Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF August 27th, 2012
  This Week's Highlights
Haileo - Criterion, Luis Buñuel, Vittorio De Sica, Paul Fejos, 70s disaster pics, Giant invisible rabbits... and more. on Blu-ray. New listings on the Upcoming Calendar with Blu-rays of films by Nicholas Ray, Jacques Tati, D. W. Griffith, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Eisenstein, John Cassavetes and more We continue with our CONTEST clips with another brand new Criterion Blu-ray prize!

FEATURE DVD and Blu-ray of the MONTH chosen for AUGUST! HERE

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August 27th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a brand new Criterion Blu-ray of La Promesse

 
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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:

We Can't Go Home Again [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Ray, 1976) Oscilloscope Laboratories

Abraham Lincoln [Blu-ray] (D. W. Griffith, 1930) Kino

Film Noir Collection: Vol. 1 [Blu-ray] (Rope of Sand, Appointment With Danger, Union Station, Dark City) - Olive Films

Fritz Lang: The Early Works - Harakiri (aka Madame Butterfly,1919) (The Wandering Shadow, 1920), (Four Around the Woman, 1921) - Kino

Grave of the Fireflies [Blu-ray] (Isao Takahata, 1988) Section 23

Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2 [Blu-ray] - Disney

Universal 100th Anniversary Collection [Blu-ray] (25 Films + Book) Universal

The Pete Walker Collection [Blu-ray] (House of Whipcord, Die Screaming Marianne, The Comeback, Schizo) - Redemption

Otto Preminger Collection [Blu-ray (Hurry Sundown, Skidoo, Such Good Friends) - Olive

Die Nibelungen [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1924) Kino

Zorro [Blu-ray] (Duccio Tessari, 1975) Somerville

The Selznick Collection [Blu-ray] (Nothing Sacred, A Farewell To Arms, A Star is Born, Bird of Paradise, Little Lord Fauntleroy) - Kino

Sergei Eisenstein: Double Feature [Blu-ray]  (Battleship Potemkin & Strike) - Kino

Brave [Blu-ray] (Three-Disc Collector's Edition: Blu-ray / DVD) (Brenda Chapman, 2012) - Buena Vista

Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) (Collector's Edition) (2012) - HBO

That's Entertainment Trilogy Giftset [Blu-ray] - Warner

The Rolling Stones Charlie is my Darling - Ireland 1965 [Blu-ray] (Super Deluxe Box Set) - ABKCO Films

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie [Blu-ray] (John Cassavetes, 1976) RB UK BFI

Glengarry Glen Ross [Blu-ray] Steelbook (James Foley, 1992) RB UK ITV Studios

Americano [Blu-ray] (Mathieu Demy, 2011) MPI

Jour de fête [Blu-ray] (Jacques Tati, 1949) RB UK BFI

Mon Oncle [Blu-ray] (Jacques Tati, 1958) RB UK BFI

Santa Sangre [Blu-ray] (Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1989) RB UK Mr. Bongo

Eclipse Series 37: When Horror Came to Shochiku (The X from Outer Space; Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell; The Living Skeleton; Genocide) - Criterion

Heaven's Gate [Blu-ray] (Michael Cimino, 1980) Criterion
Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980) Criterion

Trilogy of Life [Blu-ray] (The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights) Criterion
Trilogy of Life (The Decameron, The Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights) Criterion

Week End [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) Criterion
Week End (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967) Criterion

Rashômon [Blu-ray] (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) Criterion
Rashômon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950) Criterion

Sunset Blvd. [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1950) Paramount

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Criterion's Blu-ray rendering of De Sica's Umberto D. affected me the most in this past week's viewings. A devastating film experience significantly heightened by 1080P. Also from Criterion, Paul Fejos' Lonesome speaks universal volumes - an absolutely brilliant Blu-ray package. Philippe Falardeau's Monsieur Lazhar deserves prominent mention and is also strongly recommended! Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie gets a Blu-ray treatment and the film's intellectual value continues to grow. Harvey is a marvelous film and it's a pleasure to see it in the pristine quality of the high resolution. Airport has a charming cast and remains a fun, suspenseful experience - visually it is a massive improvement over previous SD releases. DVD offers Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer although those who appreciate it may be in the minority. Eric was working overtime and covered his usual niche with [REC] Genesis, the intriguingly titled A Night in the Woods, a keen comparison for Waves of Lust, the horror The Fields and the crime-thriller The Aggression Scale. Peace.

