Merry Christmas plus some New Releases for December 22nd, 2010

Our good Yeti friend visited Videotheque and plastered his image all over our windows (courtesy of our bearded companion, RV Parks). The majestic Yeti uses the cold weather as an excuse to lay around in his bathrobe watching 'Alone in the Wilderness' (everyone at work recommends it, an amazing documentary about a man who builds a log cabin entirely on his own. Find it on the New Release Documentary wall!).



Now the Yeti is gone. His tempera-painted glory annihilated by the hard rain slashing against the bay windows. When the rain moves on & the Southern California sunshine & unhealthy air kick back in, give our friend RV Parks a call at (626)497-2777. He will put a Yeti or a Yak or a anything for you on your window (if you pay a modest sum, that is).

NEW RELEASES:

Despicable Me: We should all listen to others' mothers. They are wise, well-worn women who expel nothing but good advice. My mother loved this film a lot and talked to me for a while about how cute it was. I would trust her too. She is always right about everything so you should rent this as it has Steve Carell as a mad genius trying to reform and hanging around a lot of little girls. Cute! <3

Exit Through the Gift Shop: I don't care for graffiti art at all. If you ask curmudgeonly me, Banksy is just as bad as Shepard Fairey. This one lends itself a half-arsed political ethos & lacks much creativity or understanding of the basic tenets of art, while drenching in sick amounts of irony. But whatever, I'm no art critic and everybody smarter than me seems to love the guy. If you are smart and love irony (the title pretty much expresses how much you'll be getting) or dislike the art world and appreciate people like Banksy sticking it to 'em, this documentary is worth a look.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work: I don't know much about Joan Rivers except that she used to host The Tonight Show in the Carson days and that she's the robot in Spaceballs. I'm told she's very Jewish, a gay icon and that she's had lots of surgery too. I think I should watch this doc and study up on my Joan Rivers.

The Other Guys: Really upset about what Bernie Madoff has done to your country? Think capitalism is running amok? Hate Reagan free-market? This film rages for you all in the guise of a pretty good comedy with Marky Mark and Will Ferrel as two bumbling cops (I know it's a cliche) arresting white collar crooks. Some pretty fantastic moments with Will Ferrel as an angry pimp named Gator.

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps: So two films come out about the post-2008 stock crash.

BYE BYE!:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!: Although we are a non-denominational business, we also love all you folk who celebrate those other equally stressful holidays like Kwanzaa and Hannukah! Take care for the holidays and make sure you don't drink and drive. And if you don't heed my advice, at least do your best to avoid police checkpoints!

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New Releases for December 1st, or Blogging in the 21st Century

NEW RELEASES:

Going the Distance: I've known people who have had long-distance relationships and abstinence, loneliness and long-telephone conversations don't sound like the material for a romantic comedy. This film does it though. Laugh at the romantic fumblings of Drew Barrymore and heartthrob Justin Long through their difficult journey.

Knight and Day: Don't let this box office failure scare you aware! This film is going to be great: the back cover has Tom Cruise shirtless. *swoon* Cameron Diaz is in there somewhere too as a spy or something, but who needs her, right?

Valhalla Rising: My Nordic blood boils with excitement over the prospect of viking movies. If you like shirtless, tattooed, sweaty men gutting shirtless, tattooed, sweaty men, then you will love this!

RECOMMENDED SECTIONS:

Listen, I'll go into detail about our X-Mas sections next week (I personally don't want to as I'm an offended Atheist), but let me discuss my heartbreak of the week:

Leslie Nielsen: I thought it would never happen, but it happened. America's grandpa has died due to complications from pneumonia. In honor and memory, we've bundled up his extensive catalog of early career oddities and Zucker Bros. collaborations. Remember this great American with some of his great moments.

BLOG:

You all know I love blogging! I can't stop myself sometimes! I'm narcissistic, so I love writing about my life while getting paid.

But tonight my dear readers brings me out for a different reason. I might love a comfortable pair of shoes, spicy Mexican food and cute girls in glasses, but there is one thing I love more than all of those: nice fixtures and furniture. I blog here to share with you are nice new cases. Let's take a look.


What a nice case! Clear 'n clean glass with a nice lock to stop you shoplifters!


Nice new slick black cases with CD's and music DVD's. Nothing tells someone you love them and appreciate them as a human being more than by getting them remastered Buzzcocks albums and a Bauhaus DVD.


This is my The Third Man influenced shot of the case. Notice the dutch angle.

THIS IS THE END:

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 The end of the blog. I promise to write again. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

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BIGFOOT SIGHTING!

New Releases for April 6rd, or The Burden of the Outside World

I like to think I don't spend all my time sitting in the basement on a chair made of discarded pizza boxes discriminating against films I haven't seen. I go out every once in a while and experience actual human contact. But the other night I was reminded of my hesitation.

My cohort & I were driving down the 110 freeway carefree and happy, when on one side rattled a tremendous tour bus on the part of the road that specifically warns against large vehicles, while on the other, a pick-up truck with ridiculously huge tires and Metallica sticker in the rear window barreled down. We had to break fast before the two cars flattened us like roadside pancakes. At that moment, my fear of the outside world took hold & I vowed to seek safety in the womb-like security of my basement. I encounter less quotidien stress here, free of the burdens of the real world, and may continue to blog the day away.

NEW RELEASES:

Bad Lieutenant: Port of New Orleans: I should start by saying I hated the original one. It had all the elements of a classic: Harvey Keitel at his prime, excessive drug use, lewd sexual acts, tons of swearing, but something about it didn't work for me. This is more my cup of tea. Not as graphic as the first one, but about a dozen times more fun. Nicholas Cage does a great job at being Klaus Kinski and everyone in the film seems to be missing a chromosome (which is a good thing). Not Herzog's best, but any Herzog is better than a couple of dozen films.

The Blind Side: This film touched me on more levels than you can imagine and I wept like a little girl at the end. If you think Sandra Bullock deserved the Oscar and you like weeping like a little girl, then this will be your bread and butter.

Fantastic Mr. Fox: Now not only can you convert your friends to the cult of Wes Anderson, you can convert your children too. Fantastic Mr. Fox is pretty much a WA film without real people: several animals are emotionally insecure, there's a Rolling Stones song somewhere and all the characters are immaculatly dressed. So basically, if you like the guy, I recommend it. If the precious, clever-cleverness of his work gets on your last nerve, then I don't.

Mad Men S.3: If you're like me, your idea of a great show involves scads of cigarettes, martinis, Barbet Schroeder and top-heavy red heads! This show has all of that, but what's keeping it from the pinnacle of perfect TV is the absence of extreme violence à la massive shoot-outs. If you're okay with that, then come for the lusty lives of cutthroat ad men & busty bombshells, and stay for the story.

Taxidermia: Not since "In the Realm of the Senses" or "The Brown Bunny" has there been an art film that gets its point across with more graphic and extreme unsimulated acts. If you love this movie, it means you're a little bit unbalanced and perverse. This means I like you and we should hang out.

OTHER NEW RELEASES:

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Blu-Ray) (To prepare for the doom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvY6DU-uEiw)
The African Queen (On DVD for the first time)
Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Behind Convent Walls
Brothers (Dir. Jim Sheridan with Tobey MacGuire, Natalie Portman and Jake Gyllenhaal)
Days of Heaven (Blu-Ray)
An Education (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Foolish Wives
Girly
Krod Mandood and the Flaming Sword of Fire (Comedy Central)
The Men Who Stare at Goats (George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Eqan McGregor, John Cusack and Goat) (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Remember the Night (Barabara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray and written by Preston Sturges)
Sanjuro & Yojimbo (Blu-Ray)
Sherlock Holmes (DVD & Blu-Ray)
The Sister of Ursula
South Park S.13
Story of Fashion
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Vivienne Westwood
We Won't Grow Old Together (Dir. Maurice Pialat)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Bigger Than Life: From the great American subversive, Nicholas Ray, comes a film that's a complete indictment of the idea of the perfect fifties life in suburbia and the mask of the family unit. A bomb when initially released, it was quickly re-evaluated as one of the greatest post-war American films by the pack of New Wavers from Cahiers du Cinema. James Mason headlines this production as a father who is taking an experimental new drug that saves his life, but when he increases his dosage, starts to make him lose touch with reality and revolt against his family and act physically and emotionally erratic. The new Criterion edition brings the film for the first time to the U.S. in both Blu-Ray and DVD editions that have very informative special features including a commentary by critic Geoff Andrew, a conversation with Susan Ray (Nicholas' widow), a seventies archival interview with Ray plus more. Essential cinema in an excellent disc! Highly recommended!

