Lots of interesting releases this week including the latest from Quentin Tarantino, a Criterion release of a cult classic, several British programs, a wonderful animated movie, a bunch of genre releases and an animated family film making it’s U.S. debut.
Open up that queue and fire up that shopping cart and check out this weeks’ can’t miss selections!
Django Unchained
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and set in the South two years before the Civil War, Jamie Foxx stars as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with a German-born bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christolph Waltz). Schultz is on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles – dead or alive.
Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South’s most wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills, Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), the wife he lost to the slave trade long ago.
Django and Schultz’s search ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), the proprietor of “Candyland,” an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses, Django and Schultz rouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda, they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice and survival…
Extras include Reimagining The Spaghetti Western, Remembering J. Michael Riva: The Production Design of Django Unchained, The Costume Designs Of Sharen Davis, 20 Years In The Making: The Tarantino XX Blu-ray Collection, and Django Unchained Soundtrack Spot.
Dragon
Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) is a village craftsman whose quiet life is irrevocably shattered by the arrival of two notorious gangsters in the local general store. When Liu single-handedly saves the shopkeeper’s life, he comes under investigation by detective Xu Bai-jiu (Takeshi Kaneshiro).
Convinced that Liu’s martial arts mastery belies a hidden history of training by one of the region’s vicious clans, Xu doggedly pursues the shy hero-and draws the attention of China’s criminal underworld in the process.
Extras include The Making Of Dragon, Featurettes With Donnie Yen and “Lost In Jianghu” Music Video.
Repo Man: The Criterion Collection
A quintessential cult film of the 1980s, Alex Cox’s singular sci-fi comedy stars the always captivating Harry Dean Stanton as a weathered repo man in desolate downtown Los Angeles, and Emilio Estevez as the nihilistic middle-class punk he takes under his wing. The job becomes more than either of them bargained for when they get involved in reclaiming a mysterious-and otherworldly-Chevy Malibu with a hefty reward attached to it. Featuring the ultimate early-eighties L.A. punk soundtrack, this grungily hilarious odyssey is also a politically trenchant take on President Reagan’s domestic and foreign policies.
Extras include commentary, interviews, deleted scenes, trailers, roundtable discussion, the television version of the film, booklet featuring essays, interview and production history, and a conversation between actor Harry Dean Stanton and producer Peter McCarthy.
Billionaire Tony Stark, in his Iron Man armor, prevents an attack from a mysterious new foe, but innocent bystanders are killed, including his best friend War Machine, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes.
Detained for questioning by S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man escapes, determined to find the mastermind behind the attack. Pursued by Black Widow and Hawkeye, Iron Man enlists the help of the ruthless vigilante The Punisher. Now, the Armored Avenger must handle what he finds when he catches the person responsible and is forced to face his deadliest weapon, a biotechnology called Technovore that could wipe out all life on the planet.
Extras include Tale Of Technovore, S.H.I.E.L.D.: Protecting The Marvel Universe and Concept Art Gallery.
A Monster In Paris
A Monster in Paris tells the tale of a wacky inventor, his camera-crazy best friend and a madcap monkey who make a massive mistake when let loose in a mad scientist’s laboratory. With lotions and potions spilling everywhere, the troublesome trio accidentally creates Franc, the product of a reaction between a common flea and one of the scientist’s mystery concoctions. What they fail to realize, however, is that this ‘monster’ is actually a soft-centered soul with an astounding talent for music.With the help of an enchanting nightclub singer Lucille, Franc becomes the talk of the town, just as stories of Paris’s newest monster attract the attention of the egotistical police commissioner. The unwitting scientists and the singer must team up to protect Franc, a monster with more than a musical career to protect!
The voice cast includes Adam Goldberg, Jay Harrington, Bob Balaban, Sean Lennon, Vanessa Paradis, Danny Huston and Catherine O’Hara. Lone extra is a digital copy.
Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens
Ten-year-old Ben Tennyson is finally back from his summer vacation… and his life is a mess!
Humiliated by his teacher, grounded by his parents, and cursed with a malfunctioning Omnitrix that’s vaporizing his homework, Ben seizes an opportunity to “get away from it all” by exploring the galaxy with his alien buddy Tetrax. However, he quickly finds himself crashing back to Earth in alien form and unable to turn human again!
To make matters worse, Ben soon encounters a deadly Mechamorph Warrior – just like Ben’s Upgrade alien, but armed with explosive high-tech armor and a single-minded goal to Destroy All Aliens!
As Grandpa Max, Gwen and Tetrax race to track him down. Ben’s battle with the Mechamorph Warrior takes them to the Omniverse – a strange world that exists within the Omnitrix itself – and a deadly battle with an evil version of Ben’s most powerful alien of all: the hundred-foot-tall Way Big!
But little does Ben know what neither the Mechamorph Warrior nor the Evil Way Big are exactly what they seem! Extras include commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes and a gallery.
