DVDBeaver Newsletter - November 17th, 2008
Salam aleykum! - 19 new reviews this week - Sirk and Murnau comparisons, 2 vintage Warner boxsets, Disney, Oliver Stone, a Spaghetti Western and lots of Blu-ray. Plus some calendar updates, sales, announcements and much more...
NOVEMBER 17th CONTEST - identify this CLIP to win a brand new Blu-ray of Kung Fu Panda Best of luck all!
FEBRUARY CRITERIONs ANNOUNCED:
The Exterminating Angel, The Luis Buñuel, 1962, Simon of the
Desert, Luis Buñuel, 1965, Shadows, John Cassavetes, 1959,
Faces, John Cassavetes, 1968 and Hobson's Choice,
David Lean, 1954
Criterion Blues - Criterion have pushed back the dates for their Blu-rays... :
DECEMBER
16th:
Chungking Express
[Blu-ray]
(Wong Kar-wai, 1994),The
Third Man [Blu-ray]
(Carol Reed, 1949),
Bottle Rocket
[Blu-ray]
(Wes Anderson, 1996) and
The Man Who Fell to Earth
[Blu-ray]
(Nicolas Roeg, 1976)
JANUARY 6th: The Last Emperor [Blu-ray] (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)
Amazon and Sony are offering incredible values on high definition products such as Blu-ray players and movies, as well as PlayStation 3 consoles, games, and accessories. HERE
BLU-RAY SALE STILL ON - AS LOW AS $13.95 HERE
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BLU-RAY STORE HIGH DEFINITION DVD STORE ALL OUR Blu-Ray REVIEWS
Easiest way to catch up is simply read the new Newsletter Archive HERE.
LATEST Additions to the
Release Calendar
(PRE-ORDER and save!):
Bangkok Dangerous
[Blu-ray]
(Danny Pang, 2008) Lions Gate
PTU
[Blu-ray]
(Johnny To, 2003) Mei Ah
King Kong
[Blu-ray]
(Peter Jackson, 2005) Universal
The Paradine Case
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1947) MGM
Friday Night Lights
[Blu-ray]
(Peter Berg + Josh Pate, 2004) Universal Studios
Infernal Affairs I II III
(3pc) [Blu-ray]
- Mega Star
The Outrage
(Martin Ritt, 1964) Warner
Tropic Thunder
(Unrated Director's Cut)(Ben Stiller, 2008) Dreamworks Video
Tropic Thunder
[Blu-ray]
(Unrated Director's Cut)(Ben Stiller, 2008) Dreamworks Video
Silence of The Sea
(Vahid Mousaian, 2004) Pathfinder
The Quare Fellow
(Arthur Dreifuss, 1962) VM Inc.
Ghost in the Shell, Vol. 2:
Innocence
[Blu-ray]
(Mamoru Oshii, 2004) Bandai
Iowa
(Matt Farnsworth, 2005) Koch Vision
The Sea Inside
(Alejandro Amenábar, 2004) New Line Home Video
Diary
(Oxide Pang Chun, 2006) Image Entertainment
Days and Clouds
(Silvio Soldini, 2007) Film Movement
The Masterworks Of Rokuro
Mochizuki
– Artsmagic
Becoming Charley Chase
(4-disc) – Facets
The Family Way
(Roy Boulting, 1966) Wham!
What Just Happened?
(Barry Levinson, 2008) Magnolia
What Just Happened?
[Blu-ray]
(Barry Levinson, 2008) Magnolia
S.P.L.
[Blu-ray]
(Wilson Yip, 2005) Deltamac
Hulk Vs.
[Blu-ray]
– LionsGate
Erendira Ikikunari
(Juan Mora Catlett, 2006) Facets
Humboldt County
(Darren Grodsky, 2008) Magnolia
My Name Is Bruce [Blu-ray] (Bruce Campbell, 2007) Image Entertainment
NEW REVIEWS:
ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): There were a few items that we were really keen on this week. The Warner Homefront Collection is a gosh-golly-neat-o nostalgic Americana package with singing, dancing and RARARA!. Yes, worthy of the exhausting hype is WALL•E BR. Restored and now in 1080P, A Fistful of Dollars BR, is a very desirable transfer. Encounters at the End of the World BR looks so impressive and is a super Herzog documentary. Sirk's The Tarnished Angels looks better than ever in the new Carlotta edition - plus some extras in English! Like the film itself the package of Stone's JFK BR is filled to the brim with endless information to sift through.
