Icarus Films Teams With Bullfrog Films For The Mar. 28 DVD Debut Of Director Leah Mahan’s Come Hell Or High Water: The Battle For Turkey Creek

Icarus Films announced this past week that the Bullfrog Films production of documentary filmmaker Leah Mahan’s Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek will be making its DVD debut on Mar. 28.

If you watch the news on television (cable), even casually, you begin to get the sense that if it isn’t happening in New York City, Los Angeles or Washington D.C., then it really isn’t all that important; meaningful.   Who cares about the history and events of those off-the-beaten-path places and locales … those country roads and quiet hamlets.   Times Square they are not.

As the story goes, during the Christmas holidays in 2001 documentary filmmaker Leah Mahan, who had completed a film in 1996 titled Holding Ground: The Rebirth of Dudley Street (a story about community redevelopment in Roxbury, Massachusetts) — so she knew something of documentary process — took a trip with her friend Derrick Evans (a Boston school teacher) to his childhood home of Turkey Creek, Mississippi to record an “oral history” of the area.   It was a personal task, simple, but what developed from that seemingly minor effort turned into this feature-length documentary.

Why Turkey Creek?   It has an interesting history … right after the Civil War (circa 1866) emancipated slaves purchased half of a “quarter section” (that would be 320 acres) of land and the generations that followed live and died there; they lived off of the land, it was their home.   

Literally surrounded by the Biloxi-Gulfport multiplex, Turkey Creek was standing in the way of progress — expansion, redevelopment and on and on.    Derrick simply wanted his friend Leah Mahan to record some of the stories about the area — the history — before it was lost.   It became his passion — to save and restore, not destroy, Turkey Creek. 

No, this little backwater community, with a rich history, is not Times Square, it’s not    Derrick Evans makes the case that just because you can build another strip mall doesn’t mean that you should … Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek makes that case quite well and it is a story worth knowing about.New post

Hollywood and Vine; you’ve likely never heard of it, but it still matters.

Cinema Libre Announces Apr. 11 As The DVD Release Date For Director Christopher Papakaliatis’ Worlds Apart

Cinema Libre announced this past week that Greek actor and filmmaker Christopher Papakaliatis’ Worlds Apart will be making its domestic DVD debut on Apr. 11.

A limited major metro theatrical run is currently underway and ticket sales thus far amount to $45,483 … the ARR works out to 88 days.

Three seemingly unrated tales of the heart — each representing different generations — are presented by Papakaliatis, who cleverly brings them full circle in the film’s final act.

Greece, modern day, economic issues abound and the refugee storms of the Middle East are present.   Times are tough, but love somehow finds a path.  

The first of these stories introduces us to Daphne (played by Niki Vakali in her film debut), a lovely young woman, who finds herself in harm’s way and is rescued by a very unlikely stranger.   He is a Syrian refugee named Farris (Tawfeek Barhom — The Idol, A Borrowed Identity), who survives by hustling as a street vendor.  

Daphne and Farris are drawn to each other, but her father (played by the late Minas Hatzisavvas) forbids such a relationship … it just can’t happen!

The middle part of the film brings both romance and conflict as Giorgios (played by Papakaliatis) meets Elise (Andrea Osvart), who is something of a Viking goddess, in a local watering hole, has a one-night stand that turns into a passionate love affair.   There is just one little problem … Elise has been hired to find ways to cut the fat at Giorgios’ company!

And finally we have the sweetest story of the trio.   This one involves a woman named Maria (Maria Kavoyianni), who is a frumpy Greek housewife, unhappy in her marriage — no, make that miserable in her marriage.   

At the local supermarket she meets Sebastian (played by Oscar winner J.K. Simmons — Whiplash), a retired college professor from Germany, and they hit it off.   They are an unlikely pair, but there is a spark that brings light to her world (she literally comes alive in Sebastian’s presence) and, if the truth be known, her friendly smile and responsive glow opens up his heart (read: lonely).   They agree to meet each week, same time, same place … an affection grows, that, as viewers, we become emotionally invested in.

