Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF February 4th, 2013

  This Week's Highlights
Enta suba pawkin! - This week we have Criterions, Kenji Mizoguchi, Frank Capra, an Irving Berlin musical, Robert Zemeckis, Ann Hui, Ben Affleck (Ben Affleck?) and more. The FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD are chosen for February! We continue with our CONTEST of the week with the prize of a Brand new SEALED Masters of Cinema Blu-ray of Kubrick's Fear and Desire.

DVDBeaver's eBay store HERE selling:

NOTABLES ending in the next 3 days:

Buffalo 66 Blu-ray BRAND NEW SEALED Region 'A' - Vincent Gallo
The Bicycle Thief Blu-ray BRAND NEW SEALED Blu-ray Vittorio de Sica
Days of Heaven (Blu-ray Disc, 2010, Criterion Collection)
Birth of a Nation, The - Full Uncut Director's Version (Blu-ray/DVD, 2011
By Brakhage: An Anthology, Vols. 1 and 2 (Blu-ray Disc, 2010, 3-Disc Set

 

FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD chosen for February!

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February 4th CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Brand new SEALED Masters of Cinema Blu-ray of Kubrick's Fear and Desire

 

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Skyfall [Blu-ray] (Sam Mendes, 2012) Twentieth Century Fox

In Another Country (Sang-soo Hong, 2012) Lorber Films

Night Tide: Remastered Edition [Blu-ray] (Curtis Harrington, 1961) Kino

Heaven [Blu-ray] (Tom Tykwer, 2002) MiraMax

The Grifters [Blu-ray] (Stephen Frears, 1990) MiraMax

Jurassic Park 3D [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal

Ship of Fools / Lilith (Double Feature) [Blu-ray] (Stanley Kramer, 1965) Mill Creek

Elena [Blu-ray] (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) RB UK New Wave Films

Late Bloomers [Blu-ray] (Julie Gavras, 2011) Olive Films

The Dynamiter (Matthew Gordon, 2011) Film Movement

Looks and Smiles (Ken Loach, 1981) R2 UK Park Circus

Fatherland (Ken Loach, 1986) R2 UK Park Circus

Living Apart Together (Charles Gormley, 1982) R2 UK Park Circus

My Name Is Joe (Ken Loach, 1998) R2 UK Park Circus

Everyday (Michael Winterbottom, 2012) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Small Town Murder Songs (Ed Gass-Donnelly, 2010) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (David Gelb, 2011) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Petit Nicolas (Laurent Tirard, 2009) R2 UK Soda Pictures

The Joy of Six (Will Jewell, 2012) R2 UK Soda Pictures

The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 1 [Blu-ray] - Image Entertainment

The Baytown Outlaws [Blu-ray] (Barry Battles, 2012) Peace Arch

Killing Them Softly [Blu-ray] (Andrew Dominik, 2012) Anchor Bay

Bully [Blu-ray] (Lee Hirsch, 2011) Weinstein

Grapes of Death [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1978) Redemption

Night of the Hunted [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1980) Redemption

Womb [Blu-ray] (Benedek Fliegauf, 2010) Olive Films

Gate of Hell [Blu-ray] (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953) Criterion

Gate of Hell (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953) Criterion

Naked Lunch [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1991) Criterion

Richard III [Blu-ray] (Laurence Olivier, 1955) Criterion

Richard III (Laurence Olivier, 1955) Criterion

Pierre Etaix [Blu-ray] (The Suitor, Yoyo, As Long as You’ve Got Your Health, Le grand amour, Land of Milk and Honey) Criterion

Pierre Etaix (The Suitor, Yoyo, As Long as You’ve Got Your Health, Le grand amour, Land of Milk and Honey) Criterion

Eclipse Series 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against the System (The Thick-Walled Room, I Will Buy You, Black River and The Inheritance) Criterion

Repo Man [Blu-ray] (Alex Cox, 1984) Criterion

Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984) Criterion

China Gate [Blu-ray] (Samuel Fuller, 1957) Olive Films

Panic in the Streets [Blu-ray] (Elia Kazan, 1950) Fox

The Sun Shines Bright [Blu-ray] (John Ford, 1953) Olive Films

 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): I was incredibly impressed with A Simple Life on Blu-ray from Well Go USA. A fabulous Ozu-esque film experience. I've actually watched Zemeckis' Flight three times now and my appreciation continues to grow. It is brilliantly written and an amazing lead performance by Denzel. Criterion's Sansho the Bailiff is as perfect a Blu-ray package as you might imagine. Likewise Chronicle of a Summer is an essential for serious students of cinema. Argo is a well-made and interesting film and the Blu-ray does a great job with the presentation. Easter Parade is as toe-tapping and fun as ever with lossless audio and a new 1080P image. On DVD Gregory regales us with a Pre-Code Double Feature, a similar genre effort in The Strange Love of Molly Louvain and lots of Barbara Stanwyck in the Frank Capra - The Early Years Collection. Eric exposes the horror Hollow and the comedy The Skinny. See you next week.

