Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF April 18th, 2011
  This Week's Highlights
Aqanute  - This week we have another Criterion Blu-ray and discs with films directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Fritz Lang, Brian De Palma and more. Latest additions to the calendar have forthcoming Blu-rays of films by Akira Kurosawa, Jean Cocteau, Mike Leigh, Satyajit Ray, Jean-Pierre Melville, and DVDs representing thee cinema of Otto Preminger, Robert Wise, Nicholas Ray and more - Plus a new Blu-ray prize for this week's contest clip. There is beauty in Silver...

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

 

High and Low [Blu-ray] (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Criterion Collection

Beauty and the Beast [Blu-ray] (Jean Cocteau, 1946) Criterion Collection

Naked [Blu-ray] (Mike Leigh, 1993) Criterion Collection

The Music Room (Satyajit Ray, 1959) Criterion Collection
The Music Room [Blu-ray] (Satyajit Ray, 1959) Criterion Collection

Léon Morin, Priest (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961) Criterion Collection
Léon Morin, Priest [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961) Criterion Collection

Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, 2009) Criterion Collection
Life During Wartime [Blu-ray] (Todd Solondz, 2009) Criterion Collection

Apa - The Father (István Szabó, 1966) R2 UK Second Run

Twisted Desires: Three Pink Masterpieces (3-Disc Set) - Sayuri Ichijo: Following Desire (1972), Yakuza Justice: Erotic Code Of Honor (1973) And Twisted Path Of Love (1973) - Zeitgeist Films

The Stunt Man [Blu-ray] (Richard Rush, 1980) Severin

Skidoo (Otto Preminger, 1968) Olive Films

Battle Beyond the Stars [Blu-ray] (Jimmy T. Murakami, 1980) Shout! Factory

Damnation Alley [Blu-ray] (Jack Smight, 1977) Shout! Factory

Stranger On The 3rd Floor (Boris Ingster, 1940) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

The Set-Up (Robert Wise, 1949) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

Born to Be Bad (Nicholas Ray, 1950) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

 

For North Americans:

The Terrorizers [Blu-ray] (Edward Yang, 1986) Sony

The Personals [Blu-ray] (Kuo-fu Chen, 1998) Sony

Tropical Fish [Blu-ray] (Yu-Hsun Chen, 1995) Sony

Vive L'Amour [Blu-ray] (Ming-liang Tsai, 1994) Sony

 

Rest of World:

The Terrorizers [Blu-ray] (Edward Yang, 1986) Sony

The Personals [Blu-ray] (Kuo-fu Chen, 1998) Sony

Tropical Fish [Blu-ray] (Yu-Hsun Chen, 1995) Sony

Vive L'Amour [Blu-ray] (Ming-liang Tsai, 1994) Sony

 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Criterion stay golden with Blow Out - De Palma's paranoia thriller on Blu-ray reeives top marks as the package of the week. Masters of Cinema's double DVD set of Fritz Lang's Indian Epic is a close second even in the SD format. Jodorowsky's allegorical Western El Topo gets an imperfect 1080P treatment as does Henri-Georges Clouzot's Les Diaboliques. I was impressed with Rabbit Hole and Nicole Kidman's performance. Sofia Coppola's Somewhere will appeal to many - as will the niche fans of The Dorm That Dripped Blood. I was glued to the cinematography of Maria Saakyan's The Lighthouse (Mayak) evoking Tarkovsky in many scenes. Creepy Mexican cannibals abound in the realistic We Are What We Are! Au + Ag!