END OF BLOGGING:
For today at least
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This is our cabinet. Can you tell I'm running low on photo inspiration?

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Driving a bus perilously on the 110 is illegal and dangerous. Don't do it!

New Releases for March 16th, 2010, or Spring Time!

It's almost Spring! How do I know? When I stepped outside this morning, it looked like the "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" scene from Song of the South. The breeze was gentle, the sun not too harsh, the birds chirping, and Uncle Remus was serenading happily down my street. Feels good. Good film renting weather. Let's see what films spring has to offer us!

NEW RELEASES:

2012: We all know the world is going to end in environmental holocaust, but who knew that dreamboat John Cusack would be the one to save the day?! I hope this apocalypse comes soon so I can finally meet him, but in the meantime I can always rent the DVD or Blu-Ray, lay quietly, and dream...

Black Dynamite: After seeing this funky masterpiece, I began practicing my Ebonics non-stop, just like every jive turkey in this film speaks it: funkified, sanctified & certified. I then proceeded to have my, um, face broken in, as they told me it was a hate crime. I didn't mean to stereotype. I did it completely out of love. I guess I need to study this fly film a bit closer so that I may strut my street lingo in a more culturally sensitive manner. Why don't we watch it together?

Broken Embraces: Almodovar is in self-reflective mood in his latest about a director of kitschy comedies who goes physically and emotionally blind after, well, I can't say, otherwise I would be ruining the intrigue. Featuring muse Penelope Cruz, looking spectacular as always. The last five minutes of the film are a hilarious doozy, don't shut it off early!

Capitalism: A Love Story: My bank foreclosed my home on me, I have four kids to support and my only source of income is via blogging. In these hectic times, I'm too stressed to read a book about how every global corporation is feeding me to the sharks. That's why I like Michael Moore. He teaches with a salve of laughter, as our capitalist society runs amok!

Coco Before Chanel: My brother's girlfriend has a cat named Coco so when I see this film, I get visions of the cat hissing at me above their refrigerator. I don't care how adorable Audrey Tautou is or how adored this Coco Chanel guy is, I refuse to watch this because I'm afraid of getting flashbacks of that cat.

Hachi: A Dog's Tale: I love Akita dogs. Look at these dogs and try to deny that they're adorable (http://www.best-dog-photos.com/images/Akita-Puppies.jpg). Based on the true story of Hachiko, the world's most faithful dog, except it's been Americanized. I would say this is the most adorable film of all time, but Richard Gere has to muck it up. I'm sure if you rent it for your family your kids won't mind, they'll just focus on the cute pooch.

The Informant!: Steven Soderbergh, cinema's great workaholic, comes with his third DVD release in the span of five months. This time he brings you a comedy about whistle-blower Mark Whitacre and how he took down "the man" for his price-fixing. Matt Damon is the star and it looks as though he's added a few pounds just to entertain us. Do him the favor by renting this film.

Law Abiding Citizen: My probation officer, Officer Krazinsky, told me to watch this film as an example of how I should act. After viewing, I was shocked. I got an awesome action thriller with people getting glocked right & left by "In Living Color" alum Jamie Foxx. What's Officer K doing to me? The budget cuts must be getting to him...

Ponyo: I've seen some pretty adorable things in my life: kittens, small turtles, Akita puppies, Audrey Tautou, Richard Gere, but Ponyo is the most adorable film I have ever seen. On top of being the most adorable film I've ever seen (Sorry, Hachi), I submit it's also catnip for kiddies. Nothing pleases nor sedates children more than Miyazaki's oeuvre. I know my kids certainly love stories about fish turning into children, I'm sure yours will too.

Where the Wild Things Are: Maybe the inner child in me has passed on due to excessive blogging, but this film wasn't what I was looking for. Granted, I never bothered reading all twelve pages of the original, but the pictures of it I've seen show the creatures and the kid having a real blast! Spike Jonze, rather, gives us a film of over-sensitive beasts who can't face the reality of their existence who waste time with meaningless activities. Did I mention every character mopes the entire time and if not intoning in obnoxious voices, they speak in half-whispers? My main man Mark Ruffalo comes out for a minute and that made up for the entire film, so if you like Mark Ruffalo, I'd recommend this film!


OTHER NEW RELEASES:

$9.99 (Claymation, Aussie)
The Alcove (Erotic action!)
Alexander the Last (Joe Swanberg mumblecore indie)
Astro Boy
The Black Godfather
Breaking Bad S.2 (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Broken Embraces (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Buddenbrooks
A Call Girl
Contempt (Blu-Ray)
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Dillinger is Dead (dir. Marco Ferreri, w/Michel Piccoli, 1969)
Doctor Faustus
Ecstasy of the Angels (Dir. Koji Wakamatsu)
Eleven Minutes (doc with Project Runway former champ, Jay McCarroll)
Examined Life (Slavoj Zizek, Cornel West and more!)
Falling
A Fool There Was
The Fourth Kind
The Fury (Dir. Brian De Palma and featuring this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njSrP-B4VN0)
Good Hair (Chris Rock doc)
Hannah Takes the Stairs (An other Joe Swanberg)
Hunger (Blu-Ray)
Heirloom (Taiwanese horror)
The Ladykillers (Blu-Ray)
Living with Tigers
Major Barbara
Motherhood (Uma Thurman)
My Little Pony: The Movie
New Urban Cowboy (doc)
Ninja Assassin (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Nurse Jackie S.1
Outbreak (Dustin Hoffman)
Plaza Suite
Precious: Based on the novel 'Push' by the poet Sapphire (DVD & Blu)
Power Play (Peter O'Toole and David Hemmings)
Ran (Blu-Ray)
Robin Hood S.3
Rocky Road to Dublin (doc)
Stone (Oz-ploitation biker film)
Torso (Italian giallo)
Unchained Memories (Slavery doc)
Up in the Air (DVD & Blu)
Vicious Kind
Wesley Willis's Joy Rides (Doc on the infamous musician)
The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights (DVD & Blu-Ray)
Women in Trouble
Wonderful World

More Warner Archive:

Dance, Fools, Dance
The Flight of Dragons
Love Among Thieves
Made in Heaven
Rich, Young and Pretty
See You in the Morning
The Story of Three Loves
Sweet November
Ten Thousand Bedrooms

RECOMMENDATION FOR THE WEEK:

Revanche: Why this film didn't win best foreign film is beyond me. Comprised of two incredibly emotionally devastating stories, one about a crook and his illegal Ukrainian prostitute, the other, a cop who deals with the problems of middle class life, Revanche is handled excellently under the direction of Austrian, Gotz Spielmann. Borderline noir, but with much soft sunlight cinematography and humanistic elements, free it of any genre pigeonhole. A few flaws aside, this is one of the best and most underrated features of 2009.

NO MORE:
We're done this week
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Can you believe that Windows 98 is twelve years old now?

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Just because someone doesn't like you doesn't mean you're a bad person. It means s/he is.

New Releases for Feb. 9th, or Happy Presidents Day!

It's the year 2010 and people still haven't realized that all the major corporations have got you by the cajones over Valentine's Day. Life really is a bad sitcom sometimes. It's a day that forces you to materialize your love though crappy stuffed animals made from cheaply paid Chinese children or buy a box of mediocre chocolates. I always prefer to express my love physically (hugging and kissing of course, you perverts!) rather than via commercial means. I would like to express how this day makes me feel, but any swearing or slurs will probably be removed, so I'll just say that you should rent "The Time Travler's Wife" as it expresses love like no other film I've ever seen before!

NEW RELEASES:

Bronson: This film draws the comparison that a greased-up naked man with a nice moustache getting beaten to all hell with batons can be comparable to other facets of performance art. I think performance art is a crock to begin with, but you do get to see a greased-up naked man with a nice moustache getting beaten to all hell. You make the call if you can chew through this.

A Serious Man: Ever thought, "Man! I just can't get enough of these Jewish stereotypes! I need more! More! MORE!"? Then this film is going to be that bright ray of semetic sunshine on your cloudy day. I'm happy, actually too happy, as I need films that are this dark and grim in order to balace my personality out. Somewhere in this film is a comedy, but I can't seem to find it.

