Director Steve Wang's Drive Gets Blu-ray Rewind Collection Status From MVD Entertainment Group On May 11

MVD Entertainment Group announced this past week that director Steve Wang’s 1997 sci-fi, pedal-to-the-metal thriller, Drive: Special Collector’s Edition, will be joining the company’s popular “Rewind Collection” promotional label on May 11 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

Why do we like director Steve Wang’s 1997 film, Drive, and think that MVD nailed it by making this a “Rewind Collection” entry?

It is so goofy that it works.   It is also, ironically, forward-looking … Drive is a mixed-genre thriller that rolls along at break-neck speed … and is blessed with “buddy” dialog that keeps it entertaining, even when your eyes are rolling and you are wondering what is coming next.

Toby Wong (Mark Dacascos — John Wick: Chapter 3, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Maximum Impact, etc.) has somehow escaped from China, where they were tinkering with him as a human-android prototype (which is kind of prophetic since that might actually be what the Chinese are working on these days).   He’s got some gizmo implanted in his chest that makes him the perfect fighting weapon.

Of course, this plot element is the perfect set-up for a series of non-stop martial arts encounters.   The gizmo also has a beeper installed that lets the bad guys know exactly where he … which means that (like The Matrix) there is never-ending stream of them ready to do battle.

To provide some comic relief, filmmaker Steve Wang (The Guyver, Sirens of the Deep), has Toby pick up a drifter named Malik (Kadeem Hardison — as Dwayne in the A Different World sitcom, plus such films as Vampire in Brooklyn, White Men Can’t Jump, The Dark Party) to drive him around Los Angeles in an attempt to find the whiz-bang company that can get the gizmo out of his chest and keep ahead of the bad guys.

Bonus features include commentary with director Steve Wang, co-stars Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison, plus stunt choreographer Koichi Sakamoto, a half-dozen deleted scenes, both the extended director’s cut and the original direct-to-video presentation, the feature-length documentary titled Drive: The Force Behind the Storm and a series of video sessions featuring the cast and crew.

 

 

 

 

Paramount Home Media Looks To Mar. 30 As The Release Date For The Bad News Bears On Blu-ray

Paramount Home Media Distribution announced this past week that director Michael Ritchie’s 1976 comedy smash, Bad News Bears, will be making its Blu-ray debut on Mar. 30.

Tatum O’Neal had reached instant star status with her Best Support Actress win in her 1973 debut film, auteur filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich’s of the Joe David Brown’s 1971 novel, “Addie Pray,” which was retitled for the screen as Paper Moon.   Her father, according to industry trade reports at the time, pulled her off the market until she had a chance to grow up a little, with 16-years of age being the target date for her return to film.

However, the deal for Bad News Bears was just too good to pass up — a healthy salary and a piece of the film.   So, at thirteen Tatus O’Neal made her second film, and to many, it is perhaps her best performance on screen.  

Another “child star” in the film, who also shined, was bad boy power hitter “Kelly Leak,” played by Jackie Earle Haley, who had just delivered a sensational performance in director John Schlesinger’s 1975 film adaptation of Nathanael West’s 1939 “Hollywood” tell-all novel, The Day of the Locust … Haley would star in the two sequels that Bad News Bears spawned and deliver another memorial performance in director Peter Yates 1979 film, Breaking Away (as Moocher).

Of course, Walter Matthau, as Coach Buttermaker, is the comedy spark that brings the film together.   Beer-drinking, failed minor league baseball player and now a San Fernando Valley pool cleaner, he not only pulls this collection of losers together, but gives them life-lessons (sometimes a little suspect) that will serve them well as they grow. 

Bonus goodies include three featurettes — “Sometimes You Lose” (featuring filmmaker Kevin Smith), “Life Imitates Art (with Jackie Earle Haley) and “Got to the Finals” (with producer Stanley Jaffe — plus “Shot on Super 8,” which are a collection of home movies from Jackie Earle Haley.   The Blu-ray of Bad News Bears also includes Digital Copy.

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Readies Two New Kelly Coffey-Meyer Fitness DVDs For Release On Apr. 13

Bayview Entertainment will be teaming up with Kelly Coffey-Meyer for two new fitness programs on DVD on Apr. 13.

