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Man in the Dark
BD - The first 3-D motion
picture produced by a major studio, Man in the Dark
(1953) is a classic film noir, complete with tough-guy
protagonist (Edmond O’Brien), heart-of-gold moll (Audrey
Totter), and plenty of underworld action—but with handsome
stereoscopic imagery directed by the prolific Lew Landers (The
Raven). Focusing on a thug who undergoes
brain surgery to eliminate his criminal tendencies, the film
utilizes spectacular 3-D effects to simulate the newly decent
hero’s disorientation as he tries to remember his life of crime,
even as he is pursued by former cohorts who want in on the
spoils of his latest robbery. Blu-ray
Release date: January, 2014
The Lady From Shanghai
BD - Orson Welles (Citizen
Kane, 1941) wrote, directed and starred in
this treacherous tale of a sailor (Welles) hired to help a
beautiful woman (Rita Hayworth) and her disabled lawyer husband
(Everett Sloane) sail their private yacht from New York to San
Francisco via the Panama Canal. On board, he is bribed to “fake”
the murder of the lawyer’s partner (Glenn Anders), only to find
himself trapped in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Welles
created a scandal, and lots of publicity, by having his wife
Hayworth’s trademark red locks cut short and bleached blonde for
her role as a femme fatale, but the movie failed to score at the
box office upon its release. Over time, critics have lavished
praise on Welles’s uncommon vision, which culminates with the
most elaborately staged of all film noir finales—the famous
shootout in the hall of mirrors.
Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2014
The Deflowering of Eva van End
- A dysfunctional family gets turned on its head when the
perfect exchange student moves in. Every member of the van End
family is preoccupied with his or her own peculiar fixation -be
it father Evert's Skype relationship with a boy in Africa
(seemingly his only functional relationship), or mother Etty's
relentless tirades against her dope-dealing youngest son or
praises for her eldest son about to marry. Trapped in the middle
is the youngest 15 year-old Eva struggling for any attention or
affection at all. When Veit, the adonis German exchange student
Eva invited, moves in, the family is shocked and each family
member must confront his or her own doubts, insecurities, fears
and desires. During Veit's two week stay, all five family
members began to reinvent themselves led by former wallflower,
Eva, who begins a dramatic transformation. DVD Release Date:
December 3rd, 2013
Garibaldi's Lovers -
GARIBALDI'S LOVERS presents a fizzy ride through a magical
vision of metropolitan Italy, while at the same time casting a
critical eye on modern life in the city. Widowed plumber Leo is
struggling to deal with the growing pains of his two adolescent
children, when his life intersects with penniless artist Diana
and her eccentric landlord Amanzio. Through a hilarious series
of coincidences, they give each other new hope for their futures
- and for the city itself, so emblematic of our times. DVD
Release Date: January 21st, 2014
Jump - This stylish,
fast-paced romantic thriller follows the trials and tribulations
of three seemingly unconnected sets of young people in Belfast
on New Year's Eve. Gradually, the links between them are
revealed as fate takes a hand in a night of fast talk, accidents
and intrigue. DVD Release Date: December 10th, 2013
Leather - Shot with a
spot-on 1970s aesthetic and featuring a gorgeous folk
soundtrack, Leather is an entertaining and erotically charged
tale of modern gay urbanites forced to adjust to country living.
When New Yorker Andrew hears that his estranged father Walter
has died, he travels with his boyfriend Kyle to the cabin in the
Catskill Mountains where his father spent his final years. Upon
arrival, Andrew is shocked to find his childhood friend, Birch,
is living in the cabin and spent the last few years being
mentored by Walter. Birch spends his days fishing, practicing
carpentry and making items from leather. Though Birch embraces a
peaceful lifestyle free of modern technology, his presence
leaves Andrew with conflicting emotions - regret, jealousy,
suspicion and possibly desire. DVD Release Date: December
3rd, 2013
Jules and Jim
BD - Hailed as one of the
finest films ever made, Jules and Jim charts, over
twenty-five years, the relationship between two friends and the
object of their mutual obsession. The legendary François
Truffaut directs, and Jeanne Moreau stars as the alluring and
willful Catherine, whose enigmatic smile and passionate nature
lure Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) into one of
cinema’s most captivating romantic triangles. An exuberant and
poignant meditation on freedom, loyalty, and the fortitude of
love, Jules and Jim was a worldwide smash in 1962 and remains
every bit as audacious and entrancing today.
Blu-ray Release date: February 4th,
2014
The Long Day Closes
BD - The Long Day Closes
is the most gloriously cinematic expression of the unique
sensibility of Terence Davies, widely celebrated as Britain’s
greatest living filmmaker. Suffused with both enchantment and
melancholy, this autobiographical film takes on the perspective
of a quiet, lonely boy growing up in Liverpool in the 1950s. But
rather than employ a straightforward narrative, Davies jumps in
and out of time, swoops into fantasies and fears, summons
memories and dreams. A singular filmic tapestry, The Long Day
Closes is an evocative, movie- and music-besotted portrait
of the artist as a young man. Blu-ray
Release Date: February 18th, 2014
Les Miserables
BD - Hailed by film critics
around the world as the greatest screen adaptation of Victor
Hugo's mammoth nineteenth-century novel, Raymond Bernard's
dazzling, nearly five-hour Les misérables is a
breathtaking tour de force, unfolding with the depth and detail
of its source. Featuring stunning art direction and
cinematography and unforgettable performances by the exquisite
Harry Baur (who died tragically during World War II), as Jean
Valjean, and the legendary Charles Vanel, as Inspector Javert,
Les misérables is one of the triumphs of French
filmmaking. Blu-ray Release
Date: December 4th, 2013
Foreign Correspondent
BD - n 1940, Alfred
Hitchcock made his official transition from the British film
industry to Hollywood. And it was quite a year: his first two
American movies,
Rebecca and Foreign
Correspondent, were both nominated for the best picture
Oscar. Though Rebecca prevailed, Foreign Correspondent
is the more quintessential Hitch film. A full-throttle espionage
thriller, starring Joel McCrea as a green Yank reporter sent to
Europe to get the scoop on the imminent war, it’s wall-to-wall
witty repartee, head-spinning plot twists, and brilliantly
mounted suspense set pieces, including an ocean plane crash
climax with astonishing special effects. Foreign Correspondent
deserves to be mentioned alongside
The 39 Steps and
North by Northwest as
one of the master’s greatest adventures.
Blu-ray Release Date: February
18th, 2014
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