Schoolgirl Report #6: Does anyone have a connection to get a job writing the synopsises on the back of DVD cases? For this, I would write "This annual's Schoolgirl Report, the teacher gave these girls an F for being "Fine Ladies" and an "0" for conduct 'cause they're baaaaad girls." I'm a marketing genius, huh?

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

7 Lucky Ninja Kids (Children performing all their own very dangerous stunts! Call child services!)
Bushido: The Cruel Code of the Samurai (Samurai are always good)
Bus Stop (Marilyn Monroe)
The Charley Chase Collection
Hanover Street (Harrison Ford)
Killer Drag Queens on Dope (Best title ever for a film. Will it live to up its promise?)
King Lear (Dir. Peter Brook and starring Orson Welles)
Onimasa: The Japanese Godfather (Dir. Hideo Gosha and starring Tatsuya Nakadai)
Robin and Marian (Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn star in a Robin Hood film)
Stairway to Heaven (Weepy K-Drama)
Stars in My Crown (Dir. Jacques Tournear and starring Joel McCrea and Dean Stockwell)
The Stepfather (the new one)
The Time Travler's Wife

THIS WEEK'S RECOMMENDATION:

Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Why am I recommending this? Because it's Gremlins 2 and I don't need a better reason!

THAT'S IT FOR THIS WEEK:

Just checking up on you guys and stuff!
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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't let little things snowball and get to you. You're too good of a person for that.

Submitted by Sven Hofbauer, editing by Pierrot le Faux

New Releases for Feb. 02, 2010 or Here I Am.

This week, I was offered a job blogging for a major corporation. Basically, I would've been doing what I've been doing here for the last year (waxing about new films with an occasional snide aside) except the salary was about five times what I make now. Sure, I could've done it, but I love Videotheque and you too, too much.

NEW RELEASES:

Amelia:Feel bad that you didn't see Amelia in the theater and help to contribute to it's major box office loss? Come and rent it and atone for your sins! It's The Aviator on estrogen!

Bright Star: Do you ever think, "Hey! My life isn't miserable enough! I need to be more depressed than ever!", then Bright Star is for you! Based on the very bleak like of John Keats and directed by New Zealand auteur Jane Campion, it deals with Mr. Keats' troubles in the world of romance and in the art of poetry.

Love Happens: I refuse to watch films whose titles tell complete lies.

New York, I Love You: Now they're pushing it. Okay, I understood "Paris Je T'aime". You know, Paris being synonymous with with love and what not, but I never could put love together with New York. When I think New York, I think of pushy jerks on the streets and neurotic, stuttering, over-intellectualized Jewish men. This film seems to have none of that. MILLION DOLLAR IDEA! Make a "Los Angeles, I Love You"!

Outrage: It should be common knowledge now, but there are closeted homosexuals everywhere. Yes. Even among the alpha-males of Capitol Hill. Kirby Dick forces the metaphorical closet open and exposes secret lives, & media double standards.

This Is It: Sony needs to capitalize on the death of Michael Jackson, right? What better way than to compile footage that was probably going to be the extra feature on a DVD and put it in theaters! See Wacko Jacko act as lively as he will ever get. This movie is going to be off the hook as it's rated PG for "suggestive choreography". Yeeeeeaaahhh!

Whip It: Physics would dictate that Ellen Page's petite frame and height of 5' 1'' would preclude her from causing physical damage to an other being, but through the magic of cinema and Drew Barrymore, science is ignored as Ellen Page is hot stuff in the world of roller derby. A hobo in Hollywood once related to my female cohort a sexist comment in describing a girl on roller blades as "a meal on wheels", so if you relish skimpily clad versions of same, then I suggest it. Also! Would make a good double feature with Robert Aldrich's female wrestling pic, "...All the Marbles" (find it on our recommended Warner Archive shelf!).

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

As It is in Heaven (Sweden)
Cafe Setareh (Iran)
China Doll
Cold Souls (Paul Giamatti)
Country's Greatest Stars Volumes I & II (Dolly P, Crystal G, Glen C, Tammy W & more!)
Cowboy (Jack Lemmon in a western!)
Fela Kuti/Music is the Weapon
The FBI Story (James Stewart)
Gamer
Ghulam (Bollywood)
Hellboy 2 (Blu-Ray)
The House of the Devil (Indie horror film)
Kings of the Ring (Boxing documentary)
Like Stars on Earth
Little Ashes
My Fuhrer (Comedy that laughs at Hitler! Makes a great double feature with Downfall!)
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
Sarfarosh
Saviour of the Soul
Saw VI (Never ending torture-porn series!)
Soul Power (Zaire '74 documentary)
Spin & Marty (Disney Classic TV)
The Stepfather (The '87 original!)
St. Trinians (Russell Brand..)
Surrogates (Blu-Ray)
The United States of Tara S.1 (Created by Queen of Quirk, Diablo Cody)
The Vanished Empire (Russia)
Welcome to Collinwood
Whip It (Blu-Ray)
Wholphin N.10
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Zombieland
Zombieland (Blu-Ray)

BLOG PICK O' DA WEEK: Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy: When Inglourious Basterds came out, people were confused about my ambivalence toward the film. My big problem was that it makes a mockery of a war that caused the death of about 60,000,000 people. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud, I just don't find much funny about it. Guess I'm just a prude happy enough with my pre-60's black & white talkies. Take these three: Rome Open City, Paisan, & Germany Year Zero-- essential viewing for those who dare don the cinephile cap. Not only did this group of films create the neo-realist movement that would set the mark for new cinema for the next seventy years, they remain powerful representations of a how a war-torn world affects everyone. All three are available for the first time in almost perfect transfers with a ton of special features and fully uncut.

NOW GO!:

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Ever notice our ceiling? Me neither.

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
War isn't fun. Try not to start one.

Submitted by Harold Carpi & Pierrot le Faux

New Releases for Jan 19th 2010, or I should really get on the ball about updating these blogs...

It's the year 2010, and if Hollywood has taught me anything it's that we only have two years left on this shiny blue marble. I think we should use this bit of knowledge and live it up before our planet is as expired as the King Island Emu. My suggestion is to come by and rent everything we've got. Live your life! Go out there and live it! By coming in and taking movies home.

Happy New Year!

NEW RELEASES:

(500) Days of Summer: This new pseudo-indie comedy starring pseudo-indie goddess, Zooey Deschanel, is too cute for it's own good. I've never really fallen in love before, but I'd like to think that falling in love is like this movie. If you want to know what love is, this movie will show you.

District 9: This movie had some pretty intense marketing before it hit the streets. I remember seeing those bus ads with a toll free number. I was actually one of the losers who called the number on the ads only to be dissapointed with a lame pre-recorded message. The ad rubbed me in the wrong way and I passed on watching this. Now I regret it after hearing from everyone how awesome it is. It was filmed in South Africa and apparently features some pretty out there special effects, too.

The Hurt Locker: This movie was nearly too intense. In fact, it put so much stress on me, I developed an ulcer in the middle of the film. But it is only the sixth film to do this to me this year, so it gets my seal of approval. Besides, it makes you fortunate that we're stuck in Los Angeles where our biggest problem is heavy traffic in the 110 freeway.

It Might Get Loud: Jimmy Page, the AARP's greatest guitar player, The Edge, still playing the same guitar riff of the last twenty years, and Jack White, looking paler than ever, get together for an hour and a half jam session. Is it good? Yes. Yes it is.

Jennifer's Body: Megan Fox stars as a cheer leader who's eating her fellow students. Plus, it's written by Diablo Cody so expect everyone in this film to speak like Diablo Cody. Also, interesting fact, the Wikipedia article for this film is longer than the Wikipedia article for cannibalism.

