DVDBeaver Newsletter - January 26th, 2008

Salud deoc'h! - 22 new reviews this week - Criterion, Masters of Cinema, Second Run, Buñuel to Burton, Ichikawa to Peter Sellers, Oliver Stone to classic melodrama - new Calendar Releases! and another new CONTEST. Coming back up to speed, but there is still a lot more to cover... should be a busy week.

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Easiest way to catch up is simply read the new Newsletter Archive HERE.

LATEST Additions to the Release Calendar (PRE-ORDER and save!):

Pre-Code Hollywood Collection - The Cheat (1931, 74 min.), Merrily We Go to Hell (1932, 78 min.), Hot Saturday (1932, 73 min.), Torch Singer (1933, 71 min.), Murder at the Vanities (1934, 89 min.) Search for Beauty (1934, 78 min.) - Universal Home Video

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Some great DVDs out this week - I'd forgotten what a joy The Devil and Daniel Webster is - thanks MoC. The upcoming Criterion Buñuel's should get stage front though - Simon of the Desert and The Exterminating Angel amount to cinephile essentials. I credit Waterloo Bridge with sparking my early interest in vintage cinema - a pure, sweeping, melodrama in its most basic innocence. Second Run gives us two memorable documentaries in their Divorce Iranian Style - Runaway package. Definite thumbs up!  Based on a true-to-life story, Ichikawa's Alone Across the Pacific is brilliantly subtle filmmaking. Fans of Japanese cinema may wish to pick-up The Geisha - a highly lauded work. I thought The Children of Huang Shi was good, but not great, (pricey DVD too.) MYA Communications (are these the guys that ran NOSHAME?) give us 2 discs that raise eyebrows - even if we don't recommend this time - The Inveterate Bachelor, and The Maniacs are solid transfers of unreleased films (till now.) Let's keep an eye on this new label.

Now onto those pesky Blu-rays: Leonard's idea for a great double feature would be two unique films that just came out on 1080P - Being There BR and Groundhog Day BR. He's right. Classic Sellers again with the original The Pink Panther  BR. Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday BR is, like most of his work, worthy and very watchable cinema. I fully realize that it is my personal opinion but I still get a kick out of Tim Burton's Batman Returns BR. You certainly know what you are getting with The Bourne Trilogy BR. Stylistic overkill but I eventually began to enjoy Domino BR.  Leonard reviewed, I watched it as well, and I concur - RocknRolla BR has enough merit to warrant a spin... if the cupboard is bare.

New Reviews

Groundhog Day BR - Bill Murray is at his wry, wisecracking best in this riotous romantic comedy about a weatherman caught in a personal time warp on the worst day of his life. Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer (Andie MacDowell) and a smart-aleck cameraman (Chris Elliott), TV weatherman Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. But on his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in small-town hell. Just when things couldn't get any worse, they do. Phil wakes the next morning to find it's Groundhog Day all over again... and again... and again... Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2009

Stargate: The Ark of Truth  BR - While both Ark of Truth and Continuum demand a certain familiarity with Stargate lore and storylines, The Ark of Truth is designed to wind things up for devotees of the series, whereas Continuum works as a standalone episode. Both movies are rewarded with a bigger budget and it shows, even though some of the sets and models (such as the opening mountain village and lift off from it) are entry-level mattes and CGI. I found the story and all its various crises and developments to be generally satisfying, never seeming to make things longer just to satisfy the temporal parameters of a television show. I thought less of the Replicators who come off as little more than an infection of erector set spiders, and when the crew fights them off it's hard not to be reminded of Aliens. On the other hand, I liked that the SG-1 crew were all professionals at their jobs, some with sensible lines to say. No 1960s Star Trek cut outs here. Blu-ray Release date: January 13th, 2009

