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Big Trouble in Little China
BD - A cult favorite (and one of director John Carpenter's
personal favorites), 'Big Trouble in Little China' is a
fantasy-action film that is brilliantly imaginative, funny, and
absorbing. Kurt Russell plays hard-boiled truck driver Jack
Burton, who gets caught in a bizarre conflict within, and
underneath, San Francisco's Chinatown. An ancient Chinese prince
and Chinatown crimelord has kidnapped a beautiful green-eyed
woman, who is the fiancee to Jack's best friend. Jack must help
his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lo Pan uses her to
break the ancient curse that keeps him a fleshless and immortal
spirit. Carpenter uses all the best elements of martial arts
films, 1940s old action serials, Chinese mythology and straight-
forward American adventure to make up a tale wild with
imagination. Kurt Russell is wonderful as the brash, brave, and
reluctant hero Jack Burton, who is hysterically out of place in
this world of magic potions, goblins and curses. A visually
stunning work that ranks as one of Carpenter's best films.
Arrow Blu-ray Release Date: December 16th, 2013
The Long Goodbye
BD -
Possibly my favorite Altman film - filled with equal parts Noir
homage, parody and the director with his best sardonic
witticisms. Elliott Gould is a Philip Marlowe, but circa 1970,
and he does a perfect job injecting Raymond Chandler's pulp
private-eye hero (or anti-hero) by a perverse form of subversion
as he floats through the new sexually open environment of
viciously unbalanced criminal leaders, coquettish neighbors and
a writer, played by Sterling Hayden, who appears the most
comfortable in Marlowe's unbalanced time lines. The action
starts as Marlowe’s buddy’s wife is dead, and he is viewed as a
remote accomplice by the authorities. With code of honor in full
force he sets out to prove his pal innocent.... even if he is
deceased. With deadpan absurdities but full faith to respecting
the noir roots, Altman creates a stunning catalyst of the
sublime elements into a powerhouse of fun, suspense, intrigue
and darn true machismo values. The "Hooray For Hollywood” played
over the opening and closing titles is no mistake. Arrow
Blu-ray Release Date: December 16th, 2013
The Green Ray
BD - Rohmer
has set this up similar to other films of his in the diary sense
where the highlights of each day are chaptered and displayed to
us. It is comforting to notice that often nothing really happens
on certain days, much like "real life". After many walks alone
she finds examples that she may be cursed. Finding a playing
card on the street, the color of self-help signs and horoscopes
all give us (and her) pause for thought. She rebukes obvious
advances from men rejecting their proposals, relating later she
would rather be alone than have the empty feeling of a one-night
stand. Being particular about what sort of company she's in and
feeling down, she eavesdrops on a conversation of elderly people
who discuss Jules Verne’s book, “Le Rayon Vert” (The
Green Ray). The short answer to your question, “What is the
Green Ray?”, well, it is a rare optical effect (a green beam)
exhibited by the sun at precisely the moment it is completing
setting. For those who view, it is said to help them truly
understand their own inner feelings. Already giving evidence of
being bohemian/spartan in her lifestyle, she's at loose ends and
add to that an emotionally weak state, and this overheard
conversation has an effect on her. Perhaps all she needs is a
sign? Blu-ray Release Date: November 19th, 2013
Claire's Knee
BD - “Why
would I tie myself to one woman if I were interested in others?”
says Jerôme, even as he plans on marrying a diplomat’s daughter
by summer’s end. Before then, Jerôme spends his July at a
lakeside boardinghouse nursing crushes on the sixteen-year-old
Laura and, more tantalizingly, Laura’s long-legged, blonde
stepsister, Claire. Baring her knee on a ladder under a blooming
cherry tree, Claire unwittingly instigates Jerôme’s moral crisis
and creates both one of French cinema’s most enduring moments
and what has become the iconic image of Rohmer’s Moral Tales.