Flash Gordon – The Complete Series
Placing a 21st century spin on a science fiction classic, this contemporized version of Flash Gordon follows the all-new adventures of Flash (Eric Johnson, Smallville) and his companions, Dale Arden (Gina Holden, Fantastic Four) and Dr. Hans Zarkov (Jody Racicot, The Newsroom). When ordinary people from a peaceful Pacific town are thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they find themselves as Earth’s last line of defense against the forces of the merciless dictator Ming (John Ralston, Life with Derek). Together this unusual team of heroes sets out on a venture that is literally…Out Of This World. Includes all 22 episodes.
Parade’s End
True love will stop at nothing. This 1964 film adaptation of the classic novel by Ford Madox Ford shows a young Judi Dench (Skyfall, J. Edgar) in one of her earliest screen roles. Considered by many as one of the pre-eminent literary works of the 20th-century, Parade’s End follows Christopher Tietjens (Ronald Hines, Elizabeth R), a wealthy member of Edwardian England’s upper class, as the country is drawn into World War One. Tietjens is at the center of a love triangle between his wife Sylvia (Jeanne Moody), a treacherous socialite who is trying to destroy him, and his suffragette mistress, Valentine (Dench). The warfare Tietjens encounters as an officer in Europe is but a backdrop to a personal battle of conflicting loyalties, hidden passions and the rigid social expectations of his day.
State of Emergency
When the dead walk, the living… run. After an explosion unleashes the contents of a military bio-weapons plant, the unsuspecting populace is transformed into a roaming army of flesh-eating zombies. Trapped in the quarantine zone, Jim (Jay Hayden, A Warrior’s Heart) finds himself cut off, confused and fighting for his own survival. Contacted by a small band of others unaffected by the toxins, Jim sets out to reach their besieged warehouse. Becoming the group’s de-facto leader, he struggles to keep order as they hunker down, fortify their stronghold and arm themselves against the attacking mutants. Fragmentary radio reports from outside hint at a last-ditch government rescue plan. But can the survivors hold out until help arrives… or will they succumb to the living hell of an undead apocalypse? Extras include Deleted Scenes, The Making Of State Of Emergency and Visual Effects Featurette.
Women in Love
Rosamund Pike (Jack Reacher, Die Another Day) and Rachael Stirling (Young Victoria, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) star in this powerful adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s novel. Following the banning of Lawrence’s earlier novel, The Rainbow, Women In Love was published to a storm of protest about its explicitness in 1920. Combining some elements The Rainbow with Women In Love, this adaptation focuses on the lives of two sisters, Ursula and Gudrun Brangwen, as they struggle with their own loves, desires and passions. The drama follows their relationships with two friends, Rupert Birkin and Gerald Crich. As Ursula and Birkin’s friendship and love develops, Gudrun and Gerald’s stormy and destructive relationship begins to spiral out of control.
At the Gate of the Ghost
Murder is the crime, truth is the victim. In this adaptation of the Japanese film Rashomon, a young monk leaves town to seek his father’s counsel after being disturbed by the murder trial testimony of the bandit Singh Khan, the wife of the deceased warlord, and a shaman who conjures up the warlord’s spirit. Along the way, he encounters a poor man who testified at the trail, and the two take refuge in an abandoned burial tunnel during a storm. They are met by an old beggar who joins in their lively conversation about the trial. In vivid detail, each story is witnessed on screen as it’s told from the bandit’s, the wife’s and the warlord’s perspectives, all riddled with bias and personal agenda. In the end, the young monk is left to determine what meaning is of true consequence not only in this murder trial, but in choosing to continue on his monastic path. Extras include The Making Of A Legendary Story, Behind The Scenes and International Trailer.
Last of the Summer Wine: Vintage 1998
Join everyone’s favorite trio for another season of hilarious adventures! Hoping to keep his comrades as young and spritely as ever, Foggy sets up a training course to get Compo and Clegg in shape, but, as usual, safety isn’t his first concern. When the trio gets a grill from Auntie Wainwrights, they have a barbecue like never before. Foggy, ever the inspired inventor, comes up with the idea to create bicycle safety underwear and, later in the season, a three man windsurfing sailboard. Finally, in the Christmas special, the trio plan to host a visitor from outer space… or maybe just a neighboring town.
Sugartown
Life isn’t so sweet in Sugartown. For decades, the seaside hamlet has been kept afloat by the Burr candy factory, but now the company is struggling. Jason Burr (Shaun Dooley, Red Riding) is determined to keep the factory open and his family’s legacy alive, while his posh brother, Max (Tom Ellis, Miranda), returns with plans to change Sugartown forever. Max wants to shutter the factory in favor of a trendy entertainment complex, but he may have more than business on his mind-namely, Jason’s fianc‚e, Emily (Miranda Raison, Vexed, MI-5). This lighthearted comedy pits brother against brother in a battle for a town’s soul and a woman’s heart. Also starring Philip Jackson (Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Little Voice), Sue Johnston (Waking the Dead), and Georgia King (The New Normal).
