Mill Creek Entertainment Celebrates The 20th Anniversary Of Director Jane Campion's In The Cut • Starring Meg Ryan • On May 16 With A Blu-ray Release

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Jane Campion’s 2003 sexually-charged murder mystery, In the Cut, will be getting a 20^th Anniversary Blu-ray edition release on May 16.

Meg Ryan made a bold career move when Oscar-winning director Jane Campion offered her the role of Frannie Avery in a film that Campion had written and spent on the order of five years trying to get it into production.   Nicole Kidman was originally cast, but for personal reasons she had to drop out.

Instead of playing in another romantic comedy, her role as Frannie is anything but that.  She is a sexually-repressed New York City English teacher and would-be writer, who gets caught up in a serial killing mystery when a hacked-up body ends up in her courtyard.

On the case is detective Giovanni Malloy (Mark Ruffalo), who goes beyond the call of duty by having an affair with Frannie.   Things get complicated when, through a series of events, she begins to suspect that he might actually be the serial killer.

And, speaking of complicated, one of her students, John Graham (played by Kevin Bacon, who did not receive screen credit), is doing a project on serial killer John Wayne Gacy and is giving off some pretty creepy vibes.   Could he be the killer?

It was a tough, demanding role for Meg Ryan.   She has naked scenes (no body doubles), is beaten, hit by a cab and sexually assaulted on a dark and rainy night … and is covered with blood in the film’s finale!!  

Lots of twists … who is the killer?   And does Frannie survive?  Is that her blood?

 

 

 

Dark Force Entertainment Preps 4K Ultra HD Edition Of Writer/Director Byron Quisenberry's Scream For A June 13 Release

Before there was the billion-dollar Scream film franchise, there was writer/director Bryon Quisenberry’s 1983 horror entry, Scream, which has all the classic genre elements firmly in place (save one).

Although filmed on a micro budget in May of 1980, with Lake Piru and the old Paramount Ranch in Southern California doubling for the Rio Grande and a long-since abandoned ghost town, Quisenberry was finally able to finish the film in post-production and get it into theatres on a regional basis beginning in early November of 1983 (bicycling what prints he had).  Where, and these things are always a tad sketchy, it appears that Scream actually made money.

In any case, Dark Force Entertainment, LLC, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K Ultra HD edition — restored from the original 16mm camera negative — lined up for delivery on June 13.

As for the film itself, it has the requisite victim pool, in this case a dozen campers on a rafting trip, with two guides and, later, two dirt bikers, the “haunted house” (which can take many forms) — in this case an entire ghost town — and a mysterious (unseen) killer, but sadly, there is no final girl … multiple "girls" actually survive the slaughter.

There’s one other twist, after seven of the campers — all male — are slaughtered, a mysterious “ghostly” good-guy figure, Charlie Winters (played by Woody Strode) appears, fills in the backstory and manages to kill the malevolent being (also a ghost) before any more campers can be murdered.

Over the years, despite its shortcomings, Scream has managed to build something of a cult following.   Now a 4K Ultra HD edition … bring it on!!

Bonus features appear to be limited to commentary with Quisenberry, which is moderated by Comedy Central’s “The Movie Geek,” Marc Edward Hueck and William Olsen.

 

 

 

 

88 Films Releaes The Four Disc Blu-ray Collection Of In The Line Of Duty I-IV For Release On May 16

88 Films Ltd, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, will be taking full advantage of the Michelle Yeoh Oscar-win for Best Actress (Everything Everywhere All at Once) this coming May 16 with the launch of a four-film/four-disc Blu-ray collection titled In the Line of Duty I-IV.

The first two films in the series, Royal Warriors and Yes, Madam!, both star Michelle Yeo as a Hong Kong police inspector who gets involved with organized crime elements and has to use all of her fighting skills — and those of her allies — to win the day.   None-stop martial arts action … and Michelle Yeo, need we say more?

Filmed early in her career and virtually unseen in the domestic market for years, these two films would nevertheless pave the way for such future entries as Supercop, Supercop 2, The Heroic Trio, Tomorrow Never Dies and of course, as Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000.

Both of these Michelle Yeo entries in the series can be viewed with the original Cantonese language tracks (with English subtitles) or with their respective English language audio tracks.   Both entries also include commentary options and vintage video sessions.

The next two films in the series, In the Line of Duty III and In the Line of Duty IV, showcase the martial arts talents of Cynthia Kahn.   And, as with the Michelle Yeo entries, both can be viewed with the original Cantonese language tracks (with English subtitles) or as English-dubbed versions.

Both of the Cynthia Kahn films also feature commentary options and vintage video sessions.