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Harvey BD - James Stewart gives one of his finest performances in this lighthearted film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Stewart stars as the good-natured Elwood P. Dowd, whose constant companion is Harvey, a six-foot tall rabbit that only he can see. To his sister, Veta Louise, Elwood’s obsession with Harvey has been a thorn in the side of her plans to marry off her daughter. But when Veta Louise decides to put Elwood in a mental hospital, a hilarious mix-up occurs and she finds herself committed instead. It’s up to Elwood to straighten out the mess with his kindly philosophy, and his “imaginary” friend, in this popular classic that features a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-wining performance by Josephine Hull. Blu-ray Release date: August 28th, 2012

[REC] Genesis - It's the day of Clara (Leticia Dolera, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BED) and Koldo's (Diego Martín, SOCCER DAYS) wedding, and Clara's trepidation when she discovers that she is pregnant will soon turn out to be the least of her worries when Koldo's veterinarian uncle Victor (Emilio Mencheta) turns up with a bite on his hand from a rabid dog and soon starts infecting the wedding party and hotel staff with a demonic contagion. Koldo and Clara are separated in the ensuing panic, but they are both willing to go to bloody extremes to reunite. Respectively brandishing sword and chainsaw, Koldo and Clara separately lead their bands of survivors through the expanding demonic zombie hordes. DVD Release Date: September 3rd, 2012

A Night in the Woods - When three friends go hiking in Dartmoor jealousies, sexual tensions and strained relationships come to a head turning what should have been a peaceful camping adventure into a terror trip. As collective paranoia reaches fever pitch it becomes clear that there is a much darker force at work in their ancient eerie surroundings. Who or what is after them? And can any one of them survive a night in the woods? DVD Release Date: September 10th, 2012

Umberto D. BD - This neorealist masterpiece by Vittorio De Sica follows an elderly pensioner as he strives to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic recovery. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto struggles to maintain his dignity in a city where human kindness seems to have been swallowed up by the forces of modernization. His simple quest to satisfy his basic needs—food, shelter, companionship—makes for one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed, and an essential classic of world cinema. Blu-ray Release Date: September 4th, 2012

Airport BD - In the grandfather of all 1970s-80s disaster pics, airport chief Mel Bakersfield (Burt Lancaster) has a handful of troubles. There's a blizzard, a plane is stuck in the snow blocking his best runway, his wife wants a divorce, his girlfriend (Jean Seberg), who is also his assistant) might move to San Francisco, protestors are blocking the sidewalk, a cute old lady (Helen Hayes, in her Oscar-winning role) is a repeat-offender stowaway, and his boss wants him to shut down the airport. He has it easy. Up in the air, pilot Vern Demerest (Dean Martin) has to deal with a pregnant girlfriend (stewardess Jacqueline Bisset) and a disturbed man (Van Heflin) with a bomb in his briefcase. Blu-ray Release date: August 28th, 2012

Monsieur Lazhar BD - ‘Monsieur Lazhar’ was nominated for Best Foreign Film at this year’s Oscars, and Philippe Falardeau, who adapted the story from a one-man play, does a wonderful job with his child actors. The classroom scenes transported me right back to primary school, capturing perfectly the texture of school life: the intimacy of kids who have known each other practically all their lives. You could almost describe ‘Monsieur Lazhar’ as a morality tale, but it’s more thought-provoking than debate-provoking. Its strength is the realness of the emotions and authenticity of the detail, although there is a gentle insistence here that integration is a two-way street. Blu-ray Release date: August 28th, 2012

Waves of Lust - A balmy, sun-kissed Italian version of Polanski's Knife in the Water, Waves of Lust concerns a free-wheeling young couple, Irem and Barbara, who spend a few days on a luxury yacht with another couple, Giorgio a wealthy industrialist and his wife Silvia, played by John Steiner and Elizabeth Turner. With Giorgio completely dominating his wife and guests and dishing out abuse, humiliation and degradation, it's only a matter of time before good manners and hospitality goes overboard... DVD Release Date: July 31st, 2012

