Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF November 7th, 2011
  This Week's Highlights
Salibonani!  - Masters of Cinema and Criterion Blu-rays - with Welles, Bergman, Powell + Pressburger, Lewis Milestone with help from Carol Reed, Arthur Penn. A new Criterion SALE with 50% OFF everything HERE at Barnes and Noble. We also have a new Clips contest with a Criterion Blu-ray prize. “You will never get the opportunity to re-live this day over again - laugh, smile and love.”

 

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November 7th CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Criterion Blu-ray of Dazed and Confused

 
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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:

A Star is Born [Blu-ray] (William A. Wellman, 1937) Kino

Film Socialisme [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 2011) Lorber Films

October (Diego Vega Vidal, 2010) New Yorker Films

My Dog Tulip [Blu-ray] (Paul Fierlinger, Sandra Fierlinger, 2009) New Yorker Films

On The Bowery - The Films of Lionel Rogosin, Vol. 1 [Blu-ray] (Lionel Rogosin, 1956) Milestone

The Hellstrom Chronicle [Blu-ray] (Walon Green, Ed Spiegel, 1971) Olive Films

The Getting of Wisdom (Bruce Beresford, 1978) R2 UK Contemporary Films

Hara-Kiri : Death of a Samurai [Blu-ray] (Takashi Miike, 2011) Region FREE UK Revolver Entertainment

One-Eyed Jacks [Blu-ray] (Marlon Brando, 1961) RB UK Intergroove

Wuthering Heights [Blu-ray] (Andrea Arnold, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

Swastika (Philippe Mora, 1974) Kino

The Little Death (Bret Wood, 2010) Kino

Moses and Aaron (Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1975) New Yorker Video

Shiver of the Vampires [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1971) Redemption Films

The Nude Vampire [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1970) Redemption Films

Lips of Blood [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1975) Redemption Films

The Iron Rose [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1973) Redemption Films

Fascination [Blu-ray] (Jean Rollin, 1979) Redemption Films

Caterpillar (Koji Wakamatsu, 2010) Lorber Films

United Red Army (Koji Wakamatsu, 2007) Lorber Films

Grand Canyon [Blu-ray] (Lawrence Kasdan, 1991) Anchor Bay/Starz

Mozart's Sister [Blu-ray] (René Féret, 2010) Music Box Films

1911 [Blu-ray] (Li Zhang, 2011) Well Go USA

Flash Point [Blu-ray] (Wlson Yip, 2007) Well Go USA

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

The Terrorists [Blu-ray] (Casper Wrede, 1974) Anchor Bay/Starz

Good Morning, Vietnam (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (Barry Levinson, 1987) Touchstone / Disney

The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (Stephan Komandarev, 2008) Olive Films

Project X [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Kaplan, 1987) Anchor Bay/Starz

Dutch [Blu-ray] (Peter Faiman, 1991) Anchor Bay/Starz

Belle de jour (Luis Buñuel, 1967) Criterion

Belle de jour [Blu-ray] (Luis Buñuel, 1967) Criterion

Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin - Poto and Cabengo (1978), Routine Pleasures (1986), My Crasy Life (1992) - Criterion

Traffic [Blu-ray] (Steven Soderbergh, 2000) Criterion

Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954) Criterion
Godzilla [Blu-ray] (Ishirô Honda, 1954) Criterion

The Moment of Truth (Francesco Rosi, 1965) Criterion
The Moment of Truth [Blu-ray] (Francesco Rosi, 1965) Criterion

Outrage [Blu-ray] (Takeshi Kitano, 2010) Magnolia

Naked Lunch [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1991) RB IT CDE

Colombiana [Blu-ray] (Olivier Megaton, 2011) Sony Pictures

Malcolm X [Blu-ray] (Spike Lee, 1992) Warner Home Video

Exodus [Blu-ray] (Otto Preminger, 1960) RB FR Opening

Dangerous Liaisons [Blu-ray] (Stephen Frears, 1988) Warner Home Video

The Man from London (Bela Tarr, 2007) Zeitgeist

Night and Day (Sang-soo Hong, 2008) Zeitgeist Films

Dead Ringers [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1988) FilmMedia