IF YOU LEAN THAT WAY: Tropic Thunder BR is very amusing and looks exceptional. I'm not adamantly against the 'upgrade' to the old Star Trek Season Three. Unique, cool and very watchable is I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay BR. Leonard is endorsing Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. An imperfect transfer but Memento BR has never looked better. An imperfect film, IMO, Awake BR has some merit.
PASS: Sex Machine is really just rubbish with a naked Asian gal (who isn't Sora Aoi), and with the lack of extras and weak interlaced transfer of Holiday Affair, one may wish to think twice about Warner Classic Holiday DVD Collection Vol. Murnau fans should move on from Kino's version of The Last Laugh. MoC is the way to go...
New Reviews:
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
BR - Four women of different backgrounds
(and shapes, near as I can tell) met in college in the first movie and now they
are about to head off into their separate odysseys. A single pair of well worn
jeans that all of them can fit into is shipped from one to the other to be worn
as good luck and a reminder of their sisterhood, something that being caught up
in their various dramas can get in the way of. Blu-ray
Release date: November 18, 2008
Encounters at the End of the World
BR - Welcome to Antarctica – like you’ve
never experienced it. You’ve seen the extraordinary marine life, the retreating
glaciers and, of course, the penguins, but leave it to award-winning
iconoclastic filmmaker Werner Herzog to be the first to explore the South Pole’s
most fascinating inhabitants … humans. In this one-of-a-kind documentary, Herzog
turns his camera on a group of remarkable individuals, “professional dreamers”
who work, play and struggle to survive in a harsh landscape of mesmerizing,
otherworldly beauty – perhaps the last frontier on earth.
Blu-ray Release date: November 18, 2008
Firefly - the Complete Series
BR - After Richard Blaine ran guns for the
losing side against the Nazi's in Ethiopia, then fought on the side of the
Loyalists in Spain – he spent a=some while in Paris until the Germans marched
in. Licking his political and emotional wounds, he opened a saloon in Casablanca
where he expected to sit out the rest of the war as a certified cynic. Malcolm
Reynolds fought on the losing side in a civil war 500 years from now, and after
the Alliance put everything back in order - albeit an insidious, bureaucratic
order, with more than a whiff of fascism about it – Mal became a criminal. While
Nathan Fillion is no Bogart, and Joss Whedon, as much as I admire him, is not
the Epsteins, the resemblance, even if unconscious, is both a plus and a
liability. We tend to root for the underdog, and when the hero is a little vague
about his own moral convictions – that makes him all the more interesting.
Blu-ray Release date: November 11th, 2008
Sex Machine - This comedic Pink film
(Japanese softcore) is filled with wild, athletic sex and absurd slapstick. It
tells the story of a freeloading slacker who moves in with his very limber,
single-mom girlfriend only to have duel it out with her jealous ex in a fierce
bout of cricket wrestling. DVD Release Date: November 18th, 2008
Star Trek 'original' Season Three - When Star Trek
debuted on NBC in 1966, it was not an immediate hit; ratings were low and
advertising revenue was lackluster. Even prior to the end of the first season of
Star Trek, there were already calls in the network for the cancellation of the
series due to its low Nielsen ratings. Bay area Creature Feature host John
Stanley in his memoir I Was a TV Horror Host relates how Desilu head Lucille
Ball at that time "single-handedly kept Star Trek from being dumped from the
NBC-TV lineup." DVD Release Date: November 18th, 2008
Warner Homefront Collection - Headlining
the collection is the first-ever WHV release of one of the biggest box-office
hits of the era, Irving Berlin’s This is the Army, starring Ronald Reagan,
George Murphy and Mr. Berlin himself, presented in its original roadshow format
for the first time since its opening engagements. The collection also contains
the long-awaited DVD debuts of two irresistible musical cavalcades featuring the
biggest WB stars trying their hands at musical entertainment in Thank Your Lucky
Stars and Hollywood Canteen. DVD Release Date: November 11th, 2008
I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay
BR - With his masterful, multi-award-winning
vengeance trilogy, Park Chan Wook won accolades at home and abroad, and became
the object of cult for many film fans, from the grindhouse aficionado to the
arthouse purist. Following the anger and violence of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and Old Boy, however, Park was ready for something
new - a romantic comedy, albeit one like no other. For his whimsically titled
I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, the director enlisted versatile actress Lim Soo
Jung (Lump Sugar, Tale of Two Sisters) and film newcomer Jung Ji Hoon, better
known to fans across Asia as Rain, as his mentally ill romantic leads. A cyborg
romantic comedy starring Rain? If anyone can pull it off, it's Park Chan Wook!