Moon: An amalgamation of sci-fi cinematic history and directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Jones (a.k.a. Zowie Bowie), was pretty neat. I can't really say much about this without ruining it, but you must see it for yourself. One of my favorite things is the lack of CGI effects and a return to classic sci-fi days with models.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY FOR THIS WEEK:

Big Fan (Patton Oswalt)
The Burning Plain
Death in the Garden (Dir. Luis Bunuel)
Departures (Academy Award 2009 for Best Foreign Language Picture)
Downloading Nancy (Indie)
Fame (09)
Halloween II (09)
The Invention of Lyin (Ricky Gervais)
I Can Do Bad All By My Self
In the Loop
Yo Gabba Gabba! New Friends
No Impact Man
Post Grad
Smoking Aces 2: Assassin's Bay
The United States of Tara S.1
Weeds S.5

Region One Imports:
27 Missing Kisses
About the Looking and Finding for Love
The Accompanist (Dir. Claude Miller)
Bebo's Girls
Before the Revolution (Dir. Bernardo Bertolucci)
Caught (Dir. Max Ophuls)
Cul-de-sac (Dir. Roman Polanski)
Hotel Du Nord
Journey to Italy (Dir. Roberto Rossellini
The Lady of Musashino (Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi)
L'air de Paris
Le Silence de la Mer
Letters from and Unknown Woman (Dir. Max Ophuls)
Madame Claude
Mariage of Romeo & Juliet
Marianne of My Youth
Miracle in Milan (Dir. Vittorio De Sica)
My New Partner
Red Sun (Charles Bronson, Alain Delon and Toshiro Mifune)
The Tarnished Angeles (Dir. Douglas Sirk)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Dir. Elia Kazan)
Viva Zapata (Dir. Eliza Kazan and starring Marlon Brando)

More Warner Archive:
Bright Leaf
Deep Valley
Every Girl Should Be Married
The Hard Way
A Lady of Chance
The Little Drummer Girl
One Sunday Afternoon
One Trick Pony (Paul Simon)
Operator 13
Saratoga Trunk
Task Force
Then Came Bronson
Today We Live
Untamed Youth
Wild Orchids

RECOMMENDED SECTIONS:

Eric Rohmer 1920-2010: Grand old man of cinema, Eric Rohmer, has passed on at the age of 89. We can't say he didn't live a full life as he was fortunate to keep up an active working career til the end. With almost thirty films under his name and several shorts, Eric Rohmer left behind a substantial body of work. In dedication, we have a small section dedicated to his contributions to cinema such as his splendid Six Moral Tales ("The Bakery Girl of Monceau", "Suzanne's Career", "La Collectionneuse", "My Night at Maud's", "Claire's Knee", & "Chloe in the Afternoon"), "Pauline at the Beach", and "Rendez-vous in Paris".

Import and Rarity Corner: We've tracked down some great titles unavailable on these shores. Don't miss classics like Marcle Carne's "Hotel du Nord", Elia Kazan's "Viva Zapata", and Robert Rossellini's "Voyage to Italy" for starters, plus a stash of amazing work from Polanski, Melville, Ophuls, Mizoguchi, Bertolucci and more! Help yourself to some long lost cult titles like "Rolling Thunder ('77)", "The Legend of Billie Jean", and "Rad", too.

Sherlock Holmes: Did Guy Ritchie's re-imagining of the Sherlock Holmes tales in the form of a buddy cop movie (with a thin Watson) offend you? With our new section, you can remember who Sherlock Holmes was via the 80s BBC Jeremy Brett version, the serious Basil Rathbone serials, and even a fun parody with Gene Wilder, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Smarter Brother".

BLOG PIC OF THE WEEK:

Forty Guns: This cried out for my attention the moment I saw it was directed by Samuel Fuller and starring the beautiful and enduring Barbara Stanwyck. What you get is another great Fuller film filled with subversive dark humor (a lot of overtly sexual ones I was surprised made it past the censors), gritty action and a tough female that puts all the men in their place. One of the best Hollywood westerns and worth it just to see Barbara Stanwyck in cute outfits, surviving a tornado, and Barry Sullivan as an asexual cowboy. Not my favorite Samuel Fuller, but it's still amazing to think a film like this could've been made in the studio system.

Ciao:

I'm done for the week
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Look at poor RV. He has to do actually physical labor while I stand here like a slob updating a website...

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't ignore your blog for a few weeks.

Back From Hiatus, or New Releases for December 15th

This marks my mighty and triumphant return to the world of internet blogging. I wish I could say something amazing has happened since the last time I blogged. Nuthin' spectacular! I can't say I got arrested while crossing the border for smuggling or that I was in a Cambodian prison for defacing public property.

The fact is I just been plain ol' busy. Work tends to do that to you. In fact, I've been working too much. My kids are probably wondering "where's poppa?". Oh! I should hurry up and finish this fast! When I left home a week ago, I told them I was just going to go get a Pepsi at the market down the street.

NEW RELEASES:

G-Force: Wait, Guinea Pigs with guns AND Zach Galifanakis!? Movie of the year. I'm sold.

The Hangover: When I saw the preview for this months ago I though "Jeez! That movie looks horrible". Then all of a sudden it comes out, & everyone tells me it's the greatest thing since bendy straws. I'm just tired of comedies with balding, grown men who still act like they're sixteen. I guess I'm just jaded & fail to see the humor. You should watch it out of spite for this writer. I know I would if I were you.

Inglourious Basterds: Tarantino's misspelled masterpiece of blood, guns, revenge and "nat-sees" comes to DVD right before the madness of Christmas. Nothing says "I love you" or "I respect you as a human being" than by renting this flick for your sweetie. It's very telling that everyone from the spoiled cineaste to my friend who only watches things like "He's Just Not That Into You" all think it's the cat's meow! Plus there's some pretty gnarly decapitations.

Taking Woodstock: Ang Lee is a pretty diverse guy. I'm not too crazy about his movies, but the guy hops on a pretty wide variety of projects. You have to give it to the guy. This one is a comedy about a kid helping bringing the Woodstock Music Festival into... well... Woodstock so all the hippies can pay for rooms at his parents' motel. Here's the error in his idea: hippies don't pay for things. All they do is bum off everyone and say it's in the name of love. Also, this movie has Eugene Levy playing a character not unlike the character he plays in every other movie he is in.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY OF THE WEEK:

Braveheart (Blu-Ray)
City of Joy
Crossing Over
The Escapist
Fringe S.1
The Hangover (Blu-Ray)
Inglourious Basterds (Blu-Ray)
The Jerry Lewis Show Collection
Last House on the Beach
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Scorpio
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Tudors S.3
Warner Christmas set including All Mine to Give, It Happened on 5th Avenue, Blossoms in the Dusy, and the Holiday Affair
The Wizard of Oz (Blu-Ray)
The Wizards of Waverly Place

PIC O' DA WEEK:

3 Godfathers: Let me just start by saying this isn't John Ford's best, but it's a good one to watch this holiday season, especially if you're tired of the drudgery of Santa Buddies, Elf and It's a Wonderful Life. The story is a straight parallel of the three wisemen's tale: the Duke, some red head, and a gentle Mexican bandito and criminal buddies who go across the West robbing banks. Stuck in the desert and in search of water, they end up finding an ill woman who's about to give birth. The mother dies after childbirth so these three kindhearted crooks are left to care for the little one. The cinematography is beautiful and it's the first Christmas film I've seen in a while without a single mention of Santa Claus or gifts. The three men have more important things on their mind. It's worth a viewing to get your mind off the deep financial debt the holidays put you in.

BYE:

See you next time. Well, that is IF there is a next time...
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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't write "Merry Christmas" on cards this year. Right "Happy Holidays". That's more P.C.

New Releases for October 27th, or Here We Go Again!

Happy Halloween!

At this point you're saying "Hey chump! It's not Halloween yet!". You're right, but it certainly is the week of Halloween. I love this time of year. Gives me an excuse to look into my neighbors house when they give me candy and the right to dress as scantily clad as I want.

Too bad I'm a diabetic and can't eat candy. I'm also a Jehova Witness and so I don't observe any holidays. Maybe talking about movies will kill the pain.

NEW RELEASES:

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: Now wait! The first and second ones take place during the actually ice age, right? Well, wasn't the ige age loooooooong after the dawn of dinosaurs. So how are these eras colliding? Ugh. This is giving me a headache. I'm going to mix some aspirin and water then call it a night...

Il Divo: With this and Gommorah, this is the year for Italian crime films. That genre hasn't been popular since the seventies, but looks like they're on the up and up. In fact, I bought a few bottles of Italian wine, pizza, and anything else stereotypically Italian and started my own mafia crime syndicate! After seeing those films, I know what NOT to do and succeed in crime.

Orphan: I can't watch this film. That little girl on the cover scares me. In fact, when a customer gave me the case to rent this, my body went into shock. I used to like horror movies, but this one looks too scary.

Whatever Works: The 73 year-old Woody Allen truly shows no signs of stopping. As of right now, they just revealed that he's finishing up ANOTHER movie in London called "You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger". Now here he is again with his new movie staring my homey Larry David. This movie is based on a script he wrote in the seventies he wrote for Zero Mostel. Sounds neat!

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY
Abel Raises Cain
Battle of Britain (Blu-Ray)
Battlestar Galactica: The Plan
Blood, Sweat + Gears
Caspar
Chops
Curse of the Mummy's Tomb
Eagles Over London (Blu-Ray)
Fados (Dir. Carlos Saura)
Fire & Ice (Blu-Ray)
Inside the Koran
The Longest Day (Blu-Ray)
The L-Word: The Final Season
Misery
Monty Python: Almost Truth
The New York Ripper (Blu-Ray)
Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie
Perestroika
Scream of Fear
Shaun of the Dead (Blu-Ray)
Something to Do With the Wall
Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll
Waxwork I & II
Whatever Works (Blu-Ray)
YPF
Z (Criterion)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Man Hunt: With Valkyrie and Inglorious Basterds, the idea of finding Hitler and killing him is making a major comeback despite him being dead now for almost 65 years. While browsing around our classic film section, I stumbled upon this Fritz Lang film from 1942. The premise sounds simple enough. A British hunter goes to Germany to hunt the deadliest game of all: HITLER! While there, he gets caught and in order to leave the nation, he needs to sign that he was sent by the British government to assassinate Hitler. The whole movie is beautifully and carefully shot with expressionistic lighting that rivals what he did with his earlier German classics. Very interesting to see a German expatriate's take on the war erupting in Germany. Still made while the US was a neutral party during World War II and the American government was upset about a film that supported them entering the war. It might be a piece of propaganda, but what a great one!

NOW GO!:

Live your lives and forget about me!

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Peeking 'round the corner.

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Wear a jacket when you go out. I don't want you guys to get sick!

New Releases for Oct. 20th, or Finally We're Back!

So, here I am again after two weeks sans blog, in front of the computer screen at the 'Theque. We've been pretty busy getting things going at the new store & blogwriting time has been scarce.

One week, I rented a tuxedo and spent a crazy week in Reno. The week after that, I ran into a bookie I owe twenty bucks to and ran away from him. In the haste of trying to dodge his gunfire, I slipped on a fire escape and ended up spraining my ankle. Now I'm back here.

Now I got two weeks worth of releases to go through, so let's get started.

NEW RELEASES:

Blood: The Last Vampire: I think the gore film featuring a Japanese girl in a miniskirt has honestly become a sub-genre. This seems to be the newest in the continuing trend.

Drag Me to Hell: I was hoping to see this as a return to glory and gore that Sam Raimi used to do so well. Then I witnessed the true horror: it was rated PG-13. I can't trust it. I know I say this a lot, but watch it for me and tell me how it is.

Hardware: Richard Stanley's forgotten murderous cyborg masterpiece has finally been given it's due on DVD and Blu-Ray by our friends at Severin Films. This film has three necessary elements to be a masterpiece: Iggy Pop, gore and a cyborg wearing a bandana with the American flag. God bless America!

Imagine That: Eddie Murphy never recovered from "Pluto Nash", did he? "Dreamgirls" didn't even help. We'll always have memories of "Coming to America" and "Trading Places"...

Objectified: I will never look at a toothbrush the same after seeing this documentary. It's a new doc about the design and ideas that go behind making consumer goods. You honestly see a team of people working together to design a toothbrush. I suppose having a handle and bristles isn't enough anymore.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: I don't even know what to say about this. It's good that John Turturro still has work though.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

13 Worms (Hong Kong '71)
35 Shots of Rum (Dir: Claire Denis, France)
Adoration (Dir: Atom Egoyan)
Adoration (Blu-Ray)
Anvil: The Story of Anvil (hilarious doc of Canadian metal "coulda beens")
Assassination of a High School President (Mischa Barton)
Away We Go (Blu-Ray)
The Black List V.2
Blood on the Flat Track (all-girl roller derby doc)
Cheri (Dir: Stephen Frears, Michelle Pfeiffer)
Chinese Odyssey 2002 (w/ Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Wong Kar-Wai produced)
Deadgirl
Died Young, Stayed Pretty (Doc. on handmade concert posters)
Dominick Dunne: After the Party (Doc.)
The End of the Line (Doc. on world's dwindle edible fish supply)
Esther Williams set including: Easy to Love, Fiesta, Million Dollar Mermaid, Thrill of a Romance, This Time for Keeps, Pagan Love Song
Errol Flynn set including: Virginia City, San Antonio, Rocky Montain and Montana
John Ford set including: The Lost Patrol, The Informer, Mary of Scotland, Sergeant Rutledge and the documentary "Directed by John Ford" (Dir: Peter Bogdanovich)
For My Father (Israel)
French Cuisine
Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry (Tattoo artist) (Doc.)
In a Dream (Doc.)
Italian Cuisine
It's Garry Shandling's Show
I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown!
Tom Jobin set including: No More Blues, Waters of March and She's a Carioca
Kabei Our Mother (Japan)
King Kong (1974)
Land of the Lost (Will Ferrel)
Least of These (Doc.)
Love 'n Dancing
Dusan Makavejev set including: Man is Not a Bird, Love Affair or the Case of the Missing Telephone Operator, and Innocence Unprotected
Marlene (Doc. on Dietrich)
Midsomer Murders (lot more volumes!)
Monsoon Wedding (Criterion)
Monsoon Wedding (Blu-Ray)
Mr. Skeffington (Bette Davis)
National Parks:America's Best Idea (Ken Burns)
Kevin Nealon: Now Hear Me Out
La Belle Personne (Dir: Christophe Honore, France)
The Legend of Paul and Paula (Germany)
Nerosubianco (Attraction) (Dir: Tinto Brass, Italy)
Nimrod Nation (High School basketball Doc.)
Nip/Tuck S.5 Pt.2
Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037
Not Quite Hollywood (Oz-ploitation documentary)
Pour Elle (For Her) (w/Vincent Lindon, Diane Kruger, France)
The Proposal (Sandra Bullock)
Psycho II, III, & IV
The Queen and I (Doc. on the Shah of Iran's wife & the overthrow of the Monarchy regime, 30 years later)
Rage (Dir. Sally Potter)
Rethinking Afghanistan (Doc.)
Saturday Morning Cartoons 70's V.1
Silent Hill
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Reissue/Remaster)
Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (Blu-Ray)
Karlheinz Stockhausen: Helicopter String Quartet
Summer Hours (Dir. Olivier Assayas)
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
The Sword (Hong Kong, '71)
Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense (Blu-Ray)
Three Monkeys (Dir. Nuri Bulge Ceylon, Turkey)
Tierra (Dir. Julio Medem, Spain, '96)
Treeless Mountain (Korea)
Triage (Doc. on Doctors without Borders)
Trick 'r Treat (Bryan Singer-produced instant Halloween classsic!)
Trick 'r Treat (Blu-Ray)
What Makes Sammy Run? (teleplay '59)
Katt Williams: Pimpadelic
Year One (Michael Cera & Jack Black, Dir. Harold Ramis)

More Warner Archive:
Abe Lincol in Illinois
Al Capone
All Falls Down
All the Marble (Peter Falk, Dir. Robert Aldrich)
Any Wednesday
Boulevard Nights (East Los cholos)
Convicts 4
Crime and Punishment U.S.A.
Crisis (Cary Grant)
The D.I. (Jack Webb)
Dream Wife
Experiment Perilous (Dir. Jaques Tourneur)
Get to Know Your Rabbit
Goodbye, Mr. Fancy
The Grasshopper
Green Mansions (Anthony Perkins & Audrey Hepburn)
The Ice Follies of 1939
Kaleidoscope (Warren Beatty)
King of the Roaring 20's
Lepke
Mannequin (Joan Crawford)
The Money Trap
The Moon is Blue
Mr. Lucky (Cary Grant)
Once Upon a Honeymoon
Room for One More
The Shining Hour (Dir. Frank Borzage)
The Toast of New York
The Terminal Man
This Woman is Dangerous
When Ladies Meet
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

Blog Pick of the Week: Black Rain (1989): Shohei Imamura's masterpiece about the Hiroshima bombing may be twenty years old, but it's a poignant story and a memory of a point in history that shouldn't be forgotten. With the effect of it's black and white cinematography and the Toru Takemitsu soundtrack that just crawls under your skin, you feel the horror and confusion everyone must've felt after the bomb. Buddha watches the whole time, powerless to do anything about the violence man brings upon each other. Excellent edition from Animeigo/E1 includes an alternate ending, interviews with the star Yoshiko Tanaka and with assistant director Takeshi Miike (!) and American propganda from the World War II era.