Blu-ray Release Date: November 19th, 2013
Fearless
BD - San Francisco
architect Max Klein can see clearly now. He's been transformed
ever since he stared death in the face - and discovered he was
unafraid. Peter Weir (Witness) directs Fearless, the vivid story
of how a near-death experience impacts the lives of three
people. Jeff Bridges plays Max, more wildly alive and taking
more risks than ever since surviving a plane crash. Isabella
Rossellini is Laura, struggling to find in Max the man she
married. And Rosie Perez, 1993 Academy Award nominee and Los
Angeles, Boston and Chicago Film Critics Award winner as Best
Supporting Actress, is fellow crash survivor Carla: alive, yet
devastated by a grievous loss. It seems that no one can heal her
pain. But then she meets the one person who fearlessly knows
how. Blu-ray Release date: November, 2013
Glengarry Glen Ross
BD -
Adapted from his Pulitzer Prize winning play, Glengarry Glen
Ross shows David Mamet, at his searing, profane best. A group of
Chicago real-estate salesmen-cum-con artists live on the edge...
life is good for the one on a roll, for the rest, life hangs in
the balance. There is no room for losers. A-B-C Always Be
Closing, sell or go under, is the salesman's mantra. With the
pressure on, so begins a rainy night of cut-throat business and
shattered lives. Oscar nominated Al Pacino plays the fast
talking Ricky Roma, alongside a phenomenal performance by Jack
Lemmon as the veteran Shelly "The Machine" Levene, struggling to
keep his neck above water. With a star studded ensemble cast
featuring Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin.
Blu-ray Release date: October 22nd, 2012
49th Parallel
BD - At once
a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a
quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early
work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael
Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed
by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the
thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a
series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border
into the still-neutral United States. Both soul-stirring and
delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel features a colorful
cast of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence
Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.
Blu-ray Release Date: October 23d, 2013
Streets of Fire
BD - alter
Hill's classic, highly stylized rock & roll fable has gained a
huge cult following since its original 1984 release and with its
backdrop of rain-drenched, neon-lit streets is one of the most
visually iconic films of the decade. Big time rock singer Ellen
Aim is playing her hometown when she is grabbed from the stage
by local bike gang The Bombers, led by the menacing Raven. Tom
Cody, a tough ex-soldier and Ellen's ex-boyfriend returns home
to get her back and he's ready to take on the whole gang.
Blu-ray Release date: November 18th, 2013
The Fury
BD - Brian De
Palma returns to the mind-blowing potential of telekinesis in
the follow-up to his 1976 horror hit
Carrie. While
vacationing with his psychic son, Robin (Andrew Stevens), and
close associate Childress (John Cassavetes), government agent
Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) survives a terrorist attack, only to
discover that it was staged by Childress so he could kidnap
Robin for his own nefarious purposes. With the assistance of
another psychic (William Finley) and Hester (Carrie Snodgress),
an employee at the Paragon Institute for Psychic Research, Peter
discovers a telekinetic Chicago high-school girl named Gillian
(Amy Irving), who may be able to help him find Robin. Even
though they have never met, Gillian can see Robin's memories and
experiences telepathically, and she knows that he is in trouble.
But Childress knows all about Gillian, too, and he is not about
to let Peter's paternal quest get in the way of his plans for
harnessing their psychic power. Carlotta
Blu-ray Release
Date: November 8th, 2013
The Beast Within
BD - Bibi
Besch and Ronny Cox are honeymooning in Mississippi (which may
have been their first mistake) when someone or something with
hairy legs rapes Besch. Seventeen years later their son, Paul
Clemens, is not the kind of kid you'd like to introduce to your
daughter. Matter of fact, he's weird and not feeling too well,
so Mom and Dad take him back to Mississippi to see whether his
problems are related to that hairy thing we met in reel one.
