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The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Box Set
- From the early stages of his career across five decades to his
final film, Fritz Lang built a trilogy of paranoiac thrillers
focused on an entity who began as a criminal mastermind, and
progressed into something more amorphous: fear itself, embodied
only by a name Dr. Mabuse. DVD Release Date: October 19th,
2009
Startup.com - It seemed
like a great idea at the time. They'd build a place online where
people could go to pay their parking tickets. "Startup.com"
tells the story of two longtime friends who go into business
together, create a Web site, raise millions, and at one point
are worth $12 million--apiece, I think, but it makes no
difference, since by the end of their adventure they have lost
everything. The movie's story arc is like "Charly" or
"Awakenings," in which the heroes start low, fly high and crash.
DVD Release Date: February 25th, 2002
Cheerleaders Wild Weekend -
Cheerleaders from three California schools are packed onto a bus
with strict (read lesbian) coach Frankie (Courtney Sands) to
head up to Sacramento for the state finals. After competing in a
flashing contest to make a farmer drive off the road, the bus is
stopped by a road block. This is actually a ploy to get the
driver off the bus so disgraced jocks Wayne (co-writer/associate
producer Jason Williams, FLESH GORDON) and George (Anthony
Lewis) who kidnap the girls and hold them for ransom with the
help of turncoat Frankie, dimwitted Big John (John Albert), and
sensitive Billy (Robert Houston, THE HILLS HAVE EYES). DVD
Release Date: November 24, 2009
The Butcher - Three men and
one woman wake up chained in a warehouse with a director and his
lackey planning to feature them as victims in a digital video
snuff film The victims have had cameras strapped to their heads
to catch their own gruesome deaths from their own points of view
at the hands of a dim-witted hammer and chainsaw-wielding
Leatherface-wannabe in a pig mask. Although the filmmakers (in
front of and behind the camera) are suitably repulsive, the
victims do not command much sympathy either and the viewer has
ceased to care when the twist is introduced in which the
nameless, barely glimpsed "protagonist" having to choose between
sacrificing himself to save his wife or saving his own skin by
giving the burned-out director a creative way to kill his wife.
There comes a point less than half-way through the film after
the off-screen deaths of the first two victims where the
Director says that it wasn't artistic and, therefore, a failure.
DVD Release Date: October 27th, 2009
A Christmas Carol
BR
- Alastair Sim's tour-de-force performance as the ultimate
Christmas grouch, Ebenezer Scrooge, highlights this beloved
version of the Charles Dickens story. The peevish pinchpurse
learns the error of his unkind ways when he is taught the true
meaning of the holidays by the ghost of his late partner and the
spirits of Christmas past, present and future. Meryvn Johns,
Michael Hordern, and Glyn Dearman as Tiny Tim co-star.
Blu-ray
Release Date: November 3rd, 2009
It's a Wonderful Life
BR
- This great American fable is buoyed by its unwavering faith in
the wealth of the human spirit. Capra wanted to make a film to
help shake America out of a post-Second World War funk, but
ironically, the movie has only gained true popularity in these
most cynical post-Vietnam times, when we just might need its
humanity even more.
Blu-ray
Release Date: November 13th, 2007
Ballast
BR
- “Ballast” doesn’t need to reach the sublime heights of “Killer
of Sheep” to earn its rightful due: it’s a serious achievement
and a welcome sign of a newly invigorated American independent
cinema. Mr. Hammer, a Southern California native whose
background studying architecture is evident in his graceful
compositions and sensitivity toward forms — Lawrence’s body at
times looms larger than his tiny house — hovers near his
characters without ever piercing their skin. He doesn’t draw
blood, but he does do something so many movies forget: he
captures the rhythms of life. Using caressing natural light, he
watches and waits as Lawrence smokes another cigarette and James
circles this big man like a puppy. He follows Marlee across the
yard and James across the field. He catches their footfalls, the
sounds of their breath.
