Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF September 2nd, 2013
  This Week's Highlights
Sanoe! - In this newsletter - 3 Criterion, Bela Lugosi, Star Trek, Atom Egoyan and more on Blu-ray. In our new Calendar Listings we have F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawks, Richard Linklater, Aleksandr Sokurov, Paul Schrader, John Carpenter, Cinerama and more. We've posted a new CONTEST Enjoy!

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

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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:

Red River [Blu-ray] (Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson, 1948) - RB UK Masters of Cinema
Red River Ltd Edition SteelBook [Blu-ray] (Howard Hawks, Arthur Rosson, 1948) - RB UK Masters of Cinema

Nosferatu [Blu-ray] (F.W. Murnau, 1922) - RB UK Masters of Cinema
Nosferatu Ltd. Edition Steelbook [Blu-ray] (F.W. Murnau, 1922) - RB UK Masters of Cinema

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1922) - RB UK Masters of Cinema

Nosferatu [Blu-ray] (F.W. Murnau, 1922) Kino Lorber

Before Midnight [Blu-ray] (Richard Linklater, 2013) Sony

Russian Ark [Blu-ray] (Aleksandr Sokurov, 2002) Kino Lorber

Martin Scorsese Presents: World Cinema Foundation: Volume One [Blu-ray] (6 discs) - RB UK Masters of Cinema

The Canyons [Blu-ray] (Paul Schrader, 2013) IFC

Museum Hours [Blu-ray] (Jem Cohen, 2012) Cinema Guild

Epic of Everest [Blu-ray] (J.B.L. Noel, 1924) RB UK BFI

Cinerama: South Seas Adventure [Blu-ray] (Carl Dudley, 1958) Emphasis Entertainment Group

Cinerama Holiday [Blu-ray] (John Marsh, 1955) Emphasis Entertainment Group

Leviathan [Blu-ray] (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel, 2012) RB UK Dogwoof

Darkman [Blu-ray] (Sam Raimi, 1990) Shout! Factory

Night Train To Terror [Blu-ray] (Jay Schlossberg-Cohen, 1985) Vinegar Syndrome

Halloween Steelbook Edition: 35th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1978) RB UK Anchor Bay Entertainment

Shoot the Sun Down [Blu-ray] (David Leeds, 1978) Kino Lorber

The Beast Within [Blu-ray] (Philippe Mora, 1982) Shout! Factory

Crawlspace [Blu-ray] (David Schmoeller, 1986) Shout! Factory

City Lights [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1931) Criterion Collection

Tokyo Story [Blu-ray] (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) Criterion Collection

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman [Blu-ray] (Entire Collection - 27 discs) Criterion Collection

Frances Ha [Blu-ray] (Noah Baumbach, 2013) Criterion Collection

Young at Heart [Blu-ray] (Gordon Douglas, 1954) Olive Films

Assault On Precinct 13 (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 2005) Shout! Factory

Sophie's Choice [Blu-ray] (Alan J. Pakula, 1982) Shout! Factory

Tank Girl (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (Rachel Talalay, 1995) Shout! Factory

An American Hippie In Israel [Blu-ray] (Amos Sefer, 1972) Grindhouse Releasing

Bang Bang You're Dead [Blu-ray] (Don Sharp, 1966) Olive Films

The Horror Show [Blu-ray] (James Isaac, 1989) Shout! Factory

The Bamboo Saucer [Blu-ray] (Frank Telford, 1968) Olive Films

Cry Danger [Blu-ray] (Robert Parrish, 1951) Olive Films

Mary Poppins: 50th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] (Robert Stevenson, 1964) Disney

Witchboard 2: The Devil's Doorway [Blu-ray] (Kevin Tenney, 1993) Olive Films

Gun Crazy [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) RB Warner France

Curse of the Demon [Blu-ray] (Jacques Tourneur, 1957) RB FR Wild Side Video

Star Trek Into Darkness [Blu-ray] (J.J. Abrams, 2013) Paramount

Serpico [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1973) Paramount

World War Z [Blu-ray] (Marc Forster, 2013) Paramount

Beauty of the Devil [Blu-ray] (René Clair, 1950) Cohen Group

The White Dove (Holubice) / Josef Kilián (Postava k podpírání) - Two-film Special Edition - R2 UK Second Run

The Iceman [Blu-ray] (Ariel Vromen, 2012) Millennium

Body Bags [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, 1993) Shout! Factory

Night of the Comet [Blu-ray] (Thom E. Eberhardt, 1984) Shout! Factory

Porco Rosso [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992) RB UK Studiocanal