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

The Dorm That Dripped Blood BD - On the eve of Christmas vacation, a college dormitory stands condemned... the dark halls now vacant and unsafe. Student Joanne Murray and her close friends volunteer to help close down the building, unaware a psychopathic lunatic is hiding in the shadows. As the students disappear one by one, Joanne discovers the horrifying reality that if she is to survive, she alone will have to find a way to slay the brutal murderer. If you think you've seen this film totally uncut... think again! Blu-ray Release date: April 26th, 2011

Les Diaboliques BD - Based on a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (who also wrote the novel on which Hitchcock's Vertigo is based), Les diaboliques tells the story of a sadistic headmaster (Paul Meurisse) who brutalises his wife and mistress (Véra Clouzot and Simone Signoret) and their plot to murder him. Superbly edited with nail-biting suspense, the two women murder the headmaster and dump the body in the swimming pool, but when the pool is drained no corpse is found. An unsettling and beautifully-paced study of betrayal, mistrust and guilt, Les diaboliques is atmospherically shot in black and white, its murky tones hauntingly echo the moral ambiguity of its principals. Blu-ray Release Date: April 18th, 2011

El Topo BD - A bizarre, ultra-violent, allegorical Western, "El Topo" is set in two halves that have widely been compared to the... Old and New Testaments of the Bible. In the first half, Jodorowsky plays a violent, black-clad gunfighter who, accompanied by his naked son, sets off on a murderous mission to challenge four Zen masters of gunfighting, and learns from each of them a Great Lesson before they die. In the second half, El Topo sets out to find personal redemption, secluding himself in a subterranean community to learn the ways of peace, but unfortunately death is never far away. First released as an underground film, it was thanks to John Lennon that the film was acquired by Allen Klein of ABKCO, who bought the rights to "El Topo" and then financed Alejandro Jodorowsky’s next film "The Holy Mountain." Blu-ray Release date: April 26th, 2011

Blow Out BD - In the enthralling Blow Out, brilliantly crafted by Brian De Palma, John Travolta gives one of his greatest performances, as a movie sound-effects man who believes he has accidentally recorded a political assassination. He enlists the help of a possible eyewitness to the crime (Nancy Allen), who may be in danger herself, to uncover the truth. With its jolting stylistic flourishes, intricate plot, profoundly felt characterizations, and gritty evocation of early-1980s Philadelphia, Blow Out is an American paranoia thriller unlike any other, as well as a devilish reflection on moviemaking. Blu-ray Release date: April 26th, 2011

Rabbit Hole BD - This is the extraordinary story of Becca and Howie. Eight months ago, they had a picture-perfect life with their young son. Now, they are posing as normal in the wake of an enormous loss; blindly looking for footing in a sea of new emotions. This is the remarkably moving journey of a couple finding their way back to love. Blu-ray Release date: April 19th, 2011

The Lighthouse (Mayak) - Maria Saakyan's elegiac, semi-autobiographical slice-of-life drama THE LIGHTHOUSE unfolds in the very early '90s, against the backdrop of the Caucasus wars that plagued Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. As the scope of this mass-scaled conflict extends itself to one woman's small village, she is forced to drop everything, move to Moscow, and start over from scratch -- thus bidding farewell to her hometown and way of life, perhaps indefinitely. DVD Release Date: April 11th, 2011

Fritz Lang's Indian Epic - Like Lang’s following final work Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse, the Indian epic charts new territory for the director, as it strikes out into the über-melodramatic tenor of his early silents while inciting the colours of the emulsion into adopting a lurid, sometimes gaseous palette. Arriving in the wake of The River (Renoir), India matri bhumi (Rossellini), and Black Narcissus (Powell & Pressburger), Lang’s Indian epic stands among the remarkable mid-century contributions of Western filmmakers who have contemplated India. DVD Release Date: April 18th, 2011

Somewhere BD - "Somewhere" is a witty, moving, and empathetic look into the orbit of actor Johnny Marco. You have probably seen him... in the tabloids; Johnny is living at the legendary Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood. He has a Ferrari to drive around in, and a constant stream of girls and pills to stay in with. Comfortably numbed, Johnny drifts along. Then, his 11-year-old daughter Cleo from his failed marriage arrives unexpectedly at the Chateau. Their encounters encourage Johnny to face up to where he is in life and confront the question that we all must: which path in life will you take? Blu-ray Release date: April 19th, 2011

We Are What We Are BD - When the patriarch of the family passes away, the teenage children must take responsibility for the family chores: the preparation of the rituals, the hunting and putting the all-important meat on the table. These newfound responsibilities are even more daunting, however, when you live in the city and happen to be a family of cannibals. Blu-ray Release date: March 21st, 2011
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

