Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF November 23rd, 2009

 

This Week's Highlights

Jai jinendra! - 18 new reviews and/or comparisons this week. Criterion and Masters of Cinema DVDs and Blu-rays plus a wildly divergent digital mixture from Sly Stallone to Frank Borzage, Mexican Horror to dysfunctional French Festivities, another Milestone's war masterpiece to a 12-year-old Natalie Portman 'hit-girl', Joseph Losey to Robbe-Grillet, Ron Howard to Terence Davies, Mick Jagger to James Brown, the Golden Age of TV to a wandering blind female samurai...... We have many Calendar Updates, a BIG 50% OFF Criterion Sale, another contest (with two good prizes) and more (yes, more)...

The DVDBeaver was interviewed on Movie Miser HERE (fame has always eluded me till now)

NEW HOMEPAGE - you may have noticed a leaner, less-cluttered look to the DVDBeaver Hompage. Current reviews are listed in the left table and Calendar information on the right. It loads MUCH faster and is easier to update. Other may prefer the 'What's New' page.

FEATURE DVD and Blu-ray chosen for November 2009 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!)

November 23rd CONTEST - identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a brand NEW Criterion DVD Bergman Island and Karloff & Lugosi Horror - Best of luck all!

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NOTE:_

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

  CRITERION SALE

Wings of Desire (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Howards End (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Gomorrah (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (37% OFF!)
Kagemusha- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Seventh Seal (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
A Christmas Tale (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (32% OFF!)
Wages of Fear [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Che (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (32% OFF!)
8 1/2 (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (32% OFF!)
Playtime- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
For All Mankind- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
In the Realm of the Senses [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Chungking Express [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Last Year at Marienbad [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Repulsion- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Paris, Texas (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (32% OFF!)
Bottle Rocket: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (32% OFF!)
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival - Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Last Emperor [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Pierrot Le Fou - Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Last Metro [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)

The 400 Blows [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Man Who Fell to Earth [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Monsoon Wedding (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
El Norte (Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Dr. Strangelove [Blu-ray] (44% OFF!)
Jimi Plays Monterey & Shake! Otis At Monterey- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
2001: A Space Odyssey [Blu-ray] (67% OFF!)
North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book) [Blu-ray] (43% OFF!)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
Gone with the Wind (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (67% OFF!)
Monterey Pop- Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] (50% OFF!)
The Wizard of Oz (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (49% OFF!)
Casablanca (Ultimate Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] (40% OFF!)

UP to 59% OFF over 350 Blu-rays at Amazon Canada

46 Blu-rays at $9.99 or less at Amazon

The Blu-ray Blitz at Amazon UK--Up to 70% Off HERE

60% OFF OVER 100 Blu-rays HERE

***

And there is Up to 70% OFF UK Blu-rays HERE

Amazon Blu-ray Blowout HERE

The Movies & TV Boxed Set Sale (up to 60% OFF!)

Blu-rays half price at Amazon UK HERE

• WORLD CINEMA SALE STILL ON - UP To 70% OFF HERE

• SALES: US Blu-ray up to 53% OFF        

•  Amazon France Blu-ray SALE (BUY 1 get 1 FREE!)

LATEST ADDITIONS to the Calendar: (PRE-ORDER & save!):

Hunger (Steve McQueen, 2008) Criterion Collection
Hunger [
Blu-ray] (Steve McQueen, 2008) Criterion Collection
Lola Montes (Max Ophuls, 1955) Criterion Collection
Lola Montes [
Blu-ray] (Max Ophuls, 1955) Criterion Collection

Revanche (Götz Spielmann, 2008) Criterion Collection
Revanche [
Blu-ray] (Götz Spielmann, 2008) Criterion Collection

Eclipse Series 20: George Bernard Shaw on Film (Major Barbara, Caesar and Cleopatra and Androcles and the Lion) Criterion Collection

Make Way for Tomorrow (Leo McCarey, 1937) Criterion Collection

TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: Sci-Fi Adventures (Them! / The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms / World Without End / Satellite in the Sky) Turner

