Monday, September 16, 2019

For the period ending September 13, 2019 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database



 

DVD New Additions

 

A&E Networks (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Chris Farley: Anything for a Laugh

Adler & Associates Ent. (MOD)
09/03/19 — Released Just Like We Used to Do and Vigor
09/10/19 — Released First Nations Firestarter

BBC Home Entertainment
09/10/19 — Released Serengeti (2 disc set)

Breakthrough Chinuch (MOD)
09/03/19 — Released Middos: Volumes 1-5 (5 disc set)
09/10/19 — Released Middos: Volumes 6-10 (5 disc set)

CBS Home Entertainment (MOD)
09/03/19 — Released Return of Sherlock Holmes
09/10/19 — Released My Three Sons: The Fourth Season, Volume 1 (3 disc set) and My Three Sons: The Fourth Season, Volume 2 (3 disc set)

Cadiz Recording Company
09/10/19 — Released Oil City Confidential: The Story of Dr Feelgood

Championship Productions
09/03/19 — Released Effective Zone Offense Set Plays
09/10/19 — Released Attacking with the Spread Offense, Ball Screen Reads for the Ball Handler, Conceptual Approach to Man-to-Man & Zone Offense, Cutters Zone Offense, Dan Muller: Foundations for Man-to-Man Defense, Developing Low Post and Stretch Bigs, Floater & Weak Hand Development, Practice Drills to Improve Player Fundamentals, Steve Fisher: Building a Championship Culture, Training Attacking Footwork in Large Groups, Training Defensive Footwork in Large Groups, Training Rally Footwork in Large Groups and Transition Offense with Breakdown Drills

Chrome Dreams/Sexy Intellectual
09/10/19 — Released Led Zeppelin: Roots & Branches

Constellation Publishing (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr: Chair Yoga Refreshed, Series 4, Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr: Chair Yoga Refreshed, Series 5 and Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr: Chair Yoga Refreshed, Series 6

Dan Stevens Chicago (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released See How You See: Four Rorschach Videos by Padme Hum

DreamScape Media, LLC
09/10/19 — Released Dasher, Highlights: Furry Friends!, Highlights: Ready, Set, Go! and How to Catch a Dinosaur

EM3, LLC (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released 1915 the Armenian Genocide/Romans, Armenians and the Messiah (2 disc set) and Atom Age Vampire/Carnival of Souls (2 disc set)

Facets Video
09/10/19 — Released I Don't Know What Your Eyes Have Done To Me (Spanish)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released 5th of July, Armstrong (ARR of 60 days; box office: $19,740) and Crystal City

Gunpowder & Sky (MOD)
09/03/19 — Released Wayne

Hallmark Entertainment
09/10/19 — Released Flower Shop Mystery: Complete Movie Collection (3 film set: Mum's the Word, Snipped in the Bud, Dearly Depotted) and Harvest Love

Hope of the World (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Landing Strip

I-Cine
09/10/19 — Released Dong Cung (18 disc set), Dzia Di Tia Oi (12 disc set) and Ve Nha Di Con (18 disc set)

ii Films (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Miles Between Us

Indie Rights, Inc. (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Hex

Kino Lorber
09/10/19 — Released Stella

Kyle J. Macias (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Hat Man: Documented Cases of Pure Evil

Meridian Releasing Group (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Big Little Girls, Volume 1 (7 short films: Audrey's Poem, Beauty School, Best Friend, Frolic 'n Mae, Olive and Mocha, Play Date, Shauna is a Liar), Borderland and Last Ones

Music Box Films
09/10/19 — Released Hesburgh (ARR of 137 days; box office: $193,006)

Naxos
09/10/19 — Released Debussy: Pelleas Et Melisande - Philharmonic Zurich and Rossini: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia - Theatre des Champs-Elysees

Oscilloscope Pictures
09/10/19 — Released Jay Myself (ARR of 88 days; box office: $123,913)

Paramount Home Media
10/15/19 — Adds Night Hunter (with Digital Copy)

Rogue Video (MOD)
08/27/19 — Released Red Rings of Fear
09/03/19 — Released Phantom of the Opera (silent-1925)
09/10/19 — Released Dressed to Kill and Nosferatu (silent-1922)

Saina Video Vision
09/10/19 — Released Unda (Malayalam)

Sanctus Church (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Convergence

Serpent Films (MOD)
09/03/19 — Released Cary Grant Comedy: The Amazing Adventure, Classic Comedy Romance: The Divorce of Lady X and Classic Crime: Too Late for Tears
09/10/19 — Released Classic Crime: Female Fugitive and Classic Crime: Get Outta Town

Smart Mark Video (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released CCW: Crimson Cup 3 - South Gate, CA, F1rst Wrestling: Wrestlepalooza 15 - Minnesota, MN, Game Changer Wrestling: 5150 - A Tribute to Homicide - Brooklyn, NY, Game Changer Wrestling: Invisible Man Presents W.O.M.B.A.T., H2O Wrestling: King of the No-Ring Deathmatch Tournament - Williamstown, NJ and IWA Mid-South: Be Careful For What You Wish For - Knoxville, TN

The Teaching Company, LLC
09/10/19 — Released Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: How Life Works (6 disc set), Cooking Basics: What Everyone Should Know (4 disc set), Power of Body Language (3 disc set) and Wonders of America's State Parks (4 disc set)

20th Century-Fox Home Ent.
09/10/19 — Released This is Us: The Complete Third Season (5 disc set)

20th Century-Fox Home Ent. (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Empire: the Complete Fifth Season (4 disc set)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.
09/03/19 — Released Peppa Pig: Pumpkin Party and This One’s for the Ladies (ARR of 88 days; box office: $13,688)
09/10/19 — Released Being Frank (ARR of 88 days; box office: $65,354), Chicago P.D.: Season Six (6 disc set), Curious George: Royal Monkey and Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! - The Movie
09/17/19 — Sets Lassie's Greatest Adventures Collection (2 disc set) and Wild Rose (ARR of 88 days; box office: $1,630,301)
09/24/19 — Adds Voltron: Defender of the Universe - The Complete Lion Force Series (8 disc set)
11/05/19 — Sets Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (ARR of 95 days; box office: $159,216,295)

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
10/22/19 — Sets Lion King (ARR of 95 days; box office: $529,237,780)

Warner Bros. Home Ent.
09/10/19 — Released Supernatural: The Complete Fourteenth Season (5 disc set)
10/01/19 — Adds Doom Patrol: The Complete First Season (3 disc set)

Warner Bros. Home Ent. (MOD)
09/17/19 — Adds Red Sun and Snow Job
09/24/19 — Adds Man Who Dared and You Can't Buy Luck

Wienerworld
09/10/19 — Released Time Remembered: The Life and Music of Bill Evans

WOWnow Entertainment
09/10/19 — Released Dog Geniuses and Halloween Family

WOWnow Entertainment (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Free Range and Salted Egg 2



Blu-ray New Additions

 

Arrow Video
11/19/19 — Sets Hitchhike to Hell

BBC Home Entertainment
09/10/19 — Released Serengeti (2 disc set)

Darkside Releasing
11/12/19 — Sets Danger God, Picture of Beauty, Shock (Italian) and Virgin Cheerleaders in Chains

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released 5th of July, Armstrong and Crystal City

Image Entertainment
09/10/19 — Released June and Scavengers

Indie Rights, Inc. (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Hex

Kino Lorber
09/10/19 — Released Stella

Meridian Releasing Group (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released Big Little Girls, Volume 1 (7 short films: Audrey's Poem, Beauty School, Best Friend, Frolic 'n Mae, Olive and Mocha, Play Date, Shauna is a Liar) and Last Ones

Naxos
09/10/19 — Released Debussy: Pelleas Et Melisande - Philharmonic Zurich and Rossini: Il Barbiere Di Siviglia - Theatre des Champs-Elysees

Oscilloscope Pictures
09/10/19 — Released Jay Myself

Paramount Home Media
10/15/19 — Adds Night Hunter (with Digital Copy)
12/10/19 — Sets Catch-22 (2 disc set)

Shout! Factory
09/10/19 — Released Blood from the Mummy's Tomb, Circus of Horrors and Scars of Dracula

Smart Mark Video (MOD)
09/10/19 — Released CCW: Crimson Cup 3 - South Gate, CA, F1rst Wrestling: Wrestlepalooza 15 - Minnesota, MN, Game Changer Wrestling: 5150 - A Tribute to Homicide - Brooklyn, NY and Game Changer Wrestling: Invisible Man Presents W.O.M.B.A.T.

Universal Pictures Home Ent.
11/05/19 — Sets Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Vinegar Syndrome
10/29/19 — Sets Amityville: The Cursed Collection (4 film set: Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Amityville: It's About Time, Amityville: A New Generation, Amityville: Dollhouse) (4 disc set), Berserker (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Beyond the Door III (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) and Unmasked Part 25 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack)

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
10/22/19 — Sets Lion King (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Warner Bros. Home Ent.
09/10/19 — Released Supernatural: The Complete Fourteenth Season (3 disc set)



4K Ultra HD New Additions

 

Shout! Factory
12/03/19 — Sets Turtle Odyssey (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack)

Synapse Films
11/19/19 — Sets Susperia (Italian) (with bonus Blu-ray)

Universal Pictures Home Ent.
11/05/19 — Sets Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
10/22/19 — Sets Lion King (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)












































Next Ultraman Blu-ray Waves From Mill Creek Entertainment On Nov. 19 And Dec. 10


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyBack in mid-July, Mill Creek Entertainment announced that it had acquired exclusive domestic distribution rights to the Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd Ultraman library.    Five-decades worth of programming!!

The first wave, Ultra Q: Complete Series 01 and Ultraman: Complete Series 02 were announced and are ready to rock on Oct. 15 … and with that date now growing near, it was time for Mill Creek to prep not only a second round of “Ultra” action, but a third one as well.

Fans are you ready?    On Nov. 19 you will have access to two of the newer series from the library.   Ultraman Orb: Series + Movie (2016) and the follow-up, Ultraman Geed: Series + Movie (2017) — both are six-disc Blu-ray collections, complete with Digital Copy.

In Ultraman Orb, we learn that monsters (Kaiju) locked up long ago are to be set loose by Jugglus Juggler (Takaya Aoyagi) and only Naomi (Miyabi Matsuura) and Gai Kuerni — as the Ultraman Orb (played by Hideo Ishiguro) — stands in the way of this mega-disaster being unleashed upon the Earth.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
In the follow-up series, Ultraman Geed: Series + Movie, the character of Ultraman Geed (played by Tatsuomi Hamada) was teased in the final installment of the Ultraman Orb: Series.   After escaping from the Skull Gomora, Riku/Ultraman Geed and Pega (Megumi Han) discover a mysterious base located underground.   But we, and Pega, soon learn a terrible secret about Riku’s past that could spell trouble!!

Next we shift to Dec. 10 and the release of the six-disc Blu-ray collection of the third installment in the original Ultraman television series, Ultraseven: The Complete Series.
The series began airing in Japan in October of 1967 and ran for a solid year generating a 49-episode slate of non-stop action.   The “Age of Interplanetary Wars” has arrived and the Ultra Guard is the elite defense force of the TDF (Terrestrial Defense Force).   Among them, however, is an alien in human form (played by Kôji Moritsugu) who transforms into Ultraseven when needed!!!

Mill Creek Entertainment, good to their mid-July promise, will have no less than five key series available on Blu-ray from the “Ultra Universe” by early December of this year.     

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Oscilloscope Pictures Preps Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Documentary Filmmaker Stephen Wilkes’ Jay Myself For Delivery On Oct. 29


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
The film is killing it in its limited arthouse run.   Six weeks in release (and counting) and ticket sales have already cruised to an impressive $128,703.   Before the late July theatrical launch, the film in question opened at DOC NYC way back in November of last year, competed for the Metropolis Grand Jury Prize and made the rounds of some selected film festivals.

