Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF February 18th, 2013

  This Week's Highlights
Amruchatxi? - Carax, the latest Paul Thomas Anderson, 2 Silent era, Bava, Masters of Cinema, new Disney animation, 70's sci-fi and more on Blu-ray. We continue with our CONTEST of the week with the prize of a Brand New Criterion Blu-ray of Ivan's Childhood.

FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD chosen for February!

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February 18th CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Brand New Criterion Blu-ray of Ivan's Childhood

 

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Au hasard Balthazar [Blu-ray] (Robert Bresson, 1966) RB UK Artificial Eye

Mouchette [Blu-ray] (Robert Bresson, 1967) RB UK Artificial Eye

Stromboli [Blu-ray] (Roberto Rossellini, 1950) RB UK BFI

Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Collection [Blu-ray] (Notorious, Rebecca, Spellbound) MGM (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)   (BEAVER REVIEW)

Life of Pi [Blu-ray] (Ang Lee, 2012) Fox

Theorem [Blu-ray] (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968) RB UK BFI

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Limited Edition Steelbook (Exclusive to Amazon.co.uk) [Blu-ray + UV Copy] (Peter Jackson, 2012) [Region Free] UK Warner

The Unbelievable Truth [Blu-ray] (Hal Hartley, 1989) RB UK Artificial Eye

Amateur [Blu-ray] (Hal Hartley, 1994) RB UK Artificial Eye

Lore [Blu-ray] (Cate Shortland, 2012) RB UK Artificial Eye

Life of Pi - Limited Edition Steelbook (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UV Copy) (Ang Lee, 2012) RB UK 20th Century Fox

The Big Picture [Blu-ray] (Eric Lartigau, 2010) MPI

Hyde Park on Hudson [Blu-ray] (Roger Michell, 2012) Universal

The Burning [Blu-ray] (Tony Maylam, 1981) Shout! Factory

Sommersby [Blu-ray] (Jon Amiel, 1993) Warner Home Video

The Impossible [Blu-ray] (Juan Antonio Bayona, 2012) Summit Ent.

Chronicle of a Summer [Blu-ray] (Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch, 1961) RB UK BFI

Jurassic Park (Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy + UltraViolet) (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Monsters, Inc. (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) (Pete Docter, 2001)Disney

Masterpiece Classic: Mr. Selfridge [Blu-ray] (2013) PBS

Underground [Blu-ray] (Anthony Asquith, 1929) RB UK BFI

The Insider [Blu-ray] (Michael Mann, 1999) Touchstone

The Intouchables [Blu-ray] (Olivier Nakache, 2012) Sony Pictures

Spider Baby [Blu-ray] (Jack Hill, 1968) RB UK Arrow Video

Blow Out [Blu-ray] Steelbook (Brian De Palma, 1981) RB UK Arrow Video

Foxy Brown [Blu-ray] Steelbook (Jack Hill, 1974) RB UK Arrow Video

Zeta One (aka The Love Factor): Remastered Edition [Blu-ray] (Michael Cort, 1969) Redemption

Gorgo [Blu-ray] (Eugene Lourie, 1961) VCI

Rolling Thunder [Blu-ray] (John Flynn, 1977) Shout! Factory

Captain America [Blu-ray] (Albert Pyun, 1990) Shout! Factory

The Town That Dreaded Sundown Blu-ray] (Charles B. Pierce, 1976) Shout! Factory

Marvin's Room [Blu-ray] (Jerry Zaks, 1996) Miramax

Spiders (3D/2D Blu-ray) (Tibor Takács, 2012) Millennium

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

 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Blu-rays keeps pushing me into some fabulous Silent Era gems and we have two this week. The Late Mathias Pascal is a super film experience accentuated by the restoration and Flicker Alley's 1080P transfer.1924's The Thief of Bagdad comes to Blu-ray and is a grand Arabian adventure -with none other than Douglas Fairbanks! I'm a big fans and Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’ was a very anticipated viewing for me - the film really knocked me for a loop. Shot in 70mm the HD image is filled with beautiful. Kaneto Shindô's Onibaba gets the Blu-ray treatment via The Masters of Cinema group and it is an unforgettable presentation. Arrow films give us the definitive editions of two Bava favorites; Black Sunday is an incredible package - as is Lisa and the Devil with Elke Sommer. Disney's latest animation, Wreck-It Ralph, pays homage to some of the old video games and the film is wonderful. Crichton's Westworld doesn't shine on Warner Blu-ray but the film has tons of nostalgia charm. I liked Carax's Holy Motors but the unremarkable US Blu-ray transfer left me disappointed. On DVD this week Eric covered The Fallow Field and the curious Indie picture Suzie Heartless. Have a triumphant week!

