Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF March 18th, 2013
  This Week's Highlights
Magandang araw! - A mix-n-match week with Steven Spielberg, Robert Flaherty, Wes Craven, Leos Carax on Blu-ray plus Noir, DVD boxsets, Grindhouse, and a true classic of American independent cinema. On the Calendar; John Sturges, Joseph Losey, Chan-wook Park, Hirokazu Koreeda, Norman Jewison, Sidney Lumet, Alan Clarke, Joe Dante, Mervyn LeRoy, William A. Wellman and Raoul Walsh on Blu-ray!

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Today's DVD & Blu-rays (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under $10 (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under £6 (Amazon UK)

Blu-rays Under £10 (Amazon UK)

Movies & TVs (Amazon Canada)

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Jesus Christ Superstar [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1973) Universal Studios

The Great Escape [Blu-ray] (John Sturges, 1963) MGM

The Servant [Blu-ray] (Joseph Losey, 1963) RB UK Studio Canal

Ultimate Gangsters Collection Classics [Blu-ray] - White Heat, The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, .The Petrified Forest - Warner

Stoker [Blu-ray] (Chan-wook Park, 2013) 20th Century Fox

Enter the Dragon: 40th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (Robert Clouse, 1973) Warner Home Video

Blood and Sand [Blu-ray] (Rouben Mamoulian, 1941) 20th Century Fox

I Wish [Blu-ray] (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2011) RB UK Arrow

Jesus Christ Superstar [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1973) UK Universal

Hors Satan (Bruno Dumont, 2011) R2 UK New Wave Films

The Verdict [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1982) 20th Century Fox

Scum [Blu-ray] (Alan Clarke, 1979) Kino Lorber

Of Human Bondage [Blu-ray] (John Cromwell, 1934) Kino Lorber

The Howling [Blu-ray] (Joe Dante, 1981) Shout! Factory

Clint Eastwood: 20 Film Collection [Blu-ray] - Warner

In Old Arizona [Blu-ray] (Irving Cummings, 1928) 20th Century Fox

Fear Not [Blu-ray] (Nicolo Dominick Gullo, Jameel Saleem, 2011) Kino Lorber

Stand Up Guys [Blu-ray] (Fisher Stevens, 2012) Lions Gate

Hell's House [Blu-ray] (Howard Higgin, 1932) Kino Lorber

Ultimate Gangsters Collection Contemporary [Blu-ray] - Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), Heat (1995), The Departed (2006) and The Town (2011) - Warner

Little Caesar [Blu-ray] (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931) Warner

The Petrified Forest [Blu-ray] (Archie Mayo, 1936) Warner

The Public Enemy [Blu-ray] (William A. Wellman, 1931) Warner

White Heat [Blu-ray] (Raoul Walsh, 1949) Warner

Beyond the Hills [Blu-ray] (Cristian Mungiu, 2012) RB UK Artificial Eye

Accident [Blu-ray] (Joseph Losey, 1967) RB UK Studio Canal

The Men [Blu-ray] (Fred Zinnemann, 1950) Olive Films

Grave of the Fireflies [Blu-ray] (Isao Takahata, 1988) RB UK Studio Canal

Kiki's Delivery Service [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989) RB UK Studio Canal

My Left Foot [Blu-ray] (Jim Sheridan, 1989) RB UK ITV Studios

The Man Who Haunted Himself [Blu-ray] (Basil Dearden, 1970) RB UK Network

The Blood on Satan's Claw [Blu-ray] (Piers Haggard, 1971) RB UK Odeon Entertainment

Motel Hell [Blu-ray] (Kevin Connor, 1980) RB UK Arrow Video

Black Sabbath [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1963) RB UK Arrow Video

Deadly Blessing [Blu-ray] (Wes Craven, 1981) RB UK Arrow Video

All Ladies Do It [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 1992) RB UK Arrow Video

The Key [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 1983) RB UK Arrow Video

Captured [Blu-ray] (John Krish, 1959) RB UK BFI

You're Human Like the Rest of Them [Blu-ray] (B.S. Johnson, 1967) RB UK BFI

The Unbelievable Truth [Blu-ray] (Hal Hartley, 1989) Olive Films

Officer and a Gentleman [Blu-ray] (Taylor Hackford, 1982) Paramount

Funny Girl [Blu-ray] (William Wyler, 1968) Sony

Cloud Atlas [Blu-ray] (Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, 2012) Warner

