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Hobo With a Shotgun
BD - A train pulls into the station
it's the end of the line. A Hobo jumps from a freight car,
hoping for a fresh start in a new city. Instead, he finds
himself trapped in an urban hell. This is a world where
criminals rule the streets and Drake, the city's crime boss,
reigns supreme alongside his sadistic murderous sons, Slick &
Ivan. Amidst the chaos, the Hobo comes across a pawn shop window
displaying a second hand lawn mower. He dreams of making the
city a beautiful place and starting a new life for himself. But
as the brutality continues to rage around him, he notices a
shotgun hanging above the lawn mower... Quickly, he realizes the
only way to make a difference in this town is with that gun in
his hand and two shells in its chamber.
Blu-ray Release date:
July 5th, 2011
Pitfall - By the time he helmed Pitfall in 1948;
Hungarian born émigré director André de Toth had a filmography
consisting of a handful of largely forgettable films, and was
perhaps better know as the one-eyed husband of the beautiful
Veronica Lake. Although he’d have limited success later in his
career, most notably with the 3-D horror film House of Wax, a
growing number of people, myself included, have come to believe
that in Pitfall he has created one of the finest, and most
unique, entries in the film noir canon. DVD Release Date: May
20th, 2011
Scanners
BD - The title of this David Cronenberg sci-fi
horror film refers to a group of people who have telekinetic
powers that allow... them to read minds and give them the
ability to make other people's heads explode. The children of a
group of women who took an experimental tranquilizer during
their pregnancies, the scanners are now adults and have become
outcasts from society. But Darryl (Michael Ironside) decides to
create an army of scanners to take over the world. The only
person who can stop him is his brother Cameron (Stephen Lack),
who wants to forget that he was ever a scanner. Winner of the
International Fantasy Film Award at the 1983 Fantasporto Film
Festival, Scanners was followed by a pair of sequels, neither of
which involved Cronenberg.
Blu-ray Release date: June 10th,
2011
Obsession
BD - Michael Courtland is a Southern gentleman
who seems to have everything - A successful business, a
beautiful wife and an adoring young daughter until a botched
kidnapping tears his world apart leaving him widowed, bereaved
and bereft. Years later on a trip to Italy, he meets a woman
with an uncanny resemblance to his late wife but all is not how
it appears as a twisted conspiracy threatens to unhinge his
mental shackles, sending him to the knife edge of MADNESS!
Blu-ray
Release date: July 11th, 2011
Il Generale Della Rovere - In a magnetic performance,
Vittorio De Sica is Emanuele Bardone, an opportunistic rascal in
wartime Genoa, conning his fellow Italians and exploiting their
tragedies by promising to help find their missing loved ones in
exchange for money. But when the Nazis force him to impersonate
a dead partisan general in prison to extract information from
fellow inmates, Bardone finds himself wrestling with his
conscience for the first time. Roberto Rossellini’s gripping
drama, a rare box-office breakthrough for the legendary
neorealist, is further evidence of the compassionate artistry of
one of cinema’s most important voices. DVD Release Date: July
4th, 2011
Pigs and Battleships
BD - With this, his fifth film, Shôhei Imamura finally answered his true calling as Japanese
cinema's most dedicated and brilliant chronicler of society's
underbelly with the astonishing Pigs and Battleships [Buta to
gunkan]. A riotous portrait of sub-Yakuza gangsters battling for
control of the local pork business in a U.S. Navy-occupied
coastal town (Yokosuka), Imamura conjures a chaotic world of
petty thugs, young love, tough-headed women, and underworld
hypochondria, with one of the most unforgettable climaxes ever
to grace the screen. Featuring dynamic black-and-white 'Scope
cinematography, the director's typically sly sense of social
commentary, and a host of outstanding performances (including
Jitsuko Yoshimura from
Onibaba), Pigs and Battleships immediately
became a cornerstone of the Japanese New Wave and remains
perhaps Imamura's most sheerly entertaining work. Pigs and
Battleships is a much-loved, major classic of Japanese cinema,
and part of the established canon along with
Seven Samurai,
Onibaba,
Kwaidan,
Ugetsu monogatari, and
Tokyo Story, etc.
