DVDBeaver Newsletter - October 8th, 2007

Ohayou gozaimasu! - 18 new reviews - 3 Criterion, Eclipse, Silent, Classic TV, New Formats, multi-film boxsets etc., our recommendations, sales, a contest winner and a new contest!

CONTEST ACTIVITY: Last week's contest was not so easy (quite a few got it - yes, André De Toth's' 'Pitfall') and the prize of Criterion's DVD of Robinson Crusoe on Mars! goes to the Winner: Chris McCann of Wappingers Falls, NY. Congrats!

This week's contest is not really tough one and many should get it...

Those who identify the NEW CLIP posted HERE (and on our homepage) will have a shot any winning a sealed copy of Criterion's DVD of Gus van Sant's Mala Noche! Let's see how many get the correct answer this time.

NOTE: Not all our future quote clips will be Film Noir - but we are in that groove at present.

Reaction -The winner of new Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD Player was Pat Pilon. He is also in possession of a Blu-ray player and says...'My first, gut impression, of HD-DVD vs BD is that HD-DVD is much more stable and overall a more complete format. The S300 is very flimsy and the A2 looks a lot better and a lot faster. I can tell you this much: updating firmware is a lot simpler with the A2 (the HD).'

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Easiest way to catch up is simply read the new Newsletter Archive HERE.

LATEST Additions to the Release Calendar (PRE-ORDER!)

Updated stuff I may indulge in: Not a lot listed this week but the is Ford at Fox - Collection alone enough. I've be indulging in The Simpsons Movie too for a diversion.

LATEST Additions to the Release Calendar

Martin Scorsese Presents: Val Lewton - Warner Home Video

Val Lewton Collection (we assume Cat People / The Curse of the Cat People / I Walked with a Zombie / The Body Snatcher / Isle of the Dead / Bedlam / The Leopard Man / The Ghost Ship / The Seventh Victim / Shadows in the Dark plus 6th disc of Scorsese documentary) - Warner

The Simpsons Movie (David Silverman, 2007) Fox Home Entertainment

The Simpsons Movie [Blu-ray] (David Silverman, 2007) Fox Home Entertainment

Ford at Fox - Collection - 20th Century Fox (SPECS HERE)

Ford at Fox: The Silent Epics (5pc) (Silent) - 20th Century Fox

Essential John Ford Collection (6pc) - 20th Century Fox

John Ford's American Comedies (4pc) - 20th Century Fox

From last week:

Ingmar Bergman: Four Masterworks: The Seventh Seal (1957), Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Virgin Spring (1960) and Wild Strawberries (1957) - Criterion

Two-Lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971) Criterion

The R.W. Fassbinder Collection - 1973-1982 (8-discs) (Fear Eats the Soul; Effi Briest Fox and his Friends; Mother Kusters goes to Heaven; Fear of Fear; Satan's Brew; Chinese Roulette; The Marriage of Maria Braun) - R2 UK - Arrow Films

The R. W. Fassbinder Collection - 1969-1972 (9-discs) (Love is Colder Than Death; Katzelmacher; Gods of the Plague; The American Soldier; Niklashauser Journey; Rio des Mortes; Beware of a Holy Whore; The Merchant of Four Seasons; The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant) - R2 UK - Arrow Films

The Ghost Goes West (René Clair, 1935) R2 UK - Network

Alec Guinness - In The Frame Collection (Bridge On The River Kwai, Our Man In Havana, The Prisoner. HMS Defiant, Cromwell and Murder By Death) - R2 UK - Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

John Mills - The Screen Icons Collection - The Baby And The Battleship (Lewis, 1956), It's Great to Be Young (Frankel, 1956), Lady Caroline Lamb (Bolt, 1972) and The Gentle Gunman (Dearden, 1952) - R2 UK - Optimum Home Entertainment

The Aviator [HD DVD] (Martin Scorsese, 2004) Warner

The Aviator [Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 2004) Warner

Die Hard [Blu-ray] (John McTiernan, 1988) - 20th Century Fox

Die Hard Collection (4-disc) [Blu-ray] - 20th Century Fox

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [HD DVD] (Mike Newell, 2005) - Warner Home Video

That's Entertainment Trilogy [HD DVD] (3-disc) - Warner Home Video

That's Entertainment Trilogy [Blu-ray] (3-disc) - Warner Home Video

Twister [HD DVD] (Jan de Bont, 1996) Warner

Twister [Blu-ray] (Jan de Bont, 1996) Warner

New Reviews:

I saw a lot of stuff I enjoyed this past week; Top Shelf recommendations go to the wonderful Fox Horror Classics boxset, 
Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 3 (with two, count'em two, episodes directed by Robert Altman), Criterion's magnificent package of Godard's Breathless, Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse 6).  Days of Heaven looks awesome if you are at all keen on the film. Family fun with The Jungle Book. Not for everyone but Mala Noche has appeal. Definitive Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I'm constantly asked what the best image DVD image I have ever seen and I can definitively state that its National Geographic - Relentless Enemies BR.

