Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

Started by wilder, November 01, 2011, 01:54:56 AM

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

wilder

December 1, 2015

Curtis Harrington's Queen of Blood (1966) from Kino

see also: Night Tide (1961) (and max's review)



Queen of Blood (1966) - Amazon














wilder

March 29, 2016

The Gong Show Movie (1980) (written by Robert Downey Sr.) from Shout Factory



A week in the life of "The Gong Show" host and creator Chuck Barris who lives through a series of outrageous competitors, stressful situations, a nervous breakdown and other comical characters involved in his life and work on the TV show.

The Gong Show Movie (1980) - Amazon



wilder

TBD

Christopher Guest's A Mighty Wind (2003) from Warner Archive







March 15, 2016

Jean-Luc Godard's A Married Woman (1964) on blu-ray from Cohen Media Group



A Married Woman (1964) - Amazon

A MARRIED WOMAN is an often overlooked masterwork from Godard's most productive period. The plot appears to be simple: Charlotte (Macha Méril) is a young married woman having an affair with an actor. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she must decide which man is the father and which man she will stay with. In Godard's hands, however, the film, described as a film about a woman's beauty and the ugliness of her world, is also a biting critique of consumer culture and the media constructed obsession with image. Subtitle Fragments of a film shot in 1964, in black and white, Godard creates a modernist collage that is beautifully shot by Godard's longtime cinematographer Raoul Coutard. The Cohen Media Group is proud to present for the first time in the US this stunning new restoration from the original negative.



wilder

Upcoming Film Movement Classics Blu-ray Releases
via blu-ray.com

ANTONIA'S LINE (Marleen Gorris, 1995, Netherlands, Dutch, 102 min) - In the aftermath of WWII, strong-willed Antonia returns to her small hometown where she has inherited her mother's farm. Antonia, joined by her free-spirited artist daughter Danielle, ingratiate themselves with the town's tight-knit and eccentric community. As the years unfold, love and tragedy come to Antonia and Danielle and the pair foster a vibrant circle of strong, liberated women. ANTONIA'S LINE won the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film, 1996 and will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of this win in 2016.

THE BEST INTENTIONS (Bille August, 1992, Sweden, Swedish, 182 min) - Swedish master Ingmar Bergman penned this loving tribute to his parent's epic romance. In 1909, poor, idealistic theology student Henrik Bergman falls in love with Anna Åkerbloom, the intelligent, educated daughter of a rich family in Uppsala. After their wedding Henrik becomes a priest in the north of Sweden. Urbane Anna can't stand living in the rural county and grows increasingly restless. She returns to Uppsala and the couple's love and commitment are put to the test.

BOILING POINT (Takeshi Kitano, 1990, Japan, Japanese, 97 min) - In the second film from action auteur Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano, two members of a Japanese junior baseball team get mixed up with the local yakuza after their coach is attacked by gangsters. The pair gets more than they bargained for when they travel to Okinawa seeking revenge in this violent and strangely humorous revolutionary take on the yakuza picture.

KAMIKAZE 89 (Wolf Gremm, 1982, Germany, German, 106 min) - In his last acting role, legendary director Rainer Werner Fassbinder plays Jansen, an expert cop living in a dystopic future (and clad in a sharp leopard skin jacket) where a mysterious organization known as The Combine controls all media. After The Combine?s headquarters receives several bomb threats, Jansen is tasked with infiltrating the nefarious conglomerate. This cult classic features a soundtrack by Edgar Froese of Tangerine Dream and an array of New German Cinema stars, including Brigitte Mira (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul), Frank Ripploh (Taxi Zum Klo), and Gunter Kaufmann (The Marriage of Maria Braun).

ONCE WERE WARRIORS (Lee Tamahori, 1994, New Zealand, English, 102 min) - Jake Heke lives with his family in a tenement house for native Maori in the slums of Auckland. Despite his love and devotion, Jake?s battle with alcoholism frequently results in terrifyingly erratic outbursts in front of his children and violent beatings of his wife Beth. After Jake loses his job, each member of the Heke family is forced to face their own personal demons and the societal constraints that shackle native New Zealanders.