Being There BR - 'Being There' is based on Jerzy Kosinski's short comic novel about a simpleton, Chance (Peter Sellers), raised in isolation whose only education came from watching TV. When he's forced out of the house where he worked as a gardener by the death of the wealthy recluse who raised him from infancy, he's fortuitously struck by a limousine carrying Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine), the wife of a wealthy industrialist. He's mistaken, because of his well-tailored suits, for a man of means and taken to dinner with her husband, Ben Rand (Melvyn Douglas). There, as Chauncy Gardner, his blank affect is taken for seriousness and his literal pronouncements about gardening for metaphoric economic predictions. Soon he's meeting the president (Jack Warden) of the United States and becoming a star on TV--where he's a natural... Blu-ray Release Date: February 3rd, 2009

Pride and Glory BR - Their movie visits the subject of loyalty among cops on the take, dramatized so richly in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City, and adds a layer of blood-related family. It's an interesting and obvious idea, though it strikes me as overkill even in concept. The notion that police work, especially in certain units like narco, breeds a level of trust and loyalty akin to firefighters and war buddies is so ingrained in our imagination it is in danger of becoming a cliché. It is a danger no longer. Blu-ray Release date: January 27th, 2009

Waterloo Bridge - Based on the play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert E. Sherwood, "Waterloo Bridge" stars Vivien Leigh as Myra, an innocent ballerina whose life is irrevocably altered in London by the announcement of war. During a Air-Raid warning Myra meets handsome, good-natured British officer Roy Cronin (Robert Taylor) on Waterloo Bridge. The couple soon plans to wed, but Cronin is called to the front, and shortly thereafter a newspaper incorrectly reports him as a causality. Forced out of ballet school with her friend, both alone and destitute, Myra turns to prostitution, although the markers are as subtle as you could imagine for a 1940's film. By today's standards both tragic and melodramatic and Vivien Leigh is as good in this as anything she ever did... ditto for Robert Taylor who was so appropriate for the part. DVD Release Date: January 27th, 2009

The Exterminating Angel - A group of high-society friends are invited to a mansion for dinner and inexplicably find themselves unable to leave in Luis Buñuel’s daring masterpiece The Exterminating Angel (El ángel exterminador). Made just one year after his international sensation Viridiana, this film, full of eerie, comic absurdity, furthers Buñuel’s wicked takedown of the rituals and dependencies of the frivolous upper classes. DVD Release Date: February 10th, 2009

Dead and Buried BR - Something very strange is happening in the quiet coastal village of Potters Bluff, where tourists and transients are warmly welcomed... then brutally murdered. But even more shocking is when these slain strangers suddenly reappear as normal, friendly citizens around town. Now the local sheriff (James Farentino of THE FINAL COUNTDOWN) and an eccentric mortician (Oscar winner Jack Albertson in his final feature film appearance) must uncover the horrific secret of a community where some terrifying traditions are alive and well... and no one is ever really DEAD & BURIED. Blu-ray Release date: January 27th, 2009

Divorce Iranian Style - Runaway - Divorce Iranian Style: From Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini comes the first ever footage of a matrimonial court in the heart of Tehran. Divorce Iranian Style challenges accepted notions of Muslim society as feisty women fight for their freedom - and their children. Following one judge's court, this award-winning film is privy to the innermost secrets of Tehran's marriages. Ziba, 16, is desperate to escape from an arranged marriage to a man twice her age while Maryam is fighting her ex-husband, and strict Islamic law, for custody of her children. Presiding over the court, Judge Deldar tries to keep an even hand on the proceedings. DVD Release Date: January 26th, 2009

RocknRolla BR - As the credits unfold, the graphics and music immediately put me in mind of Sin City. I wondered if we would suffer the slings and arrows of Ritchie’s recent Swept Away and Revolver or revel in the darkly comic perturbations of the director's earlier delights, Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I think it’s safe to say that the effects of his later films are nowhere to be seen. On the other hand, the new movie does tend to be a little overwrought – a bit too much cleverness for its own good, while the subplot about the rat is insufficiently described. That said, I confess I enjoyed the movie and expect to on to repeated viewings where, some day, I hope to be able to watch it without subtitles. The characters, who kept rolling out of the movie like clowns from a Volkswagon; the script – more accurately, the language, which, while I didn’t actually understand all of, tickled my funny bone; and the many set pieces that appeared from behind Ritchie’s vaudevillian curtain put a smile on my face for the duration. Blu-ray Release date: January 27th, 2009

