Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 12th, 2017

Dobar Dan! Recovered week with Blu-ray reviews of packages by Criterion, Arrow, Classicflix, Universal, Mondo Macabro, Shout! Factory, Koch Media, Sony of films by François Truffaut, Budd Boetticher, Lewis Milestone, Terence Fisher, Marlon Brando, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lawrence Kasdan, King Vidor, Delmer Daves, Paul Naschy, Ovidio G. Assonitis. Our Calendar has mega updates of films-to-Blu-ray by Nicholas Ray, Josef von Sternberg, Sidney Lumet, Mario Bava, Robert Aldrich, Fred Zinnemann, Segio Martino, Jean Grémillon, Ermanno Olmi, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Abel Gance, King Vidor, Joe Dante, Carl Th. Dreyer, Vittorio De Sica, Dziga Vertov, Luigi Cozzi, Lucio Fulci, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, David Cronenberg, Tonino Valerii, Dario Argento, Takashi Miike, Michael Apted, Takeshi Kitano, Alfred Hitchcock, Andrew V. McLaglen, William A. Wellman, Ewald André Dupont, Werner Herzog, Elio Petri and more. Please visit our listing pages. Our Feature Blu-ray and DVD is posted for JUNE and a CONTEST with another BRAND NEW CRITERION Blu-ray prize. Enjoy!!

NEW PAGES:

Giallo on Blu-ray!

Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France)

ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!

Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany)

LATEST ARTICLE: The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

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

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(Week of) June 12th CONTEST  identify the clip HERE to win a prize of a BRAND NEW Criterion Blu-ray of Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Best of luck!

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

Madhouse BD - Julia has spent her entire adult life trying to forget the torment she suffered at the hands of her twisted twin Mary... but Mary hasn't forgotten. Escaping hospital, where she s recently been admitted with a horrific, disfiguring illness, Julia s sadistic sister vows to exact a particularly cruel revenge on her sibling this year promising a birthday surprise that she ll never forget. An Italian production shot entirely in Savannah, Georgia, Madhouse (aka And When She Was Bad and There Was a Little Girl) fuses slasher elements with the over-the-top excess of 80s Italian terror resulting in a cinematic bloodbath so gut-wrenching that the British authorities saw fit to outlaw it as a video nasty. Blu-ray Release Date: June 12th-13th, 2017

The Neon Demon BD - The director has been criticised for stealing his imagery from other artists but his collage approach is very much in keeping with the spirit of the age, and whilst The Neon Demon reflects on decades of (mal)practice, it is also intensely modern. This is aided by Cliff Martinez's pulsing electronic score, which draws on musical motifs that are among the few constants in the language of fashion shows. There are actually very few pieces of couture on show, but this fits with the argument that fashion has never been about clothes. This is a film about greatness and those who have it thrust upon them. Its visual indulgence and frequent referencing of other films about celebrity, from Sunset Boulevard to Mulholland Drive, is entirely appropriate given its subject matter - and ultimately, there's nothing to be ashamed of about enjoying the beauty of a film. Blu-ray Release Date: October 27th, 2016

Island of Terror BD - When the inhabitants of Petrie`s island succumb to a mysterious disease, doctors Brian Stanley (Peter Cushing) and David West (Edward Judd) are asked to investigate. Puncture marks on the corpses reveal the horrifying truth: the islanders and their animals are being killed not by a disease, but by a strange type of silicate organism that sucks the bone from their bodies. As the death toll rises the seemingly indestructible creatures multiply at an alarming rate. Stanley and west lead the desperate islanders in a fight for survival as the unstoppable silicates threaten to engulf the island, and then the world... Shout! Factory Blu-ray Release date: June 20th, 2017

Inquisition BD - In 16th century France, Inquisitor and magistrate Bernard de Fossey (Paul Naschy) travels to the plague-ridden region of Peyriac in search of witches and devil worshippers. Local beauty Catherine (Daniela Giordano) quickly catches his eye, tormenting him with impure thoughts, although her affections lie with her handsome fiancé Jean. Meanwhile, embittered one-eyed manservant Rénover (Antonio Iranzo) presents Bernard with his first group of torture victims when he accuses several sexy young things who spurned his advances of being witches responsible for the plague. Blu-ray Release date: June 13th, 2017