Dexter: The Seventh Season [Blu-ray] - HBO

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry / Race With The Devil [Blu-ray] - Shout Factory
 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): To veer from the usual path, this week I was extremely keen on the TCM DVD set of Glenn Ford - Undercover Crimes. I enjoyed watching these five films and make it my favorite pick of the week. It was also a pleasure seeing Little Fugitive on Blu-ray with a vastly superior image to the previous DVD. Artificial Eye proves to have the definitive Blu-ray of Leos Carax's delicious Holy Motors. Spielberg's Lincoln is certainly worth a viewing. Flicker Alley's package of Flaherty's Nanook of the North is extremely impressive. The documentary looks wonderful in 1080P. Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing gets a region 'B' Blu-ray transfer from Arrow films. The memorable horror has multiple supplements in the UK edition. Timerider didn't work for me but some may find appeal in the 80s adventure yarn with Fred Ward. Zeta One is an even worse disaster - only suitable for those who thrive on the 'bad in 'bad cinema'. On DVD Gregory cover the 4-film Joan Crawford in the Fifties collection. Eric reviewed the bizarre, but lauded Alps, the vampiresque Subspecies and an intriguing horror called The Inside. I was amused by the inferiorities of a Grindhouse special Grave of the Vampire - the epitome of its sub-genre. Hoping your week has some FUN in it!

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Nanook of the North BD - Robert Flaherty made Nanook Of The North, a film of Eskimo (Inuit) lif, following six years as an Arctic explorer for the Canadian Northern Railway. During journeys often lasting months at a time with only one or two Inuit as companions, he developed a deep regard for these indigenous people and after two unsuccessful filming attempts, Flaherty seized upon the idea of structuring his movie around characters who reenacted episodes of their lives and participated in the shaping of the film. He was not trained as an anthropologist, but Flaherty wisely guides our discovery of the people and their activities, and ninety years later, Nanook remains as completely engaging as it was in 1922, a huge influence on many ethnographic films that followed. Blu-ray Release Date: March 19th, 2013

Grave of the Vampire - This dark, violent British production stars Michael Pataki as a brutish vampire apparently lacking in Dracula's powers of seduction, since he finds it necessary to brutally rape a young woman (Kitty Vallacher) in order to sire a child. The product of this unholy mating is a half-human, half-vampire baby boy, bottle-fed on the blood of his now-insane mother (a truly sickening sight) until her eventual death from anemia. Later as a young man, the son (William Smith) is able to spend short periods in daylight, and his bloodlust is considerably lesser than that of his father. Tormented nevertheless by his evil condition, he curses his bloodline and defies his vampire heritage, tracking his father down to the university where he teaches occult sciences. Aside from Pataki's coarse but imposing performance, this low-budget film is a fairly routine genre entry, but the climactic, bloody duel between father and son vampires is quite gripping. DVD Release Date: March 19th, 2013

Subspecies - The first film in director Ted Nicolaou's horror series following villainous vampire Radu Vladislas (Anders Hove). After being banished from his home town, Radu returns and murders his father in order to claim a powerful bloodstone. Then, in an attempt to harm his good-hearted brother Stefan (Michael Watson), he sets his sights on turning his sibling's friends, Michelle (Laura Tate), Mara (Irina Movila) and Lillian (Michelle McBride), into vampires. Can Stefan stop Radu before it is too late? DVD Release Date: March 18th, 2013

Holy Motors BD - Over the course of a single day, Monsieur Oscar travels by limousine around Paris to a series of nine appointments, transforming into new characters at each stop. He is a captain of industry, a gypsy beggar, a digitized ninja warrior (and reptilian sex god!), a gibberish-spewing troglodyte, the melancholy father of a teenage daughter, a shadowy assassin, a dying old man, and a thwarted lover reuniting with a past flame. Artificial Eye Blu-ray Release Date:  January 28th, 2013

Timerider BD - Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) is a champion off-road racer who accidentally gets zapped into a time-travel experiment and sent 100 years into the past! When a gang of brutal bandits steals his motorcycle, Swann must outsmart the local cowboys and submit to the desires of a beautiful outlaw woman (Belinda Bauer). Armed with only his wits and a map from an Exxon station, will Lyle Swann survive the Wild West and get back to his future? Blu-ray Release date: March 19th, 2013