Blu-ray Release date: June
27th, 2011
Coeur Fidele
BD - Jean Epstein's Coeur fidèle [True
Heart] established the great French filmmaker as one of the
most inventive directors of the (then still silent) art form. A
pared-down tale of a barmaid oppressed by an exploitative foster
family who attempt to push her into the arms of an unscrupulous
regular-about-town, Marie's heart (exuberantly vivified by Gina
Marès) belongs, as far as she's concerned, to the tenderly blank
Jean (Léon Mathot)... Coeur fidèle drives its simple
story (which, with its infamous and exhilarating 'carousel
sequence', helped pave the way for the narrative tradition of
such Murnau masterworks as
Sunrise and
City Girl) on into the realm of what might be
considered an early incarnation of French poetic realism all
while still anticipating Epstein's magical, post-surrealist,
later works.
Blu-ray Release date: June 27th, 2011
Crack in the World
BD - Crack in the World (1965) was
made by expatriate American producer Philip Yordan in follow-up
to
Day of the Triffids (1962). A corking piece of
speculative 60s science fiction, the project began with an
original script by British writer Jon Manchip White. Recalling
the apocalyptic excesses of the sci-fi classic When Worlds
Collide (1950), the property was rewritten by Julian Halvey when
Yordan secured the services of special effects pioneer (and
occasional film director) Eugène Lourié to act as production
designer and director of special effects. Briskly directed by
Andrew Marton and smartly scripted, Crack in the World
focuses on a Camelot-like love triangle that forms among a team
of international geophysicists who have burrowed deep into the
earth in search of a clean source of energy and “a life of
plenty for all mankind.” Blu-ray Release Date: July 5th, 2011
Exploitation Cinema: Where Time Began - Encounters -
Where Time Began: British vintage matinee idol Kenneth More
stars as Otto Lindenbrock, a professor who decides to go to the
center of the world to check out the sights. He encounters a big
funky turtle, a groovy mushroom, a funky monkey, and some
massive dinosaurs in this film made by horror mastermind Juan
Piquer Simon (Pieces, Pod People). This is the longer
euro-cut! Encounters with the Unknown? Rod Serling
narrates a shocking trilogy of UHF television level thrills! A
vengeful mother out to get payback for her son’s death; an
inbred son’s dog that goes to hell; a dead girl’s ghost that
hitches a ride…All 3 terror stories are told and then retold at
the end for those people that didn’t get the punch line the
first. DVD Release Date: March 8th, 2011
The Woman on the Beach - Recuperating coast guard
Lieutenant Scott Burnett (Robert Ryan) has his head turned from
wholesome fiancé Eve (Nan Leslie) for a non-consummated
affair-of-the-heart with comely Peggy Butler (Joan Bennett) wife
of a famous painter who is now blind (Charles Bickford). Peggy
is held psychological prisoner in the marriage over guilt that
she may have caused his blindness so the Lieutenant tries to
prove he is faking. The mood is quintessential noir and although
the plot is sparse the mysterious atmosphere, performances and
overly-powerful score carry the film. DVD Release Date: June
21st, 2011
Das Boot
BD - Wolfgang Petersen's harrowing and
claustrophobic U-boat thriller Das Boot was released as both a
theatrical film and a six-hour mini-series, and remains the most
expensive production ever made by a German studio. This epic
story became an instant classic on its first release, provoking
critical and audience acclaim worldwide for its sympathetic and
entirely truthful portrayal of a German U-boat crew. Faithfully
adapted from the bestselling novel by Lothar-Günther Buchheim,
Petersen and his committed cast (led by the amazing Jürgen
Prochnow) were concerned to ensure that every detail was
rendered with painstaking accuracy--both physical and
psychological--and the result is not only the best submarine
drama ever made but also arguably the finest cinematic portrait
of men at war and the terrible madness they must endure.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 5th, 2011
Detour - The kind of film (made in six days, almost entirely in
a Poverty Row studio, its extensive road scenes shot with back
projection) that would be impossible to make today, even as a TV
movie. Now it would require 100% locations (the 'art' of studio
shooting having been discredited and thus lost), and the minimal
narrative would never justify a go-ahead (pianist Neal is
bumming from New York to rejoin his girl in California until
tripped by hostile fate and the literally amazing femme fatale
Savage). Neither pure thriller nor pure melodrama (though it has
its true complement of doomed lovers, dead bodies, and a cruel
sexual undertow), on an emotional level it most resembles the
wonderful purple-pulp fiction of David Goodis. Passion joins
with folly to produce termite art par excellence. DVD Release
Date: December 6th, 2006
The Mechanic
BD - Based on the story by Lewis John Carlino,
Bronson plays Arthur Bishop, a hit-man in California who is the
best in his career. "The Killer of Killers"! Bishop, even
hitting old age, is still the best at what he does, but his work
as a cold-hearted assassin start to hit him and after a hit on a
good-friend Henry McKenna, he suffers a breakdown and realizes a
back-up wouldn't be so bad. He then discovers a protégé in Steve
McKenna (Henry's twenty-ish year old son) strangely interested
in Bishop's work. Bishop finds Steve as the perfect candidate
and he is taken under Bishop's wing learning everything he
knows. The hiring soon becomes a mistake when "The Organization"
realize Bishop has made the choice to hire McKenna on his own,
which is violating the code. What will happen next?
