February, New Titles, 'The Skin I Live In', 'Crazy Stupid Love', 'Hostel 3'

Pedro Almodóvar again reveals his genius for turning the ridiculous into the sublime with this creepy skin flick – THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2011) - a melodramatic thriller that is sombre but never sober and that moves through time and space with much of the boldness and style we’ve come to expect from Spain’s leading director. Antonio Banderas puts in a charismatic turn as a tragic figure touched by evil. The last time Banderas worked with Almodóvar was for ‘Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!’ in 1990. Twenty-one years later, they’re back together for an adaptation of Thierry Jonquet’s French novel ‘Mygale’ (‘Tarantula’ in English translation), the story of a plastic surgeon, Dr Robert Ledgard (Banderas), whose skills with the knife allow him to take control of a messy personal life in ways unimaginable to anyone but him. Banderas puts in a commanding performance in a film whose thriller tendencies are made doubly interesting by also being an artful study of masks and identities, sex and flesh, bodies and power.

Other New Stuff

PARIS: THE LUMINOUS YEARS (2010)

ARRIETY (2010)

SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (2011)

LET THE BULLETS FLY (2010)

DOORS MR. MOJO RISIN' THE STORY OF LA WOMAN (2011)

CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. (2011)

MONTE CARLO (2011)

HOSTEL PART 3 (2011)

ZOOKEEPER (2011)

TEMPEST, THE (2010)

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

APOLLO 18 (2011)

BUNRAKU (2010)

LEAP YEAR (2010)

DESIGN FOR LIVING (1933) 2 DISC CRITERION EDITION

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1947)

SOMETHING OF VALUE (1957)

TAWNY PIPIT (1944)

KEEP YOUR RIGHT UP! (Godard)

A WARM DECEMBER (1972)

MOON AND SIXPENCE, THE (1943)

VANINA VANINI (1961)

REV - SERIES 1 (2011)

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART 2 (1987)

January, New Titles, 'One Day', 'Beginners', 'Priest', 'Vigo'

The worries about this adaptation of David Nicholls’ much-loved and likeable 2009 novel were obvious when it was first announced. Could Anne Hathaway pull off the character of a Northern lass (‘We spent all our summers in a caravan in Whitby’), first as an Edinburgh student and later a graduate working in a Taco joint? Would Danish director Lone Scherfig be sensitive to the book’s subtle but playful period stylings? Would the film’s makers resist the temptation to tip what was already a slightly gimmicky and cloying story into the territory of full-on romantic sap? And how could one film do justice to 23 eventful years in the lives of confident public-school boy Dexter and earthy, less assured Emma (Hathaway) – two opposites whom the novel visits once a year on the same date they first have a romantic encounter in 1988 as students?

The result is a compromise – but not a disastrous one. Nicholls’ script follows his novel closely as a ‘greatest hits’ spin on the book, rather than taking it anywhere new. Dexter follows a path of success, hubris and self-destruction, followed by rehabilitation, while Emma takes equally as long to discover what she wants from life and a friendship with Dexter, but without the accompanying obnoxiousness.


Other new stuff this week
SMURFS, THE (2011)
PRIEST (2011)
ONE DAY (2011) BLU-RAY
WEEDS SEASON 6 (2010)
COMPLETE JEAN VIGO, THE (1930-1934) CRITERION
LANDMARKS OF EARLY SOVIET FILM
RIVER MURDERS, THE (2011)
BEGINNERS (2010)
CHANGE-UP, THE (2011)
FROZEN PLANET
INTO THE UNIVERSE with Stephen Hawking

New titles, December, 'Gainsbourg', 'Senna', 'The Guard'

First-time writer-director Joann Sfar, known for his popular comic ‘The Rabbi’s Cat’, tries to get under the skin of his subject, French pop crooner Serge Gainsbourg, rather than detail his every scandalous misadventure.

To a certain extent he succeeds, leaving us in no doubt of the lasting impression made on young Lucien Ginsburg by being forced to wear a yellow star in wartime Paris, where Nazi propaganda covered the streets with anti-Semitic grotesquerie. The film’s most daring move is to have one of these caricatures step down off the wall and become a life-size marionette which follows Gainsbourg around. However, instead of eating away at his confidence, ‘La Gueule’ (‘The Mug’) becomes a Tyler Durden-esque alter-ego prompting showbiz-aspirant Serge to further deeds of daring naughtiness. Yes, my boy, you shall shag Salvador Dalí’s girlfriend on the artist’s sofa!

With chic animated interludes adding to the appeal, it’s clear there’s an element of visual brio not found in every musical biopic, as this self-styled ‘Vie Héroïque’ happily encompasses sundry winning female performances (Anna Mouglalis as a slinky Ms Greco, Laetitia Casta as a voluptuous Bardot, the late Lucy Gordon as a gamine Miss Birkin) while happily spotlighting lookalike Eric Elmosnino's convincingly addled incarnation of the title role.

In the end the film suffers, as did 'Walk The Line' and a host of other music-star biopics, from following the lifestory too literally rather than taking a fictional whizz on the idea. Come back Ken Russell, all is forgiven.

Other new stuff this month...

5 DAYS OF WAR (2011)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011)

GUARD, THE (2011)

CATCH .44 (2011)

GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD, THE (2011)

GANTZ (2010)

JANE EYRE (2011)

SENNA (2011)

SENNA (2011) BLU-RAY

COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011)

COWBOYS & ALIENS (2011) BLU-RAY

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011)

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (2011) BLU-RAY

GREEN LANTERN (2011)

LARRY CROWNE (2011)

BEAUTIFUL LIES (2010)

WU XIA (2011)

WICKER MAN, THE (1973)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (2011) BLU-RAY

TREE OF LIFE, THE (2011)

TROLL HUNTER (2010)

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS (2011)

CARLOS (2010) CRITERION

EVIL DEAD, THE (1981) BLU-RAY

EVIL DEAD 2 (1987) BLU-RAY

AO: THE LAST NEANDERTHAL (2010)

JOHNNY THE GIANT KILLER (1950)

STAR SPANGLED GIRL (1971)

FUTURAMA SEASON 5 (2009-2010)

A MAN VANISHES (1967)

R (2010)

30ROCK SEASON 4 (2009)

A BING CROSBY CHRISTMAS (1998)

THE COMPLETE HUMPHREY JENNINGS (1934-1940) BLU-RAY

THE COMPLETE HUMPHREY JENNINGS (1934-1940)

ORPHEUS (1950) CRITERION

GAINSBOURG (2010)

STRIP-TEASE (1963)

LE BEAU SERGE (1958) CRITERION

KURONEKO (1968) CRITERION

JUMPING JACK FLASH (1986)

CONTACT (2000)

Ken Russell (1927-2011)

The great British director has died, aged 84; his most notorious film 'The Devils' will be released by the BFI this coming March.

In May this year, Ken Russell came to the first UK screening of one of his most notorious films, The Devils, in a newly restored form. He was frail and unable to make it down the steep steps of the Barbican’s main cinema screen, so sat at the back, but managed to participate in the on-stage Q&A thanks to a roving mike. Precise recall wasn’t always within his power, but a lot of the old fire was undimmed, as he recounted his battles with Warner Brothers over the cuts they demanded, and his pride at getting to see something close to the original assembly – thanks to the detective work of Mark Kermode, among others – with a sold-out audience.

Having caught only the tail end of the film on late-night Channel 4 in my teens, it was pretty thrilling to experience it fully and for the first time in the company of Russell himself. It’ll come to be seen as the defining film of a great hellraising career: one in which hell was sometimes almost literally raised, as at the castle of Lord Byron in his 1986 literary fantasia, Gothic.

Russell’s reputation for outlandishness – he was certainly one of the maddest imagists British cinema has ever spawned – should never be taken as the whole story, though. He could work within the establishment as well as outside it, and it’s interesting how many of his films launched themselves into mania from the springboard of seemingly respectable genres, such as literary adaptation (he returned committedly to DH Lawrence) or biopics of classical composers. An Oscar nominee for his direction of 1969’s Women in Love, which won Best Actress for Glenda Jackson, he even dipped his toe into Hollywood waters with the inimitably bonkers one-two of Altered States (1980) and Crimes of Passion (1984): a bit like slapping your host on one cheek, then the other, and wondering if you’ll be asked back.

There was mischief, insult and daring in Russell’s vision, and a playfulness that made him unique – his favourite game was to exploit the starchy norms of British prestige cinema and then abruptly throw an orgy, or blow loud raspberries in the direction of the church. In this sense he followed the rudely provocative tradition of Fellini or Buñuel , but fused that with an antic spirit of thoroughly British eccentricity. His idea of a costume drama was pretty much the antithesis of what Merchant-Ivory said it should be: one where everyone ran around giggling, things exploded and wigs went flying. Only with Mahler’s 5th playing instead of the Benny Hill theme tune. (Daily Telegraph)

Rent Ken Russell at Video Dogs - Women In Love, Lady Chatterley, The Rainbow, The Lair of the White Worm, Gothic, Mahler, Elgar, Delius, Lisztomania, Tommy, Altered States, Whore, and Billion Dollar Brain. Plus, Ken Russell at the BBC. Coming soon, 'The Boyfriend' & 'Music Lovers'

November, New Titles, 'Point Blank', 'George Harrison'

Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche) is a nurse who saves the wrong guy -- a thief (Roschdy Zem) whose henchmen take Samuel's pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) hostage to force him to spring their boss from the hospital. A race through the subways and streets of Paris ensues, and the body count rises. Can Samuel evade the cops and the criminal underground and deliver his beloved to safety?