Scent of A Woman (Dino Risi, 1974) Hens Tooth Video Movies

Women in Trouble [Blu-ray] (Sebastian Gutierrez, 2009) Screen Media

Laura (David Hamilton, 1979) Jef Films

An Englishman in New York (Richard Laxton, 2009) Breaking Glass Pictures

Bliss (Abdullah Oguz, 2007) First Run Features

Spaghetti Western Bible Vol. 4 Trinity 10 Film Collection - Asia Vision

Goodbye Gemini (Alan Gibson, 1970) Scorpion Releasing

British Cinema Drama Collection (The Rough and the Smooth, The Scamp, Grand National Night, Kill Me Tomorrow) VCI Entertainment

Action Man Collection (Action Man, Peking Blonde, The Big Game and The Day of the Wolves) VCI Entertainment

Island of Desire aka: Saturday Island (Stuart Heisler, 1952) VCI Entertainment

Dogtown and Z-Boys [Blu-ray] (Stacy Peralta, 2001) Sony Pictures

Pandorum [Blu-ray] (Christian Alvart, 2009) Starz / Anchor Bay

Wushu (Antony Szeto, 2008) Lions Gate

The Hurt Locker [Blu-ray] (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008) Summit Entertainment

Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009) Sony Pictures

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus [Blu-ray] (Terry Gilliam, 2009) R'B' UK - Lionsgate

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs [Blu-ray] (Phil Lord + Chris Miller, 2009) Sony

Import/Export (Ulrich Seidl, 2007) Tartan Video

La Cucina [Blu-ray] (Allison R. Hebble + Zed Starkovich, 2007) Anthem Pictures

Endgame (Pete Travis, 2009) Monterey Home Video

Spiral [Blu-ray] (Adam Green + Joel Moore, 2007) Anchor Bay/Starz

The Man from Earth [Blu-ray] (Richard Schenkman, 2007) Anchor Bay/Starz

The Lost [Blu-ray] (Chris Sivertson, 2006) Anchor Bay/Starz

He Was a Quiet Man [Blu-ray] (Frank A. Cappello, 2007) Anchor Bay/Starz

The Escapist (Robert Wyatt, 2008) IFC

Soul Power [Blu-ray] (Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, 2008) Sony Pictures

The Battle Of Chile (Patricio Guzman, 1975) Icarus Films

36 (Olivier Marchal, 2004) Tartan Video

Finding Nemo [Blu-ray] (Andrew Stanton, 2003) RB UK Walt Disney

Planet Hulk [Blu-ray] (Greg Pak, 2010) Lions Gate Home Ent

That Kind of Girl [Blu-ray] (Gerry O'Hara, 1963) R'B' UK BFI

Permissive [Blu-ray] (Lindsay Shonteff, 1970) R'B' UK BFI

Privilege [Blu-ray] (Peter Watkins, 1967) R'B' UK BFI

Women From The Lake Of Scented Souls (Fei Xie, 1993) R2 UK Escapi

Going To School with Dad On My Back (Youchao Zhou, 1998) R2 UK Escapi

The Girl in the Park (David Auburn, 2007) Weinstein Company

Best Foreign Language Film 8-Pack - Indochine (1992), Burnt by the Sun (1994),Character (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Nowhere in Africa (2002), The Lives of Others (2006) and The Counterfeiters (2007) - Sony Pictures

The Jean-Jacques Beineix Box Collection - Cinema Libre Distribution

Bellamy (Claude Chabrol, 2009) AIS

White Out (2008, David B. Grelck) R Squared Films

Flame & Citron (Ole Christian Madsen, 2008) IAS

Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009) Warner Home Video
Terminator Salvation (Director's Cut) [
Blu-ray] (McG, 2009) Warner Home Video