MirrorMask BR
- The White Queen sleeps and will not wake. Black shadows have fallen across her
kingdom. The balance between Dark and Light is broken and only the MIRRORMASK
can restore it. So Helena, a stranger in a strange land, embarks on an epic
quest to find the missing charm before darkness envelops the Dreamworld forever.
Written by award-winning fantasy writer Neil Gaiman, MirrorMask is a
phantasmagorical treat for the eyes and mind, a wondrous blend of live action
and CG animation, where strange, magical creatures dwell in a fantasy world of
unbridled imagination and scope, as told through the spectacular, cutting-edge
visuals of designer/director Dave McKean... Blu-ray
Release date: November 18, 2008
A Fistful of Dollars
BR - Clint Eastwood's legendary "Man With No Name" makes his
powerful debut in this thrilling, action-packed "new breed of western" (Motion
Picture Herald) from the acclaimed director of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
and For a Few Dollars More. Exploding with blistering shootouts, dynamic
performances and atmospheric cinematography, it's an undisputed classic of the
genre. A mysterious gunman (Eastwood) has just arrived in San Miguel, a grim,
dusty border town where two rival bands of smugglers are terrorizing the
impoverished citizens. A master of the "quick-draw,"the stranger soon receives
offers of employment from each gang. But his loyalty cannot be bought; he
accepts both jobs...and sets in motion a plan to destroy both groups of
criminals, pitting one against the other in a series of brilliantly orchestrated
setups, showdowns and deadly confrontations... Blu-ray
Release date: October 7th, 2008
JFK BR
- Well, do you know anyone who believes Lee Harvey Oswald acted all by himself
in killing Kennedy? I don't. I've been reading the books and articles for the
last 25 years, and I've not found a single convincing defense of the Warren
Commission report, which arrived at that reassuring conclusion. It's impossible
to believe the Warren report because the physical evidence makes its key
conclusion impossible: One man with one rifle could not physically have caused
what happened on Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas. If one man could not have, then there
must have been two. Therefore, there was a conspiracy...
Blu-ray Release date: November 11th, 2008
Tropic Thunder BR
- Pampered action superstar Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) is cast in the biggest,
most expensive war movie ever produced. He sets out to Southeast Asia with a
"Who's Who" of celebrity co- stars. They include Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey
Jr.), an intense, three-time Oscar-winning actor; Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black),
star of the popular gross-out comedy franchise "The Fatties"; multi-platinum
hip-hop-star-turned-entrepreneur-turned-actor Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson);
and first-timer Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel). Soon after the production begins
the actors are thrown into a real-life situation and are forced to become the
fighting unit they're portraying, in order to find a way out of the jungle in
one piece. Blu-ray Release date: November 18,
2008
WALL•E BR
- I think you'll agree that Pixar is not only the leading American animation
studio in purely technical terms, but and this goes some way to explain that
assertion it assumes the most mature audience. By "mature" I do not necessary
mean "adult." I mean " grown-up" - you know: when a person of just about any age
whose head is not stuck in the toilet nor requires that challenges be met across
a line drawn in the sand. It also means that character in both senses of the
word is as important as the story. This is why Dumbo and Pinocchio are the
classics they are, and it is why Wall-E may someday join them.
