Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF April 6th, 2015
  This Week's Highlights
 
 

Sanoe! Slow week - recovering from a cold. We have only six Blu-ray reviews - 3 Criterions - by directors Jean Renoir, Jean-Pierre Melville, Yasuharu Hasebe, Douglas Trumbull, Peter Yates and Gordon Douglas. Our Release Calendar includes new updates of films-to-Blu-ray and DVD with work by Damián Szifrón, Seth Fisher, William Friedkin, Peter Yates, Harold Becker, Robert Altman, Umberto Lenzi, The Wachowski Brothers, Tobe Hooper, Andrew Niccol, Luciano Ercoli, Jesús Franco and more. We have a CONTEST posted with another Brand New Blu-ray prize! Enjoy!

Blu-ray and DVD Poll Results for 2014 HERE

Feature Blu-ray and DVD chosen for the Month of APRIL!

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

 

(Week of) April 6th CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win an Brand New Blu-ray of Calamity Jane. Best of luck!

 
BIG THANKS!: DVDBeaver would not exist without the support of many patrons - those who generously donate, and especially those who use our Amazon(s), Barnes & Noble, TCM, Warner Archive and YesAsia links. That's it. When you go to Amazon - PLEASE use one of our links to get there (they are on every page - top and bottom - and we have 5000 webpages). It costs you absolutely nothing and we get a small commission on items you purchase. This helps pay our bills - in fact it's the only thing that pays our bills.
STRATEGIES: The best way to take full advantage of Amazon is to use...
PRE-ORDERs - lock in at the discount price by ORDERING - if perchance you decide against the purchase you have until the release date to cancel - at no charge AND if you will purchase more than 35 DVDs (or anything) in a 365 day period (and live in the Continental US) it makes excellent financial sense to subscribe to Amazon Prime
NOTE:_

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Wild Tales [Blu-ray] (Damián Szifrón, 2014) Sony Pictures

3-D Rarities [Blu-ray] - Flicker Alley

Blumenthal [Blu-ray] (Seth Fisher, 2013) Olive Films

The Boys in the Band [Blu-ray] (William Friedkin, 1970) Kl Studio Classics

Robbery [Blu-ray] (Peter Yates, 1967) RB UK Network

Malice [Blu-ray] (Harold Becker, 1993) Kl Studio Classics

The Onion Field [Blu-ray] (Harold Becker, 1979) Kl Studio Classics

Cemetery Without Crosses [Blu-ray] (Robert Hossein, 1969) RB UK Arrow

3 Women [Blu-ray] (Robert Altman, 1977) RB UK Arrow

F/X [Blu-ray] (Robert Mandel, 1986) Kl Studio Classics

Spasmo [Blu-ray] (Umberto Lenzi, 1974) RB UK Arrow

Horror Hospital [Blu-ray] (Antony Balch, 1973) RB UK Odeon Entertainment

Deadlier Than the Male [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1967) RB UK Network

The Land That Time Forgot [Blu-ray] (Kevin Connor, 1975) Kino Video

The Stray Cat Rock Collection [Blu-ray] Delinquent Girl Boss (1971) - Wild Jumbo (1970) - Sex Hunter (1970) - Machine Animal (1970) - Beat '71 (1971) - Arrow Video USA

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension [Blu-ray] (W.D. Richter, 1984) RB UK Arrow

Jupiter Ascending [Blu-ray] (The Wachowskis, 2015) Warner Home Video

Harry in Your Pocket [Blu-ray] (Bruce Geller, 1973) Kl Studio Classics

Eaten Alive [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1977) Arrow Video UK

Eaten Alive [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1977) Arrow Video USA

The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus [Blu-ray] (Jesús Franco, 1962) Redemption

