Oscilloscope Laboratories Selects Mar. 13 For The DVD And Blu-ray Debut Of Director Viktor Jakovleski’s Brimstone & Glory

Oscilloscope Laboratories announced this past week that documentary filmmaker Viktor Jakovleski’s Brimstone & Glory, an explosive — literally — look at the annual National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, will be available on Mar. 13 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

The film debuted in March of 2017 at the annual True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri and then proceeded to work the festival circuit and in the process piled an impressive list of wins, including Best Director (Documentary Features) and Best Documentary at the Austin Fantastic Fest and Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival.   Along the way Oscilloscope got wind of Jakovleski’s work and picked it up for domestic theatrical and home entertainment release.

The film opened in selected arthouse venues this past October and arrives on Mar. 13 with an ARR of 137 days.

For ten days each year it is a glorious salute to all-things pyrotechnic — fireworks that is — in Tultepec.  It is literally non-stop!!   It is not without its risks as in 2016 the entire San Pablito Market in Tultepec went up, killing 42. 

It is said, that of the roughly 90,000 residences of Tultepec, three-quarters are engaged in the business, craft and profession of fireworks (that leaves school kids and the elderly as the only ones not working in the trade)! 

Each year the Festival sees both professionals and amateurs joining in, with the pièce de résistance being the parade of bulls around the town square.   For weeks, even months, leading up to the parade, dozens of teams work on the construction and internal fireworks configurations of larger than life papier-mâché bulls, which come together in the annual parade and then are detonated in a fiery cataclysm that has to be seen to be believed!   Each team tries to the top the others in their creative use of fireworks!

Jakovleski captures both the spirit of the Tultepec National Pyrotechnic Festival and the unbelievable sight of the bulls — it is a world that Fellini might  have conjured up!

Bonus features include a video session with filmmaker Viktor Jakovleski, that is titled “Into the Bull Fire,” there is also a featurette titled “The Innovator,” which focuses on the work of artist Amauri Rafael Sanabria Urbán — he is considered among his peers to among the best fireworks technicians in the world — and a compilation of super slow-motion footage.

Brimstone & Glory is presented in Spanish with English subtitles.

Double-Barreled Spaghetti Western Action On Mar. 20 With The Blu-ray Release Of A Pistol For Ringo And The Return of Ringo From Arrow

It’s double-barreled Spaghetti Western action from Arrow Video — with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group — on Mar. 20 with the Blu-ray release of a new 2K restoration (from the original camera negatives) of both director Duccio Tessari’s A Pistol For Ringo and the follow-up, The Return of Ringo (both from 1965 and presented in both English and Italian). 

Bonus nuggets for these Giuliano Gemma all-action Spaghetti Westerns include commentary from genre experts C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke, two archival featurettes — “They Called Him Ringo” and “A Western Greek Tragedy” — and newly prepared English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack.

Paramount Home Media And Nickelodeon Team On Mar. 6 For The DVD Debut Of PAW Patrol: Sea Patrol

Paramount Home Media and Nickelodeon will be teaming up on Mar. 6 for the next DVD collection of PAW Patrol adventures — featuring Ryder and his four-legged search and rescue friends — with the release of PAW Patrol: Sea Patrol.

This newest set of adventures features six thrill-packed episodes involving the PAW Patrol’s new Sea Patrol HQ.   The pups spring into action to save a baby octopus who has been separated from its mother and when the pier sustains damage the Sea Patrol pups come up with plans to save the pier.

There’s more, much more … Ryder teams with Zuma and Chase to help out a rare Narwhal whale and there’s a hunt for buried treasure that goes array and it’s the Sea Patrol to the rescue!!!

AGFA Has Director Pat Bishow’s Lost Zombie Masterpiece • Soultangler • Ready For A DVD Debut On Mar. 13

The film magic happened in a basement on Long Island in 1987 and then it was gone; lost.

AGFA (aka: American Genre Film Archive), with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Mar. 13 for the domestic DVD debut, heck, make that the domestic home entertainment debut (including VHS … the release in Brazil and possible South Korea on VHS aside) of director Pat Bishow’s lost zombie masterpiece, Soultangler.

Rumors abound, but we have a pretty good source — although unconfirmed — that during the destruction of an old warehouse in New Jersey a stash of film masters dating back to this period were found sealed up in a wall.   Among them, both the rough cut and the director’s unreleased cut of Soultangler were rescued.   On a more disturbing note, reports also indicate that human remains were found in the rubble (DNA tests were inconclusive and New Jersey officials report that the bodies have never been identified).

AGFA, we are told, was able to gain access to the materials and now the world — and genre fans in particular — await the arrival of filmmaker Pat Bishow’s lost zombie gorefest on DVD (VHS bootlegs can now be tossed) … Mar. 13 can’t come soon enough!!

