Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF December 17th, 2018

  This Week's Highlights
 
 

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This week we updated our DESERT ISLAND DISCS page and have Blu-ray reviews by Indicator, Kino, Shameless, MVD, Eureka, Twilight Time of films directed by Michael Powell, Bryan Forbes, Albert Finney, Adolfas Mekas. Giuliano Carnimeo, Silvio Narizzano, John Carroll Lynch, Don Weis plus our Calendar has updates of films-to-Blu-ray, including February plus UK Criterions of films by Fritz Lang, Derek Jarman, Joshua Logan, Lars von Trier, Hirokazu Koreeda, Sidney Lumet and more. We have our Feature Blu-ray is posted for DECEMBER Enjoy!!

STILL ON 50% OFF Arrow US titles HERE - treat yourself and save! at Barnes + Noble.

LISTING PAGES:

The TOP 100 DISCS, 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 DECEMBER!

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LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

 

Human Desire [Blu-ray] (Fritz Lang, 1954) RB UK Eureka

Derek Jarman Volume Two: 1987-1994 [Blu-ray] (Derek Jarman, 1987-1994) RB UK BFI

Charly [Blu-ray] (Ralph Nelson, 1968) Kino

Picnic [Blu-ray] (Joshua Logan, 1956) RB UK Eureka

Bergman: A Year in a Life [Blu-ray] (Jane Magnusson, 2018) RB UK BFI

The House That Jack Built [Blu-ray] (Lars von Trier, 2018) RB UK Curzon Artificial Eye

Diamonds of the Night [Blu-ray] (Jan Nemec, 1964) RB UK Second Run

The Return of the Vampire [Blu-ray] (Lew Landers, 1943) Shout! Factory

Shoplifters [Blu-ray] (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2018) RB UK Thunderbird

Diamonds for Breakfast [Blu-ray] (Christopher Morahan, 1968) Kino

Zachariah [Blu-ray] (George Englund, 1971) Kino

The Group [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1966) Kino

Bill of Divorcement [Blu-ray] (John Farrow, 1940) Kino

Next of Kin [Blu-ray] (Tony Williams, 1982) RB UK Second Sight

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

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): As Christmas approaches releases slow but we have many to endorse including Michael Powell's Age of Consent on Indicator Blu-ray. It has great themes and Powell's effective direction - a beautiful film. I enjoyed Giuliano Carnimeo's Giallo The Case of the Bloody Iris on Shameless Blu-ray - fans of the genre should strongly consider picking this up. Indicator bring us more with Albert Finney's charming Charlie Bubbles - it was Finney's debut as director - an acutely observant film about a married writer has an affair with his secretary on Indicator Blu-ray. I was surprised, but very happy, to see the Neo-noir Out of Time received a Blu-ray upgrade - I enjoy this film the more I see it - simple and very tense. John Carroll Lynch's Lucky follows the spiritual journey of a ninety-year-old atheist starring, in his last feature role, Harry Dean Stanton on Eureka Blu-ray. The Puppet Masters is on Blu-ray from Kino and has elements of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (both) and They Live - and fans of those film will delight in the similarities - plus it has the class of Donald Sutherland. Nu'ff said. Georgy Girl touches upon the 'Swinging Sixties' London life that the titular character finds elusive - and another great Indicator Blu-ray package. Hallelujah the Hills is a independent, free-spirited comedy from the 60's on Blu-ray via Kino. The Wrong Box is a lovely crime-comedy with John Mills, Michael Caine, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Peter Sellers and Ralph Richardson on Indicator Blu-ray. Twilight Time transfer The Adventures of Hajji Baba to Blu-ray in a compromised appearance but the film has merit.

