Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF November 26th, 2018

  This Week's Highlights
 
 

Güete Tag!, This week we have Blu-ray reviews of Ladd/Lake Noir, Ozploitation, Giallo, Silent, Neo-Noir, Documentary, TV titles by Arrow, Kino, Flicker Alley, VCI, Masters of Cinema, Shout! Factory, Second Sight, Universal, Twilight Time, Film Movement, Vinegar Syndrome. Our Calendar has new updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including February plus UK Criterions of films by Abbas Kiarostami, Seijun Suzuki, Burnett Charles Burnett, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Luchino Visconti, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Georges Méliès, Bob Fosse, Joseph H. Lewis, Desmond Davis, Tony Richardson, Julien Duvivier, Otto Preminger, Robert Aldrich, Jean Cocteau, Ingmar Bergman, Dennis Hopper, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kramer, David Byrne and more. We have our Feature Blu-ray is posted for NOVEMBER Enjoy!!

50% OFF Barnes and Noble Sales for all Criterion Blu-ray and DVDs HERE as well as all Arrow US titles HERE - treat yourself and save! Ingmar Bergman's Cinema (reviewed HERE) is still available at the 50% discounted price offered by Barnes + Noble HERE.

LISTING PAGES:

Ingmar Bergman's Cinema, HAGSPloitation, BLAXPloitation, OZPloitation, 'WOMEN IN PRISON' CINEMACREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!), PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!), SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!), HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!) The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!), The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!), Giallo on Blu-ray!, ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!, Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France), Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our LATEST ARTICLES: Movies From... the End of the World The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

Feature Blu-rays chosen for the Month of NOVOMBER!

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Gary at 2ze dot com

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

 

La vérité [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960) Criterion UK

24 Frames [Blu-ray] (Abbas Kiarostami, 2017) Criterion UK

Tokyo Drifter [Blu-ray] (Seijun Suzuki, 1966) Criterion UK (BEAVER REVIEW)

To Sleep with Anger [Blu-ray] (Charles Burnett, 1990) Criterion
La vérité [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1960) Criterion

Death in Venice [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1971) Criterion

Shame [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1968) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Berlin Alexanderplatz [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980) Criterion

Méliès: Fairy Tales in Color [Blu-ray] (Georges Méliès, 1899-1909) Flicker Alley

The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach [Blu-ray] (Danièle Huillet, Jean-Marie Straub, 1968) Grasshopper

All That Jazz [Blu-ray] (Bob Fosse, 1979) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

My Name Is Julia Ross [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) UK Arrow

My Name Is Julia Ross [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) Arrow

So Dark the Night [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946) Arrow UK

So Dark the Night [Blu-ray] (Joseph H. Lewis, 1946) Arrow US

Atoll K (a.k.a. Robinson Crusoeland) [Blu-ray] (Léo Joannon, 1951) RB UK BFI

Red, White and Zero (a.k.a. The White Bus) [Blu-ray] (Lindsay Anderson, 1967) RB UK BFI

Girl with Green Eyes [Blu-ray] (Desmond Davis, 1964) RB UK BFI

A Taste of Honey [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1961) RB UK BFI

Threads [Blu-ray] (Mick Jackson, 1984) RB UK BBC

The Mighty Peking Man [Blu-ray] (Meng Hua Ho, 1977) RB UK 88 Films (BEAVER REVIEW)

Panique [Blu-ray] (Julien Duvivier, 1946) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Under the Tree [Blu-ray] (Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2017) RB UK Eureka

Laura [Blu-ray] (Otto Preminger, 1944) RB UK Eureka

Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte [Blu-ray] (Robert Aldrich, 1964) RB UK Eureka