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Wreck-It Ralph BD - An 8-bit video-game character attempts to shed his bad-guy image by escaping into a popular first-person shooter, but inadvertently wreaks havoc in the video-game universe by freeing a digital villain who can only be contained with the help of a most unlikely ally in this colorful animated adventure. Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) is the arch nemesis of Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer), one of the most beloved video-game icons of all time. Blu-ray Release date: March 5th, 2013

The Fallow Field - Not for the first time, amnesiac Matt Sadler (Steve Garry) awakes alone in the middle of a wilderness with no recollection of the past seven days. Finding his way home he discovers a life rapidly falling apart: his wife is convinced he s hiding an affair, the police are suspicious of his repeated disappearances and now he is plagued by terrifying nightmares when he closes his eyes. DVD Release Date: March 11th, 2013

Onibaba BD - Deep within the wind-swept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished mother and her daughter-in-law eke out a lonely, desperate existence. Forced to murder lost samurai and sell their belongings for grain, they dump the corpses down a deep, dark hole and live off of their meager spoils. When a bedraggled neighbor returns from the skirmishes, lust, jealousy, and rage threaten to destroy the trio’s tenuous existence, before an ominous, ill-gotten demon mask seals the trio’s horrifying fate. Driven by primal emotions, dark eroticism, a frenzied score by Hikaru Hayashi, and stunning images both lyrical and macabre, Kaneto Shindo’s chilling folktale Onibaba is a singular cinematic experience. Blu-ray Release Date: February 25th, 2013

Lisa and the Devil BD - Elke Sommer (Baron Blood) stars as Lisa, a young woman who finds herself lost in a large and imposing European city. Unable to find her way, she runs across a rich man (Eduardo Fajardo), his wife (Sylva Coscina) and their chauffeur (Gabriele Tinti). This unhappy trio (the wife, Sophia is having an affair with the chauffeur, George—and the husband knows it) offer Lisa a ride—which she willingly accepts. However, their car breaks down in front of a desolate old mansion—a house where a blind countess (Alida Valli) lives with her mentally disturbed son Max (Alessio Orano), and a manservant with a penchant for making mannequins who just may be Satan himself (Telly Savalas—who even sucks on a lollipop in this film). Blu-ray Release Date: February 4th, 2013

Westworld BD - Welcome to Westworld, where nothing can go wrong...go wrong...go wrong....Writer/director Michael Crichton has concocted... a futuristic "Disneyland for adults", a remote resort island where, for a hefty fee, one can indulge in one's wildest fantasies. Businessmen James Brolin and Richard Benjamin are just crazy about the old west, thus they head to the section of Westworld populated by robot desperadoes, robot lawmen, robot dance-hall gals, and the like. Benjamin's first inkling that something is amiss occurs when, during a mock showdown with robot gunslinger Yul Brynner, Brolin is shot and killed for real. It seems that the "nerve center" of Westworld has developed several serious technical glitches: the human staff is dead, and the robots are running amok. Suddenly promoted to the film's hero, Benjamin (who seems as surprised and shocked as the audience) must first avoid, then face down the relentless Brynner. Much of Westworld was lensed on the expansive grounds of the old Harold Lloyd estate in Beverly Hills, so it's no surprise that there's something Lloydlike about Dick Benjamin's instinct for self-preservation. Blu-ray Release Date: March 5th, 2013

The Thief of Bagdad BD - Douglas Fairbanks is at his most graceful and charismatic in one of the classic silent films of the 1920s. As the thief of Baghdad, his movements are dance-like -- nothing like the athletics he performed in most of his other films. In this Arabian take, the thief ignores the holy teachings and sneaks into the palace of the Caliph (Brandon Hurst). All thoughts of robbery slip away, however, when he sees the beautiful princess (Julanne Johnston). Princes have come from many faraway lands to win the princess' hand (and it's amusing to watch her face growing ever more alarmed at their arrival, because each one is uglier than the last). The thief disguises himself as a prince and the princess falls in love with him. Blu-ray Release date: February 19th, 2013

Black Sunday BD - Secluded castles, musty hallways, tree branches that reach like hands, mist-shrouded forests, stranded travelers, duplicitous lovers who conspire to murder, secret passageways that descend to deteriorating crypts--this is the stuff of Italian gothic horror, one of the most exciting and atmospheric sub-genres of film, and Mario Bava was one of its greatest practitioners. Blu-ray Release Date: February 4th, 2013

The Master BD - Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘The Master’ riffs on the early roots and allure of Scientology with the same compelling strangeness and heady intensity that the American writer-director of ‘Boogie Nights’ and ‘Magnolia’ brought to his last film, ‘There Will Be Blood’. ‘The Master’ is another tale of warped power and fanatical delusions, and it sees Anderson on captivating form as a director who is able to surprise and impress with scene after scene. Blu-ray Release date: February 26th, 2013