As this horror tale unfolds, we are introduced to Dr. Anton Lupesky (played by Pierre Devaux … he seems to have mysteriously vanished after the film was completed), who has developed a drug called Anphorium, which unleashes visions of deep-seated fears in human subjects (think: hallucinations).   As mad scientists often find, their experiments go horribly wrong … Dr. Lupesky is no exception.

A go-getter reporter by the name of Kim Castle (played by Jane or possible Jamie Kinser, who also vanished after the film was completed) gets wind of Lupesky’s bizarre experiments and starts an investigation.   Soon, however, corpses are up and running on Anphorium and we all know that when the dead are animated you have a zombie outbreak ... can Kim warn the world before it is too late?

Bonus features include commentary by filmmaker Pat Bishow (the producer and director of the recent webisode series, We Might Be Superheroes, starring Alex Covington and Rica de Ocampo), behind the scenes footage and two viewing options — the VHS cut and the unseen director’s cut.   There is also the Hypnolovewheel music video titled “Wow.”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Picks Apr. 10 For The Home Entertainment Debut Of Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay

When a theatrical release pulls in $325 million in its domestic rollout … expect a series of sequels if it is the first of its kind, especially if it is based on a “superhero” DC line of comics.   Such was the case of director David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad as it piled up box office receipts in the stratosphere!   Cha-Ching, a film franchise is born! 

So it came as something of a surprise when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that Apr. 10 will be the street date for a three-SKU helping of Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay.   What?   A direct-to-video follow up to a blockbuster theatrical hit?

For fans of the series the release of Suicide Squad: Hell to Pay came not as a surprise at all (it was actually teased at last year’s Comic-Con in San Diego), but for mere mortals, you have to get past the headline of the release announcement to discover that this is an animated feature release — a new entry in the studio’s popular DC Universe Animated Original Movies series, which begin with the launch of Superman: Doomsday a decade ago.

As to SKU configuration, there will be a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and a stand-alone DVD edition.

Direction is by Sam Liu, who is no stranger to the DC world of animation with such feature releases as Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, All-Star Superman and Batman: Year One (and more) all being directed by Liu.

Christian Slater voices Deadshot, while Vanessa Williams delivers the voice of Suicide Squad founder Amanda Waller.   Others in the cast include Tara Strong, C. Thomas Howell, Billy Brown, Liam McIntyre, Kristin Bauer van Straten and Gideon Emery. 

As to bonus goodies, screenwriter and co-producer Alan Burnett (two-time Emmy-winner — Batman: The Animated Series and TaleSpin, plus numerous writing credits for DC animated features) and executive producer James Tucker (Batman vs. Two-Face, Justice League Dark, etc. as supervising producer) provide commentary.

Additionally, there are three featurettes — “Outback Rogue: Captain Boomerang,” “Nice Shot, Floyd!” and “The Power of Plot Devices, MacGuffins and Red Herrings” — and a sneak peek at the next DC Universe project, The Death of Superman.

In other release news from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment this week, the film vaults have been cracked open for the DVD debut on Feb. 6 of director John Francis Dillon’s April of 1931 film release of The Finger Points.   While the film stars Richard Barthelmess (two-time Oscar nominee — The Patent Leather Kid and The Noose — which found him competing against himself and only one other actor in the 1929 Oscar presentation … Emil Jannings, who won) as a corrupt “big city” reporter (he solicits bribes from the local mobsters to keep things on the hush-hush after his newspaper refuses to pay his hospital bills for an earlier beating), this pre-code film production is of particular interest because of two of its other cast members.

They are, Clark Gable as gangster Louis J. Blanco, who would finally get a breakout role the following year (1932) in Red Dust opposite Jean Harlow, and Fay Wray, as Barthelmess’ love interest, who had yet to journey to Skull Island (King Kong in 1933).

Also heading home for the first time on DVD on Feb. 6 are Chances (1931, directed by Alan Dwan and starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Anthony Bushell and Rose Hobart); I Like Your Nerve (also from 1931, with direction by William McGann and teaming Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. with future Best Actress Oscar-winner, Loretta Young (The Farmer’s Daughter in 1947)) and Goodbye Again (1933, director Michael Curtiz adapts the 1932 stage play by Rhodes Scholar Allan Scott (Oscar-nominated for his So Proudly We Hail! script in 1943) and George Haight (who would later produce the “Whistling” films starring Red Skelton), which stars Joan Blondell and Warren William).

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Selects Mar. 20 For The Home Entertainment Launch Of Pitch Perfect 3 And Feb. 27 For Darkest Hour

Universal Pictures can make “Bellas of Barden” movies forever — like 007/James Bond … it is the film franchise that keeps giving and giving and giving!!!