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  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

The Adventures of Hajji Baba BD - Directed by cult favorite Don Weis and produced by Hollywood veteran Walter Wanger, The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) is a charming piece of exotica about a Persian barber (John Derek) unexpectedly landed with the mission to escort a princess (Elaine Stewart) to her wedding. Of course, the beautiful pair spars and ultimately falls in love, but not before some mad adventures involving bandits and Amazons and suggested debauchery. Highlighted by a score from Dimitri Tiomkin. Blu-ray Release Date: November, 2018

Lucky BD - Lucky follows the spiritual journey of Harry Dean Stanton s character Lucky, a cantankerous, self-reliant 90 year old atheist, and the quirky characters that inhabit the Arizona town where he lives. Having out-lived and out-smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Blu-ray Release Date: November 12th, 2018

Georgy Girl BD - One of the defining films of the 1960s, Silvio Narizzano s adaptation of Margaret Foster's 1965 novel stars Lynn Redgrave in an Oscar-nominated role as the put-upon teenager Georgy Parkin. Awkward and full of self-doubt, Georgy finds herself forever just outside of the 'Swinging Sixties' London life she craves. Blu-ray Release Date: November 26th, 2018

Charlie Bubbles BD - Finney plays Charlie Bubbles, a successful writer suffering a mid-life crisis, who attempts to re-connect with his northern working-class roots and estranged family. Based on a screenplay by Shelagh Delaney (A Taste of Honey), the script clearly references both her and Finney's personal experience of their shared working-class origins (both were Salford natives), and the consequences of achieving great success. Blu-ray Release Date: November 26th, 2018

Out of Time BD - Carl Franklin and actor Denzel Washington team up again (following 1995's Devil in a Blue Dress) for the crime thriller Out of Time. Washington stars as Matt Lee Whitlock, the well-respected chief of police in a quiet Florida community. While in the process of getting a divorce from fellow detective Alexandra (Eva Mendez), Matt engages in an affair with his high school sweetheart Anne (Sanaa Lathan). Unfortunately, Anne is married to the extremely jealous Chris (Dean Cain), a former pro football player who works as a security guard. After a major murder occurs in the community, Matt finds himself the main suspect. With the help of his medical examiner pal Chae (John Billingsley), Matt must solve the case before he is found guilty himself. MVD Marquee Collection 'Special Edition' Blu-ray Release date: October 30th, 2018

Age of Consent BD - Based on Norman Lindsay's controversial autobiographical 1935 novel, Age of Consent is the story of an artist (James Mason), grown tired of producing art for wealthy Americans, who moves to the wilds of Australia s Great Barrier Reef where he meets Cora (Helen Mirren), a teenage girl who inspires him and becomes his muse as well as the object of his desire. Blu-ray Release Date: November 26th, 2018

The Puppet Masters BD - An alien spacecraft sets down in rural Iowa, and top-secret government agents Andrew Nivens (Donald Sutherland) and his son, Sam (Eric Thal), are sent to investigate. Coming along is NASA biologist Mary Sefton (Julie Warner), and together they make a startling discovery: alien parasites capable of taking over the minds of human beings. And the creatures are multiplying. The race is on for the team to stop the invaders before they turn all of humanity into zombie slaves. Blu-ray Release Date: December 4th, 2018

Hallelujah the Hills BD - An irreverent burst of anarchic energy that wowed attendees of the 1963 New York Film Festival, Hallelujah the Hills is a landmark film of the New American Cinema, presented here in a new 2K restoration. Directed with improvisatorial flair by Adolfas Mekas, a co-founder of FilmbrCulture magazine with his brother Jonas (Walden), Hallelujah the Hills follows two wildly impulsive young men who are in love with the same woman (played by two different actresses). A slapstick love letter to cinema, this fiercely independent wonder laid the groundwork for all the free-spirited filmmakers to follow. Blu-ray Release Date: October 30th, 2018

The Wrong Box BD - Two warring elderly brothers and their respective heirs are determined that each will outlive the other in an attempt to hold onto the family fortune and will stop at nothing - even murder - to achieve their goal. Bryan Forbes' riotous black comedy, based on the 1889 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, stars some of the greatest talents of the day, including Peter Sellers, Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Tony Hancock, Ralph Richardson, Nanette Newman and John Mills. Blu-ray Release Date: November 26th, 2018

