Icarus Films Sets Dec. 8 As The Street Date For The Domestic DVD Debut Of Director/Actor Yvan Attal's My Dog Stupid

Icarus Films will be joining forces with France’s premiere film production and distribution company, Distrib Films, on Dec. 8 for the domestic DVD rollout of director Yvan Attal’s My Dog Stupid.

Drawn from writer John Fante’s 2002 double-story novel, “West of Rome,” My Dog Stupid serves as a platform for Attal and his real-life wife, the lovely and very talented Charlotte Gainsbourg — who was been nominated for seven César Awards (France’s equivalent to the Oscars) — to have a good time … and it shows; a lovely comedy, a bit sad here and there, but very engaging.

Yvan Attal (My Wife Is an Actress, Bon Voyage, Rapt) plays the husband, Henri, who is a writer, but is suffering, not only from a writer’s block (that’s lasted a couple of decades), but a mid-life melancholy.   His adult children still live at home … there is a lot of tension, not only between Henri and his children, one of which, Raphaël, is played by his real-life son, Ben Attal, but Henri’s wife, Cécile (Gainsbourg), who has grown weary of Henri’s bitterness.

Into this family malaise one day comes a rather large, ugly dog, who literally makes himself at home.   Not only is the dog ugly and large and not too graceful, but he stinks, Henri names him “Stupid” … and his arrival is the “breath of fresh air” that Henri and his family have so desperately needed!!

The film is cleverly divided into seven segments, as Henri grows from a dislike of the beast to caring for it, and in the process is able to work through his own problems that have made his life, and the lives of those around him, so miserable.  Comedy, pathos, blended nicely together.

My Dog Stupid is presented in French with English subtitles.

 

 

 

 

Director William Fruet's Blue Monkey On Blu-ray From Dark Force Entertainment On Jan. 19

Dark Force Entertainment, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, looks to the New Year for the Blu-ray debut of director William Fruet’s 1987 creature-feature thriller, Blue Monkey.   The street date for genre fans to snap this up is on Jan. 19.

Let’s get this out of the way right up front.   Blue Monkey was a stupid title.   It was Insect for a while, but when the rubber hit the road and it opened theatrically in Los Angeles in late September of 1987 the title had reverted to Blue Monkey.   So, it was, and remains, Blue Monkey.

Filmed in Toronto, Canada during the winter of 1987 (for tax purposes), Blue Monkey stars Steve Railsback (Helter Skelter, The Stunt Man, Lifeforce, Plaguers, etc.) as a police detective who ends up being in the right place at the wrong time and because of that helps saves the day.  

The “wrong time” begins like any good creature feature, in little old lady Marwella Harbison’s (Helen Hughes — Incubus, Visiting Hours, The Amityville Curse, etc.) greenhouse.  Her friend, Fred Adams (Sandy Webster), stops by to say hello and accidently cuts his finger on her new exotic plant, which she had just obtained from some remote island in the Pacific.  How odd, she thought, it’s not supposed to have thorns.

In no time (think: The Blob and the old man getting the stuff on his hand) Fred has an allergic reaction and collapses.   He’s rushed to the hospital (which will end up being the “right place”) and before Dr. Rachel Carson (Gwynyth Walsh — her theatrical debut … perhaps best known to Star Trek fans as B'Etor) can even figure out what is ailing poor Fred, he coughs-up some sort of larvae.

Carson, snags it, sends it down to the lab to be checked out and then filmmaker William Fruet (The House by the Lake, Spasms, Bedroom Eyes) spends the next few minutes putting the rest of the elements in place (pay attention, they are all important).  

First, Carson wisely puts Marwella in isolation, but her drinking buddy, Dede (Joy Coghill), sneaks into the hospital with a bottle of booze (important plot element).   Detective Bishop (Railsback) arrives with his partner, who had been wounded in shootout, and in a meet-cute moment Carson takes him on a tour of the hospital (all designed to foreshadow things). 

Meanwhile, back in the lab, Carson’s assistant, Doctor Judith Glass (Susan Anspach — Five Easy Pieces, Play it Again, Sam, The Big Fix, etc.) bombards the larvae with x-rays and dissects the strange creature … and then isolates it in something of a bell jar and tells her helper, Alice (Cynthia Belliveau) to keep an eye on it.

Let the terror begin!   Soon, anyone who came in contact with Fred, falls ill, Fred dies gruesomely, Alice takes a short break and comes back to … oops, there goes Alice!   The creature, a giant insect (Ivan E. Roth — Night of the Comet, Dead Heat), is growing and laying eggs at an incredible rate … the hospital is surrounded by troops, anyone trying to escape is killed.   It’s a feeding frenzy and all appears to be hopeless, except, remember Marwella?    She remains completely unfazed by her exposure to it (can you guess why).

