The Rockford Files: The Complete Series Leads Mill Creek Entertainment's June Hit Parade Of New DVD And Blu-ray Product Offerings

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that The Rockford Files: The Complete Series will be leading its June hit parade.

Both DVD and Blu-ray collections, featuring all 122 episodes of this classic James Garner PI series, will be available.   The Blu-ray set will be available on June 27, while the DVD edition arrives at retail two weeks earlier on June 13 (both are 22 disc sets).

The series ran from the September of 1974 — for six seasons — through January of 1980, co-starred Noah Berry, Jr. as Jim Rockford’s father (Rocky) and Joe Santos as L.A. Police Sergeant Dennis Becker … with Stuart Margolin as Jim’s shifty friend Angel.    The Rockford Files was nominated for 18 Emmys, winning five, including Outstanding Drama Series in 1978 and James Garner won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1977.    

You may tune-in for the cases.  You might even catch the series for James Garner as Rockford.   But for car buffs, the vintage ‘70s muscle cars on parade make this a must-have collection come this June.

Also on the June calendar is the eight-film, double-disc DVD collection titled 8 Action Films: Head to Head - Seagal, Van Damme.   Streeting on June 6, this battle of action features the films of Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme, with savvy fans knowing full well that Van Damme will prevail as he was invited to appear in Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables film series, while Seagal is conspicuously absent.

That little tussle aside, this collection from Mill Creek Entertainment features six Van Damme films — Universal Soldiers: The Return, Second in Command, Maximum Risk, The Hard Corps, Knock Off and Double Team — and two starring Steven Seagal … Attack Force and Into the Sun.

Also on the June 6 release calendar is the double-didc DVD collection titled Stan Lee & Kevin Smith Save the World, which features An Evening with Kevin Smith, An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder and Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels.

The DVD release on June 6 of Highway to Heaven: Messages from Above showcase four specially selected episodes from the Emmy-nominated series.   These are: the Pilot Episode from season one, “Thoroughbreds” (also from season one), “A Special Love” (the kickoff episode from season three) and “Hello and Farewell” (from season five).

Rounding out this first of new priced-to-collection DVD and Blu-ray production selections from Mill Creek Entertainment during the month of June are Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?: The Complete Series (a four-disc set) and Archie's Weird Mysteries: The Complete Series (also a four-disc set).   Both collections will be available on June 6.

Film Chest Media Group Selects May 30 For The Delivery Of Beverly Garland: Decoy: The Complete Series On DVD

On May 30 all 39 case files of NYPD’s Office Casey Jones will be available in the three-disc collection, Decoy: The Complete Series, from the Film Chest Media Group.

Screen legend Beverly Garland stars as Casey Jones, an undercover police office — a “decoy,” if you will — who puts her life on the line each week by inserting herself into some pretty sketchy situations.   

She was the star of two of Roger Corman’s early film productions, It Conquered the World (1956, opposite Peter Graves and Lee Van Cleef) and his 1957 sci-fi masterpiece, Not of This Earth (with Paul Birch) and prominently featured in director Charles Vidor’s 1957 film release of The Joker is Wild, starring Frank Sinatra.    

Then came the opportunity to star in this groundbreaking series, which ran for just one very long season (from October of 1957 until early July of the following year).   Decoy not only featured a female cop in the lead, but was filmed entirely on location in New York City.

A special bonus that Film Chest Media Group is including in this collection is a 16-page booklet that features historical notes on the production of the series, a trivia section and an overview of all 39 episodes (with a scene from each) that includes both the original broadcast date and a reference to key New York City landmarks featured in each episode.

Icarus Films Tabs June 6 For The DVD Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Marie-Hélène Rebois’ In the Steps Of Trisha Brown

Icarus Films has selected June 6 for the domestic DVD debut of French documentary filmmaker Marie-Hélène Rebois’ In the Steps of Trisha Brown, a loving tribute to the dance choreography of the late Trisha Brown. 

Trisha Brown, who sadly left us in March of this year, was one of the leading members of the postmodern dance movement (a rejection of constrictive movements and dictated dance regiments) and one of the founders of New York City’s famed Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s.

The focus of Marie-Hélène Rebois documentary is the introduction of Brown’s 1979 production of Glacial Decoy to contemporary dancers in Paris.   It is a fascinating look at the world of dance, especially Brown’s contributions … there are several sequences where her choreography has the illusion of the dancers defying gravity (a very clever visual).   

Mixed with this contemporary rehearsal footage is archival footage of Trisha Brown in rehearsal of her own productions.