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

The Red Shoes BD - the singular fantasia from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is cinema’s quintessential backstage drama, as well as one of the most glorious Technicolor feasts ever concocted for the screen. Moira Shearer is a rising star ballerina torn between an idealistic composer and a ruthless impresario intent on perfection. Featuring outstanding performances, blazingly beautiful cinematography by Jack Cardiff, Oscar-winning sets and music, and an unforgettable, hallucinatory central dance sequence, this beloved classic, now dazzlingly restored, stands as an enthralling tribute to the life of the artist. Carlotta Blu-ray Release Date: November 9th, 2011

Fanny and Alexander BD - Through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander, we witness the delights and conflicts of the Ekdahl family, a sprawling bourgeois clan in turn-of-the-twentieth-century Sweden. Ingmar Bergman intended Fanny and Alexander as his swan song, and it is the legendary director’s warmest and most autobiographical film, a four-time Academy Award–winning triumph that combines his trademark melancholy and emotional intensity with immense joy and sensuality. The Criterion Collection is proud to present both the theatrical release and the original five-hour television version of this great work. Also included in the box set is Bergman’s own feature-length documentary The Making of “Fanny and Alexander,” a unique glimpse into his creative process. Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th, 2011

Little Big Man BD - Recounting how the West was won through the eyes of a white man raised as a Native American, Arthur Penn's 1970 adaptation... of Thomas Berger's satirical novel was a comic yet stinging allegory about the bloody results of American imperialism. As a misguided 20th-century historian listens, 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) narrates the story of being the only white survivor of Custer's Last Stand. White orphan Crabb was adopted by the Cheyenne, renamed Little Big Man, and raised in the ways of the Human Beings by paternal mentor Old Lodge Skins (Chief Dan George), accepting non-conformity and living peacefully with nature. Violently thrust into the white world, Jack meets a righteous preacher (Thayer David) and his wife (Faye Dunaway), tries to be a gunfighter under the tutelage of Wild Bill Hickock (Jeff Corey), and gets married. Blu-ray Release date: November 8th, 2011

Bellflower BD - "Bellflower" is a scrappy indie movie that comes out of nowhere and blows up stuff real good. It also possibly represents the debut of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, a natural driven by wild energy, like Tarantino. I know what the budget was, but if I told you, you'd arrive at all the wrong conclusions. Let's say Evan Glodell had all the money he needed to make this particular movie and more might have changed it for the worse. Blu-ray Release date: November 15th, 2011

The George Sanders 'Saint' Movie Collection - Many years before Roger Moore donned the halo of The Saint, George Sanders played Simon Templar in this series of five mysteries. Sanders had yet to cement his acting reputation playing the ultimate in cads, and brings his worldly air of charm, wit, and erudition to his portrayal of the debonair thief turned detective. Sander's mordant wit and cynicism lift the film series' banter up a level with its added bite. Ably supported by a great rotating cast of players, Sanders' The Saint helped set the standard for detective tales for decades to come. Five films, one great set, one greater value! DVD Release Date: June 21, 2011

Cry Terror! - A wife, a daughter, a steady job. Yesterday Jim Molner was an ordinary guy. Today he’s a desperate man, frantically trying to save himself and his family, held hostage by a demented terrorist who’s demanding $500,000 not to detonate a bomb he’s planted on a domestic airliner. James Mason and Rod Steiger head an “A” cast in a jolting, psychology-driven thriller that, like The Desperate Hours, Suddenly and other 1950s films, turns home sweet home into the tense site of a family held hostage. Cry Terror! adds a sweaty layer of sexual tension as well, provided by Angie Dickinson as the terrorist’s sinuous moll and Neville Brand as his benny-addled henchman, salivating over Molner’s distraught wife (Inger Stevens). DVD Release Date: August 16th, 2011