A fitness trainer and wellness coach with over 40 DVDs released during her award-winning career, she is known to legions of fitness fans for her CoffeyFit Vimeo program channel and her 30-Minutes to Fitness workout series.

On Apr. 13 look for 30 Minutes to Fitness: Boxfit With Kelly Coffey-Meyer, a cardio/pump workout that is designed to chew up calories while increasing the user’s overall strength.   Get slim, get fit.

This DVD workout is divided into two sections.   The first is the cardio session built around some “shadow boxing” fun, while the second session is a muscle-building workout that requires dumbbells for the various muscle groups.

The second fitness heading home from Bayview Entertainment on Apr. 13 is titled 30 Minutes to Fitness: Super Sculpt With Kelly Coffey-Meyer.

Again, two different workout sessions are included here with the goal to “sculpt” the user’s body from head to toe.  The first session is built around “sculpting drills,” while the second session is a high intensity step aerobics workout.  

Dumbbells are also part of the routine … so step-up, burn those calories and sculpt that body.   Kelly Coffey-Meyer will be your trainer and you won’t regret it!

 

 

Mill Creek Entertainment Tabs Apr. 13 For The Blu-ray Release Of Sean Connery's Finding Forrester

Mill Creek Entertainment will be celebrating the film career of the late Sean Connery on Apr. 13 with the Blu-ray release of director Gus Van Sant’s 2000 critically-acclaimed film, Finding Forrester, co-starring F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes and Rob Brown (as Edgar Reade in the Blindspot television series, plus such films as Coach Carter, Stop-Loss, The Express, The Dark Knight Rises, etc.) in his film debut.

This, ironically, would turn out to be one of Connery’s final two feature film appearances (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen would be his last in 2003 … after much talk in the trade press about his frustration with this film he decided to retire) and Finding Forrester would be one of the final two commercial successes for auteur filmmaker Gus Van Sant as well, who shot to rock-star status with Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho and Good Will Hunting.  

The other success for Van Sant was Milk in 2008, starring Sean Penn.  It would earn Van Sant his second Oscar-nomination for Best Director (Good Will Hunting in 1997 was his first) and be his last real commercial film … a string of “small” arthouse films have been his output during this past decade, with a re-teaming in 2012 with Matt Damon for Promised Land being something of a disappointment.

 

 

 

 

 

Full Moon Features' Shrunken Heads Restored For It Blu-ray Debut On Apr. 13

Full Moon Features, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new film restoration (from the original 35mm camera negative) of director Richard Elfman’s 1994 cult voodoo thriller, Shrunken Heads, primed for a Blu-ray debut on Apr. 13.

Blessed with an interesting cast, that includes Meg Foster (The Osterman Weekend, The Todd Killings, Masters of the Universe, They Live) and Julius Harris in his final film role (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Super Fly, Black Caesar, Live and Let Die, Hell Up in Harlem) as the mysterious voodoo priest, Mr. Sumatra.

The Vipers, run by Big Moe (Meg Foster), make the mistake of slaughtering three nerd-bomber kids from the inner city, whose only sin was they like comic books and were not afraid of standing up to the Vipers.   The local newsstand operation, Mr. Sumatra, who moonlights as a voodoo priest, comes up with a plan for the dead boys to have their revenge.

He sneaks into the morgue holding the bodies of Tommy Larson (Aeryk Egan — Flatliners, The Cure, Book of Love), Freddie Thompson (Darris Love — Gang Tapes, Waist Deep, Single Black Female) and Bill Turner (Bo Sharon — The Puppet Masters) and cuts off their heads.   Once back at his home, he places them in a cauldron full of “magic broth” and boils them up … tosses in a voodoo spell and sets them loose to extract their revenge.

Since the last thing on their collective minds was their comic book superhero adventures, the disembodied heads now have special superhero powers and are able to “fly” about the city and use these special powers to take out Big Moe’s Vipers … one by one by one!!!

Bonus features include a “Behind the Scenes” featurette.

 

 

 

 

VCI Entertainment Preps Blu-ray Debut Of Director Duccio Tessari's Lost Giallo Thriller Puzzle On May 11

What do you do if you find a 1974 giallo film from Spaghetti Western and giallo filmmaker Duccio Tessari that has been mislabeled and sitting in a film warehouse for years?   Lost.  Forgotten.  From the “Golden Age” of giallo.