Sugar Hill [Blu-ray] (Paul Maslansky, 1974) Kino Video

Breath of Life [Blu-ray] (Susan Kucera, 2014) Vision Video

The Voices [Blu-ray] (Marjane Satrapi, 2014) RB UK Arrow

Good Kill [Blu-ray] (Andrew Niccol, 2014) RB UK Arrow

Killer Cop [Blu-ray] (Luciano Ercoli, 1975) Raro USA

Bank Shot [Blu-ray] (Gower Champion, 1974) Kl Studio Classics

Cops and Robbers [Blu-ray] (Aram Avakian, 1973) Kl Studio Classics

The Cell [Blu-ray] (Tarsem Singh, 2000) New Line Home Video

The Island of Dr. Moreau [Blu-ray] (Don Taylor, 1977) Kl Studio Classics

Needful Things [Blu-ray] (Fraser Clarke Heston, 1993) Kl Studio Classics

Girlhood [Blu-ray] (Céline Sciamma, 2014) Strand Releasing

Hellmouth [Blu-ray] (John Geddes, 2014) Foresight Features

Vampyros Lesbos [Blu-ray] (Jesús Franco, 1971) Severin

Cymbeline [Blu-ray] (Michael Almereyda, 2014) Lions Gate

The Captive Heart [Blu-ray] (Basil Dearden, 1946) RB UK Studiocanal

The Maggie [Blu-ray] (Alexander Mackendrick, 1954) RB UK Studiocanal

Hue and Cry [Blu-ray] (Charles Crichton, 1947) RB UK Studiocanal

The Remains Of The Day [Blu-ray] (James Ivory, 1993) Twilight Time

Richard III [Blu-ray] (Richard Loncraine, 1995) Twilight Time

The Story of Adčle H. [Blu-ray] (François Truffaut, 1975) Twilight Time

Zardoz [Blu-ray] (John Boorman, 1974) Twilight Time

Timbuktu [Blu-ray] (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014) Cohen Media

The Cat Returns [Blu-ray] (Hiroyuki Morita, 2002) Walt Disney Studios

The Way Things Go [Blu-ray] (Peter Fischli, David Weiss, 1988) Icarus

Sergio Leone Anthology [Blu-ray] (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Duck, You Sucker) MGM

Spirited Away [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001) Walt Disney Studios

Drowning by Numbers [Blu-ray] (Peter Greenaway, 1988) RB UK MediumRare

Get Shorty [Blu-ray] (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1995) MGM

Mortdecai [Blu-ray] (David Koepp, 2015) Lions Gate

April Love [Blu-ray] (Henry Levin, 1957) Twilight Time

The Fantastkicks [Blu-ray] (Michael Ritchie, 1995) Twilight Time

Village of the Damned [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1995) RB UK Fabulous Films

Orgazmo [Blu-ray] (Trey Parker, 1997) Universal Studios

Fifty Shades of Grey [Blu-ray] (Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2015) Universal Studios

Road House [Blu-ray] (Rowdy Herrington, 1989) MGM

Story of My Death (Albert Serra, 2013) R2 UK Second Run

Little Big Shot (Jack Raymond, 1952) R2 UK Network

Mr. Denning Drives North (Anthony Kimmins, 1952) R2 UK Network
 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): I really enjoyed by viewing of the Criterion Blu-ray of Peter Yates crime-thriller The Friends of Eddie Coyle with Robert Mitchum. Of course Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature The River was simply gorgeous in 1080P. Another brilliant Criterion Blu-ray package. Jean-Pierre Melville's extraordinary first feature also gets the Criterion Blu-ray treatment; Le Silence de la Mer is a wonderful release. I got a kick out of Gordon Douglas' Barquero with Warren Oates squaring off with Lee Van Cleef - transferred to Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. Yasuharu Hasebe's Massacre Gun is infused with a large dose of 'style over substance' but isn't at the Suzuki-level of delirium but Kazue Nagatsuka's camera makes some impressive, overhead and behind shots and sequences. I appreciate that Arrow have released this on Blu-ray in UK and US. Douglas Trumbull's cerebral science-fiction Silent Running is now released by Universal and we have compared it to the Masters of Cinema Blu-ray from 2011. "There are no insoluble problems. Only time-consuming ones." -James A. Michener

