Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF September 12th, 2011

Maana  - A power-packed week with Criterion Blu-rays, Welles, Ozu, Blake Edwards, Chabrol, Lasse Hallström, Alejandro Amenábar, Michelangelo Frammartino, Peter Jackson, Danny Boyle, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Wes Craven - and that is just on Blu-ray! DVD has Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude Lelouch, Arthur Penn, John Schlesinger, Mai Zetterling (albeit all on one disc) and more! Plus calendar updates including Blu-rays of films by Edward Dmytryk, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Marlon Brando, Arthur Hiller, Harryhausen (not really) and a Clips contest with a Blu-ray prize. Gold can be your freedom!

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Feature DVD and Blu-ray chosen for September 2011 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!)

September 12th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a New Wave Blu-ray of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

If there are DVD titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend!

Gary at 2ze dot com

The Others BD - 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: September 20th, 2011

Dumbo BD - Dumbo is Disney's fourth movie in the Pentatuch that includes Snow White (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940) and Bambi (1942). Dumbo is credited for having saved the studio, for despite the popularity and critical acclaim heaped upon Snow White and Fantasia, these films were not moneymakers and Disney needed to reconsider his product. Would it be possible to make a less expensive movie that honored the direction he wanted to go in the medium? Just ask any of the dozen or so contributors to the extra features on this set. US Blu-ray Release Date: September 20th, 2011

Le Quattro Volte BD - In only his second feature, Frammartino has found a fresh and ravishingly poetic and beautiful way to explore the relationship between the spirit, man and nature. In the chaos and instability of today's world, the timelessness of the Caulonian way of life and its closeness to nature is deeply comforting and reassuring — until one learns that in the 20th century Calabria has been the main source of Italian emigration, with an estimated 2.3 million people leaving the region. US Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

The Last House on the Left BD - Future Nightmare creator and Scream weaver Wes Craven's film debut is a primitive little production that rises above its cut-rate production values and hazy, grainy patina via its grimly affecting portrait of human evil infiltrating a middle-class household. The story is adapted from Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, but the film has more in common with Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs as it charts the descent of a harmless married couple into methodical killers. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Breakfast at Tiffany's BD - Audrey Hepburn created one of her signature roles in Holly Golightly, the hard-living escort girl who wants nothing more than to find love. That comes in the shape of her new neighbor, would-be writer Paul Varjak (Peppard, a long way from 'The A-Team'). Romance, however, is a complicated endeavor, given that Varjak is himself being kept by his wealthy patroness (Patricia Neal). Blu-ray Release Date: September 20th, 2011

Insidious - Strange things start happening to the Lambert family when they move into a new house. Objects are never where they were before, the burglar alarm keeps going off in the middle of the night and the front door is open, malevolent voices are heard on the baby monitor, and songwriter mother Renai (Rose Byrne, WICKER PARK) starts seeing apparitions. DVD Release Date: September 12th, 2011

The Frighteners BD - With material for a half-dozen different movies here, Mr. Jackson has no trouble keeping "The Frighteners" spinning. Phantoms skitter across the screen in record numbers, and Mr. Fox presides over the story with dependable skill. Ms. Alvarado, looking attractively like Andie MacDowell, is also a welcome presence, but the actors can't keep the film's mood from verging on hysteria as the story roams all over the map. "The Frighteners" has flitted everywhere, even to heaven and hell, before it's over. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Visions of Eight - Eight noted directors document the Olympic games that took place at Munich in 1972. Included are segments by: Arthur Penn, who recorded the pole vaulting competition; Kon Ichikawa, who filmed the 100-meter dash featuring portions in extreme slow motion; Claude Lelouch, who documented a segment dealing with the losers of various competitions; Mai Zetterling, who directed the portion on the weightlifting competition; Michael Pfleghar who covered gymnastics and women participating in the Olympics; and John Schlesinger, who chronicled the twenty-six-mile marathon race from the point of view of one of the British competitors. DVD Release Date: September 20th, 2011

