Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF February 12th, 2018

Swastyastu! Improving week with Blu-ray and DVD reviews of packages by Arrow, Kino, Vinegar Syndrome, Umbrella Entertainment, Second Sight Films, Mondo Macabro and others of films directed by Federico Fellini, Howard Hawks, Emir Kusturica, Stéphane Brizé, Lee Tamahori, Jamaa Fanaka, Mario Andreacchio, Ralph Nelson!. Our Calendar has updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including works by Anthony Mann, Stanley Kramer, Sidney J. Furie, Larry Cohen, David Lynch, Piers Haggard, Mike Nichols, Charles Band, W.D. Richter and we have our Feature Blu-ray is posted for FEBRUARY plus a new CONTEST with a BRAND NEW CRITERION Blu-ray prize. Enjoy!!

LISTING PAGES:

CREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!), PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!), SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!), HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!) The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!), The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!), Giallo on Blu-ray!, ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!, Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France), Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our LATEST ARTICLES: Movies From... the End of the World,  The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

DVDBeaver has their own store at Movie Zyng - check it out! Many have $1 shipping - even overseas!

Feature Blu-ray chosen for the Month of FEBRUARY!

FOLLOW US on TWITTER! (where we post important reviews, contests - prizes, polls, calendar updates - plus much more...)

(Week of) February 12th, CONTEST  identify the film HERE to win a prize of a BRAND NEW Criterion Blu-ray of Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows Best of luck!

If there are DVD or Blu-ray titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend!

Gary at 2ze dot com

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Kino's Blu-ray package of Emir Kusturica's Underground gets top spot this week despite its parity with the corresponding BFI Blu-ray edition. A very complete 3-disc set - worthy of any cinephile library. Ditto can be said for Lee Tamahori's Once Were Warriors - grim, honest and unforgettable Kiwi masterwork on Second Sight Blu-ray out of the UK. Kino bring, first Western epic, The Covered Wagon to Blu-ray, dramatically showcasing the perils of 1848 west pioneering. I have a soft spot for Ozploitation mainstay Fair Game. This pure, notorious, vengeance saga gets a vastly improved, Region FREE, Blu-ray release from Umbrella. Federico Fellini's Orchestra Rehearsal has some of the director's most brilliant scenes of unbridled anarchy and is on Region FREE Blu-ray from Arrow. Howard Hawks', offbeat and fetishistic western, The Outlaw, co-directed by Howard Hughes gets a new Blu-ray release from Kino - ripe with the film's 'suggestive dialogue' and 'gay subtexts'. Stephen King's Silver Bullet has old fashioned werewolf mythology in a modern setting and this desirable cult effort get a Region FREE, Blu-ray release from Umbrella. A Woman's Life is beautiful cinema - a powerful adaptation of Guy de Maupassant s first novel 'Une vie' on stellar Blu-ray. The Wilby Conspiracy has Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine and Nicol Williamson in a Politically charged adventure with anti-apartheid themes. It is now on Blu-ray from Kino, Colin reviewed a Quentin Tarantino favorite The Blood Spattered Bride - an unrelenting vampire flic on Region FREE Blu-ray, with new commentary, from Mondo Macabro. He also covered Penitentiary - a gritty, violent 70's 'Blaxploitation' film on Region FREE Blu-ray from the passionate producers at Vinegar Syndrome/ On DVD Eric reviewed the Australian horror mystery Visitors, the modern horror Inoperable, the highly touted adventure In Search of Fellini and the modern life-drama My Art.

'There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.' -Frank Capra

Have a sensational week!

A Woman's Life BD - Jeanne (Judith Chemla) is a young woman full of childish dreams and innocence when she returns home after finishing her schooling in a convent. Yet little by little her illusions are stripped away when she marries a local Viscount, Julien de Lamare (Swann Arlaud), who reveals himself to be a miserly and adulterous partner. Blu-ray Release Date: February 13th, 2018

Orchestra Rehearsal BD - An allegorical pseudo-documentary, the film depicts an Italian television crew s visit to a dilapidated auditorium (a converted 13th-century church) to meet an orchestra assembling to rehearse under the instruction of a tyrannical conductor. The TV crew interviews the various musicians who each speak lovingly about their chosen instruments. However, as petty squabbles break out amid the different factions of the ensemble, and the conductor berates his musicians, the meeting descends into anarchy and vandalism. A destructive crescendo ensues before the musicians regroup and play together once more in perfect harmony. Blu-ray Release Date: February 13th, 2018

The Covered Wagon BD - The first Western epic! A great caravan of covered wagons, filled with hearty pioneers and their families and possessions, are waiting for the Spring jump off at Westport Landing, now Kansas City. The time is 1848, and the destination is far-off Oregon, in The Covered Wagon (1923), the first big-budget Western epic. Where countless pilgrims fell, a love triangle flourishes, as Molly Wingate (Lois Wilson) must choose between the brutish Sam (Alan Hale) and the dashing Will (J. Warren Kerrigan). Complicating her decision are the perils of the trail: a mile-wide river, prairie fire, heavy snowfall, a buffalo stampede, crippling hunger, and Native American attacks. Blu-ray Release Date: February 20th, 2018

The Outlaw BD - This controversial and legendary western launched the career of sex goddess Jane Russell and is infamous due to its violations of the Production Code. The Outlaw follows the friendship of Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) and fellow outlaw Doc Holliday (Walter Huston), as they both pursue the affections of Holliday's girlfriend, Rio (Russell), while being chased through the desert by Sheriff Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell) and his posse. Financed and directed by reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes, his second and final directing effort--the film's release was delayed several years due to censorship issues and public outroar relating to Russell's abundant cleavage. Blu-ray Release Date: February 27th, 2018

