DVDBeaver Newsletter - January 2nd, 2012

Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF January 2nd, 2012

	This Week's Highlights
	LET'S HAVE A GREAT 2012! - We are still toiling away on the DVD and Blu-ray of the Year 2011 but in the interim we have some Criterion and Masters of Cinema Blu-ray reviews, our FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD of the MONTH chosen for JANUARY, a brief Amazon/Criterion Blu-ray sale and our CONTEST clip with another Blu-ray prize! FOLLOW US on TWITTER! (where we post important reviews, contests - prizes, calendar updates - plus much more...)
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	FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD of the MONTH chosen for JANUARY! *HERE* January 2nd CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a sealed Masters of Cinema Blu-ray of *Harakari* 46% OFF 5 More Criterion Blu-rays! till January 7th Rushmore [Blu-ray] (Wes Anderson, 1998) 46% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW) Island of Lost Souls [Blu-ray] (Eric C. Kenton, 1932) 46% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW) Fanny and Alexander [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1983) 46% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW) Dazed and Confused [Blu-ray] (Richard Linklater, 1993) 46% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW) The Four Feathers [Blu-ray] (Zoltan Korda, 1939) 46% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW)
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NOTE:_	If there are DVD titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend! Gary at 2ze dot com

Today's DVD & Blu-rays (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under $10 (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under £6 (Amazon UK)

Blu-rays Under £10 (Amazon UK)

Movies & TVs (Amazon Canada)

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

To Catch a Thief [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) Paramount

Take Shelter [Blu-ray] (Jeff Nichols, 2011) Region FREE Universal Pictures UK

Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 2011) Triple Play - Region Free UK Paramount
Tintin: Secret Of The Unicorn [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 2011) 3-D - Region Free UK Paramount

Lost Keaton: Sixteen Comedy Shorts 1934-1937 [Blu-ray] - Kino

Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except [Blu-ray] (Josh Becker, 1985) Synapse Films

Reindeer Games [Blu-ray] (John Frankenheimer, 2000) Miramax Lionsgate

My Joy (Sergei Loznits, 2010) Kino

The Search for One-eye Jimmy [Blu-ray] (Sam Henry Kass, 1994) Lorber Films

The Last Temptation of Christ [Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 1988) Criterion

Letter Never Sent (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1959) Criterion
Letter Never Sent [Blu-ray] (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1959) Criterion

The War Room (Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, 1993) Criterion
The War Room [Blu-ray] (Chris Hegedus and D. A. Pennebaker, 1993) Criterion

David Lean Directs Noël Coward (Brief Encounter, 1945 - In Which We Serve, 1942 - This Happy Breed, 1944 - Blithe Spirit, 1945) Criterion
David Lean Directs Noël Coward [Blu-ray] (Brief Encounter, 1945 - In Which We Serve, 1942 - This Happy Breed, 1944 - Blithe Spirit, 1945) Criterion

A Night to Remember [Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1958) Criterion

A Streetcar Named Desire [Blu-ray] (Elia Kazan, 1951) Warner

The Skin I Live in [Blu-ray] (Pedro Almodovar, 2011) Sony Pictures

Kim Soo Yong Collection - Seashore Village (1965), Confessions of an Actress (1967), Mist (1967), Night Journey (1977) - Korean Federation of Film Archives

Magicians (Il-gon Song, 2005) Planis

Where Love Has Gone [Blu-ray] (Edward Dmytryk, 1964) Olive Films

The Mountain [Blu-ray] (Edward Dmytryk, 1956) Olive Films

The Terminator [Blu-ray] (James Cameron, 1984) RB UK Fox

A Night to Remember [Blu-ray] (Roy Ward Baker, 1958) RB UK ITV

Battle Royale [Blu-ray] (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) Starz / Anchor Bay
Battle Royale: The Complete Collection [Blu-ray] (Kinji Fukasaku, 2000) Starz / Anchor Bay

