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Posted on 11.20.08 by Charlie @ 4:08 pm
CSB is back this week with our roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.     This time of year is a lot of fun for film collectors, as DVDs start to roll out for the holidays, including the all-important box sets that tend to dig up the older, unreleased films. So, while the biggest sellers of the week will undoubtedly be the Hollywood blockbusters Wall-E, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 and Tropic Thunder (all available on DVD and Blu-ray in the USA this past Tuesday), those releases are widely known and there’s little we have to add. We would like, however, to draw your attention to a few of the more obscure titles.
Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
Exhibit A is the new set of D.W. Griffith films from Kino — the second box set they’ve released. As most film fans know, Griffith was America’s first king-of-the-box-office director back at the birth of American cinema, and he had first dibs on adapting the hottest books to film. While he often used his clout to make great films, he is notoriously the director of the Ku Klux Clan-propagandizing film Birth of a Nation, which has, of course, permanently stained his legacy. Still, given how prominent Griffith’s role was in American cinema in its early days, it is surprising how few of his films have been made available on DVD (this new box set from Kino along with their previous box comprise the bulk of his films available on DVD). Of the new box of films, the only one I’ve seen is Sally of the Sawdust, a classic W.C. Fields film that was previously released on DVD by Image and is quite enjoyable, especially for fans of Fields, one of the greatest comedians from the Vaudeville era.
We’re also excited about the new release from Mondo Macabro. For those not familiar with Mondo Macabro, they pioneered the exploration of popular cinema from many film industries that go largely ignored on DVD, including in the Philippines, Turkey and Pakistan. This week they’re back with The Warrior, the seminal action film from Indonesia starring the incomparable Barry Prima. If you’re interested in learning more about these kinds of films, we highly recommend the book that started it all “Mondo Macabro” by Pete Tombs, which is required reading here at CSB. Speaking of which, in case you missed it, Pete Tombs posted a comment yesterday to Dave’s |
Posted on 11.07.08 by Charlie @ 3:17 pm
CSB is back this week with our roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.     While Kung Fu Panda and Get Smart, are likely to get most of the attention this week, there are several other interesting titles that have recently surfaced. For starters, the entire line of (original) films in the Battle of the Apes series is out this week on Blu Ray (Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes).
Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
Navarre Corporation has released two cult Japanese films this week on Region 1: Sabu’s fantastic film Unlucky Monkey and the bizarro flick Battle Heater (a movie about a deadly space heater, no less).|
Posted on 09.05.08 by Charlie @ 12:25 pm
CSB is back this week with our roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.     Without any doubt, the headline this week on DVD is that after a long, long wait, the works of celebrated French director Chris Marker have finally arrived here in the United States! Marker has long been known, especially in film school circles, for his short film La Jetee (famously the inspiration for Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys). Until recently, the short was all most film fans had to go on, and even that was hard to come by until The Criterion Collection released it alongside Sans Soleil last year. But until today, those were the only Marker films available on Region 1. This week, Icarus Films released all of the following Marker films: The Sixth Side of the Pentagon, The Embassy, Remembrance of Things to Come, The Case of the Grinning Cat, The Last Bolshevik and Happiness. A big round of applause for Icarus films!
Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
Also up this week are two new titles in the popular Fox Film Noir series: Road House and Moontide. Although he is uncredited, Fritz Lang was a director on Moontide according to IMDB, though I am most looking forward to Road House, which features the talented Richard Widmark in a leading role.
I’d also like to note another recent exciting release from Benten Films: Team Picture. A deadpan comedy from director Kentucker Audley, the pacing and feel of the film is not altogether dissimilar from Benten’s recent release of The Guatemalan Handshake (see my review |
Posted on 03.11.08 by Charlie @ 5:51 pm
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.     No Country For Old Men, which was not only our favorite film of last year here at CSB, but shockingly also the Academy’s pick for Best Picture, is available this week on DVD and Blu-ray. It’s still playing in theaters in many places, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d recommend seeing it in theaters if you can. But it’s also a great dvd pickup — among other things it gives you a change to directly compare the monologue Tommy Lee Jones gives at the beginning about putting “your soul at risk” against the ending. What a great film.
Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
There are several other big recent releases this week worth noting. Judging from it’s box office results, many people must have missed the recent action film Hitman when it played in theaters, though I for one am anxious to check it out on DVD, in large part because I think star Timothy Olyphant did such a great job in Deadwood, he deserves the benefit of the doubt, despite the mixed reviews. |
Posted on 03.04.08 by Charlie @ 2:36 pm
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.     Now that the Oscar rush is winding down, we’ll have several slow weeks for DVD releases, unfortunately. The big title of the week is Sean Penn’s latest (directed) film Into the Wild. Also of interest is the critically-acclaimed documentary My Kid Could Paint That, the new Iranian drama Half Moon (from director Bahman Ghobadi, who also did A Time for Drunken Horses and Turtles Can Fly) and the American drama Things We Lost in the Fire, starring Halle Berry and Benecio Del Toro.
Filed under: General and Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: 3 Comments |
On the more obscure side, one title that looks particularly interesting this week is Amazons vs. Supermen, apparently an Italian production, shot entirely in Italy, but as a co-production with the legendary Shaw Brothers studios, and thus starring Yueh Hua, a regular star in Shaw martial arts films. Apparently this was the same year that Shaw Brothers did a co-production with Hammer Studios (Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires). In any case, I’m pretty sure this title was not released by Celestial Pictures as part of their massive catalog of Shaw releases over the past several years, so this is quite a find. As a sad side note, for those who don’t know, the Celestial Pictures titles have come to an end, which we’re very sorry to hear here at CSB, as we loved catching up on the old Shaws.|
Posted on 02.05.08 by Charlie @ 1:23 am
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.    This is one of the most exciting DVD release weeks in a long time, so be sure to “Click to Read More” to hear all the good news, including the release of Atonement in the UK, a bunch of big releases across Asia and some obscure DVDs of note in North America. Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: Hong Kong and DVD News: Japan and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: UK and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.22.08 by Charlie @ 11:07 pm
Zodiac Review By: Charlie Prince  David Fincher’s triumphant 2007 film Zodiac has finally been released to the public in a pristine HD-DVD format. Based on a true story, this unusual police procedural is riveting - the kind of movie where even if you’re a bit sleepy going into the movie, you will be wide awake 20 minutes in. The plot is fairly straight-forward. After a few minutes of Fincher’s trademark moving camera work, the story gets rocking as we are introduced to the murderer that we will spend the next couple hours studying. His face is never shown, which allows the film to also work as a whodunit to a lesser degree. His target? A young couple that has driven off to a “make out” site. The young man survives the attack but is unable to provide the police with any significant clues. The police are stumped and before long they are embarrassed, because the murderer has written to a local newspaper to drum up attention for himself. He provides details that only the murderer could know and takes credit for multiple murders. The killer is a big media sensation, and yet the police still make little progress. Filed under: Movie Reviews and Movie Reviews: USA and DVD News and DVD Reviews and DVD Reviews: USA and Contributors: Charlie and People: David Fincher Comments: None |
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Posted on 01.08.08 by Charlie @ 1:58 am
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.
   David Fincher’s latest film, Zodiac, is out this week in an extended “Director’s Cut”. The theatrical cut was released on DVD last July (but NOT in high definition). I don’t know if the decision not to release the initial cut in HD was simply a practical consideration or not, but certainly many of Fincher’s fans held off on purchasing the theatrical cut with the expectation that an HD release was inevitable, and we appreciate that (at least on HD) there was no double-dip. In any case, the director’s cut, an improvement over the already-impressive theatrical cut, clocks in at 162 minutes, only 5 minutes longer than the 157 minute cut released last summer. Nevertheless, the changes are significant and clearly this week’s release will be remembered as the definitive cut of the film. (Check back soon for a full review of the HD-DVD). Filed under: General and Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: 2 Comments |
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Posted on 12.09.07 by Charlie @ 5:45 pm
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.
    While we know that mega-hits Pirates of the Caribbean and Superbad are both out this week on DVD (and in high-definition), it would be a travesty to let these releases overshadow the real superstar release of the week. The Ford at Fox DVD megaset is one of the titles I’ve been most looking forward to this year. With a mind-boggling 21 discs of films from John Ford, who is arguably the greatest director in American cinema history. The full set includes: Disc 1: What Price Glory Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 12.02.07 by Charlie @ 2:36 pm
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.
   This week is surpsingly quiet given how close we are to the gift-buying holidays (next week is far more promising), but there are a few notable exceptions: Satoshi Kon’s films are always cause for celebration, but this week saw the belated US release of Paprika (which has been available for several months in other countries) not only on Region 1 (NTSC) DVD, but also in high-definition on Blu-ray disc. Between this release and last week’s Blu-ray release of Oldboy, we’re starting to really see a broader range of high-definition releases beyond the standard Spiderman/Die Hard type blockbusters. For those of you less versed in the world of animé, Satoshi Kon is the celebrated director of Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue. Collectively, I think his works are really several steps above the norm. Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 11.01.07 by Charlie @ 10:47 am
CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world.