Storm (Hans-Christian Schmid, 2009) Film Movement

The Brothers Bloom [Blu-ray] (Rian Johnson, 2008) Summit Entertainment

Black Dynamite [Blu-ray] (Scott Sanders, 2009) Sony Pictures

The Phantom [Blu-ray] (Simon Wincer, 1996) Lions Gate

Phantom of the Paradise [Blu-ray] (Brian De Palma, 1974) R'B' FR Opening

 

Region FREE Blu-ray Player
  The incredible Oppo Digital BDP-83 Blu-ray marvel is now available for online ordering... HERE (REGION FREE FIRMWARE AVAILABLE NOW)

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey):  I'm still on a high from Masters of Cinema's tasty Blu-ray of Soul Power. Wowser. You gotta see and hear this gem. But there are plenty of other titles to consider this week. I was very keen on Criterion's The Golden Age of Television - take a step back in time with a hunk'a pie from the diner. Both Criterion Blu-rays - Arnaud Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale and one of the greatest rock film ever made; Gimme Shelter both deserve your attention. VCI's A Walk in the Sun may be an imperfect DVD but the film itself IS perfect - great value there. BFI are offering important works with the Terence Davies Collection and Frank Borzage Vol 1 and 2. It's hard to dismiss Leon - The Professional and the new US hi-def treatment is the way to watch it. Angel Heart still has this creepy Bayou-esque appeal - makes me want a Jambalaya. I was well entertained by Dan Brown's over-the-top Angels & Demons - another Howard/Hanks combo platter (didn't think I could squeeze in any more eating references eh?). Gregory has whet my appetite to see Losey's 'M' - even looking this unsavory. Eric has similarly peaked my desires with Robbe-Grillet's Gradiva's forbidden fruit. Leonard shown us the light with the region 'B'-locked Blu-ray of The Dam Busters - and I may be a little itchy for Ichi. Rocky may have to pound sides of beef somewhere else though.

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Angels & Demons BR - Langdon uses his knowledge of Illuminati symbols to follow the trail though four Rome churches. He has uncanny luck. He spots and correctly identifies every clue, even though they're very well-hidden. Just as well, because one dungeon overlooked or one statue pointing the wrong way, and he loses. For his companion, Langdon has the beautiful and brilliant Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer) from CERN. Her father was murdered in the anti-matter theft. Her purpose is (a) to explain that the battery will indeed run down, (b) request her father's secret journals from Geneva, although they are never read, and (c) run along everywhere with Tom Hanks, to provide him with urgent conversation. Blu-ray Release date: November 24th, 2009

Soul Power BR - Soul Power is a vérité documentary – compiled entirely from footage shot in 1974 – of the astonishing back-to-Africa 3-day music festival “Zaire ‘74”. It was held in Kinshasa ahead of the biggest boxing event of all time: the Muhammad Ali–George Foreman “Rumble in the Jungle”. Directed by Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, editor of Leon Gast’s Oscar-winning (Best Documentary) When We Were Kings, and sourced from the same archival pool, Soul Power features a legendary line-up of African and African-diaspora musicians – all of whom are at the very peak of their creative powers. Alongside Ali’s wit and wisdom – profoundly lyrical in its own right – vibrant street scenes of downtown Kinshasa, and “fly-on-the-wall” footage of the festival’s staging, rehearsals, and jams, the three nights of concerts (lensed by Albert Maysles and a host of other legendary cameramen) offer electrifying performances by James Brown, B.B. King, Bill Withers, Sister Sledge, Miriam Makeba, The Spinners, Big Black, The Crusaders, Celia Cruz, and many more. Blu-ray and DVD Release Date: November 20th, 2009

The Dam Busters BR - At one time seemingly up as a candidate for culting by those who found the surrounding footage of Pink Floyd: The Wall to taste (this was the movie playing incessantly on Pink's TV). Anderson and RC Sherriff's tribute to Barnes Wallis (inventor of World War II's bouncing bomb) and Wingco Guy Gibson (who spearheaded their use in destroying strategically-important Ruhr dams) slips some thoughtful reservations and some gross sentimentality into its bouncing bombast. With its final cost-counting, it contorts the stiff upper lip into something like a deathly grimace. Blu-ray Release Date: September 21st, 2009

