It’s an interesting week of releases including the pulpy ensemble of Gangster Squad, the Oscar nominated performance of Naomi Watts in The Impossible, an animated Cheech & Chong and some classic tv and music documentary releases which will definitely keep you occupied through the remainder of April’s showers.
As always, fire up that queue and prep that shopping cart and check out this weeks’ latest releases!
Gangster Squad
The year is 1949 and ruthless gangster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) has the city of Los Angeles in his grip. Against a gang protected by rampant corruption, Chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) resorts to extremes. He enlists battle-hardened hero Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) to form a unit to exact vigilante justice. Their job isn’t to make arrests… it’s to make war. As the city explodes in gunfire, jaded cop Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) is reluctantly drawn into the fight as he falls hard for Grace Faraday (Emma Stone), the elegant beauty whom Cohen claims as his own. Inspired by an incredible true story, Gangster Squad blows open the secret flies of the cops who fought for L.A.’s soul. Extras include Commentary With Director Ruben Fleischer, The Gangland Files, The Set Up, Rogues’ Gallery: Mickey Cohen, Tough Guys With Style, and Deleted Scenes.
Cheech & Chong’s: Animated Movie
You’re not hallucinating… but they are. It’s the legendary toker jokers Cheech & Chong as you’ve never seen them before – in their very first Animated Movie. Catch all the buzz as their most outrageously funny routines and laugh-out-loud lines from their Grammy Award-winning albums come to life, including Dave’s Not Here, Let’s Make a Dope Deal and more. With help from a , bud-lovin’ body crab named Buster, Cheech & Chong, “the masters of the smokin’ word,” deliver the ultimate comedy high and give you the munchies for more. Joint Commentary By Cheech Marin & Tommy Chong, Commentary By Chambers Brothers & Lou Adler, Commentary By Tommy Chong & Paris Chong, 4.20 Listening Mode, Medical Marijuana Blues – Session With Blind Melon Chitlin’ and Cheech & Chong Slideshow.
The Impossible
One family’s incredible true story. Maria (Naomi Watts) and Henry (Ewan McGregor) are on a family Christmas vacation in Thailand, enjoying their beachfront resort when their world is suddenly turned upside down. Unbeknownst to them, a huge earthquake across the ocean has triggered a massive tsunami… one of the most devastating natural catastrophes on record. This is their story. Extras Audio Commentary With Director J.A. Bayona, Writer Sergio G. Sanchez, Producer Belen Atienza, And Maria Belon, Casting The Impossible Featurette, Realizing The Impossible Featurette and Deleted Scenes.
Merlin: The Complete Fifth Season
The die is cast. As Camelot basks in peace and prosperity, the dark seeds of destruction are being sown. In the frozen wastelands of the north, men are disappearing without a trace. As King Arthur and his knights undertake a mission into the unknown, they encounter mystical figures, never knowing who they can trust. Morgana is lurking in the shadows, plotting her revenge against King Arthur, enlisting the help of some of those closest to him. With the help of Mordred, Morgana wages war against Camelot. As the battle rages on, Merlin faces his destiny: can he find the strength to save the man he made a king, the Camelot they fought to build, and the brotherhood they shared? Making Of Merlin: Season 5, Audio Commentaries With Cast And Crew, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes and Storyboards.
Maverick: The Complete Second Season
For fans of classic TV Westerns such as Cheyenne, Bonanza and Gunsmoke, Maverick: The Complete Second Season comes to DVD! James Garner stars as a card shark travelling the Old West with a sense of humor and a knack for getting into trouble. Wisecracking ladies’ man Bret Maverick (Garner) and his more serious brother Bart (Jack Kelly) – two handsome bachelors on the loose in the Wild West – have more success at the game of poker than the game of love. Yet they keep trying their luck in one frontier outpost after another. Though cardsharps Bret and Bart would just as soon slip out of town quietly as face a gunman, when it’s time for a showdown, don’t bet against a Maverick!
Wuthering Heights
An epic love story that spans childhood into adulthood, the film follows Heathcliff (James Howson), an outsider taken in and given a home by a benevolent Yorkshire farmer, Earnshaw (Paul Hilton). Heathcliff develops a passionate relationship with the farmer’s teenage daughter, Catherine (Kaya Scodelario), inspiring the envy and mistrust of his rough-hewn son, Hindley (Lee Shaw). Years later, when Earnshaw dies, the young adults must finally confront the intense feelings and destructive rivalries that have developed between them. Andrea Arnold’s film is a beautiful and bold masterpiece that brings out the powerful emotions of Brontë’s timeless love story. It is a sweeping, old-fashioned tale of family, class, and romance told in a bracingly modern way by one of contemporary cinema’s most gifted and unique filmmakers.