As mentioned, these three seemingly unrelated stories will come together … very sweet, very clever.

Bonus features include a “Making-Of” featurette and a video session with filmmaker Christopher Papakaliatis.

SGL Entertainment Preps Apocalypse Kiss For DVD Release On Mar. 14

SGL Entertainment, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Mar. 14 as the DVD debut date for writer/director Christian Grillo’s neo-noir sci-fi thriller, Apocalypse Kiss.

If Blade Runner had a sequel this would be it.  The futuristic city of Deckard (Harrison Ford) has continued on in Apocalypse Kiss … only it has gotten seedier and more dangerous (if that is possible).   His “successor” in law enforcement is Jerry Hipple (Tom Detrik — Angel’s Blade), who spends his days trying to track down The Red Harvest Killer, but the why of it seems to be pointless.   

Hipple, it would seem, is simply going through the motions as it is clear from what we can see of this futuristic city that it is on the verge of devolving into a Felliniesque state of the absurd.   Rumor is the world is ending.   Could be.

Entering this realm are Katia (Carmela Hayslett) and Gladys (Tammy Jean), lesbian lovers who have gone on a killing spree of their own, which the media is attributing to The Red Harvest Killer.   In this dysfunctional near-future world that sort of reporting would go unnoticed — what’s another a body, give or take.  

But when Adrian (D.C. Douglas), the real serial killer, hears of these copycats poaching on his turf he does the only sensible thing … he turns to Hipple for help!!!   He reasons that he is an artist and each one of his victims is a work of art and having amateurs getting credit for his work simply cannot stand!

Bonus features include a behind-the-scenes featurette and fake television commercials from the future.

Shout! Factory Lands Iconic Willard Rat Saga For Blu-ray Release On May 16 — Ben (The Squeakquel) In The Mix As Well

It has been a long, long, long wait, but news arrived this past week that director Daniel Mann’s 1971 film adaptation of Gilbert Ralston’s horror novel, “Ratman’s Notebooks,” which was retitled for the screen as simply, Willard, will finally be available (legitimately) as a Blu-ray/DVD product offering on May 16 from Shout! Factory.

This Cinerama Releasing production was a sleeper theatrical hit during the summer of 1971 and has been on every genre fan’s must-own list since the launch of DVD (and for that matter, Blu-ray) … but nothing, nada, no Willard year after year!   The drought is finally over.

After scoring solid reviews in both Last Summer and The Strawberry Statement, Bruce Davison was suddenly a star — not because of those films — but for his portrayal of Willard Stiles, the lonely young man who develops a friendship with a cadre of rats — Socrates, Queenie, Ben and their legions of friends.  

He’s a nice guy.   The rats like him; he’s kind to them.   But, they just keep coming and coming and before you know it poor Willard is up to his elbows in rats.   

“Tear it up” is his command to the rats (who have learned basic commands from him) and so they do (poor Ernest Borgnine), but when he double-crosses their titular leader, Ben, it is the rats that do the tearing up!

Another actor who catapulted into star status as result of Willard, was none other than Sondra Locke.  Although she had scored rave reviews for her debut performance in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1968), it was her appearance here as Willard’s love interest that got her noticed (six films with Clint Eastwood would follow).

Shout! Factory is out early with the news, so according to their website: “Extras in progress and will be announced at a later date.”

The following summer (1972) Cinerama Releasing trotted out a sequel (when you have a hit and the main character is killed off, you still find a path to a sequel … possibly even a franchise) and titled it after the black rat, Ben, who turned on poor Willard in the first film.   On May 16 Shout! Factory also has Ben on its release schedule as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack.

Willard was iconic, Ben was dreck … there is just no way around that.   It plays like a bad TV movie (MOW) of the period, but it did accomplish something that even Willard couldn’t do (no, nothing to with rat count or anything like that).

Ben was nominated for an Oscar!   True!   Some 14-year old pop sensation named Michael Jackson (perhaps you’ve heard of him) sang an ode to Ben the rat during the closing credits and the member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences deemed it Oscar-worthy in the Best Song category (it was, however, sunk by “The Morning After” from The Poseidon Adventure).

Revised • 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment's Assassin's Creed On Mar. 21

A certain online retailer — hint: amazon.com — decided to jump the gun over the weekend and make an announcement (via pre-orders) about 20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment’s home entertainment launch of director Justin Kurzel’s Assassin’s Creed.    

According to them this will take place on Mar. 21 as a four-SKU product offering … date was quickly confirmed when Best Buy followed with an exclusive SteelBook offer on the same date.   

The ARR works out to a swift-to-market 88 days and domestic ticket sales currently stand at $54.1 million.

The Assassin’s Creed array of products are: A double-disc Blu-ray “Collector’s Edition,” which features both 2D and 3D viewing options; a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack; a stand-alone DVD presentation and a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack.

Bonus features are lacking, but you can fully expect to see a number of production featurettes included with the hi-def SKUs.

Update:  20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment made it official this past week, confirming the date as Mar. 21 and providing details as to the bonus materials.  

A multi-part behind-the-scenes production documentary, titled “Take the Pledge: Behind the Scenes of Assassin's Creed,” includes the following: “Legacy of Assassin’s Creed,” “Becoming an Assassin,” “Tools of the Trade,” “In the Realm of Realism” and “Swift Moves and Stealth Maneuvers.”   There are also two video sessions with filmmaker Justin Kurzel (discussing deleted scenes and production design) and a series of still galleries covering the set, concept, costumes and weapons art.

In other news, it was a carefully crafted public relations campaign that spread the word that Oscar-winning director Warren Beatty would be returning to the screen in a film written and directed by himself and one in which he also stars as none other than Howard Hughes.  

The film in question is Rules Don’t Apply, which is a beautifully crafted salute to Hollywood during the 1950s.   As a result of this PR push there was quite a bit of anticipation about what Beatty had crafted.  

The film opened at Thanksgiving and no one came.  It died.   Home entertainment  to the rescue!

20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment is making it available as both Blu-ray and DVD product offerings on Feb. 28.   That date yields an ARR of 95 days, and, as mentioned, box office receipts were a very disappointing $3.6 million.

Bonus goodies including a making-of featurette titled “This is Rules Don’t Apply” and the Lily Collins’ music video “The Rules Don’t Apply.”

Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Elle Heading Home On Mar. 14 From Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Isabelle Huppert’s surprise win at the Golden Globes in the Best Actress category for her performance in director Paul Verhoeven’s film adaptation of the Philippe Djian novel “Oh … ” — retitled for the screen as Elle — has suddenly catapulted her into front-runner status in this year’s Oscar derby.   

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment sensing that Huppert might be the sympathetic favorite — and taking full advantage of the hype surrounding her Oscar nomination — has tabbed Mar. 14 as the street date for both DVD and Blu-ray editions of Elle.

The ARR is 123 days and box office receipts for this French-language arthouse import currently stand at $1.8 million.

Presented in French with English subtitles, bonus features include a pair of featurettes — “A Tale of Empowerment: Making Elle” and “Celebrating an Icon: AFI’s Tribute to Isabelle Huppert.”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Peanuts by Schultz: Go Team Go! Arrives On DVD On Apr. 25

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has tabbed Apr. 25 as the street date for the second collection featuring the new animated series Peanuts by Schultz.   

Titled Peanuts by Schultz: Go Team Go!, this double-disc DVD set features 19 animated adventures starring Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang, including Peppermint Patty, Linus, Marcie, Woodstock … and some newbies, Crybaby Boobie (a real whiner, who is definitely not a good sport) and Molly Volley.

The first in the series, Peanuts by Schulz: Snoopy Tales, was released on DVD on Jan. 24.