Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 9th, 2014

Kailas - A full week with new reviews (11 DVDs!) and films on Blu-ray by Criterion, Arrow, Peter Weir, Spike Lee, Georges Franju, Costa-Gavras, Peter Davis and more! The Release Calendar has new updates of films-to-Blu-ray including Sergio Leone, Otar Iosseliani, Fritz Lang, Ray Harryhausen, Tinto Brass and more. 2 BIG Sales. June's FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD are posted. An important announcement, and a new CONTEST posted with a region FREE Blu-ray prize - best of luck!

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BARNES & NOBLE: 40% OFF 1000's of Blu-rays HERE (June 3rd-16th)

FEATURE Blu-ray and DVD of the MONTH selected for JUNE!

(Week of) June 9th CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Region FREE Blu-ray of Andrzej Wajda's Man of Iron

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

The Missing Picture - Utilizing clay figures, model backgrounds, and archival footage, filmmaker Rithy Panh tells the personal story of his experiences as a teenager when the Khmer Rouge "purified" the city of Phnom Penh and sent "the new people" (the bourgeoisie class) for brutal re-education to erase class divisions in the rice fields where individualism was a crime and resistance or protest equaled death (indeed, he lost his parents, his cousins, and his siblings during this period). Strand Releasing DVD Release Date: June 10th, 2014

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton - For the sadly uninitiated, James "Big Joy" Broughton was a man way ahead of his time. By the 1930's he had created some of the most entertaining experimental films you are ever likely to see. And he was a Beat Poet before Jack Kerouac found puberty. And his personal mantra of "Follow your own weird!" was the heartbeat for a dozen social movements that had yet to find a name or a voice. This is a man you should know. DVD Release Date: June 3rd, 2014

Ghostlight - Andrew wins a radio contest to spend one night alone in a haunted theater on the 80th anniversary of the bloody murder/suicide that occurred within its walls. His prize: $50,000. His task: To spend 12 hours alone inside. The catch: The theater has been reportedly haunted ever since the tragedy 80 years ago, and has been plagued by a series of mysterious deaths in the years since. A devout disbeliever in the supernatural, Andrew has no qualms about spending the night there. But his wife Mira, who has been haunted by psychic premonitions about the place, feels differently. As Andrew is locked inside the theater for the night, the ghosts and secrets of its past begin to reveal themselves to him. Will he make it through the night to collect his prize? And will he get out before the murderous ghosts take hold of him forever? DVD Release Date: June 3rd, 2014

Eyewitness - Donald Sinden portrays a very different kind of character role -- a cold-blooded killer -- in this taut British thriller. One night, Jay and Lucy, a young married couple quarrel and Lucy leaves to go to the cinema on her own. During the film, her anger cools but, as she leaves to return home, she unwittingly becomes a witness to a murder. The killers see her and chase her until she runs into the path of a bus and is critically injured. The two criminals wait to hear of her condition, but as she improves, one of them strikes on a plan to kill her. DVD Release Date: November 20th, 2012

Fanny By Gaslight - During the nineteenth century, Fanny, the illegitimate daughter of a British Cabinet Minister, begins a new life as a lady s maid in the household of her real father. She eventually learns the truth of her parentage and develops a strong bond with her father. This is shattered when his wife learns of it and threatens to publicly disgrace him. Fanny is in danger of losing him, but also of finding herself with another man in her life. His noble birth and her apparent lack of it put obstacles in the path of their romance, but will true love triumph? DVD Release Date: May 15th, 2012

Eight O'Clock Walk - Richard Attenborough portrays an innocent man on trial for his life in this compelling, sympathetic courtroom drama based on a true case. Directed by Lance Comfort - an under-appreciated British talent whose prolific career encompassed wartime biopic Penn of Pennsylvania and accomplished melodrama Hatter's Castle - Eight O'Clock Walk also features strong support from film noir heroine Cathy O'Donnell and character actor Maurice Denham. DVD Release Date: November 4th, 2013

Hearts and Minds BD - A courageous and startling film, Peter Davis’s landmark documentary Hearts and Minds unflinchingly confronts the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. Using a wealth of sources—from interviews to newsreels to documentary footage of the conflict at home and abroad—Davis constructs a powerfully affecting portrait of the disastrous effects of war. Explosive, persuasive, and shocking, Hearts and Minds is an overwhelming emotional experience and the controversial winner of the 1974 Academy Award for Best Documentary. Blu-ray Release Date: June 17th, 2014

A Hard Day's Night BD - The strikingly original classic captures all the fun, excitement, and unforgettable music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo at the height of Beatlemania. It's a wildly irreverent day in the life of the world's great rock 'n' roll band. As they prepare for a big TV appearance, the Beatles perform their songs, look for adventure ... and try in vain to keep Paul's mischief-making grandfather out of trouble ... all while avoiding hordes of screaming fans. Blu-ray Release Date: June 24th, 2014

Judex BD - This effortlessly cool crime caper, directed by Georges Franju, is a marvel of dexterous plotting and visual invention. Conceived as an homage to Louis Feuillade’s 1916 cult silent serial of the same name, Judex kicks off with the mysterious kidnapping of a corrupt banker by a shadowy crime fighter (American magician Channing Pollock) and spins out into a thrillingly complex web of deceptions. Combining stylish sixties modernism with silent-cinema touches and even a few unexpected sci-fi accents, Judex is a delightful bit of pulp fiction and a testament to the art of illusion. Blu-ray Release Date: June 17th, 2014