The experience of watching it evokes visions of the inevitable US refit (‘Anything for Her’ was remade by Paul Haggis as ‘The Next Three Days’). Instead, we have Gilles Lellouche (pictured) as Samuel, a brawny but benevolent trainee nurse whose wife is on the cusp of dropping a sprog. In a standard wrong time/wrong place set-up, Samuel is coerced into smuggling Roschdy Zem's wounded crim out of hospital, only to be roped into carrying out more depraved deeds when he finds out his wife has been taken hostage.

It’s hardly what you’d call high art, but Cavayé knows how to push buttons when it comes to straight-up, palm-sweating spectacle. It’s dumb and manipulative, such as the scene in which the bad guys almost dispose of the pregnant spouse by tossing her out of a window. But it’s also brisk and unpretentious, with no hint that we’re meant to take anything more away from this than a cheap but effective thrill.

Other New Titles in November

GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD

BEASTLY (2011)

HARLAN ELLISON: DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH (2008)

NURSE JACKIE - SEASON ONE (2010)

NURSE JACKIE - SEASON TWO (2011)

MORGIANA (1972)

MICHAEL CACOYANNIS TRILOGY (1977)

POINT BLANK (2010)

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2010)

AVANT-GARDE 3: EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA 1922-1954

BEN-HUR (1959) BLU-RAY

INTIMIDATION (1960) CRITERION

BLACK SUN (1964) CRITERION

I HATE BUT LOVE (1962) CRITERION

THIRST FOR LOVE (1966) CRITERION

WARPED ONES, THE (1960) CRITERION

TWIN PEAKS DEFINITIVE GOLD BOX EDITION

SCREAM 4 (2011)

SENNA (2011)

MY FORBIDDEN PAST (1951)

BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948)

BULLET TO BEIJING (1996)

MIDNIGHT IN ST PETERSBURG (1997)

MADAME ROSA (1977)

KILLING, THE(1957) CRITERION

SZINDBAD (1971)

13 ASSASSINS (2011)

CUL-DE-SAC (1966) CRITERION

FATHER (1966)

TAKING OFF (1971)

KILLING BONO (2011)

TREACLE JR. (2010)

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011)

POPE JOAN (2009)

HONEY 2 (2011)

WRECKED (2010)

RITE, THE (2011)

LITTLE WHITE LIES (2010)

SLITHER (1973)

MICKEY ONE (1965)

HICKEY AND BOGGS (1972)

BAL (2010)

October, New Titles, 'The films of Pierre Etaix'

Long overdue, the films of French comedian, Pierre Etaix, have finally come to DVD after a long legal wrangle over the rights to the films themselves was won by Etaix and his supporters.

Pierre Etaix built his career principally around comedy. In 1954, he moved from his native Roanne to Paris where he would make a living as an illustrator and eventually as a solo performer in cabaret and variety venues. He would also work as a circus clown in partnership with Nino Fabbri.

In 1954, he met Jacques Tati for whom he worked for 4 years as a draughtsman and gagman in the preparation ansd shooting of Tati's film, My Uncle, and as an assistant-director during the shooting, also playing a small, uncredited role in that film. In 1961, he performed his own “number” in Tati's music-hall production. Jour de Fête à I'Olympia.

In 1961, he became a filmmaker, realising two shorts - Rupture (FIPRESCI prize in Mannheim 1961) and Happy Birthday (Oscar in Hollywood 1962) - both co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière. Between 1962 and 1970, he realised five features: The Suitor (Prix LOUIS DELLUC 1963; the Comic Film Prize of the Moscow International Film Festival, 1963), Yoyo (Grand Prize - OCIC International Festival in Venice 1965), So Long as You're Healthy (Silver Siren at the International Festival of Sorrento), The Great Love (Grand Prize of French Cinema 1969) and The Land of Milk & Honey(Pays de cocagne, 1970).

The box set includes all five features, which are available separately at the store as individual feature disks.

October, New Titles, 'Jane Eyre', 'Bridesmaids', 'Win Win'

A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he's hiding a terrible secret. The latest adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's great novel about sexual harassment in the workplace. Jane's growing love for her employer, Mr Rochester, leads to some touching, but his inappropriate behaviour is punished with loss of sight. This like the last adaptation of the novel (BBC, 2006) was also filmed at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, but for all the gloom and mood lacks the earlier film's sexual tension.

FORKS OVER KNIVES (2010)

A new documentary examines the profound claim that most, if not all of the so-called "diseases of affluence" that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods.

OTHER NEW TITLES

THOR (2011)
SHADOWS OF PROGRESS (1951-1977)
THOR (2011) BLU-RAY
BRIDESMAIDS (2011)
BRIDESMAIDS (2011) BLU-RAY
JANE EYRE (2011) BLU-RAY
SCREAM 4 (2011)
LAST NIGHT (2010)
LION KING, THE (1994)
LION KING, THE (1994) BLU-RAY
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (2011)
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS (2011) BLU-RAY
AMERICAN BREAKDOWN (2008)
WIN WIN (2011)
FORKS OVER KNIVES (2011)
EVERYTHING MUST GO (2010)
CONSPIRATOR, THE (2010)
POETRY (2010)