What looks good (I didn't review) - Viva Las Vegas BR.

National Geographic - Relentless Enemies BR - Relentless Enemies takes you deep into the action as a wall of angry buffalo thwarts a lion attack. Filmed in High Definition, Relentless Enemies watches from the air as competing strategies for attack and defense unfold. Then, get up close as cubs go missing, competitive prides encroach on Tsaro territory and the future of the pride hangs in the balance

Jailhouse Rock BR - Jailhouse Rock is not really a musical in the usual sense since the songs are worked into the plot naturally: Elvis picks up a guitar in jail and sings a small ballad. Later, he tries his luck at a recording studio, and further on he sings at a party where, as a successful recording artist, his character is expected to sing. There are relatively few songs, but they are of a generally higher caliber than your average Elvis movie. DVD Release Date: September 18th, 2007

Viva Las Vegas BR - Viva Las Vegas has Ann-Margret. I think it's no exaggeration to say she's the star of the movie. Mr. Pond notes that Colonel Parker was particularly concerned with this, and her glory may have contributed to the fact that Elvis's movies from then on had no competing females. Ann-Margret seems to get most of the screen time with more costume changes than a rattlesnake in a time warp. Besides her jaw-dropping good looks and sex appeal, what boggles the mind about Ann-Margret is her boundless energy – evident not only in her spirited dancing but in her limitless facial expressions, not one of which isn't gorgeous or portentous of . . . well, you know. DVD Release Date: September 18th, 2007

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo's tragic tale of the deformed bellringer and his love for Esmeralda, a doomed gypsy girl, has been filmed so many times that an accurate count of all the versions would probably be difficult to pinpoint but it's not hard to see the film's ageless appeal. While you may find movie lovers who cite the 1939 Charles Laughton version or even the 1996 Disney animated version as favorite interpretations, the general consensus among actors (Burt Lancaster and Orson Welles to name a few) is that Chaney remains the definitive Quasimodo. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Twilight Zone: The Movie - These revamped episodes from the old supernatural TV series begin splendidly with Aykroyd and Brooks driving down a dark road at night, singing along to Creedence Clearwater and trying to guess TV theme songs. Four episodes follow, and it's ironic that producer Spielberg's geriatric remake of Peter Pan set in an Old People's home is easily the weakest of the lot, exhibiting all the churning sentimentality of a great film-maker going OTT. The others have a comic strip zeal which makes them intensely watchable, but ultimately it's left to Mad Max wizard Miller to steal the show with an extraordinary remake of Richard Matheson's story about an airline passenger who spies a demon noshing the starboard engine. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Fox Horror Classics - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment celebrates three classic chillers from director John Brahm. ‘The Undying Monster,’ ‘The Lodger’ and ‘Hangover Square’ showcase a director who has hit his stride working with the confines of a genre. Brahm’s 1944 remake, ‘The Lodger,’ is widely considered a superior thriller to the silent Jack-the-Ripper fable originally directed by Hitchcock back in 1927. ‘Hangover Square’ has a legion of fans, making the movie one of Fox’s most requested titles for DVD release. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Breathless - There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless. With its lack of polish, surplus of attitude, crackling personalities of rising stars Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg, and anything-goes crime narrative, Jean-Luc Godard's debut fashioned a simultaneous homage to and critique of the American film genres that influenced and rocked him as a film writer for Cahiers du cinema. Jazzy, free-form, and sexy, Breathless (A bout de souffle) helped launch the French new wave and ensured cinema would never be the same. DVD Release Date: October 23rd, 2007

Transformers - On the face of it Transformers is a story as old as the Greeks versus the Trojans, the difference being that these warriors are visitors from another planet, the 1980s-sounding Cybertron, and there isn’t a jot of poetry, tragedy, beauty, meaning or interest in this fight. The Autobots are trying to locate some all-important cube that looks like a Borg starship from Star Trek: The Next Generation before it’s found by the Autobots’ villainous alien brethren, the Decepticons. During their mission the Autobots blend into the earthly backdrop by turning into zippy cars and mondo trucks, a strategy that works particularly well in Southern California. Curiously, though the toys originated in Japan, no robot changes into a Toyota. DVD Release Date: October 16th, 2007

The New Babylon - The New Babylon is a metaphorical clash of glittering surfaces and deep social cynicism that marked the climax of Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg's experimentations with the conventions of the Soviet silent cinema. Taking their thematic inspiration from the story of the Paris Commune of 1871, the two directors fashioned a highly conceptualized allegory of social strata under pressure that transcends its historical roots to form a sardonic comment on the human condition. DVD Release Date: August 3rd, 2007

Poltergeist - Credited to Hooper, but every inch a Spielberg film, this is a barnstorming ghost story, set in one of the small suburban houses Spielberg knows and loves, where the family canary is called Tweety, and the kids read Captain America comics and eat at the Pizza Hut. Gradually this impossibly safe world is (in a truly ingenious plot development) invaded by something inside the family television. Soon the plot takes off into a delirious fight with demonic forces suggestive of nothing so much as a Walt Disney horror movie; and although the sub-religious gobbledegook (including a tiresome midget medium) is hard to take, it is consistently redeemed by its creator's dazzling sense of craft. For this one, Spielberg has even contrived a structural surprise which leaves the audience spinning like one of his house's haunted rooms, and arguably matches the opening of Psycho in its impudent virtuosity. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Days of Heaven - One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting movies of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steel worker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and little sister (Linda Manz) to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor. DVD Release Date: October 23rd, 2007

Mala Noche - With its low budget and lush black-and-white imagery, Gus Van Sant's debut feature Mala Noche heralded an idiosyncratic, provocative new voice in American independent film. Set in Van Sant's hometown of Portland, Oregon, the film evokes a world of transient workers, dead-end day-shifters, and bars and seedy apartments bathed in a profound nighttime, as it follows a romantic deadbeat with a wayward crush on a handsome Mexican immigrant. Mala Noche was an important prelude to the New Queer Cinema of the nineties and is a fascinating time capsule from a time and place that continues to haunt its director's work. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Carlos Saura's Flamenco Trilogy (Eclipse 6) - One of Spanish cinema's great auteurs, Carlos Saura brought international audiences closer to the art of his country's dance than any other filmmaker, before or since. In his Flamenco Trilogy—Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El amor brujo—Saura merged his passion for music with his exploration of national identity. All starring and choreographed by legendary dancer Antonio Gades, the films feature thrilling physicality and electrifying cinematography and editing—colorful paeans to bodies in motion as well as to cinema itself. DVD Release Date: October 16th, 2007

Emmanuelle - Soft-core classic with Sylvia Kristel as the inexperienced wife of a diplomat who embarks on an erotic journey of self-discovery in the steamy climes of Bangkok. The superbly monikered Just Jaekin made porn semi-respectable with his adaptation of Emmanuelle Arsan's steamy underground classic. He also practically invented lipstick lesbianism, fuelled the fantasies of teenage boys everywhere and created an unlikely feminist icon in the process (well, in the sense that Emmanuelle is sexually liberated - lets not stretch that point too far). DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 3 - Season 3 continued to boast performers who would later become much more famous, some who already were, and many strong bit players in Universal camp including - Vincent Price, William Shatner, Joseph Cotten, Jack Klugman, E.G. Marshall, James Gregory, Peter Lorre, George Peppard, Michael Rennie, Jessica Tandy, Pat Hitchcock and more. In 1962, Alfred Hitchcock Presents was expanded to one hour and was shown under the title the The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. We anxiously await!, A true gem of TV gone by. DVD Release Date: October 9th, 2007

Szamanka - Director Andrzej Zulawski's adaptation of Manuela Gretkowska's controversial screenplay tells the story of an anthropology professor Michal's (Boguslaw Linda) who as the movie progresses develops two overwhelming obsessions. The first one is a mummified, 3,000 year-old, perfectly preserved body of a Shaman he and his colleagues have recently dragged out of a swamp, and the second – an enigmatic student (Iwona Petry) he meets by chance at Krakow Railway Station. In exactly a minute after they meet, they have passionate but joyless sex "The Last Tango in Paris" style.

A Mighty Heart - A Mighty Heart is yet another message movie from a clearly socially-conscious activist. (Paramount’s box-office experience with Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center should’ve warned studio execs away from another post-9/11 on financial grounds, but with Jolie’s boyfriend Brad Pitt producing, I guess studio head Brad Grey just wanted to make his former production-company partner happy.) Unfortunately, Jolie doesn’t seem to understand that her approach to social activism is too in-your-face to be effective. It’s not that she’s confrontational...it’s just that her efforts impart a “holier-than-thou” attitude. DVD Release Date: October 16th, 2007

The Jungle Book - One of the most popular Disney films ever, THE JUNGLE BOOK is a song-filled celebration of friendship, fun, and adventure set in a lush and colorful world. Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's "Mowgli" stories, Disney's 19th animated masterpiece was the last animated feature that had Walt Disney's personal touch. The jubilant adventure begins when Mowgli, a little boy raised by wolves, is urged by his friend Bagheera, a wise old panther, to seek safety in the man village. Feeling very much at home in the jungle, Mowgli resists and runs off. DVD Release Date: October 2nd, 2007

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar: