Welcome to Daily Grindhouse’s weekly listing of all that’s new and available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD. Everything you see featured here is available as of today. If you’re inclined to buy anything you see here, you can get to the Amazon listing by clicking through the cover icons. Happy scrolling!
LA DOLCE VITA (1960)
The amazing thing about this movie is that it is in black-and-white but it feels like it’s in color. You may know what I mean already. One of Fellini’s most immediately accessible efforts, this is one of the first films I saw from the great filmmaker and so I can easily recommend it as a terrific place for novices to start.
DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASONS 1, 2, 3 & 4 (TV)
A man’s got to recognize when something is more sophisticated than he is. So while I’m happy to see a PBS drama become so widely popular, I’ll be over here eating bacon and watching Hal Needham movies.
EARTH TO ECHO (2014)
Since they foolishly failed to put the mechanical owl in that CLASH OF THE TITANS remake, it had to end up somewhere!
F FOR FAKE (1973)
Lord, please let it be the case that this is where MJ got that idea.
THE FLUFFY MOVIE (2014)
That definitely sounds like a euphemism.
THE GIRL HUNTERS (1963)
Author Mickey Spillane plays his own bestselling character in this mystery co-starring “Bond girl” Shirley Eaton.
GORKY PARK (1983)
A Lee Marvin picture I’ve not seen. Unacceptable. Look at Lee — he ain’t happy with me either.
KUNDO (2014)
A period action thriller with a plot out of Robin Hood, and I don’t know more than that except that there is some excellent imagery in the trailer.
A LETTER TO MOMO (2011)
A story of grief and goblins, and it’s a shame I don’t have kids of my own because I’d use them as an excuse to watch this very promising-looking and well-reviewed animated feature.
LIFE AFTER BETH (2014)
John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon playing parents to Aubrey Plaza is a quick and easy for my generation to feel old. Whatever. I’ll still see this. It’s a zombie movie. It’s in my contract.
MAD MEN: THE FINAL SEASON PART 1 (TV)
Not caught up. Neat cover artwork though. Funny twist on the original logo.
THE NAKED FACE (1984)
Did you know that underneath our masks, all of our faces are naked?
PEE-WEE’S PLAYHOUSE: THE COMPLETE SERIES
I mean, come on. If you have the money to spend on this, that would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
POSSESSED (1947)
This film seems to be lumped in with the noir movement but my take on it is that it’s more of a woman’s picture. Who am I to argue? The imagery, from semi-regular Hitchcock collaborator Joseph Valentine, would indicate it’s more of the former, but the subject matter, in which Joan Crawford’s character contends with a madness that upends her life, is not the familiar terrain of noir, let alone the small details of the female character being the protagonist (and not the femme fatale) and the relatively optimistic denouement, which is not something you tend to see in noir films. Either way, nomenclature aside, POSSESSED is an interesting film and one worth seeing, though it’s for devotees only — this is dark and intense and it isn’t one to convert young fans towards the pleasures of old-Hollywood movies.
THE PURGE: ANARCHY (2014)
Not that I endorse the relentless remaking of well-known films, but one of the rare examples of the trend to excite me was Joe Carnahan’s proposed remake of DEATH WISH, with Carnahan’s stand-out supporting actor from THE GREY, Frank Grillo, in the Charles Bronson role. You probably know Frank Grillo better now from his appearance in the most recent CAPTAIN AMERICA movie. He’s good at this kind of thing, the Bronson kind of thing, that of being a convincing tough guy and a grown man in a culture where those things are in short supply. The DEATH WISH remake fell apart for whatever reasons, so I paid to see THE PURGE: ANARCHY because I wanted to do my microscopic part to show studios that I’d pay to see Frank Grillo heading up an urban crime picture. At this point in time, the Frank Grillo DEATH WISH movie taking place in my imagination is still better than what THE PURGE: ANARCHY ended up being, but let’s keep hope alive.
THE SCRIBBLER (2014)
Watching this tonight. I’ll let you know.
SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014)
Directed by the Soska sisters and co-starring Katharine Isabelle, their muse from AMERICAN MARY, SEE NO EVIL 2 is the textbook definition of a movie I would not ever bother to see were it not for some of the talent involved. As it is, I’m looking forward to it.
SEX TAPE (2014)
Can we start to discuss a moratorium on movies centered around Jason Segel being naked? Nothing against the guy, I like him just fine otherwise, but I’ve seen enough of him in that way. Apparently Jason Segel is strongly convinced we all want to see all of him all the time, and somehow he keeps convincing the powers that be to let him do it, but I think we have all gotten the picture by now. At this point the idea of Cameron Diaz naked would not be enough to get me to see SEX TAPE. If you told me she stood in front of naked Jason Segel the entire time, I’d consider it. But co-mingled? No thanks. Here’s a quick pitch: Jason Segel is an Eskimo fisherman traversing the Alaskan ice plains in BUNDLED UP!
*** PICK OF THE WEEK !!! ***
SNOWPIERCER (2014)
Korean director Bong Joon Ho (MEMORIES OF MURDER, THE HOST) rounded up an international cast in an adaptation of a comic book you’ve probably never heard about in this dystopian science-fiction fable about life aboard a train in perpetual motion after global warming has rendered the outside world unlivable. While this is one of the most talked-about movies of the year, I almost feel like this is one of those movies that is better not to talk about too much. The cultural subtext, the issues of class and the social commentary, all of these things are right there on the surface, and writing about it too much makes the movie feel like a term paper, which it certainly isn’t. It’s much more vivid than that. Give it a look, then meet me back here and we can talk.
THE SQUAD (2011)
This is a Spanish-language horror-thriller with a trailer that makes me curious to see what’s going on in the rest of the movie. I’m not going to read too much about it other than that.
TO ALL A GOODNIGHT (1980)
By now it’s common knowledge that I will brook no Christmas-themed movies in October; that said, this is a horror movie, and one that stars Jennifer Runyon (the girl Bill Murray hits on during his first scene in GHOSTBUSTERS) and was directed by David Hess, better known as a villain in THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. So I will not only allow it, I will welcome it.
THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION II (1959-1972)
This excellent package from Scream Factory includes THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, THE COMEDY OF TERRORS, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, TOMB OF LIGERIA, THE RAVEN, RETURN OF THE FLY, and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. Any and all of those make this worth purchasing, but my particular favorite is THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, which is a loose adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend. Vincent Price alone in a world of vampires beats Charlton Heston and Will Smith put together. I did the math. It’s scientific.
WRONG TURN 6: LAST RESORT (2014)
Didn’t I just cover one of these things already this month? And they made a sixth one already? I guess every time somebody makes a wrong turn, somebody else makes a mutant-hillbilly movie about it.
So that’s the end of the new new-releases: Below are some films that have already been out on DVD and Blu-Ray for some time, but which have received new cover art as of this week. I guess October is the occasion, or maybe somebody just got tired of the generic editions. So no links here, just the list with a few screen shots.
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979)
CARRIE (1976)
CHILD’S PLAY (1988)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978)
JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001)
KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE (1988)
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
MISERY (1990)
THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1990)
SPECIES (1995)
TEEN WOLF (1985)
THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: PART 2 (1986)
Well, I guess that one tops this one —
.jpg)
— JON ABRAMS (@jonnyabomb).
- [THE BIG QUESTION] WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FEMALE ENSEMBLE IN MOVIES? - July 22, 2016
- [IN THEATERS NOW] THE BOY (2016) - January 24, 2016
- Cult Movie Mania Releases Lucio Fulci Limited Edition VHS Sets - January 5, 2016
Tags: Blu-ray, dvd, New Releases
No Comments