April 18th, 2011

 

The Bicycle Thieves [Blu-ray] (Vittorio De Sica, 1948) RB UK Arrow Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Ernie Kovacs Collection - Shout! Factory

The Fantastic Factory Collection (Beyond Re-Animator, Faust, Arachnid, Romasanta) R2 UK Arrow

Der Tiger von Eschnapur / Das indische Grabmal (Fritz Lang's Indian Epic) - Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Les diaboliques [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) RB UK Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

Gaumont Treasures Vol. 2: 1908-1916 - Kino

Ingrid Bergman: 3-Film Collection [Intermezzo, A Womans Face, June Night] - Kino

Junebug [Blu-ray] (Phil Morrison, 2005) Eureka (BEAVER REVIEW)

Kes (Ken Loach, 1969) Criterion
 Kes [Blu-ray] (Ken Loach, 1969) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The King's Speech [Blu-ray] (Tom Hooper, 2010) Weinstein /Anchor Bay (BEAVER REVIEW)

Knock on Any Door (Nicholas Ray, 1949) RB DE Sony

Monamour [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 2006) Cult Epics

Rabbit Hole [Blu-ray] (John Cameron Mitchell, 2010) Lionsgate (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ricky (François Ozon, 2009) R2 UK - Artificial Eye

Somewhere [Blu-ray] (Sofia Coppola, 2010) Focus Features (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sweetie [Blu-ray] (Jane Campion, 1989) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Tokyo Gore Police [Blu-ray] (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2008) Tokyo Shock

The Way Back [Blu-ray] (Peter Weir, 2010) Image Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

 

April 25th, 2011

 

Abel (Diego Luna, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Betty Blue [Blu-ray] (Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1986) Cinema Libre

Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981) Criterion
 Blow Out [Blu-ray] (Brian De Palma, 1981) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Confessions [Blu-ray] (Tetsuya Nakashima, 2010) RB UK Third Window Films

Les diaboliques [Blu-ray Dual Format] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955) RB UK Arrow Academy (BEAVER REVIEW)

Don't Look Back [Blu-ray] (D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) Docudrama

The Dorm That Dripped Blood [Blu-ray] (Stephen Carpenter, Jeffrey Obrow, 1982) Synapse Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

El Topo [Blu-ray] (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1970) Anchor Bay (BEAVER REVIEW)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas [Blu-ray] (Terry Gilliam, 1998) Criterion

Fly Away (Janet Grillo, 2011) Docurama

The Enforcer [Blu-ray] (Corey Yuen, 1995) Vivendi Entertainment

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time [Blu-ray] (Mamoru Hosoda, 2006) Bandai Visual

The Grim Reaper (La Commare Secca) (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1962) R2 UK Mr Bongo

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno [Blu-ray] (Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea, 2009) Flicker Alley

The Holy Mountain [Blu-ray] (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973) Anchor Bay

In Our Name (Brian Welsh, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Joanna [Blu-ray] (Michael Sarne, 1968) BFI Video

Jolene [Blu-ray] (Dan Ireland, 2008) Entertainment One

Lunch Hour [Blu-ray] (James Hill, 1961) UK BFI Video

The Machine Girl [Blu-ray] (Noboru Iguchi, 2008) Tokyo Shock

Mamma Roma (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962) R2 UK Mr Bongo

The New York Ripper - Fan High Res Edition [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1982) RB UK Shameless

On Tour (Mathieu Amalric, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Tourist [Blu-ray] (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2010) RB Optimum

Il Posto (Ermanno Olmi, 1961) R2 UK Mr Bongo

Prostitute (Tony Garnett. 1980) R2 UK BFI

Romeo and Juliet [Blu-ray] (Renato Castellani, 1954) VCI

The Scent of Green Papaya [Blu-ray] (Anh Hung Tran, 1993) Lorber Films

 

May 2nd, 2011

 