Julie - A thriller starring Doris Day a few years before she hit the jackpot with her string of coy sex comedies, Julie is what was known in the trade as a `jep' – a woman-in-jeopardy drama. It starts off promisingly with a spat at a country club between Day and her second husband, Louis Jourdan (the first Mr. Day, a presumed suicide, may have been his victim) that escalates into an incident of road rage. Jourdan is passed off as a concert pianist – you know, one of those unstable `artistic' types. And he fills out a startlingly up-to-date profile of the irrationally jealous, controlling spouse, alternating between murderous rages and mawkish contrition. (Since Charles Boyer launched the prototype of this sort of abusive male in Gaslight, it seems that Hollywood thought it safe to cast chiefly Frenchmen in subsequent outings.) DVD Release Date: August 16th, 2011

Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) BD - Captain Bligh (Trevor Howard) boards the ship in Portsmouth, England, to embark on a mission to bring tropical breadfruit trees to Jamaica. Fletcher Christian (Marlon Brando) is the aristocratic second mate who welcomes the new captain aboard. Christian's view of the captain sours with the cruel treatment of the crew and the dangerous decision to round Cape Horn. The Bounty sails into the teeth of a ferocious winter storm which is another in a long line of indignities suffered on the journey. John Mills (Richard Harris) is punished for stealing cheese. A sailor is ordered to stay aloft in the crow's nest, nearly resulting in death. The crew finds temporary paradise in Tahiti before Bligh's behavior becomes intolerable for the once faithful Christian. The crew revolts and sends the captain on his way in a small rowboat. Settling on Pitcairn Island, the crew soon realizes they may never see England again. Mills burns the ship to insure the trip is never made. Christian attempts to save the only means of transportation of their new island home. Lewis Milestone directed the film which was plagued by constant cost overruns to the tune of 18 million dollars. Brando's legendary ego clashed with results as turbulent as the fictitious trip around stormy Cape Horn. Blu-ray Release Date: November 8th, 2011

Touch of Evil BD - Touch of Evil begins with one of the most brilliant sequences in the history of cinema; and ends with one of the most brilliant final scenes ever committed to celluloid. In between unfurls a picture whose moral, sexual, racial, and aesthetic attitudes remain so radical as to cross borders established not only in 1958, but in the present age also. Yet, Touch of Evil has taken many forms. The film as released in 1958 was certainly compromised from Orson Welles’ vision, but a lengthy, arresting memo written by Welles to studio heads in 1957 – taking issue with a studio rough-cut – had some influence on a subsequent preview version shown to test audiences (and rediscovered in the mid-1970s) as well as the 1958 theatrical version. Forty years later, in 1998, Universal produced a reconstructed version of the film that takes into meticulous account the totality of Welles’ memo, and ostensibly represents the version of the film that most closely adheres to his original wishes. Blu-ray Release Date: November 14th, 2011
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

November 7th, 2011

 

Absence of Malice [Blu-ray] (Sydney Pollack, 1981) Image Entertainment

Atlas Shrugged: Part I [Blu-ray] (Paul Johansson, 2011) Fox Home Entertainment

The Big Picture (Eric Lartigau, 2010) R2 UK Artificial Eye

Blue Velvet [Blu-ray] (David Lynch, 1986) MGM (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Cannonball Run [Blu-ray] (Hal Needham, 1981) HBO Studios

Chicken Little in 3D [Blu-ray] (Mark Dindal, 2005) Walt Disney

The Collector [Blu-ray] (William Wyler, 1965) Image Entertainment

The Exterminator [Blu-ray] (James Glickenhaus, 1980) RB UK Arrow

Fanny and Alexander Box Set [Blu-ray] (includes theatrical and televised version) - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Fisher King [Blu-ray] (Terry Gilliam, 1991) Image Entertainment

Frankenhooker [Blu-ray] (Frank Henenlotter, 1990) Synapse Films

French Cancan [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1954) RB UK BFI

Gia [Blu-ray] (Michael Cristofer,1998) HBO

Great Directors (Special 2-Disc Set) Lorber Films

Hammett (Wim Wenders, 1982) R2 UK Studiocanal

It's a Wonderful Life - 65th Anniversary [Blu-ray] (Frank Capra, 1946) RB UK Universal Pictures