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Barquero BD - Uneasy derivative of the spaghetti Western's blood and guts, but with a certain fascination to its cat-and-mouse conflict between Van Cleef, as a ferryman who despises the townsfolk he serves, and Oates as the leader of an outlaw band trying to escape across the river. Terrific performance from Oates as the drug-fuddled psychopath plagued by bouts of Hamlet-like indecision, good ones from Van Cleef and Tucker. Blu-ray Release date: April 28th, 2015

Le Silence de la Mer BD - Melville's extraordinary first feature, an adaptation of Vercors' classic novella about the French Resistance, is in effect a triangular drama in which two people don't speak. A German officer (Vernon), convalescing from a wound, is billeted on an elderly Frenchman (Robain) and his niece (Stéphane). Respecting their obstinate refusal to address the hated invader, he meets their silence with a series of monologues, apparently ignored, in which he recalls his life before the war and all the things he values; but what he reveals about himself causes the girl to fall in love, without being able to declare her feelings. Filmed in the most daring way imaginable, using a new cinematic language of transient expressions and glances, the film was a root influence on Bresson and the whole French New Wave. Criterion Blu-ray Release Date: April 28th, 2015

The Friends of Eddie Coyle BD - In one of the best performances of his legendary career, Robert Mitchum plays small-time gunrunner Eddie “Fingers” Coyle in Peter Yates’s adaptation of George V. Higgins’s acclaimed novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle. World-weary and living hand to mouth, Coyle works on the sidelines of the seedy Boston underworld just to make ends meet. But when he finds himself facing a second stretch of hard time, he’s forced to weigh loyalty to his criminal colleagues against snitching to stay free. Directed with a sharp eye for its gritty locales and an open heart for its less-than-heroic characters, this is one of the true treasures of 1970s Hollywood filmmaking—a suspenseful crime drama in stark, unforgiving daylight. Blu-ray Release Date: April 28th, 2015

Massacre Gun BD - Fine, jazzy, Japanese yakuza crime drama from 1967 and as cool as it gets. Starring, Jo Shishido (Branded to Kill and Youth of the Beast) Tatsuya Fuji (In the Realm of the Senses and Empire of Passion) and one of the first films directed by, Yasuhari Hasebe (Female Prisoner 701 Scorpion - Grudge Song and the Stray Cat series) who is considered the creator of the violent pink sub genre. Some pedigree then and not a disappointment, with non-stop action and surely more bullets than I've ever seen (or heard!) for it must have taken about 20 to 50 for each death. Performances are excellent all round, direction tight and confident with splendidly stylish photography. Low key jazz score helps maintain the atmosphere and this would be a great introduction to the world of Japanese 60s crime movies. Blu-ray Release date: April 7th, 2015

Silent Running BD - Botanist Freeman Lowell (Dern) has spent eight years aboard the space freighter Valley Forge preserving the only botanical specimens left from Earth under huge geodesic domes. When he receives orders to destroy the project and return home, Lowell rebels and hijacks the freighter, while plunging the craft into the gaseous rings of Saturn. From that moment on, he has only the trees, the gardens and two “Drone” robots, Huey and Dewey, to keep him company on his greatest adventure of all. Universal Blu-ray Release Date: April 7th, 2015

The River BD - Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its peoples, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation. Blu-ray Release Date: April 21st, 2015
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

April 6th, 2015

 

After the Sunset [Blu-ray] (Brett Ratner, 2004) Warner Home Video

Campbell's Kingdom [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1957) RB UK Network

Coffy [Blu-ray] (Jack Hill, 1973) RB UK Arrow (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Corruptor [Blu-ray] (James Foley, 1999) New Line