Pawn
Every move is a game changer. Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker and Golden Globe winner Michael Chiklis reunite for the first time since The Shield for the most gripping crime thriller of the year: An all-night diner. A cop walks in on a robbery in progress. But what happens next – and what happened just before – will change everything you think you know. Now the building is surrounded. There are fingers on every trigger. And one very intense hostage situation is about to take some extremely shocking twists. Common (Hell On Wheels), Stephen Lang (Avatar), Nikki Reed (The Twilight Saga), Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl) and Ray Liotta (Goodfellas) co-star in this shotgun blast of a drama about last chances, double-crosses and a deadly game of dirty deals where anyone can be a Pawn. Extras include Pawn: Behind The Scenes.
A Haunting – Season 5
“Between the world we see, and the things we fear… there are doors. When they are opened… nightmares becomes reality. These are the true stories of the innocent and the unimaginable.” After five years off the air, A Haunting is back for it’s 5th season! These chilling tales of the supernatural take you inside real-life horror stories, with each one-hour episode featuring eyewitness accounts and cinematic re-enactments of some of the most spine tingling and inexplicable stories ever recorded. Episode by shocking episode, you will be stunned and astonished by these spellbinding tales of evil lurking in the most everyday places. By the end of each amazing story, you will experience an eerie feeling that life and death are stranger and more terrifying than you had ever imagined.
Thale
Two crime-scene cleaners discover a mythical, tailed female creature in a concealed cellar. She never utters a word, unable to tell her story, but the pieces of the puzzle soon come together: she’s been held captive for decades for reasons soon to surface… Fun fact: THALE is based on a mythical character in Nordic folklore called the “huldra”. According to the myth, a huldra is a beautiful creature with female attributes living deep in the woods. It is said that it seduces men that works in the woods by humming a beautiful song, and they never return to their village. You can recognize a huldra by its cow tail.
Brick and Mortar and Love
Brick and Mortar and Love follows the story of ear X-tacy Records, the legendary record store in Louisville, Kentucky, as it struggles to survive in the changing music retail industry. In-depth interviews include owner John Timmons, staff at ear X-tacy, leaders in the record store industry and scores of independent record store owners from all over the US. These interviews look into the state of the independent record store, what services they provide and what is at stake if they disappear.
Last Shop Standing: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Independent Record Shop
Last Shop Standing inspired by the book of the same name by Graham Jones takes you behind the counter to discover why nearly 2000 record shops have already disappeared across the UK. The film charts the rapid rise of record shops in the 1960′s / 70s and 80’s, the influence of the chart, the underhand deals, the demise of vinyl and rise of the CD as well as new technologies. Where did it all go wrong? Why were 3 shops a week closing? Will we be left with no record shops with the continuing rise of downloading? Hear from over 20 record shop owners and music industry leaders as well as musicians including Paul Weller, Johnny Marr, Norman Cook, Billy Bragg, Nerina Pallot, Richard Hawley and Clint Boon as they all tell us how the shops became and still are a part of their own musical education, a place to cherish and discover new bands and new music.
Assassins Run
Maya (Sofya Skya), a ballerina becomes the target of the Russian mafia after her husband a successful American businessman is killed. Refusing to disclose the location of her husband’s financial documents Maya is framed by corrupt cops and thrown into prison. As she escapes from prison with her world turned upside down by the news of her daughter’s kidnapping Maya takes her ballerina skills and uses them to get her back. Trusting no one a mother’s love will turn deadly as she kills anyone who stands in the way of getting her daughter back. Also stars Christian Slater, Cole Hauser and Angus Macfadyen.
A Haunted House
This $*%! ain’t paranormal. Marlon Wayans and Cedric the Entertainer star in this outrageously funny supernatural scary movie. When young couple Malcolm (Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) move in to their dream place, they soon discover they’re not alone. But it’s not the home that’s possessed, it’s Kisha. Now, Malcolm will go to hilarious extremes – including hiring a priest, a psychic and a team of modern-day ghostbusters to get his place and his sex life back to normal. Co-starring Nick Swardson and David Koechner, it’s the no-holds-barred, raunchy comedy that will have you laughing from start to finish. Includes How To Survive a Paranormal Presence.
