Virgil Films And Entertainment Preps Three Docs On DVD For Delivery During June

Virgil Films & Entertainment has picked three consecutive street-date Tuesdays during the month of June for compelling new-to-DVD documentary releases.   

The month kicks off on June 3 with documentary filmmakers AJ Schnack and David Boone Wilson’s five-year odyssey in chronicling life, entertainment and hard times in the Ozark Mountain community of Branson, Missouri.   Titled We Always Lie To Strangers, their film looks at this unique community of just 10,000 people that is an entertainment mecca for close to eight million visitors annually.

During the filming — which basically intercuts the stories of four different entertainment acts — the impact of the ongoing recession has been pronounced and We Always Lie To Strangers more or less presents a snapshot of what Middle America has suffered through.   The end result is a mesmerizing story that is accompanied by some terrific live performances.

June 10 marks the arrival of documentary filmmaker Nicole Teeny’s award-winning film, Bible Quiz (Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance … and more).   This is a smart film that takes the viewer into a world that most are likely not to be aware of!

So you think those kids in the National Spelling Bee are smart when they are up there on stage spelling out obscure words.   Wait until you get a look at the teens who compete in the annual National Bible Quiz Championship … they make the spell kids look like amateurs.   

Imagine rattling off (at lightning speed) endless passages from the Bible on demand and in competition with other teams!   Teeny set out to make a documentary about her brother (Christopher Teeny) and the unique competition that he participates in, Bible Quiz, but somewhere along the way her camera picked up and told a far more interesting story.

At core of her brother’s team is JP O’Connor, a high school senior, handsome, bright and one of the best competitors in the country.  Also on his team is a very unlikely teammate, Mikayla Irl, a high school senior who comes from a dysfunctional family and finds that her classmates have come to view her as some sort of freak for competing in something that they cannot hope to understand.  

She’s driven herself to become an outstanding competitor … and the film makes it pretty clear that her motivations are not just being good at Bible Quiz.   

Last in the group is the June 17 DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Keri Pickett’s detailed look at the history of “ice shows” in America, The Fabulous Ice Age.

Beginning with New York’s Hippodrome Theatre in 1915 and the arrival of German skater Charlotte Oelschlägel and her “ballet on ice” (she invented the death spiral), the film brings us right up to modern times and Scotty Hamilton, with stops along the way at The Ice Capades, Holiday on Ice and more.

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

Indican Pictures' Smoked Ready Apr. 29 And 5th Street Debuts Apr. 8

Indican Pictures gets high on comedy Apr. 29 with the DVD debut of the directing team of Joshua Staley and Jamie Dewolf’s stoner black comedy, Smoked.

In a riotous blend of ‘70s Super Fly-type Blaxploitation, Hangover buddy comedies and stoner-stupid comes Smoked, starring Rupert Estanislao (as Smalls), slam poet Jamie Dewolf (as Jimmy) and Geoff Kagan Trenchard (as “Ace”), who combine their IQs to get to somewhere south of 100 when they hit upon what they think is the perfect crime. 

They are going to pull off the heist — disguised as Oakland cops — of a medical marijuana store to get both a much-need cash infusion (they burned down their home and are broke … don’t ask, it’s a drug-related thing) and a stash (the need to get stoned).   Little do they realize, but the legal pot-dispensing store they have targeted is actually a front for drug king Tyrone Shank (L. Abdul Kenyatta).

Shanks has gone legit (snicker, snicker) and this stoner-run place is actually a set up for his drug dealing and money laundering activities.  But our trio of wise guys walk right into this honey trap with their eyes wide open (and pupils fully dilated) and get away with a bundle … or so they think!

It doesn’t take long for Shank to figure out that the cops — the real cops — are not involved, which means war, death and annihilation upon those who dared to transgress against him.   Enter Smiley (Jaylee Alde), Sniffy (Asher Kennedy) and Salvador (Carlos Aguirre) who are assigned to clean up the mess … the media quickly reports that a new Oakland record for homicides in one day (53!!!) has been achieved as a result of their activities.   But Smalls, Jimmy and Ace are not included in the body count … as of yet!!!

Smoked is great fun — and very over-the-top in its violence — as our trio of stoners tries desperately to stay one puff ahead of Shank’s hired killers!

Also on the release calendar from Indican Pictures is the Apr. 8 DVD debut of director Alex Meader’s action/revenge thriller, 5^th Street.    

The words “the bitch was in the wrong place” pretty much sums up the callous nature of the gang, run by Beto (Christian Monzon) that murdered Joe Montoya’s (played by Eric Arthur Martinez, who also crafted the script) wife. The police are sympathetic, but have had little luck in bringing those responsible to justice … the case grinds on.  

Montoya also has a backstory involving personal contact with law enforcement, so it colors his view of just how much effort they are putting into solving his wife’s murder.  In a clever twist on the revenge motif, Montoya begins to recruit other victims of crime, who too are frustrated with “the system.”

He, like Charles Bronson’s Paul Kersey in Death Wish, is a motivated individual, but he’s not alone in his quest to find justice.   They will clean up the streets and Beto will die … no trials, no mercy and only one rule — they don’t shoot (execute) anyone in the back!   The only decision left is just how many will die before his revenge is exacted!

Shifting to May 13, we find the DVD debut of documentary filmmaker Stefan Immler’s heartfelt and award-winning feature-length documentary, History of Jazz: Oxygen for the Ears.

The film has been working the festival circuit, with wins at the Manhattan International Film Festival, the World Music and Independent Film Festival and more … and now makes its way to the home entertainment market place courtesy of Indican Pictures.   

Using Washington D.C. as the touchstone for his story, this seemingly unlikely tour guide, Dr. Stefan Immler, who is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (also a professor at the University of Maryland) takes us on a journey that includes a look at the early history, a visit to New Orleans and both interviews and performance segments featuring the likes of Dwayne Adell, Larry Appelbaum, the late Joe Byrd, Ravi Coltrane, Buck Hill, Eric Lewis, Maurice "Brother" Lyles, Esperanza Spalding and more.   

 From working musicians to voices from the halls of academia and the media, Immler casts a wide net in exploring this uniquely American art form.

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

Breaking Glass Pictures Says That Director Chris Sun's Daddy's Little Girl Heads To DVD On May 13

Breaking Glass Pictures has added writer/director Chris Sun's Daddy's Little Girl to its May 13 DVD release calendar.

You know that feeling of dread and excitement when you get onboard a roller coaster.   There’s that long, climb to the top … clickety-clack, clickety-clack as the roller coast rackets its way up to the apex and then over you go, hanging on for your life while you scream, often with your eyes closed shut!   That’s pretty much the nature of Daddy’s Little Girl!

From Down Under comes this gut-wrenching, hide-your-eyes horror tale that begins quietly enough with the introduction of Derek (Michael Thomson), his ex-wife and their six year-old daughter, Georgia (Billi Baker).  Events are nicely foreshadowed with a broken window in the little girl’s room at her mom’s place … a chore that needs to be attended to when there is the time to do so.  

Next comes the terror of this sweet little girl gone missing.  Abducted from her room (remember that window) … and soon found raped and murdered on a nearby beach.   Six months pass and there is no solution to the crime.

You are now at the apex of the ride, from here on out it will be all screams and heart-pounding terror as Derek, quite by accident, discovers the identity of his daughter’s killer.   Does he take this information to the police?   No!   Not a chance!!

Instead, he gathers the tools and the information necessary to carry out an execution of the murderer.   It will not be quick!   It will not be painless!   

When the Aussies do horror, they do it all out … Daddy’s Little Girl will not disappoint horror fans.   It delivers a pure horror “roller coaster” ride.

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

Olive Films Picks Apr. 22 For Blu-ray Debut Of The Pawnbroker

Olive Films has tagged Apr. 22 as the street date for a newly-prepared Blu-ray edition of director Sidney Lumet’s 1965 film, The Pawnbroker.

Although it made it’s debut at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1964, winning the Silver Berlin Bear for Rod Steiger’s performance as Sol Nazerman, a Nazi concentration camp survivor who now runs a pawnshop on 116^th Street in New York City, the film didn’t reach domestic theatres until Apr. of 1965. 

Steiger would earn his second of three Best Actor Oscar nominations, but he lost out to Lee Marvin’s performance in Cat Ballou, … Steiger would come back to win Oscar gold for his acting In the Heat of the Night two years later.

No word on any bonus nuggets included on the Blu-ray at this time.

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

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's That Awkward Moment Will Be Ready For DVD And Blu-ray On May 13

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has picked May 13 as the street date for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of writer/director Tom Gormican’s romantic comedy, That Awkward Moment.

The ARR is 102 days and domestic ticket sales at the local multiplex came in a little light at just $26 million.

Bonus features for this Zac Efron comedy about dating (and all of its pitfalls, including taking it to the next step with co-star Imogen Poots) include a gag reel and a pair of featurettes, including one titled “Threesome: More Awkward Moments.”

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

Paramount Home Media Sets June 10 Street Date For Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

The late Tom Clancy’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan has been the subject of such edge-of-your seat thrillers as The Hunt for Red October (1990, Alec Baldwin), Patriot Games (1992, Harrison Ford), Clear and Present Danger (1994, also with Ford) and The Sum of All Fears (2002, Ben Affleck).   

As with James Bond, Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes, various actors play the same character as their exploits are revisited again and again.   So too with Jack Ryan, who returned to screen after a 12 year absence with Chris Pine taking on the role in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Paramount Home Media has tabbed June 10 as the street date for DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of this Kenneth Branagh-directed (who also stars as the chief villain) “re-boot” of the Clancy/Ryan film franchise (updated to reflect a post 9/11 world — with an eerie script that seems to be locked in on what is happening in Russia these days).   

The ARR comes in at 144 days and the box office take was a nice $50.3 million.

Bonus features are limited to the Blu-ray SKU and include commentary by filmmaker Kenneth Branagh, who is joined by producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, plus deleted scenes and a quartet of production featurettes — “Jack Ryan: The Smartest Guy in the Room,” “Sir Kenneth Branagh: The Tsar of Shadow Recruit,” “Jack Ryan: A Thinking Man of Action” and “Old Enemies Return.”

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

           

Well Go U.S.A. Preps Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Kill Zombie! For June 10

You land a date with a beautiful young woman, get fired, go to a party, end in up in a brawl and land in jail all in the same day.   And that’s the best part!!!  

While locked up a zombie plague makes all of these things seem sort of trivial … except for that part about the date, which will be the focus of Aziz (Yahya Gaier) in the ensuing hours and days ahead as he organizes his brother Mo (Mimoun Ouled Radi), their sexy jailor, Kim (Gigi Ravelli) and their friends to rescue the lovely Tess.

Dutch filmmakers Erwin Ven Den Eshof and Martijn Smits seem to be having a wonderful time with their horror comedy Kill Zombie!, which is heading to the domestic market place as DVD and Blu-ray product offerings from Well Go U.S.A. this coming June 10.

Filmed in and around the Amsterdam area, Kill Zombie! is a nice entry in the Shaun of the Dead category of zombie flicks.   Viewing options include an English-dubbed version or the original Dutch with English subtitles.

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