Simon of the Desert - Forty-three minutes of perfect filmmaking (1965). Luis Buñuel tells the story of San Simeon Stylites, the desert martyr who stood for 25 years atop a pillar, and the efforts of the devil to coax him down. Since the devil is played by Mexican musical star Silvia Pinal, her temptations aren't the usual ones. Buñuel's wit is piercingly sharp, his timing impeccable, and his visual style superbly unobtrusive and naturalistic--proving again how much realism is required in surrealism. DVD Release Date: February 10th, 2009

Batman Returns BR - The plot is classic comic-dom with Gotham City facing two aligning criminal menaces: the bizarre and sinister Penguin (played, and make-up'ed, brilliantly by Danny DeVito) and the mysterious and dangerous sexpot known as the Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer). Lurking in the background is a political manipulator named Max Shreck (Christopher Walken) and an army of sewer-dwelling miscreants preparing their vengeance. I thought Michael Keaton as Batman was just fine and Michelle made me forget any boyhood fantasies of Ertha Kitt, Lee Meriweather or Julie Newmar. The concept of 'Batman" in the first place is an outrageous farce with extravagance as the key narrative stroke. It was meant to be expressed on the big screen as darkly stylistic Burton-esque with grandiose makeup, towering sets and probing close-ups. I thoroughly enjoy this each time I watch it. It was meant to be as dynamic and grandiose as it is - this was not an error. If you are taking 'Batman' seriously - perhaps you need some other diversions in your entertainment. Blu-ray Release Date: December 22nd, 2008

The Pink Panther  BR - As with a surprising number of film roles so closely associated with a particular actor, the Inspector Clouseau character that made his debut in The Pink Panther (1963) was not originally intended for Peter Sellers and was not, in fact, meant to be the central role. The Pink Panther was conceived as a sophisticated comedy about a charming, urbane jewel thief, Sir Charles Litton, a part perfectly suited to the talents and image of David Niven. Years before this picture, Niven nailed the character in Raffles (1940) as the upper crust man-about-town who leads a double life as an ace jewel thief. But any hopes of capitalizing on his previous success were quickly dashed when Sellers arrived on the set. Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2009

The Maniacs - The Maniacs is a brilliant portrait (Box description) of the Italian society of the sixties. The film is divided in several segments, each one devoted to a particular mania, with a special attention to the sexual ones. This anthology is filled with popular Italian comedians, Walter Chiari, Raimondo Vianello, Franco Franchi & Ciccio Ingrassia and many others, along with international performers such as Lisa Gastoni, Gaia Germani and Umberto d Orsi. DVD Release Date: January 27th, 2009

The Inveterate Bachelor - Men are not meant to be married. This is the philosophy of Luigi (Vittorio De Sica), known as the Professor . And when the young salesclerk Marcello (Walter Chiari) asks for an advice since he s falling in love with his landlady s daughter, the Professor urges him to leave. But Marcello ends up married anyway, and his new life turns out to be a real nightmare. He becomes so frustrated with his wife and his mother in low, that he goes mad and is arrested for murder. But not everything is as it seems. DVD Release Date: January 27th, 2009

Any Given Sunday BR - Life is a contact sport and football is life when three-time Academy Award winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and a dynamic acting ensemble explore the fortunes of the Miami Sharks in 'Any Given Sunday'. At the 50-yard line of this gridiron cosmos is Al Pacino as Tony D'Amato, the embattled Sharks coach facing a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy Sharks owner (Cameron Diaz) who's sure Tony is way too old-school. An injured quarterback (Dennis Quaid), a flashy, bull-headed backup QB (Jamie Foxx), a slithery team doctor (James Woods) and a running back with an incentive-laden contract (LL Cool J) also provide some of the stories that zigzag like diagrams in a playbook... Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2009