Penitentiary BD - Director Jamaa Fanaka's breakout action hit, PENITENTIARY, remains one of the seminal late period 'Blaxploitation' films. Gritty, violent, and maddeningly entertaining, Vinegar Syndrome presents the Blu-ray debut of this genre film classic, newly restored in 4k from its original 35mm camera negative and filled with both all new and archival interviews with its cast and crew. Blu-ray Release Date: January 30th, 2018

Underground BD - A great circus full of tragicomic satire, UNDERGROUND is a visionary masterpiece where hope, laughter and the joy of living overcome the difficulties of survival. In the midst of war, Marko and Blacky - two opportunistic buddies sharing a spirited lust for women, booze and madcap brawling - attain riches and heroic praise dealing arms to the war's resistance fighters. When things get too hot, they move into an intricate cellar packed with refugees whom Marko encourages to manufacture the contraband. Kino Blu-ray Release Date: February 20th, 2018

Once Were Warriors BD - Jake Heke lives with his family in a tenement house for native Maori in the slums of Auckland. Despite his love and devotion, Jake's battle with alcoholism frequently results in terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings of his wife Beth. After Jake loses his job, each member of the Heke family is forced to face their own personal demons and the societal constraints that shackle native New Zealanders. Second Sight Blu-ray Release date: February 19th, 2018

Silver Bullet BD - When a series of unexplained murders occurs in the normally quiet town of Tarker's Mill, the residents decide to hunt down the killer. However, many of these vigilantes end up dead, and those who don't are no closer to finding an assailant. But, when a young wheelchair-using boy named Marty (Corey Haim) encounters a werewolf one night, the pieces begin to come together. Along with his sister and Uncle Red (Gary Busey), Marty begins a mission to capture the werewolf once and for all! Blu-ray Release Date: January 12th, 2018

Fair Game BD - Cassandra Delaney is Jessica, a smart farmer girl who (I think) owns a safe-heaven for animals. One day on the road she bumps into three rednecks who almost forces her off the road. She complains to the law, but no one cares, and soon the rednecks is out for revenge - just for fun. So they kill her animals and sexually abuse her (including putting her undressed in front of one of their trucks, driving like crazies at the same time). When they're finished with her they leave her... and now she's ready for her revenge! And it's gonna be brutal! Blu-ray Release Date: January 12th, 2018

The Blood Spattered Bride BD - This atmospheric, gothic horror story is widely regarded as one of the very best vampire films ever made. Controversial in its day for sexual content and for extreme scenes of violence and gore, it was widely cut on original release. This brand new version restores the film to its intended length and includes alternate scenes that have never been made available before. This is the first Blu- release of an acknowledged classic, one of Quentin Tarantino’s favourite films. Blu-ray Release Date: February 13th, 2018

The Wilby Conspiracy BD - The Wilby Conspiracy is set in South Africa, at a time when Apartheid was the order of the day. Political activist Shack Twala (Sidney Poitier) finds an unlikely -- and reluctant -- ally in the form of the British Keogh (Michael Caine). Both Twala and Keogh are scrutinized by racist police official Horn (Nicol Williamson), who hopes that they'll lead him to the hideout of chief activist Wilby (Joe De Graft). Based on the novel by Peter Driscoll, The Wilby Conspiracy abandons its sociological overtones early on in favor of an extended chase. Blu-ray Release date: February 6th, 2018

My Art - Single, New York City artist Ellie Shine is looking to gain inspiration and tranquility as she house sits for a friend in upstate New York. Accompanied by her lovable handicapped dog, Bing, Ellie comes of age - middle age - in her new surroundings. She turns the adjoining barn into her new workplace, staging elaborate recreations of classic movie scenes, ranging from Some Like it Hot to A Clockwork Orange. Business unexpectedly evolves into possible pleasure when Ellie invites three local men - two gardeners and a lawyer - to participate in her art. DVD Release Date: January 30th, 2018

Visitors - After six months at sea on a solo trip around the world, Georgia Perry's 44-foot sail boat sits idle with no wind in her sails for several days. Cabin fever sets in and the border between fact and fantasy begins to trickle away. Are uninvited visitors bordering the vessel, or is her mind deceiving her? But if these are just tricks in her imagination, how do these ghostly encounters leave Georgia with bruises? If the visitors are real, is there a bigger danger? DVD Release Date: March 1st, 2018

In Search of Fellini - Based on Nancy Cartwright's true adventure. Lucy, a small-town girl from Ohio, has been shielded from all the bad in the world by her mother Clair, including Clair's own terminal illness. Claire's no BS sister urges Claire to break her silence before it s too late. Lucy, aware that something is up, goes to Cleveland for an ill-fated job interview. She stumbles upon a festival of Oscar-winning Federico Fellini's films and is instantly swept away. The cleverly enigmatic tragicomedy leaves Lucy aching for answers. DVD Release Date: January 23rd, 2018

Inoperable - When Amy Barrett (Danielle Harris) wakes up in a Florida Keys hospital, she discovers it empty as emergency broadcasts and loudspeaker announcements call for an evacuation of the hospital and the island. As she searches for an exit, she finds the staff members and patients who carry on as if things are normal appear to be unable to see or hear her. DVD Release Date: February 6th, 2018

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar