Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF June 25th, 2018

K'uxi! A very strong week with Blu-ray reviews of packages by Criterion, Kino, Arrow, Masters of Cinema, Milestone, Eureka, BFI, Mondo Macabro, Scorpion Releasing, Snappy Video, Movinside, Kit Parker Films, of films directed by Luchino Visconti, Steven Soderbergh, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Stanley Kramer, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Stephen Frears, Richard Lester, Narciso Ibanez Serrador, Wes Craven, Alberto Negrin and others, and a new Listing Page; Blaxploitation. Our Calendar has updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including works by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Cimino, James Cameron, Massimo Dallamano, Dario Argento, Jules Dassin, Olivier Assayas, Gregory La Cava, Flavio Mogherini, Ted Post and we have our Feature Blu-ray is posted for JUNE (it really IS!) Enjoy!!

LISTING PAGES:

 BLAXPLOITATION, OZPloitation, 'WOMEN IN PRISON' CINEMA, CREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!), PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!), SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!), HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!) The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!), The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!), Giallo on Blu-ray!, ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!, Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France), Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our LATEST ARTICLES: Movies From... the End of the World,  The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

Feature Blu-ray chosen for the Month of JUNE!

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ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): There are so many great Blu-rays this week, but standing out is a 4K-restoration of Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers by Milestone Films to match the previous UK release. A masterpiece film looking and sounding as good as it ever has. I thoroughly enjoyed The Defiant Ones (nine Academy Award nominations) with escaping convicts played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier - wonderful. It's impossible not to highly rate Andrei Zvyagintsev's The Return and The Banishment on Region 'A' Blu-ray from Kino - two memorable, immensely impacting film experiences. Don't deny yourself. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's No Way Out is a premium Film Noir - one of the best of the early 50's - we are fortunate to have it on Masters of Cinema Blu-ray with extensive extras including, almost, 2 hour documentary and Muller commentary. Criterion have produced their Blu-ray of Steven Soderbergh's provocative feature debut sex, lies and videotape in a 4K-restoration stacked with supplements. A masterful examination of the complexities of human intimacy, obsession and desire. Stephen Frears' The Hit is a brilliant neo-noir subtly covering as a standard British gangster film. It's made it to Blu-ray from Movinside although it's the film we are recommending! On the horror front I was very keen on Narciso Ibanez Serrador's Who Can Kill a Child? a superbly-crafted creepy, and controversial genre effort with isolation and demonic possession themes. The Mondo Macabro is loaded with a delicious commentary, documentary and Kim Newman - don't miss this Region FREE Blu-ray. Richard Lester's The Knack.... and How To Get It remains a fun, swinging 60's laugh and the BFI Blu-ray seems to be the top package to own. Wes Craven's The Last House in the Left gets the Arrow-treatment Blu-ray transfer with a 3-disc package offering 3 cuts of the film and a CD of the soundtrack - Wow. Fans couldn't ask for more. I'm a huge sucker for late 50's sci-fi cheese like Missile to the Moon and it, surprisingly, reached Blu-ray status. Give me more! Alberto Negrin's late 70's Giallo Rings of Fear (Enigma Rosso) is a evocative mystery-horror that is worth a spin or three on Scorpion Releasing Blu-ray. The French Way has Josephine Baker's talents in a delightful French comedy - on Blu-ray from Kit Parker Films. Eric reviewed 5 DVD this past week - we'll look for Blu-ray releases of both the psychological thriller The Devil of Kreuzberg and the sexually explorative S & M: Les Sadiques. Souvenir is a musical romance with our favorite Isabelle Huppert, In Between is a drama about three Palestinian women living in an apartment in Tel Aviv try to find a balance between traditional and modern culture. Altered Perception is a modern fantasy, mystery, sci-fi Indie effort that has not been well-received. Later friends...

'Hollywood is like being nowhere and talking to nobody about nothing.?.' - Michelangelo Antonioni

Have a favor-granting week!