Holy Motors BD -Surreal? Erratic? Mad? Daring? Those four words are a good start when it comes to describing Leos Carax's Holy Motors. It's only the writer/director's second film in 13 years, following 1999's Pola X, and here he's focusing on a single day in Paris. Moreover, we spend time in the company of Monsieur Oscar, played by regular Carax collaborator Denis Levant. Monsieur Oscar is a chameleon-like figure, who's being chauffeured around the city. And while travelling, he takes on the guise of many others, swiftly changing on board before heading off for his next appointment. Blu-ray Release Date: February 26th, 2013

Suzie Heartless - SUZIE HEARTLESS tells the dark and harrowing story of the last days in the life of a terrified teenage prostitute. Brutalized, raped and fending off the pains of starvation, Suzie finds her only solace in the quiet home she has created in the derelict basement of a textile warehouse. Haunted by a mysterious young girl, Suzie searches the streets of Los Angeles for her missing family in hopes that she'll be able to recapture the beauty of her lost childhood before succumbing to the misery and violence of reality. DVD Release Date: February, 2013

The Late Mathias Pascal BD - After the financial ruin of his family, Mathias works in the library of the village of Miragno. He marries Romilde, whom he had previously been courting on behalf of his timid friend Pomino, and they live with his shrewish mother-in-law. When his mother and baby daughter die on the same day, Mathias in despair runs away to Monte Carlo. In the casino he soon wins 500,000 francs. On his way home he reads in a newspaper that he is believed to have committed suicide and another body has been identified as his. He decides to seize this chance of freedom and to start a new life in Rome. Blu-ray Release date: January 29th, 2013
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

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

The Insider [Blu-ray] (Michael Mann, 1999) Touchstone

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

Monsters, Inc. (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray/DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging) (Pete Docter, 2001)Disney

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 (BEAVER REVIEW)

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) Cohen Media Group (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

 

February 25th, 2013

 

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

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 (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

The Master [Blu-ray] (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012) Starz Anchor Bay (BEAVER REVIEW)

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 (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

 

 

March 4th, 2012

 

Argo [Blu-ray] (Ben Affleck, 2012) UK Region FREE Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

College [Blu-ray] (James W. Horne, 1927) Kino Lorber

The Intouchables [Blu-ray] (Olivier Nakache, 2012) Sony Pictures

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

Phantasm II [Blu-ray] (Don Coscarelli, 1988) Shout! Factory

Schindler's List [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal

Waiting for Lightning [Blu-ray] (Jacob Rosenberg, 2012) First Run Features

Westworld [Blu-ray] (Michael Crichton, 1973) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Wreck-It Ralph [Blu-ray] (Rich Moore, 2012) Buena Vista (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

 

March 11th, 2013

 

Alfred Hitchcock: The Classic Collection [Blu-ray] (Notorious, Rebecca, Spellbound) MGM (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)   (BEAVER REVIEW) 

Ben-Hur / Ten Commandments [Blu-ray] - Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Blob [Blu-ray] (Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., 1958) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz) / (John Huston) African Queen [Blu-ray] Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

Clash Of The Titans 2010/1981 [Blu-ray] Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Devil's in the Details [Blu-ray] (Waymon Boone, 2012) Image Entertainment

Dirty Dozen, The / Green Berets, The [Blu-ray] - Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

Disclosure (Barry Levinson) / Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne) [Blu-ray] Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

Fairy in a Cage [Blu-ray] (Kôyû Ohara, 1977) Impulse Pictures

Hysteria [Blu-ray] (Rene Daalder, 1997) Cult Epics

Life of Pi [Blu-ray] (Ang Lee, 2012) Fox

The Master [Blu-ray] (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012) RB UK Entertainment in Video

Ministry of Fear [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1944) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1944) Criterion Collection

Ripper Street [Blu-ray] (Matthew Macfadyen, 2012) BBC Warner

Saturday Night Fever (1977) / Grease (1978) [Blu-ray] - Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

Siegfried [Blu-ray] (Brian Large, 1990) Deutsche Grammophon

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

Spiders (3D/2D Blu-ray) (Tibor Takács, 2012) Millennium

A Time To Kill/The Pelican Brief [Blu-ray] Warner Brothers (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

Tristana [Blu-ray] (Luis Buñuel, 1970) Koch Entertainment

Who Framed Roger Rabbit [Blu-ray] (Robert Zemeckis, 1988) Touchstone

Zulu Dawn [Blu-ray] (Douglas Hickox, 1979) Severin Films

 

     
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