The Case of the Bloody Iris BD - Director Giuliano Carnimeo avoids allowing the viewer to dwell on the gimmicky nature of the storytelling by maintaining a snappy pace and trotting out a vast array of eye-catching visual devices (zooms, fish-eye lens shots, point-of-view camerawork) to keep the viewer's eye dazzled throughout. The performances are limited by the weak characterizations but Edwige Fenech is easy on the eyes as the film's heroine and George Hilton makes a decent square-jawed hero. Blu-ray Release Date: November 18th, 2018
 

Next 2 weeks on the Calendar

December 17th, 2018

 

 

Bloody Birthday [Blu-ray(Ed Hunt, 1981) Arrow Video

Dark Highlands [Blu-ray(Mark Stirton, 2018) Gravitas Ventures

Deep Throat [Blu-ray] (Gerard Damiano, 1972) VMI

Dracula: Prince of Darkness [Blu-ray] (Terence Fisher, 1966) Shout! Factory

En el Séptimo Día (aka On the Seventh Day) [Blu-ray] (Jim McKay, 2017) Cinema Guild

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

The Jerk [Blu-ray] (Carl Reiner, 1979) Shout! Factory

Marwencol [Blu-ray] (Jeff Malmberg, 2010) Cinema Guild

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

Murder by Death [Blu-ray(Robert Moore, 1976) Shout! Factory

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

Porco Rosso [Blu-ray] (Hayao Miyazaki, 1992) RB UK Studiocanal

The Predator [Blu-ray] (Shane Black, 2018) 20th Century Fox
The Predator [4k UHD
Blu-ray] (Shane Black, 2018) 20th Century Fox

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

Schindler's List [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal
Schindler's List [4k UHD
Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 1993) Universal

The Secret of Dorian Gray [Blu-ray] (Massimo Dallamano, 1970) Raro Video

Starman [Blu-ray(John Carpenter, 1984) Shout! Factory

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

Topper Takes a Trip [Blu-ray] (Norman Z. McLeod, 1938) VCI

Venom [Blu-ray] (Ruben Fleischer, 2018) Sony

Venom [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Ruben Fleischer, 2018) Region Free Sony

When a Stranger Calls [Blu-ray] (Fred Walton, 1979) RB UK Second Sight

When A Stranger Calls / When A Stranger Calls Back: Limited Edition [Blu-ray] - RB UK Second Sight

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

William Castle Box Set Volume Two [Blu-ray] (ZOTZ!, 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS, THE OLD DARK HOUSE and STRAIT-JACKET) UK Indicator

 

December 24th, 2018

 

 

BlacKkKlansman [Blu-ray] (Spike Lee, 2018) Region Free UK Universal

BlacKkKlansman [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Spike Lee, 2018) Region Free Universal

The Cooler [Blu-ray] (Wayne Kramer, 2003) RB UK 101 Films

Fire Sale [Blu-ray] (Alan Arkin, 1977) RB UK Signal One

Mary Magdalene [Blu-ray] (Garth Davis, 2018) RB DE Universal

Pacific Rim: Uprising [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Steven S. DeKnight, 2018) DE Universal Germany

Phantom Thread [Blu-ray] (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2017) RB DE Universal

The Post [Blu-ray] (Steven Spielberg, 2017) RB DE Universal

A Quiet Place [Blu-ray] (John Krasinski, 2018) RB DE Paramount

A Quiet Place [4K UHD Blu-ray] (John Krasinski, 2018) DE Paramount

The Spy Who Dumped Me [Blu-ray(Susanna Fogel, 2018) RB UK Lionsgate

The Spy Who Dumped Me [4K UHD Blu-ray] (Susanna Fogel, 2018) Region Free UK Lionsgate