The Last House in the Left BD - On the eve of her 17th birthday, Mari and friend Phyllis set off from her family home to the big city to attend a concert by shock-rockers Bloodlust. Attempting to pick up some marijuana on the way, the pair run afoul of a group of vicious crooks, headed up by the sadistic and depraved Krug (David Hess). Gagged and bound, the young women are bundled into a car trunk and driven to the woods, where the gang subject them to a terrifying ordeal of sexual humiliation, torture and murder. Arrow Blu-ray Release date: July 3rd, 2018 in the US - June 18th in the UK

The Banishment BD - Sumptuously photographed, rural family drama from award-winning director Andrei Zvyagintsev. Set in an unnamed location and time, the story follows Alex (Konstantin Lavronenko), Vera (Maria Bonnevie), their young son and daughter, and Alex's brother Mark (Alexander Baluyev), as they relocate from the city to Alex and Mark's father's old house in the country. Once there, Vera tells Alex that she is pregnant by another man, causing Alex to face huge personal dilemmas, wondering whether to forgive her or exact revenge. Kino Blu-ray Release Date: June 26th, 2018

Who Can Kill a Child? BD - An English tourist couple rent a boat to visit the island of Almanzora, just off the southern Spanish coast. When they arrive, they find the island apparently empty of adults. There are only children, who don't speak but just stare at the strangers with eerie smiles on their faces. The English couple soon discovers that all the island s children have been possessed by a mysterious force, a kind of madness which they can pass from one to another, and which makes them attack and murder their elders, who can't defend themselves because, of course, nobody can kill a child… Blu-ray Release Date: July 10th, 2018

The French Way BD - Born into poverty, Josephine Baker rose from a childhood living in a St. Louis slum to the toast of France - captivating audiences through the stage, recordings and motion pictures, and you'll get to see why in The French Way. It's a farcical romantic-comedy set in contemporary WWII France, about young lovers forbidden to marry by their respective families. Blu-ray Release Date: July 10th, 2018

The Hit BD - Terence Stamp is Willie, a gangster’s henchman turned “supergrass” (informer) trying to live in peaceful hiding in a remote Spanish village. Sun-dappled bliss turns to nerve-racking suspense, however, when two hit men—played by a soulless John Hurt and a youthful, loose-cannon Tim Roth—come a-calling to bring Willie back for execution. This stylish early gem from Stephen Frears boasts terrific performances from a roster of England’s best hard-boiled actors, music by Eric Clapton and virtuoso flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, and ravishing photography of its desolate Spanish locations—a splendid backdrop for a rather sordid story. Blu-ray Release Date: June 27th, 2017

The Return BD - Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev makes his feature debut with this haunting, poignant family drama. Teenage brothers Andrei (Vladimir Garin) and Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov) have lived with their mother (Natalya Vdovina) and grandmother (Galina Petrova) for as long as they can remember when their long-lost father (Konstantin Lavronenko) suddenly turns up after a twelve-year absence. While Andrei seems happy to see him, the younger Ivan is reluctant and suspicious of his father's motives. The three take a boat to a deserted island in a remote lake in the north of Russia - a trip which turns into an endurance test as the boys struggle to come to terms with their father's presence and cruel, mysterious ways. Kino Blu-ray Release Date: June 26th, 2018

The Knack.... and How To Get It BD - Cool and sophisticated Tolen (Ray Brooks) has a monopoly on womanising - with a long line of conquests to prove it while the naïve and awkward Colin (Michael Crawford) desperately wants a piece of it. But when Colin falls for an innocent country girl (Rita Tushingham), it's not long before the self-assured Tolen moves in for the kill. Is all fair in love and war, or can Colin get the knack and beat Tolen at his own game? BFI Blu-ray Release date: June 18th, 2018

Missile to the Moon BD - Join Dirk Greene (Michael Whalen) and he takes June Saxton (Cathy Downs) and Steve Dayton (Richard Travis) on an unwitting adventure to the Moon, with the help of two convicts, Lon and Gary (Gary Clarke and Tommy Cook). Of course, everyone is in for more than they bargained for when they are gassed, encounter Rock Men, a giant Spider, and the all-female inhabitants of the moon. Blu-ray Release Date: July 6th, 2017

Rocco and His Brothers BD - Arriving at the end of the neorealism movement in Italian cinema, Rocco and His Brothers (1960) was Luchino Visconti's most ambitious production to date and a personal favorite among his many films. Recounting the tale of a widow, Rosaria Parondi (Katina Paxinou), and her five sons - Rocco (Alain Delon), Simone (Renato Salvatori), Ciro (Max Cartier), Luca (Rocco Vidolazzi) and Vincenzo (Spiros Focas), Visconti paints a sprawling canvas that tells several stories. At the center is the Parondi family, poor Italians from the south who have moved north to Milan in search of a better life. As they adapt to new jobs and relationships, these simple country people are inevitably corrupted by the city. Milestone Blu-ray Release Date: July 10th, 2018