Blu-ray
Release date: April 14th, 2011
The Shadow
BD - Based on the radio and pulp-magazine series of
the 1930s, 'The Shadow' Universal movie never really had a
chance at the box-office competing with the likes of comic book
superstardom in 'Batman' or trampy Madonna in 'Dick Tracy'. Alec
Baldwin is his usual arrogant self in full bravado while playing
Lamont Crantson and his alter-ego 'The Shadow'. I truly enjoyed
this film with limited special effects, not attempting to
overshadow (pun) the narrative that harkens to that pulp era
many moons ago. I was truly captivated, but it is probably
showing my age so I won't recommend it to all, just those who
like an innocent, young boys adventure story with mystery and a
sci-fi element lurking behind every corner. Crackerjack...
Blu-ray
Release Date: May 6th, 2011
A High Wind in Jamaica - Richard Hughes' classic 1929 novel is
transformed into a magnificent film adaptation by revered
director Alexander Mackendrick (Sweet Smell of Success,
The Ladykillers,
Whisky Galore). Two British parents living in the
West Indies in the 1870s decide to send their children home to
be schooled in England. However, when their ship is attacked by
pirates and the children are accidentally transferred onto the
enemy vessel, their presence begins to stir up trouble amongst
the superstitious crew. Featuring wonderful turns from Anthony
Quinn (La strada,
Lawrence of Arabia,
Zorba the Greek), James
Coburn (The Magnificent Seven,
The Great Escape), and Deborah
Baxter (The Wind and the Lion) in a remarkable debut performance
as Emily, this is a thrilling adventure classic and a subtle,
captivating look at the boundaries of childhood perception.
Eureka is proud to present the first ever home viewing release
in the UK of the acclaimed pirate adventure classic for the
whole family A High Wind in Jamaica (Based on classic novel of
the same name by Richard Hughes, a staple of school reading
lists). DVD Release Date: July 25th, 2011
Evil Things - It's Miriam's (Elyssa Mersdorf) 21st birthday and
her four friends Tanya (Torrey Weiss), Cassy (Laurel Casillo),
Mark (Morgan Hooper), and aspiring filmmaker Leo (Ryan Maslyn)
are joining her for a week at her vacationing aunt's snowbound
country home. As if traveling for hours in a snowstorm were bad
enough, they are also stalked by a tinted van which nearly
drives them off the road and then follows them through town.
Frazzled, they arrive at the house only to find that the power
is not working, fortunately Miriam's Aunt Gail (Gail Cadden)
drops by to provide a false scare and turn on the juice. The
next day they go exploring and get lost in the woods, not making
it back to the house until well after nightfall. DVD Release
Date: August 9th, 2011
Rachel and the Stranger - The picture started uneventfully
enough. In 1947, Robert Mitchum, whose star was on the rise, and
William Holden, back from the war and looking for a career
re-charge, were cast opposite screen veteran Loretta Young in a
pleasant frontier story about a recently widowed man (Holden)
who buys a servant girl (Young) as his wife to help him care for
his home and raise his young son. With their grief still fresh,
the two won't accept the new woman in their lives as anything
more than a servant. They treat her coldly until a waggish
roaming scout (Mitchum) comes along and begins to court her; the
husband soon begins to see Rachel in a whole new light. DVD
Release Date: February 26th, 2010
Angel Face - This intense Freudian melodrama by Otto Preminger
(1953) is one of the forgotten masterworks of film noir. Jean
Simmons, beautifully blank, plays the ultimate femme fatale, a
rich girl who seduces her beefcake chauffeur (Robert Mitchum)
when daddy (Herbert Marshall) resists her advances. The film is
a disturbingly cool, rational investigation of the terrors of
sexuality, much as Preminger's later masterpiece
Bunny Lake Is
Missing is a detached appraisal of childhood horrors. The sets,
characters, and actions are extremely stylized, yet Preminger's
moving camera gives them a frightening unity and fluidity,
tracing a straight, clean line to a cliff top for one of the
most audacious endings in film history. DVD Release Date:
January 11th, 2005
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