Cycling the Frame - Invisible Frame (Cynthia Beatt, 1988, 2009) Icarus Films

The Light Thief (Aktan Arym Kubat, 2010) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Little Big Man [Blu-ray] (Arthur Penn, 1970) Paramount (BEAVER REVIEW)

Meet the Robinsons in 3D [Blu-ray] (Stephen J. Anderson, 2007) Walt Disney

Mutiny on the Bounty [Blu-ray] (Lewis Milestone, 1962) Warner (BEAVER REVIEW)

One-Eyed Jacks [Blu-ray] (Marlon Brando, 1961) Koch Entertainment

Out in the Silence [Blu-ray] (Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, 2009) Garden Thieves Pictures

Putty Hill (Matthew Porterfield, 2010) Cinema Guild

Quest For Fire [Blu-ray] (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981) RB DE Concorde Video

The Red Shoes [Blu-ray] (Powell and Pressburger, 1948) Region 'B' FR Carlotta (BEAVER REVIEW)

The River Why [Blu-ray] (Matthew Leutwyler, 2010) Image Entertainment

Taking Off [Blu-ray] (Milos Forman, 1971) RB UK Park Circus

The Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol. 1 (5 Discs) - Reconstruction (1970) Days of '36 (1972) The Travelling Players (1975) and The Hunters (1977) - R2 UK Artificial Eye

To Die For [Blu-ray] (Gus Van Sant, 1995) Image Entertainment

War and Peace (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1967) R2 UK Artificial Eye

 

November 14th, 2011

 

Bellflower [Blu-ray] (Evan Glodell, 2011) Oscilloscope Laboratories (BEAVER REVIEW)

Dark Matter [Blu-ray] (Shi-Zheng Chen, 2007) RB DE Universal

Despair [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1978) Olive Films

Evil Dead II [Blu-ray] (Sam Raimi, 1987) Lions Gate

Fantômas Trilogy [Blu-ray] (André Hunebelle, 1964) RB DE Universum Film

Film Socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, 2010) R2 UK New Wave Films

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

Flypaper [Blu-ray] (Klaus Hoch, 1999) IFC

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (Dmitry Vasyukov, 2010) R2 UK Second Sight Films

Infernal Affairs [Blu-ray] (Wai-keung Lau, 2002) Vivendi

Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Vol. 1 [Blu-ray] - Warner

Giorgio Moroder Presents Metropolis: Special Edition [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1927) Kino

My Fair Lady [Blu-ray] (George Cukor, 1964) Paramount

Outrage [Blu-ray] (Takeshi Kitano, 2010) RB UK Optimum

La Piscine [Blu-ray] (Jacques Deray, 1969) RB UK Park Circus

Quadrophenia [Blu-ray] (Franc Roddam, 1979) RB UK Universal

Quadrophenia [Blu-ray] (Franc Roddam, 1979) RB DE Universal

Reach For The Sky (Lewis Gilbert, 1956) VCI

The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939) - Criterion

The Rules of the Game [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1939) - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Secret Beyond the Door... (Fritz Lang, 1947) R2 UK Exposure Cinema

Silent Running [Blu-ray] (Douglas Trumbull, 1971) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

Silent Running Steelbook [Blu-ray] (Douglas Trumbull, 1971) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Son of No One [Blu-ray] (Dito Montiel, 2011) RB DE Studio Canal

Three Colors Trilogy (Krzysztof Kieślowski - Blue, White, Red) - Criterion

Three Colors Trilogy [Blu-ray] (Krzysztof Kieślowski - Blue, White, Red) - Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW) (BEAVER REVIEW) (BEAVER REVIEW)

Touch of Evil [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1958) RB UK Masters of Cinema (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Tree (Julie Bertuccelli, 2010) Zeitgeist Films

The Weird World of Blowfly [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Furmanski, 2010) E1 Entertainment

West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition [v] (Robert Wise, 1961) MGM (BEAVER REVIEW)