They are, of course, and the teen soon transforms (in some
disgustingly effective cheap effects by Tom Burman) into a giant
insect creature that roams the area, ripping the limbs off
passersby. Blu-ray Release date: December 17th, 2013
Crawlspace
BD - A homicidal
maniac doctor specializes in murder and owns a peaceful boarding
house for lovely aspiring actresses. They feel safe and
comfortable there. Little do they know, the good-doctor is
getting his jollies by crawling through narrow spaces between
the walls peeking at them through the heating vents. Sometimes
he likes to shake the women up by making scary noises in the
vents and blaming them on rats. The poor women also do not know
that he is also a sadistic killer with a taste for slow,
gruesome torture and clever traps. The whole nasty situation
comes to a head when a Nazi hunter begins to trail him. Although
the doctor himself was never a Nazi, his father was a wanted war
criminal. Later it is revealed that the physician feels that he
is predestined to follow in his father's grisly footsteps. He
proves this after every killing when he plays a game of Russian
roulette with his revolver. Each empty chamber is an affirmation
that he is doing what he should. Blu-ray Release date:
December 17th, 2013
Post Tenebras Lux
BD - POST TENEBRAS LUX
(light after darkness) is the Cannes Film Festival
prize winner that follows an upscale Mexican family whose move
to the countryside in search of an ideal life results in
domestic crisis and class friction. Stunningly photographed, the
film is an enthralling and enigmatic exploration of the primal
conflicts of the human condition. Blu-ray Release Date:
December 10th, 2013
Demonic Toys
BD - A botched
bust on a pair of arms dealers inadvertently leads to the
raising of a sixty year old demon with the power to bring toys
to life as his personal minions. The demon is looking for a body
to inhabit so he can increase his powers, and it just happens
that one of the police officers, Judith Gray (Tracy Scoggins) is
pregnant with the ideal host. As the murderous toys close in on
their victims, the officer must not only fight for her life, but
for the soul of her unborn child. Blu-ray Release date:
December 9th, 2013
Children of a Darker Dawn -
A doomsday virus of madness and death has destoyed the world's
adult population. Only the young survive. They watch in horror
as their parents go mad and die. Haunted by terrifying memories,
they fight for life in a bleak wasteland. Gangs of teens and
outlaw children roam the scarred landscape. Sisters Evie and
Fran keep to themselves, two outsiders gathering food and moving
from town to town. Sleeping overnight in an abandoned mansion,
the sisters are awoken by shouts of a mob beating a lone girl.
The battle between newcomers and the vicious pack spirals into a
violent explosion. Teen romances, sexual jealousies and cliques
inflame a grisly struggle for food. It's The Road to a grim new
civilization. DVD Release Date: December 17th, 2013
Longing Nights - Aitana,
Pierrick, Jorge and Rita are all in their twenties and all look
for ways to make their nights in the city of Madrid a little
less lonely. Set against a background of drugs, sex, multiple
partners and differing sexualities, Longing Nights follows the
individual stories of these young people. A candid portrait of
four relationships highly loaded with eroticism from beginning
to end. DVD Release Date: November 26th, 2013
Peyote - Pablo, a shy
teenager, meets the slightly older Marco. Together they go on a
impromptu road trip to the Mexican desert, a trip that will make
them face what they mean to each other. This experience will
turn Pablo s life around: his points of view, his strength and
his own sexuality. Two guys and a video camera that will record
their friendship, struggles and the possibility to find another
destiny. DVD Release Date: November 26th, 2013
Black Market Babies - "A
smart guy could clean up in a racket like this." So says Eddie
Condon (Kane Richmond), a smooth-talking hood who sells unwanted
babies to childless rich couples. Teaming up with a broken-down
sawbones (Ralph Morgan) and a silver-tongued shyster (George
Meeker), Condon operates a private maternity home where he rakes
in the dough until a pre-paid baby is stillborn. Intent on
keeping the cash, he hands over his sister-in-law's newborn
instead, a baby-switching scheme that soon gives way to
frame-ups, fallouts and murder. The type of film the majors
