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Blu-ray Release: On the Double
28 June 2013 3:05 PM, PDT
Blu-ray Release Date: Aug. 20, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $24.95
Studio: Olive Films
Danny Kaye and Dana Wynter gun for bedroom fun in On the Double.
The 1961 comedy classic On the Double stars Danny Kaye (White Christmas) in a dual role wherein he portrays both a Brit and an American.
The wacky World War II comedy finds Kaye initially playing a timid American soldier who bears a striking resemblance to a famous British Colonel. The top military brass decides to use the poor chap as a pawn and they recruit him to impersonate the legendary Colonel, who has been targeted by a team of Nazi assassins.
Directed by Melville Shavelson, On the Double co-stars Dana Wynter (TV’s Wagon Train) as the Colonel’s suspicious wife, sexy Diana Dors (Theater of Blood) as the Colonel’s personal driver and mistress and Wilfrid Hyde White (My Fair Lady) as the officer overseeing the mission.
- Laurence
Blu-ray, 3D, DVD Release: Iron Man 3
28 June 2013 2:18 PM, PDT
Digital Release Date: Sept. 3, 2013, Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray $44.99, Blu-ray 3D $Tbd
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Tony Stark’s third adventure movie, Iron Man 3 is the highest grossing film in the franchise.
The battle is personal this time, with Stark (Robert Downey Jr., Due Date) and his iron suit forced to retaliate after his bodyguard (Jon Favreau, Couples Retreat) is attacked. The enemy proves ruthless and Stark must go back to the beginning to survive.
Gwyneth Paltrow (Country Strong) and Don Cheadle (Flight) return as Pepper Pots and Lt. Col. James Rhodes, respectively. New to the cast are Guy Pearce (Prometheus), Rebecca Hall (Everything Must Go) and Ben Kingsley (Hugo).
Iron Man 3 was directed by Shane Black, who last helmed 2005′s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and is best know for writing Lethal Weapon. Black also co-wrote the science-fiction script with Drew Pearce.
Rated PG-13, Iron Man 3 »
- Sam
Blu-ray, DVD Release: Bates Motel Season 1
28 June 2013 7:47 AM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013
Price: DVD $44.98, Blu-ray $49.98
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Creator Anthony Cipriano (Twelve and Holding) imagines what Norman Bates’ life was like before Psycho in the TV show Bates Motel.
A&E’s horror series serves as a prequel to Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller. Freddie Highmore (The Art of Getting By) plays young Norman, who’s moved to White Pine Bay, Oregon, by his mother, Norma Louise Bates (Vera Farmiga, Safe House) six months after his father dies. They take over a small rundown motel that had fallen into foreclosure.
Mother and son are drawn together while things go from bad to worse. The former owner (W. Earl Brown, The Lone Ranger) of the motel threatens them, Norman’s older half-brother (Max Thierott, My Soul to Take) comes into town and causes trouble, and something bad is going on with Deputy Sheriff Shelby (Mike Vogel, TV’s »
- Sam
DVD, Digital, VOD Release: Stories We Tell
27 June 2013 3:30 PM, PDT
DVD Release Date: Sept. 3, 2013
Price: DVD $19.98
Studio: Lionsgate
Sarah Polley gets behind the camera for Stories We Tell.
Stories We Tell is the first documentary feature directed by actor/filmmaker Sarah Polley (Splice).
In the film, Polley investigates the secrets kept by a family of storytellers. Weaving a biographical portrait of her mother–a Toronto actress who died when Polley was a child—Polley interviews a group of people, eliciting candid though mostly contradictory answers to the same questions. As each relates their version of the family mythology, present-day recollections shift into nostalgia-tinged glimpses of a mother who departed too soon, leaving a trail of unanswered questions.
An official selection of the Sundance, Toronto, Venice and Telluride film festivals and winner of Best Documentary at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, the PG-13-rated Stories We Tell won high praise from critics. During its a limited run in U.S. »
- Laurence
Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Company You Keep
27 June 2013 1:23 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 13, 2013
Price: DVD $30.99, Blu-ray $35.99
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Drama movie The Company You Keep has a stellar cast headlined by Robert Redford (The Horse Whisperer), Shia Labeouf (Lawless) and Susan Sarandon (Thelma & Louise).
Based on the novel by Neil Gordon, the film tells the story of Nick Sloan (aka Jim Grant) former underground militant activist who’s wanted as an accomplice for a bank robbery that turned deadly in the 1970s.