Option one is, you correct the label and put it back, but this time in its proper place in the film warehouse.    Option two is, you do a 4K film restoration from this long-missing archived print and prepare it for release on Blu-ray … a Blu-ray debut at that.

Option one?   Option two?   Clearly option two, option one is not really an option.    

Imagine if you found the equivalent of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento, 1970) or Blood and Black Lace (Mario Bava, 1964) or, for that matter, Tessari’s The Bloodstained Butterfly (1971), languishing for years in a darkened warehouse … giallo gold that’s what you have found and you’d get it out on Blu-ray as quickly as possible.

This is exactly what VCI Entertainment will be doing on May 11 when it releases the Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack of director Duccio Tessari’s 1974 lost giallo, Puzzle.   

The film was part of a library package that was acquired some years ago and when the elements arrived as the storage facility, Puzzle had been mislabeled and was believed to be a duplicate of another film.   Time past, it was forgotten.

The print that has been unearthed is the English-dubbed version that was destined for English-speaking theatrical markets.   It is believed to be the only one remaining … for giallo fans this will be like seeing something brand new, even though it was released in European markets back in 1974 and 1975.

We meet Peter Smith (Luc Merenda — Red Sun, Torso, The Nun and the Devil, A Man Called Magnum, etc.), who is living in London, and has been suffering from amnesia … the result of an auto accident some months earlier.   One day, right out of the blue, a man by the name of Phillip (Manfred Freyberger) shows up, roughs him up and gives him clues as to his real identity.   However, just before this stranger can fill in the blanks, he is shot dead by an unseen assassin.

WOW!   Peter learns that he might not be Peter after all, but a guy named Ted, who lives in Italy with a woman named Sara.   But why was the messenger murdered … and what kind of shrew is he married to?

After this hook, Puzzle kicks in with Peter/Ted flying “home” to Italy, meeting his wife, Sara, who is played by none other than Senta Berger (De Sade, The Ambushers, The Terror of Doctor Mabuse, etc.) … wait, he’s married to Senta Berger and doesn’t remember it, that must have been some auto wreck that rattle his brain!!  

She has been so lonely without Ted, and immediately they set about to solve the puzzle of the missing months and who might be out to do them harm.  There are plenty of suspects.   Pure giallo … mystery, sex, violence and all with an Italian flair.   Mark it down, May 11, the missing giallo, Puzzle, arrives on Blu-ray!!!

 

 

 

 

Wonder Woman 1984 Heads Home From Warner Bros. Home Entertainment On Mar. 30

If you want a snapshot of how much of an impact the wholesale closing of theatrical venues in United States has had on box office results, look no further than the 2017 release of director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot as Diana (aka: Wonder Woman).   The domestic box office haul was over $400 million.

By contrast, Jenkins latest teaming with Gadot, Wonder Woman 1984, has taken in just $40 million.   Did Jenkins forget how to make a film?   Has Gadot lost her sex appeal?   Have audiences grown weary of super heroes?   You know the answer to those questions … Covid-19.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced this past week that a three-SKU helping of Wonder Woman 1984 will be heading home on Mar. 30.   For the record, the ARR works out to 95 days, and, as mention, the box take was just $40.3 million.

Planned for release are Combo Pack editions for both the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD selection.

Bonus features, which are limited to the Combo Pack SKUs, include a gag reel, five featurettes — “The Making of Wonder Woman 1984: Expanding the Wonder,” “Gal & Kristen: Friends Forever,” “Small But Mighty,” “Gal & Krissy Having Fun” and “Meet the Amazons” — and a pair of “Scene Study” segments — “Scene Study: The Open Road” and “Scene Study: The Mall.”

Elsewhere on the Blu-ray release calendar from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment during the month of March are director Richard Thorpe’s 1951 biopic, The Great Caruso, starring Mario Lanza … Oscar-winner for Best Sound (available Mar. 9), director Edward Dmytryk’s 1947 film noir, Crossfire, starring “Roberts” Ryan, Mitchell and Young, plus Gloria Grahame as the requisite “femme fatale” (Mar. 16), Boris Karloff stars in the 1945 plague-thriller, Isle of the Dead (Mar. 30) and closing out the quartet of new-to-Blu-ray releases is The Bermuda Depths (also Mar. 30).