Rogue Male [Blu-ray] (Clive Donner, 1976) RB UK BFI

Orphée [Blu-ray] (Jean Cocteau, 1950) RB UK BFI

Sawdust and Tinsel [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sawdust and Tinsel [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1953) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): Martin Scorsese's documentary The Last Waltz on Blu-ray from The Masters of Cinema gets top nod this week - "the greatest rock concert movie ever made - and maybe the best rock movie, period". A Noir essential, The Blue Dahlia, gets a Shout! Factory Blu-ray release to compete with the existing Arrow. But the US one offers a commentary. Robert Altman's The Gingerbread Man comes to Blu-ray from Kino with a director commentary. I have always liked the film. Hirokazu Koreeda's The Third Murder - a complex death-sentence drama which tells of one man s hunt for the truth whilst investigating the murky events of a gruesome murder. - gets a Blu-ray release in Region 'A'. There are two Gialli on Blu-ray reviewed this week - Twilight Time's Short Night of the Glass Dolls and Arrow's Torso - both a keen part of the genre. The definitive Blu-ray of the Ozploitation classic Long Weekend gets a complete Blu-ray release from Second Sight. The iconic 60's Christmas tale, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, about uniqueness, conformity and acceptance - gets a notable Blu-ray upgrade in a reasonable, Region FREE, Universal Blu-ray 5 X-mas set. Must own. Flicker Alley bring us two Mary Pickford Silent Era film on separate Blu-rays; Fanchon the Cricket and Little Annie Rooney in beautiful, labor-of-love, packages. Interesting viewing is VCI's Television's Lost Classics Volume 2: Rare Pilots including work by Jacques Tourneur and a rare role from a young William Shatner. Max Allan Collins' Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life with insight from the prohibition era from the man who Dick Tracy was patterned after. Vinegar Syndrome released two horrors-to-Blu-ray surprises on Black Friday; 1980's The Children and 1983's Mausoleum. Our Blu-ray of the Year Poll is approaching and I was wondering what everyone thought of having a separate category for Boxsets?, a small category (say Top 5) for 4K UHD? and maybe shrinking of eliminating the DVD category? as they get so few votes. Your thoughts are appreciated!

"I do not always know what I want, but I do know what I don't want." - Stanley Kubrick

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  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life BD - Eliot Ness - the real-life gangbuster who brought down Al Capone tells his thrilling story as never before! From Robert Stack to Kevin Costner, Hollywood's glamorization doesn't compare. Max Allan Collins, whose graphic novel ROAD TO PERDITION became the Academy Award-winning Tom Hanks film, has brought his Edgar-nominated one-man show to the screen in a stylistic fashion. Star Michael Cornelison presents a riveting portrait of a heroic yet human Ness. From the prohibition era of crashing stills and bringing down crooked cops, to taking on racketeering rings and nabbing the nation's first serial killer, it's all here, thrilling and true. Blu-ray Release Date: October 23rd, 2018

The Children BD - Something is terrifyingly wrong with the children of Ravenback. After their school bus passes through a mysterious cloud of yellow smoke, the children are are transformed into bloodthirsty zombies with black fingernails which burn anything they touch. As parents and unwitting townspeople are burned to a crisp, the local police force frantically searches for the missing kids, unaware of their new and deadly powers… Blu-ray Release Date: November 23rd, 2018

Mausoleum BD - The Nomed Family has been the victim of an ancient curse in which the first born daughter of each generation has gone violently mad and then suspiciously dies. No one can explain the Nomed madness, but some say it’s because of the possession of a terrible demonic force. By way of an unnatural urge during her Mother’s funeral, Susan entered her family’s mausoleum, and ever since an evil presence has been lurking inside of her, waiting for a chance to come out. Now an adult, something is hiding inside Susan’s body, coming out to grotesquely murder anyone who comes too close to uncovering her terrifying secret. Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2018

The Gingerbread Man BD - Robert Altman directed this John Grisham tale that begins at a party where Savannah attorney Rick Magruder (Kenneth Branagh) celebrates his successful defense of a man who shot a local cop. The partygoers include his ex-wife Leeanne (Famke Janssen), the mother of his two children; his law partner Lois Harlan (Daryl Hannah); and caterer Mallory Doss (Embeth Davidtz). After Mallory finds her car stolen, Rick gives her a ride home where things turn sexual. Attracted to Mallory, he learns that her crazed father Dixon Doss (Robert Duvall) has been threatening her. Getting too closely involved with this woman he hardly knows, Rick has the police round up her unstable father, and he next subpoenas her ex-husband Pete (Tom Berenger) to testify against Dixon, who is institutionalized. Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2018

