DVDBeaver Newsletter - June 25th, 2012

Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 25th, 2012

	This Week's Highlights
	Molweni - Super week with reviewed films-on-Blu-ray by Woody Allen, David Cronenberg, Oliver Stone, Ken Russell, Douglas Trumbull, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Michael Crichton, William Castle and Roger Vadim, plus listings on the *Upcoming Calendar* of films on Blu-ray by Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, George Cukor, Vittorio De Sica, Marcel Carné, Tim Burton, David Fincher, and others. We also have our CONTEST clip with another brand new Blu-ray prize! FEATURE DVD and Blu-ray of the MONTH chosen for JUNE! *HERE* FOLLOW US on TWITTER! (where we post important reviews, contests - prizes, calendar updates - plus much more...)
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	June 25th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a brand new Criterion *Blu-ray of Orpheus* DVD and Blu-ray of the Year 2011 HERE
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NOTE:_	If there are DVD titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend! Gary at 2ze dot com

Today's DVD & Blu-rays (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under $10 (Amazon)

Blu-rays Under £6 (Amazon UK)

Blu-rays Under £10 (Amazon UK)

Movies & TVs (Amazon Canada)

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Alfred Hitchcock: The Masterpiece Collection [Blu-ray] - Saboteur (1942) Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Rope (1948) Rear Window (1954) -The Trouble with Harry (1955) The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Vertigo (1958) Psycho (1960) The Birds (1963) Marnie (1964) Torn Curtain (1966) Topaz (1969) Frenzy (1972) Family Plot (1976) - Universal

Ed Wood [Blu-ray] (Tim Burton, 1994) Touchstone / Disney

Strangers On A Train [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) Warner

Macbeth [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1948) Olive Films

A Double Life [Blu-ray] (George Cukor, 1947) Olive Films

Cyrano de Bergerac [Blu-ray] (Michael Gordon, 1950) Olive Films

Love Exposure [Blu-ray] (Shion Sono, 2008) Olive Films

The Devil, Probably (Robert Bresson, 1977) Olive Films

Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945) Criterion Collection

Children of Paradise [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1945) Criterion Collection

Umberto D. [Blu-ray] (Vittorio De Sica, 1952) Criterion Collection

Devil's Advocate [Blu-ray] (Taylor Hackford, 1997) Warner

Les visiteurs du soir (Marcel Carné, 1942) Criterion Collection

Les visiteurs du soir [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1942) Criterion Collection

Eating Raoul (Paul Bartel, 1982) Criterion Collection

Eating Raoul [Blu-ray] (Paul Bartel, 1982) Criterion Collection

The Game (David Fincher, 1997) Criterion Collection

The Game [Blu-ray] (David Fincher, 1997) Criterion Collection

Walkabout [Blu-ray] (Nicolas Roeg, 1971) Universal Pictures UK

The Navigator [Blu-ray] (Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton, 1924) Kino

Black Sunday [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1960) Lorber Films

Hatchet For The Honeymoon [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1970) Redemption

Confidence aka Bizalom (István Szabó, 1980) R2 UK Second Run

Elles [Blu-ray] (Malgorzata Szumowska, 2011) Lorber Films

Lisa and The Devil / The House of Exorcism [Blu-ray] - Lorber Films

Gerhard Richter - Painting [Blu-ray] (Corinna Belz, 2011) Lorber Films

Au Pair Girls [Blu-ray] (Val Guest, 1972) Redemption

A Thousand Cuts [Blu-ray] (Charles Evered, 2011) Lorber Films

Les enfants du paradis [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1945) RB UK Second Sight Films

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 50th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (Robert Aldrich, 1962) Warner

Dead Ringer [Blu-ray] (Paul Henreid, 1964) Warner

Querelle [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) RB FR Gaumont

Ice Station Zebra [Blu-ray] (John Sturges, 1968) Warner

WarGames [Blu-ray] (John Badham, 1983) MGM

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is magnificent cinema and the Cinema Guild Blu-ray get the nod for most recommended this week. But there is plenty more to extol with Oliver Stone's epic Born on the Fourth of July looking pristine in 1080P. Warner have three reasonably-priced thrillers from the late 70's early 80s including Michael Crichton's Coma, Ken Russell's inventive Altered States and the less-polished (but containing an intriguing premise) Brainstorm. In the sci-fi vein comic-book inspired Barbarella has Jane Fonda as a sex-kitten space adventurer. The Blu-ray offers an impressive presentation. pasta western fans will fine much to enjoy in Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! Another strong Blu-ray from Blue Underground. Woody Allen's Small Time Crooks is pure pleasure and the 1080P advances beyond previous SD editions. David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers gets a 1080i/50 transfer out of France that has benefits. William Castle's The Spirit is Willing doesn't have a lot going for it and certainly seems unworthy of Blu-ray status. On DVD Eric dutifully covered the upcoming The Shakespeare Collection with 4 of the bard's greatest plays in specially filmed adaptations by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Have a wonderful week!


	THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
	Coma BD - Crichton's excellent adaptation of Robin Cook's novel is one of the most intelligent sci-fi thrillers in years. Bujold is the doctor who, after a series of mysterious and fatal mishaps with patients going into coma for no clear reason, begins to suspect that something evil is being covered up at the hospital. A simple enough story, but one told in such chilling fashion that visitors to hospitals will never feel the same again. Careful to establish an authentic atmosphere, Crichton only slowly lets events spiral off into nightmarish Hitchcockian fantasy, while the fact that nobody will believe Bujold, attributing her suspicions to female hysteria, only serves to point up the patriarchal nature of the medical profession. See it and worry. Blu-ray Release date: July 10th, 2012 Brainstorm BD - In a button-pusher's paradise, replete with the dazzling array of hardware that ''Brainstorm'' so effectively utilizes, a group of scientists is poised on the brink of an astonishing discovery. They have created a device that allows one person to experience vicariously the sensations of others. If Person A, wearing a specially designed helmet, eats a piece of steak with nuts, chocolate sauce and marshmallow on top (that's the meal used in the experiment), Person B can taste the same stuff and share in the same indigestion. Blu-ray Release date: July 10th, 2012 Altered States BD - In this 1980 sci-fi horror film, William Hurt plays Eddie Jessup, a scientist obsessed with discovering mankind's true role in the universe. To this end, he submits himself to a series of mind-expanding experiments. By enclosing himself in a sensory-deprivation chamber and taking hallucinogenic drugs, Jessup hopes to explore different levels of human consciousness, but instead is devolved into an apelike monster. Director Ken Russell helmed Altered States from a script by Paddy Chayefsky, who adapted his own novel of the same name. Unhappy with the finished product, Chayefsky had his name replaced with his pseudonym Sydney Aaron. Blu-ray Release date: July 10th, 2012 Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot! BD - Tomas Milian stars as a half-breed bandit double-crossed and left for dead who rises from the grave to seek his revenge. But when his quest leads to a bizarre town called 'The Unhappy Place,' he is plunged into an odyssey of gruesome torture, graphic violence and relentless sexual depravity. This is the landmark movie that fans and critics still consider to be the strangest - and most controversial - 'Spaghetti Western' ever made. Blu-ray Release date: July 3rd, 2012 Born on the Fourth of July BD - It is a film of enormous visceral power with, in the central role, a performance by Tom Cruise that defines everything that is best about the movie. He is both particular and emblematic. He is innocent and clean-cut at the start; at the end, angry and exhausted, sporting a proud mustache and a headband around his forehead and hippie-length hair. Blu-ray Release date: July 3rd, 2012 Once Upon a Time in Anatolia BD - Winner of the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Once Upon A Time In Anatolia is the new film from the celebrated director of Distant and Climates. In the dead of night, a group of men among them, a police commissioner, a prosecutor, a doctor and a murder suspect drive through the Anatolian countryside, the serpentine roads and rolling hills lit only by the headlights of their cars. They are searching for a corpse, the victim of a brutal murder. The suspect, who claims he was drunk, can't remember where he buried the body. As night wears on, details about the murder emerge and the investigators own hidden secrets come to light. In the Anatolian steppes, nothing is what it seems; and when the body is found, the real questions begin. Blu-ray Release date: June 26th, 2012 The Shakespeare Collection - Some of the finest actors in a generation perform 4 of the bard's greatest plays in specially filmed adaptations by the Royal Shakespeare Company for Thames Television. Macbeth: Trevor Nunn's highly acclaimed production of the classic tale of the Scots nobleman whose ambition, spurred on by his alluring wife and an evil prophecy, leads him to treachery, murder and damnation. Starring Sir Ian Mckellen and Judi Dench together with the original RSC cast. Romeo & Juliet: The Montagues and Capulets are bitter enemies, sworn to hatred. Yet when their children Romeo (Christopher Neame) and Juliet (Ann Hasson) fall in love, their happiness is doomed to failure in this brilliant interpretation of the classic tale of love and loss. Twelfth Night: Performing one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies, the Renaissance Theatre Company, starring Richard Briers and directed by Kenneth Branagh, deliver one of the most highly acclaimed adaptations of all time. King Lear: Shakespeare's tragic masterpiece is brought to life in this superb production starring Patrick Magee as the titular king who descends to madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery. DVD Release Date: July 16th, 2012 Dead Ringers BD - In Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg tells the chilling story of identical twin gynecologists—suave Elliot and sensitive Beverly, bipolar sides of one personality—who share the same practice, the same apartment, the same women. When a new patient, glamorous actress Claire Niveau, challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs, and madness. Jeremy Irons’ tour-de-force performance—as both twins—raises disturbing questions about the nature of personal identity. Blu-ray Release Date: January 27th, 2012 Small Time Crooks BD - An ex-con (Woody Allen) and his manicurist wife (Tracey Ullman) find their get-rich-quick scheme leaves them rolling in dough in the hilarious comedy, Small Time Crooks. When a bank heist takes a comical twist, the couple discovers that cookies pay better than crime! Romantic comedy favorite Hugh Grant is a suave art dealer with his own plot to cash in on their success. Adding to the mix are bumbling crooks Jon Lovitz and Michael Rapaport in this critically acclaimed film. Blu-ray Release Date: June 11th, 2012 Barbarella BD - Barbarella is marked by the same audacity and originality, fantasy, humor, beauty and horror, cruelty and eroticism that make comic books such a favorite. The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella (Jane Fonda) makes a forced landing while traveling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure. Whether she is wrestling with Black Guards, the evil Queen, or the Angel Pygar, she just can't seem to avoid losing at least a part of her skin-tight space suit! Blu-ray Release date: July 3rd, 2012 The Spirit is Willing BD - Legendary cult-filmmaker, William Castle (Strait-Jacket) directs this spooky horror comedy. A couple (Sid Caesar and Vera Miles) and their adolescent son (Barry Gordon) move into a quiet New England summer cottage. Soon after their arrival, a series of strange and increasingly destructive occurrences begin to happen, the perpetrators are a trio of angry ghosts who want the cabin all for themselves. The stellar cast includes John McGiver, Mary Wickes, Jesse White, Harvey Lembeck, Jay C. Flippen and The Addams Family star, John Astin. Blu-ray Release date: June 26th, 2012

Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

June 25th, 2012

The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935) Criterion Collection
The 39 Steps [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Artist [Blu-ray] (Michel Hazanavicius, 2011) Columbia/Tri-Star (BEAVER REVIEW)

The AristoCats [Blu-ray] (Wolfgang Reitherman, 1970) RB UK Disney

Bullhead [Blu-ray] (Michael R. Roskam, 2011) Image Entertainment

Confidence aka Bizalom (István Szabó, 1980) R2 UK Second Run

Deliverance [Blu-ray] (John Boorman, 1972) Warner

Double Indemnity [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1944) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Double Indemnity [Blu-ray] Steelbook (Billy Wilder, 1944) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Hangman [Blu-ray] (Michael Curtiz, 1959) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Howl's Moving Castle [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 2004) RB UK Studio Canal

Ici Et Ailleurs (Jean-Luc Godard, 1976) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Little Lord Fauntleroy [Blu-ray] (John Cromwell, 1936) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Lost Weekend [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1945) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Lost Weekend [Blu-ray] Steelbook (Billy Wilder, 1945) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Night of the Grizzly [Blu-ray] (Joseph Pevney, 1966) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Numéro deux (Jean-Luc Godard, 1975) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia [Blu-ray] (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011) Cinema Guild (BEAVER REVIEW)

Oranges and Sunshine [Blu-ray] (Jim Loach, 2010) New Video Group

The Samurai Trilogy (Musashi Miyamoto, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, Duel at Ganryu Island) Criterion Collection
The Samurai Trilogy [Blu-ray] (Musashi Miyamoto, Duel at Ichijoji Temple, Duel at Ganryu Island) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW) (BEAVER REVIEW) (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Spirit Is Willing [Blu-ray] (William Castle, 1967) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Tales from Earthsea [Blu-ray] (Goro Miyazaki, 2006) RB UK Studio Canal

Tales That Witness Madness [Blu-ray] (Donald Houston, 1973) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Yellow Sky [Blu-ray] (William A. Wellman, 1948) RB UK Odeon (BEAVER REVIEW)

July 2nd, 2012

Barbarella [Blu-ray] (Roger Vadim, 1968) Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)

Born on the Fourth of July [Blu-ray] (Oliver Stone, 1989) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Cardillac (Edgar Reitz, 1969) R2 UK Bluebell Films

The Chessplayer (Yves Hanchar, 1994) R2 UK Bluebell Films

Django Kill If You Live Shoot [Blu-ray] (Giulio Questi, 1967) Blue Underground (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Golden Fleece (Alf Brustellin, 1972) R2 UK Bluebell Films