Lawless Land Double Feature - Cut-Throats Nine - A wagon load of convicts on their way to prison is being escorted through the mountains by a cavalry troop. They are attacked by a bandit gang, and only a sergeant, his beautiful young daughter and an assortment of seven sadistic, murderous prisoners survive, and they are left without horses or a wagon. Joshua - A black soldier returns from fighting for the Union in the Civil War only to find out that his mother has been murdered by a gang of white thugs. He becomes a bounty hunter, determined to track down and kill the men who killed his mother. DVD Release Date: August 15th, 2011

Where the Boys Are - Remake of the 1960 movie of the same name has four college coeds; virginal Jennie, outgoing Carole, wealthy and spoiled Southern belle Sandra, and horny Laurie traveling to Fort Lauderdale for their Easter week of Spring Break and the series of adventures and mis-adventures they encounter, which include the naive Jennie persued by musician drifter Scott and Sandra's snobish musician cousin Camden. DVD Release Date: August 23rd, 2011

An Autumn Afternoon BD - Yasujiro Ozu s captivating final film, An Autumn Afternoon, displays the master director s skills at their consummate best. Ozu regular Chishu Ryu (Tokyo Story) plays Shuhei Hirayama, a concerned father eager to find a husband for his faithful daughter Michiko (Shima Iwashita) before she sees out her days caring for him. A cast of colourful characters weave seamlessly in and out of the story, highlighting themes of loneliness and fear for the future with deep poignancy and ironic humour. Replacement Blu-ray disc added September 2011

Citizen Kane BD - Orson Welles’ timeless masterwork is more than a groundbreaking film. Presented here in a magnificent 70th anniversary digital transfer with revitalized digital audio from the highest quality surviving elements, it is also grand entertainment, sharply acted and superbly directed with inspired visual flair. Depicting the controversial life of an influential publishing tycoon, this Best Original Screenplay Academy Award Winner (1941) is rooted in themes of power, corruption, vanity—the American Dream lost in the mystery of a dying man’s last word: “Rosebud.” Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives BD - Winner of the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is a unique tale of a man embracing life's greatest mystery. Choosing to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside, Boonmee is visited by his dead wife (a ghost) and his lost son (an strange hairy beast with red glowing eyes) who come to guide him to his final resting place, a cave where his first soul began. With a wry sense of humor and a humanist spirit, Uncle Boonmee, one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, is a magical tale of reincarnation, karma and nature. UK Blu-ray Release Date March 28th, 2011

Trainspotting BD - Former alcoholics and drug abusers often report that they don't miss the substances nearly as much as the conditions under which they were used--the camaraderie of the true drinkers' bar, for example, where the standing joke is that the straight world just doesn't get it, doesn't understand that the disease is life and the treatment is another drink. The reason there is a fierce joy in ``Trainspotting'', despite the appalling things that happen in it, is that it's basically about friends in need. US Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Incendies BD - In the highly-acclaimed suspense thriller Incendies, a mother's dying wish creates a painful puzzle her children are forced to solve. At the reading of their mother's will, twins Jeanne and Simon are given instructions to locate the father they believed was dead and the brother neither knew existed. They travel to the Middle East, to piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world only to make a shocking discovery. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

The Exterminator BD - The man they pushed too far is coming for you–in high-def! The exploitation revenge classic THE EXTERMINATOR burns onto Blu-ray in a newly re-mastered “director’s cut” version! Christopher George, Robert Ginty and Samantha Eggar star in The Exterminator, James Glickenhaus’ explosive story of Vietnam vet John Eastland (Ginty), a man who launches a bloody vendetta against the New York underworld when his best friend is brutally beaten by a vicious street gang. Eastland becomes a vigilante hero to the public, but to police The Exterminator is a psychopath capable of dangerously undermining an entire government administration. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