The Blue Dahlia BD - Ladd stars as Johnny Morrison, a disillusioned ex-servicemen who discovers the infidelities of his wife (Dowling) - he catches her kissing Eddie Harwood (De Silva), owner of the Blue Dahlia club - on the same night that she is murdered with his gun. Naturally he becomes prime suspect in the killing, not least because he'd pulled his gun on her before walking away. Unexpected help comes in the shape of Joyce Harwood (a sultry Lake), a woman with a surprising connection to the murder - she's Eddie's ex for starters. She lends a spot of glamour to what is otherwise a very dark tale. The Blue Dahlia is smartly plotted and unpredictable enough to keep the killer's identity a secret. Classy stuff. Shout! Factory Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2018

The Last Waltz BD - Martin Scorsese's documentary of the 1976 final performance of the legendary Sixties rock group The Band is at once a show featuring some of the greatest rock performers of their generation and a bittersweet look back at an era that was just beginning to fade. As Scorsese guides the group through interview segments discussing their 15 years together, these relatively young men sound like battle-weary survivors. But The Band were in splendid form for this show, and their multiple guest stars pulled out all the stops, especially Muddy Waters, whose "Mannish Boy" is so powerful it nearly burns a hole in the screen; Van Morrison, with a rousing performance of "Caravan;" and Bob Dylan, whose "Baby Let Me Follow You Down" displays the brilliant cockiness of his barnstorming days with this band. Blu-ray Release Date: November 12th, 2018

The Third Murder BD - Leading attorney Shigemori takes on the defense of murder-robbery suspect Misumi who served jail time for another murder 30 years ago. Shigemori's chances of winning the case seem low - his client freely admits his guilt, despite facing the death penalty if he is convicted. As he digs deeper into the case, as he hears the testimonies of the victim s family and Misumi himself, the once confident Shigemori begins to doubt whether his client is the murderer after all. Blu-ray Release Date: November 13th, 2018

Short Night of the Glass Dolls BD - Short Night of Glass Dolls (La Corta Notte delle Bambole di Vetro, 1971) is a mystery-heavy Giallo film, the début of director Aldo Lado. It stars Jean Sorel as an American reporter, trapped inside his apparently dead body, but still trying to decipher the disappearance of his beautiful girlfriend (Barbara Bach). Set in a Prague depicted as remarkably depraved, the film also stars the great Ingrid Thulin, and is highlighted by a stunning score from the one and only Ennio Morricone. Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2018

Fanchon the Cricket BD - Fanchon the Cricket, based on an adult fairy tale by George Sand, stars Mary Pickford as the title character, a strong-willed waif ostracized by acceptable society until she shows them the power of love and understanding. Directed by James Kirkwood and boasting exquisite cinematography by Edward Wynard, Fanchon the Cricket was filmed on location in Delaware Gap, Pennsylvania. A natural, sensual and uninhibited Pickford breaks through today s stereotype of her as the girl with the curls. It is also the only surviving film in which both siblings Jack Pickford and Lottie Pickford are featured alongside their sister. Blu-ray Release Date: November 20th, 2018

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer BD - Burl Ives narrates and sings Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - an iconic 60's Christmas tale about uniqueness, conformity and acceptance. Rudolph and his electric proboscis team-up with show-stealing Hermey (a wannabe Dentist) and larger-than-life, protective Yukon Cornelius. They battle the 'Abominable snowman' (called a 'Bumble' by our friend Yukon) in a search for a place to live without rejection... but instead we, the audience, find some real spirit and meaning in Holiday season. 'Magnificent' is an understatement. Blu-ray Release Date: October 16th, 2018

Long Weekend BD - Attempting to resurrect their failing marriage, Peter (John Hargreaves) and Marcia (Briony Behets) set out on a camping trip to a deserted stretch of the Australian coastline hoping a long weekend in the sunshine will help them patch their differences. They are a careless couple, littering the countryside with garbage, shooting guns and even driving away after wounding a kangaroo with their automobile. Their callous disregard for the environment soon becomes apparent when the animals start to seek vengeance. Marcia and Peter have proven themselves to be destroyers of nature. Will the animals allow them to leave or will they too be destroyed? Blu-ray Release date: November 5th, 2018