A Walk in the Sun - One of the best movies to have come out of World War II literately scripted by Robert Rossen from Harry Brown's fine novel, and making marvelous use of the repetitive rhythms of GI banter (with the cheery Conte's Nobody dies!, for instance, gradually assuming the quality of an ironic incantation). Discreet, dispassionate, and subtly poetic, it traces the experiences, through one brief action, of an infantry platoon which 'came across the sea to sunny Italy and took a little walk in the sun'. Characterization is sharp and simple, the focus kept strictly to the immediate realities of fear and boredom, so that there is none of the special pleading of Milestone's earlier All Quiet on the Western Front. Here messages are left to take care of themselves, although the introspective Ireland's habit of composing letters to his sister in his head is used more than once to subversive effect. 'We just blew a bridge and took a farmhouse' he begins after the action in which a lot of his platoon died, 'It was easy...so terribly easy': a rare acknowledgement at that time of every soldier's innocently selfish joy that he didn't die. DVD Release Date: November 24th, 2009

Gimme Shelter BR - Called the greatest rock film ever made, this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour. When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway, Direct Cinema pioneers David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin were there to immortalize on film the bloody slash that transformed a decade’s dreams into disillusionment. Blu-ray Release Date: December 1st, 2009

Leon - The Professional BR - Besson seems fascinated by the "Pygmalion" story, by the notion of a feral street person who is transformed by education. He crosses that with what seems to be an obsession with women who kill as a profession. These are interesting themes, and if "The Professional" doesn't work with anything like the power of "La Femme Nikita," it is because his heroine is 12 years old, and we cannot persuade ourselves to ignore that fact. It colors every scene, making some unlikely and others troubling. Blu-ray Release Date: November 17th, 2009

A Christmas Tale BR - In Arnaud Desplechin’s beguiling A Christmas Tale (Un conte de Noël), Catherine Deneuve brings her legendary poise to the role of Junon, matriarch of the troubled Vuillard family, who come together at Christmas after she learns she needs a bone marrow transplant from a blood relative. That simple family reunion setup, however, can’t begin to describe the unpredictable, emotionally volatile experience of this film, an inventive, magical drama that’s equal parts merriment and melancholy. Unrequited childhood loves and blinding grudges, brutal outbursts and sudden slapstick, music, movies, and poetry, A Christmas Tale ties it all together in a marvelously messy package. Blu-ray Release date: December 1st, 2009

The Golden Age of Television - The hugely popular live American television plays of the 1950s have become the stuff of legend. Combining elements of theater, radio, and filmmaking, they were produced at a moment when TV technology was growing more mobile and art was being made accessible to a newly suburban postwar demographic. These astonishingly choreographed, brilliantly acted, and socially progressive “teleplays” constituted an artistic high for the medium, bringing Broadway-quality drama to all of America. The award-winning programs included in this box set—originally curated for PBS in the early 1980s as the series The Golden Age of Television, featuring recollections from key cast and crew members—were conceived by such up-and-comers as Rod Serling and John Frankenheimer and star the likes of Paul Newman, Mickey Rooney, Rod Steiger, Julie Harris, and Piper Laurie. DVD Release Date: November 24th, 2009

The Curse of the Crying Woman - Recently married Amelia (Rosa Arenas) travels with her new husband Jaime (producer Abel Salazar, THE BRAINIAC) to the remote mansion of her Aunt Selma (Rita Macedo) after several years without seeing her. Unbeknownst to the newlweds, Aunt Selma moonlights as an eyeless specter who causes a series of deaths in the area with the help of a knife-throwing maniac (also her handyman) and her three mastiffs and that Amelia figures into her plan to resurrect the corpse of The Crying Woman (whose skeleton currently resides in the basement torture chamber) at midnight. Adapted to film at least three times prior, the legend of La Llorona tells of a woman who murdered her own children to be with the man she loved only to subsequently be rejected by him causing her ghost to wander in search of her own children. That backstory has largely been dispensed giving the woman little reason for wailing since she's your standard witch (but negative-printed flashbacks used to illustrate her hellish past utilize excerpts from THE BRAINIAC and WORLD OF THE VAMPIRES). DVD Release Date: November 23, 2009