Blu-ray
Release date: November 10th, 2009
The General
BR
- The General is perhaps Buster Keaton's finest film and shows
the great comic of the silent era at the height of his powers.
Keaton's talent lay in his slapstick ability and his famous
stoney face expression which he gave at moments of great
confusion. Currently much of his work is being re-appreciated at
the true extent of his comic genius re-evalued. Unfortunately
for Keaton's career, after the introduction of sound, no one was
interested in his comic abilities anymore. His brand of
slapstick humour was most appreciated during the silent era when
he and his contemporaries Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd ruled
the screen but after sound all of their careers went into
decline although their influence can still be seen today on
comedians such as Steve Martin and Jim Carrey although fun as
they are they are nothing compared to Keaton who should be
enjoyed here at his best.
Blu-ray
Release Date: November 10th, 2009
The English Patient
BR
- Anthony Minghella wrote and directed this award-winning
adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel about a doomed and tragic
romance set against the backdrop of World War II. In a field
hospital in Italy, Hana (Juliette Binoche), a nurse from Canada,
is caring for a pilot who was horribly burned in a plane wreck;
he has no identification and cannot remember his name, so he's
known simply as "the English Patient," thanks to his accent.
When the hospital is forced to evacuate, Hana determines en
route that the patient shouldn't be moved far due to his fragile
condition, so the two are left in a monastery to be picked up
later. In time, Hana begins to piece together the patient's
story from the shards of his memories; he's actually Count
Laszlo Almasy (Ralph Fiennes), of Hungarian nobility and an
explorer working with a group mapping uncharted territory in
North Africa.
Blu-ray
Release Date: November 20th, 2009
Whatever Works
BR
- After the failure of his career, his marriage, and his suicide
attempt, world-class grouch Boris Yellnikoff, spends his days
insulting the small children unfortunate enough to study chess
with him and irritating his still-loyal friends with his
never-ending tirades about the worthlessness of absolutely
everything. A former Columbia Professor and self-proclaimed
genius who came close to winning a Nobel Prize for Quantum
Mechanics, Boris fancies himself the only one who fully
comprehends the meaningless of all human aspirations, and the
pitch-black chaos of the universe. As he readily admits, Boris
is not a "feel-good person".
Blu-ray
Release date: October 27th, 2009
Silent Scream - Too late to
register for on-campus housing, Scotty (Rebecca Balding) must
seek housing off-campus. After the montage of substandard rooms
and eccentric landlords, Scotty ends up at the seaside Victorian
mansion of Mrs. Engels (Yvonne De Carlo) and her tightly-wound
son Mason (Brad Reardon) along with three other college
students. No sooner are they settled in then one of their number
(the drunk, playboy jerk) is savagely murdered on the nearby
beach by a butcher knife-wielding killer. The police turn up no
leads but the truth may be lurking between the walls of the old
mansion watching the coeds through the vents. DVD Release
Date: November 24, 2009
Stunt Rock - Real life
Australian stuntman Grant Page (now a stunt coordinator) travels
to Los Angeles to work on a TV action series. He also consults
on the pyrotechnic effects of 70's band Sorcery's stage shows
which depict fiery battles between a Merlin-esque wizard and the
devil (Page being the fictional cousin of "Prince of Darkness"
Curtis Hyde). His gains a love interest in journalist Margaret
(Margaret Gerard) who is concerned about his dangerous line of
work while slinky Dutch Monique Van Der Ven (playing herself as
the star of the TV series DANGERGIRL that Page is doing stunts
for) is concerned over her own lack of involvement in the show's
action. That's really all there is to it. DVD Release Date:
August 25, 2009
Logan's Run
BR
- In the Year of the City 2274, humans live in a vast, bubbled
metropolis, where computerized servo-mechanisms provide all
needs so everyone can pursue endless hedonism. Endless, that is,
until Lastday, when anyone who’s 30 must submit to Carrousel, a
soaring, spinning trip to eternity and supposed rebirth.