So what are we talking about?   What is the film?   It is noted photographer Stephen Wilkes’ documentary titled Jay Myself, and word arrived this past week from Oscilloscope Laboratories that it will be making its DVD and Blu-ray debut on Oct. 29.   

And get this, so successful has the film been it is arthouse run that it has bookings into October and early November — Austin Film Society (Nov. 4), Toronto (Oct. 25), Detroit Institute of Art (Nov. 11) and more.

For the record, that Oct. 29 street date yields an ARR of 88 days.

So why did Stephen Wilkes, whose works includes the six-year long Ellis Island project (beginning in 1998) — and the subsequent publication in 2006 of “Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom” — plus his famed millennial portrait in 2000 titled “America in Detail,” turn to the world of documentary filmmaking?
DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Simple, way back in 1979, when he was just starting out as a photographer he had the good fortune of being mentored by award-winning photographer Jay Maisel.   He maintained his friendship with Maisel for the decades that followed, and when the news arrived that something big was happening in the Bowery it was just too good a story to pass up.

So what is the story and what is Jay Myself all about?   It seems that in 1966 Jay Maisel bought a six-story bank building in a really bad area of lower Manhattan.   They were closing up shop and looking to dump the property and so he bought it for something like a hundred grand.   Six stories, 72 “rooms” and 36,000 square feet … and it is there that he set up shop with a studio, living quarters and vast amounts of storage.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
The building, located at Spring and Bowery, became legendary.   A mystery for New Yorkers … and as the years passed, the area became “gentrified” and Maisel’s home and studio became one of the greatest real estate investments of all time.   

Wilkes’ Jay Myself is not so much about the biography of Jay Maisel (there is plenty there) or about the building itself, but the fact that he had decided to sell the building and “downsize” (taxes and upkeep made that an imperative) … and what caught Wilkes interest was what was in those 72 rooms, spread across six stories and over 50 years of history.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyFor people of New York City, this film gives insights in those mysteries.   What was stored inside for over 50 years … what treasures?   What stories?   Oh, and get this, his $100,000 investment netted him $55 million!!!

Bonus goodies include extended conversations with Jay Maisel (there is just so much there to talk about), extended interviews with his colleagues and outtakes.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Paramount Home Media Selects Dec. 10 For The DVD Debut Of The Catch-22 Mini-Series


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Paramount Home Media has selected Dec. 10 as the street for the six-part mini-series adaptation of the Joseph Heller’s 1961 masterpiece, Catch-22.

Drawing the coveted role of Capt. John Yossarian is Christopher Abbott (First Man, Martha Marcy May Marlene, James White, etc.).

If you read the book or if you have seen the director Mike Nichols’ 1970 film adaptation of Heller’s book, starring Alan Arkin as Yossarian, then you already know the punch line.   The “Catch-22” is that if you are crazy you don’t have to fly any more bombing missions over Germany.   All you have to do is ask to be grounded, but the moment you ask, that’s a rational act and therefore you are not crazy.   25 is the number of missions and then you get to go home, except the number keeps changing.   

In the original film, Nichols had to cram as much as he could into 122 minutes.   With the six-part mini-series, tag-team directors (each doing two of the six segments), Ellen Kuras (two-time Emmy-winner for Jane and P.O.V., plus Oscar-nominated for her documentary titled The Betrayal: Nerakhoon), Grant Heslov (Oscar-winner for his production of Argo, plus nominated for Oscars for his scripts, The Ides of March and Good Night, Good Luck) and George Clooney (who also plays the role of Scheisskopf) can expand the presentation to include additional characters and more of the storyline.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
All of the production values are top-notch (Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Special Visual Effects and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series).

In other home entertainment packaged media release news from Paramount Home Media this week, writer/director David Raymond’s creep-out serial killer thriller, Night Hunter, has been added to the Oct. 15 mix of products as both DVD and Blu-ray selections.

Already in place on that date are Blu-ray editions of Crawl (also DVD), The Haunting of Hill (also DVD), Star Trek: Picard - Movie & TV Collection and 16-disc set of Twin Peaks: The Television Collection.