West Side Story: 50th Anniversary Edition Box Set [Blu-ray] (Robert Wise, 1961) MGM (BEAVER REVIEW)

 

November 21st, 2011

 

12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957) - Criterion

12 Angry Men [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1957) - Criterion

ESPN 30 for 30 Collector's Set [Blu-ray] - Team Marketing

The Big Picture [Blu-ray] (Eric Lartigau, 2010) UK Artificial Eye

The Birth of a Nation [Blu-ray] (D.W. Griffith, 1915) Kino

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (Göran Olsson, 2011) R2 UK Soda Pictures

Body Puzzle (Lamberto Bava, 1992) Raro

The Coen Brothers Collection [Blu-ray] - Universal Pictures UK

Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) - R2 UK Artificial Eye

Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa, 1975) R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Devil's Double [Blu-ray] (Lee Tamahori, 2011) Lions Gate

Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: Extended Edition [Blu-ray] - Music Box Films

Godzilla Vs Megalon [Blu-ray] (Jun Fukuda, 1973) Tokyo Shock

Helldriver [Blu-ray] (Yoshihiro Nishimura, 2010) Well Go USA

Miklós Jancsó Box Set (3 Films) [DVD] - My Way Home (1964) , The Red & The White (1967)and The Round-Up (1969) - R2 UK Second Run

Perry Mason: Season 6 V.2 - Paramount

Phantom of the Opera [Blu-ray] (Rupert Julian, 1925) RB UK Park Circus

Rushmore [Blu-ray] (Wes Anderson, 1998) - Criterion

Sarah's Key [Blu-ray] (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, 2010) Weinstein

A Separation [Blu-ray] (Asghar Farhadi, 2011) RB UK Artificial Eye

Super 8 [Blu-ray] (J.J. Abrams, 2011) Paramount Pictures

These Amazing Shadows [Blu-ray] (Paul Mariano, Kurt Norton, 2011) PBS

Tetsuo: The Bullet Man [Blu-ray] (Shin'ya Tsukamoto, 2009) RB DE Koch Media

The Theo Angelopoulos Collection Vol 1 - 5 Discs - Days of '36 (1972) The Travelling Players (1975) and The Hunters (1977) R2 UK Artificial Eye

The Three Colours Trilogy [Blu-ray] (Blue, White, Red, Krzysztof Kieslowski) RB UK Artificial Eye

Venga a prendere il caffè da noi (Alberto Lattuada, 1970) Raro

Way Down East [v] (D.W. Griffith, 1920) Kino

Whisper of the Heart [Blu-ray] (Yoshifumi Kondô, 1995) RB UK Optimum

 

November 28th, 2011

 

Another Earth [Blu-ray] (Mike Cahill, 2011) Fox Home Entertainment

The Art of Getting By [Blu-ray] (Gavin Wiesen, 2011) 20th Century Fox

Barfly [Blu-ray] (Barbet Schroeder, 1987) RB DE Koch Media

Barton Fink [Blu-ray] (Coen bros., 1991) RB DE Universal

Cave of Forgotten Dreams [Blu-ray] (Werner Herzog, 2010) MPI

Chillerama [Blu-ray] (Adam Green, 2011) Image Entertainment

Futureworld [Blu-ray] (Richard T. Heffron, 1976) RB DE Koch Media

Guilty of Romance [Blu-ray] (Shion Sono, 2011) RB UK Eureka

Horror Express [Blu-ray] (Eugenio Martín, 1972) Severin

Mildred Pierce [Blu-ray] (Todd Haynes , 2011) Region FREE UK HBO

Poetry [Blu-ray] (Chang-dong Lee, 2010) RB UK Entertainment One / Arrow

Reel Injun (Neil Diamond, 2009) Lorber Films

Eclipse Series 30: Sabu! (Elephant Boy, 1937 - The Drum, 1938 - Jungle Book, 1942) - Criterion

The Six Million Dollar Man: Season 1 - MCA

The Tin Drum [Blu-ray] (Volker Schlöndorff, 1979) RB UK Arrow

 

 
     
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