Fahrenheit 451(Universal added) BD - Where Ray Bradbury's novel posited a strange, terrifyingly mechanised society which has banned books in the interests of material well-being, Truffaut presents a cosy world not so very different from our own, with television a universal father-figure pouring out reassuring messages, and the only element of menace a fire-engine tearing down the road. A bright, gleaming childhood red, the engine is like a reminder of toyhood days; and as Werner's fireman hero goes about his task of destroying literature, his growing awareness of the almost human way in which books curl up and die in the flames gradually assumes the dimensions of a quest for a legendary lost treasure - movingly glimpsed as he slowly and painfully deciphers the title-page of David Copperfield. Universal Blu-ray Release Date: June 6th, 2017

The Killer is Loose BD - Detective Sam Wagner’s job is never easy. Even an average day proves stressful for him and his family. But this is no ordinary day for Wagner (Joseph Cotten) or his wife Lila (Rhonda Fleming). After pegging a recent bank robbery as an inside job orchestrated by mild-mannered clerk Leon Poole (played by a bespectacled Wendell Corey), Wagner heads to the suspect’s apartment to make the arrest expecting him to be alone. Instead, Poole’s beloved wife is with him and caught in the crossfire of a shootout leaving her dead. Sent to prison, and believing Wagner is responsible for his wife’s death, Poole is desperate for revenge. Escape and murder soon follow with the haunting Poole bent on taking away the woman Wagner loves. Will the detective and his men save her in time? Blu-ray Release Date: June 13th, 2017

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) BD - The film is emotionally draining, and so realistic that it will be forever etched in the mind of any viewer. Milestone's direction is frequently inspired, most notably during the battle scenes. In one such scene, the camera serves as a kind of machine gun, shooting down the oncoming troops as it glides along the trenches. Universal spared no expense during production, converting more than 20 acres of a large California ranch into battlefields occupied by more than 2,000 ex-servicemen extras. After its initial release, some foreign countries refused to run the film. Poland banned it for being pro-German, while the Nazis labeled it anti-German. Joseph Goebbels, later propaganda minister, publicly denounced the film. Blu-ray Release Date: February 14th, 2012

Silverado BD - This spirited Western stars Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, and Danny Glover as four unwitting heroes who cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are. Thanks to its authentic look and spectacular cast, which also includes Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Brian Dennehy, Jeff Goldblum, and Linda Hunt, this exciting Old West adventure created a whole new generation of Western fans and earned its "modern classic" status. Blu-ray Release Date: September 8th, 2009

Man Without a Star BD - A fine, edgy Western, handsomely shot by Russell Metty and beautifully paced by Vidor. A conventional range war plot is lent some of the sweaty unpredictability of Duel in the Sun by the love-hate relationship between Douglas, as the cowboy with a pathological hatred of barbed wire, and Crain as the cattle baroness whose cause he eventually abandons in defence of individual liberties. Fine performances, not least from Claire Trevor as the good-hearted saloon girl, and Boone as the villainous gunslinger. (From a novel by Dee Linford.) Blu-ray Release Date: March 7th, 2014

3:10 to Yuma (1957) BD - In this beautifully shot, psychologically complex western, Van Heflin is a mild-mannered cattle rancher who takes on the task of shepherding a captured outlaw (played with cucumber-cool charisma by Glenn Ford) to the train that will deliver him to prison. This apparently simple mission turns into a nerve-racking cat-and-mouse game that tests each man’s particular brand of honor. Based on a story by Elmore Leonard, 3:10 to Yuma is a thrilling, humane action movie, directed by the supremely talented studio filmmaker Delmer Daves with intense feeling and precision. Blu-ray Release Date: May 14th, 2013

One-Eyed Jacks BD - Brando is Rio, a bank-robber who is double-crossed by his friend and mentor, Dad (Karl Malden). Rio is imprisoned for his role in the crime, but escapes with thoughts of revenge. He tracks down Dad only to find that, during those years spent behind bars, Dad has used his ill-gotten wealth to become the sheriff of Monterey... A strange, baroque Western, One-Eyed Jacks met with bewilderment by critics and audiences upon release, but slowly developed a cult following despite a succession of below-par masters. Now, thanks to an outstanding new 4K restoration from Martin Scorsese's The Film Foundation, audiences can finally see the film as intended once again and recognise the masterpiece it always was. Arrow Blu-ray Release date: June 12th, 2017

Klown BD - Based on the hit sitcom, Klown finds Frank on the verge of the fatherhood. So how better to prove his paternal credentials than borrowing his awkward 13-year-old nephew to accompany him and Casper on their annual tour de pussy? What follows is far too crude and outrageous to describe here! Imagine a Scandinavian relative of The Inbetweeners and The Hangover with a dash of Lars von Trier at his most playfully transgressive and you re getting close to the shocking hilarity of Klown. Blu-ray Release Date: June 5th, 2017

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