Ichi - ICHI is a variation on the long-running ZATOICHI blind swordsman series with a wandering blind female protagonist Ichi (Haruka Ayase) in search of her teacher. After she decimates three members of the notorious Banki gang, she is joined by Toma (Takao Osawa), a reticent samurai who endeavored to save her before she took matters in hand. Ichi and Toma arrives in a small village living in fear of the Banki gang. Disfigured rogue samurai Banki sends his men after the samurai who killed three of his men. The men assume that Toma is the one responsible since the village has hired him to defend them. Banki's underestimation of Ichi enables her to help Toma and the village take on Banki's gang but Banki suggests to Ichi that he may know the man she is looking for and had also picked up learned enough from the blind swordsman to be a formidable rival.

The Terence Davies Collection - British director and screenwriter Terence Davies is noted for his highly personal and often autobiographical chronicles of British working class and the struggles they face in the post-WWII world. He first gained recognition for his TERENCE DAVIES TRILOGY (1976-1983), which is comprised of three black-and-white religious-themed short chronicles of daily life. The TRILOGY is included in this collection, along with Davies' later works DISTANT VOICES STILL LIVES (1988), THE LONG DAY CLOSES (1992), and OF TIME AND CITY (2008). DVD Release Date: Nov 16th, 2009

Frank Borzage Vol 1: Seventh Heaven + Street Angel - This is an exceptionally well-acted place of work and Janet Gaynor's performance as Diane is true and natural throughout. This young woman was discovered by Winfield R. Sheehan, general production manager for the Fox Film Corporation. Never once does she falter in her difficult task of reflecting the emotions of the character she portrays. There is no effort to make her unduly beautiful with a halo over her head. She is winsome from the moment one beholds her countenance. She can cry and smile simultaneously and she impresses one by her depiction of faith when every day at 11 o'clock she "meets" her Chico, who is in the trenches. DVD Release Date: October 26th, 2009

Frank Borzage Vol 2: Lucky Star + Liliom - With a prizewinning new score from Stuart Hancock, Borzage's long-lost wisp of a romance was made, like Blackmail, in both sound and silent versions (a silent print was rediscovered in the Netherlands Film Museum). It offers two fairytales for the price of one: while Gaynor's poor overburdened farm girl is given a Cinderella-like make-over by her seemingly platonic admirer Farrell, he in turn is abjuring his feelings for her, as the Beast did for Beauty, having come home a cripple from the Great War. His ultimate transformation, if taken literally, is hard to swallow these days; it's also far from clear what the villain of the piece thinks he's up to. Still, Borzage's romantic conception of love - as hard-won, shared innocence buffeting the world's ignorance and exploitation - is assuredly expressed, and the glancing realism of the war and family scenes gives it a firm grounding. DVD Release Date: October 26th, 2009

Rocky - The Undisputed Collection BR - Along with Star Wars many would consider Sylvester Stallone's Rocky films to be one of the screen's important iconic sagas. If popularity is a useful measure, then these movies, good, bad and fair, certainly qualify. It might be easy to forget just how much these films, from start to finish, are tied up its star, Sylvester Stallone, who had been knocking about Hollywood in small roles – take another look at Woody Allen’s Bananas if you don’t know about one of his earliest) until he landed a more significant role in Lords of Flatbush and later in Death Race 2000. But his screenplay for Rocky predated all this. Hardly a visible or pedigreed member of the Hollywood establishment, it was some while before Stallone could get the necessary backing. The next thing he or anyone knew, Rocky was an overnight sensation. Blu-ray Release date: November 3rd, 2009

M (1951) - It only required one viewing to realize that the ’51 M is a criminally undervalued film – for a variety of unfair reasons – and one of the very best noirs from that year, if not the best. Even if it was a turkey, it still would be essential viewing for the performances of its exceptional cast, the spectacularly shabby Los Angeles/Bunker Hill location settings of the period and the mesmerizing cinematography of Ernest Laszlo. It’s a near classic if not a full-fledged one, and one that complements the original’s vision and power as opposed to diminishing it, demonstrating pretty effectively that the social conditions which produced such a film in early 1930s Germany could be successfully transported to 1950s noir-era America.

