Random DVD and Blu-ray announcements

[wilder]

September 2014 TBD

Richard Brooks' Elmer Gantry (1960) from Kino



Elmer Gantry (1960) - Amazon

[wilder]

October 7, 2014

Ulu Grosbard's True Confessions (1981) on blu-ray from Kino



True Confessions (1981) - Amazon

Detective Tom Spellacy (Duvall) and Catholic Monsignor Desmond Spellacy (De Niro) find their worlds colliding amidst a flurry of political finger-pointing and public outcries over a scandalous, headline-making murder. As Tom hunts down the elusive killer, his investigation threatens to expose secrets that could ruin his brother... and rock the foundation of his beloved church. Based on the true and still-unsolved "Black Dahlia" murder case.   

[wilder]

September 15, 2014

Busby Berkeley's The Gang's All Here (1943) from Masters of Cinema



The Gang's All Here (1943) - Amazon UK

[jenkins]

Edward G. Ulmer's Ruthless (1948) from Olive Films



Director Edward G. Ulmer’s complex psycho-melodrama Ruthless (1948) is undoubtedly worthy of rediscovery. A flashback-structured tale of a sociopath’s remorseless drive for station and wealth, Ruthless (often referred to as Ulmer’s Citizen Kane) employs a relentless undercurrent of emotional violence. As relayed in an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Ulmer envisioned his feature as “a Jesuitic morality play… a very bad indictment against 100 percent Americanism—as Upton Sinclair saw it.” The film’s chilling, malevolent tone is personified in a starkly muted performance by lead—and frequent screen cad—Zachary Scott.

wilder,
did you end up watching this? we chatted about it the day you made ^this post, because it was also on netflix at the time, but anyway i watched it today and it's a tasty blend of noir-biz emotions. and people zing the fuck out of each other. desperate, dark, dramatic zings, and life is portrayed in a high-pitch of human imperfections and aspirations

it's definitely b-grade but like B+++. you'll see or have seen what i mean

[wilder]

No, didn't end up getting that one. I'd still like to see it, though. How zingy are we talking about? I re-watched Ace in the Hole a couple weeks ago for the first time in maybe ten years and that's the zing I'm measuring this zing by, and every other zing that ever comes along. So on a scale of 1 to Ace in the Hole, where're you putting this?

life is portrayed in a high-pitch of human imperfections and aspirations

Sounds good to me.

This summer has been a tidal wave of good films getting restored and making it to disc, I'm hesitant to snag anything blind atm with so much on the horizon. Periodically I re-activate Netflix for specific things (Milius / ended up watching most of High School Hellcats a long time ago) but always end up canceling because you can only find so much in a landfill. If CanIStreamIt? can be trusted it's not there anymore, anyway. Might subscribe to Classic Flix, which has most of Olive's blu's available with their disc service, and get ahold of it through that.

[jenkins]

between 1 and ace in the hole, it's in the bananas section. appreciate so much when imdb has the quote i want to remember in its quote section, and the very one i wanted is the only one they have:

Mrs. Burnside: [to unhappy young Horace] Be brave. Be a man.
Horace Vendig as Child: I don't want to be a man. Never! I wish there weren't any men in the whole world.

that's said during a sequence in which horace enters his house and the camera moves in a fashion that illustrates his emotions changing shape and size. i can feel horace's emotions through the camera

there's lots of emotional energy in the movie. it crackles people's dreams and abilities through a melodramatic and psychological pageantry, and i couldn't believe a damn thing but i could feel the whole trip. i could see the page through the dialogue and an example of the dialogue is:

~"i hate you from your insides"

recommended

[wilder]

the camera moves in a fashion that illustrates his emotions changing shape and size. i can feel horace's emotions through the camera

"i hate you from your insides"

sold

[wilder]

September 30, 2014

Thom Andersen's Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) on blu-ray from Cinema Guild



Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003) - Amazon

November 25, 2014

Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973) on blu-ray from Kino



The Long Goodbye (1973) - Amazon

[jenkins]

^ great news because, well both those movies are la movies but what i mean is i recently traded in my dvd copy of the long goodbye because i had inner certainty that its blu-ray would be arriving and bam

today i am "seriously considering" buying 5 ape movies on blu-ray for $20

[Ravi]

Arrow Films already released The Long Goodbye on Blu-Ray with a ton of extras. If the Kino doesn't match their edition, I'll just order the Arrow edition.

[jenkins]

helpful chart:

kino = region a
arrow = region b

helpful if your player is unlocked or came region free or whatevs

[wilder]

helpful chart:

kino = region a
arrow = region b

helpful if your player is unlocked or came region free or whatevs

And in a more general sense for the sake of this thread, Amazon UK, Amazon France, and Amazon.de = Region B

[jenkins]

we're not in america, we're the internet

so true. wish i could sitdown tell my blu-ray player it needs to become multicultural. its narrow-minded philosophies make it an antique and i'm embarrassed and has anyone seen the 5 ape movies?

[wilder]

August 12, 2014

Jacques Tourneur's Out of the Past (1947) from Warner Archive



Out of the Past (1947) - Amazon


These two podcast episodes on the movie are in-depth and worth a listen if you're into the genre (Click POD to the left of each episode title to download)...

Podcast - Out of the Past - Part 1

In this premier episode, Shannon Clute and Richard Edwards discuss Jacques Tourneur's noir masterpiece "Out of the Past." They explain why it is the first film they choose for their continuing series of podcasts delving into the history of film noir. In the course of a lively discussion of this film, Clute and Edwards argue that while "Out of the Past" is not an early noir, it is nonetheless a prototype that helps the viewer define just what is film noir.

Podcast - Out of the Past - Part 2

OUT OF THE PAST is perhaps the most carefully structured of all films noir--a narrative divided (like protagonist Jeff Markum/Bailey) between an inescapable past and an impossible future, teetering on the slimmest hope for the present such that any action taken by its poor players tips them down into the abyss. Director Jacques Tourneur, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca and screenwriter Daniel Mainwaring perfectly synchronized their efforts on this film, creating a narrative masterpiece where every image perfectly accompanies or contrasts every line of dialogue, where the whole is so self-conscious that it forces us to view each moment through every other, creating a true mise-en- abyme. It would be as impossible for the viewer to enter into such a story as it is for the characters to escape it, if it weren't for the decision to create a "Meta" narration at exactly the halfway point of the film, allowing the viewer to sort past from present in a film that constantly blurs that distinction in order to show how lives are always lived in servitude to what comes out of the past. For all of these reasons, the film is a constant source of inspiration, and a constant obsession, for those who watch it carefully.

[wilder]

October 14, 2014

Jonathan Demme's Married to the Mob (1988) on blu-ray from Kino



Married to the Mob (1988) - Amazon