Blu-ray Release date: November 18, 2008
Warner Classic Holiday DVD Collection Vol. 2
- Four more yuletide classics from Warner Brothers. In Blossoms in the Dust (Mervyn
LeRoy, 1941, 99 mins.), an Oscar-nominated tear jerker, Greer Garson founds an
orphanage with her boundless love after losing her husband and child. It
Happened on 5th Avenue (Roy Del Ruth, 1947, 116 mins.), stars Victor Moore as a
tramp who takes refuge from the cold New York streets in a Fifth Avenue mansion
while the family is away. Feeling benevolent, he opens the doors to a hard-up
vet (Don DeFore) and a runaway (Gale Storm). Good old screwball fun ensues. Next
up, Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh star in Holiday Affair (Don Hartman, 1949, 86
mins.), a sentimental romance about a war widow with a young son who finds
herself torn between the affections of two men. Lastly, Rex Thompson and Patty
McCormack appear in All Mine to Give (Allen Reisner, 1957, 103 mins.), a quiet
family film about an orphaned boy who must overcome his family's tragedy in
order to find homes for his siblings during the cold Wisconsin winter. DVD
Release Date: November 11th, 2008
The Tarnished Angels - Douglas Sirk took a
vacation from Ross Hunter and Technicolor for this 1958 production, though he
retained Rock Hudson, who turns in an astonishingly good performance as a
journalist who finds himself fascinated by the sordid lives of a trio of
professional stunt fliers (Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, and Jack Carson). Based
on a minor novel by William Faulkner (Pylon), the film betters the book in every
way, from the quality of characterization to the development of the dark,
searing imagery. Made in black-and-white CinemaScope, the film doesn't survive
on television; it should be seen in a theater or not at all. Carlotta DVD
Release Date: November 2nd, 2008
Memento BR
- Point blank in the head a man shoots another. In flashbacks, each one earlier
in time than what we've just seen, the two men's past unfolds. Leonard, as a
result of a blow to the head during an assault on his wife, has no short-term
memory. He's looking for his wife's killer, compensating for his disability by
taking Polaroids, annotating them, and tattooing important facts on his body. We
meet the loquacious Teddy and the seductive Natalie (a barmaid who promises to
help), and we glimpse Leonard's wife through memories from before the assault.
Leonard also talks about Sammy Jankis, a man he knew with a similar condition.
Has Leonard found the killer? What's going on?...
The Last Laugh - A landmark work in the
history of the cinema, Der letzte Mann represents a breakthrough on a number of
fronts. Firstly, it introduced a method of purely visual storytelling in which
all intertitles and dialogue were jettisoned, setting the stage for a seamless
interaction between film-world and viewer. Secondly, it put to use a panoply of
technical innovations that continue to point distinct ways forward for cinematic
expression nearly a century later. It guides the silent cinema’s melodramatic
brio to its lowest abject abyss — before disposing of the tragic arc altogether.
The lesson in all this? That a film can be anything it wants to be… but only Der
letzte Mann (and a few unforgettable others) were lucky enough to issue forth
into the world under the brilliant command of master director F. W. Murnau.
Kino DVD package release Date: September 30th, 2008
Awake BR
- Do not believe anything you hear
about “Awake,” do not talk to anyone about it, and above all do not even glance
at the poster or ads, which criminally reveal a crucial plot twist. This movie,
which was withheld from critics, and has scored a pitiful 13 percent on the Tomatometer from those few who were able to see it, is a surprisingly effective
thriller. I went to a regular theater to see it Friday afternoon, knowing
nothing about it except that the buzz was lethal, and sat there completely
absorbed... Blu-ray Release date: November 18,
2008
Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh - It
must have been that 15 year period when I swore off TV that I missed this
adventure originally produced by Disney in the UK for his Wonderful World of
Color television show on NBC (having moved there from ABC for just that reason).