RECOMMENDED SECTIONS: Happy Halloween: It's the most wonderful time of the year: HALLOWEEN! It's the one day of the year I don't feel like an idiot because of the way I dress! We're in the celebratory spirit by having a section full of classic horror films like Friday the 13th, Psycho, The Exorcist and The Paul Lynde Halloween Special.

Martina's "Champagne Chillers": Martina is a very classy person. In fact, she's too classy to watch dreck like Saw. "No way" she says! Grab a glass of champagne, some brie and caviar and sit in your Manhattan loft watching Murnau's version of Nosferatu, The Man Who Laughs and The Cat People.

Grace's "Suck My Blood": Well, don't actually suck her blood. Rent some vampire movies out of her section instead. She's got some of the suckiest (in vampire terms) films around including Blood for Dracula, the old Hammer Dracula films with Christopher Lee and Coppola's Dracula film.

Mark A's "Let's Talk About Gore": Mark noticed all the pansy horror sections in the store and was upset. He told me that Halloween isn't for lame-o's, but for the bloodthirsty individuals like himself. Here you'll fnd some pretty awesome gore like Tokyo Gore Police, The Gore, Gore Girls, and even Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth.

RV Parks's "Monster By Moonlight": On one of RV's many late night strolls from the pub to his home something happened. He's not too sure (he had a few too many Anchor Steams) but woke up with a mysterious bite on his arm. Even stranger, he's been coming to work with blood on his shirt and his shirt torn. The back of his hands have gotten noticebly hairy too. Even stranger than that is that he's made a section about werewolves including films like The Howling, Dog Soldiers, Wolfen and Teen Wolf.

Hallo Kids: So maybe gore, vampires and werewolves aren't for your kids. Little Jimmy, Tommy, and Stacey just aren't old enough to handle it. We understand and as a result, have put together a section of kiddy classics like Mad Monster Party, Escape to Witch Mountain and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

IT FEELS GOOD TO BE HERE AGAIN:

See you guys again!
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For those who haven't seen it, we'll have nice res photos of our new location. In the mean time, enjoy this one image!

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Pay all your debts before they come after you.

New Releases for Sept. 29th, or Let's Hurry This Up!

We're really moving everything this week. I have no time for blogs, so let's keep this short.

NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

Away We Go
Battle in Space
The Brothers Bloom
Full Battle Rattle
The Girlfriend Experience
The Girlfriend Experience (Blu-Ray)
H-Man
IP 5
The IT Crows S.3
Labyrinth (Blu-Ray)
Life on Mars (US)
Management
Monsters vs. Alens
Mothra
Nerdcore Rising
Secrecy
Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors
Shrink
Take Out
Ugly Betty S.3
Wallace and Gromit Complete (Blu-Ray)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Paths of Glory: I have no time to explain why, but just watch it.

BYE:
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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't write blogs when you're busy.
This photo has nothing to do with the move, but I'll tell you this: I'd rather do what this cat is doing than continue to do what it is I'm doing at this moment.

New Releases for Sept. 22nd, or Are You Guys Open?

We're in the final stages of our move to the new location. As the young kids say, I'm pretty "stoked". Over here, the store is considerably emptier. Over there, the flooring and paint are complete, shelving fixtures mostly assembled, posters hung, the wiring finished. In short, almost ready for your approval.

We're awaiting a counter addition, drop box, and a few other items to be completed by our our trusty carpenter team. We're looking at about a week and a half out, shooting for the weekend of Oct. 2-3
for the big opening (we'll close for 2-3 days prior to get the rest of the old store moved & the new one
ready to go). So far it's turning out real pur-tee. A beaut even.

NEW RELEASE:

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: This is about the twentieth romantic comedy to come out of Hollywood this year. It's almost overload. And to make things worse, it stars my mortal enemy Matthew McConaughey. It's basically about a guy who treats women poorly, learns a valuble lesson and loves again. The title makes it sound like it could've been a good horror movie about a guy who murders his girlfriends and is haunted by them, but I guess that doesn't fly with Hollywood.

Observe and Report: Riding on the coat-tails of Paul Blart Mall Cop, Seth Rogan stars in this comedic version of Taxi Driver where a weirdo and loner feels he needs to accomplish something great. Co-starring Ray Liotta with the worst plastic surgery I've ever seen and Anna Ferris as the most obnoxious woman in the world. It also has Michael Pena who's actually pretty funny and has a great voice (too bad he's only in the movie for about five minutes).

O'Horton: The cover for this has THE MOST ADORABLE DOG I'VE EVER SEEN. I should rent this just for the dog. I dare you to look into the dog's eyes and not go "Awwwwww". Somewhere underneath this cover lies the DVD which contains a Norwegian comedy about a train conductor's forced retirement. That doesn't sound funny. I wouldn't advise laughing at others' misery, but I condone you renting this.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

30 Rock S.3
Bionicle: The Legend Reborn
Diamant 13
Events
Everlasting Moments (Dir. Jan Torell)
Gervaise (Dir. Rene Clement)
Gigante
Godzilla/Gojira (Blu-Ray)
In the Womb (National Gerographic documentary)
Inju: The Beast Within (Dir. Barbet Schroeder)
James Dean: 1st American Teenage (Documentary)
Jimi Plays Monterey (Blu-Ray)
The Killer (Dir. Cedric Anger)
Le Sour Se Leve (Dir. Marcel Carne & starring Jean Gabin)
Lymelife
Mayerling
Monterey Pop (Blu-Ray)
The Sea Wall
Secret Defense
Sons of Anarchy S.1
That Hamilton Woman (Dir. Alexander Korda)
Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Waterlife (Documentary about... umm... waterlife)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Pierrot Le Fou: I know you all too well. You're thinking "Yo! Videotheque! We know you like Godard. You got all those posters. Why pick this?". Why? Because it's maybe Godard's finest film (plus it was just re-issued on Blu-Ray). Godard's perfect mix of emotional instinct and intellectualism ends up turning the traditional love-on-the run story into something equally manic, romantic and fun drenched in pop art designs and colors of the French (and American) flag. Samuel Fuller has a nice cameo too where he tells us what he thinks cinema is ("In one word: emotions"). The new Blu-Ray transfer looks magnificent too. I saw the remastered print at the Aero Theater about two years ago and can't remember it looking as good as this. Maybe I'm a sucker for a pretty Anna Karina and a cool Jean-Paul Belmondo, but I can't suggest this film highly enough (hear!, hear! ed. MW ).

SAYONARA:

Thanks for reading this blog again!
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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
When you watch a movie with someone else, quit interrupting and asking questions. It's pretty annoying.

New Releases for Sept. 15th, or Smooth Movin'

Instead of writing this week's blog, I took photos of how the store is looking like while we move.


NEW RELEASES:

Grace: A co-worker of mine had the same name as this film and wanted to watch it. Unfortunately, she couldn't watch it but it has to be cool: IT HAS A BABY VAMPIRE.

Old Jews Telling Jokes: My uncle Moishe would've loved to have seen this. He was an old Jew who told jokes. Unfortunately he has a pain in the tucas and can't sit in front of the TV. That man is a schmoe! A meschugener! Oi vay!

Stella: Live in Boston: I actually saw this one! For once, I saw a new release! So if you've ever seen the short lived Stella show or the internet shorts, expect that except, you know, it's live. I had a blast watching this and it's worth it alone to hear them talk about things that are too offensive to mention on this blog.

Triangle: The homiest of my homies, Johnnie To, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam, got together and made a heist film. I would've most definitely have seen this if I knew it existed. C'est la vie! The fact that the main characters are drinking buddies who get thrown into the world of Hong Kong crime leads me to believe this is going to be off the proverbial hook.

Trumbo: I like the cover. Reminds me of my uncle Moishe. Except my uncle Moishe wasn't blacklisted nor did he write Spartacus nor did he have a documentary about him. He did sit in the bathtub all day reading "Reader's Digest", though. Anyways, this is a documentary about famous screenwriter Dalton Trumbo: a man who was the polar opposite of my uncle Moishe.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine: This is actually a very clever idea for the studios. They can make several sequels detailing each character from the X-Men series by giving them their own movie. I've never seen an X-Men movie before (and a co-worker was shocked), but you gotta admit that this is a guaranteed way to make money to take to the bank.