Message From Space
From a captive planet two million light years away, came a desperate message from space… Help us! On the verge of annihilation, Kido, the leader of the persecuted Jillucians, sends his beautiful granddaughter, Emeralida, to find the eight legendary brave warriors who alone can stop the steel-skinned hordes of the Gavanas Empire! This disparate, rag-tag group (a drunken general, a deposed prince, space hot rodders, a hoodlum, a royal retainer, and a broken-down robot) must band together before it’s too late before the Gavanas can reach their next target: Earth!
Born from the fallout of Star Wars, along with Starcrash and Battle Beyond The Stars, this wildly colorful, anachronistic Space Opera bristling with dazzling visual effects is available on DVD for the first time! Directed by Kinji Fukasaku (Battle Royale), told in an ancient fairy-tale style and featuring a stellar international cast, including Vic Morrow (Combat! ), Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill! ), Hiroyuki Sanada (The Wolverine), Etsuko Shihomi (Sister Street Fighter), Tetsuro Tamba (You Only Live Twice) and Philip Casnoff (Sinatra), Message From Space is a spectacular sci-fi adventure, where fantasies are real… and reality is fantastic!
Not Suitable for Children
Everybody loves Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) – especially the ladies. He’s young, hot, sharing a cool house with his best friends Gus (Ryan Corr) and Stevie (Sarah Snook), and throwing parties that rock AND keep the bills paid. Then: that awkward moment when your random one-night-stand asks, is that a lump? Boom. Jonah’s got testicular cancer. His life isn’t at risk, but the impending treatment will leave him completely infertile. Jonah realizes, to everyone’s shock: he wants to be a dad. His attempts at the sperm bank are a failure. His only choice is natural conception. Within the next four weeks. He’s gotta procreate before it’s too late. What follows is a rousing (get it?) parade of ex-girlfriends, mistaken match-ups, surrogate slip-ups and a whole lot of Baby Daddy Drama. Poor Jonah may be out of options – until he starts listening to his friends AND his heart, and realizes that a perfect candidate might be closer than anyone would think. Extras include Interviews with Cast and Crew, Behind the Scenes, featurettes, and Trailer.
Jackie Chan: Police Story / Police Story II
POLICE STORY: Considered, and rightly so, a Hong Kong action cinema classic, Police Story marks Jackie Chan’s initial foray into the stunt-filled action movie that became his trademark. Chan plays an honest cop Chan Ka-Kui assigned to protect a witness whose key testimony could bring down the drug baron, Chu. However, when the witness gets away from Chan, there’s no evidence to put Chu away, and he is set free. Chu goes on a vendetta to frame Chan for a murder. Chan goes on the run. He must quickly find the witness to protect her and prove his own innocence.
POLICE STORY II: Picking up where the first film ended, Police Story II returns Jackie Chan to the role of detective Chan Ka-Kui. Due to his unorthodox police work on the last case, Chan has been demoted to traffic duty…and the vengeful mobsters still have their sights on taking him down. But when terrorists threaten Hong Kong, Chan must track down the suspects. And when his girlfriend May is kidnapped by the terrorists, Chan must confront them, save his girlfriend and save the day as only Jackie Chan can.
Quentin Tarantino’s Rolling Thunder Pictures
In July of 1995, Tarantino and Miramax launched Rolling Thunder Pictures, a specialty label shaped around Tarantino’s personal philosophy on film and is dedicated to finding the missing pieces that help create the tapestry of film history, past and present.
This DVD compilation brings together three classic Tarantino favorites for any film buff, including The Mighty Peking Man, Detroit 9000 and Switchblade Sisters.
Spies of Warsaw
David Tennant (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), as Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, is a highly decorated war hero drawn into a world of betrayal, intrigue and passion in this thrilling spy story set in a pre-World War II Europe, where German operatives are locked in a life-or-death struggle on the espionage battlefield.
While risking his life and working in the shadows of venal and dangerous characters, the handsome aristocrat finds himself in a passionate love affair with a Parisian woman of Polish heritage, a lawyer for the League of Nations. Love and lies intertwine in this story of survival. It is a time for risks and leaps of faith, as no one knows what tomorrow will bring. Extras include interview with David Tennant.
Save The Date
After an ill-timed and very public marriage proposal, fiercely independent Sarah (Lizzy Caplan, Hot Tub Time Machine¸127 Hours) breaks up with her overeager boyfriend Kevin (Geoffrey Arend, (500) Days of Summer, Devil). Sarah turns to her sister Beth (Alison Brie, Community, Mad Men) for support, but Beth is too busy obsessing over the details of her own wedding to Kevin’s band mate, Andrew (Martin Starr, Adventureland, Freaks and Geeks). When Sarah suddenly finds herself caught up in an intense rebound romance with the adorable Jonathan (Mark Webber, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), she is forced to examine her own fears of commitment and vulnerability and decide if she s better off staying safely single or risking everything on love. By turns funny, sad, and sweet,
Save The Date is a heartfelt and sincere comedy about the familial and romantic bonds that hold us together. Extras include Making of, Mini-Comic and Trailer.