Carry on Screaming! [Blu-ray] (Gerald Thomas, 1966) RB UK Studiocanal
 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): With 3 Criterion Blu-rays reviewed this week - it might be a surprise that my top selection is not one of them. As my life progresses I continue to embrace to vision of the future from Gene Roddenberry and thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness - non-stop action/sci-fi and.... homage. I did get much more out of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold in 1080P than on the previous SD - the Blu-ray visuals definitely heightened the atmosphere. I'm a sucker for vintage horror and The Devil Bat with Bela Lugosi is bad with a capital 'B' but that only endears me to its campy charms. Criterion's Blu-ray of La Cage aux Folles is a superb package - recommended to all. Artificial Eye's Blu-ray of Egoyan's masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter scrimps on extras but we will soon compare to the Alliance region 'A' version. Slacker is probably the key American independent film of the 90s - Criterion stack with the previous supplements and it's an infinitely re-watchable film experience. Eric reviewed three DVDs this week - Three Worlds sounds intriguing, Drinking Games is a new thrilled and From the Head sounds like a fascinating character study. Best to all who head back to school this week - I envy you!

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

La Cage aux Folles BD - Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) and Albin (Michel Serrault)—a middle-aged gay couple who are the manager and star performer at a glitzy drag club in Saint-Tropez—agree to hide their sexual identities, along with their flamboyant personalities and home decor, when the ultraconservative parents of Renato’s son’s fiancée come for a visit. This elegant comic scenario kicks off a wild and warmhearted French farce about the importance of nonconformity and being true to oneself. A breakout art-house smash in America, Edouard Molinaro’s La Cage aux Folles inspired a major Broadway musical and the blockbuster remake The Birdcage. But with its hilarious performances and ahead-of-its-time social message, there’s nothing like the audacious, dazzling original movie. Blu-ray Release date: September 10th, 2012

The Devil Bat BD - This campy, entertaining cheapie from PRC Pictures features Bela Lugosi as a chemist who plots an elaborate revenge scheme on his business partners, whom he feels have cheated him out of his share. To this end he develops a mutant breed of vicious, oversized bats and trains several of this breed to home in on a special chemical which he then blends with shaving lotion. Presenting gifts of the lotion to his partners as a peace offering (and browbeating them into splashing it on themselves while in his presence), he subsequently unleashes his monstrous pets to tear them to pieces. Believe it or not, this was one of PRC's more successful horror programmers, spawning a the sequel Devil Bat's Daughter. Blu-ray Release date: September 17th, 2012

Star Trek Into Darkness BD - When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Blu-ray Release date: September 10th, 2012

The Sweet Hereafter BD - Atom Egoyan's haunting adaptation of the Russell Banks novel The Sweet Hereafter was the Canadian filmmaker's most successful film to date, taking home a Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and scoring a pair of Academy Award nominations, including Best Director. Restructured to fit Egoyan's signature mosaic narrative style, the story concerns the cultural aftershocks which tear apart a small British Columbia town in the wake of a school-bus accident which leaves a number of local children dead. Ian Holm stars as Mitchell Stephens, a big-city lawyer who arrives in the interest of uniting the survivors to initiate a lawsuit; his maneuvering only drives the community further apart, reopening old wounds and jeopardizing any hopes of emotional recovery. Like so many of Egoyan's features, The Sweet Hereafter is a serious and painfully honest exploration of family grief; no character is immune from the sense of utter devastation which grips the film, not even the attorney, whose interests are in part motivated by his own remorse over the fate of his daughter, an HIV-positive drug addict. Blu-ray Release Date: September 9th 2013

Slacker BD - Richard Linklater's Slacker presents a day in the life of a loose-knit subculture of marginal, eccentric, and overeducated citizens in Austin, Texas. Shooting the film on 16mm for a mere twenty-three thousand dollars, writer/producer/director Linklater and his close-knit crew of friends eschewed a traditional plot, choosing instead to employ long takes and fluid transitions to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as unique as the last, culminating in an episodic portrait of a distinct vernacular culture and a tribute to bohemian cerebration. Slacker is a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s. Blu-ray Release Date: September 17th, 2013

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold BD - John Le Carré’s acclaimed bestselling novel about a Cold War spy on one final, dangerous mission is every bit as precise and ruthless on-screen in this adaptation directed by Martin Ritt. Richard Burton delivers one of his career-defining performances as Alec Leamas, whose hesitant but deeply felt relationship with a beautiful librarian (Claire Bloom) puts what he hopes will be his last assignment, in East Germany, in jeopardy. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a hard-edged and finally tragic thriller, suffused with the political and social consciousness that defined Ritt's career. Blu-ray Release Date: September 10th, 2013