Deadly Blessing BD - Wes Craven unearths the darkness that festers beneath an isolated community in Deadly Blessing, a rural tale of mistrust and bloody murder from the director of Last House on the Left. When Martha marries into a close knit sect she finds herself shunned as an outsider by its fanatical members, but when her husband dies mysteriously while riding a tractor expressly forbidden as a tool of the devil, things take a darker turn. Marked as an incubus by her neighbours, time is running out for Martha and her visiting friends, as plagued by nightmares and fearing for their lives, they face the violent fury and retribution of old time religion. The Arrow Blu-ray Release Date: March 25th, 2013

Little Fugitive BD - Widely regarded as one of the most influential and enjoyable films of the American independent cinema, Little Fugitive is an utterly charming fable that poetically captures the joys and wonders of childhood. When a seven-year-old boy (Richie Andrusco) is tricked into believing he killed his older brother, he gathers his meager possessions and flees to New York's nether wonderland: Coney Island. Upon and beneath the crowded boardwalk, Joey experiences a day and night filled with adventures and mysteries, resulting in a film that is refreshingly spontaneous and thoroughly delightful. ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE - BEST STORY (Original Screenplay). Blu-ray Release date: March 26th, 2013

The Inside - While in a pawnshop a young man comes into possession of a second hand video camera; discovering a tape still inside he plays back the footage and witnesses a horrific series of events involving a group of teens in an undisclosed location. Using the footage as a guide he retraces the steps to where the events seemingly occurred. Deciding to investigate he discovers to his horror not only the truth of the events on the tape but comes face to face with a supernatural terror from which he may not escape.... DVD Release Date: March 25th, 2013

Zeta One BD - In the tradition of ''Barbarella'', comes this sexy sci-fi cult classic from the late 60's! Following a game of strip poker, blonde bombshell Ann Olsen (Yutte Stensgaard) learns that Special Agent James Word (Robin Horden) is investigating Public Enemy No.1, Major Borden (James Robertson Justice). With the assistance of the nerdy Swyne (Charles Hawtrey), Borden is investigating a race of sexy, scantily clad super women, led by the shapely Zeta (Dawn Addams). It seems that attractive young women are being abducted from Earth and then brainwashed into serving Zeta, all wearing kinky, fetishistic outfits. Borden's plan is to track down Zeta and her seductive sirens and become their new ruler. Blu-ray Release date: March 19th, 2013

Joan Crawford in the Fifties - Turner Classic Movies and Sony Home Entertainment present Joan Crawford in the 1950's; four signature melodramas that demonstrate the star's enduring appeal as a formidable dramatic actress. Presented for the first time on DVD, these four films have been fully restored and re-mastered and offer a fascinating glimpse of the three-time Oscar nominated actress in her post-Warner Brothers years when she revived her career to become a top box-office star at Columbia studios. Harriet Craig (1950), Queen Bee (1955), Autumn Leaves (1956) and The Story of Esther Costello (1957.) DVD Release Date: November 5th, 2012

Alps - The Alps are a mysterious troupe of actors who impersonate the recently deceased, helping relatives negotiate the grieving process. dark, witty and deeply surreal, this bizarre yet subtly poignant reverie on the nature of death has wowed festival audiences across the world and secured a name for it's director in the hearts of many. The new film from the acclaimed director of the cult smash DOGTOOTH. Winner of three international film awards, including a FIPRESCI prize and the GOLDEN OSELLA awards for BEST SCREENPLAY at the Venice Film Festival 2011. The Artificial Eye DVD Release Date: March 11th, 2013

Lincoln BD - Capturing the danger and excitement of political intrigue, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln chronicles the final four months in the life of the man regarded as America's greatest President. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, the untold story focuses on a defining moment in Abraham Lincoln's life - as commander-in-chief of a country in chaos; as a husband and father afraid of losing his own son to the war; and as a man guided by his conscience to end slavery. With the Civil War nearing conclusion, President Lincoln fights to convince a fractious Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment that will change the course of history. Facing fierce opposition, he wages a battle of strategy, persuasion, and political muscle to build a coalition out of his team of rivals. Blu-ray Release date: March 26th, 2013

Glenn Ford - Undercover Crimes - Turner Classic Movies and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment proudly present Glenn Ford: Undercover Crimes—an unprecedented collection of five fully restored and re-mastered crime classics never before released on DVD. One of the most versatile and reliable leading men of the studio era, Ford had a particular talent for crime pictures—playing both sides of the law! It’s non-stop action—much of it under the cover of night—in this special collection of Glenn Ford crime classics, directed by such masters of the genre as Charles Vidor (Gilda) and Joseph H. Lewis (Gun Crazy). The Lady in Question (1939), Framed (1947), The Undercover Man (1949), Mr. Soft Touch (1949) and Convicted (1950.) DVD Release Date: March 18th, 2013
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