The House by the Cemetery [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1981) RB UK Arrow Video

The Hunter [Blu-ray] (Daniel Nettheim, 2011) Magnolia Pictures (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Special Restoration Edition) [Blu-ray] (Powell and Pressburger, 1943) RB UK ITV

Lion of the Desert [Blu-ray] (Moustapha Akkad, 1981) RB UK Anchor Bay

The Message [Blu-ray] (Moustapha Akkad, 1977) RB UK Anchor Bay

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)/Gow The Headhunter (1928) [Blu-ray] - Flicker Alley

Phenomenon [Blu-ray] (Jon Turteltaub, 1996) Touchstone / Disney

The South Bank Show: Volume 1 (Ken Russell) - R2 UK Network

Under the Tuscan Sun [Blu-ray] (Audrey Wells, 2003) Touchstone / Disney

Who Dares Wins [Blu-ray] (Ian Sharp, 1982) RB Arrow Video

The Wild Geese [Blu-ray] (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1978) RB Arrow Video

The Woody Allen 20 Film Collection [DVD] R2 UK Fox

July 9th, 2012

Altered States [Blu-ray] (Ken Russell, 1980) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Brainstorm [Blu-ray] (Douglas Trumbull, 1983) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Chariots of Fire [Blu-ray] (Hugh Hudson, 1981) Warner

Coma [Blu-ray] (Michael Crichton, 1978) Image Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Devil's Needle and Other Tales of Vice And Redemption [Blu-ray] - Kino

Fallen Angels [Blu-ray] (Kar Wai Wong, 1995) RB UK Artificial Eye

Fela Kuti: Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense & Berliner Jazztage '78 (Double Feature) - Lorber

The Flowers of War [Blu-ray] (Yimou Zhang, 2011) Lions Gate

Le Havre [Blu-ray] (Aki Kaurismäki, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

John Carter [Blu-ray] (Andrew Stanton, 2012) RB FR Disney

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia [Blu-ray] (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011) RB UK New Wave Films

Outland [Blu-ray] (Peter Hyams , 1981) Image Entertainment

Querelle [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) RB FR Gaumont

The Saphead [Blu-ray] (Herbert Blaché, Winchell Smith, 1920) Kino

Senna [Blu-ray] (Asif Kapadia, 2011) Arc Entertainment

Seven Minutes in Heaven (Omri Givon, 2009) Film Movement

Spawn [Blu-ray] (Mark A.Z. Dippé, 1997) Warner

The Straight Story [Blu-ray] (David Lynch, 1999) RA JP

Trishna [Blu-ray] (Michael Winterbottom, 2011) Artificial Eye

July 16th, 2012

The Blood Beast Terror [Blu-ray] (Vernon Sewell, 1968) Redemption

Burke & Hare [Blu-ray] (Vernon Sewell, 1972) Redemption

Camelot [Blu-ray] (Joshua Logan, 1968) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Cellular [Blu-ray] (David R. Ellis, 2004) New Line

Chariots of Fire (30th Anniversary Limited Edition) [Blu-ray] (Hugh Hudson, 1981) RB UK 20th Century Fox

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie [Blu-ray] (Luis Buñuel, 1972) RB UK Studio Canal

Down by Law [Blu-ray] (Jim Jarmusch, 1986) Criterion

The Fairy [Blu-ray] (Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, 2011) Lorber

Here (Braden King, 2011) Strand Releasing

High Noon [Blu-ray] (60th Anniversary Edition) (Fred Zinnemann, 1952) Olive Films

Invasion of the Body Snatchers [Blu-ray] (Don Siegel, 1956) Olive Films

Just Cause [Blu-ray] (Arne Glimcher, 1995) Warner

Mean Streets [Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 1973) Warner

Murder In The First [Blu-ray] (Marc Rocco, 1995) Warner

A Perfect Murder [Blu-ray] (Andrew Davis, 1998) Warner

The Shakespeare Collection - Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Twelfth Night, King Lear - R2 UK Fremantle (BEAVER REVIEW)

Singin' in the Rain [Blu-ray] (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) - Warner
Singin' In The Rain: 60th Anniversary Collector's Edition [Blu-ray] - Warner

Singin' in the Rain [Blu-ray] (Stanley Donen, 1952) Region FREE UK Warner Home Video

Total Recall [Blu-ray] (Paul Verhoeven, 1990) (Triple Play Steelbook Edition) RB UK Studio Canal

The Turin Horse [Blu-ray] (Bela Tarr, 2011) Cinema Guild

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