The Fields - The tide has turned in horror films back to from fast-moving jumpscare-fests to seventies-styled moodpieces long on build-up and attempts at creating atmosphere before reaching a shocking final revelation; however, most of these "old school" films often fail, either because the revelation is a let down or the build-up feels unfocused and obligatory, taxing viewer patience rather than stimulating their imaginations. THE FIELDS seeming piling on of just about everything that might frighten a child simply by being outside of his scope of understanding is actually very deliberate. DVD Release Date: August 27th, 2012

The Aggression Scale - Charged with murder and likely going to jail, crime boss Reg Bellavance (Ray Wise) is out on bail and wants to skip town with his son. The only problem is that the money he had stashed away for just such an occasion has gone missing. Bellevance gives his right hand man Lloyd (Dana Ashbrook) a simple order: Find his money, kill everyone who had a hand in stealing it and make it messy. Lloyd and his crew tear out into the city and begin carrying out the order in brutal fashion... They have no idea just how dangerous their job is about to get. DVD Release Date: September 3rd, 2012

Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer - Norman Mailer is remembered for many things—his novels, his essays, his articles, his activism, his ego. One largely forgotten chapter of his life, however, is his late-sixties, headlong, kamikaze-style plunge into making experimental films. These rough-hewn, self-financed, largely improvised metafictions are works of madness and bravado, all starring Mailer himself and with technical assistance from cinema verité trailblazers D. A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock. The fullest realization of his directorial efforts is the blustering, brawling Maidstone, a shocking sign of the political times in which Mailer plays a filmmaker and presidential candidate who may be the target of an assassination attempt. Along with Mailer’s other films of the period—Wild 90 and Beyond the Law—it shows an uncompromising artist in thrall to both himself and a new medium. DVD Release Date: August 28th, 2012

Lonesome BD - A buried treasure from Hollywood’s golden age, Lonesome is the creation of a little-known but audacious and one-of-a-kind filmmaker, Paul Fejos (also an explorer, anthropologist, and doctor!). While under contract at Universal, Fejos pulled out all the stops for this lovely, largely silent New York City symphony set in antic Coney Island during the Fourth of July weekend, employing color tinting, superimposition effects, experimental editing, and a roving camera (plus three dialogue scenes, added to satisfy the new craze for talkies). For years, Lonesome has been a rare treat for festival and cinematheque audiences, but it’s only now coming to home video. Rarer still are the two other Fejos films from his Universal years included in this release: The Last Performance and a reconstruction of the previously incomplete sound version of Broadway, in its time the most expensive film ever produced by the studio. Blu-ray Release date: August 28th, 2012

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie BD - In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined. Fernando Rey, Stéphane Audran, Delphine Seyring, and Jean-Pierre Cassel head the extraordinary cast of this 1972 Oscar winner for Best Foreign Film. Blu-ray Release Date: July 16th, 2012

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

August 27th, 2012

 

Airport [Blu-ray] (George Seaton, 1970) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Avengers [Blu-ray] (Joss Whedon, 2012) RB FR Disney

Death Watch [Blu-ray] (Bertrand Tavernier, 1980) Shout! Factory (BEAVER REVIEW)

Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) Universal Studios (BEAVER REVIEW)

Eclipse Series 35: Maidstone and Other Films by Norman Mailer - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Harvey [Blu-ray] (Henry Koster, 1950) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Headhunters [Blu-ray] (Morten Tyldum, 2011) Magnolia (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Living Dead Girl [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1982) Redemption (BEAVER REVIEW)

Lonesome (Pál Fejös, 1928) Criterion

Lonesome [Blu-ray] (Pál Fejös, 1928) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Monsieur Lazhar [Blu-ray] (Philippe Falardeau, 2011) Music Box Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Quadrophenia (Franc Roddam, 1979) Criterion

Quadrophenia [Blu-ray] (Franc Roddam, 1979) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ro.Go.Pa.G. [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, Ugo Gregoretti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Roberto Rossellini - 1963) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Rumble Fish [Blu-ray] (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Rumble Fish [Blu-ray] Limited Edition Steelbook (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Two Orphan Vampires [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1997) Redemption

The Viral Factor [Blu-ray] (Dante Lam, 2012) Well Go USA

 

 

September 3rd, 2012

 