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Hollow - The East Anglia police discover four corpses hanging from the "Suicide Tree" in Grayfriar's Hollow - in a village named Dunwich for no particular reason - with only a video camera to tell the story of the last days of Emma (Emily Plumtree), her fiance Scott (Matt Stokoe), her childhood friend Jimmy (Sam Stockman), and his girlfriend Lynne (Jessica Ellerby). Packing away her late grandfather's - the local vicar - belongings in preparation for the sale of his Suffolk cottage, the quartet - as recorded by Jimmy's omnipresent camera - also find time to play strip poker, spy on each other, needle one another (over Jimmy's attraction to Emma, Scott's attraction to Lynne, Emma's jealousy of Lynne), and do drugs. DVD Release Date: January 28th, 2013

The Skinny - The Skinny is a sharply scripted comedy about a group of four young black gay men and their lesbian best friend. They arrange to meet up in New York City one year after their graduation from Brown University. Their plans for a weekend of fun start off well, relaxed in each other's company as only old friends can be. But old tensions quickly resurface. Drinking, drugs, hidden desire and the demands of promiscuity put friendship, trust and even lives at risk. DVD Release Date: December 18th, 2012

A Simple Life BD - Roger (Andy Lau) is a successful movie producer. Ah Tao (Deanie Ip) has worked for Roger's family as a nanny and maid over the course of four generations. When Roger comes home to find Ah Tao's suffered a severe stroke and is unable to care for herself, he agrees to help her relocate to a nursing home. He wants to help, but fears he'll fail her. She needs his kindness, but doesn't want to be a burden. As their roles reverse, he becomes her caregiver, and comes to understand how much she means to him. Blu-ray Release date: February 26th, 2013

Easter Parade BD - If you can't join 'em, beat 'em! When his long-time dance partner abandons him for the Ziegfeld Follies, Don Hewes decides to show who's who what's what by choosing any girl out of a chorus line and transforming her into a star. So he makes his choice and takes his chances. Of course, since Fred Astaire portrays Don and Judy Garland plays the chorine, we know we're in for an entertainment sure thing. Blu-ray Release Date: February 19th, 2013

Argo BD - Based on real events the dramatic thriller "Argo" chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood played-information that was not declassified until many years after the event. On November 4 1979 as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point militants storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran taking 52 Americans hostage. But in the midst of the chaos six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed the Canadian and American governments ask the CIA to intervene. The CIA turns to their top "exfiltration" specialist Tony Mendez to come up with a plan to get the six Americans safely out of the country. A plan so incredible it could only happen in the movies. Blu-ray Release date: February 19th, 2013

Flight BD - Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a veteran commercial airlines pilot who over the years has built up a shaky tolerance for quantities of alcohol and cocaine that would be lethal for most people. At the film opens, he's finishing an all-night party with a friendly flight attendant named Katerina (Nadine Velazquez) and jolts himself back into action with two lines of cocaine. His co-pilot (Brian Geraghty) eyes him suspiciously, but Whip projects poise and authority from behind his dark aviator glasses. Blu-ray Release date: February 5th, 2013

Sansho the Bailiff BD - Based on an ancient legend, as recounted by celebrated author Mori Ogai (in his short story of the same name, written in 1915), and adapted by Japanese director Mizoguchi Kenji, Sansho Dayu is both distinctively Japanese and as deeply affecting as a Greek tragedy. Described in its opening title as “one of the oldest and most tragic in Japan’s history”, Mizoguchi depicts an unforgettably sad story of social injustice, family love, personal sacrifice, and fateful tragedy. Criterion Blu-ray Release Date: February 26th, 2013

