Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classic. Show all posts

17 March 2015

Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon added to Eureka's Masters of Cinema line!

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Eureka Entertainment to release PAPER MOON, the 1973 American comedy-drama starring Ryan and Tatum O’Neal, on Blu-ray in a Dual Format edition as part of The Masters of Cinema Series on 18 May 2015.


 Eureka! Entertainment have announced the release of PAPER MOON, one of the biggest successes in the career of Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture ShowWhat’s Up, Doc?Mask) starring Ryan O’Neal (Love StoryBarry Lyndon) and his daughter Tatum O’Neal, the youngest ever Academy Award recipient for her performance in the film. Shot with stunning monochromatic film, the release will include a slew of extras and a 36-page booklet.  Available in a Dual Format edition as part of Eureka’s award winning The Masters of Cinema Series, from 18 May 2015.

PAPER MOON Trailer  


Available to pre-order from:



SYNOPSIS:

Continuing a run of Seventies smash-hits for director Peter Bogdanovich after the enormous success of his The Last Picture Show and What’s Up, Doc?Paper Moon saw the filmmaker sustaining his collaboration with actorRyan O’Neal, and introduced the world to the precocious talent of the future Barry Lyndon star's daughter Tatum, then 10, who for her performance was the youngest-ever actress to be awarded an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. 

After meeting a newly orphaned girl named Addie Loggins (Tatum O’Neal), con man Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal), who may or may not be Addie’s father, is enlisted to deliver the newly orphaned Addie to her aunt in Missouri. Shortly after however, the two realise that together they make an efficient scam-artist duo. Adventure ensues as the pair blaze through the American Midwest, stealing, swindling, and selling the moon…

With its stunning black-and-white cinematography shot by the great László Kovács and its superb evocation of Depression-era locales, Paper Moon endures as one of the key American comedies of the 1970s. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film in its UK home viewing premiere in a new Dual-Format edition.



SPECIAL FEATURES featuring:

• Glorious new 1080p transfer of the film
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Full-length audio commentary with director Peter Bogdanovich
• A group of documentaries about the making of the film
• 36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring a new essay on the film by Mike Sutton, rare production stills, and more!



PRESS:

“Tatum O'Neal makes a sensational screen debut” - Variety

“A charming mixture of Hawksian comedy and Fordian lyricism” – Time Out

2 October 2014

Film Review - Le Jour se lève (1939)

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Genre:
Crime, Drama, Romance
Distributor:
Studiocanal UK
Rating: PG
Release Date:
3rd October 2014 (Cinema)
27th October 2014 (Home)
Director:
Marcel Carné
Cast:
Jean Gabin, Jacqueline Laurent, Arletty,
buy:Le Jour Se Leve - 75th Anniversary Edition [DVD] [1939]

Le Jour se lève is a prime example of what is known as French Poetic realism. It’s a very important genre because it’s very much a proto version of film noir; it often concerned doomed heroes and more often than not they were crime stories. They also created realism, hence the more Poetic aspect than the documentary realism. Le Jour se lève was directed by Marcel Carné who is one the directors most associated with Poetic realism but other directors associated were Jean Renoir and Jean Vigo who, sadly, died way too young.

The film stars Jean Gabin who was the French star until the 1960s; he was in many great French films and worked with Renoir and Carné many times. Gabin plays François who is a factory worker and you first see him after he kills a man called Valentin and he barricades himself in his room after the police arrive.

The rest of the film is told in flashback, which would become a convention for many noir films to follow. He reflects on how he got in the situation he is in over the course of the long night. It involved some girls, as you might expect, and one of the girls is Valentin’s assistant. The film’s structure was very much ahead of its time and would influence Orson Welles, Jules Dassin, Jean-Pierre Melville and numerous noir films like Detour, so it’s hardly surprising that it was later remade as an American noir film. It also has an air of existentialism that only the French do this well when it comes to crime films. It all comes down to an ending that is as much Camus as it is Hammett.

Jean Gabin gives one of his finest performances in the lead role. He is often forgotten in the scheme of great film actors, partly because he was one of the first; he would be highly influential on people like Marlon Brando and James Dean. He goes through hell and replays his mistakes in his head, and due to Gabin’s performance, you can feel his pain.

Le Jour se lève is getting a theatrical re-release from the 3rd of October in selected cinemas. It will be out on Blu-Ray at the end of October. The new restoration looks beautiful; black and white works particularly well in High Definition. It includes a feature length documentary on the film, along with stuff on the deleted scenes by the Vichy Government, and a featurette on the restoration process.

★★★★
Ian Schultz

29 June 2013

Brian De Palma's Dressed To Killing Will Killy Your BluRay This July

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Arrow Video is pleased to announce the UK Blu-ray debut of Brian De Palma’s erotic crime thriller Dressed To Kill on Monday 29th July.

One of De Palma’s best loved films, Dressed To Kill  has been lovingly re-mastered by MGM studios, and will finally be available uncut and on blu-ray for the very first time in the UK. Arrow’s deluxe edition of the film will come loaded with an exclusive selection of special features and bonus material.

Starring legendary British actor Michael Caine (The Italian Job, Get Carter) alongside Nancy Allen (Carrie, Blow Out) and Angie Dickenson (Point Blank, The Killers), Dressed To Kill begins as sexually frustrated housewife Kate Miller (Dickenson) consults her psychiatrist about her husband’s lacklustre performance in the bedroom. Following the session with Dr Elliot (Caine), Kate silently seduces a stranger in a New York Art gallery, before going back to his place.

Upon leaving the man’s apartment, Kate is brutally murdered in the elevator; the only witness is high-end prostitute Liz Blake (Allen), who is in-turn accused of the murder.

One of De Palma's darkest and most controversial suspense thrillers, Dressed To Kill was as acclaimed for its stylish set-pieces and lush Pino Donaggio score as it was condemned for its sexual explicitness and extreme violence.

The glee with which De Palma turns this material inside out is completely infectious, as he delves deep inside the troubled psyches of his characters (critic Pauline Kael said that the film was "permeated with the distilled essence of impure thoughts") in order to undermine expectations at every turn.

Following Obsession and Blow Out, Dressed To Kill is the third film in Arrow Video’s De Palma Collection. Restored Blu-ray editions of Sisters, Phantom Of The Paradise and The Fury will follow in 2013/14.

Best known for his psychological and often violent thrillers, De Palma’s use of split-screens, slow panning shots and Hitchcockian suspense have made his films instantly recognisable. Alongside Dressed To Kill, some of De Palma’s most revered works include Scarface, Carrie, Blow Out, The Untouchables and Mission: Impossible.

De Palma has proved hugely influential, inspiring many modern-day film makers to get behind the camera; Quentin Tarantino hails De Palma as the greatest living American director. Also known for discovering and nurturing new acting talent, De Palma is widely credited with fostering the early careers of Robert De Nero and John C. Reilly.



A complete list of the special features included on the deluxe blu-ray edition of DRESSED TO KILL is as follows:

- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature.
- Optional original uncompressed Mono 2.0 Audio and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround Sound.
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
- Symphony of Fear: Producer George Litto discusses his working relationship with Brian De Palma.
- Dressed in White: Star Angie Dickinson on her role in the film.
- Dressed in Purple: Star Nancy Allen discusses her role in the film.
- Lessons in Filmmaking: Actor Keith Gordon discusses Dressed to Kill.
- The Making of a Thriller – A documentary on the making of Dressed to Kill featuring writer-director Brian De Palma, George Litto, stars Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, Dennis Franz and more!
- Unrated, R-Rated, and TV-Rated Comparison Featurette.
- Slashing Dressed to Kill – Brian De Palma and stars Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon discuss the changes that had to be made to avoid an X-rating.
- Original Theatrical Trailer.
- Gallery of behind-the-scenes images.
- Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh.
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and author Maitland McDonagh, and a new interview with poster designer Stephen Sayadian by Daniel Bird, illustrated with original archive stills and promotional material.


