DVDBeaver Newsletter - July 25th, 2011

Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF July 25th, 2011

	This Week's Highlights
	Ongaipi! - Remaining in our Summer doldrums - we have a mid-eighties Monk mystery classic, a modern foreign war film, a Michael Curtiz historic epic with the likes of Jean Simmons and Gene Tierney in 1080P, Tinto Brass' soft salaciousness, an action-packed sci-fi rooted thriller, plus and also-ran on the colonization of Mars. DVD has two mid-70's Canuck flics. Our calendar updates include films-to-Blu-ray with exciting classic by Orson Welles, Shohei Imamura, Douglas Trumbull, Blake Edwards, Giuseppe Tornatore, Guillermo del Toro, the Coen bros., and more! Au Ag! Stay cool! 50% OFF CRITERION SALE at Barnes and Noble HERE FOLLOW US on TWITTER! (where we post important reviews, contests - prizes, calendar updates - plus much more...) Feature DVD and Blu-ray chosen for July 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!)
	July 25th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a *Blu-ray of The Terror*
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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

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

Touch of Evil [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1958) RB UK Masters of Cinema

A Man Vanishes (Shohei Imamura, 1967) R2 UK Masters of Cinema

Island of Lost Souls (Erle C. Kenton, 1932) R2 UK Masters of Cinema

Silent Running [Blu-ray] (Douglas Trumbull, 1971) RB UK Masters of Cinema

The Ballad of Narayama [Blu-ray] (Shohei Imamura, 1983) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Guilty of Romance [Blu-ray] (Shion Sono, 2011) RB UK Eureka

X-Men: First Class [Blu-ray] (Matthew Vaughn, 2011) 20th Century Fox

Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection (10-disc) - Vivendi Entertainment

Breakfast at Tiffany's [Blu-ray] (Blake Edwards, 1961) Paramount

Cinema Paradiso [Blu-ray] (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1989) Miramax

Mimic [Blu-ray] (Guillermo del Toro, 1997) Miramax Lionsgate

Thor [Blu-ray] (Kenneth Branagh, 2011) Paramount

Blood Simple [Blu-ray] (Coen bros., 1984) MGM

The Count of Monte Cristo [Blu-ray] (Kevin Reynolds, 2002) Touchstone / Disney

Helldriver [Blu-ray] (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2010) RB UK Bounty Films

Trust [Blu-ray] (David Schwimmer, 2010) Millennium Media

In a Better World [Blu-ray] (Susanne Bier, 2010) Sony

Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer: The Complete Series (1956–1959) A&E Home Video

Police Story First Season (Joseph Wambaugh 1973–1977) Shout! Factory

Barney Miller: The Complete Series - Shout! Factory

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Despite the sluggishness of summer releases - I had some impressive Blu-ray viewings. Source Code is quite a ride, I didn't like it as much as last week's Limitless but I can't deny the tension and strong transfer. The Name of the Rose has a wonderful aura and is a magnificently realized medieval mystery. Winter in Wartime is a great book, impressively brought to the screen - and well worth watching. The Egyptian retains the epic feel although can seem a bit hollow at times - it is nice to see older films reach the Blu-ray format. Red Planet has a schlocky edge but that can also be a positive if you are in the mood for its space-adventure charms. Monamour has that Brass brassiness that his fans have come to expect. Eric covers two mid 70's Canadian films on DVD - of which I may watch the more touted Dogpound Shuffle while the forgotten Alien Thunder with Donald Sutherland may get a irrevocable pass.


	THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
	The Name of the Rose BD - Based on Umberto Eco's best-selling novel, "The Name of the Rose" is a medieval whodunit set in a Benedictine Abbey, 1327. Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and a young novice (Christian Slater) arrive for a conference (council on the Franciscan's Order's belief that the Church should rid itself of wealth) to find that several monks have been brutally murdered, prompting his peers into believing the apocalypse is coming. In his attempt to solve the crimes, William must challenge the authority of the Catholic Church by eschewing religious fervor in favor of rational thought. Blu-ray Release Date: August 2nd, 2011 Winter in Wartime BD - January 1945. Nazi occupied Holland lies under a blanket of snow. A young man, Michiel, defiant in his hatred for the Nazis, inadvertently receives a map detailing the hiding place of a crashed RAF pilot and sets off to prove his worth. He finds the pilot, Jack, badly injured, but the situation becomes more desperate when a dead Nazi trooper is found and the hunt for the killer commences. Unaware of the terrible consequences that await his family, Michiel decides to help Jack escape, undertaking a perilous journey that could cost him everything he has ever known. From the Producer of the multi-award winning *Black Book, and co-starring Jamie Campbell Bower (Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows* & Twilight New Moon), Winter in Wartime is a breathtaking cinematic masterpiece that shows the true human cost of a terrible conflict. In the darkest days of the coldest winter, a hero will be made. Blu-ray Release Date: July 26th, 2011 The Egyptian BD - In eighteenth-dynasty Egypt, Sinuhe, a poor orphan, becomes a brilliant physician and with his friend Horemheb is appointed to the service of the new Pharoah. Sinuhe's personal triumphs and tragedies are played against the larger canvas of the turbulent events of the 18th dynasty. As Sinuhe is drawn into court intrigues, and bizarre secrets are revealed to him, he learns the answers to the questions he has sought since his birth. Short on historical accuracy but strong on plot and characterization. Blu-ray Release date: July 12th, 2011 Monamour BD - Tinto Brass' Monamour, is the love-story of a Venetian girl and a Frenchman in the beautiful city of Mantua. Dario, her husband is too busy to notice his wife's sexual drifting, when her adultery "born out of neglect and frustration" starts on the day she meets a tall dark stranger in a museum. An intoxicating mix of lies, betrayal and fantasy follows Marta into her personal diary where every emotion and passion is recorded. Blu-ray Release Date: July 26th, 2011 Source Code BD - When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission... to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. In an assignment unlike any he's ever known, he learns he's part of a government experiment called the "Source Code," a program that enables him to cross over into another man's identity in the last eight minutes of his life. With a second, much larger target threatening to kill millions in downtown Chicago, Colter re-lives the incident over and over again, gathering clues each time, until he can solve the mystery of who is behind the bombs and prevent the next attack. Blu-ray Release date: July 26th, 2011 Red Planet BD - In the mid-21st century, the nations of a dying Earth look starward for a solution and set out to colonize Mars. But something no one could have expected awaits. Houston, we have big trouble. Val Kilmer, Carrie-Anne Moss and Tom Sizemore star in this taut adventure about humankind’s first mission to the mysterious Red Planet. Also on the mission is the multifunctional robo-assistant AMEE. In one mode, she's a as loyal as a puppy. But a malfunction has locked her into a far different mode: a killing machine bent on destroying the crew. Yet that’s not the end of the expedition’s perils. Because Mars may be barren, but it’s not uninhabited. Blu-ray Release date: July 26th, 2011 Dogpound Shuffle - When his dog winds up in the Vancouver pound, dancer-turned-bum Steps (Ron Moody, OLIVER!) teams up with drifter Pritt (David Soul, SALEM'S LOT), a harmonica-playing ex-boxer, to earn enough money as entertainers to get his dog back. They go from performing in dive bars to a "specialty act" at a high society party. By the time Steps has made the thirty-dollars to pay the pound fees, he finds out that his dog has been adopted by a family. Not one to let some child stop him, Steps decides to get his dog back and Pritt's along for the ride. DVD Release Date: June 28th, 2011 Alien Thunder - Based on a true story, mountie Dan Candy (Donald Sutherland, DON'T LOOK NOW) swears to track down the Cree Indian Almighty Voice (Gordon Tootoosis, LEGENDS OF THE FALL) - arrested for slaughtering one of his own cows for food without the permission of the colonial government - who killed his friend Malcolm (Kevin McCarthy, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS). When his superior Inspector Brisebois (Jean Duceppe, *MON ONCLE ANTOINE) will not spare more men and resources, Dan takes off on his own, hunting Almighty Voice and his pregnant wife Small Face (Ernestine Gamble) across snowy landscapes from outpost to outpost, and repeatedly encountering Sounding Sky (Chief Dan George, LITTLE BIG MAN) who neither helps nor hinders his quest. DVD Release Date: June 28th, 2011*

Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

July 25th, 2011

5th Ave Girl (Gregory La Cava, 1939) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

American Grindhouse / Nightmares in Red, White & Blue: Double Feature - Lorber Films

National Lampoon's Animal House [Blu-ray] (John Landis, 1978) Region FREE Universal Pictures UK

The Blues Brothers [Blu-ray] (John Landis, 1980) Universal Studios

The Breaking Point (Michael Curtiz, 1950) Warner Archive

The Call of the Wild [Blu-ray] (Ken Annakin, 1972) Universum Film

Dante's Peak [Blu-ray] (Roger Donaldson, 1997) Universal Studios

High and Low [Blu-ray] (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

A High Wind in Jamaica (Alexander Mackendrick, 1965) R2 UK Eureka (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Kremlin Letter (John Huston, 1970) R2 UK Eureka Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008) R2 UK Second Sight Films

