Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 13th, 2011

Ia ora na!  - Two Criterion Louis Malle Blu-rays, two Fritz Lang, Sam Fuller, Jacques Tourneur, Jack Cardiff, salacious Radley Metzger, zombie anime and more. The Blue Underground sale (see HERE) continues. Our calendar updates have upcoming releases of Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, Blake Edwards, Jim Jarmusch, the Coen bros., Jean-Luc Godard, Herschell Gordon Lewis - a great prize for this week's contest clip! Au Ag!

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Feature DVD and Blu-ray chosen for June 2011 HERE

Leonard has reviewed the new Oppo BDP-95 Universal audiophile Blu-ray player HERE!

TOOLBAR THE 'DVDBeaver Toolbar'! Give it a test drive! I've created a very simple toolbar for Film-Fans/DVD-o-philes/cinephiles. It embeds effortlessly within Internet Explorer 5.0+ (Windows Vista/XP/2000) and Firefox 1.0.1+ (Windows, Mac, Linux). It offers quick links to Searching both the Net (via Google) and DVDBeaver directly, Amazons, Asian etailors, Forums (Criterion, Home Theater, AVS, Rotten Tomatoes, Film Noir), IMDb, DVDBasen, Beaver links, Blu-ray information, Cinephile Blogs/Journals (Rosenbaum, Kehr, Acquarello etc.). What do you think? FOR MORE INFORMATION / AVAILABLE HERE *** (We can adjust this to suit popular opinion - on-the-fly - no re-install required!)

June 13th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Two DVDs of Monogamy (Dana Adam Shapiro, 2011) by Oscilloscope Laboratories

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

High School of the Dead BD - High School of the Dead is set in the present day, beginning as the world is struck by a deadly pandemic that turns humans into zombies, euphemistically referred to by the main characters as "them" since they are no longer considered human. The story follows a group of high school students, the high school's nurse, and a young girl as they fight their way to safety through the deadly streets of Japan during a worldwide catastrophic event known as the "Outbreak". Led by sophomore Takashi Komuro, the focal group of survivors consists of six others and a small dog, and creating a gestalt team with one purpose: to survive. Blu-ray Release date: June 28th, 2011

Nightmares - American actress in Australia Helen (Jenny Neumann, HELL NIGHT) auditions for a Victorian stage comedy by a vitriolic director (Max Phipps, THIRST). Her relationship with one of her co-stars (Gary Sweet) is hampered by her traumatic memories of seeing her mother killed when she was a child. When someone starts slashing through the cast with shards of broken glass, is it Helen or one of her melodramatic castmates. Scripted and edited by the late Colin Eggleston (LONG WEEKEND, FANTASM RIDES AGAIN), there is really no suspense to be had in the rather obvious script but we do get some vintage Australian sexploitation levels of nudity and some fairly brutal slashings. DVD Release Date: June 28th, 2011

Dark of the Sun - Take elite commandos, send them on a do-or-die assignment – and sit back and watch the action explode. The men-on-a-mission formula that worked in 1967’s The Dirty Dozen and in Where Eagles Dare (released in the U.S. in 1969) provides another salvo of volatile screen adventure with this strike-force saga released in 1968. Rod Taylor and Jim Brown are among a mercenary unit rolling on a steam train across the Congo, headed for the dual tasks of rescuing civilians imperiled by rebels and recovering a cache of diamonds. The film’s violence is fierce, unforgiving, ahead of its time. Quentin Tarantino would offer a tribute of sorts to this red-blooded wallop of a cult fave by using part of its compelling score in Inglourious Basterds. DVD Release Date: June 7th, 2011

Zazie Dans le Metro BD - Arguably Louis Malle's best work (1960). Based on Raymond Queneau's farcical novel about a little girl (Catherine Demongeot) left in Paris for a weekend with her decadent uncle (Philippe Noiret), this wild spree goes overboard reproducing Mack Sennett-style slapstick, parodying various films of the 1950s, and playing with editing and color effects (Henri Decae's cinematography is especially impressive), though gradually it becomes a rather disturbing nightmare about fascism. Blu-ray Release Date: June 28th, 2011