In the Steps of Trisha Brown had a brief arthouse run and arrives on DVD with an ARR of 123.   This FIFA Montreal Festival of Films Jury Prize-winner is presented in English and French (with English subtitles for the French-language sequences).

Paramount Home Media Selects May 2 For The Release Of DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Rings

Paramount Home Media has picked May 2 as the street date for both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of director F. Javier Gutiérrez’s Rings, the third installment in the American-produced adaptation of the Kôji Suzuki-inspired The Ring horror series.   The Ring (2002) and The Ring 2 (2005) set the narrative for the “cursed” videocassette and the malevolent entity (ghost) of Samara … it is now 15 years later and she’s back!!!

The ARR for Rings comes in at 88 days and domestic ticket sales currently stand at $27.8 million.

Bonus features, which are exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU, included deleted, extended and alternate scenes, plus a trio of production featurettes — “Terror Comes Full Circle,” “Resurrecting the Dead: Bringing Samara Back” and “Scary Scenes.”

Shifting to June, Paramount Home Media made a slew of announcements this past week for DVD product offerings that will be retail-ready on June 13.  

There are five on that date and — yes, depending on one’s taste — you could argue that the Stephen King Triple Feature (a five-disc collection) is certainly one collection that is both well-timed (The Dark Tower opens nationwide on Aug. 4 and It arrives one month later on Sept. 8) and the price is certainly right at $19.99 (SRP).

Included in the collection are three mini-series adaptations of his writings: The Stand (first published in 1978 … the mini-series adaptation was aired during May of 1994 and starred Rob Lowe, Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald); The Langoliers (from “Four Past Midnight,” first published in 1990 … the mini-series aired in May of 1995 and teamed Dean Stockwell with David Morse and Patricia Wettig) and Golden Years (created for television by Stephen King … it aired during the summer of 1991 as a seven-week mini-series).

Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny return on June 13 with double-disc DVD and Blu-ray selections of South Park: The Complete Twentieth Season.   All ten episodes are included here along with episode commentaries.

Other bonus goodies include the featurettes “South Park: By the Numbers” and “South Park: We’ve Been There,” plus the Comic Con 2016 panel with Trey Parker and Matt Stone and deleted scenes.

Next up in the Paramount June 13 DVD product onslaught is The Wild, Wild West Double Feature, which features director Burt Kennedy’s 1979 made-for-TV reunion adventure, The Wild, Wild West Revisited, which has both Jim West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin) coming out of retirement to take on Dr. Michelito Loveless, Jr. (played by Paul Williams) and his evil plan to replace world leaders.    

Teamed with it is Kennedy’s 1980 follow-up, More Wild, Wild West, which reteams West and Gordon in a battle against Albert Paradine II (Jonathan Winters) and his diabolical invisibility invention.

Also on the MOW release front is director Bob Sweeney’s 1986 reunion feature film, Return to Mayberry, which brings cast members Andy Griffith, Don Knotts, Jim Nabors and Ron Howard back to Mayberry that involves the election of a new sheriff and the birth of Opie’s son.

Rounding out the June 13 release calendar is the nine-disc collection of Borgias: The Complete Series.

Arrow Video's Restoration On Madhouse Heads Home On June 13 As A Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Edition

Arrow Video, with domestic distribution and sales support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected June 13 as the street date for a Blu-ray-DVD Combo Pack edition of director Ovidio Assonitis’ (aka: Oliver Hellman) 1983 horror tale, Madhouse.

This new 2K restoration is sourced from the original camera negative.

Madhouse is an Italian slasher film, that is quasi-Giallo, with an American cast and shot on location in the Deep South and that makes for one hell of a combination!    As the story goes, Julia (played by Trish Everly in her only recorded film role) has a demented twin sister by the name of Mary (Allison Biggers — Six Pack), who is confined to an insane asylum.   And to get things rolling, Julia’s kindly uncle James (Dennis Robertson) — a Catholic Priest to boot — insists that Julia pay her sister a visit, which does not go well!

Once this is established, Julia settles back into her creepy gothic mansion (shot on location at the Kehoe House in Savannah, Georgia … a real haunted house), where her friends begin to meet horrible deaths — there’s a hell hound involved — and she begins to suspect that someone (possibly her sister) or something is lurking within the many rooms and hidden passages of her home.   

Without giving away the ending, let’s just say that her sister, who is certifiably nuts, might not be the biggest threat in her life.   Could it be her boyfriend Sam (Michael MacRae), who never seems to be around when things go bump in the night … and what of that mysterious “meeting out of town” that he suddenly called away for?   A red herring perhaps!  