After Nick’s old compatriot is arrested, ambitious young reporter Ben Shepard (Labeouf) starts digging into Nick’s past. Nick must go on the run, get his daughter to safety and try to clear his name.
The cast of the R-rated movie also includes Nick Nolte (Warrior), Stanley Tucci (Margin Call), Julie Christie (Doctor Zhivago), Chris Cooper (The Company Men), Terrence Howard (Red Tails), Richard Jenkins (Killing Them Softly), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect) and »
- Sam
Blu-ray, DVD, Digital: A Company Man
27 June 2013 10:42 AM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013
Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $29.98
Studio: Well Go USA
So Ji-sub is a contract killer in A Company Man.
First time writer/director Lim Sang-yun re-imagines contract killing in the world of corporate culture in the 2012 action-thriller film A Company Man starring rising Asian action icon So Ji-sub.
Hyeong-do (So Ji-sub) wears a suit and tie like any other rank-and-file white collar worker … except his profession is murder. Seemingly a section chief in the sales division of a metal fabrication company that is actually a front for an organization of hit men, Hyeong-do is regarded as one of the best contract killers in the business. One day, he meets a married woman (Lee Mi-yeon) and instantly falls in love. Feeling guilty about his bloody past, Hyeong-do tries to quit the “manufacturer,” to the surprise of his colleagues and his enemies. Seen as the ultimate betrayal, he is »
- Laurence
DVD Release: Femme Fatales: Season 2
26 June 2013 3:15 PM, PDT
DVD Release Date: July 16, 2013
Price: DVD $29.98
Studio: Entertainment One
Tanit Phoenix lights up our candles as the sexy hostess of Femme Fatales.
Inspired by and styled in the tradition of pulp stories, film noir and graphic novels, Femme Fatales: Season 2 is a sexy Cinemax “After Dark” mystery-thriller anthology television series about powerful, sexy and dangerous women.
Broadcast in 2012, the half-hour program from creators Mark Altman (TV’s Castle) and Steve Kriozere (TV’s NCIS) features stories inspired by such noir classics as Double Indemnity classic thriller TV series like The Twilight Zone. In each of the 12 stand-alone episodes, women find extraordinary ways of coping with their problems, channeling their survival instincts and bringing out their inner guile. Every episode is introduced by a mysterious and sultry host Lilith (Tanit Phoenix, Death Race 2), and features different casts and storylines, some of which are intertwined as part of the series’ overall mythology. »
- Laurence
Blu-ray Giveaway: North Face
26 June 2013 2:43 PM, PDT
German moutaineers get their climb on in North Face.
The acclaimed 2008 adventure film North Face was finally released on Blu-ray today and Music Box Films has given Disc Dish two copies to give away to a pair of readers!
Directed by Philipp Stölzl and starring Benno Furmann, Florian Lukas and Johanna Wokalek, North Face is based on the true story of a 1936 attempt to scale the most dangerous rock face in the Alps, the North Face of the Eiger, by two competing climbing teams. One team consists of German climbers are Toni Kurz and Andi Hinterstoisser, who quit their service in the German military in order to make the attempt. The competing group of Austrians that eventually team up with the German team are portrayed as men who are hoping for a Nazi-led incorporation of Austria into Germany. And so, political unrest and the threat of war heat up as »
- Laurence
Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Sapphires
26 June 2013 12:11 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 6, 2013
Price: DVD $26.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo: $30.99
Studio: The Weinstein Company/Anchor Bay
The Sapphires is another movie about a group of unkown singers making it big. Set in 1968, the independent film is inspired by a true story.
Deborah Mailman (Rabbit Proof Fence), Miranda Tapsell (Mabo), Jessica Mauboy (Bran Nue Dae) and Shari Sebbens (TV’s Redfern Now) star as hopeful singers Gail, Cynthia, Julie and Kay, respectively, who seize a risky but irresistible chance to launch a professional career singing for U.S. troops in Vietnam.
With help from R&B-loving Irish musician Dave Lovelace (Chris O’Dowd, Frankie Go Boom), the women transform themselves into a sizzling soul act hundreds of miles away from home.
The Sapphires screened in a limited number of theaters, grossing $2 million on stellar reviews from critics. Arizona Republic critic Bill Goodykoontz called the PG-13 movie “pure joy.” Globe and Mail »
- Sam
Blu-ray, DVD Release: Pain & Gain
25 June 2013 3:34 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 27, 2013, Digital Release Date: Aug. 13, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.99
Studio: Paramount Home Entertainment
Director Michael Bay took a hiatus from his Transformers movies to bring his sunset-drenched filmmaking style to the crime comedy Pain & Gain.