Crime on the Hill (Bernard Vorhaus, 1933) R2 UK Network

Detroit Rock City [Blu-ray] (Adam Rifkin, 1999) New Line

Empire Records [Blu-ray] (Allan Moyle, 1995) Warner

For the Boys [Blu-ray] (Mark Rydell, 1991) Starz / Anchor Bay

Hooper [Blu-ray] (Hal Needham, 1978) Warner

The Immigrant [Blu-ray] (James Gray, 2013) Starz / Anchor Bay

Imitation of Life [Blu-ray] (Stahl, 1934 / Sirk, 1959) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Invaders from Mars [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1986) Shout! Factory

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun [Blu-ray] (Robert Parrish, 1969) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Massacre Gun [Blu-ray] (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1967) Arrow UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

Massacre Gun [Blu-ray] (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1967) Arrow US (BEAVER REVIEW)

Rossellini: The War Trilogy (Limited Edition Numbered Blu-ray Box Set - Rome, Open City - Paisŕ - Germany Year Zero - L'Amore) - RB UK BFI (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sharky's Machine [Blu-ray] (Burt Reynolds, 1981) Warner

Silent Running [Blu-ray] (Douglas Trumbull, 1972) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Singles [Blu-ray] (Cameron Crowe, 1992) Warner

Thunder Road [Blu-ray] (Arthur Ripley, 1958) Shout! Factory

 

April 13th, 2015

 

April Love [Blu-ray] (Henry Levin, 1957) Twilight Time

The Babadook [Blu-ray] (Jennifer Kent, 2014) Shout! Factory

Big Eyes [Blu-ray] (Tim Burton, 2014) Anchor Bay

Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell [Blu-ray] (Melvin Frank, 1968) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Blood and Black Lace [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1964) RB UK Arrow

Blood and Black Lace [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1964) Arrow US

Blood and Black Lace Limited Edition Steelbook [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1964) Arrow US

Candlestick [Blu-ray] (Christopher Presswell, 2014) Workbus

Class of 1984 [Blu-ray] (Mark L. Lester, 1982) Shout! Factory

Enter the Dangerous Mind [Blu-ray] (Youssef Delara, Victor Teran, 2013) Well Go USA

The Fantastkicks [Blu-ray] (Michael Ritchie, 1995) Twilight Time

Fruit of Paradise (Ovoce strom rajských jíme) (Vera Chytilová, 1970) R0 UK Second Run

Goodbye to Language 3D [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 2014) Kino Lorber

I Am Steve McQueen [Blu-ray] (Jeff Renfroe, 2014) Shout! Factory

Kidnapping Mr. Heineken [Blu-ray] (Daniel Alfredson, 2015) Alchemy

Late for Dinner [Blu-ray] (W.D. Richter, 1991) Kino Lorber

Long Weekend [Blu-ray] (Colin Eggleston, 1978) Synapse

That Man from Rio / Up to His Ears [Blu-ray] (Philippe de Broca, 1964/1965) Cohen Media

Maps to the Stars [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 2014) Universal

The Missing [Blu-ray] (Tom Shankland , 2014 TV Mini-Series) Starz / Anchor Bay

Odd Man Out [Blu-ray] (Carol Reed, 1947) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Percy's Progress [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1974) RB UK Network

The Remains Of The Day [Blu-ray] (James Ivory, 1993) Twilight Time

Richard III [Blu-ray] (Richard Loncraine, 1995) Twilight Time

The Story of Adčle H. [Blu-ray] (François Truffaut, 1975) Twilight Time

Sullivan's Travels [Blu-ray] (Preston Sturges, 1941) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Tales of Terror [Blu-ray] (Roger Corman, 1962) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Way Things Go [Blu-ray] (Peter Fischli, David Weiss, 1988) Icarus

Woman of Straw [Blu-ray] (Basil Dearden, 1964) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Zardoz [Blu-ray] (John Boorman, 1974) Twilight Time

 

April 20th, 2015

 

Bill Morrison: Selected Films 1996-2014 [Blu-ray] - RB UK BFI

The Blob [Blu-ray] (Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., 1958) RB UK Fabulous Films