In fact, Dr. Syn, in both this TV movie and the feature film cut that came out
several years later, slipped under my radar altogether. The cool thing is that
in this new DVD edition, we are able to see the TV version (some 53 minutes
longer – and not a lame moment among them) in 1.66:1 as it was originally shot
and a 5.1 mix created for this DVD. Both cuts of the movie are included on this
2-disc set, and one that I can recommend without reservation. DVD Release
date: November 11, 2008
Next
2 weeks on the Calendar:
Week of November 17th, 2008
Abraham Lincoln (1931) / The Struggle (1931) (D.W. Griffith) Kino
The Avenging Conscience (D.W. Griffith, 1914) Kino
Awake [Blu-ray] (Joby Harold, 2007) Weinstein Company
The Bird People of China [Blu-ray]
(Takashi Miike, 1998) Arts Magic
Chungking Express
(Wong Kar-wai, 1994) Criterion
David Lynch The Lime Green Set (Eraserhead remastered, The Short Films of David Lynch, Blue Velvet (remixed 5.1), Wild at Heart, The Elephant Man, Dumbland, Industrial Symphony No. 1: The Dream of the Broken Hearted, Mystery Disc) - Synapse Films
Derek Jarman Collection (Sebastiane / The Tempest / War Requiem / Derek) Kino
Encounters at the End of the World [Blu-ray] (Werner Herzog, 2007) Image Entertainment
The Fan (Otto Preminger, 1949) R2 UK BFI
Fanfan la Tulipe (Christian-Jaque, 1952) Criterion
Forgotten Noir & Crime Vol 4: Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard; Radar Secret Service; Motor Patrol, Mr. District Attorney (1941); Western Pacific Agent; Highway 13, Treasure of Monte Cristo: Roaring City: Sky Liner - VCI
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Mamoru Hosoda, 2006) Bandai
Griffith Masterworks 2 ( Abraham Lincoln (1931) / The Struggle (1931), Way Down East, Sally Of The Sawdust, The Avenging Conscience and D.W. Griffith: Father Of Film) Kino
I Served the King of England (Jirí Menzel, 2006) R2 UK Arrow
Lucky Number Slevin [Blu-ray] (Paul McGuigan, 2006) Weinstein Company
Mirrormask [Blu-ray] (Dave McKean, 2005) Sony
The Complete Monty Pythons Flying Circus - Collectors Edition Megaset - A&E Home Video
Paris, je t'aime [Blu-ray] (Olivier Assayas, 2006) First Look Pictures
Partner (Bernardo Bertolucci , 1968) R2 UK BFI
Priceless [Blu-ray] (Pierre Salvadori, 2006) First Look Pictures
Pride & Prejudice [Blu-ray] (1995 Mini-Series) A&E Home Video
Quo Vadis [Blu-ray] (Mervyn LeRoy, Anthony Mann, 1951) Warner Home Video
Sally Of The Sawdust (D.W. Griffith, 1925) Kino
Star Trek: The Original Series Season Three Remastered - Paramount
The Stendhal Syndrome [Blu-ray] (Dario Argento, 1996) Blue Underground
Tropic Thunder (Unrated Director's Cut) (Ben Stiller, 2008) Dreamworks Video
Tropic Thunder [Blu-ray] (Unrated Director's Cut) (Ben Stiller, 2008) Dreamworks Video
Up the Yangtze (Yung Chang, 2007) Zeitgeist
Wall-E (2pc) [Blu-ray]
(Andrew Stanton, 2008) Disney
Wall-E (3pc) [Blu-ray]
(Andrew Stanton, 2008) Disney
Way Down East (D.W. Griffith, 1920) Kino
Week of November 24th, 2008
L'Argent (Marcel L'Herbier, 1928) R2 UK Masters of Cinema
Becket [Blu-ray]
(Peter Glenville, 1964) Mpi Home Video
Bottle Rocket
(Wes Anderson, 1996) Criterion
Diebuster [Blu-ray] (Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2004) Bandai
Hancock (Unrated) [Blu-ray] (Peter Berg, 2008) Sony Pictures
Jarhead [Blu-ray] (Sam Mendes, 2005) Universal
Just Sex and Nothing Else (Krisztina Goda, 2006) Bunyik
The Kingdom [Blu-ray] (Peter Berg, 2007) Universal
Lady with the Dog (Iosif Kheifits, 1960) Facets
Live at Monterey [Blu-ray] Experience Hendrix
Mahabharata (B.R. Chopra, Ravi Chopra, 1988) Image Entertainment
The Mark of Cain (Marc Munden, 2007) Revolver Entertainment
Moses und Aron (Danièle Huillet + Jean-Marie Straub, 1975) New Yorker
Pink Panther Ultimate Collection (18pc) MGM
Silence of The Sea (Vahid Mousaian, 2004) Pathfinder
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (Martin Ritt, 1965) Criterion
Straw Dogs [Blu-ray] (Sam Peckinpah,1971) RB UK Fremantle Home Entertainment
Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas, 2008) R2 UK Artificial Eye
"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." Albert Einstein
Best to YOU this week!
Gary