Blue Monkey is part Blob, part Alien, part Outbreak, all mixed together as a terrific creature-feature.   The clock is ticking (in two hours the hospital will be blown up) and Bishop and Carson have a limited time to stop the giant insect … can they do it?

On Blu-ray for the first time, a new hi-def transfer, uncut, from the original 35mm negative, from Dark Force Entertainment on Jan. 19!!

 

 

 

Paramount Home Media Tabs Nov. 10 For The Blu-ray Debut Of Dean Martin And Jerry Lewis' The Stooge

In a surprise late announcement, Paramount Home Media has tabbed Nov. 10 as the Blu-ray debut date for director Norman Taurog’s 1952 comedy, The Stooge, starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

After the war, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis hooked up for a comedy act, took it on the road, developed lots of material and then transitioned into the movies with their “shtick” and hit gold.   16 times they teamed for the silver screen (17, if you count their cameo appearances in Road to Bali), The Stooge was their eighth film in the series and it is loosely based on Sid Silvers vaudeville career, who was a “stooge” (audience plant) for comedian Phil Baker.

The film is set in the 1930s, filmed in glorious black and white, with Dean Martin as Bill Miller, who is trying to launch his singing career, and by happenstance ends up creating a successful act with Ted, a reluctant “stooge.”  The film co-stars Polly Bergen as Dean Martin’s frustrated wife, and Marion Marshall as “Frecklehead,” who takes a liking to the goofy Lewis character.

Also getting a last-minute push to Blu-ray on Nov. 10 is director Howard Deutch’s 1998 comedy, The Odd Couple II.   Thirty years after the original Odd Couple film hit, Walter Matthau (Oscar) and Jack Lemmon (Felix) are reunited when they discover that Oscar’s son, Brucey (played by Jonathan Silverman), is marrying Felix’s daughter Hannah (Lisa Waltz)!   Let the chaos begin … again!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Looks To Dec. 08 For DVD Release Of Fatbelly: Chopped ... Unchopped

Bayview Entertainment has tabbed Dec. 8 as the DVD release date for documentary filmmakers Damon Cameron and Steve Lund’s Fatbelly: Chopper ... Unchopped.

Aussie Mark Brandon Read was a sweetheart, a published author (“From the Inside”), the subject of director Andrew Dominik’s 2000 biopic, Chopper, starring Eric Bana … and a homicidal maniac; a gang banger and a convict, who spent 24 of his 58 years in prison.

Cameron and Lund got access to Read and recorded his “story,” which is part horror story, part fable and without a doubt, intense.   He would kidnap people, mainly drug dealers, as a young thug and torture them … chop, chop, chop off-went their toes, or perhaps a blowtorch to the flesh.   Oh, they would pay to stop that.  It was a nice little scam, except he wasn’t very good at staying out of prison.

In prison it was just as bad, even the members of his own “Overcoat Gang” tried to kill him.   By his own reckoning, Read, had been stabbed multiple times, shot, hit in the head with all sorts of things (including a claw hammer) and undergone shock treatment for months.   13 murders were attributed to Read … convicted on several.

On the “plus” side, Read wrote a number of novels, selling nearly a half-million copies, and, as you watch him in Cameron and Lund’s documentary, you realize that he is quite the storyteller.   He was even married twice and fathered two children … ironically, he did not die a violent death at the hands of either the state (execution) or his associates, but of liver cancer.

 

 

 

 

Arrow Video Preps Blu-ray Edition Of Writer/Director RIchard Kelly's Southland Tales For Release On Jan. 26

On May 21, 2006, at the Cannes Film Festival, a movie was screened that was so far ahead of its time no one believed it.   It didn’t matter how much the filmmaker tinkered with it in the weeks and months that followed, this slice of futuristic sci-fi just wasn’t going to fly.  

$17 million, they say, to make it, and when it finally got a limited theatrical release of just 63 theatres during the cinematic dead zone between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 2007, very few came to see it … under $300,000 in ticket sales.  

Gone, forgotten, right?   The answer to that would be no.  

So what film are we talking about?   That would be writer/director Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, which has been given a new 2K film restoration by Arrow Video and will be available as a double-disc Blu-ray release on Jan. 26.   MVD Entertainment Group will be providing sales and distribution support.

If you have driven the streets of Los Angeles recently, then you’ve arrived in filmmaker Richard Kelly’s “future” Los Angeles, or as the locals refer to it as “The Southland.”    Kelly (of Donnie Darko filmmaking fame) just got there a different way, but there it is, a city in chaos.

Striding through the wreckage is Boxer Santaros (played by WWE superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who was just coming into his own as a film star), who is a famous movie star — of action films, of course — who has no idea who he is (amnesia).   Elsewhere in the city we meet Krysta Now (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a porn star, who has visions of becoming a reality-based television star … they will eventually cross paths.