Blu-ray
Release date: November 10th, 2009
The Narrows
BR
- Awfully familiar yet superbly acted, The Narrows
follows sensitive bad boy Mike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) as he
reluctantly takes on a job delivering packages for a shady
mobster (Titus Welliver's Tony) in an effort to pay for college
tuition - much to the chagrin of his connected father, Vinny
(Vincent D'Onofrio). Mike's relationship with a pretty fellow
student (Sophia Bush's Kathy) only complicates matters, and it's
not long before the aspiring photographer finds himself caught
between two worlds. It's a pretty standard storyline that's
consistently elevated by the uniformly compelling performances,
with Zegers' strong work certainly matched by the efforts of his
various costars (D'Onofrio's expectedly idiosyncratic turn
remains a highlight).
Blu-ray
Release date: November 3rd, 2009
I Saw Gen Barka Get Killed
- In the wholly engrossing I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed, Serge le
Peron, yet another Cahiers du Cinema critic turned director,
sets out to answer [the] question [what happened to Ben Barka]
and to recreate that now distant, turbulent, traumatised Paris
of the de Gaulle era that two years later was to explode in les
evenements of 1968. This is not a biopic about Ben Barka and his
revolutionary circle. Instead, le Peron and his
co-screenwriters, Frederique Moreau and Said Smihi, have made a
political thriller drawing stylistically on the conspiracy
movies that Francesco Rosi and Costa-Gavras were beginning to
make in the Sixties and the series of coolly detached crime
pictures that Jean-Pierre Melville had embarked on at that time.
DVD Release Date: Feb 12th, 2007
Playing Away - When a West
Indian cricket team from Brixton are invited to play a charity
game in a small English village members of both teams have their
reservations. A weekend in the country away from the inner city
produces unexpected results both on and off the field of play.
Playing Away subtly explores and undermines white and black
stereotypes and succeeds in linking two familiar but strange
cultures through the simple device of a cricket match. DVD
Release Date: November 9th, 2009
Henry V
BR
- Olivier mustered out of the navy to film this adaptation of
Shakespeare’s history. Embroiled in World War II, Britons took
courage from this tale of a king who surmounts overwhelming odds
and emerges victorious. This sumptuous Technicolor rendering
features a thrilling recreation of the battle of Agincourt, and
Sir Laurence in his prime as director and actor. Blu-ray
Release Date: October 19th, 2009
Hamlet
BR
- Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best
Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most
compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is
at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane
himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the
world’s greatest dramatists.
Blu-ray
Release Date: October 19th, 2009
Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol.
1 - In the 1940s, a new genre* - film noir -
emerged from the world of "hard - boiled" pulp magazines,
paperback thrillers, and sensational crime movies. These films -
tough and unsentimental - depicted a black-and-white universe at
once brutal, erotic and morally ambiguous. Now, Sony Pictures
and The Film Foundation have brought five noir classics together
in one collection, all restored and remastered, and featuring
brilliant performances by Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin, Kim Novak, Eli
Wallach and Gloria Grahame, the genre-defining cinematography of
Burnett Guffey, Hal Mohr and Lucien Ballard, and focused, taut
direction by celebrated directors including Fritz Lang, Don
Siegel and Phil Karlson. The Sniper (1952), The Big Heat (1953),
5 Against the House (1955), The Lineup (1958) and Murder by
Contract (1958) - DVD Release Date: November 3rd, 2009
Heat
BR
- Incredibly cool characters pull off violent yet debonair
crimes in the heart of a supermodern American city: yes, it's a
Michael Mann film. The moving spirit behind "Miami Vice" has
turned his attention to Los Angeles, where an anguished cop (Al
Pacino) goes head-to-head with a troubled villain (Robert De
Niro). The movie looks happiest at night, but the feline grace
of the camera's moves is betrayed by the portentous script;
Diane Venora, as the detective's wife, has some particularly
gruesome lines to deliver. The film, which runs on and on for
nearly three hours, yearns to be much more than a thriller-it
wants to diagnose the sickness of men's souls and convey the
nobility of their pain. The irony is that as a thriller it works
just fine; the set pieces, including an unstoppable gun battle
outside a bank, are adrenaline dreams. The taciturn De Niro and
the braying Pacino share a flawless scene over a cup of coffee,
but the real honors go to Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd as a
warring, loving couple. Kilmer can blow you away, with or
without a gun.
