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The Towering Inferno
BR
- Hot off the heels of the success of "The Poseidon Adventure,"
producer Irwin Allen chose to follow up that seaworthy disaster
epic with yet another excursion in peril: "The Towering
Inferno," which went on to become an even bigger box office
success than its predecessor, and remains to this day one of the
most suspenseful and potent thrillers ever to come from a
Hollywood studio. Much like the circumstances surrounding the
Titanic disaster, those which enshroud the sudden and deadly
fire that engulfs the newly-built Glass Tower in San Francisco
stem from one thing: human arrogance. The building's owner
(William Holden) is convinced that nothing can bring his
structure to its knees, despite the knowledge that his
son-in-law (Richard Chamberlain) was behind the decision to use
faulty electrical wiring. Even with the warnings of the tower's
chief architect (Paul Newman), who takes every opportunity to
advise against holding off the dedication ceremony until a later
date, the gala still goes on as planned, resulting in the
entrapment of hundreds of people 135 stories up, with the flames
chewing up their precious little time for a rescue effort.
Blu-ray
Release Date: July 14th, 2009
The Great Buck Howard
BR
- I love this town!" he shouts with outstretched arms in Akron,
and Akron still loves him. He is famous for his "signature
effect," in which his evening's fee is given to an audience
member, and he uses his psychic powers to find it. He has never
failed, and no one has ever discovered how he does it. Buck was
named "The Great" by Carson and still maintains a facade of
Greatness, even in front of Troy (Colin Hanks, Tom's son), his
newly hired road manager. Malkovich invests him with
self-importance and yet slyly suggests it's not all an act; you
believe at some level Buck really does love that town, and also
when he says, as he always does, "I love you people!".
Blu-ray
Release date: July 21st, 2009
A River Run Through It
BR
- Academy Award-winner Robert Redford (Best Director, Ordinary
People, 1980) captures the majesty of the Montana wilderness and
the strength of the American family in this acclaimed adaptation
of Norman Maclean's classic memoir. Craig Sheffer stars as the
young Norman, and Brad Pitt stars as his brother Paul, an
irresistible daredevil driven to challenge the world. Growing
up, both boys rebel against their stern minister father. While
Norman channels his rebellion into writing, Paul descends a
slippery path to self-destruction. Co-starring Tom Skerritt as
the Reverend Maclean and Emily Lloyd as wild-hearted Jessie
Burns.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 28th, 2009
Comrades
BR
- It's odd if rather touching to know that a man can secure a
place in artistic history with such a small body of work. While
others might have done much more, Douglas' awesome
autobiographical trilogy (My Childhood from 1972, My Ain Folk
from 1973 and My Way Home from 1978) combined with Comrades has
earned him a love and affection denied his more prolific
contemporaries. A Scot resident in Devon, Douglas' love of the
area and its history and his interest in the working men of
today and yesteryear made him the perfect man to make Comrades.
At first glance, the film with its running time and starry cast
might seem like any other epic, but this is a picture very much
in the Douglas mould. Where other directors might have used the
Tolpuddle story as the backdrop for a Thomas Hardy-esque tale of
thwarted passion, Douglas saw a less romantic but more
compelling story about hard graft and social injustice.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 27th, 2009
Coraline
BR
- Based on Neil Gaiman’s international best-selling book and
helmed by The Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick,
is the first high definition, stop-motion animated feature to be
shot in 3D. In the film, a young girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning)
walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an
alternate version of her life. On the surface, this parallel
reality is eerily similar to her real life--only much better.
But when this wondrously off-kilter, fantastical adventure turns
dangerous, and her counterfeit other mother (voiced by Teri
Hatcher) tries to keep her forever, Coraline must count on her
stubborn determination, bravery, the aid of her neighbours and a
talking black cat to save her real parents and some ghost
children and to get back home.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 21st, 2009
The Diary of Anne Frank
BR
- Stevens made a number of important decisions about his
production: to film it in black & white, to keep mostly to a
single set – more like the play and less like a typical movie –
and to use an unknown in the part of Anne. That turned out to be
teen model Millie Perkins (who, in the movie, at times bears a
fascinating resemblance to Giant and A Place in the Sun star,
Elizabeth Taylor). Millie went on to a career in TV, seen most
recently in 2006 in The Young and the Restless. Joseph Schildkraut as Otto provides the rudder for the film; Millie,
the heart and soul. Not a trained actress, she acquits herself
quite well. The film, though bordering on sentimentality, is
nonetheless a moving and sometimes suspenseful portrait of
affection, humanity, dreams and loss.
Blu-ray
Release date: June 16th, 2009
300 "Complete Experience"
BR
- 300 is nothing if not breathtakingly gorgeous to look at,
providing you don’t look too closely. It's a master class in the
melding of a certain school of graphic art and cinema, as much
indebted to Frank Frazetta as Frank Miller. The trailers that I
saw prior to the movie's release gave the impression that it was
pretty much all battles, with lots of Matrix-like slow- and
stop-motion. I thought two hours of that would be slightly less
painful than an IRS audit so, naturally, I submitted. I was
surprised to find that a considerable part of the movie was
involved with local politics. The dialogue that supported the
film was - except for the all the proclamations about Freedom,
which I personally found hard to swallow, given the manifest
lack of it – not at all embarrassing to listen to. In short, I
felt my money and time was not wasted. Re-watching the film on
this Blu-ray edition, I found myself liking the movie more, once
my original resistances had run their course.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 21st, 2009
The Inglorious Bastards
BR
- "Whatever THE DIRTY DOZEN did," screamed the ads, "they do it
dirtier!" INGLORIOUS BASTARDS is more than just the inspiration
for Quentin Tarantino's long-rumored next movie; this 1978
international smash remains perhaps the biggest and most badass
war movie in EuroCult history!
Blu-ray Release Date: July
28th, 2009
The Others
BR
- What you will get with The Others, however, are some of the
creepiest, most atmospheric chills to permeate a cinema screen
for years - for by choosing the unseen over the blatant,
swapping graphic violence and gruesome murder for self-closing
doors and self-playing pianos, and spilling not a single drop of
blood along the way, Amenabar has created a haunting,
imaginative shocker which is likely to rattle around in your
brain for days after.
Blu-ray
Release Date: July 7th, 2009
Atonement
BR
- The hat trick of Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel, Atonement, was
spinning a typical English country-estate melodrama while
simultaneously deconstructing trad Brit lit and equating the
writing process with divine providence. Successfully translating
these ideas to the screen, however, seemed as likely as
Heathcliff coming to a happy ending. Which makes Joe Wright’s
big-screen version all the more impressive: He’s produced a
gripping, romantic yarn without sacrificing the source’s
meta-examination of fiction’s power. Not even the director’s
swooning take on Pride & Prejudice (2005) could have prepared
folks for this.
Blu-ray
Release Date: August 5th, 2008
Midnight Express
BR
- Forever embroiled in controversy, Midnight Express divides
viewers into opposing camps: those who think it's one of the
most intense real-life dramas ever made, and those who abhor its
manipulative tactics and alteration of facts for the
exploitative purpose of achieving a desired effect. That effect
is powerfully achieved, regardless of how you may feel about
director Alan Parker and Oscar®-winning screenwriter Oliver
Stone's interpretation of the story of Billy Hayes.
Blu-ray
Release date: July 21st, 2009
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