My Life as a Dog BD - My Life as a Dog (Mitt liv som hund) tells the story of Ingemar, a twelve-year-old from a working-class family sent to live with his uncle in a country village when his mother falls ill. There, with the help of the warmhearted eccentrics who populate the town, the boy finds both refuge from his misfortunes and unexpected adventure. Featuring an incredibly mature and unaffected performance by the young Anton Glanzelius, this film is a beloved and bittersweet evocation of the struggles and joys of childhood from Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallström. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Le Beau Serge BD - Of the hallowed group of Cahiers du cinéma critics turned filmmakers who transformed French film history, Claude Chabrol was the first to direct his own feature. His absorbing landmark debut, Le beau Serge, follows a successful yet sickly young man (Jean‑Claude Brialy) who returns home to the small village where he grew up. There, he finds himself at odds with his former close friend (Gérard Blain)—now unhappily married and a wretched alcoholic—and the provincial life he represents. The remarkable and stark Le beau Serge heralded the arrival of a cinematic titan who would go on to craft provocative, entertaining films for five more decades. Blu-ray Release Date: September 13th, 2011

Bal (Honey) - In the third and final installment of director Semih Kaplanoglu's award-winning trilogy, Yusuf is an only child who lives with his parents in an isolated mountain area. For the young boy, the surrounding forest becomes a place of mystery and adventure when accompanying his beekeeper father on the job. The strong bond between father and son cannot protect the stuttering child from becoming an outsider during his first year of school. Yusuf's anxieties escalate when his father must travel to a faraway forest on a risky mission. With his father gone, Yusuf slips into silence to the distress of his pretty young mother Zehra. With his father now missing for days and his mother falling into a deep depression, the boy summons all of his courage and goes deep into the forest to search for his father. DVD Release Date: September 20th, 2011

Sut (Milk) - In the second installment of director Semih Kaplanoglu's award-winning trilogy, recent high school graduate Yusuf is uncertain about his future in the provincial countryside. Writing poetry is his greatest passion and some of his poems are starting to be published in obscure literary journals. But for the time being, he continues working in his single mother's village milk business. Since her husband’s death, Yusuf's widowed mother has focused all her attention to her only child. Still a young and beautiful woman, she’s is having a discreet relationship with the town stationmaster. His mother's affair, and his being named unfit for military service due to a childhood illness, make Yusuf even more anxious about making the sudden jump toward manhood. DVD Release Date: September 20th, 2011

Yumutra (Egg) - In the first installment of director Semih Kaplanoglu's award-winning trilogy, emotionally distant poet Yusuf returns home to settle his late mother's affairs. A young girl who’s a distant relative, awaits him in the crumbling house. Yusuf has been unaware of her existence and is surprised to find that she’s been living with his mother for the past five years. Yusuf is now obliged to perform a sacrifice which had been his mother’s dying wish. DVD Release Date: September 20th, 2011

If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front - In 2005, federal agents invaded Daniel McGowan's workplace - a domestic violence center - and arrested him for being part of the Earth Liberation Front, an "eco-defense" group responsible for several acts of arson on lumber yards, paper companies, and bio labs. The shelter was run by the wife of documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry, who took an interest in Daniel's case and the history of the Earth Liberation Front. As Daniel serves a seven month long term of house arrest at his sister's home while his lawyers and the government build their cases, he learns that several of his co-defendants have taken plea deals to testify against each other for reduced sentences. DVD Release Date: August 30th, 2011

Final Exam - It's final exam week at Lanier College and the campus is rocked by a school shooting. Of course, it's all an elaborate prank - which would not go over well today - by the Gamma fraternity and the sheriff is none too happy about being called out to investigate. As the day goes on, the escalating pranks and hazings distract everyone from the presence of a hulking, knife-wielding killer intent on thinning out the student body. That's really all there is to FINAL EXAM, a Motion Picture Marketing concoction, quite literally. DVD Release Date: September 20th, 2011
 

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