Bonus nuggets include a newly-prepared commentary track hosted by The Hysteria Continues, newly-minted video sessions with the cast and crew and alternative opening titles.

CJ Entertainment's International Box Office Hit — Director Kim Jee Woon’s The Age Of Shadows — Arrives In Domestic Waters As DVD And Blu-ray Editions On May 2

CJ Entertainment will be bringing both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of Korean filmmaker Kim Jee Woon’s The Age of Shadows to the domestic marketplace on May 2.

The ARR is 221 days and domestic ticket sales were $541,226 — worldwide the box office take for The Age of Shadows is now over $55 million.   This was the official South Korean entry into the Best Foreign Language Oscar derby last year.

The Japanese are in firm control of all of Korea during the 1920s and 1930s and it is during this period that filmmaker Kim Jee Woon has selected to tell his tale of political intrigue.   At the heart of it is whether resistance fighters can turn Lee Jung-Chool (Kang-ho Song — Snowpiercer, The Host, etc.), the Korean-born police captain of Seoul, to their cause.   He’s ruthless and totally loyal to his Japanese masters, but kinks in his steadfast resolve are beginning to show.

It falls to Jung Chae-San (Byung-hun Lee — The Magnificent Seven, Terminator Genisys, G.I. Joe: Retaliation), the leader of resistance forces — who is working diligently to smuggle explosives into the city from Shanghai — to play the cat and mouse game with Lee Jung-Chool, knowing full well that one false move, one miss-read of the situation and he is dead.   

A sort of go-between is developed in the form of an antique shopkeeper by the name of Kim Woo-jin (Yoo Gong — Train to Busan, Silenced) and you are kept guessing as whether the police captain is making attempts to infiltrate the opposition or looking for an opportunity to come over to their side.   Talk about tense!   

Bonus features include a video session with writer/director Kim Jee Woon and cast interviews.   The Age of Shadows can be viewed with the original Korean language track (with English subtitles) or as an English-dubbed edition.

Cinema Libre Picks May 9 For The DVD Debut Of Documentary Filmmaker Marie-Ange Poyet’s Injecting Aluminum

Cinema Libre has tabbed May 9 as the DVD release date for documentary filmmaker Marie-Ange Poyet’s Injecting Aluminum, an examination of the connection between Macrophagic Myofasciitis and aluminum hydroxide, which is often used as a vaccine adjuvant.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), “Small amounts of aluminum are added to help the body build stronger immunity against the germ in the vaccine.”  

However, French researchers have discovered a possible connection between aluminum and MMF (Macrophagic Myofasciitis) that occurs in certain patients when the aluminum hydroxide becomes embedded in the surrounding muscle tissue.   The result is chronic muscle and joint pain, general fatigue and fever.

Since the compound has been in common usage since the 1930s, an effort now is underway to find a less invasive adjuvant to accomplish the same goal.  Injecting Aluminum details both the problem and the effort to find alternatives.

FilmRise Teams With MVD Entertainment Group For The June 13 DVD Debut Of The Animated Hit Monster Hunt

FilmRise, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed June 13 as the DVD debut date for director Raman Hui’s first full-length animated feature film, Monster Hunt.

After laboring as an animation artist and supervising animator on such film hits at Antz, Shrek and Madagascar, plus director of the short animated spinoffs of Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five and Puss in Boots: The Three Diablos, Hui got his shot with this mega-budget animated feature-length film — Monster Hunt was a box office smash in Asian markets (opening in the summer of 2015) — and it will now be available as an English-dubbed version for domestic home entertainment consumption.   

Indeed, Monster Hunt was such a hit that a sequel is already in the works!

This film is certainly worth a look-see, especially if you are a fan of the Shrek films — the monster and human mistrusts are a theme here as well.

The Sprocket Vault Unearths The Mysterious Airman For DVD Delivery On Apr. 25

The Sprocket Vault has unearthed the “lost” 1928 ten-chapter silent serial thriller, The Mysterious Airman, and will deliver it on DVD to film buffs and collectors on Apr. 25.

Sourced from the 35mm nitrate print (dangerous stuff to work with after all these years), The Mysterious Airman, has been lovingly restored and features a new piano score from the Library of Congress’ Dr. Andrew Simpson (an expert on silent film scores).

Directed by Harry Revier and starring Walter Miller and Eugenia Gilbert, The Mysterious Airman — featuring death-defying aerial stunts — actually beat Wings, the first Best Picture winner, to theatres by six months.