Drinking Games - It's the last night of fall semester, and all over campus parties are raging, while Richard and Shawn argue over what to do with Noopie, the mysterious upperclassman passed out on their floor. When a blizzard seals them in the dorm with a handful of hapless friends, Noopie awakes and uses a mix of drugs, booze and sex to manipulate the group to their physical and emotional breaking points over the longest, most dangerous night of their young lives. Will it be their last? Drinking. DVD Release Date: August 5th, 2013

From the Head - New York City. Fall, 1995. Below the sidewalks of Times Square is a strip club where beautiful women work the pole for money at night. But beyond the Main Stage, and behind the Men s Room door you ll find Shoes, a bathroom attendant who offers a different kind of performance. After three years on the job, Shoes has mastered the art of giving advice, compliments or a sympathetic ear to his many visitors all for the sake of getting as much cash as possible into his tip bowl. But on the night of his three-year anniversary at the club, Shoes customers and coworkers start to make him take a look at his own life. Will Shoes learn to take some of his own advice? Based on the real life story of writer-director-star George Griffith, From The Head is a truly original film that shows it s never too late to stop your life from going down the toilet. DVD Release Date: July 16th, 2013

Three Worlds - Al, a young man from a modest background, is ten days away from marrying the daughter of his boss, along with succeeding him as the head of the car dealership where Al has been working for most of his life. One night, while coming back drunk from his bachelor party, Al commits a hit-and-run when he hits a man by accident and is urged to leave the scene of the crime by his two childhood friends who are with him in the car. The next day, gnawed by guilt, he decides to go to the hospital to inquire anonymously about his victim. What he does not know is that the entire accident was witnessed from a balcony by a young woman, Juliette, who is going through her own emotional upheavals. Juliette not only called 911, but also helped to contact the victim's wife, V‚ra, a Moldavian illegal immigrant whom she decides to help and keep company at the hospital. But when Juliette recognizes Al as the reckless driver in the hospital corridor, for some reason she is unable to denounce him. Gradually they get to know each other better through more frequent meetings and phone calls, and Juliette becomes a mediator between Al and the unsuspecting V‚ra. However, things get complicated when romantic feelings between Juliette and Al start to arise, and V‚ra finally finds out about their secret relationship. DVD Release Date: September 10th, 2013
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

September 2nd, 2013

 

5 Dolls for an August Moon [Blu-ray] (Mario Bava, 1970) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Audrey Hepburn Collection [Blu-ray] R0 UK Paramount

Cult Horror Classics Double Feature [Blu-ray] (Re-Animator / The Hills Have Eyes) Image Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)  (BEAVER REVIEW)

The English Teacher [Blu-ray] (Craig Zisk, 2013) Cinedigm

From Up on Poppy Hill [Blu-ray] (Goro Miyazaki, 2011) Cinedigm

The Iceman [Blu-ray] (Ariel Vromen, 2012) Millennium (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Little Mermaid [Blu-ray] (Ron Clements, John Musker, 1989) RB UK Walt Disney Studios

Marnie [Blu-ray] (Alfred Hitchcock, 1964) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

 

September 9th, 2013

 

An American Hippie In Israel [Blu-ray] (Amos Sefer, 1972) Grindhouse Releasing

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage [Blu-ray] (Dario Argento, 1970) VCI

La Cage aux Folles [Blu-ray] (Edouard Molinaro, 1978) - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

La Cage aux Folles (Edouard Molinaro, 1978) - Criterion Collection

The Conspiracy [Blu-ray] (Christopher MacBride, 2012) Anderson Merchandise

Exotica [Blu-ray] (Atom Egoyan, 1994) RB UK Artificial Eye

Eyes of the Spider / Serpent's Path (Kiyoshi Kurosawa) - R2 UK Third Window Films

The Fly [Blu-ray] (Kurt Neumann, 1958) 20th Century Fox

The House of Seven Corpses [Blu-ray] (Paul Harrison, 1974) Severin Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

House On Straw Hill [Blu-ray] (James Kenelm Clarke. 1976) Severin Films

Jennifer Eight [Blu-ray] (Bruce Robinson, 1992) Paramount

Mahapurush: The Holy Man [Blu-ray] (Satyajit Ray, 1965) RB UK Artificial Eye

Marathon Man [Blu-ray] (John Schlesinger, 1976) Paramount

Nayak: The Hero [Blu-ray] (Satyajit Ray, 1966) RB UK Artificial Eye

Parade's End [Blu-ray] (Benedict Cumberbatch, Rebecca Hall, Roger Allam, 2012) HBO

Scum (Alan Clarke, 1979) [Blu-ray] RB UK Odeon Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