THE QUIET EARTH (Geoff Murphy, 1985, New Zealand, English, 91 min) - In this sci-fi cult classic, Zac Hobson, a mid-level scientist working on a global energy project, wakes up to a nightmare. After his project malfunctions, Zac discovers that he may be the last man on Earth. As he searches empty cities for other survivors, Zac's mental state begins to deteriorate - culminating in the film's iconic and hotly debated ending.

UGLY, DIRTY, AND BAD (Ettore Scola, 1976, Italy, Italian, 116 min) - Acclaimed Italian auteur Ettore Scola (celebrating his 85th birthday in 2016) pairs up with legendary actor Nino Manfredi in this irreverent Cannes-winning grotesque comedy. Giacinto (Manfredi), along with four generations of his sprawling, crooked clan, lives in a cramped, dilapidated home on the outskirts of Rome. When a work accident leaves him blind in one eye, the derelict suddenly finds himself rolling in insurance money. Refusing to share the wealth, Giacinto?s relatives concoct several harebrained plots in hopes of wrenching the riches away.

VIOLENT COP (Takeshi Kitano, 1989, Japan, Japanese, 103 min) - In his directorial debut, and one of his first dramatic roles, writer/director Takeshi 'Beat' Kitano plays Detective Azuma, a hostile cop who?s not afraid of using violent means to catch his culprits. When his sister is kidnapped by a sadistic drug lord, Azuma's Dirty Harry-style tactics escalate in his quest for vengeance in this stunningly innovative cops-and-robbers thriller.   

Garam

Quote from: wilder on December 15, 2015, 07:19:10 PM
THE QUIET EARTH (Geoff Murphy, 1985, New Zealand, English, 91 min) - In this sci-fi cult classic, Zac Hobson, a mid-level scientist working on a global energy project, wakes up to a nightmare. After his project malfunctions, Zac discovers that he may be the last man on Earth. As he searches empty cities for other survivors, Zac's mental state begins to deteriorate - culminating in the film's iconic and hotly debated ending.

This film is so much fun.

wilder

#470
May 17, 2016

Christian Marquand's Candy (1968)) on blu-ray from Kino





Candy (1968) - Amazon

Candy Christian (Ewa Aulin) is an innocent yet luscious high school student when fate sends her on a far-out journey of sexual discovery. On her trippy travels, Candy encounters lust and lunacy at the hands - and other body parts - of a drunken poet (Richard Burton), a Mexican gardener (Ringo Starr), a patriotic general (Walter Matthau), a mad surgeon (James Coburn), and a mystic guru (Marlon Brando). Can the world's most stalwart members get their own sweet piece of Candy? Or will a final freaky twist swallow her whole forever?




March 15, 2016

Sun, Sand, and Sweat Collection from Mill Creek



-Hardbodies (1984)
-Perfect (1985)
-Private Resort (1985)
-Spring Break (1983)




wilder

January 26, 2016

Alfred Hitchcock's The Wrong Man (1956) from Warner Archive



The Wrong Man (1956) - Amazon



wilder

May 17, 2016

Ulu Grosbard's Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971) on blu-ray from Kino



Georgie Soloway is a pop hit love song writer who cannot love himself or others. He spends his days with various women flying his plane, and dropping in to the world around him. Cinematography by Victor J. Kemper (John Cassavetes' Husbands, Karel Reisz's The Gambler).   


March 8, 2016

Howard the Duck (1986) from Universal



Howard the Duck (1986) - Amazon

wilder

April 12, 2016

Alberto De Martino's Blazing Magnum aka Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) from Scorpion Releasing



Blazing Magnum aka Shadows in an Empty Room (1976) - Amazon

An Ottawa police captain searches for the person who poisoned his sister, who was attending the university in Montreal. So desperate is he for revenge that he begin to use his own brutal methods to find the killer. Soon he discovers that not everything is what he thought it was.



wilder

Available Now

Warner Archive's Forbidden Hollywood Collection Vol. 9 was released back in October and slipped under the radar



Forbidden Hollywood Collecton Vol. 9 - Amazon


And DVDBeaver has made an in-depth end of the year post, detailing some of the year's best releases.

wilder

March 14, 2016

David Lowell Rich's Madame X (1966) from Panamint Cinema (UK).