Bonus features include commentary by film historian Richard M. Roberts, the featurette titled “New York Censor Board File” and the 1928 silent short film titled Flying Cadets.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Tabs June 13 For DVD • Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack • And 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Editions Of The LEGO: Batman Movie

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has selected June 13 as the street date for a three-SKU helping of director Chris McKay’s The LEGO Batman Movie.

The ARR works out to 123 days and the domestic box office count currently stands at $173.8 million.

As to bonus goodies, filmmaker Chris McKay will be providing commentary, plus there are deleted scenes, the Comic Con Panel video session, four animated short films —  Dark Hoser, Batman is Just Not That Into You, Cooking with Alfred and Movie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That? — and five featurettes: “One Brick at a Time: Making the Lego Batman Movie,” “Inside Wayne Manor,” “Brick by Brick: Making of the LEGO Batman,” “Behind the Brick” and “Me and My Mini Fig.”

Also announced by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment this past week were four new Blu-ray releases that will be available during the month of May.  

First up is director John Frankenheimer’s 1964 political thriller, Seven Days in May, pitting Burt Lancaster as General James Mattoon Scott against the weak-willed President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March), with Kirk Douglas (Colonel “Jiggs” Casey), Martin Balsam (presidential advisor Paul Girard) and Edmond O’Brien as the heavy-drinking Senator Raymond Clark as his only allies in stopping a military coup.

The Blu-ray for this double-Oscar nominee (Edmond O’Brien for Best Supporting Actor and Best Art Direction) will be available on May 2.

The following week, Tuesday, May 9, look for director Lawrence Kasdan’s 1988 Best Picture nominee, The Accidental Tourist, starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis (she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress) and director Tony Richardson’s 1965 film adaptation of the 1948 Evelyn Waugh novel, The Loved One, which is noted for its all-star cast that includes Jonathan Winters, Robert Morse, Anjanette Comer and Rod Steiger in leading roles and so-called “guest” appearances by none other than John Gielgud, Roddy McDowall, James Coburn, Liberace and “Uncle Miltie,” Milton Berle.

And last, but not least, May 16 brings director Harold Becker’s 1985 film adaptation of the Terry Davis novel, Vision Quest, to Blu-ray.   Matthew Modine, Linda Florentino and Ronny Cox star, with Madonna appearing as a bar singer belting out “Crazy For You” and “Gambler.”

The Film Detective Readies Ten New Film Restorations For DVD On Apr. 25

The Film Detective has set ten new film restorations for release on DVD on Apr. 25, with director Joseph Henabery 1925 silent film adaptation of Martin Brown’s 1924 stage play, Cobra — starring the legendary Rudolph Valentino — leading the charge of new collectible film selections.

Valentino plays Italian Count Rodrigo Torriani, who is a “Count” in name only as his family fortunes have long since vanished.   But things take a turn for the better as the film opens when his long time friend Jack Dorning (played by Casson Ferguson — Flame of the Desert, What's a Wife Worth?, Partners Three, etc.) scores him a prestigious position in New York City.   

Rodrigo, however, has a major problem — women (e.g. “cobras”) — and that leads to tragedy when Jack’s wife, Elise (Nita Naldi — Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Blood and Sand, The Ten Commandments), tempts him with an affair that leads to her untimely death.

Also from the silent era is filmmaker Charlie Chaplin’s 1921 classic, The Kid, the great comedian’s first full-length feature film as a director, which also introduced future star Jackie Coogan to film audiences.

On the Western front this time around, The Film Detective delivers both director Bob Hill’s 1934 film, A Demon for Trouble, starring Bob Steele and Gloria Shea, as well as director Robert Bradbury’s 1935 Johnny Mack Brown gold theft mystery, The Courageous Avenger (both of which were filmed on location in Lone Pine, California).

Filmmaker Bob Hill returns with the 1938 release of Painted Trail, which stars Tom Keene as a U.S. Marshall who goes undercover as the notorious Pecos Kid in order to crack a smuggling operation … Eleanor Stewart (Waterloo Bridge, The Fighting Devil Dogs, etc.) co-stars.   

Buster Crabbe teams with his sidekick Al “Fuzzy” St. John in director Sam Newfield’s 1944 film release of Oath of Vengeance and on the MOW front we find Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again, which showcases the talents of such screen greats as Walter Brennan, Andy Devine, Chill Wills, Fred Astaire and Edgar Buchanan … Lana Wood (sister of Natalie Wood and Bond Girl Plenty O’Toole in Diamonds are Forever the following year) has to contend with this cantankerous group!