The latest, director Trish Sie’s Pitch Perfect 3, has pulled in $100.5 million in domestic multiplex ticket sales … worldwide the three films in the series have pulled in over a half-a-billion dollars on a combined production budget of under $100 million, that’s green baby, lot’s of green!!!   Expect the next comedy adventure to arrive in theatres sometime in late 2019 or early 2020.

In the meantime, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced this past week that Pitch Perfect 3 will be available on Mar. 20 as a three-SKU helping of home entertainment products.   Lined up for consumers to select from are a stand-alone DVD edition, a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack or a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack selection.

For the record, the ARR is a swift-to-market 88 days.

As to bonus features for this Beca (Anna Kendrick), Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and the rest of the Bellas funfest, there are five featurettes — “Competition Crescendo,” “Don't Mess with Rebel,” “The Headliner: DJ Khaled,” “The Final Note: John and Gail” and “Just Because He's a Bad Guy” — and the music video titled “Freedom! '90 x Cups.”

Exclusive to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs are deleted scenes, a gag reel and extended versions of Evermoist’s “How a Heart Unbreaks,” Young Sparrow and DJ Dragon Nutz’s “You Got It” and Saddle Up’s “Ex's and Oh's.”

Plus there are four production featurettes — “A Cappella Action,” “The Women of Pitch Perfect 3,” “The Final Performance” and “Hollywood of the South” — and two new musical performances — a duet featuring Fat Amy and Fergus Casino and the The Bellas’ serve-up “See You Smile.”

 

Also added to the home entertainment release calendar this past week by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is director Joe Wright’s Best Picture nominee, Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman in a tour de force performance as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The street date for a both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions will be Feb. 27.   This late February street date (timed to take advantage of the Oscar hype — telecast is on March 4) yields an ARR of 95 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at $40.8 (and growing).

Gary Oldman has to be the Best Actor frontrunner for the Oscar for his amazing performance here … he’s already won the SAG and Golden Globe awards in this category.   The competition is pretty weak, with Daniel Day-Lewis turning in a muddled farewell performance in Phantom Thread, Denzel Washington some how got nominated for his work in a film that no one saw, Roman J. Israel, Esq., Daniel Kaluuya is in the group for the over-rated Get Out and Timothée Chalamet rounds out the quintet for his performance in Call Me by Your Name.   

Four of the five films in the Best Actor category are also competing in the Best Picture category … Roman J. Israel, Esq. did not make the cut. 

The Oscars have turned into an absolute mess of late, with politics and political correctness run amok, so nothing is guaranteed from this sorry voting membership group that makes up the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences these days.    Moonlight over La La Land, really?   

As to bonus nuggets, director Joe Wright (Atonement, The Soloist, Pride & Prejudice, etc.) provides commentary and there are two featurettes — “Into Darkest Hour” and “Gary Oldman: Becoming Churchill.”

20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment Tabs Mar. 13 For A Three-SKU Home Entertainment Helping Of Director Carlos Saldanha’s Ferdinand

20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment has nothing but problems these days!   First, everyone over on the Fox lot is looking at the on-rushing Disney tidal wave (buy-out), which will be bad.   Fox is creative, Disney is a machine … there is a difference.

The other problem that plagues 20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment these days is … where do you put all of the Best Picture nominees? 

They have to find homes for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (the likely Best Picture winner), The Shape of Water (a strong contender) and Spielberg’s over-rated, The Post.

Oh yes, we almost forgot that they also have another Best Pictures contender, director Carlos Saldanha’s Ferdinand, which is competing in the Best Animated Feature Film category.   It’s probably hopeless as Disney’s (actually Pixar) juggernaut, Coco, is a prohibitive favorite to take home the gold.

So with so many irons in the fire, this week it was Ferdinand that got its marching orders with a Mar. 13 release date for a three-SKU array of home entertainment products — DVD, Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack and 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Packs selections.

The ARR is a zippy 88 days and ticket sales currently stand at a solid $79.2 million.

As to bonus goodies, there is the music video titled “Home” (by Nick Jonas) and an eye-popping ten production featurettes — “Ferdinand's Guide to Healthy Living,” “A Goat's Guide to Life,” “Ferdinand's Team Supreme,” “Spain Through Ferdinand's Eyes,” “Confessions of a Bull-loving Horse,” “Creating the Land of Ferdinand,” “Anatomy of a Scene: The Bull Run,” “Learn to Dance with Ferdinand,” “Ferdinand's Do-It-Yourself Flower Garden” and “Creating a Remarka-Bull Song.”