OTHER NEW RELEASES:

Easy Virtue
Four Dragons
The Human Condition (Criterion)
Iron Monkey (Blu-Ray)
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia S.4
Kelly's Heroes
Legend of the Drunken Master (Jackie Chan) (Blu-Ray)
Rumba
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Blu-Ray)
Zatoichi (Takeshi Kitano) (Blu-Ray)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Dead Zone: Our very own Ronny D. kept insisting I had to see this after watching a parody of it on SNL. He hasn't recommended me one bad movie yet, so I took him up on it and watched it. I hate to gush all over a movie, but this was an excellent film. Christopher Walken plays an English teacher who after falling into a coma for five years, wakes up with the powers to tell the future (plus a cool new hairdo). The always great Martin Sheen plays a man running for senate that make Bush look like, uh... well, not look as bad and Brooke Adams plays his cutie who has since re-married after he fell into his coma. Despite not being one of Cronenberg's more auteur-ist works, it's still an excellent movie that's even separated into three different acts that almost feel like individual movies. Now that it was suggested to me, I want to pass on the oral tradition of suggesting movies and so I suggest that you watch it.

RECOMMENDED SECTIONS:

RV Parks' Criminal Lovers: RV has been married girl who's a rebel and who never-ever does any good. But he still loves her. To celebrate their recent crime-spree across the mid-west, he's dedicated a whole section featuring criminals with hearts in their eyes and their bullets in other people's hearts; classics like "The Honeymoon Killers", "Badlands", and "Wild at Heart".

BYE BYE:
See ya later.

www.vidtheque.com
vidtheque.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/videotheque

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
I don't care if you know me or not, but please, don't call me "bro". It's obnoxious.

New Releases for September 8th, or The Next Step Has Begun.

To my surprise, the moment I stepped into the store, things were different. No longer was Anna Karina smirking above my head. Nor was Lolita tempting me to rent her movie. Nor were the protagonists of Bicycle Thieves pulling at my heart strings. The walls were barren and desolate; all our posters have been moved to the new location.

We've started our first steps with the big move. Our office and storage have already emptied out, & over the weekend the shelving fixtures on the shopfloor will begin to do the same.
As you come in during the next two plus weeks, you'll have to pardon our dust.
Trust me when I say it's for the better good!

(we're currently estimating an opening at 1020 Mission during the last week of September, or first week of October, with perhaps 2-3 down days between our closure here & re-opening across the road! - Mark W. )

NEW RELEASES:

Crank 2: High Voltage: This has the Baryshnikov of bullets, Jason Statham, getting electrocuted to stay alive. The cover leads me to believe this has little to no substance, but features and insane amount of automatic weapons, so basically it's like my life.

Dance Flick: A new and relevant comedy that makes jokes about the CGI dancing baby craze that's sweeping America today and that was featured in last week's episode of Ally McBeal. Directed by one of the Wayans brothers.

Homicide: David Mamet's long unreleased drama about loss of identity and antisemitism is hidden in the guise of a police thriller. This movie is worth watching for a mustachioed William H. Macy playing his only tough guy role where he carries a shotgun and swears like a sailor. Coutesy of our friends at Criterion, you get a neat commentary and a featurette of interviews with the cast.

Model Shop: Jaques Demy classic Los Angeles feature finally arrives to us from Sony's Martini Movies series. See the always beautiful Anouk Aimee looking... uh... beautiful. According to one of my co-workers, she said this film was the "bees knees". Well, not in those words, but you catch my drift.

Valentino: The Last Emperor: I went to the American Cinematheque two nights in a row back in May and they played the trailer for this both nights. From the trailer, I'm going to assume it's about a feminine and obnoxious man with skin texture similar to that of a football who owns several dogs and who's aging is forcing him out of the fashion world. Even though I summed it up, you should come in and rent it anyways because a portion of the money you pay goes to my paycheck, which itself is spent to find my three kids.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

Born in '68
Heroes S.3
Metalocalypse S.2 (Adult Swim)
The New World (Blu-Ray)
Nikkatsu Noir set with I Am Waiting, Rusty Knife, Take Aim at the Police Van, Cruel Gun Story and A Colt is My Passport
No.1 Ladies Detective Agency (HBO show)
Zen & Zero (surf doc)

BON VOYAGE:

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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Be careful when you drive. You don't want to make the same mistake I did!

Took this photo this Friday. They were filming a Honda commercial. Because of this, they took away your parking that whole night. I would suggest you protest against them and quit buying their cars, but I own a huge chunk of stock in them so please don't. Like I said earlier, I need to feed my kids.

New Releases for September 1st, or I can't stand the heat. I can't stand it.

Man, I used to like fire. I remember having barbecues, heating water, breathing fire, lighting fireworks, burning hair, etc. Now it's become my worst enemy.

The last week has been nothing but smoky skies and ash. Two firemen have died and we're now in a state of emergency.

I'm glad I have Videotheque at times like this. It has air conditioning to clean up the smoky air and lets me see movies so I don't have to watch constant updates on TV about how the fire isn't getting better.

Thank you Videotheque.

NEW RELEASES:

Earth: "Better than March of the Penguins" - Pete Hammond, Hollywood.com
"What!?" - Me, vidtheque.com

Good Dick: Oh look! An other indie movie with a hand drawn cover! It's about a customer at a videostore (It's Cinefile, our buddies out on the westside) who falls in love with one of the clerks who works there. Anyone who knows us video store clerks know we are an uncompassionate bunch and lack the emotion of love. These filmmakers obviously didn't do their research!

Sin Nombre: My whole life I've been surrounded by people very similar to the movie. I've had friends, family, and coworkers who've experienced the trouble of coming to America illegally to make an honest buck. I wanted to see this film, but I didn't for some reason or an other. I did have a friend who saw it (both his parents were from Guatemala, Honduras' neighbor) and he was nuts about it.

State of Play: My dawg Russell Crowe plays an American in this remake of the BBC mini-series of the same name. It's written by my other homeboy Tony Gilroy and features a plot about a major government conspiracy. Aaaahhhh yeeeaaah!

Sugar: There's been a considerable drought of baseball movies. The creative team behind Half Nelson thought so too, so they made this drama about the perils of a gifted baseball player from the Dominican Republic. I was a little sad when it turned out it wasn't about actual sugar. When I discovered that, I went to Buster's and got a mint and chip ice cream instead.

OTHER NEW RELEASE AND NEW INVENTORY:

Bad Boy Bubby (Blu-Ray)
Becoming Charley Chase (Silent)
Earth (DVD, Blu-Ray)
Homeboy (Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken, '88)
Metalocalypse S.1, S.2
Rescue Me S.5 V.1
State of Play (Blu-Ray)
Stuff Happens with Bill Nye
The Toe Tactic (American Indie)
Unwigged & Unplugged Live (Spinal Tap reunites)

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

Hard Boiled: Seeing this depresses me. Not because it's a bad movie. On the contrary: it's one of the greatest action movies ever. What depresses me is that John Woo left Hong Kong only to make Hollywood dreck. Before action movies had to be nothing but quick action and quick cuts, you have men like John Woo combining Douglas Sirk melodrama with the slow-motion violence of Peckinpah to turn the shoot-out into a bloody ballet. Chow-Yun Fat and Tony Leung not only add great acting to the film, but can pull off the whole genre well. See how they can handle minute long shots of them running through hospital corridors, timing their shots perfectly while they choreograph their way around.

THAT IT!:

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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't smoke around dry brush. I saw some idiot doing it on a hiking trail last Thursday. Things like this start the fires that turn our humble hiking trails into a state of emergency.

New Releases for August 25th or Let's Get It Over With!

I'm not going to do an intro this week. Let's just get to the nitty-gritty.

NEW RELEASES

Adventureland: Remember Lou Reed, jeans, and carnivals? I sure do! And this film does too! Relive those awkward pre-adulthood nights where you can't finish a sentence with a single breath and where each person you know is an outcast (then again, if everyone is an outcast, can they truly be considered outcasts?). Also, this film keeps pounding into your head reminding you that it takes place in the eighties! Gee golly whiz!

Fighting: The title pretty much describes this film. I don't condone fighting. I'm a pacifist. But I condone this film because it has Luiz Guzman. Remember when he blows up in Traffic? Those were good times, huh?

Rudo y Cursi: Like quirky indie comedies but get tired of hearing them in English? Well, now our neighbors down in ol' Mexico have caught the quirky bug. Alfonso Cuaron's baby brother makes this quirky comedy about two bothers and their quirks while they try to become big time quirky soccer players. This movie is quirky and quirky quirky quirky with a great quirk. You quirk what I mean?

Sunshine Cleaning: Thought I was done saying quirky and starting my descriptions with questions, didn't ya? Huh!? Well, guess what? Leah Rozen of People® magazine describes this film as "colorful refreshingly quirky comic drama". Quirky. QUIRKY! Bleech! Anyways, the cover made me think this movie is about furniture moves, but it's in fact about two women who clean up crime scenes. If you like blood, blond women, and quirkyness, this film is for you! Interesting fact I learned about recently though: Alan Arkin (who's a supporting actor in this) graduated from my old high school. Cool stuff!

Thirtysomething S.1: I want to say I remember this show, but all I remember is when I was a kid, I'd get upset when they would have reruns of this instead of reruns of The Wonder Years. Man, now The Wonder Years! That was a great show! How many guys here had a crush on Winnie Cooper. Come on. We know we all did. That needs to be on DVD instead.

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

Adventureland (Blu)
American Son
A Bitter Sweet Life
Bocelli/Under the Desert Sky
Californication S2
The Chaser
Death Note/Change the World
Duplicity (Blu)
The Fish Fall in Love
Goodbye Solo
House MD S5
Invisible Girlfriend
The Informers
The Ipcress File (Blu)
Jeanne Dielman, 21 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (Criterion)
Jonas Mekas Walden Collection
Just for Laughs/Over the Edge (Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan and more)
The Last Days of Disco (Criterion)
New Trick S1
Patton Oswalt/My Weakness is Strong
Rudo y Cursi (Blu)
Screwballs
Shibuya Angel
Sunshine Cleaning (Blu)
Trouble the Water
We're Going to Eat You

BLOG PICK O' THE WEEK:

Husbands: I actually forgot to include this in last weeks blog as it came out last week! Well, Cassavetes' finest film is finally out on DVD in the original cut feature all the Peter Falk throwing-up and farting you can handle! I've seen a lot of films about male bonding (in a strickly platonic sense of course) and despite the fact the characters are twice my age, it's the most realistic vision I've seen of this. To top it off, this movie has a perfect ending where life and duties are reaffirmed as the friends return from their break from adulthood. Excellent performances all around from Ben Gazzara, Peter Falk and the director himself.

NEW EMPLOYEE PICKS AND RECOMMENDED:

So the last few weeks, I've forgotten to do this. I'll do it for now. Let's see what we have up

R.I.P. John Hughes: The creator of so many great memories and times may have passed on, but his spirit will always live in the enclosed space of these Digital Versatile Discs. Remember the enjoyment he brought you with teen classics like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Some Kind of Wonderful.

Inglorious Basterds: Tarantino stuffs his movies with references to cinema past. His newest film has a heap of Leone with a spoonful of Don Siegel spiced with Truffaut's The Last Metro and Fassbinder's BRD trilogy. Rent some of these films and see where Tarantino got the inspiration to make his newest action picture. Right next to these, we're keeping a small section dedicated to the films Tarantino. Now it's the best time to reunite with Mr. Pink, The Wolf, Stuntman Mike, Ordell and Beatrix Kiddo.

Mario Z's Here's to Your Health: Mr. Mario may be working here less and less due to his non stop learning of the medical field, but his section keeps his spirit alive. To make you feel more comfortable next time he gives you a shot or assist you during your next surgery, he put out some films that'll fix your irregularly beating heart like The Hospital, M*A*S*H, and Critical Care.

Gracie G's Face: I don't mean her actual face. I mean her section is titled "Face". Here you're bound to find tons of movies with the ancient art of face replacement surgery or people without a face. Some face-less wonders here include Seconds, The Face of an Other and Eyes Without a Face.

Mark A's Daja Vu DVD (Same Cover, Different Movie): Working here for a while now, Mark has been noticing a trend of laziness when it comes to designing DVD covers. In fact, he grabbed all the ones that looked too similar and put them in one section. See how Problem Child and Parenthood have almost identical covers and how crouch-shots are now over used as a DVD cover.

Ronny D is working on a section. I'll report on it when it's up.

NADA MAS!:
Thank you again for reading this.

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I took this photo back in April, but I thought now it's the best time to share it. By the way, that isn't rain. It's hail.

MORAL OF THE WEEK:
Don't drink orange juice after milk. It turns the inside of your stomach into a an atomic test site.

New Releases for August 18th, or the good ship Vidéothèque sails to bluer waters!

click on this flyer for larger view!

NEW RELEASES:

Gomorrah: I like the mob. I was actually involved in the mob until they cut off my thumbs. Now it's a bit more difficult for me to type because I can no longer hit the space bar with my thumb. Well, anywhoooo, if you're tired of goofy mafia movies like The Departed, here's the real deal! Guns, women, drugs, prostitution, corrupted officials, you name it. I'm going to assume that all these things are in the movie based on the cover alone! Jeez, I want to see this! You should come and rent it and invite me over to your place. I'd love to see it!

The Garden: We all should know that L.A. county government is pretty corrupt, but for those who hate picking up newspapers, we just got this documentary about the destruction of the South Central Garden. Watch how most people didn't care about the garden until they were going to tear it down and about how contractors squander millions of dollars. Also, it has my hero Zach De La Rocha rap about things I don't understand. So I don't know much about him, but I know that he really, REALLY likes Glengarry Glenross so much in fact that he owns his own copy. He's a pretty cool dude.

Surveillance: See the baby from Eraserhead direct her second film. I don't know much about this, but maaaaan has Bill Pullman aged! Makes me feel all depressed like inside.

Tyson: I thought this was going to be a delicious documentary on Tyson® brand chicken nuggets, but it turned out to be about Mike Tyson. What a shame. You can't eat Mike Tyson! And c'mon, Mike Tyson is nowhere near as controversial as Tyson®. Just compare their respective Wikipedia articles! C'mon James Toback! Stay with the times! Mike Tyson is sooooo 1998...

OTHER NEW RELEASES AND NEW INVENTORY:

Apres Lui (France, w/C. Deneuve)
Arizona Colt Returns
Che Part.2
Cloud 9 (Germany)
Dexter S.3
Eagles Over London
Fear[s] of the Dark (animation)
Full Grown Man (American Indie)
Gandhi (Blu-Ray)
Gossip Girl S.2
Hansel & Gretel (Korea)
Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
Hazard
Hello Goodbye (France, w/F. Ardant, G. Depardieu)
Inventing Cuisine series
Island of the Fishman
Kagemusha (Blu-Ray)
Moscow Belgium (Belgium)
Parlez-Moi de la Pluie (Let it Rain) (France, dir. Agnès Jaoui)
Partners in Crime (France, w/André Dusollier)
Playtime (Blu-Ray) (!)
Somers Town (UK, dir. Shane Meadows "This is England")

BLOG PICK OF THE WEEK:

So I decided to try out this new thing on the blog. I'm going to pick one movie I saw during the week and talk about why you should see it. Why? Because I love you and want you to see it.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin: I'm not sure how many Los Angeles natives read this blog, but when I was a kid, KTLA use to play either classic kung-fu movies or Three Stooges shorts all night. I'd get a bowl of late night Froot-Loops, sit in front of the TV with my jammies and watch these all night with my pop. Recently, I saw "Shaolin Soccer" and thought it was a blast. The film influenced me to get in touch with my kung-fu loving roots and decided to start with this Shaw Brothers classic. Everything from the soundtrack, acting, sound effects, and cinematography sold me on this film. Gordon Liu (now famous for his double roles in Kill Bill) plays a student who has everyone that he loves slaughtered cruelly by corrupt government officials (Is this a bit of anti-cultural revolution commentary?). He decides that brains aren't enough and wants to learn the ways of kung-fu to smite his foes. Special features are pretty nice with a commentary by Wu-Tang Clansmen, the RZA. Yes, it's not high art and doesn't question our mortality like Bergman or criticize contemporary society like Fellini, but if you like ol' fashioned choreographed fighting and awesome stunts, then this one hits the spot!


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MORAL OF THE WEEK:
If you're a carnivore (such as myself), don't buy Tyson® brand products. Not only do they taste bad, but it hurts the farming industry and is sending us back to the days of The Jungle! You want that!? Huh!? I didn't think so, pal!