Simon (Brendan Fletcher — Freddy vs. Jason, Rampage, RV) is a serial killer and the police have him in custody, but to build their case against him, Harper, the near-manic police commissioner (Stanley Tucci) wants detective Marshall (played by Henry Cavill), a man with domestic problems, to put everything aside and fast-track his investigation because one of his victims, a young girl, might not be dead (yet).

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Helping Marshall is a methodical profiler by the name of Rachel (Alexandra Daddario — Baywatch, San Andreas), who has her ways of dealing with nut jobs, but that doesn’t please the girl’s father, a former judge by the name of Cooper (Ben Kingsley), who, as it turns out, has been using his daughter as bait to catch pedophiles and dispense his own special brand of “justice” to them.

The serial killer may be locked up, but the clock is ticking for Cooper’s daughter and, if you can imagine this in your mind, certain characters are essentially screaming at the top of their lungs … while other, with problems and/or methods, try to sort things out.   That sounds like “bedlam” … and it is!!!

Oh, and our little sex-killer has a booby-trapped “sex dungeon” and that just about puts the icing on the cake!!!  

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey





Arrow Video's 2K Restoration Of Hitchhike To Hell Heads To Blu-ray On Nov. 19


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
It was 1977 and Harry H. Novak’s Boxoffice International Pictures was in to its 14th year of distributing adult-themed (The Dirty Mind of Young Sally, The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet, Below the Belt, etc.), horror films (Axe, Rattlers, The Mad Butcher) and exploitation thrillers … and then suddenly Novak folded up shop and Boxoffice was gone.    It remains something of a mystery as to exactly why.

Nevertheless, Novak then turned his attention to adult films and the launch of Valiant International Pictures, but that’s another story.   

One of the last films to be released under the BIP banner was the October of 1977 launch of director Irvin Berwick’s Hitchhike to Hell, which received some solid trade reviews (“As topical and tense as anything in the genre to come along in quite a spell” – Boxoffice Magazine, Oct. 31, 1977 edition) and has, over time, become something of a cult film, even to the point of suggesting that the film was shot sometime in the 1960s (not true).

In any case, word arrived this past week from Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, that a 2K restoration of Hitchhike to Hell — from the original film elements — will be available on Nov. 19 as newly-minted Blu-ray product offering.
DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Howard Martin (Robert Gibben — Trip with the Teacher, Goodbye, Norma Jean, Don't Go Near the Park, etc.) has a couple of problems.   His sister disappeared six years ago and he has obsessed about it ever since … she was a runaway.   His mother (played by Dorothy Bennett) hasn’t gotten over it.   So he obsesses about that too.

In the opening set-up, Howard’s problem would be no big deal, but as a delivery driver for a local cleaners, he comes across a young woman by the name of Sharon Parker (Jacqueline Poseley) and offers her a ride.   Nice enough at first, but when Sharon says that she’s running away from home because she can’t stand her mother, our boy Howard snaps.    A serial killer is born … he beats her, rapes her and then strangles her.

Detectives J. W. Shaw (Russell Johnson — yes, The Professor from Gilligan’s Island) and Phil Davis (Randy Echols) draw the case, but have few clues.   While they are busy with Sharon’s murder, Howard has a meltdown at home, plays with his toy cars and, sure enough, picks up another hitchhiker.   

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph TribbeyThis one is named Gail (Jane Ratliff) and she’s one tough chick who could give a rat’s patootie about what her mother thinks about her life on the road.   SNAP!!  He beats, rapes and then stranglers her with a handy coat hanger in the back of the delivery van and then dumps her body.

Ah ha, a clue!!   Shaw and Davis have a coat hanger and that could be significant.
By now you’ve got the pattern.   Howard picks up young women out hitchhiking, finds out that they don’t like mommy and murders them … at home his mother frets over him, his boss berates him for his erratic behavior, he plays with toy cars and has bad dreams.   A real sweetheart!

How many victims and how many clues before Howard is cornered?    

Bonus goodies include a newly minted video discussion of the film by author Stephen Thrower (“Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents,” “Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco,” “Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci,” etc.) and the featurette titled “Road to Nowhere: Hitchhiking Culture Goes to Hell.”

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey