Well Go USA Tabs Sept. 30 For Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Director Ravi Dhar's All-Action American Muscle

Ten years behind bars and mean as a snake … and just as lethal!   That’s John Falcon (played pitch-perfect by Nick Principe — Laid to Rest, Madison County, Army of the Damned, etc.) and he’s out — paroled — and doesn’t care what tomorrow brings as long as he gets his revenge on those who put him there!

Well Go USA announced this past week that director Ravi Dhar and scripter John Fallon’s American Muscle will be burning up the home entertainment market place on Sept. 30 with both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

The action takes place in the California desert (filmed on location in and around Yucca Valley), so it is the perfect place for mayhem, blood, fire and violence … just a bunch of good ‘ole boys (along with some truly nasty “bitches,” who, by the way, can more than hold their own in any bar fight) havin’ fun.    

And right at the top of Falcon’s list is his brother Sam (Todd Farmer — Drive Angry, My Bloody Valentine, Jason X) … and he knows it; it’s the day of reckoning that he’s dreaded and everyone in his crew is expendable when it comes to putting his brother down!

Oh yes, and there’s a woman involved, Darling (played by screen queen Robin Sydney — Evil Bong, Big Bad Wolf, Wicked Lake, Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation) and ten years has been ten years too long in thinking about her.

American Muscle is style (think: Wild Bunch meets The Terminator as if played out in the alternate-universe of a Twin Peaks), action and wall-to-wall violence at a level that hasn’t been seen of late.   John Falcon is on a mission and there are no negotiations and seemingly no amount of “bad guy” power that will deter him from his fatalistic mission.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Director Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais' Whitewash On DVD From Oscilloscope Laboratories On Sept. 2

Much is owed to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and his editing collaboration with the Oscar-nominated Sally Menke.   Go ahead and reassemble that film in chronological order and you’ll find that it simply doesn’t deliver the same narrative punch.

Canadian actor-turned-filmmaker Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais has applied the same techniques to his first outing behind the camera (he also co-wrote the script with newcomer Marc Tulin) and in doing so has taken a tale of a somewhat delusional loner to an entirely different level.

The film in question is Whitewash, which has been piling up awards and nominations on the festival circuit and is now making its DVD debut courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories on Sept. 2.

Thomas Haden Church (Best Supporting Actor nomination for Sideways) is Bruce, a none-too-bright and none-too-successful snowplow operator in some remote corner of Quebec.   He drinks, he does stupid things … at least that’s the impression you get as he goes for a late night romp in his snowplow and in the process manages to mow down some poor schmuck named Paul (Marc Labrèche) who wanders into the path of his out of control “lethal weapon.”   

A drunk driving, hit-and-run snowplow accident … let’s see you craft that storyline into a taut mystery/thriller that keeps you glued to your seat keenly focused on what is going to happen next.   That’s precisely what filmmaker Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais has accomplished with Whitewash.

In a panic, Bruce, our drunken snowplow operator, goes careening off into the wilderness — in the middle of a Canadian blizzard — while the local authorities are left to “piece together” the events of the accident.   By the time he sobers up the next day he is hopelessly lost … survival mode kicks in and during this period of quiet desperation the backstory of the events leading up to the accident are cleverly revealed.   

Nothing is as it first seemed and that’s the beauty of Whitewash!!  

And, even if you didn’t care about the storyline of this sweet little cinema pleasure, you will not be disappointed by the performance of Thomas Haden Church.  He deftly blends together the full range of human emotions — terror, guilt, fear, pathetic hopelessness and more — with a touch of comedy that is both subtle and black.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Krull On Blu-ray On Sept. 30 Tops Mill Creek Entertainment's Newly Added September 2014 Product Offerings

Mill Creek Entertainment, known for its “instant libraries,” collectible full-season TV series, and KidVid packages will have genre-fan’s hearts aflutter on Sept. 30 with the news this week that director Peter Yates’ 1983 sci-fi thriller, Krull, will be available as a Blu-ray product offering for the eye-popping SRP of just $9.98!!!

The “Beast” of the Black Fortress and its minions of “Slayers” fall upon the planet Krull at a crucial time — during the wedding-of-alliance between Princess Lyssa (Lysette Anthony — Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Look Who's Talking Now) and Prince Colwyn (Ken Marshall — Feds, The Gods Must Be Crazy II) — in order to defeat the prophecy that their offspring will rule the universe.

With Lyssa a prisoner and Colwyn left for dead it looks as though the Black Fortress can roam (teleport) about the universe unfettered.   But then we wouldn’t have much of an aventure … would we?

Instead, Prince Colwyn is rescued and nursed back to health by Ynyr (Freddie Jones), who gives him instructions on how to defeat the “Beast” … a band of misfits is formed and Colwyn sets out to rescue his true love and fulfill the prophecy.

Long before Lord of the Rings — and in the wake of Star Wars — come Krull and for genre fans it comes none too soon in hi-def!

Also heading to the Blu-ray format on Sept. 30 are director Jim Gillespie’s stylish 1997 slasher mystery, I Know What You Did Last Summer and filmmaker Jake Kasdan’s 2007 tongue-in-cheek comedy, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.   Both are also priced at just $9.98 each.

On the DVD release front, Tour of Duty: Season One (a four-disc set), TV Guide Spotlight: TV's Spookiest Halloween Episodes (featuring 13 animated tales) and Witch's Night Out (making its debut here and as a bonus there are ten Halloween cartoons) have all been added to the Sept. 16 release calendar by Mill Creek Entertainment.

On Sept. 23 the DVD debut of director John Avildsen’s 1981 comedy, Neighbors, re-teaming “Blues Brothers” John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, will be available for fans to enjoy for just $9.98 (and that’s before discounts at retail).

The following week DVD editions of Maid in Manhattan (starring Jennifer Lopez, with Ralph Fiennes, Natasha Richardson, Stanley Tucci and Bob Hoskins) and Panic Room (Jodie Foster as a single mom under siege) will also be available at retail for just $9.98 each.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Nickelodeon's PAW Patrol: Winter Rescues On DVD From Paramount Home Media On Oct. 7

Paramount Home Media Distribution will be teaming up with Nickelodeon on Oct. 7 for the DVD debut of PAW Patrol: Winter Rescues as Marshall, Rubble, Rocky, Zuma and Chase — with Syke overhead — take to the slopes for seven wintery missions, including a special double-length adventure featuring the PAW Patrol and their frantic efforts to save Christmas!!!

Also heading home on Oct. 7 are Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello in the four-disc, 26-episode collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - The Complete 1st Season: The Beginning.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Restored Fear In The Night On DVD From The Film Chest On Aug. 26

Film Chest revealed its newest film restoration project this past week and it’s a good one.   It is director Maxwell Shane’s 1947 film noir gem, Fear in the Night, which will be available as a restored DVD edition on Aug. 26 (collectors can toss those old editions in the trash and without breaking the bank can replace them with this Film Chest restoration … priced at just $11.98).

Noted for the film debut of future Star Trek icon, DeForest Kelley, who stars as Vince, a milquetoast bank employee who dreams that he’s stabbed a man to death … only to awaken from his “dream” to find himself bruised and, yes, there is blood.   

His brother-in-law (played by Paul Kelly) is a police detective, who ends up being Vince’s “guardian angel” (not once, but twice!) as he unravels the mystery only to find that Vince really did it … ah ha, but’s a there a twist!!  

Ann Doran, Kay Scott and Robert Emmett Keane round out the cast.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

 

 

The Criterion Collection Announces It October 2014 Blu-ray And DVD Release Calendar

Director John Ford was nominated Best Director by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on five different occasions (winning for The Informer, The Grapes of Wrath, How Green was My Valley and The Quiet Man) so you would think that if he made a film it would only be reasonable that those who hire him would simply stand back and enjoy the fruits of his labor.  

That was not the case with his 1946 Western, My Darling Clementine, which is being released as a new 4K digital restoration on Oct. 14 as both Blu-ray and double-disc DVD product offerings.    

Legend has it that then 20^th Century-Fox studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck took a look at the pre-theatrical cut of the film during a test screening and ordered 30 minutes of cuts and then brought in another director to reshoot connecting footage.   The result was a film that clocked in at around 97 minutes.

Even with the cuts and tinkering My Darling Clementine remains a masterpiece of filmmaking … Criterion will be presenting both the “Zanuck” theatrical cut and the 1995 UCLA Film Archives version, which runs roughly six minutes longer and features some of the excised footage.

Other bonus goodies include a newly-prepared commentary from John Ford biographer Joseph McBride (“Searching For John Ford: A Life”), the 1916 silent short film, A Bandit’s Wager, NBC News features on the history of both Tombstone and Monument Valley and the 1947 Lux Radio Theatre presentation with Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs.

Also on the October release calendar from the Criterion Collections are DVD and Blu-ray editions of La Dolce Vita (newly restored, Oct. 21), director Orson Welles’ F for Fake (Oct. 21) and director George Sluizer’s 1988 thriller, The Vanishing (Oct. 28).

Lastly, on Oct. 28 the Criterion Collection will be releasing a seven-disc Blu-ray collection, as well as a 12-disc DVD box set, of The Complete Jacques Tati.   Included is this collectible set(s) are: Jour de Fete, Monsieur Hulot Holiday, Mon Oncle, Playtime, Trafic and Parade, plus seven of the filmmaker’s short films — On Demande une Brute (1934), Gai Dimanche (1935), Soigne Ton Gauche (1936), L’école des Facteurs (1946), Cours du Soir (1967), Forza Bastia (1978), and Dégustation Maison (1978).

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Warner Home Video's Roger And Me Turns 25 On Oct. 7

In a relatively quiet new-announcement week from Warner Home Video (usually a sign that something BIG is about to be announced) it was revealed that the studio will be honoring the 25^th Anniversary of Michael Moore’s award-winning documentary Roger & Me with new Blu-ray and DVD editions of this, his debut film, on Oct. 7.

Bonus features for this scathing indictment of General Motors feckless corporate policies (as embodied in then Chairman Roger Smith) include a newly-prepared commentary track by none other than Michael Moore.

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report

Universal Studios Home Entertainment's Bates Motel: Season Two Set For Blu-ray and DVD On Oct. 7

Made famous by Alfred Hitchcock in Psycho in 1960, redeemed in the sequel 23 years later and now resurrected for a successful television series, it is everyone’s favorite “mother’s boy,” Norman Bates.   

It is hard to keep an iconic horror figure buried when there are so many “juicy” tales to tell and that’s exactly what Universal Studios Home Entertainment has planned for those eager for the next round of tasty morsels with the Oct. 7 DVD and Blu-ray release of Bates Motel: Season Two.

Bonus features include UltraViolet on the Blu-ray SKU, deleted scenes and a trio of featurettes — “Origins of a Psycho: Inside Bates Motel,” “After Hours: Season Two Premiere” and “After Hours: Season Two Finale.”

To download this week's complete edition of the DVD and Blu-ray Release Report:  DVD & Blu-ray Release Report