to the new site version on the forum and open a discussion there.

Have a great weekend!

Good news for Terminator fans, especially those not afraid of importing.

Watch out for Terminator 3 – Rise Of The Machines from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on May 25th, 2009.

Of course this already has a US release from Warner (pictured), though the Sony release will likely feature lossless audio and higher bitrate video.

It will also most likely be coded for all regions, making it potentially a great choice for the true fan.

Sony UK also has The Da Vinci Code from on May 4th, and Seven Pounds and Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist on May 25th, 2009.

It looks like May 25th will be a popular day, with Primitive London, London In The Raw and The Bed Sitting Room from BFI Video on May 25th, 2009.

Other titles of interest recently listed include Frost/Nixon from Universal Pictures UK on May 18th, Valkyrie from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on June 9th, and Junebug from Eureka Entertainment on June 22nd, 2009.

Many people had never heard of the Wachowski brothers before The Matrix was released, but some may remember the movie they did prior to that called Bound.

Excellent news to see that Bound is now coming to Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, scheduled for May 27th, 2009 in France.

No idea about a US release yet, but since Warner never uses region coding, this seems like a no brainer import if there is no US release.

Also watch for the French movie Vilaine from Warner Home Video on May 27th, 2009.

Another interesting title that has recently shown up for pre-order -  watch for Van Helsing from Universal Studio Canal Video on April 15th, 2009.

It would surprise me if this announcement doesn’t foretell of a US release for this action title.

French movie fans should also watch for the 1996 Patrice Leconte movie Ridicule from Universal Studio Canal Video on April 15th.

Perhaps this promotion will be mostly of interest to our UK friends, though import fiends will also find some titles of interest here.

Amazon UK has a promotion with more than 180 titles reduced to 10 Pounds or less.

While this is obviously good news for UK residents, the sale includes titles from Sony, ITV and Icon, which make for good imports especially since the VAT is removed for titles shipped to the USA.

Interesting titles from Sony include Almost Famous, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and Rollerball.

ITV titles include The Boys From Brazil, Bugsy Malone, Black Narcissus, The Eagle Has Landed, Capricorn One and Strictly Ballroom.

Titles of note from Icon Home Entertainment include What Women Want, Black Sheep (the New Zealand film), Man On Wire and Seraphim Falls.

EDIT: As noted in comments (thanks Jester) a number of the discounted titles are also in the 3 for the price of 2 promotion, which means you can get three Blu-ray titles for less than 20 pounds!

It looks like the UK is the latest place to have ‘official’ release information for Star Trek.

Again we can expect a movie box set -Star Trek – Series 1-6 and a TV box set Star Trek – The Original Series – Series 1 – Complete from Paramount Home Entertainment on April 27th.

Additionally though I see listings for the movies as individual releases, though at a later date.

Watch for Star Trek 2 – The Wrath Of Khan, Star Trek 3 – The Search For Spock, Star Trek 4 : The Voyage Home and Star Trek 6 – The Undiscovered Country from Paramount Home Entertainment on May 25th, 2009.

I expect that the remaining titles will also show up for the same day.

I also expect US releases for these, though if there are not, the UK is a great import source for Paramount titles!

Additionally from Paramount, there are a number of new releases that have alreasdy had US release.

These include Madagascar on April 6th, Event Horizon on April 27th, and The Truman Show, Ghost , John Travolta – Saturday Night Fever and Grease on May 11th, 2009.

From Disney we can expect Bedtime Stories on April 27th, 2009.

Also watch for Watchmen – Tales Of The Black Freighter from Paramount Home Entertainment on April 6th, 2009.

This one will be a Warner release in the USA.

I see more evidence of potential upcoming Star Trek releases in the USA with another European announcement – this time in France.

Look for Star Trek – the Original Series, Season 1 on Blu-ray Disc from Paramount Home Entertainment on April 20th, 2009.

It is a tad pricey at over 80 Euro for the set, so hopefully things will be somewhat cheaper here in the USA if they ever formally annouce these things!

Also of interest there appears to be a new distributor in France, with some smaller release titles.

Look for Opération Varsovie (though the listing describes The Poet) and the 2008 version of The Boston Strangler from Emylia on March 17th, 2009.

The latter features David Faustino from Married with Children! How bad could it possibly be!