25th Hour BD - A man has one day to put his life in order before a long stretch in prison in this drama directed by Spike Lee. Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) is a man who came from a working class family in New York. Monty's best friends Jacob (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) went on to distinguished careers as, respectively, a high school teacher and a bonds trader, but Monty took a different path and began dealing drugs. While Monty's trade has made him plenty of money, it hasn't brought him much respect from his family and friends, and while Jacob and Slaughtery have stayed in touch, Monty's lifestyle has led them to keep their distance. One night, Monty is relaxing at home with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson) when the police show up; Monty is arrested, and after a trial he's sentenced to seven years in prison. On his last day of freedom before he goes to jail, Monty tries to make amends with his father (Brian Cox) and goes out on the town with Jacob and Slaughtery. With both of his friends facing emotional crises of their own, Monty finds himself wondering where his life took a wrong turn and if there's any way left to redeem himself. Along the way, Monty begins to suspect that Naturelle may have turned him in, and he has to deal with Kostya Novotny (Tony Siragusa), an ill-tempered drug supplier who has unfinished business with him. 25th Hour was scripted by David Benioff, who adapted the story from his novel of the same name. Blu-ray Release Date: June 10th, 2014

The Complete Dr. Phibes BD - A camp classic, The Abominable Dr. Phibes sets itself apart from the seventies horror crowd with its knowing humour and art deco sets, and also prefigures the Saw movies with its increasingly fiendish set of murder devices. Pairing the original film with sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Complete Dr. Phibes provides viewers with a double diabolical dose of macabre thrills and black comedy. Blu-ray Release Date: June 16th, 2014

Picnic at Hanging Rock BD - Twenty years after it swept Australia into the international film spotlight, Peter Weir's stunning 1975 masterpiece remains as ineffable as the unanswerable mystery at its core. A Valentine's Day picnic at an ancient volcanic outcropping turns to disaster for the residents of Mrs. Appleyard's school when a few young girls inexplicably vanish on Hanging Rock. A lyrical, meditative film charged with suppressed longings. Blu-ray Release Date: June 10th, 2014

Eclipse Series 36: Three Wicked Melodramas from Gainsborough Pictures - During the 1940s, realism reigned in British cinema—but not at Gainsborough Pictures. The studio, which had been around since the '20s, found new success with a series of pleasurably preposterous costume melodramas. Audiences ate up these overheated films, which featured a stable of charismatic stars, including James Mason (Lolita), Margaret Lockwood (The Lady Vanishes), Stewart Granger (King Solomon's Mines), and Phyllis Calvert (Indiscreet). Though its films were immensely profitable in wartime and immediately after, Gainsborough did not outlive the decade. This set brings together a trio of Gainsborough's most popular films—florid, visceral tales of secret identities, multiple personalities, and romantic betrayals. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2012

Bang! You're Dead - Story of how an outspoken young man is suspected of murder actually committed accidentally by small boy in play. Lance Comfort’s mildly suspenseful crime melodrama opens in flashback and builds to a predictable climax. The guilt-stricken performance of young Anthony Richmond lacks conviction, but fellow teenager Sean Barrett provides a more rounded sympathetic characterisation as his introverted friend. There’s also effective support from Jack Warner, Gordon Harker and Derek Farr. DVD Release Date: February 24th, 2014

The Accursed - In this tense post-war thriller from writer-director Michael McCarthy, former members of the German resistance gather for a reunion, only to discover that one of them is a murderous traitor. DVD Release Date: August 13th, 2013

Amen. BD - Amen. examines the links between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. The central character is Kurt Gerstein (Ulrich Tukur), a Waffen-SS officer employed in the SS Hygiene Institute, designing programs for the purification of water and the destruction of vermin. He is shocked to learn that the process he has developed to eradicate typhus, by using a hydrogen cyanide mixture called Zyklon B, is now being used for killing Jews in extermination camps. Gerstein attempts to notify Pope Pius XII (Marcel Iureş) about the gassings, but is appalled by the lack of response he gets from the Catholic hierarchy. The only person moved is Riccardo Fontana (Mathieu Kassovitz), a young Jesuit priest. Blu-ray Release date: June 10th, 2014

Cloudburst - A taut revenge potboiler from Great Britain and Hammer Studio, which is aimed at an American audience by starring the Hollywood actor Robert Preston. He plays as a Canadian ex-colonel in the resistance movement during the war, John Graham, and is currently a codebreaker expert for the British Foreign Office, whose motto is that there isn't a code that can't be broken. DVD Release Date: April 18th, 2011

Crossroads to Crime - his crime thriller for Anglo-Amalgamated was Gerry Anderson's directorial film debut, and the only feature-length production to be made by AP Films, co-founded by the legendary puppet pioneer in 1957. PC Don Ross suspects that a gang of lorry hijackers, operating from a transport café, is behind a series of vehicle thefts. When his suspicions are dismissed by his superiors, Ross decides to conduct his own undercover investigation, and sets out to collect vital evidence that could convict the gang... DVD Release Date: August 19th, 2013
 

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