Blu-ray
Release Date: November 10th, 2009
Howards End
BR
- The pinnacle of the decades-long collaboration between
producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, Howards End
is a luminous vision of E. M. Forster’s cutting 1910 novel about
class divisions in Edwardian England. Emma Thompson won an
Academy Award for her dynamic portrayal of Margaret Schlegel, a
flighty yet compassionate middle-class intellectual whose
friendship with the dying wife (Vanessa Redgrave) of rich
capitalist Henry Wilcox (Anthony Hopkins) commences an
intricately woven tale of money, love, and death that
encompasses the country’s highest and lowest social echelons.
With a brilliant, layered script by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (who
also won an Oscar) and a roster of gripping performances,
Howards End is a work of both great beauty and vivid darkness,
and one of cinema’s best literary adaptations.
Blu-ray
Release date: November 3rd, 2009
Shirin - Abbas Kiarostami
is widely regarded as one of the most important, ambitious and
rewarding filmmakers at work today. With Shirin, he continues to
explore the potential of cinema, stimulating and challenging the
viewer's imagination to an extraordinary degree. What Shirin
shows us - and indeed all it shows us - is an audience of more
than 100 women who are deeply absorbed in watching a film we
never see. We observe instead how the drama plays out on the
faces of the audience, seen in close up, mostly one at a time -
a mesmerising series of portraits of women, young and old, their
expressions variously wistful, quizzical, amused, enraptured and
distraught.Based on the powerful 12th Century Persian poem by
Nazami, the film-within-the-film is a story of star-crossed
lovers and female self-sacrifice that is as well known in
modern-day Iran as Romeo and Juliet is in the West. DVD
Release Date: October 26th, 2009
Tartan-Palisades Terror Pack
- Palisades Tartan has taken over the Tartan library (after they
went into administration a year ago). Other than the new
slipcase, the discs inside are the same as the Tartan releases
of these titles- SLAUGHTER NIGHT, SHEITAN, CARVED: THE
SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN - (they may even be old stock as there is no
mention of Palisades or Vivendi Entertainment on the covers
which bear the copyright years of Tartan's acquisitions of the
titles). That said, there was a fear that some of the Tartan
titles would become hard to acquire when Tartan folded but it
looks like some (hopefully all) of the Tartan releases will
still be available. DVD Release Date: October 13, 2009
Young Soul Rebels - In the
long hot summer of 1977, London prepared for the Silver Jubilee
celebrations to the sounds of the burgeoning punk, soul and funk
scenes. Soul boys Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sessay),
a pair of pirate radio DJs, broadcast their show from a friend's
garage, tussling with the local skinheads, and clubbing with
Chris's sassy music-industry girlfriend Tracy (Sophie Okonedo).
But social and sexual tensions in the community reach boiling
point following the murder of a local black gay man. DVD
Release Date: November 9th, 2009
Left Bank - Athlete Marie (Eline
Kuppens) suffers an strange injury while trying to qualify for
the track finals. Unable to run, Marie distracts herself with a
relationship with archery guild dean Bobby (Matthias Schoenaerts).
She moves into Bobby's Left Bank apartment and discovers that
the previous female tenant had disappeared mysteriously. Marie's
mother feels bad vibes and believes that the fault line under
the building has a malignant effect on the tenants. Going
through a box the woman left behind, she discovers that the left
bank in medieval times was an area where witches and plague
victims were banished and that the apartment building was built
over "The White Woman's Pit" a mysterious well where sacrifices
took place. DVD Release Date: October 13, 2009
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