Carl Theodor Dreyer Collection [Blu-ray] (Limited Edition Blu-ray box set) - Day of Wrath (1943), Ordet (1955), Gertrud (1964), Master of the House (1925) 7 Dreyer's short films - RB UK BFI

Cell Count [Blu-ray] (Todd E. Freeman, 2012) Parade Deck Films

Cooley High [Blu-ray] (Michael Schultz, 1975) Olive Films

Dance with Me, Henry [Blu-ray] (Charles Barton, 1956) Olive Films

D.O.A. (Rudolph Maté, 1950) R2 DE Koch Media

Dollman vs. Demonic Toys [Blu-ray] (Charles Band, 1993) Full Moon Features

Escape From New York (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1981) Shout! Factory

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night [Blu-ray] (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2014) Kino Lorber

The Ghoul [Blu-ray] (T. Hayes Hunter, 1933) RB UK Network

Midnight Run [Blu-ray] (Martin Brest, 1988) RB UK Second Sight

Night Has a Thousand Eyes (John Farrow, 1948) R2 DE Koch Media

The Offence [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1972) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Pete Walker Collection II [Blu-ray] (The Flesh and Blood Show, Frightmare, House of Mortal Sin, Home Before Midnight, Man of Violence/The Big Switch) Redemption

The River [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1951) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Eclipse series 42: Silent Ozu - Three Crime Dramas (Walk Cheerfully, That Night's Wife, Dragnet Girl) Criterion

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne [Blu-ray] (Walerian Borowczyk, 1981) Arrow US

Taken 3 [Blu-ray] (Olivier Megaton, 2014) 20th Century Fox

Three Stooges Collection - Volume One - Triple Feature [Blu-ray] (Time Out for Rhythm, Rockin' in the Rockies and Have Rocket, Will Travel) - Mill Creek Entertainment

Three Stooges Collection - Volume Two - Triple Feature - [Blu-ray] (The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, Three Stooges Go Around The World In A Daze and The Outlaws Is Coming) Mill Creek Entertainment
 The Wicked Lady [Blu-ray] (Michael Winner, 1983) Kino Lorber

 

April 27th, 2015

 

The Barber [Blu-ray] (Basel Owies, 2014) Arc Entertainment

Barquero [Blu-ray] (Gordon Douglas, 1970) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Boy Next Door [Blu-ray] (Rob Cohen, 2015) Universal Studios

Convoy [Blu-ray] (Sam Peckinpah, 1978) Kino Lorber

Deadlier Than the Male [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1967) RB UK Network

The Duke of Burgundy [Blu-ray] (Peter Strickland, 2014) RB UK Artificial Eye

Fierce Creatures [Blu-ray] (Fred Schepisi, Robert Young, 1997) RB UK Fabulous Films

The Friends of Eddie Coyle [Blu-ray] (Peter Yates, 1973) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

From A Whisper To A Scream [Blu-ray] (Jeff Burr, 1987) Shout! Factory

Harry & Son [Blu-ray] (Paul Newman, 1984) Olive Films

Inherent Vice [Blu-ray] (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014) Warner Home Video

Little Man Tate [Blu-ray] (Jodie Foster, 1991) Olive Films

Lord of the Flies [Blu-ray] (Harry Hook, 1990) Olive Films

Man, Pride and Vengeance [Blu-ray] (Luigi Bazzoni, 1967) Entertainment One

Miami Blues [Blu-ray] (George Armitage, 1990) Shout! Factory

Model for Murder (Terry Bishop, 1959) R2 UK Network

Satyricon [Blu-ray] (Federico Fellini, 1969) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Le Silence de la Mer [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1949) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Village of the Damned [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1995) RB UK Fabulous Films

The White Buffalo [Blu-ray] (J. Lee Thompson, 1977) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)
   
   
Contact Us   Weekly Newsletter Archive
To unsubscribe send a message to DVDBeaver-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com