Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF March 8th, 2010

This Week's Highlights

Oté! - 21 new reviews this week. Newer Pedro Almodovar, a couple of other modern movies plus two animated features arrive on Blu-ray and films by Marco Ferreri, Xei Fei and an older John Woo effort come to DVD! We've got some appealing calendar updates as well - a new contest with two great new DVD prizes, and much more.... sit back and relax!

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MARCH 8th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to to win a sealed Criterion Blu-ray of Lola Montes - Best of luck all!

DVD and Blu-ray of the Year 2009

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

Amazon Blu-ray Blowout HERE

• The Movies & TV Boxed Set Sale (up to 60% OFF!)

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• SALES: US Blu-ray up to 53% OFF        

•  Amazon France Blu-ray SALE (BUY 1 get 1 FREE!)

LATEST ADDITIONS to the Calendar: (PRE-ORDER & save!):

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Astro Boy BD - Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him. Blu-ray Release date: March 16th, 2010

Mulan BD - Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the same Mulan who was brought to the attention of Western audiences in Disney's animated feature of the same name in 1998. But this new movie is no pretty feminist picture of that legendary personage. This Hua Mulan doesn't sing and she doesn't have any talking animalistic sidekicks either. But the rest of the story's outlines are much the same. Her country on the verge of being gobbled up by a neighboring faction in centuries old China; her taking her father's place in battle, disguised as a man; her coming close to being found out, which would have brought shame to her family; her victories in battle over twelve years of war; and, of course, the central love story, which, in the present case, is dripping with pathos and sentiment – very affecting and noble. Blu-ray Release date: February 12th, 2010

The Devil's Rejects BD - While you could think of this movie as a sequel to Rob Zombie's first directorial effort, the ghoulishly bloody and deliciously titled House of 10,000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects is so superior and assured in every way, it should be considered entirely on its own merits. I dare say the movie is so good that it begs the question as to what constitutes a proper way to judge it, let alone score it. Blu-ray Release date: August 22nd, 2006

The Three Musketeers of the West - The Three Musketeers of the West is a haphazard adaption of Alexandre Dumas's novel "The Three Musketeers". The tone of the film like the majority of Spaghetti Westerns from this era is heavy on slap stick comedy and often short on logic. The plot has its fare share of flaws and the lack that of a charismatic actor in the lead role. These are just two of the more obvious flaws that hamper this film. DVD Release Date: May 19th, 2009

Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky BD - If you fancy stories about misguided, obsessive and unrequited love, you might just take to Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, an adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's trilogy of novellas, faithfully adapted and evocatively staged for BBC television by Kevin Elyot and Simon Curtis. Hamilton, for those who don't recognize the name, is a highly respected British writer of novels and dramas, including "Gaslight" "Rope" and "Hangover Square." Blu-ray Release date: November 12th, 2007

Broken Embraces BD - Pedro Almodovar loves the movies with lust and abandon and the skill of an experienced lover. "Broken Embraces" is a voluptuary of a film, drunk on primary colors, caressing Penelope Cruz, using the devices of a Hitchcock to distract us with surfaces while the sinister uncoils beneath. As it ravished me, I longed for a freeze frame to allow me to savor a shot. Blu-ray Release date: March 16th, 2010

Toy Story BD - Pixar are not simply making a great animated film here, these films will last for generations of adults and children. Unlike, say a Shrek, there is no dated humor that will prove stale as the flavors of the week pass on. Toy Story deals with, at its most basic root, the universal interaction of children and toys - their imaginative communication and playful reflections and musings as adults. It is this development of imagination that molds children into the people that we now are. It can instill compassion and respect and no film in the history of cinema has expressed that importance better than the Toy Story films. What makes them so wonderful are the ability to appeal to both kids and adults. Blu-ray Release Date: March 23rd, 2010

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire BD - Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother, a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write. Blu-ray Release date: March 9th, 2010

The Cat'O Nine Tails - While walking home with his adopted daughter Lori (Cinzia de Carolis), blind former journalist-turned-crossword puzzle designer Franco Arno (Karl Malden) overhears two people in a car discussing blackmail (he gets Lori to take a surreptitious look at the car but she can only make out one of the men) on the same night that someone breaks into the Terzi Institute and makes off with some genetic research. Anchor Bay DVD Release Date: July 10th, 2001

The Young Girls of Rochefort - Most musicals shift back and forth between story (spoken dialogue) and song-and-dance numbers--sometimes creating queasy transitions just before or after these shifts, when we're uncertain where we are stylistically. But The Young Girls of Rochefort often daringly places story and musical numbers on the screen simultaneously, mixing them in various ways and in different proportions. One of the stars may be walking down the street, for example, but the pedestrians around her are suddenly dancing, and she slips momentarily in and out of their choreography. DVD Release Date: July 28th, 2008

Power Play - A group of military officers, angered and frustrated by the corruption and repression of the current government, finally decide that for the good of the country they must overthrow the regime. However, the planned coup's leader, an infantry colonel, finds that in order to get the support he needs he must work with people he neither respects nor trusts, and soon comes to believe that their main opponent, the country's fearsome chief of the secret police, has planted a spy in their midst. DVD Release Date: February 23rd, 2010

The Adventures of Prince Achmed - A beautifully stylized production that bridged classic fairy tales and the animated films on the horizon, The Adventures of Prince Achmed was hailed as the first animated feature when it was released in 1926. The film went on to become an international commercial success and its director, Lotte Reiniger, was called the inventor of the "silhouette film," a technique she used in numerous short and feature-length films, including many fairy-tale stories....Director Jean Renoir called Reiniger's film "a masterpiece" and effusively proclaimed the director "born with magic hands." DVD Release Date: July 23rd, 2001

Black Snow - Winner of the Silver Bear in Berlin in 1990, Xei Fei s film is a politically daring tale of urban alienation and despair. A former prisoner arrives back in his native Beijing to find that he has no family or prospects or friends, just his underworld contacts trying to drag him back into a life of crime ... Black Snow emerges as a powerful study of displacement. It takes place at the shattering juncture of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and vividly captures the social impact of potential political change at that time. DVD Release Date: March 8th, 2010

Dillinger is Dead - In this magnificently inscrutable late-sixties masterpiece, Marco Ferreri, one of European cinema’s most idiosyncratic auteurs, takes us through the looking glass to one seemingly routine night in the life of an Italian gas mask designer, played, in a tour de force performance, by New Wave icon Michel Piccoli. In his claustrophobic mod home, he pampers his pill-popping wife, seduces his maid, and uncovers a gun that may have once been owned by John Dillinger—and then things get even stranger. A surreal political missive about social malaise, Dillinger Is Dead (Dillinger è morto) finds absurdity in the mundane. It is a singular experience, both illogical and grandly existential. DVD Release Date: March 16th, 2010

Juno BD - Described variously as a romantic comedy, a drama about teenage pregnancy, or a witty, sensitive coming of age film, this much praised movie written by first time screenwriter, Diablo Cody, is quite the little gem. I agree with the much-repeated theme of the bonus features, that the filmmakers tread a fine line, given a script that wanted to touch on all of the above. Blu-ray Release date: April 15th, 2008

The Last Grenade - After an ambush by former teammate Kip Thompson (Alec Cord) results in multiple fatalities in the Congo, freelance soldier Major Harry Grigsby (Stanley Baker of Joseph Losey's ACCIDENT) is eager to take him out. He gets the chance when he is sent to Hong Kong where Thompson has been leading Chinese mercenaries in raids on the border. Kip and his army are always one step ahead of Grigsby and his men (whom he continues to pick off) and Grigsby soon finds himself falling in love with his commander's wife Katherine (Honor Blackman, GOLDFINGER). Grigsby and Kip go head to head when Kip targets Katherine. DVD Release Date: February 23rd, 2010

Hellbride - In a pawn shop, stand-up comedian Lee (James Fisher) stumbles upon the perfect ring to propose to his girlfriend Nicole (Rebecca Meadows). His idea of a perfect proposal is to query her first on what her favorite movie death scene was (Roy Batty's from BLADE RUNNER) and her favorite movie marriage proposal scene (his is from the Don Johnson cult classic A BOY AND HIS DOG). In spite of this, she accepts and they get the blessing of Nicole's father (James Kavaz) who is up to his neck in money problems with the mob. Right away, Lee's best friend Ricky (Oli Wilkinson) starts making arrangements for a stag party; preferably at an establishment with a vomitorium ("A room in which people may vomit to make room for more consumption"). What Lee doesn't know is that the engagement ring he has given to Nicole once belonged to Josephine Stewart, a betrayed woman who murdered several members of the wedding, her fiance's mistress, bit off her ring finger before killing her fiance. DVD Release Date: March 29th, 2010

The Neverending Story BD - Made in Germany with an English speaking cast and clearly targeted for a young and international audience, The Neverending Story tells of a pre-teen boy, Bastian (Barret Oliver), who, while trying to deal with the death of his mother, loses himself in his books and dreams. He is bullied regularly on his way to school (it's not even clear if he ever manages to get to class), and is admonished by his father for spending too much time dreaming to the expense of his schoolwork. Blu-ray Release date: March 2nd, 2010

Spider-man Trilogy BD - Stan Lee (always a cameo in the films) and Steve Dikto (artist) struck gold with their Spider-Man creation decades ago - Lee's idea was to create a "human character", an imperfect geek born to constantly fall short. A weak child, with black-framed glasses, deceased parents, picked on by his classmates, and often unable to find the money for the rent. Seeing this protagonist succeed sparked hope for everyone. This was no undefeatable Superman but an everyman coping with his special powers... and trying to do the right thing. At the same time making the mistakes that you and I might in his position - seduced by his own abilities, desirous of acceptance and love (like us all) but learning the hard way that it doesn't always work out for the best in the end. Peter Parker is the perfect comic book invention - right down from being bit by a genetically mutated spider - to his age, his friends and Joe-job circumstances he lives under. His success become our success... and for that we love him and follow his adventures in crime fighting, family support and seeking love. The three Sony films have barely touched the surface of this icon's depth - another positive as we may have years and years ahead of growth, maturity and battling the forces of evil. Blu-ray Release date: October 30th, 2007

Alice BD - For my money, despite my feeling about Caterina, the show is worth watching just for Matt. By turns he is Don Quixote, imagining adversaries, and the Cowardly Lion, with a sense of person, place, fate, and guilt that is positively heartbreaking. And he's funny. In short, Frewer is everything Caterina is not, and when the two of them are in the same frame, which is often enough, the discrepancy is so great as to lend an unintended pathos to the proceedings. Blu-ray Release date: March 2nd, 2010

To Hell With the Devil - To Hell with the Devil was co-written and directed by John Woo, who is mostly known for his operatic action films like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Even though Comedy is present in many of John Woo's films. To Hell with the Devil is one of few films in his filmography in which he made a all out comedy film. Of course when examining the plot for To Hell with the Devil, it quickly becomes clear that this film was likely inspired by Bedazzled. DVD Release Date: March 18th, 2009
 

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