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein [Blu-ray] (Charles Barton, 1948) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Anna Karenina (Julien Duvivier, 1948) R2 UK Studio Canal

Arachnophobia [Blu-ray] (Frank Marshall, 1990) Walt Disney

Child's Play [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1972) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Dark Mirror [Blu-ray] (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Olive Films

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle [Blu-ray] (Curtis Hanson, 1992) Walt Disney

Harvey [Blu-ray] (Henry Koster, 1950) Region FREE UK Universal

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Jack Arnold, 1957) Universal

Jaws [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1975) Limited Edition Steelbook (Blu-ray + UV Digital Copy + Digital Copy) Region FREE UK Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Man on a Swing [Blu-ray] (Frank Perry, 1974) Olive Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

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

A New Leaf [Blu-ray] (Elaine May, 1971) Olive Films

That Obscure Object of Desire [Blu-ray] (Luis Buñuel, 1977) RB UK Studio Canal

One Hundred and One Dalmatians [Blu-ray] (Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, 1961) RB UK Walt Disney Studios

The Pinochet Case (Patricio Guzman, 2001) Icarus Films

Pursued [Blu-ray] (Raoul Walsh, 1947) Olive Films

Le quai des brumes [Blu-ray] (Marcel Carné, 1938) RB UK Optimum

Secret Beyond the Door... [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1947) Olive Films

Sleepwalkers [Blu-ray] (Mick Garris, 1992) Image Entertainment

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

The Trial [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1962) RB UK Studio Canal

The Turin Horse [Blu-ray] (Bela Tarr, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

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

 

 

September 10th, 2012

 

The Crossing Guard (Sean Penn, 1995) / The Human Stain (Robert Benton, 2003) [Blu-ray] - MiraMax

Don Quixote (Grigori Kozintsev, 1957) R2 UK Mr Bongo

Dovzhenko: War Trilogy (Zvenigora, Arsenal + Earth) R2 UK Mr Bongo

Dracula 2000 [Blu-ray] (Patrick Lussier, 2000) Miramax

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

The Firm [Blu-ray] (Sydney Pollack, 1993) Paramount

Goodbye First Love [Blu-ray] (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

Hitler's Children (Edward Dmytryk, 1943) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

The Keys of the Kingdom [Blu-ray] (John M Stahl, 1944) RB UK Odeon Entertainment

Kite [Blu-ray] (Yasuomi Umetsu, 1998) Media Blasters

Lawrence of Arabia [Blu-ray] (50th Anniversary Collector's Edition) (David Lean, 1962) Sony

Lawrence of Arabia [Blu-ray] (David Lean, 1962) Region FREE UK Sony

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

Lola Versus [Blu-ray] (Daryl Wein, 2012) 20th Century Fox

The Mummy's Shroud [Blu-ray] (John Gilling, 1967) RB UK Studio Canal

Psychotica [Blu-ray] (Michael Klawitter, 2010) Shriek Show

Rasputin: The Mad Monk [Blu-ray] (Don Sharp, 1966) RB UK Studio Canal

Titanic [Blu-ray] (James Cameron, 1997) RB UK 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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

Where Danger Lives (John Farrow, 1950) R2 UK Odeon Entertainment

 

September 17th, 2012

 

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

Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945) Criterion Collection

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

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

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

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

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon [Blu-ray] (Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, 2012) 20th Century Fox

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

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

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

Free Men [Blu-ray] (Ismaël Ferroukhi, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

Halloween II [Blu-ray] (Rick Rosenthal, 1981) Shout! Factory

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

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

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

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

Man-Trap [Blu-ray] (Edmond O'Brien, 1961) Olive Films

Patience (After Sebald) (Grant Gee, 2012) Cinema Guild

Puppetmaster [Blu-ray] (David Schmoeller, 1989) Wizard Full Moon

Shakespeare High (Alex Rotaru, 2011) Cinema Guild

Titanic [Blu-ray] (James Cameron, 1997) (Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / Digital Copy + UltraViolet Digital Copy)Paramount
 Titanic [Blu-ray] (James Cameron, 1997) (Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy + UltraViolet Digital Copy) Paramount

The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944) Special Edition [DVD] R2 UK Exposure Cinema

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

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

A Woman Under the Influence [Blu-ray] (John Cassavetes, 1974) RB UK BFI (BEAVER REVIEW)

 
     
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