The Image BD - Author Jean (Carl Parker, SCORE) attends a jet set party on the Place de la Concorde one night and becomes captivated by Anne (Mary Mendum, ABIGAIL LESLIE IS BACK IN TOWN), a photographic model who "belongs" to glacial fashion photographer Claire (Marilyn Roberts, LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR). Although Jean is fascinated by Claire, he is physically attracted to Anne. Claire invites him to witness the depth of Anne's submission to Claire (which soon includes making her available to him). Is Anne a pawn in a power struggle between Claire and Jean, or is Jean the pawn? Blu-ray Release Date: June 14th, 2011

Black Moon BD - Louis Malle (The Lovers, Au revoir les enfants) meets Lewis Carroll in this bizarre and bewitching trip down the rabbit hole. After skirting the horrors of an unidentified war being waged in an anonymous countryside, a beautiful young woman (Cathryn Harrison) takes refuge in a remote farmhouse, where she becomes embroiled in the surreal domestic odyssey of a mysterious family. Evocatively shot by cinematographer Sven Nykvist (Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander), Black Moon is a Freudian tale of adolescent sexuality set in a postapocalyptic world of shifting identities and talking animals. It is one of Malle’s most experimental films and a cinematic daydream like no other. Blu-ray Release date: June 28th, 2011

Unknown BD - The star of Taken jumps back into action with brute force! Liam Neeson plays Dr. Martin Harris, who awakens after a car accident in Berlin to discover that his wife (January Jones) suddenly doesn’t recognize him and another man (Aidan Quinn) has assumed his identity. Ignored by disbelieving authorities and hunted by mysterious assassins, he finds himself alone, tired and on the run. Aided by an unlikely ally (Diane Kruger), Harris plunges into a deadly mystery forcing him to question his sanity, his identity and just how far he’s willing to go to uncover the truth. Blu-ray Release date: June 21st, 2011

While the City Sleeps - Death of media magnat Amos Kyne is causing power struggle between his executives. In the meantime New York women become prey of a serial killer. Reporter Edward Mobley is in that circumstances faced with almost impossible missions: to catch the killer, to prevent the media empire from falling into the wrong hands and to save his romantic relationship from break-up. While the City Sleeps was Lang's last successful U.S. release, following a 20-year career in Hollywood... DVD Release Date: March 29th, 2011

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt - Crusading publisher Austin Spenser (Sidney Blackmer) wants to prove a point about the insufficiency of circumstantial evidence. Spencer talks his prospective son-in-law Tom Garrett (Dana Andrews) into participating in a hoax, the better to expose the alleged ineptitude of conviction-happy DA (Philip Bourneuf). Tom will plant clues indicating that he is the murderer of a nightclub dancer, then stand trial for murder; just as the jury reaches its inevitable guilty verdict, Spencer will step forth to reveal the set-up and humiliate the DA. Somewhat surprisingly, Tom eagerly agrees to this subterfuge. Unfortunately, an unforeseen event renders their perfectly formed scheme useless. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was the last American film of director Fritz Lang. DVD Release Date: March 29th, 2011

Park Row - Director Sam Fuller, who once worked in tabloid journalism, breathes real life into this drama about a man trying to start an opposition paper. His old employer tries endless dirty tactics to put him out of business as a circulation war rages. Park Row was the first film Samuel Fuller entirely wrote, directed and produced putting his own money to finish the film (and loosing it all in the process). DVD Release Date: May 2nd, 2011

The Fearmakers - In this drama, a Korean war veteran, a victim of brainwashing while he was a POW, finally goes back to his home in Washington,... DC, where he resumes his job at a public relations-opinion research firm. He soon discovers that his company is being run by communists after his partner mysteriously died. Now pro-communist propaganda seems to be their primary business. To stop them, the vet begins cooperating in a full-scale Senate investigation. DVD Release Date: May 2nd, 2011

Stranger on Horseback - Joel McCrea brings law and order to the range in Stranger on Horseback. McCrea portrays a circuit judge Richard Thorne, who comes to a small western town in the course of making his rounds. There he finds the town and surrounding area under the feudal thumb of an oldline family headed by Josiah Bannerman (John McIntire). Despite wholehearted opposition and obstacles, Thorne fingers Bannerman s spoiled son, Tom (Kevin McCarthy) for murder and smokes out the necessary frightened witnesses and defies the whole clan by seeing that justice is done. In doing so he even wins the grudging respect of the old cattle baron, gains the love of the latter s strong-willed niece, Amy (Miroslava Stern), and awakens the sheriff (Emile Meyer) to a new sense of duty. DVD Release Date: September 16th, 2008
 

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