Frank Capra - The Early Years Collection - Columbia release of famous director Frank Capra's early works. Five films included are all Pre-Code and include "Ladies of Leisure (1930", "Rain Or Shine" (1930) "The Miracle Woman" 1931, "Forbidden" (1932) and "The Bitter Tea Of General Yen" (1933). Four of Five Films (all but "Rain or Shine") star Barbara Stanwyck in a variety of roles. The set gives us a very interesting look at pre code films made by one of our greatest directors. "The Bitter Tea of General Yen" was especially controversial for violating common mores of the day about sex between people of different races i.e. miscegenation. In 1950 Columbia sought to reissue the film, however, the PCA (Production Code Administration) was adamantly opposed, thus it was not re-released. DVD Release Date: September 3rd, 2012

The Strange Love of Molly Louvain - THE STRANGE LOVE OF MOLLY LOUVAIN pushes her to look for love with all the wrong men, leading inevitably to unwed pregnancy, betrayal & murder... This obscure little crime film highlights the kind of fast-moving, tough-talking picture which Warner Bros. did so well in the early 1930's. Good production values help tremendously, but the biggest asset is the piston-powered performance of Lee Tracy as a cynical, amoral reporter. Although his character doesn't appear until 30 minutes into the story, once on screen he dominates his scenes, as he typically did during his heyday. [...] The other two sides to the film's romantic triangle are made up of Ann Dvorak, very good in the title role, and Richard Cromwell, impressive as the innocent college kid infatuated with her. DVD Release Date: December 8th, 2009

Pre-Code Double Feature - Ruth Chatterton and Bebe Daniels, two of the greatest leading ladies of the Pre-Code era, are the main attraction in this riches to rags “working woman” double bill. Storied director William Dieterle takes the reins in the first picture, The Crash, directing newlyweds Ruth Chatterton and George Brent. The pair play a married couple who broker wifely favors for inside stock tips. When the market crashes, both must learn a new way to live. And love. Registered Nurse finds Bebe Daniels leaving society dreams behind after her husband cracks up. Returning to the working world, ‘Ben’ (Daniels) tries to stay loyal to her mentally ill husband while fending off advances and her own temptations working the “night watch.” With Lyle Talbot, Sidney Toler, and Beulah Bondi. Directed by Robert Florey. DVD Release Date: February 28th, 2012

Chronicle of a Summer BD - Few films can claim as much influence on the course of cinema history as Chronicle of a Summer. The fascinating result of a collaboration between filmmaker-anthropologist Jean Rouch and sociologist Edgar Morin, this vanguard work of what Morin termed cinéma- vérité is a brilliantly conceived and realized sociopolitical diagnosis of the early sixties in France. Simply by interviewing a group of Paris residents in the summer of 1960—beginning with the provocative and eternal question “Are you happy?” and expanding to political issues, including the ongoing Algerian War—Rouch and Morin reveal the hopes and dreams of a wide array of people, from artists to factory workers, from an Italian émigré to an African student. Chronicle of a Summer’s penetrative approach gives us a document of a time and place with extraordinary emotional depth. Blu-ray Release date: February 26th, 2013
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

February 4th, 2013

 

21 Days: The Heineken Kidnapping [Blu-ray] (Maarten Treurniet, 2011) RB UK Spirit Entertainment

Ballad of Narayama [Blu-ray] (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ballad of Narayama (Keisuke Kinoshita, 1958) Criterion

Black Sunday [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1960) RB UK Arrow Film (BEAVER REVIEW)

Cabaret [Blu-ray] (Bob Fosse, 1972) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Deadfall [Blu-ray] (Stefan Ruzowitzky, 2012) Magnolia

The Dynamiter (Matthew Gordon, 2011) Film Movement

Flight [Blu-ray] (Robert Zemeckis, 2012) Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Joy of Six (Will Jewell, 2012) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Laura [Blu-ray] (Otto Preminger, 1944) 20th Century Fox (BEAVER REVIEW)

Lisa and the Devil [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1974) RB UK Arrow (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Pool (Chris Smith, 2007) Kino Lorber

A Star Is Born [Blu-ray] (Frank Pierson, 1976) Warner

 

 

February 11th, 2013

 

Bully [Blu-ray] (Lee Hirsch, 2011) Weinstein

Die Screaming, Marianne: Remastered Edition [Blu-ray] (Pete Walker, 1971) Redemption

Elena (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) R2 UK New Wave Films

Elena [Blu-ray] (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) RB UK New Wave Films