The movie stars Mark Wahlberg (Ted), Dwayne Johnson (Faster) and Anthony Mackie (Real Steel) as a group of bodybuilding personal trainers. In pursuit of the American dream, they get caught up in an extortion ring and kidnapping scheme and, of course, everything goes horribly wrong.
Tony Shalhoub (Feed the Fish), Ed Harris (Man on a Ledge), Ken Jeong (The Hangover Part 2), Peter Stormare (Small Town Murder Songs) and Rob Corddry (Warm Bodies) also star in Pain & Gain.
The film got mixed reviews from critics, called “crude and ugly” by CNN.com‘s Tom Charity but “may be the best movie Michael Bay’s ever made” by the Newark Star-Ledger‘s Stephen Whitty. »
- Sam
Blu-ray, DVD Release: The Place Beyond the Pines
25 June 2013 2:40 PM, PDT
Digital Release Date: July 23, 2013, Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 6, 2013
Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.98
Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Ryan Gosling (Gangster Squad) plays another stuntman turned criminal in The Place Beyond the Pines.
Unlike in Drive, however, Gosling’s Luke rides a motorcycle instead of a car and robs banks to provide for his wife (Eva Mendes, The Other Guys) and baby. Problem is, he crosses paths with an ambitious rookie cop (Bradley Cooper, The Words) who’s looking to rise up the ranks in a police department filled with corruption.
The film’s title might give you the idea that it’s more like a quiet drama kind of story instead of an action, guns popping type of movie. In case you’re wondering, the “place beyond the pines” is the only refuge Gosling’s Luke can find.
Rated R, The Place Beyond the Pines was directed and co-written by Derek Cianfrance, »
- Sam
Blu-ray, DVD Release: Twixt
25 June 2013 2:29 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: July 23, 2013
Price: DVD $22.98, Blu-ray $29.99
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Am I Blue? Val Kilmer (l.) and Ben Chaplin star in Twixt.
Val Kilmer (MacGruber), Elle Fanning (Somewhere) and Bruce Dern (The Driver) star in the 2011 horror film Twixt, written and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola (Tetro).
The movie follows Hall Baltimore (Kilmer), a writer appearing in a small town on a book tour who uncovers a disturbing murder that could be source material for his next novel. But as Hall investigates the killing, he finds himself confronted by chilling nightmares, including the ghost of a young girl (Fanning). As he uncovers more horrifying revelations, Hall discovers that the story has more to do with his own life than he could ever have imagined.
Independently produced by Coppola, Twixt was shot in 2010 and has been sitting on 20th Century Fox’s shelf since 2011. Though »
- Laurence
Blu-ray Release: Slacker
25 June 2013 12:29 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013
Price: Blu-ray $39.95
Studio: Criterion
The 1991 independent comedy Slacker, directed by Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused), presents a day in the life of a loose-knit Austin, Texas, subculture populated by eccentric and over-educated young people.
Shooting his second feature on 16 mm for a mere $3,000, writer/director/producer Linklater and his crew of friends threw out any idea of a traditional plot, choosing instead to create a tapestry of over a hundred characters, each as compelling as the last.
Two decades-plus on, Slacker remains a prescient look at an emerging generation of aggressive nonparticipants, and one of the key films of the American independent film movement of the 1990s.
Criterion issued Slacker on DVD back in 2004 and the new Blu-ray edition ports over many of the bonus features from that release.
Here’s the complete list of features on the Blu-ray:
• High-definition restored digital film transfer, supervised »
- Laurence
Blu-ray, DVD Release: 3 Films By Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman
24 June 2013 2:21 PM, PDT
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 24, 2013
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $79.95
Studio: Criterion
George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman's marriage falls apart in Roberto Rossellini's Journey to Italy.
In the late 1940s, the incandescent Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca ) found herself so moved by the revolutionary Neorealist films of Roberto Rossellini (Open City) that she sent the director a letter, introducing herself and offering her talents. The resulting collaboration produced a series of films that are works of both sociopolitical concern and metaphysical melodrama, each starring Bergman as a woman experiencing physical dislocation and psychic torment in postwar Italy. It also famously led to a scandalous affair and eventual marriage between filmmaker and star, and the focus on their personal lives in the press unfortunately overshadowed the extraordinary films they made together.
Stromboli, Europe ’51, and Journey to Italy are intensely personal portraits that reveal the director at his most emotional and the »
- Laurence
14 articles
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