Snake Eyes [Blu-ray] (Brian De Palma, 1998) Paramount

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold [Blu-ray] (Martin Ritt, 1965) - Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Star Trek Into Darkness [Blu-ray] (J.J. Abrams, 2013) Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Sweet Hereafter [Blu-ray] (Atom Egoyan, 1997) RB UK Artificial Eye (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Talented Mr. Ripley [Blu-ray] (Anthony Minghella, 1999) Paramount

White Zombie: Cary Roan Special Signature Edition [Blu-ray] (Victor Halperin, 1932) VCI

 

September 16th, 2013

 

The Atomic City [Blu-ray] (Jerry Hopper, 1952) Olive Films

Autumn Sonata [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1978) - Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman, 1978) - Criterion Collection

Behind the Candelabra [Blu-ray] (Steven Soderbergh, 2013) HBO

Bruce Lee Legacy Collection (4 Blu-ray/ 7 DVD) Shout! Factory

Day of the Living Dead [Blu-ray] (George A. Romero, 1985) Shout! Factory

The Devil Bat [Blu-ray] (Jean Yarborough, 1940) Kino (BEAVER REVIEW)

Dracula [Blu-ray] (Tod Browning, 1931) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

Dracula: Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] (Terence Fisher, 1966) First Look Pictures

Escape From Zahrain [Blu-ray] (Ronald Neame, 1962) Olive Films

The Fly [Blu-ray] (Kurt Neumann, 1958) RB UK 20th Century Fox

Frankenstein [Blu-ray] (James Whale, 1931) Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Letter to Three Wives - 65th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1949) 20th Century Fox

La notte [Blu-ray] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Playing for Time [Blu-ray] (Daniel Mann, 1980) Olive Films

Riot [Blu-ray] (Buzz Kulik, 1969) Olive Films

Slacker [Blu-ray] (Richard Linklater, 1991) - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Squirm [Blu-ray] (Jeff Lieberman, 1976) RB UK Arrow

Twelve O'Clock High [Blu-ray] (Henry King, 1949) RB UK 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

World War Z [Blu-ray] (Marc Forster, 2013) Paramount

 

September 23rd, 2013

 

Ambush at Cimarron Pass [Blu-ray] (Jodie Copelan, 1958) Olive Films

Americano [Blu-ray] (William Castle, 1955) Olive Films

Betty Boop: The Essential Collection, Vol. 2 [Blu-ray] Olive Films

Il Bidone [Blu-ray] (Federico Fellini, 1955) RB UK Masters of Cinema

The Big Combo [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1955) Olive Films

Blockade, Landscape, Revue: 3 films by Sergei Loznitsa - R2 UK New Wave Films

Classic Ghost Stories (The Mezzotint, A School Story and The Diary of Mr Poynter, 1980) R2 UK BFI

Cowboy Bebop Collectors Edition Part 2 [Blu-ray] RB UK Anime Ltd.

The Fighting Kentuckian [Blu-ray] (George Waggner, 1949) Olive Films

From Up on Poppy Hill [Blu-ray] (Goro Miyazaki, 2011) RB UK Studio Canal

Guest Wife [Blu-ray] (Sam Wood, 1945) Olive Films

Halloween  - 35th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1978) Fox/Anchor Bay

Hannibal [Blu-ray] (Bryan Fuller, 2013) Lions Gate

In the House [Blu-ray] (François Ozon, 2012) Cohen Media

Ikarie XB-1 aka Voyage to the End of the Universe (Jindrich Polák, 1963) R2 UK Second Run

Iron Man 3 [Blu-ray] (Shane Black, 2013) Walt Disney

Leviathan [Blu-ray] (Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel, 2012) The Cinema Guild

Lost and Found: American Treasures from the New Zealand Film Archive - Image Entertainment

Plunder Road [Blu-ray] (Hubert Cornfield, 1957) Olive Films

Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1987) Shout! Factory

Querelle [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982) RB UK Artificial Eye

Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen, 1979) R2 UK BFI

Shack Out on 101 [Blu-ray] (Edward Dein, 1955) Olive Films

Shout at the Devil [Blu-ray] (Peter R. Hunt, 1976) Shout! Factory

Sleepwalker [Blu-ray] (Saxon Logan, 1985) RB UK BFI

3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman (Stromboli, Europe ’51, Journey to Italy) [Blu-ray] - Criterion Collection

3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman (Stromboli, Europe ’51, Journey to Italy) - Criterion Collection

Stories We Tell [Blu-ray] (Sarah Polley, 2012) RB UK Curzon Film World

Tam Lin [Blu-ray] (Roddy McDowall, 1970) Olive Films

A Time To Love And A Time To Die [Blu-ray] (Douglas Sirk, 1958) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Van Gogh [Blu-ray] (Maurice Pialat, 1991) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Voyage of the Damned [Blu-ray] (Stuart Rosenberg, 1976) Shout! Factory
   
     
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