Gradiva - GRADIVA is - along with BLUE VILLA - probably one of Robbe-Grillet's most accessible films due to its relatively wordy and straightforward plotting (here, the metafictional aspect of the memoirs seems more like a concession to arthouse ambiguity as was the mirroring of legend, fiction, and true crime in BLUE VILLA) and the familiarity of the backstory (which recalls Jensen's novel just as much as Jensen's novel recalls Theophile Gautier's ARRIA MARCELLA). DVD Release Date: August 25, 2009

Born of Fire - The film is stunningly photographed with beautiful Turkish location photography (it may be one of the most beautiful British horror films of the eighties) and effectively scored by underrated genre Colin Towns (FULL CIRCLE) with accompaniment by Kudsi Ergüner. The downside of the film is how talky it is for a film just over eighty minutes. Each and every strange hallucination or vision is then talked about and sometimes explained; Arabic mythology is very interesting but do we really need to know what a djinn is to make the appearances of mysterious black clad woman any more effective? DVD Release Date: October 27, 2009

I Love You Beth Cooper BR - Denis (sic) Cooverman (Pauk Rust) is about to give his big speech at his high school reunion. Denis is his school’s valedictorian, and our stumbling, nerdy, totally lacking in confidence antihero has decided to use this opportunity to say what he’s been unable to say or act upon in any way for years. We might think that to declare his love for someone who may not even know he exists in such a public forum would be a whole lot harder than to have said “hello” at any other time in the past but, as Denis sees it, he doesn’t want to go through the rest of his life regretting inaction. It’s a noble sentiment – one that most of can appreciate, at any age. Blu-ray Release date: November 3rd, 2009

Angel Heart BR - Mirroring the plot of Orson Welles’ “Mr. Arkadin” - where Mr. Arkadin employs Stratton to investigated his past, as Mr. Arkadin claims to be suffering from amnesia, so does Cyphre employ Angel to investigate Favourite’s past; and Angel is also suffering from amnesia. And, as in “Mr. Arkadin”, those of importance along his way are befallen by death. - “Angel Heart” is a strange blend of pulp detective story, giallo and horror. One would not credit Angel with neither intelligence nor detective skills, but he is in fact quiet an observant detective - the sequence with the ball-point pen reference still impresses me. It is also pretty obvious for most viewers that Louis Cyphre is the Devil. But why would the Devil ask someone to track a person down? The answer to that question is what is beneath the surface of the story and is what makes “Angel Heart” such a great film. Blu-ray Release Date: November 24th, 2009

 Next 2 weeks on the Calendar

Week of November 23rd, 2009

 

A Walk In The Sun (Lewis Milestone, 1945) VCI Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Four - Universal Studios

Angel Heart [Blu-ray] (Alan Parker, 1987) Lionsgate (BEAVER REVIEW)

Angels & Demons [Blu-ray] (Ron Howard, 2009) Sony Pictures (BEAVER REVIEW)

Art of Love (Walerian Borowczyk, 1983) Severin Films

Coco Before Chanel (Anne Fontaine, 2009) R'2 UK - Optimum

Coco Before Chanel [Blu-ray] (Anne Fontaine, 2009) R'B' UK - Optimum

Crossing Over [Blu-ray] (Wayne Kramer, 2009) R'B UK Entertainment in Video

Cujo (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] (Lewis Teague, 1983) Lionsgate

The Curse of the Crying Woman (Rafael Baledon, 1961) Synapse Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Encounters (Pat Kelman, 2005) Celebrity Video Distribution