The Geisha - Yokiro was the most successful Geisha house in Western Japan during the first half of the 20th century, and remains open to this day. At its peak, it was home to over 200 geisha, but behind the glamorous facade, there were many battles - between family members, men and women, and with the Yakuza. Momowaka was sold to Yokiro at age 12, and despite being the top geisha, her many complicated relationships provide unending challenges throughout her glamorous but turbulent life. Winner of 9 Japanese Academy Awards! DVD Release Date: February 10th, 2009

In the Name of the King BR - Dungeon Siege started life as a computer role-playing game, developed by Gas Powered Games for Windows PC and Mac platforms and released in 2002 with a sequel in 2005 and, since 2006, in a version for PlayStation Portable. Some clever fellow thought it was the stuff movies are made of. Or not, depending on the script, casting, direction and production design. Of these the only one that can't be completely faulted is the last. In xxxx's hands, we do have the feeling of a vaguely medieval and mystical landscape, complete with castles, dungeons, moving forests and armies of Krug. It's like Lord of the Rings light. Very light. Blu-ray Release date: December 16, 2008

Domino BR - The real Domino Harvey, who appears briefly at the end of the film, had, in fact, been arrested for allegedly dealing methamphetamines and was facing trial and a probable decade's worth of imprisonment when, shortly before production on the film ended, she died at home, under house arrest, of a massive drug overdose. Real life is not always quite as pretty as it seems in the movies, but then this is exactly what Domino dramatises, with the sort of vivid dynamism normally reserved for action films that are far more conventional and far less intelligent. Blu-ray Release Date: January 20th, 2009

The Bourne Trilogy BR - When you think of it, very few cinematic trilogies have achieved a similar level of coherency. Right away, The Godfather comes to mind, which, whatever we may think of the final installment and even though it takes Michael Corleone's story to a logical and dramatically powerful conclusion, it clearly does not measure up to the standards of the first two. More recently Peter Jackson managed the impossible with Lord of the Rings, partly by having been thoroughly worked out as a trilogy – not only in Tolkien's original source books, but in its transition to film and the fact that the three movies were filmed back-to-back even before the first was released theatrically. Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2009

Alone Across the Pacific - Director Kon Ichikawa's (An Actor's Revenge, The Burmese Harp, Tokyo Olympiad) incredible real-life tale of one man's epic journey across the Pacific Ocean is based on Kenichi Horie's best-selling book of the same name. A year previously, at only 23 years old, Horie took his basic sailboat (named 'The Mermaid') and set off from Nishinomiya in Japan, arriving in San Francisco, California 94 days later. Man's battle against nature is amongst the timeless themes of Ichikawa's beautifully shot, inspiring film. Renowned composer Toru Takemitsu provides the atmospheric score. DVD Release Date: February 23rd, 2009

The Children of Huang Shi - Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of George Hogg, a young British journalist, who rescues 60 orphaned children. He leads them on a treacherous 1000-mile journey along the Silk Road, through the Liu Pan Shan Mountains into the spectacular Gobi desert. Over the course of the journey he falls in love with a determined, self-trained nurse, and makes a friend in Chen, the leader of a Chinese partisan group. Madame Wang, a surviving aristocrat, assists in guiding them to safety in a remote village near the western end of China's Great Wall. DVD Release Date: January 20th, 2009

The Devil and Daniel Webster - William Dieterle adapts Stephen Vincent Benet's transformation of the Faust legend from the tale of an aging genius to that of struggling New Hampshire farmer Jabez Stone, played by James Craig. When Stone absently exclaims that he would sell his soul for a little money and a decent crop, up pops the Mephistophelean Mr. Scratch (Walter Huston). Thinking the whole thing a joke, Stone takes Scratch up on his offer of seven years of prosperity in return for his soul. As Stone's fortunes change and his coffers swell, so does his character. Ignoring his kind and patient wife, Mary (Anne Shirley), he takes a mistress, Belle (Simone Simon), builds her a mansion, and even allows her to raise his son. When Scratch comes to collect his debt, the terrified Stone realises his error and begs legendary New Hampshire lawyer and politician Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) for help. THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER is a nearly perfect film, very well acted and directed, with an exceptional performance by Huston. Even better are the Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann and the gorgeous black-and-white photography of Joseph August. DVD Release Date: February 23rd, 2009

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