For the period ending June 05, 2020 ... New DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD selections added to the DVD & Blu-ray Release Report's database

 

 

DVD New Additions

 

Bayview Entertainment

08/11/20 — Sets Abba: In Performance, Black Sabbath: Up Close and Personal, Bob Marley: Up Close and Personal, Cream: Inside Cream, Elvis Presley: Classic Broadcasts, Fleetwood Mac: Videobiography, Led Zeppelin IV: Essential Albums, Motorhead: Videobiography, Nirvana: Up Close and Personal and Ramones: Videobiography

Blue Forge Films (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Sound & Silence

CBS Home Entertainment (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released L Word: Generation Q, Season 1 (3 disc set), Real L Word: Season 1 (3 disc set), Real L Word: Season 2 (3 disc set) and Real L Word: Season 3 (3 disc set)

Championship Productions

06/02/20 — Released Building a Championship Culture, Player Buy-In & Developing as a Coach, Building a Competitive Practice with High-Intensity Drills, Building an Effective Transition Offense, Practice Ideas for Creating a Better Team: Skill Development, Teamwork & Quick Hitters and Strategic Serving Strategies + Competitive 6-on-6 Drills

Conscious Films (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Dr. Llaila O. Africa: All Diseases Can be Cured, Part 3 and Dr. Llaila O. Africa: All Diseases Can be Cured, Part 4

Cranked Up Films (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Extra Ordinary (ARR of 88 days; box office: $164,346)

FilmRise (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Rewind

Freestyle Digital Media (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Unborn

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Agony, Juice: How Electricity Explains the World and Punching and Stealing

Highball Productions

06/02/20 — Released Hot Spots 36: Barstow, California

I-Cine

05/26/20 — Released Anh Da Rat Yeu Em, Part 1 (13 disc set), Anh Da Rat Yeu Em, Part 2 (13 disc set) and Tuyet Sac Song Ho (12 disc set)

Image Entertainment

06/02/20 — Released One Cut of the Dead (Japanese) (ARR of 263 days; box office: $52,406)

Kino Lorber

05/26/20 — Released Chicken Chronicles

06/02/20 — Released Let’s Kill Uncle, The Queen and They Came From Beyond Space

MVD Entertainment Group

08/11/20 — Adds Foreigner, Subway Riders and Unmade Beds

Movie Detective (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Autumn has Already Started (Japanese), Cherchez L'Idole (French), Fort Graveyard (Japanese), Kidnapping (French), Okraina (Russian) and Secrets of a French Nurse (French)

Murphy Magic

05/26/20 — Released Here & Now 2 (4 disc set)

PBS Direct

06/02/20 — Released Wild Kratts: Around the World Adventures (3 disc set)

PCN Productions (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Pennsylvania Country Roads: Farmers Market & Glenn Thompson

06/02/20 — Released 2020 Best of PIAA Track - Record Setting Performances and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Hollabaugh Farms & Wayne County Historical Society

Paramount Home Media

07/28/20 — Sets Hawaii Five-O: The Final Season (5 disc set) and NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - The Seventeenth Season (5 disc set)

08/04/20 — Sets NCIS: Los Angeles: The Eleventh Season (5 disc set)

08/11/20 — Sets NCIS: New Orleans: The Sixth Season (5 disc set)

Pentrex

06/02/20 — Released Daylight 4449s: Oregon Journey

Rarefilmsandmore.com (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Golden Clown (silent-1926), Hill Park Mystery (silent-1923), Judith, Night has a Thousand Desires (Spanish), Night People, Price of Love (Greek) and Zuckerbrot und Peitsche (German)

06/02/20 — Released Ivan: The Terrible (Russian) (2 disc set)

Scott Alexander Magic (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Standing Up on Stage Volume 7: Standing Up with Cards

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Guantos Hardcore Crew: GHC y NWG: Guanatos Style, Volumn 1

Starry Night Publishing, LLC (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Beautiful Tales (2 disc set), Bleeding Steel (Cantonese), Charming Tales (2 disc set), Christmas Tales (2 disc set), Dragon Forever (Cantonese), Fantasy Tales (2 disc set), Far and Away - Sing Alongs, Furry Friends Fun - Sing Alongs, Hero Collection - Sing Alongs, Holiday Fun - Sing Alongs, IP Man (Cantonese), IP Man 2 (Cantonese), IP Man 3 (Cantonese) and IP Man 4: The Finale (Cantonese), Jackie Chan: Crime Story (Cantonese), Jungle Tales (2 disc set), Little Magic - Sing Alongs, Majestic Tales (2 disc set), Mighty Tales (2 disc set), New Police Story 5 (Cantonese), Noah's Ark, Police Story: Lockdown (Cantonese), Princess Collection - Sing Alongs, Princess Collection (6 disc set), Princess Fairy Tales (2 disc set), Princess Tales (2 disc set), Princess Tales (4 disc set), Rumble in the Bronx (Cantonese), Wild Tales (2 disc set) and Wonderful Tales (2 disc set)

The Film Collectors Society of America (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released Anastasia, Autumn Sonata, Bill Chill, Blue Lagoon, Buddy Holly Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Calcutta, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Cowboy G-Men: Safe Cracker, Day the Earth Stood Still, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Dupont Show of the Month: Wuthering Heights, Easy Rider, Fail Safe, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Funny Girl, Gandhi, Ghostbusters, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Karate Kid, Kramer vs Kramer, Last Picture Show, Lawrence of Arabia, Maciste in King Solomon's Mines, Man for All Seasons, Midnight Express, Murder by Death, Natural, Oliver!, Red Mountain , Shampoo, Starman, Taxi Driver, Thunder in the East, Tootsie, Trapper John M.D. (32 disc set), Way We Were, White Nights and Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

Wild Eye Releasing (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Human Zoo

Zeitgeist Media, LLC

06/02/20 — Released Romantic Warriors: A Progressive Music Saga

Blu-ray New Additions

Acorn Media

06/02/20 — Released Blood: Series 2 (2 disc set) and Detectorists, Series 2 (2 disc set)

Arrow Video

08/18/20 — Sets Flash Gordon and Pitch Black

ClassicFlix

06/23/20 — Sets Africa Screams

Cranked Up Films (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Extra Ordinary

Cult Epics

06/02/20 — Released Claire Sinclair Show

FilmRise (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Rewind

FUNimation

06/02/20 — Released Demon Lord, Retry: The Complete Series (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy), Hensuki are You Willing to Fall in Love with a Pervert as Long as She's a Cutie? (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy), Mixed Part 2 (2 disc set) (with Digital Copy), Phantom Requiem for the Phantom: The Complete Series (4 disc set), Robotics: Notes: The Complete Series (4 disc set) and Strike Witches 501st Joint Fighter Wing Take Off! (with Digital Copy)

Gravitas Ventures (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Agony, Juice: How Electricity Explains the World and Punching and Stealing

Highball Productions

06/02/20 — Released Hot Spots 36: Barstow, California

Image Entertainment

06/02/20 — Released Creepshow: Season One (3 disc set) and One Cut of the Dead (Japanese)

Indie Rights, Inc. (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Loon Lake and Vampire Burt's Serenade

Kino Lorber

06/02/20 — Released Let’s Kill Uncle, Queen, Tesnota (Russian) and They Came From Beyond Space

Leomark Studios, LLC (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Hillbilly Horror Show: Horror Shorts, Vol. 1 & 2, Hillbilly Horror Show: Horror Shorts, Vol. 3 & 4, Entrapped: A Day of Terror (Italian) and South of Heaven Trilogy (3 film set: Little Sister, The Long Walk Home, South of Heaven: The Shadow)

MPI Home Media

06/02/20 — Released 1BR and Valhalla Rising

Meridian Releasing Corp. (MOD)

05/26/20 — Released MRG Collective: The Selfie Project, Volume 1

06/02/20 — Released MRG Collective: The Three Lancers Horror Collection

Naxos

06/02/20 — Released Puccini: Turadot - Teatro Real and Verdi: Simon Boccanegra

PCN Productions (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released 2020 Best of PIAA Track - Record Setting Performances and Pennsylvania Country Roads: Hollabaugh Farms & Wayne County Historical Society

Pentrex

06/02/20 — Released Daylight 4449s: Oregon Journey

Sentai FilmWorks

06/02/20 — Released Tamako Market: Love Story Collection (3 disc set)

Shout! Factory

06/02/20 — Released Blackout: Invasion Earth (Russian), Glengarry Glen Ross: Collector's Edition, Tokyo Godfathers (Japanese) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack), Sound Euphonium: The Movie (Japanese) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) and Witches in the Woods

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Guantos Hardcore Crew: GHC y NWG: Guanatos Style, Volumn 1

Starry Night Publishing, LLC (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Bleeding Steel (Cantonese), Dragon Forever (Cantonese), IP Man (Cantonese), IP Man 2 (Cantonese), IP Man 3 (Cantonese), IP Man 4: The Finale (Cantonese), Jackie Chan: Crime Story (Cantonese), New Police Story 5 (Cantonese), Police Story: Lockdown (Cantonese) and Rumble in the Bronx (Cantonese)

Syndicado (MOD)

06/02/20 — Released Mike Garson and His 88 Friends and Searching Eva

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

06/02/20 — Released Doom: Annihilation, Girls Trip, Peppermint and Upside

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

08/25/20 — Sets Flash: The Complete Sixth Season (4 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

09/22/20 — Sets DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Fifth Season (3 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

4K Ultra HD New Additions

Arrow Video

08/18/20 — Sets Flash Gordon and Pitch Black

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

06/02/20 — Released Parasite (Korean) (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

07/21/20 — Sets Spartacus (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

Paramount Home Media Teams With CBS Home Entertainment For The Release Of Four TV Series Collections On DVD During July And August

Paramount Home Media is teaming up with CBS Home Entertainment for the delivery of not one, but four long-running broadcast series to the DVD marketplace in the late July and early August timeframe.

These fan-favorites kick off on July 28 with the five-disc DVD collection of Hawaii Five-O: The Final Season, featuring Detective Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin — August Rush, White Out, The Back-up Plan) and Detective Danny “Danno” Williams (Scott Caan — Rock the Kasbah, Deep in the Valley) are back for a final go’round in 22 thrill-packed episodes.

This Hawaii-Five-O reboot ran ten full seasons … and when combined with the original from 1968, starring Jack Lord, there were an astonishing 519 action-laced installments in the combined Hawaii-Five-O universe.

Also streeting on July 28 is the five-disc DVD set of NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - The Seventeenth Season.   All 20 episodes are included in this release (a full 24 episode season was cut short due to Covid-19 … production was suspended).

NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) leads the way, with long-time regulars — Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) — returning to investigate and solve crimes that occur within the purview of the Navy or Marine Corps.  

 

Shifting to Aug. 4, we find NCIS: Los Angeles: The Eleventh Season, a five-disc DVD set showing the 22 broadcast episodes (this series was also locked down as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the final two scheduled episodes scrubbed from the production schedule).

This NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service spin off features NCIS Senior Field Agent Grisha "G." Callen (Chris O’Donnell), his partner NCIS Senior Field Agent Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) along with the rest of the team in a series of deep-cover cases involving kidnapping, murder and drug trafficking.

The thrills from Paramount Home Media continue on Aug. 11 with the DVD release of NCIS: New Orleans: The Sixth Season (a five-disc collection).   Yes, this series was also suspended with 20 of the 24 episodes completed. 

Agent Pride (Scott Bakula) is back, along with Special Agent Lucas Black (Christopher Lasalle) for more cases in and around the Big Easy.

MVD Entertainment Group Readies No Wave DVD Promotion For Three Amos Poe Films

No Wave filmmaker Amos Poe is the focus of a three-DVD product launch by MVD Entertainment Group on Aug. 11.

These three — virtually unseen “experimental” films from the late 1970s and into the early 1980s — are from No Wave director Amos Poe, who would go on to direct Alphabet City and deliver the script for director Daniel Petrie’s 1988 film release of Rocket Gibraltar.   

What makes these films unique is that he was working with a young talent by the name of Debbie Harry, who would shortly explode upon the music scene as Blondie.

These are cinefile films; arthouse films … films that have a very select audience, which is fine.   In a nation of 330 million people, there are lots and lots of niches to fill.   And for the curious, these are certainly worth a look-see.   For fans of Blondie, this is a no-brainer.

The first, chronologically-speaking, is Poe’s 1976 film, Unmade Beds, starring — and we use “starring” loosely in a traditional sense — Duncan Hannah as a New York City denizen who fancies himself a photographer “living abroad,” which translates to maybe Paris.   He stalks the city, taking pictures, which is a metaphor for something a little more sinister.

In any case, he meets and falls in love with an exotic beauty by the name of Blondie (yes, Debbie Harry) and things go south from there.

The next film in this No Wave series from MVD Entertainment Group is Poe’s follow-up, The Foreigner, which features another alienated individual, Max Menace (Eric Mitchell, who was also in Poe’s Unmade Beds … he too would go on to become a filmmaker, directing such films as Underground U.S.A. and The Way it Is).

As the story develops, we learn that Max Menace has arrived from Europe (which is never really clear, exactly where … which is not necessary) and he fancies himself a secret agent.   He must make contact with someone he does not know to get his assignment, so this requires him to wander about the city in search of that person.

He will cross paths with Dee Trik (Debbie Harry) and other odd characters as he awaits his assignment.   As with Unmade Beds, The Foreigner is about alienation and being alone; adrift in New York City.

Lastly, Amos Poe’s Subway Riders arrived in 1981, by this time Debbie Harry and Blondie had hit Platinum status with the release of the “Eat to the Beat” album in October of 1979, so her early film career with Amos Poe had come to an end.

In any case, we are introduced to an individual only known as “The Saxophonist” (John Lurie — Stranger Than Paradise, Paris, Texas, Wild at Heart, etc.) who acts like a Pied Piper, by playing his saxophone down dark alleys … the curious drawn to the music are gunned down.

And yes, that is Robbie Coltrane (who is perhaps best known to contemporary audiences as Rubeus Hagrid from the Harry Potter film series) in his first “starring” role as Detective Fritz Langley.   Another familiar “face” in Poe’s Subway Riders is none other than Susan Tyrrell (Oscar-nominated for her performance in Fat City, plus such films as Forbidden Zone, Cry-Baby and Big Top Pee-wee).

Also of note, MVD Entertainment Group has documentary filmmaker Marco Porsia’s Where Does a Body End? ready for a Blu-ray launch on Sept. 11, which takes a look at the early No Wave music scene in New York City as embodied by Michael Gira and his rock group, Swans.

Arrow Video Preps Its First Two 4K Ultra HD Titles For Release On Aug. 19 • Flash Gordon and Pitch Black

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be releasing its first two 4K Ultra HD titles on Aug. 18.   So let’s see what’s in the works …

First up is a 4K restoration (supervised by the director himself) from the original camera negative of director Mike Hodges’ 1980 film release of Flash Gordon, which will be available as both a newly-minted 4K Ultra HD edition as well as a Blu-ray product offering on Aug. 18.

What a hoot.  This salute to the serial adventures of Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, Dr. Alexis Zarkov and Ming the Merciless (Flash Gordon, Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars and Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe) was an absolute train wreck from inception, but nothing like time to make it an absolute cult favorite.

First, you get a Flash Gordon (played by Sam J. Jones — 10, My Chauffeur, Maximum Force, etc.) who, according to legend, was spotted on “The Dating Game” and had been a Playgirl “centerfold.”   He was teamed with Dayle Haddon as Dale Arden, fresh from North Dallas Forty, but when she showed up on the set she appeared to be in the middle of an anorexic episode and was fired, replaced by Melody Anderson (her theatrical debut).   

Haddon would later file a lawsuit against the film’s producer, Dino De Laurentiis … and that wasn’t the end of the legal problems with the production.   Sam J. Jones got into a tiff with De Laurentiis over his contract and before you could say “Flash” there was a breach of contract law suit and Jones’ post-work on the film had to end up being dubbed.

$40 million production budget, filmed on the same Shepperton Studios stages as Star Wars (and then some), but it ultimately failed to live up to its Christmas season release hype.   Ah, but time heals all wounds!!

When you have the music of Queen, visuals off the charts, and Ming the Merciless played none other than Max von Sydow, you just had to know that time would make Flash Gordon a keeper.

This new 4K Ultra HD presentation comes loaded with extras.   There are two archival commentary options, one featuring director Mike Hodges (The Terminal Man, A Prayer for the Dying, Get Carter) and the second with actor Brian Blessed (as Prince Vultan), plus there are video sessions with the likes of Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, and Brian May from Queen.

Other bonus delights include deleted scenes, a vintage documentary titled Behind the Scenes of Flash Gordon, a newly-prepared documentary titled Lost in Space: Nic Roeg’s Flash Gordon and more … much, much more.

Also getting a new 4K film restoration and making its way to market on Aug. 18 from Arrow Video as a 4K Ultra HD release is director David Twohy’s 2000 sci-fi release of Pitch Black, starring that guy from Saving Private Ryan and the little-seen Strays, Vin Diesel as the ever-resourceful convict, Riddick.   Pitch Black made him a star, The Fast and the Furious the follow year would confirm it.

Bonus nuggets for this chill-a-minute creature feature begin with two viewing options — a director’s cut and the original theatrical version — plus two vintage commentary tracks — one featuring Twohy and Diesel, who are joined by actor Cole Hauser, and the second also has director David Twohy (The Arrival, A Perfect Getaway, The Chronicles of Riddick), who is with producer Tom Engelman (The Last Samurai, Terminal Velocity) and visual effects supervisor Peter Chiang (The Bourne Ultimatum, John Carter, Godzilla).

There are also six newly-prepared featurettes — “Nightfall: The Making of Pitch Black,” “Black Box: Jackie's Journey,” “Black Box: Shazza's Last Stand,” “Black Box: Bleach Bypassed,” “Black Box: Cryo-Locked” and “Black Box: Primal Sounds” — plus vintage material, including the short animated film titled, The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.