A Hole in a Fence
FIRST RUN Street: Dec. 9 Prebook: now > Flavorful curio about a ‘hidden’ patch of urban landscape in Brooklyn. Concerning a slice of concrete-covered land that lurks behind a fence in the decaying section of Brooklyn, New York’s Red Hook neighborhood, A Hole in a Fence tells a big story in its relatively short running time.
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The Victor Borge Classic Collection
QUESTAR Available now > The Clown Prince of Denmark’s most memorable TV specials are compiled in a well-priced package. Known worldwide as “The Clown Prince of Denmark,” the late, great Victor Borge is a piano-playing, shtick-loving musical joker who rose to fame on the concert stage and on numerous TV specials.
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Paul Simon: Live From Philadelphia
EAGLE ROCK Street: Nov. 25 Prebook: now > Paul Simon tracks through 11 hits in a 1980 Philly show. Live From Philadelphia finds singer/songwriter Paul Simon and his band offering a set of 11 songs at Philadelphia’s Tower Theater in 1980. Touring to support the soundtrack of his biographical film One Trick Pony and still more than five years out from his Graceland rebirth, Simon and co...
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White Dog
CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Dec. 2 Prebook: now > Sam Fuller’s 1982 drama gets its first U.S. release. Sam Fuller’s fascinating 1982 film White Dog receives its first official release in the U.S. in this Criterion Collection edition. A Hollywood starlet (Kristy McNichol) takes in a stray German shepherd and soon learns that it has been trained to attack black people.
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Great Directors, Vol. 1
KINO Street: Dec. 9 Prebook: Nov. 11 > Five good films from five great international filmmakers. Kino International boxes five of its finest foreign-language catalog titles for this collection.
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JFK Blu-ray
WARNER Street: Nov. 11 Prebook: now > Oliver Stone’s study of the JFK assassination glows in high-definition. The first and finest selection in Oliver Stone’s Presidential trilogy, JFK debuts on high-definition a week after the country’s national election. Politics aside, JFK is undeniably a great-looking, fine-sounding movie, and this Blu-ray edition does it justice—...
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Two Tigers
LIONSGATE Street: Nov. 25 Prebook: now > Disappointing Asian-styled action flick delivers lovely leading ladies—and not much else. The lives of a high-class call girl from China (Selena Khoo) and a professional killer from Hungary (Andrea Osvárt) intertwine in Shanghai in this surprisingly low-octane thriller.
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Quo Vadis
WARNER Street: Nov. 11 Prebook: now > Gorgeous rendering of the original Technicolor biblical epic. The granddaddy of modern-day Hollywood’s big-budget, ultra-lavish biblical epics, 1951’s Quo Vadis finally arrives on DVD looking and sounding unbelievably gorgeous.
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The Ultimate Matrix Collection Blu-ray
WARNER Street: Oct. 14 Prebook: now > Like its HD DVD predecessor, this Blu-ray edition of the sci-fi trilogy is simply outstanding. One of the late HD DVD format’s most popular catalog titles, The Ultimate Matrix Collection makes its Blu-ray debut with the same gorgeous clarity, color and sound.
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Hell Ride
DIMENSION EXTREME/GENIUS Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Tougher and more tawdry update of grindhouse biker flicks. Hell Ride is described in its press materials as a “blood-and-sex-soaked motorcycle vengeance flick” … and ain’t that the truth. Concerning bad-ass bikers with names such as Pistolero (Larry Bishop), The Gent (Michael Madsen), Comanche (Eric Balfour) and...
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Legends: Live at Montreux 1997 Blu-ray
EAGLE VISION Street: Sept. 30 Prebook: now > One-night-only quartet led by Eric Clapton delivers a crisp set of jazz, blues and rock. This 1997 concert features a one-night-only live collaboration between guitarist Eric Clapton, drummer Steve Gadd, bassist Marcus Miller, keyboardist Joe Sample and tenor saxman David Sanborn.
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National Lampoon Presents: Robodoc
ARTS ALLIANCE AMERICA Street: Oct. 21 Prebook: Sept. 16 > Weak hospital comedy sports the National Lampoon brand … and not much else. Robodoc is not quite Robocop meets Young Doctors in Love , but the title is cute.
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Scenic National Parks Blu-ray
QUESTAR Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Collection of gorgeous, high-def tableaus and vistas from our nation’s grandest parks. Originally issued in June on standard DVD as part of Treasure of America’s National Parks, this three-disc Blu-ray release surveys national parks and makes for some sweet geographic eye candy.
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Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy
CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Sept. 23 Prebook: now > Trio of inimitably dark comedies from icy Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismäki. The coolest of recent cinema's deadpan humorists, Finland's Aki Kaurismäki is known for his disarming—and hard-drinking—tragi-comedies about working-class outcasts, such as sanitation men, assembly line jockeys and longshoremen.
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The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: The Best of Season 3
TIME LIFE Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Supplement-filled sampler DVD from the innovative and controversial variety series. It’s rare to hear a star expressing misgivings about his TV series on a DVD box set, but Tommy Smothers is quite honest in his audio-only comments here, noting that “I have trouble watching” the episodes and showing concerns that the shows are too s...
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The Earrings of Madame de…
CRITERION/IMAGE Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Max Ophuls’ classic of love, lies and despair. Max Ophuls’ 1953 masterwork follows an aristocratic French woman (Danielle Darrieux) who pawns a pair of earrings, triggering the chain-reaction downfall of her life. A gorgeously photographed and stylized movie, filled with silky-smooth tracking shots, Madame de… has never look...
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The Fall
SONY Street: Sept. 9 Prebook: now > Slow-moving period fantasy that more than delivers with its visual sumptuousness. Filled with colors, images and compositions that are reminiscent of the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky, Terry Gilliam, Michelangelo Antonioni, David Lean and Guillermo del Toro, The Fall is indeed a breathtakingly beautiful movie.
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Television Under the Swastika
FIRST RUN Available now > Fascinating compilation and analysis of rarely-seen Nazi TV broadcasts. Nazi leaders began the world’s first TV broadcast network, Greater German Television, in March 1935.
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Shooting Henry Hill
PASSION RIVER Street: Sept. 23 Prebook: now > Engaging look at former Goodfellas mobster and Witness Protection Program dropout Henry Hill. With its cute title and humble aspirations, Shooting Henry Hill catches up with the famed Mafia turncoat who was immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 saga Goodfellas .
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Son of Sam
LIONSGATE Street: Sept. 2 Prebook: now > Ulli Lommel serial killer flick examining the bloody legacy of David Berkowitz. Prolific moviemaker Ulli Lommel returns with his latest serial killer film on that most notorious of New York madmen, David Berkowitz a.k.a. the Son of Sam.
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