Rings of Fear (Enigma Rosso) BD - When the brutally violated body of a young woman is found wrapped in plastic, Inspector Gianni Di Salvo (Fabio Testi) is drawn to dark deeds at an exclusive girls school where the beautiful members of a group called the Inseparables are being targeted with sinister letters and murder attempts. Following a clue in the dead girl's diary, he soon learns that anyone could be harboring deadly secrets as he untangles this web of sex and homicide. Blu-ray Release Date: April 10th, 2018

The Defiant Ones BD - John Joker Jackson (Tony Curtis) and Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) are two convicts on the run. Escaping from a Southern work gang, the two men are bound together by an unbreakable iron chain and separated by an unbridled hatred towards each other. Relentlessly pursued by a bloodthirsty posse, they must put aside their differences if they are going to survive. Blu-ray Release Date: June 11th, 2018

No Way Out BD - The Biddle brothers, shot while robbing a gas station, are taken to the prison ward of the County Hospital; Ray Biddle, a rabid racist, wants no treatment from black resident Dr. Luther Brooks. When brother John dies while Luther tries to save him, Ray is certain it's murder and becomes obsessed with vengeance. But there are black racists around too, and the situation slides rapidly toward violence. Blu-ray Release Date: June 11th, 2018

sex, lies and videotape BD - With smoldering sensuality and biting humor, the surprising relationship between the three title subjects is revealed in sex, lies, and videotape, the most-talked about erotic comedy of the decade. James Spader (Stargate) ran away with the Best Actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his brilliantly understated and seductive performance as Graham, a long-lost college friend who drifts back into town and into the lives of John, a self-involved philanderer, his angelic wife, Ann, and her saucy sister, Cynthia. Criterion Blu-ray Release date: July 17th (US), August 6th (UK)

Altered Perception - A drug that alters perceptions during trauma and stress, is being advertised as a cure for socio-political tensions. Several couples volunteer for human trials but end up with more than they bargained for. DVD Release Date: June 5th, 2018

The Devil of Kreuzberg - Morose novelist Jakob Radek (producer Ludwig Reuter billed as "Ross Indecency") is happy to share his solitude with his girlfriend Linda (Sandra Bourdonnec) until he starts having nightmares in which she seduces and murders him in the act. Coming to believe that Linda is the devil, he appeals to his childhood friend Kurt (Suleyman Yuceer), a hitman, to murder her. Jakob actually might not be overreacting since Linda is a Karnstein and has resisted the curse of her family's blood that tells her that she is destined to kill Jakob before returning to the mist.

In Between - Maysaloun Hamoud's remarkable debut feature In Between follows three strong and independent-minded Palestinian women who share an apartment in Tel Aviv. Away from the constraints of their families and tradition, they find themselves in between the free and unfettered lives they are aspiring to lead and the restrictions still imposed on them by society. Laila, a successful lawyer, craves the love of a good man and thinks she's found him in the apparently open-minded and handsome Ziad. Salma, while striving to fulfill her dream of becoming a DJ, falls for a beautiful doctor, but is forced to keep their love a secret from her family. Laila and Salma's hard partying lifestyle initially comes as a shock to the more traditional and reserved Nour. DVD Release Date: May 1st, 2018

Souvenir - Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) lives a modest and monotonous life. By day, she works in a pâté factory, and by night, she sits on the couch and watches TV. One day, a new worker named Jean (Kévin Azaïs) arrives. The two form a platonic relationship, but Jean grows increasingly convinced that he recognizes Liliane from a European singing contest he saw as a child. Eventually, Jean convinces Liliane to confront her past. Souvenir is a beautiful portrayal of a friendship between two people from different generations, who come together to make a life changing comeback. DVD Release Date: May 22nd, 2018

S & M: Les Sadiques - Marie (Nadine Pape) runs away from her home and alcoholic father (Sean Black) in Golm to Berlin. Turned away by her gay friend Ralph (Robin Jentys) who puts his relationship with a "sensitive artist" before his figurative "bro", Marie takes up bartender Tom (Nikolaus Sternfeld) on his offer of his couch for the night. When his intentions prove less than honorable, she escapes into the night and is discovered sleeping in a stairwell by photographer Sandra.

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