Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

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

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wilder

#585
September 27, 2016

Two Films By Douglas Sirk on blu-ray from Cohen Media Group



Lured (1947)



A serial killer in London is murdering young women whom he meets through the personal columns of newspapers; he announces each of his murders to the police by sending them a cryptic poem. After a dancer disappears, the police enlist an American friend of hers, Sandra Carpenter, to answer advertisements in the personal columns and so lure the killer.

Two Films by Douglas Sirk - Amazon





A Scandal in Paris (1946)



Before the dazzling colors, forbidden romances, and unavoidably tragic ends of Douglas Sirk's better-known melodramas, there was A Scandal in Paris . Taking place in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this period piece recalls the life of actual con man and womanizer Eugène François Vidocq from his birth in a dingy prison cell to his rise as France's Chief of Police and his life as a criminal in between. After escaping yet another stint in jail, Vidocq and his right-hand man, Emile, make it to Paris, where they end up lodging with a friendly (and wealthy) family whose patriarchal head happens to be the Minister of Police. With dollar signs in their eyes, Vidocq and Emile see plenty of thievish opportunity. But what Vidocq doesn't see is the moral battle he'll have to engage in when he falls in love with the Minister's daughter.





Two Films By Douglas Sirk - Amazon

wilder

October 24, 2016

Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) from Studio Canal (UK), from a new 4K restoration



Thomas Jerome Newton is a humanoid alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft, and meets Mary-Lou, a girl who falls in love with him. He does not count on the greed and ruthlessness of business here on Earth, however.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) - Amazon UK



wilder

#587
December 7, 2016

Claude Berri's Tchao Pantin (1983) on blu-ray from Pathe (France), from a new 2K restoration



An alcoholic ex-policeman (Coluche) roams the Paris underworld with a punk girl (Agnès Soral) to avenge a vile Arab drug dealer (Richard Anconina). Cinematography by Bruno Nuytten (Andrzej Zulawski's Possession, Camille Claudel)

Tchao Pantin (1983) - Amazon France





wilder

November 14, 2016

Woody Allen's Interiors (1978) from Arrow Academy (UK)



When Eve (Geraldine Page), an interior designer, is deserted by her husband of many years, Arthur (E.G. Marshall), the emotionally glacial relationships of the three grown-up daughters are laid bare. Twisted by jealousy, insecurity and resentment, Renata (Diane Keaton), a successful writer; Flyn (Kristin Griffith), a woman crippled by indecision; and Joey (Marybeth Hurt), a budding actress; struggle to communicate for the sake of their shattered mother. But when their father unexpectedly falls for another woman (Maureen Stapleton), his decision to remarry sets in motion a terrible twist of fate...

Regarded as a startling departure at the time (although it now clearly anticipates later work), Interiors was Woody Allen's first entirely serious drama, an intimate family chamber-piece strongly influenced by his beloved Ingmar Bergman and performed by a pitch-perfect ensemble cast.


Interiors (1978) - Amazon UK



Ravi


wilder

October 6, 2016

Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006) on MOD blu-ray from Sony



The retelling of France's iconic but ill-fated queen, Marie Antoinette. From her betrothal and marriage to Louis XVI at 15 to her reign as queen at 19 and to the end of her reign as queen and ultimately the fall of Versailles.

Marie Antoinette (2006) - Amazon






October 4, 2016

Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984) on MOD blu-ray from Sony



A young actor's obsession with spying on a beautiful woman who lives nearby leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.

Body Double (1984) - Amazon

wilder

#591
November 15, 2016

Robert Wise's I Want to Live! (1958) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



A prostitute, sentenced to death for murder, pleads her innocence.






John Huston's Moby Dick (1956) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.






Pretty Poison (1968) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



When a mentally disturbed young man tells a pretty girl that he's a secret agent, she believes him, and murder and mayhem ensue.








December 13, 2016

Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



While attending a retrospective of his work, a filmmaker recalls his life and his loves: the inspirations for his films.






Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa (1954) on blu-ray from Twilight Time



Has-been director Harry Dawes gets a new lease on his career when independently wealthy Kirk Edwards hires him to write and direct a film. They go to Madrid to find Maria Vargas, a dancer who will star in the film. Millionaire Alberto Bravano takes Maria from Kirk. Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini takes Maria from Alberto.



03

pretty poison and i want to live are amazing. highly recommended

wilder

Q4 2016 TBD

Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) on blu-ray from Kino



Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas and the effect this has on the indigenous people.



wilder

UK label Powerhouse Films has a new series, Indicator. Many of their forthcoming releases are films previously put out by US label Twilight Time in limited edition copies (Christine, The Last Detail, Experiment in Terror, Fat City, Bunny Lake is Missing)

wilder

November 15, 2016

Abel Glance's J'accuse (1938) from Olive Films



After serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he renounces love and personal pleasure to immerse himself in scientific research, seeking a machine to prevent war. He thinks he has succeeded, but the government subverts his discovery, and Europe slides with seeming inevitability toward World War II. In desperation, Diaz summons the ghosts of the war dead from the graves and fields of France to give silent, accusing protest.






Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942) from Olive Films



When Nazi anti-aircraft fire damages a British bomber, its crew bails out and seeks help from the Dutch underground.






Jim Jarmusch's Coffee & Cigarettes (2003) from Olive Films



A series of vignettes that all have coffee and cigarettes in common.

wilder

#596
November 15, 2016

Orson Welles' Macbeth (1948) on blu-ray from Olive Signature, from a new digital restoration



Welles stars as the titular Macbeth—a doomed Scottish lord tragically undone by his own ambition. Welles' noir-tinged interpretation bubbles over with supernatural prophecy and murderous intrigue, effectively mixing the use of shadow and oblique camera angles to achieve anominous sense of a land in peril. Shot by John L. Russell (Psycho).

Macbeth (1948) - Amazon

wilder

December 12, 2016

Woody Allen: Six Films 1979-1985 on blu-ray from Arrow (UK)




-Manhattan
-Stardust Memories
-A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
-Zelig
-Broadway Danny Rose
-The Purple Rose of Cairo


December 12, 2016

Donnie Darko (2001) limited edition blu-ray from Arrow (UK), with 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and Director's Cut from the original camera negatives



Donnie Darko (2001) - Limited Edition - Amazon UK

wilder

November 2016 TBD

Peter Bogdanovich's Saint Jack (1979) on limited edition blu-ray from Scorpion Releasing



Compelling character study, revolving around Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara), an American hustler trying to make his fortune in 1970s Singapore in small time pimping. He dreams of building a fortune by running a brothel himself and returning to the States to lead a life of luxury. Savvy but not unsavory he strikes up a friendship with William Leigh (Denholm Elliot), a genial and decent auditor who travels to Singapore every year. Ultimately, the background of the Vietnam War comes into the picture as Jack is offered the opportunity by the CIA to run a brothel for the R&R activities of U.S. soldiers on leave in Singapore.



wilder

#599
Fall 2016 TBD

Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground (1951) from Warner Archive, from a 4K restoration



Rough city cop Jim Wilson is disciplined by his captain and is sent upstate, to a snowy mountain town, to help the local sheriff solve a murder case.

On Dangerous Ground (1951) - Amazon





Abel Ferrara's Body Snatchers (1993) from Warner Archive



A teenage girl and her father discover alien clones are replacing humans on a remote U.S. military base in Alabama.

Body Snatchers (1993) - Amazon