New on DVD

   

We've got a small but eclectic offering this week, which includes a 1960's stranded-in-a-desert flick from Olive Films, a new one from Film Movement, and more, inside. 

Blog entry 08/02/2011 - 11:00am

   

It's a great week to revisit our podcasts, as 2 new DVDs out today have been featured at GreenCine Daily: Heartbeats and Life During Wartime. We've also got some fun summer cult films and docs, sci fi, and more. 

Blog entry 07/26/2011 - 11:07am

Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of five): * * *

A coming-of-age (but not coming-out) movie that takes us back to a British all-girls school during the 1930s -- complete with requisite lesbianism, nude scenes, and a backward glance at the young ladies, fashions and automobiles of pre-WWII-- Cracks, the first full-length film from Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley) is a ripe piece of cinema that is, fortunately, still a short distance from going bad. You can bite into its succulent fruit and enjoy the sweet taste, while realizing that, by tomorrow, it will have passed optimum status. But that's tomorrow. Why carp when we still have today?

Blog entry 07/19/2011 - 1:30pm

   

We've got a nicely ecclectic mix of new releases this week, with 2 biographical docs, a seminal work by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, and strange (to say the least) comedy that tanked when it came out in the 70's, but is worth a look with fresh eyes on the release of it (Skidoo) in DVD format. 

Blog entry 07/19/2011 - 11:04am

Reviewer: Philip Tatler IV
Rating (out of five): * * * *

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives details the final days in the life of the eponymous character, who is dying of kidney disease. The film also features ape ghosts with glowing red eyes who stalk the forest in anticipation of Boonmee’s departed spirit.

The works of Apichatpong “Joe” Weerasethakul have always straddled the mundane and the psychospiritual, often times within the same scene, but all of Weerasethakul’s preoccupations seem to meet their apex in Boonmee. The film is shaggier than its predecessor, Syndromes and a Century, returning to the swoony, free-form jungle idyll of Blissfully Yours and Tropical Maladay.

Blog entry 07/12/2011 - 2:45pm

Reviewer: James van Maanen
Rating (out of five): * * * *

The Queen and her Corgis, Churchill and his bulldog, J.R. Ackerley and Tulip.  If that last one doesn't ring the bell, no matter: a gong may sound in perpetuity once you've seen the new animated film My Dog Tulip, the newest from husband-wife filmmaking team Paul and Sandra Fierlinger.  J.R Ackerly, a British literary editor and writer, had his book of the same title (a reminiscence about the relationship between him and his dog) published in 1956 in England and later here in America. Reissued by New York Review Books in its Classic Series, Tulip is currently that series' best-seller.

While all this may sound a bit like the Brit version of Marley and Me, be assured that it is not.  For one thing, Tulip is not a film for children. One of the first things to greet us on-screen are the book author Ackerley's words: "Unable to love each other, the English turn to dogs."  Sad, ironic, rather nastily funny -- and definitely not for kids. The story that unfolds thereafter tells of a quiet, highly intelligent and lonely man who has never had a committed relationship with another person.  Into his life comes the dog Tulip.

Blog entry 07/12/2011 - 12:54pm

   

We've got a big week of releases this week, ranging from cult classics hitting DVD for the first time ever, to the mesmerizing Thai film that won last year's Palm d'Or, to animated comedies and horror. Check out the full slate inside! 

Blog entry 07/12/2011 - 11:00am

Reviewer: Vadim Rizov
Rating (out of 5): **½

Takashi Miike chooses the strangest times to assert himself. By IMDB's count, since 1991 he's directed or is wrapping up some 85 titles; if he's no longer cranking out five films a year, inconsistency is still his hallmark. Miike's best known for both AuditionOzu meets torture porn — and a series of films that alternate between inspiration and filler with very little warning. If Miike was a band, he'd have an awesome greatest-hits disc that would make you get rid of all the albums proper.

Blog entry 07/05/2011 - 5:49pm

   

It's a small week for new releases off the heels of the Fourth of July weekend; we're just getting warmed up for a great month of DVDs ahead! 

Blog entry 07/05/2011 - 8:07am

   

There's no such thing as summer doldrum's for this season's slate of summer DVDs - inside you'll find classic films released by Criterion, two truly bizarre but not-to-be-missed slashers from the 80's (re-released by Severin Films), and yes, even MORE Nic Cage (it never ends!). 

Blog entry 06/28/2011 - 11:18am

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