It is a chaotic place and numerous characters come and go, but there are two that are central to the entire future of mankind.   Roland Taverner (Seann William Scott) and Ronald Taverner (also played by Seann William Scott ), who are actually the same person, duplicated when one of them crossed through a rift in time created by Treer.   Treer os a super-duper tech company that has developed an unlimited power source called “Fluid Karma” (which is actually on a path to destroy the planet if it continues).

It is a chaotic land of LA LA, and Santaros carries with him the secret … he can’t remember what the secret is, but he has it and everyone is out to get him.

Welcome to the future on Jan. 26, 2021 when Arrow Video delivers two versions of Southland Tales on Blu-ray (hence: two discs).   There is the 145-minute theatrical cut and the original 160-minute “Cannes-Cut” of the film … Richard Kelly provides commentary on the theatrical cut.

Other bonus goodies are three featurettes — “It’s a Madcap World: The Making of an Unfinished Film,” “USIDent TV: Surveilling the Southland” and “This is the Way the World Ends.”

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has placed two additional Blu-ray releases, culled from its extensive classic film librar,y on its November release calendar.   Last week it was Tennessee Lady (Nov. 10) and Mortal Storm (Nov. 3), both making their respective debuts on Blu-ray … this week we begin with the Nov. 24 Blu-ray debut of director Vincente Millelli’s 1948 Technicolor film adaptation of Ludwig Fulda’s 1911 stage play, The Pirate.

Fulda’s play had been updated for Broadway in 1942, but not as a musical, but as a comedy starring Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.   MGM acquired the rights, but was prohibited — as part of the deal — from doing anything with the property until it had completed its Broadway run.   It was anticipated that 1944 would be the earliest start date.

However, a couple of things happened, first World War II, which reshuffled the production schedule at the studio, eliminating the likes of Cary Grant and Greer Garson as the potential leads, and secondly, the film was transformed into a musical.   

It is a wonder that it ever got completed, but production did finally begin in 1947, with Gene Kelly and Judy Garland cast in the leads, with original songs by none other than Cole Porter.   The problem with the filming of The Pirate was Garland, who was battling drug issues, which caused numerous delays in the production … but like a trooper, she was actually able to complete the film.   Indeed, her next film, also released in 1948, was Easter Parade, which was a theatrical blockbuster.

Bonus goodies for the Blu-ray release of The Pirate, which is a new 4K film restoration, include commentary from Garland biographer John Fricke, the 1948

Pete Smith short film titled, You Can’t Win, the 1947 Tom & Jerry cartoon, Cat Fishin, the making-of featurette titled “The Pirate: A Musical Treasure Chest” and more …

Also making a Blu-ray debut on Nov. 24 is director Jack Conway’s 1936 all-star comedy Libeled Lady, teaming William Powell and Myrna Loy — of The Thin Man fame — with Jean Harlow (who would be dead at the age of 26 the following year) and Spencer Tracy.

This is also a new 4K film restoration.   Bonus goodies include two classic short films — Keystone Hotel and New Shoes — and the 1936 MGM “Happy Harmonies” cartoon, Little Cheeser.

 

The Criterion Collection Announces It January of 2021 Film Restoration Calendar

The Criterion Collection announced its first wave of new film restorations for the New Year … a quartet of new Blu-ray and DVD product offerings that will be ready for consumers to select from during the month of January.

Kicking off 2021 on Jan. 5 are the new “hi-def” digital restorations of three films from director Luis Buñuel.   Titled simply, Three Films by Luis Buñuel, this Blu-ray only collection features his last three films as a director, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972, Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language Film), The Phantom of Liberty (1974) and That Obscure Object of Desire (1977, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film).

This collection is absolutely packed with extras, including the 1971 short documentary from Rafael Castanedo and Arturo Ripstein titled, The Castaway of Providence Street; the 2000 feature-length documentary from filmmakers José Luis López-Linares and Javier Rioyo, which is titled Speaking of Buñuel and a number of archival interviews … and more, much, much more.

Also on the January of 2021 release calendar are Blu-ray and DVD editions of documentary filmmaker Bing Liu’s 2018 Oscar-nominated film, Minding the Gap, which streets on Jan. 12.   For the record, the ARR comes in at 879 days, box office receipts for the film’s limited arthouse run were $11,998 and among the extra features is commentary option featuring Bing Liu and his two childhood friends (the subjects of the film), Keire Johnson and Zack Mulligan.

Rounding out the January selections are Martin Scorsese’s 2019 film, Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese (on DVD and Blu-ray on Jan. 19) and Soviet filmmaker Larisa Shepitko’s 1977 film adaptation of Vasil Bykaŭ’s 1970 novel, “The Ordeal,” which was titled for the screen as The Ascent (Jan. 16, in Russian with English subtitles).