 

 

 

 

Paramount Home Entertainment Selects May 2 For The Release Of Director Kyle Marvin's 80 For Brady

Director Kyle Marvin’s sports comedy, 80 for Brady, starring the most unlikely of football fans — Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno and Lily Tomlin — will be making the transition from theatrical venues to the home entertainment marketplace on May 2.

Paramount Home Entertainment will be shipping out both DVD and Blu-ray editions on that date.   The ARR works out to 88 days, with domestic box office receipts coming in at $39.1 million.

Bonus goodies include extended and deleted scenes, the music video titled “Gonna Be You,” as well as four featurettes — “The Game Plan: Making 80 for Brady,” “The GOATs: Jane, Lily, Rita & Sally,” “The Visiting Team: Meet the Supporting Cast” and “The Largest Comeback in Super Bowl History.”

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Looks To May 9 For The Home Entertainment Packaged Media Launch Of M. Night Shyamalan's Knock At The Cabin

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has selected May 9 as the street date for a full spread of home entertainment packaged media selections of director M. Night Shyamalan's latest, Knock at the Cabin.

The ARR comes in at a reasonable 95 days (perhaps a change is in the wind) and domestic box office results were $35.4 million.

There will be Combo Pack editions available for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD edition.

Bonuses include four deleted scenes, the “Chowblaster” infomercial and a quartet of featurettes — “Choosing Wisely: Behind the Scenes of Knock at the Cabin,” “Tools of the Apocalypse,” “Drawing a Picture” and “Kristen Cui Shines a Light.”

 

The Criterion Collection Reveal It June Of 2023 Release/Restoration Calendar

The Criterion Collection revealed its June release calendar this past week, which includes two upgrades to 4K Ultra HD status and an impressive collection of films from Italian poet, journalist, playwright and filmmaker, Pier Paolo Pasolini.

First the newly 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack presentations.  

What better than French filmmaker Jean Renoir’s summer of 1939 release of The Rules of the Game.   The street date is June 6.

It was, by any standard, a commercial disaster, which lead Renoir to edit, re-edit and edit it once again … from 113 minutes (reported at the time) to just 85 minutes.   It didn’t help.

And then came World War II and word that it was destroyed in an Allied bombing.   However, in the post-war rubble, a copy of the 85-minute version was found and in 1956 the Société des Grands Films Classiques embarked upon a quest to reconstruct the film.  

They were able to find bits and pieces in various storage boxes from the bombed-out G.M. Film Lab (Boulogne area in the western suburbs of Paris), and with the help of Renoir himself, they restored the 106-minute version.   This version is the one used for the Criterion 4K restoration.

Bonus features include a vintage commentary from the late Peter Bogdanovich, a comparison of the film’s two endings, a selected-scene analysis by Renoir historian Chris Faulkner, and a number of video sessions and television broadcasts.
Arriving on June 13 as a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack is director Terry Gilliam’s 1981 fantasy adventure, Time Bandits.

Bonus features include commentary from Gilliam, who is joined by cowriter-actor Michael Palin and actors John Cleese, David Warner and Craig Warnock.

Also on the calendar, for delivery on June 27, is the nine-film/nine-disc Blu-ray Collection titled Pasolini 101.  Counted among the selections are Mamma Roma, Love Meetings, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Hawks and the Sparrows, Oedipus Rex, Teorema, Porcile and Medea.

Rounding out the June Blu-ray product offerings from the Criterion Collection are director Barry Jenkins’ 2008 film release of Medicine for Melancholy (complete with a newly-prepared commentary option) and director Joseph Losey’s 1963 (1964 domestic theatrical release) arthouse entry, The Servant.

 

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Short Circuits Jesus Revolution's Theatrical Run With Lightning-Quick Move Home

In what can only be described as something of a shock, apparently Lionsgate Home Entertainment is throwing the directing team of Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle’s film adaptation of the 2018 book from Greg Laurie and Ellen Vaughn, “Jesus Revolution: How God Transformed an Unlikely Generation and How He Can Do It Again Today” — shortened for the screen to simply Jesus Revolution — under the bus (or, more appropriately, under a VW van).

In a surprise move, word arrived this past week that the studio is only giving the film a 60-day window between its theatrical debut and subsequent release as both DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings on Apr. 25.

Critics were ho-hum about the film (naturally), but audiences responded vigorously to the tune of $39.4 million in domestic ticket sales (thus far).   Jesus Revolution is, simply put, a word-of-mouth film and traditionally such films have long legs … 60 days is too short.

There appear to be no bonus features associated with the home entertainment packaged media push Apr. 25 … Digital starts on Apr. 11, expect pirated copies to surface the same day.