March 18th, 2013

 

Amour [Blu-ray] (Michael Haneke, 2012) RB UK Artificial Eye (BEAVER REVIEW)

Badlands [Blu-ray] (Terrence Malick, 1973) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973) Criterion Collection

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

Dracula [Blu-ray] (Terence Fisher, 1958) RB UK LionsGate

Fatherland (Ken Loach, 1986) R2 UK Park Circus

Glenn Ford - Undercover Crimes - The Lady in Question (1939), Framed (1947), The Undercover Man (1949), Mr. Soft Touch (1949) and Convicted (1950) - TCM (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

Grave of the Vampire (John Hayes, 1972) Bayview (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp [Blu-ray] (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1943) Criterion Collection

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

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

On Approval [Blu-ray] (Clive Brook, 1944) Inception Media Group (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Other Son [Blu-ray] (Lorraine Levy, 2012) Koch Entertainment

Porky's [Blu-ray] (Bob Clark, 1982) Fox Home Entertainment

Subspecies (Ted Nicolaou, 1991) R0 UK 88 Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Tess [Blu-ray] (Roman Polanski, 1979) RB UK BFI (BEAVER REVIEW)

Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann [Blu-ray] (William Dear, 1982) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

 

March 25th, 2012

 

The Atomic Kid [Blu-ray] (Leslie H. Martinson, 1954) Olive Films

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

Deadly Blessing [Blu-ray] (Wes Craven, 1981) RB UK Arrow Video (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Devil and Miss Jones [Blu-ray] (Sam Wood, 1941) Olive Films

Everyday (Michael Winterbottom, 2012) R2 UK Soda Pictures

From Beyond [Blu-ray] (Stuart Gordon, 1986) Shout! Factory

Futureworld [Blu-ray] (Richard T. Heffron, 1976) Shout! Factory

Hell's Half Acre [Blu-ray] (John H. Auer, 1954) Olive Films

The Hunt [Blu-ray] (Thomas Vinterberg, 2012) RB UK Arrow

The Inside (Eoin Macken, 2010) R2 UK Monster Pictures (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ironweed [Blu-ray] (Hector Babenco, 1987) Olive Films

Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot: The Complete Series - Shout! Factory

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

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

The Lawless Nineties [Blu-ray] (Joseph Kane, 1936) Olive Films

Lincoln [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 2012) Dreamworks (BEAVER REVIEW)

Little Fugitive [Blu-ray] (Ray Ashley, 1953) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

A Man Betrayed [Blu-ray] (John H. Auer, 1941) Olive Films

A Man Escaped [Blu-ray] (Robert Bresson, 1956) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956) Criterion Collection

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

McLintock! [Blu-ray] (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1963) Olive Films

Monsieur Verdoux [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1947) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin, 1947) Criterion Collection

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

Polish Cinema Classics Volume II (PROMISED LAND, ILLUMINATION, ESCAPE FROM 'LIBERTY' CINEMA) R2 UK Second Run

A Royal Affair [Blu-ray] (Nikolaj Arcel, 2012) Magnolia

Ruthless [Blu-ray] (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1948) Olive Films

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

Sightseers [Blu-ray] (Ben Wheatley, 2012) RB UK Studiocanal

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

Westward Ho [Blu-ray] (Robert N. Bradbury, 1935) Olive Films

Wyoming Outlaw [Blu-ray] (George Sherman, 1939) Olive Films

 

April 1st, 2013

 

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

Hemingway & Gellhorn [Blu-ray] (Philip Kaufman, 2012) HBO Studios

Hitler's Children (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) Film Movement

 

 

April 8th, 2013

 

Accident [Blu-ray] (Joseph Losey, 1967) RB UK Studio Canal

Le Beau Serge (Claude Chabrol, 1958) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Le Beau Serge [Blu-ray] (Claude Chabrol, 1958) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Les Cousins (Claude Chabrol, 1959) R2 UK Masters of Cinema
 Les Cousins [Blu-ray] (Claude Chabrol, 1959) RB UK Masters of Cinema

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

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

Gate of Hell (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953) Criterion

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

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

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

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

Love Crime [Blu-ray] (Alain Corneau, 2010) RB UK Arrow

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

Scanners (Limited Edition Steelbook) [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1981) RB UK Second Sight

Schindler's List Digibook [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Region FREE UK Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Servant [Blu-ray] (Joseph Losey, 1963) RB UK Studio Canal

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