    Without a doubt, the shining star in DVD-land this week is the extra-special Definitive Gold Box Edition of Twin Peaks. The set includes all 29 episodes, both versions of the feature-film length pilot and oodles of extras, including deleted scenes and the much-celebrated log lady introductions. Note: it does NOT include the feature film Fire Walk With Me that followed (fear not, it has been released separately), nor a small handful of the other oddball Twin-Peaks-related extras that have surfaced over the years (most notably, it does not include the live stage performance that has been sold on vhs in the past as Industrial Symphony No. 1). But still, given how much has been packed into this set, it would be silly to complain. This is the first time all 29 episodes have been released together on DVD, and for those who remember how this series unfolded on VHS, it’s not surprising that it took this long to come out. If I remember correctly, a VHS box set of the first 7 episodes were released initially, but for some strange reason the complete set was not available until years later. In my mind, and even though I love many of his films, this is still David Lynch’s greatest work by a good margin, thus making it all the more regrettable that Mulholland Drive did not survive as a television series. And for those who have not seen Twin Peaks before, I beg you to go out and see it immediately, you won’t regret it. Kyle Maclachlan gives an unforgettable performance that for many film viewers earned him a no-questions-asked golden ticket — anything he’s in, we will see — largely on his accomplishments in this film (and the same goes for Lynch, who was only improving on his already considerable reputation). Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 10.03.07 by Charlie @ 11:19 am
   .jpg) CSB is back this week with our weekly roundup of important DVD releases from around the world. As usual, the headline releases (Entourage Season 3, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer) will get most of the attention this week, though personally I am surprised that the enjoyable film 1408 hasn’t gotten more attention. Starring John Cusack and Samuel Jackson and based on a story by Stephen King, 1408 was heralded by many critics as one of the better movies of the year. And while Variety’s prediction that it would be one of the surprise hits of the summer didn’t pan out, hopefully it will find its audience on DVD. Also of note this week, Ken Burns is back with his latest documentary series The War. Unlike past WWII compendiums, The War takes a more anecdotal, personal approach to telling the story. In that sense it complements, rather than replaces, the reigning BBC History of World War 2 set, which is a more comprehensive “big picture” documentary. And if those 50+ hours of footage aren’t enough for you, check out Victory at Sea (1952), which was the definitive documentary series on the topic for decades until the BBC set came along, and a valuable work from a perspective much closer to the time of the war. Filed under: General and Movie News and DVD News and DVD News: Bollywood and DVD News: Hong Kong and DVD News: Japan and DVD News: USA and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: UK and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.25.07 by Charlie @ 4:47 pm
    Although there are many DVD releases this week, very few are worth mentioning, unfortunately, though there are a few exciting titles (in addition to Judd Apatow’s latest hit Knocked Up, which will no doubt get most of the attention this week). We have reported several times in the past about our love for Street Thief, the rule-bending “filmed record” (though not quite a documentary) that played at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, and debuted on A&E earlier this year. The DVD was released today, and to read more about why we recommend it so strongly, feel free to check out our review from the Tribeca Film Festival and our interview with director and star Malik Bader. Filed under: Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.23.07 by Charlie @ 3:06 pm
   The big release of the week is Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, formerly one half of the greater double-feature Grindhouse that paired itself with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror to disappointing box office results earlier this year. The good news is that this is a longer, unrated version of the film, so there’s more to go around for those that liked the original. And, as if to emphasize that they are being treated separately, The Weinstein Company is waiting until October 16th to release Planet Terror. Filed under: General and Movie News and DVD News and Contributors: Charlie and DVD News: This Week in DVD Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.19.07 by Charlie @ 10:34 am
Click here to see the full DVD Calendar. Filed under: General and DVD News and DVD News: Japan and Contributors: Charlie Comments: None |
Just a quick note that the DVD Calendar has been updated to include a number of new titles. Note the November 11th DVD release of Takeshi Kitano’s latest film Kantoku Banzai! (aka Glory to the Filmmaker). The title is listed as having English subtitles. Kitano is one of our favorite directors here at Cinema Strikes Back, though, like Takeshis, this film is the latest in a string of self-referential films for Kitano from which we are patiently waiting for him to move on. But who knows, maybe this one is better.| previous posts » |
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