Automobile / L'Automobile - Raro Video USA Ltd

Love Story [Blu-ray] (Arthur Hiller, 1970) Paramount

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World [Blu-ray] (Stanley Kramer, 1963) MGM

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Still recuperating from the holiday festivities - so Brief, Brief, Brief! Criterion's Belle de Jour is a fabulous Blu-ray package, as is the nostalgia of Godzilla. Masters of Cinema's Le Silence de la Mer is stunning - evoking Bresson at every turn. I got right into Contagion on Blu-ray - great Home Theater entertainment. And speaking of Soderbergh - Criterion's Traffic should be considered for the extensive supplements. And Oliver Stone's Salvador is an impacting film presence. Eric's has me intrigued with Murder Obsession and Lovely By Surprise looks... pretty weird! Enjoy the first week of the year!


	THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
	Contagion BD - "Contagion" follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic... grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart. Starring Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, and Laurence Fishburne. Blu-ray Release date: January 3rd, 2012 Traffic BD - Intertwining vignettes frame this tale of America's escalating War on Drugs. Ohio Supreme Court judge Robert Wakefield has been appointed the nation's Drug Czar, his new position made more daunting by the discovery that his teenage daughter Caroline is a heroin addict. Meanwhile, DEA agents Montel Gordon and Ray Castro are pursuing Helena Ayala, wife of jailed kingpin Carlos Ayala, as she seeks to the control the business that her husband had kept hidden from her. South of the Border, duplicitous local constable Javier Rodriguez is fighting the battle with his own jaded, questionable ethical code. Blu-ray Release Date: January 17th, 2012 Godzilla BD - Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon. Blu-ray Release Date: January 24th, 2012 Belle de Jour BD - Catherine Deneuve’s porcelain perfection hides a cracked interior in one of the actress’s most iconic roles: Séverine, a Paris housewife who begins secretly spending her afternoon hours working in a bordello. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits. Blu-ray Release Date: January 17th, 2012 Murder Obsession - With enough aliases to fill a hotel ledger, this downbeat horror film by Riccardo Fredo focuses on the past and present of Michael Stanford (Stefano Patrizi), a successful actor. His father was knifed to death years ago and now Michael and his girlfriend Deborah (Silvia Dionisio) are going to spend a week-end with Michael's mother. Joining them are the director and crew of a motion picture in the works. Oliver the housekeeper (John Richardson) does not extend a warm welcome to the guests, but that might just be his personality. After everyone is settled in, a deranged killer begins a series of murders. Is the occult at the heart of these killings? Or are Michael's fears about the past starting to come true? DVD Release Date: December 6th, 2011 Le Silence de la Mer BD - Melville's extraordinary first feature, an adaptation of Vercors' classic novella about the French Resistance, is in effect a triangular drama in which two people don't speak. A German officer (Vernon), convalescing from a wound, is billeted on an elderly Frenchman (Robain) and his niece (Stéphane). Respecting their obstinate refusal to address the hated invader, he meets their silence with a series of monologues, apparently ignored, in which he recalls his life before the war and all the things he values; but what he reveals about himself causes the girl to fall in love, without being able to declare her feelings. Filmed in the most daring way imaginable, using a new cinematic language of transient expressions and glances, the film was a root influence on Bresson and the whole French New Wave. Blu-ray Release Date: January 23rd, 2012 Salvador BD - Salvador recounts the conflict between the peasant revolution and the US-backed death squads in El Salvador in the early 1980s as seen through the eyes of American journalist Richard Boyle. Telling unpalatable truths condensed into intense fiction, Oliver Stone's film is typically confrontational, the real Boyle writing the source material for Stone's savage screenplay. The journalist is brought to life by James Woods in a brilliant hyper-kinetic performance: his powerful commitment to the truth balances his self-destructive, drink, drugs and danger-fuelled personality. Providing excellent support is James Belushi as partner in debauchery Dr Rock, while Stone delivers the most spectacular $4 million movie imaginable by conning the El Salvadorian military into lending tanks, planes and helicopters for a film which brands many of their leaders as war criminals. Blu-ray Release date: January 29th, 2010 Lovely By Surprise - Facing the age-old problem of writer's block, novelist Marian Walker (Carrie Preston) turns to her mentor and ex-lover, Jackson (Austin Pendleton). But his seemingly innocent advice to kill the book's protagonist unexpectedly leads one of her willful characters (Michael Chernus) to escape from the novel and stir up the unresolved issues in her life. DVD Release Date: December 26th, 2011

Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

January 2nd, 2011

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Five - Universal

Contagion [Blu-ray] - single-disc (Steven Soderbergh, 2011) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Contagion [Blu-ray] - 2-disc (Steven Soderbergh, 2011) Warner

The Guard [Blu-ray] (John Michael McDonagh, 2011) Sony Pictures

Magicians (Il-gon Song, 2005) Planis

Mildred Pierce [Blu-ray] (Todd Haynes , 2011) HBO

Puncture [Blu-ray] (Adam Kassen, Mark Kassen, 2011) First Look

Swastika (Philippe Mora, 1974) Kino

January 9th, 2012

1911 [Blu-ray] (Li Zhang, 2011) Well Go USA

Arrietty [Blu-ray] (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010) RB UK Optimum

Aurora (Cristi Puiu, 2010) Cinema Guild

The Big Picture [Blu-ray] (Eric Lartigau, 2010) UK Artificial Eye

Billy Elliot [Blu-ray] (Stephen Daldry, 2000) Universal Studios

The Dust of Time (Theodoros Angelopoulos, 2008) Artificial Eye

Film Socialisme [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 2011) Lorber Films

The Hellstrom Chronicle [Blu-ray] (Walon Green, Ed Spiegel, 1971) Olive Films

Koyaanisqatsi [Blu-ray] (Godfrey Reggio, 1982) RB DE Koch Media

Looney Tunes Showcase: Volume 1 [Blu-ray] - Warner Home Video

The Man from London (Bela Tarr, 2007) Zeitgeist

Moneyball [Blu-ray] (Bennett Miller, 2011) Sony

Night and Day (Sang-soo Hong, 2008) Zeitgeist Films

Protektor (Marek Najbrt, 2009) Film Movement

Sinners And Saints [Blu-ray] (William Kaufman, 2010) Anchor Bay

The Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol 2 - Reconstruction (1970) Days of '36 (1972) The Travelling Players (1975) and The Hunters (1977) - R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol 3 - The Suspended Step of the Stork (1991) Ulysses' Gaze (1995) Eternity and a Day (1998) The Weeping Meadow (2004) and The Dust of Time (2008) - R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Tin Drum [Blu-ray] (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979) RB UK Arrow

When Harry Met Sally... [Blu-ray] (Rob Reiner, 1989) MGM

January 16th, 2012

Adaptation [Blu-ray] (Spike Jonze, 2002) Image Entertainment

Attenberg (Athina Rachel Tsangari, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Belle de jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967) Criterion

Belle de jour [Blu-ray] (Luis Buñuel, 1967) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Boys in Company C [Blu-ray] (Sidney J. Furie, 1978) Henstooth Video

Caterpillar (Koji Wakamatsu, 2010) Lorber Films

The Coast Guard [Blu-ray] (Ki-duk Kim, 2002) Palisades Tartan

Dead Poets Society [Blu-ray] (Peter Weir, 1989) Touchstone / Disney

Dead Ringers [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1988) FilmMedia

Dutch [Blu-ray] (Peter Faiman, 1991) Anchor Bay/Starz

Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin - Poto and Cabengo (1978), Routine Pleasures (1986), My Crasy Life (1992) - Criterion

Exodus [Blu-ray] (Otto Preminger, 1960) RB FR Opening

Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection [Blu-ray] - Caliber 9 (1972), The Italian Connection (1972), The Boss (1973) and Rulers of the City (1976) - Entertainment One