6 June 2013

Dr. Who and the Daleks/Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. Blu-Ray Review

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In this the fiftieth anniversary year of Dr Who, one of the world's most successful television creations, it's inevitable that talk of the show will be everywhere. Despite all the 'Who-ha' however, there seems little if any mention of the film spin-offs made shortly after the Doctor first appeared on the small screen during the early 1960's. So it's timely that STUDIOCANAL have seen fit to release what is surprisingly, considering the Doctor's cult-like status, his only big screen adventures to date.

Dr Who (Peter Cushing) comes up against the mighty force of his most diabolical foe the Daleks, firstly on their home planet of Skaro in Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) and then on a devastated, futuristic Earth in Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.(1966)  Aided by his granddaughter Susan (Roberta Tovey) and various hapless innocents who inadvertently get taken along for the ride, the Doctor must face his biggest fears in order to save the human race yet again.

In the same way that David Niven's outing as 007 in the original film treatment of Casino Royale (1967) is frequently overlooked when discussing the celluloid history of Ian Fleming's super-spy, so too is Peter Cushing's camp though endearingly batty big screen interpretation of the ageless Timelord. Made by Amicus Studios on the back of the BBC series' success, the two films are remarkably similar to the television show at the time, from the age of the Doctor (portrayed as an eccentric, fatherly figure), to him being accompanied by his granddaughter (played in both films by the precocious child star Tovey). On reflection this is hardly surprising considering that Terry Nation, the writer of the television series and creator of the Daleks, was also co-writer of the films along with Amicus supremo Milton Subotsky.

Nation's involvement likely influenced the choice of the Daleks as the enemies in the film adventures. Watching them now the Doctor's most famous adversaries (who really resemble nothing more scary than giant salt cellars on casters), seem created with the big screen in mind. Though it would be several years before the Doctor appeared in colour on television, here he jumps from the screen in vibrant Technicolor as a velvet jacketed nutty professor, whilst the Daleks themselves are given a new vibrancy in acid yellow and neon red as well as the more familiar neutral silver.

Like the television show which suffered when restricted to indoor sets but came alive in later years with the use of outdoor locations, Dr. Who and the Daleks, though undoubtedly fun with its kitsch air of 1960's psychedelia, is pale in comparison to the following year's sequel. Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. makes marvellous use of an atmospherically war torn London, when the the Doctor and his companions land the Tardis in a post apocalyptic future. This setting also provides not only the film but perhaps the whole Dr Who mythology with one of its most iconic images - namely the vision of a Dalek emerging from the River Thames, which once seen will remain indelibly etched in the viewer's mind. It is the second film which also introduces a certain risqué'ness in the form of the Dalek's latex clad human slaves - a 'kinky' touch they would likely not have got away with on television during the 1960's.

Apart from the locations, Daleks and a marvellous supporting cast including Roy Castle and Bernard Cribbens, it is undoubtedly Cushing who makes the films comes alive. An actor who was at the height of his fame during the mid 1960's, Cushing had made mad scientists his forte and hence was perfectly suited for the big screen version of Dr Who. Indeed, watching the films now, it is puzzling why he was never asked to take on the role on television as he would undoubtedly have brought a unique zest to the part. A tantalising option fans were unfortunately never to see.

Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. were released on digitally remastered DVD and Blu-ray on 27th May, 2013. Both versions come with a host of extras including audio commentary, cast interviews, still galleries and trailers.

Cleaver Patterson

Dr. Who and the Daleks

★★☆☆☆


Rating: U
DVD/BD Release Date: 27th May 2013 (UK)
Director: Gordon Flemyng
Cast: Peter Cushing, Roy Castle, Jennie Linden
BuyDoctor Who And The Daleks [Blu-ray]



Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.

★★★½


Rating: U
DVD/BD Release Date: 27th May 2013(UK)
Director: Gordon Flemyng
Cast: Peter Cushing, Bernard Cribbins, Ray Brooks

Buy: Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. [Blu-ray]