Frailty [Blu-ray] (Bill Paxton, 2001) Lions Gate Home Entertainment

Funny People [Blu-ray] (Judd Apatow, 2009) Universal Studios (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Golden Age of Television - Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, 2008) Criterion Collection
Gomorrah [
Blu-ray] (Matteo Garrone, 2008) Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Green Fish (Chang-dong Lee, 1997) Pathfinder

House On Sorority Row (Mark Rosman, 1983) Liberation

Hunchback of the Morgue (Javier Aguirre, 1972) MYA Communications

Island Etude (Huai-en Chen, 2007) Vanguard Cinema

The Maiden Heist (Peter Hewitt, 2009) Sony Pictures

The Monster Squad [Blu-ray] (Fred Dekker, 1987) Lionsgate

My Brilliant Career [Blu-ray] (Gillian Armstrong, 1979) Blue Underground

The Peter Pan Formula (Chang-ho Cho, 2005) Pathfinder

Queen To Play (Caroline Bottaro, 2009) Liberation

The Rebirth (Masahiro Kobayashi, 2007) Facets

Seventy-8 (Erik Clapp, 2004) R Squared Films

Silent Scream (Denny Harris, 1980) Scorpion Entertainment (BEAVER REVIEW)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 2-disc DVD (David Hand, 1937) Walt Disney Studios

The Sopranos: The Complete First Season [Blu-ray] - HBO

Superman: The Complete Animated Series (8-disc) - Warner Home Video

Three Monkeys (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2008) Zeitgeist Films

Tora-San: Collector's Set 1 (Yoji Yamada , first four films of the series) Animeigo

The Way of the Gun [Blu-ray] (Christopher McQuarrie, 2000) Lions Gate (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Complete Lone Wolf & Cub Boxset - R2 UK Eureka

 

 

Week of November 30th, 2009

 

A Christmas Tale (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008) - Criterion Collection

A Christmas Tale [Blu-ray] (Arnaud Desplechin, 2008) - Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Bellamy (Claude Chabrol, 2009) AIS

Best Foreign Language Film 8-Pack - Indochine (1992), Burnt by the Sun (1994),Character (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Nowhere in Africa (2002), The Lives of Others (2006) and The Counterfeiters (2007) - Sony Pictures

Boom (Joseph Losey, 1968) - R2 UK Second Sight

Flame & Citron (Ole Christian Madsen, 2008) IAS

Gambit (Ronald Neame, 1966) - R2 UK Second Sight

The Girl in the Park (David Auburn, 2007) Weinstein Company

Going To School with Dad On My Back (Youchao Zhou, 1998) R2 UK Escapi

The Green Mile [Blu-ray] (Frank Darabont, 1999) Warner

Into the Storm (Thaddeus O'Sullivan, 2009) HBO Home Video

The Jean-Jacques Beineix Box Collection - Cinema Libre Distribution

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels [Blu-ray] (Guy Ritchie, 1998) Universal Home Video

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian [Blu-ray] (Shawn Levy, 2009) - 20th Century Fox

Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009) R2 UK - Optimum

Orphan [Blu-ray] (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009) R'B' UK - Optimum (BEAVER REVIEW)

Paper Heart [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Jasenovec, 2009) Anchor Bay

Phantom of the Paradise [Blu-ray] (Brian De Palma, 1974) R'B' FR Opening

The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter [Blu-ray] (Maysles brothers, 1970) - Criterion Collection (BEAVER REVIEW)

Secondhand Lions [Blu-ray] (Tim McCanlies, 2003) - New Line Home Video

Snatch [Blu-ray] (Guy Ritchie, 2000) Sony

Agantuk aka The Stranger (Satyajit Ray, 1991) R2 UK Mr. Bongo

Terminator Salvation (McG, 2009) Warner Home Video
Terminator Salvation (Director's Cut) [
Blu-ray] (McG, 2009) Warner Home Video

To Hell and Back (Jesse Hibbs, 1955) - R2 UK Second Sight

White Out (2008, David B. Grelck) R Squared Films

 
     
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