The Last Man on Earth [Blu-ray] (Ubaldo Ragona, 1964) RB DE Savoy Film

Léon Morin, Priest (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961) Criterion Collection
Léon Morin, Priest [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1961) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Life During Wartime (Todd Solondz, 2009) Criterion Collection
Life During Wartime [Blu-ray] (Todd Solondz, 2009) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Love Like Poison (Katell Quillévéré, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Mao's Last Dancer [Blu-ray] (Bruce Beresford, 2009) 20th Century Fox

Monamour [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 2006) Cult Epics (BEAVER REVIEW)

Red Planet [Blu-ray] (Antony Hoffman, 2000) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Source Code [Blu-ray] (Duncan Jones, 2011) Summit Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

Taking Off [Blu-ray](Milos Forman, 1971) Koch Media

Tortilla Flat (Warner Shop LINK) (Victor Fleming, 1942) Warner Archive

Trust [Blu-ray] (David Schwimmer, 2010) Millennium Media

Went the Day Well? [Blu-ray] (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942) RB UK Optimum

Winter in Wartime [Blu-ray] (Martin Koolhoven, 2010) Sony (BEAVER REVIEW)

August 1st, 2011

Better Off Dead... [Blu-ray] (Savage Steve Holland, 1985) Paramount

Copycat [Blu-ray] (Jon Amiel, 1995) Warner Home Video

Conan the Barbarian [Blu-ray] (John Milius, 1982) Universal Home Video

Conan the Destroyer [Blu-ray] (Richard Fleischer, 1984) Universal Home Video

The Lavender Hill Mob (60th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (Charles Crichton, 1951) RB UK Optimum

Limitless [Blu-ray] (Neil Burger, 2011) RB UK Momentum Pictures (BEAVER REVIEW)

Marvel Knights: Iron Man & Spider Woman [Blu-ray] - Shout! Factory

The Name of the Rose [Blu-ray] (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1986) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

Outside the Law [Blu-ray] (Rachid Bouchareb, 2010) Palisades Tartan

Sands of the Kalahari (Cy Endfield, 1965) Olive Films

Sands of the Kalahari [Blu-ray] (Cy Endfield, 1965) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Screaming Man (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2010) Film Movement

The Silent House [Blu-ray] (Gustavo Hernández, 2010) RB UK Optimum

Sleepers [Blu-ray] (Barry Levinson, 1996) Warner Home Video

Submarine [Blu-ray] (Richard Ayoade, 2010) RB UK Optimum

August 8th, 2011

Apa - The Father (István Szabó, 1966) R2 UK Second Run

The Battle of Algiers [Blu-ray] (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) - Criterion Collection

The Big Sky (Howard Hawks, 1952) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff [Blu-ray] (Craig McCall, 2010) Strand Releasing

Dazed and Confused [Blu-ray] (Richard Linklater, 1993) Universal Studios

Dead Man [Blu-ray] (Jim Jarmusch, 1995) Miramax Echo Bridge

Evil Things (Dominic Perez, 2009) Inception Media Group (BEAVER REVIEW)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High [Blu-ray] (Amy Heckerling, 1982) Universal Studios

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Vittorio De Sica, 1970) R2 UK Arrow

The Lookout [Blu-ray] (Scott Frank, 2007) Miramax

Mars Needs Moms [Blu-ray] (Simon Wells, 2011) Walt Disney Studios

Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979) R2 UK Artificial Eye

August 15th, 2011

Agent 8 3/4 [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1964) VCI Entertainment

The Bang Bang Club [Blu-ray] (Steven Silver, 2010) Ent. One Music

The Big Lebowski [Blu-ray] (Coen Bros.,1998) Universal

Breaking Glass [Blu-ray] (Brian Gibson, 1980) Olive Films

Campbell's Kingdom [Blu-ray] (Ralph Thomas, 1957) VCI Entertainment

The Colossus of New York (Eugene Lourie, 1958) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Conspirator [Blu-ray] (Robert Redford, 2011) Roadside Attractions

Cul-de-sac (Roman Polanski, 1966) - Criterion Collection
Cul-de-sac [Blu-ray] (Roman Polanski, 1966) - Criterion Collection

David Holzman's Diary: Special Edition [Blu-ray] (Jim McBride, 1967) - Lorber Films

Dexter: Season Five [Blu-ray] - HBO

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [Blu-ray] (Luc Besson, 2010) RB UK Optimum

The Firm [Blu-ray] (Sydney Pollack, 1993) RB UK Paramount Home Entertainment

The Killing (Stanley Kubrick, 1956) - Criterion Collection
The Killing [Blu-ray] (Stanley Kubrick, 1956) - Criterion Collection

Source Code [Blu-ray] (Duncan Jones, 2011) RB UK Optimum

To Be Twenty (Fernando Di Leo, 1978) - Raro Video USA

John Carpenter's the Ward [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 2001) Anderson Merchandise

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