Ginger & Rosa [Blu-ray] (Sally Potter, 2012) RB UK Artificial Eye

The Kid with a Bike [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 2011) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Kid with a Bike (Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, 2011) Criterion

The Lickerish Quartet [Blu-ray] (Radley Metzger, 1970) RB UK Arrow Films

Midnight Son (Scott Leberecht, 2011) R2 UK NTSC Eureka Video (BEAVER REVIEW)

Score [Blu-ray] (Radley Metzger, 1974) RB UK Arrow Film

Skyfall [Blu-ray] (Sam Mendes, 2012) Twentieth Century Fox

 

 

February 18th, 2012

 

Argo [Blu-ray] (Ben Affleck, 2012) Warner Home Video (BEAVER REVIEW)

Best in Show [Blu-ray] (Christopher Guest, 2000) Warner

Easter Parade [Blu-ray] (Charles Walters, 1948) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Highlander II: The Quickening [Blu-ray] (Russell Mulcahy, 1991) Olive Films

Innocent Bystanders [Blu-ray] (Peter Collinson, 1972) Olive Films

Julius Caesar [Blu-ray] (Stuart Burge, 1970) Olive Films

Live Nude Girls [Blu-ray] (Julianna Lavin, 1995) Olive Films

Les Misérables [Blu-ray] (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, 1958) Olive Films

The Monster Squad [Blu-ray] (Fred Dekker, 1987) Olive Films

The Nest (BluRay/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] (Terence H. Winkless, 1988) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Night of the Demons 2 [Blu-ray] (Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1994) Olive Films

On the Waterfront [Blu-ray] (Elia Kazan, 1954) Criterion

On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) Criterion

Petit Nicolas (Laurent Tirard, 2009) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Prison [Blu-ray] (Renny Harlin, 1988) Shout! Factory

The Running Man [Blu-ray] (Paul Michael Glaser, 1987) Olive Films

Seeds of Destruction [Blu-ray] (Paul Ziller, 2011) Anchor Bay

The Terminator [Blu-ray] (James Cameron, 1984) MGM

TerrorVision / The Video Dead [Blu-ray] - Shout! Factory

That Cold Day in the Park [Blu-ray] (Robert Altman, 1969) Olive Films

The Thief of Bagdad [Blu-ray] (Raoul Walsh, 1924) Image Entertainment

 

 

 

February 25th, 2013

 

A Simple Life [Blu-ray] (Ann Hui, 2011) Well Go USA

Babette's Feast [Blu-ray] (Gabriel Axel, 1987) RB UK Artificial Eye

Beyond the Clouds (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1995) Olive Films

Chronicle of a Summer [Blu-ray] (Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch, 1961) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Chronicle of a Summer (Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch, 1961) Criterion

City of Women [Blu-ray] (Federico Fellini, 1980) RB UK Masters of Cinema

The Claire Denis Collection - R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Diary of a Chambermaid [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1946) Olive Films

The Eye of the Storm [Blu-ray] (Fred Schepisi, 2011) Sycamore

Holy Motors [Blu-ray] (Leos Carax , 2012) Indomina

Lady for a Night [Blu-ray] (Leigh Jason, 1942) Olive Films

The Master [Blu-ray] (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012) Weinstein

McCullin [Blu-ray] (David Morris, Jacqui Morris, 2013) RB UK Artificial Eye

Monsieur Gangster [Blu-ray] (Georges Lautner, 1963) Olive Films

My Name Is Joe (Ken Loach, 1998) R2 UK Park Circus

Nanook of the North / The Wedding of Palo (and Other Films of Arctic Life) [Blu-ray] - Flicker Alley

A New Life [Blu-ray] (Alan Alda, 1988) Olive Films

La poison [Blu-ray] (Sacha Guitry, 1951) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Onibaba [Blu-ray] (Kaneto Shindô, 1964) RB UK Masters of Cinema

The Red Menace [Blu-ray] (R.G. Springsteen, 1949) Olive Films

Sansho the Bailiff [Blu-ray] (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

She Devil [Blu-ray] (Kurt Neumann, 1957) Olive Films

A Simple Life [Blu-ray] (Ann Hui, 2011) Well Go USA

Spy Vs Spy [Blu-ray] (Georges Lautner, 1964) Olive Films

Strangers in the Night [Blu-ray] (Anthony Mann, 1944) Olive Films

 

     
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