All the Right Moves [Blu-ray] (Michael Chapman, 1983) 20th Century Fox

Bird With A Crystal Plumage [Blu-ray] (Dario Argento, 1970) RB UK Arrow Video

Fat Girl [Blu-ray] (Catherine Breillat, 2001) Criterion

The Green Hornet (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD) (Michel Gondry, 2011) Sony Pictures

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (Damien Chazelle, 2009) Cinema Guild

I Come with the Rain [Blu-ray] (Anh Hung Tran, 2008) RB UK Trinity

Laila (George Schnéevoigt, 1929) Flicker Alley

M (further restoration) [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1931) RB DE Universum

Midnight Cowboy [Blu-ray] (John Schlesinger, 1969) RB UK 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Once Upon a Time in the West [Blu-ray] (Sergio Leone, 1968) Paramount

Smiles of a Summer Night [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1955) Criterion

A Somewhat Gentle Man (Hans Petter Moland, 2010) Strand Releasing

Taps [Blu-ray] (Harold Becker 1981) 20th Century Fox

Twelve O'Clock High [Blu-ray] (Henry King, 1949) 20th Century Fox

What Dreams May Come [Blu-ray] (Vincent Ward, 1998) Universal

 

May 9th, 2011

 

Abbas Kiarostami Collection - Certified Copy, Ten Taste Of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us, ABC Africa, 10 On Ten - R2 UK Artificial Eye

Albert Capellani - coffret 4 DVD + livret édition limitee - R2 FR Pathe

Archipelago (Joanna Hogg, 2010) R2 Uk Artificial Eye

The Complete Avengers 50th Anniversary Edition - R2 UK - Optimum

Bananas!* (Fredrik Gertten, 2009) Oscilloscope Laboratories

Black Death [Blu-ray] (Christopher Smith, 2010) Magnolia

Blue Valentine [Blu-ray] (Derek Cianfrance, 2010) Weinstein

Blue Valentine [Blu-ray] (Derek Cianfrance, 2010) RB Optimum

Born to Be Bad (Nicholas Ray, 1950) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

Budrus (Julia Bacha, 2009) Typecast Releasing

Budrus (Julia Bacha, 2009) R2 UK Dogwoof

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [Blu-ray Book] (George Roy Hill, 1969) - 20th Century Fox

Chico & Rita [Blu-ray] (Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba, 2010) RB UK Icon

Christmas in July (Preston Sturges, 1940) Universal Studios

Civilisation [Blu-ray] (Kenneth Clark, 1969) 2entertain

Dead Man Walking [Blu-ray] (Tim Robbins, 1995) MGM

Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944) Universal Studios

His Kind of Woman (John Farrow, 1951) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

The Horse Soldiers [Blu-ray] (John Ford, 1959) MGM

Hotel Rwanda [Blu-ray] (Terry George, 2004) MGM

How I Ended This Summer (Aleksei Popogrebsky, 2010) Film Movement

I Saw the Devil [Blu-ray] (Ji-woon Kim, 2010) Magnolia

I See a Dark Stranger (Frank Launder, 1946) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

The Illusionist [Blu-ray] (Sylvain Chomet, 2010) Sony Pictures Classics

Laputa: Castle in the Sky [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986) RB UK Elevation Sales

The Manchurian Candidate [Blu-ray] (John Frankenheimer, 1962) MGM

The Misfits [Blu-ray] (John Huston, 1961) MGM

My Neighbors the Yamadas [Blu-ray] (Isao Takahata, 1999) RB UK Elevation Sales

Patton (40th Anniversary Limited Edition) [Blu-ray Book] (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970) - 20th Century Fox

The Paolo Sorrentino Collection (Il Divo / The Consequences of Love / The Family Friend / One Man Up) R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Pillow Book [Blu-ray] (Peter Greenaway, 1996) RB UK Park Circus

Rififi [Blu-ray] (Jules Dassin, 1955) RB UK Arrow

The Sign of the Cross (Cecil B. DeMille, 1932) Universal Studios

Some Like It Hot [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1959) MGM

Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986) Criterion
 Something Wild [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Demme, 1986) Criterion

 

 
     
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