Rounding out the Apr. 25 DVD release calendar from The Film Detective are Kept Husbands (1931, directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Joel McCrea and Dorothy Mackaill), director William West’s 1940 arsonist thriller, The Last Alarm (with J. Farrell MacDonald, Warren Hull and Polly Ann Young) and director William Beaudine’s 1941 boxing flick, The Miracle Kid, which features a cast that includes Tom Neal, Vickie Lester, Betty Blythe, Ben Taggart and Carol Hughes.

Director Jorge Ameer's Medusa Heads To DVD On June 13 Courtesy Of Ariztical Entertainment

Ariztical Entertainment has scored the domestic home entertainment distribution rights to filmmaker Jorge Ameer's cult horror gem, Medusa, and has scheduled the home entertainment DVD launch for June 13.   

With an impressive film resume that includes D'Agostino, The Dark Side of Love and Sabor Tropical, Ameer turns his keen eye to the world of mythology and horror, with a tip of the hat to the genre classics.

As his story opens we learn that Dr. Jack Peruci (Jeff Allen — Mobster Kids, The Warning) is convinced that the legendary Greek tales of the Gorgon monster, Medusa, are in fact based on a real creature who could indeed turn her victims to stone (or worse).   His research leads him to a creepy individual by the name of Kao (a show-stopping turn by filmmaker Jorge Ameer), who is more than willing — perhaps a little too willing — to depart with an ancient artifact that is known as “the mirror” (hint: the mirror of Medusa).

As soon as Jack scores this incredible find he begins to have nightmarish visions, which give his girlfriend, Lana (Britt Rose), the heebie jeebies and she insists that he get some help … and quick!   His buddy, Steven Craig (Tom Struckhoff), who is a psychologist, agrees to help, but to little avail.   And to make matters even worse, his colleagues are out to knife him in the back by having his research funding pulled — they are skeptical of Jack’s research.

The joke, however, is on them as the mirror is the real deal and Koa’s remote (and very creepy) cabin is actually a portal to another dimension — the realm of the Medusa — that Jack must return to, with the mirror, and close.   The vision of beast (Medusa is played by Katy Foley — Ditch Day Massacre, Ciaran the Demon Hunter) continues to haunt him as the world of nightmares clashes with reality.  

Bonus goodies for the DVD release of Medusa include a behind-the-scenes featurette, video sessions with members of the cast and VFX artist Jeremy Vanneman (Mad Max: Fury Road, Gods of Egypt, The Shallows, etc.) and Jeff Allen’s short film, Pay or Play.

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The Criterion Collection Announces It July 2017 DVD And Blu-ray Release Slate

The Criterion Collection announced its July release slate this past week and leading the way — which is always a subjective call — is actor/writer/director Albert Brooks’ 1985 road trip comedy, Lost in America.   Both DVD and Blu-ray selections will be available on July 25.

A new 2K digital transfer is the offing, as well as a newly prepared video session featuring Albert Brooks and fellow filmmaker and Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Robert Weide.  

There are also new interview sessions featuring Lost in America’s Julie Hagerty, executive producer Herb Nanas (Emmy-nominee for Hatfields & McCoys) and director James L. Brooks (Oscar nominee for Best Picture and Best Writing for his 1987 film Broadcast News, which co-starred Albert Brooks … he also won three Oscars in 1983 for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Writing for Terms of Endearment).

Also heading home as both DVD and Blu-ray buying options in July from The Criterion Collection are French filmmaker Robert Bresson’s 1983 film release L'argent and Roberto Rossellini's War Trilogy, which features Rome Open City, Paisan and Germany Year Zero.   Both of these will street on July 11.

Rounding out the July release calendar is the July 18 is Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film, Stalker.

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Picks May 30 For The Release Of DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions Of Director Stuart Hazeldine’s The Shack

Lionsgate Home Entertainment, with little fanfare, has selected May 30 as the street date for director Stuart Hazeldine’s outstanding film adaptation of writer William P. Young’s best-selling, faith-based novel, The Shack.

The ARR for this Dove Family Approved film is 88 days and domestic ticket sales — despite a general bashing from mainstream critics — currently total $56.1 million.   Audiences, however, loved it … that tells you pretty much everything you need to know about The Shack.

Both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions will be available.   

As to bonus goodies, there is commentary from director Stuart Hazeldine, whose only previous directing effort was the 2008 film release of Exam (released on DVD in November of 2010 by MPI Home Video).   There are also deleted scenes and five featurettes — “Touched by God: A Writer’s Journey,” “God’s Heart for Humanity,” “Heaven Knows: The Power of Song with Hillsong United,” “Something Bigger than Ourselves: The Making of The Shack” and “Premiere Night: A Blessed Evening.”