Journey to the Center of the Earth Blu-ray
WARNER Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Family adventure offers 3D gimmick. The summer hit comes to Blu-ray in both 2D and 3D versions, along with a bunch of extras. Journey is the first live-action film to be shot in digital 3D, and though the overall results are acceptable, the striking colors and general vibrancy we expect from Blu-ray releases were lacking.
More
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.
More
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Blu-ray
Paramount Street: Oct. 21 Prebook: now > Fine-looking Blu-ray edition of gothic musical adds a lush audio option. The Broadway musical tale of a 19th century London barber who makes mince meat of his clients (literally!) received a fine cinematic adaptation by director Tim Burton. It pleased critics but didn’t make a substantial a splash at the box office.
More
George Carlin: It’s Bad For Ya
MPI Street: Nov. 25 Prebook: Nov. 4 > Legendary late comic’s final HBO stand-up show joins his formidable canon. Comedy legend George Carlin’s 14th and final HBO special from March 2008 makes its DVD debut five months after the comic’s passing.
More
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.
More
Room 205
GHOST HOUSE UNDERGROUND/LIONSGATE Street: Oct. 14 Prebook: now > Danish fright flick about a haunted dorm has atmosphere but lacks originality. This 2007 Danish shocker concerns a sweet co-ed (Neel Rønholt) in a Copenhagen dormitory who comes up against a murderous ghost knocking off fellow students.
More
Zombie Strippers
SONY Street: Oct. 28 Prebook: now > Above-average cult entry starring former porn queen Jenna Jameson. Retired porn queen Jenna Jameson (retired until her inevitable comeback film, that is) leads the catfight-filled show in this midnight movie-ish tale.
More
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...
More
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.
More
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.
More
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.
More
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.
More
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...
More
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.
More
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.
More
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 .
More
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.
More
First Among Equals
ACORN Street: Sept. 16 Prebook: now > Twenty-year-old British political miniseries starring a fine Tom Wilkinson still packs a punch. An adaptation of British politician-turned-novelist Jeffrey Archer’s 1984 bestseller, First Among Equals debuted on British TV in 1986 as a 10-part miniseries.
More
On the Ecstasy of Ski-Flying: Werner Herzog in Conversation With Karen Backman
MICROCINEMA Street: Aug. 26 Prebook: now > Fans will eat up this hour-long conversation with the great German auteur. No, the great filmmaker Werner Herzog didn’t direct this public conversation that he engaged in with University of Pennsylvania film studies professor Karen Beckman
More
The Inglorious Bastards
SEVERIN Street: July 29 Prebook: now > Well-supplemented edition of guns-a-blazin’ ’70s war flick. A throwback to the great World War II “deadly mission” movies of the ’60s, such as Kelly’s Heroes and particularly The Dirty Dozen, Italian genre journeyman Enzo G.
More