Good Morning, Vietnam (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (Barry Levinson, 1987) Touchstone / Disney

The Ides of March [Blu-ray] (George Clooney, 2011) - Sony

Last Hard Men/Sky Riders [Double Feature] - Shout! Factory

Mysteries of Lisbon [Blu-ray] (Raul Ruiz, 2011) Music Box Films

Nothing in Common [Blu-ray] (Garry Marshall, 1986) Image Entertainment

The Overcoat (Il Cappotto) (Alberto Lattuada, 1952) Raro

Project X [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Kaplan, 1987) Anchor Bay/Starz

Redline [Blu-ray] (Takeshi Koike, 2009) ANME9

A Soldier's Story [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1984) Image Entertainment

Traffic [Blu-ray] (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

United Red Army (Koji Wakamatsu, 2007) Lorber Films

January 23rd, 2012

50/50 [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Levine, 2011) Summit Entertainment

Almanac of Fall (Béla Tarr, 1984) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Annie Hall [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1977) MGM

The Apartment [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1960) CA MGM

The Deadly Spawn [Blu-ray] (Douglas McKeown, 1983) Elite Entertainment

Death Hunt aka Yukon [Blu-ray] (Peter R. Hunt, 1981) RB DE Koch

Fascination [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1979) Redemption Films

Flash Point [Blu-ray] (Wlson Yip, 2007) Well Go USA

From Noon Till Three [Blu-ray] (Frank D. Gilroy, 1976) RB DE Koch

The Getting of Wisdom (Bruce Beresford, 1978) R2 UK Contemporary Films

Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954) Criterion
Godzilla [Blu-ray] (Ishirô Honda, 1954) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Happy, Happy [Blu-ray] (Anne Sewitsky, 2010) Magnolia Pictures

Hell and Back Again [Blu-ray] (Danfung Dennis, 2011) Docudrama

The Housemaid (Im Sang Soo, 2010) R2 UK Axiom Films

The Iron Rose [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1973) Redemption Films

Lips of Blood [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1975) Redemption Films

Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso, 2008) R2 UK Second Run DVD

Manhattan [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1979) MGM

Melancholia [Blu-ray] (Lars von Trier, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye (BEAVER REVIEW)

Midnight Cowboy [Blu-ray] (John Schlesinger, 1969) CA MGM

The Moment of Truth (Francesco Rosi, 1965) Criterion
The Moment of Truth [Blu-ray] (Francesco Rosi, 1965) Criterion

Mozart's Sister [Blu-ray] (René Féret, 2010) Music Box Films

Notorious [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) MGM

The Nude Vampire [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1970) Redemption Films

October (Diego Vega Vidal, 2010) New Yorker Films

Punishment Park [Blu-ray] (Peter Watkins, 1971) Dual Format - RB UK Masters of Cinema

Real Steel [Blu-ray] (Shawn Levy, 2011) Disney

Rebecca [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940) MGM

Restless [Blu-ray] (Gus Van Sant, 2011) Sony

See No Evil, Hear No Evil [Blu-ray] (Arthur Hiller, 1989) Image Entertainment

Shiver of the Vampires [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1971) Redemption Films

Le Silence de la Mer [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1949) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Stir Crazy (Sidney Poitier, 1980) Image Entertainment

Spellbound [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945) CA MGM

The Toy [Blu-ray] (Richard Donner, 1982) Image Entertainment

Two-Lane Blacktop [Blu-ray] (Monte Hellman, 1971) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Two-Lane Blacktop [Blu-ray] (Monte Hellman, 1971) (LTD Edition Steelbook) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Whistleblower [Blu-ray] (Larysa Kondracki, 2010) 20th Century Fox

Who Pays the Ferryman? (Michael J. Bird, 1977) R2 UK Eureka Entertainment

Wings [Blu-ray] (William A. Wellman, 1927) Paramount

The Woman [Blu-ray] (Lucky McKee, 2011) The Collective

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