Little Annie Rooney BD - Mary Pickford plays a tomboy of the tenements in this comedy drama, which she also wrote. Filmed over ten weeks, Little Annie Rooney was shot entirely on a set created by art director John D. Schulze at the Pickford Fairbanks Studio. Co-starring William Haines and a wide-ranging, multi-ethnic cast, Little Annie Rooney met with huge critical and commercial success upon its original release, proving fans and critics alike wanted the then 33-year old Mary to stay a child forever. Blu-ray Release Date: November 20th, 2018

Television's Lost Classics Volume 2: Rare Pilots BD - This is a special series of lost classic programs from the Golden Age of TV. The series has been restored by SabuCat Productions from the best archival film elements available in high definition, some of the programs have not been seen since they were originally broadcast. Volume Two features 4 half-hour lost pilots with one directed by Jacques Tourneur, others starring Lon Chaney Jr., William Shatner etc. Blu-ray Release Date: September 11th, 2018

Torso BD - A talented and versatile journeyman, director Sergio Martino (The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) has lent his talents to multiple genres across his long and varied career, but it is undoubtedly his giallo thrillers from the early 70s for which he is best known. Among the most highly acclaimed of these, 1973's Torso revels in the genre's time-honored traditions while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the modern slasher movie. A sex maniac is prowling the streets of Perugia, targeting picturesque university town's female students. Alarmed at plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and her three friends elope to a secluded country villa only to discover that, far from having left the terror behind, they've brought it with them! Blu-ray Release Date: October 30th, 2018
 

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar

November 26th, 2018

 

 

Age of Consent [Blu-ray] (Michael Powell, 1969) Region Free UK Indicator

Almost Human [Blu-ray] (Umberto Lenzi, 1974) Code Red

The Apartment [Blu-ray] (Billy Wilder, 1960) Arrow Academy

Basic Instinct 2 [Blu-ray] (Michael Caton-Jones, 2006) MVD Marquee Collection

The Best of 80's Scream Queens [Blu-ray] - RB UK 88 Films

The Boy Downstairs [Blu-ray] (Sophie Brooks, 2017) Filmrise

Brewster McCloud [Blu-ray] (Robert Altman, 1970) Warner Archive

Charlie Bubbles [Blu-ray(Albert Finney, 1968) Region Free UK Indicator

Charley Varrick [Blu-ray] (Don Siegel, 1973) RB UK Indicator

The Critters Collection (Critters 1-4) [Blu-ray] (Various, 1986-1992) Shout! Factory

The Entertainer [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1960) RB UK BFI

Escape from New York [4K UHD Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1981) Region Free UK Studiocanal   

Escape from New York [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1981) RB UK Studiocanal

The Family I Had [Blu-ray] (Katie Green, Carlye Rubin, 2017) Filmrise

Georgy Girl [Blu-ray(Silvio Narizzano, 1966) Region Free UK Indicator

Gosford Park [Blu-ray] (Robert Altman, 2001) Arrow UK

The Grissom Gang [Blu-ray] (Robert Aldrich, 1971) Kino

The Gunfighter [Blu-ray] (Henry King, 1950) RB UK Signal One Entertainment

Hackers [Blu-ray] (Iain Softley, 1995) RB UK 88 Films

The Killing of Sister George [Blu-ray] (Robert Aldrich, 1968) Kino

The Little Stranger [Blu-ray] (Lenny Abrahamson, 2018) Universal

Look Back in Anger [Blu-ray] (Tony Richardson, 1959) RB UK BFI

The Magnificent Ambersons [Blu-ray] (Orson Welles, 1942) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Mame [Blu-ray] (Gene Saks, 1974) Warner Archive

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Ol Parker, 2018) Region Free UK Universal

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again  [Blu-ray] (Ol Parker, 2018) Region Free UK Universal