would avoid lest it harm their mainstream reputation, Black
Market Babies is a prime example of the controversial
programmers only a B movie studio like Monogram Pictures could
make. Based on a December 1944 Woman's Home Companion article
that was reprinted in Reader's Digest, this searing drama is
both cutting-edge and exploitative, a lurid exposé that's lost
none of its power to shock. DVD Release Date: June 11th, 2013
Don't Gamble With Strangers
- When Mike Sarno (Kane Richmond) out-cheats Fay Benton (Bernadene
Hayes) in a crooked poker game, the two gamblers bury the
hatchet and agree to become partners in crime. Posing as brother
and sister, the pair finally hits the big time when Mike runs
into a gambler (Phil Van Zandt) who owes him a debt and takes
over his casino to square it. So as the high-rollers' dough
starts pouring in and Mike eventually tires of Fay, he dumps her
to get his hands on a gorgeous heiress (Gloria Warren) and her
cash, a double-cross that will lead to murder and a shocking
surprise when the cops reveal the killer's name. DVD Release
Date: June 11th, 2013
The Snake God - Abandoned
by her rich industrialist husband on a remote Caribbean estate,
Paola befriends Stella, a beautiful local girl who is an adept
of a hidden voodoo cult. The two women become inseparable,
sharing their most intimate secrets. All goes well until Paola
demands that Stella take her to one of the voodoo ceremonies
that she attends every week. There Paola falls under the spell
of Djamballa, the powerful snake god, from whose magic there is
no escape. DVD Release Date: December 10th, 2013
Wife Wanted - For her final
film appearance, Kay Francis goes out with a bang – and how! –
in this femme noir sensation. Fading film queen Carole Raymond
(Francis) thinks she's going to feather her nest egg with a
real-estate exit plan, only to find herself behind the eight
ball in a classified lonely hearts crime ring. Set up as the
fall gal for a snuffed-out romeo, Carole is up to her white furs
in illegitimate matrimony until a muckraker (Robert Shayne) gets
a sniff of the seductive shenanigans. But the question remains –
will the reporter be Carole's salvation or her damnation? Kay
Francis produced with no-nonsense noir helmer Phil Karlson
directing and costarring Paul Cavanagh, Veda Ann Borg, Teala
Loring and Jonathan Hale. DVD Release Date: August 6th, 2013
FBI Code 98 - Robert Cannon
(Jack Kelly), Fred Vitale (Ray Danton) and Alan Nichols (Andrew
Duggan), three men vital to America’s missile program, are en
route to Cape Canaveral when a bomb is discovered in a suitcase.
Defused by Vitale, the device is turned over to the FBI, which
takes charge of the investigation. Assigned to determine if it’s
a case of sabotage or attempted murder, Inspector Leroy Gifford
(Philip Carey) and his squad race to track down the bomber
before he can strike again. Originally shot as a TV pilot,
FBI Code 98 was based on a book by the film’s
writer/producer, former police reporter Stanley Niss. Produced
with the cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI
Code 98 was released in theaters instead, making its U.S. debut
one year before Warner Bros. revisited the premise with the
long-running TV series The F.B.I., which aired on ABC from 1965
to 1974. DVD Release Date: April 16th, 2013
The Mugger - In this crime
drama, a police psychiatrist sets out to capture a whacko purse
snatcher who has been scarring the faces of his female victims
as he makes off with their bags. When a girl is killed, all
evidence points to the mugger, but when he is captured he
fervently denies it. The police then begin looking for the real
culprit and discover that the killer is the dead girl's
brother-in-law and close friend of the shrink. DVD Release
Date: October 18th, 2011
That Hagen Girl - Tom Bates
(Ronald Reagan) has returned to Jordan, Ohio, after 18 years,
rekindling the gossip that he fathered an illegitimate baby
before he left. Mary Hagen (Shirley Temple), the now-grown
subject of those rumors, soon finds herself an unwitting target
for the town’s malicious whispers and lies. So when her mother
dies without explaining her past, a tormented Mary turns to Tom
for the truth about a scandal that ruined her life before it
ever began. Said to be Temple’s favorite adult movie, That
Hagen Girl also features 20-year-old Lois Maxwell as the
former child star’s on-screen teacher and friend. DVD Release
Date: October 30th, 2012
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