Cinematography by Russel Metty (All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, There's Always Tomorrow, Imitation of Life, etc.), Produced by Ross Hunter (also Douglas Sirk's films)



Lana Turner produces one of the greatest performances of her career in this highly-charged adaptation of Alexandre Bisson's often filmed classic play.

When Holly Anderson (Lana Turner), neglected by her wealthy socialite husband (John Forsythe), is romantically pursued by Phil Benton (Ricardo Montalban), tragedy strikes. Constance Bennett in her last film role, playing Holly's mother-in-law, turns nemesis, forcing her to leave her husband and infant son to protect their reputation.

Travelling the world in a haze of drugs and alcohol for twenty years, Holly returns to her home town, only to meet more trouble, which ends with her facing a jury on a charge of murder.


Madame X (1966) - Amazon UK


















wilder

Q1 2016 TBD

Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep (1946) from Warner Archive



The Big Sleep (1946) - Amazon


John Huston's Key Largo (1948) from Warner Archive



Key Largo (1948) - Amazon


February 16, 2016

Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess (1953) from Warner Archive



I Confess (1953) - Amazon

jenkins

^he looks kinda tough on the cover but only kinda, and perhaps you can see the fear in his eyes, as Key Largo has the most terrified Bogart of all. the dude gets stepped on. so i like that movie, for its representation of both Key Largo and Bogart as a person. it's a different perspective from the days of gangsters and detectives. there'd be so much averted crying at the table if he and the Bogart from In a Lonely Place ever met and shared their stories.

recently i was browsing around on amazon, wanting to buy a pre-code movie. my favorite movies are short, melodramatic and cinematic, so i'm a sucker for pre-code movies every time. i ended up buying this:



it was cheaper alone than in its set:



this is Merrily We Go To Hell's synopsis:

QuoteA drunken newspaperman is rescued from his alcoholic haze by an heiress whose love sobers him up and encourages him to write a play, but he lapses back into dipsomania.

i think finding the dream is a kid reality, and living with or without the dream is an adult reality. what i'd need to discover is a reason not to want to see this, and such a quest would be absolutely impossible. on top of the already mentioned, the director Dorothy Arzner was "the only woman director during the 'Golden Age' of Hollywood's studio system." for me this triggers emotions brought by confirmation bias.



a picture like this in our times is treated like a goddamn revelation. if you don't already know it, you're just blowing it, regarding the capabilities of humanity being both boundless and shared by everyone, that's what i think, and what cinema and other art from the early 20th century constantly demonstrates to me. that's a social topic, what i like to know is the topic of the movie. Merrily We Go To Hell is on order.

wilder

March 14, 2016

Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers (1961) on blu-ray from Masters of Cinema (eventually coming from Milestone in the US)



Rocco and His Brothers (1961) - Amazon UK

Having recently been uprooted to Milan, Rocco and his four brothers each look for a new way in life when a prostitute comes between Rocco and his brother Simone.





March 28, 2016

Nicolas Roeg's Eureka (1983) on blu-ray from Masters of Cinema



Eureka (1983) - Amazon UK

In 1925, Arctic prospector Jack McCann becomes a rich man when he strikes gold but 20 years later he faces major personal and family problems.



wilder

January 25, 2016

Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975) from Arrow UK, from a new 4K restoration - 3-disc set limited to 1,000 units. Full list of extras here. Sold out everywhere except Amazon Italy. Standard edition blu-ray coming on May 30, 2016.



Deep Red (1975) - Amazon Italy


Full size comparison screencaps at DVDBeaver, some resized comparisons below - Old Arrow UK/Kino release top, new Arrow 4K transfer on the bottom (some quality loss)