The Man from Mo'Wax [Blu-ray] (Matthew Jones, 2016) RB UK BFI

Memories of Me [Blu-ray] (Henry Winkler, 1988) MVD Marquee Collection

The Morricone Duel [Blu-ray] - EuroArts Music International

Munchies / Munchie - Double Feature [Blu-ray] (Tina Hirsch, Jim Wynorski, 1987, 1992) Shout! Factory

Philadelphia [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Jonathan Demme, 1993) Sony

Picnic at Hanging Rock - Season One  [Blu-ray(Larysa Kondracki, 2018) Acorn Media

Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1987) RB UK Studiocanal

Sharp Objects - Mini-Series [Blu-ray] (Marti Noxon, 2018) HBO

Strangers [Blu-ray] (Paul Andrew Williams, 2018) RB UK Spirit Entertainment Ltd

Student Bodies [Blu-ray] (Mickey Rose, 1981) RB UK 88 Films

True Stories [Blu-ray] (David Byrne, 1986) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Wrong Box [Blu-ray(Bryan Forbes, 1966) Region Free UK Indicator

Zombie - Cover A [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1979) Blue Underground

Zombie - Cover B [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1979) Blue Underground

Zombie - Cover C [Blu-ray] (Lucio Fulci, 1979) Blue Underground

 

December 3rd, 2018

 

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp [Blu-ray(Peyton Reed, 2018) RB UK Disney

Ant-Man and the Wasp [3D Blu-ray(Peyton Reed, 2018) RB UK Disney

Ant-Man and the Wasp [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Peyton Reed, 2018) Region Free UK Disney

Atoll K (a.k.a. Robinson Crusoeland) [Blu-ray] (Léo Joannon, 1951) RB UK BFI

The Atomic Cafe [Blu-ray] (Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, 1982) Kino

The Big Lebowski [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Joel Coen, 1998) Region Free UK Universal (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Black Windmill [Blu-ray] (Don Siegel, 1974) Kino

The Blob [Blu-ray] (Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr., 1958) RB UK Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

De Palma & De Niro: The Early Films [Blu-ray] (The Wedding Party, Greetings, Hi, Mom!) RB UK Arrow

Disney Classics Complete 55 Disk Movie Box Set 1937-2018 [Blu-ray] - UK Walt Disney

A Discovery of Witches - Season One [Blu-ray(Various, 2018) RB UK Spirit Entertainment

Doctor Who: Peter Davison Complete First Season [Blu-ray] (Various, 1982) BBC Studios

Elizabeth Harvest [Blu-ray] (Sebastian Gutierrez, 2018) Shout! Factory

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark [Blu-ray] (James Signorelli, 1988) UK Arrow Video

The Happytime Murders [Blu-ray(Brian Henson, 2018) Universal

In Harm's Way [Blu-ray(Bille August, 2017) Shout! Factory

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation [Blu-ray(Genndy Tartakovsky, 2018) Region Free UK Sony

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2018) Region Free UK Sony

Khartoum [Blu-ray] (Basil Dearden, 1966) RB UK Eureka

Mission: Impossible - Fallout [Blu-ray(Christopher McQuarrie, 2018) Paramount

Mission: Impossible - Fallout [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Christopher McQuarrie, 2018) Paramount

The Nun [Blu-ray] (Corin Hardy, 2018) Warner Bros.

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word [Blu-ray] (Wim Wenders, 2018) Universal Pictures

The Puppet Masters [Blu-ray] (Stuart Orme, 1994) Kino

The Revolt of the Slaves [Blu-ray] (Nunzio Malasomma, 1960) Kino

Ride [Blu-ray] (Jeremy Ungar, 2018) Image Entertainment

The Serpent's Egg [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1977) Arrow US

The Serpent's Egg [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1977) Arrow UK

Snowflake [Blu-ray] (Adolfo Kolmerer, William James, 2017) Artsploitation Films

Tess [Blu-ray] (Roman Polanski, 1979) RB DE Studiocanal

Westworld: Season 2: The Door [Blu-ray] (Various, 2018) Warner Bros.

Westworld: Season 2: The Door [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Various, 2018) Warner Bros.

Yanks [Blu-ray] (John Schlesinger, 1979) RB UK Eureka