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We’re back again! 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 in stores or online as of today.
As always, if you’re inclined to buy anything you see here, you can get to the Amazon listing by clicking through the cover icons. It helps our site if you can do that, so please do it if you can.
ALOHA (2015)
When this movie hit theaters, it was already being batted around on social media concerning the fact that Emma Stone’s character is meant to be partly Asian. This may be a sign things have gone too far in one direction. If you’re the kind of person who that offends, my guess is that Cameron Crowe is on your side. Of course representation is important, and hell, maybe casting a Chinese actor would help the overseas box office, so it’s not like the argument is without merit. I just think there are so many actual bad guys in the world — you’d have to have defeated every last one of them before you got around to going after the sensitive-romantic director of ALMOST FAMOUS. As for me, this isn’t really my thing, but since both Bill Murray and Danny McBride are in it, it’s inevitable I’ll give it a shot.
ANGEL HEART (1987)
Cool movie, in the way that it’s pretty clear all along who De Niro is supposed to be playing and that being so far in front of your nose you don’t see the added twists coming. Or maybe that was just my experience. This movie is also fascinating in that no matter how beautiful Lisa Bonet may be in it, there’s the matter of Mickey Rourke, whose beauty at the time was so undeniable it’s shocking in light of what came next.
THE BABYSITTER (1995)
Aerosmith-music-video-era Alicia Silverstone in a very ‘nineties sort of thriller. Looks like the kind of thing that never aired on cable before midnight. Never seen it myself.
BIG GAME (2014)
This movie, as the follow-up from the director of the wonderfully spooky Christmas movie RARE EXPORTS, was on my long list of most awaited films of the year, but it seems to have slipped quickly around theaters and onto home video. Undeterred, I’m going to check it out with a superior quickness.
CITIZENFOUR (2014)
The Edward Snowden documentary. There’s an Oliver Stone movie coming before the year is out, so here’s the preliminary homework.
DANIEL (1983)
A Sidney Lumet movie I haven’t seen! Got to make it happen.
THE DOORS (1991)
Never have been a fan of the band, but this is vintage Val Kilmer, and the movie, speaking about it as a piece of visual storytelling, looks great.
EASY MONEY (1983) + MEN AT WORK (1990)
Thought about it a lot, way too much really, and there is just no reason I can see for these two movies to be packaged together. Any ideas?
IRIS (2014)
This documentary from the late Albert Maysles (GIMME SHELTER, GREY GARDENS) focuses on Iris Apfel, the 90-something fashion icon. It’s supposed to be great and I have no doubt that it is.
JACOB’S LADDER (1990)
Nooooo, not Bergen Street! Adrian Lyne is not a director known for making scary movies, but he made a doozy with this one. Been over a decade since I’ve seen it so I’m hoping to get to revisit it soon.
![Last American Virgin (1982) [UK VHS]](http://dailygrindhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Last-American-Virgin-1982-UK-VHS.jpg)
THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN (1982)
One of those 1980s teen-movie classics that somehow passed me by entirely, I do know that the leading lady was in BETTER OFF DEAD, which is a vote of major confidence. Wonder if I’d dig this movie now, so far from the 1980s.
*** PICK OF THE WEEK !!! ***
BERRY GORDY’S THE LAST DRAGON (1985)
Saw this a couple weeks ago with a packed-house crowd, and the movie blew up the place. I knew how much I loved it, but I don’t think I fully understood how much how many other people do. And it still plays! Like crazy! The jokes still land and the hero’s journey still inspires. As silly as it is, there’s magic in this movie. For more, here’s my extended analysis.
LILA & EVE (2015)
These two in a movie again? After starring together in one of my favorite scenes in OUT OF SIGHT all those years ago? Doesn’t even matter what the story is, I’m seeing it. Famous last words.
METAMORPHOSIS (1990) +
BEYOND DARKNESS (1990)
One interesting thing about METAMORPHOSIS is that the costume designer on the film was Laura Gemser, better known for playing Emmanuelle in BLACK EMMANUELLE and several other such films in the 1970s. And the director, George Eastman, starred in tons of great Italian shlock cinema in the 1970s and early 1980s — catch him in Mario Bava’s RABID DOGS if you want to see some of his finest work (for real). BEYOND DARKNESS, meanwhile, is a Claudio Fragasso joint. That same year, Fragasso delivered TROLL II, also starring young Michael Stephenson. The main reason for METAMORPHOSIS and BEYOND DARKNESS being packaged together, as far as I can tell without having seen either film yet, is that they share a star, Gene Lebrock (no relation to Kelly). Just letting you know what you’re getting yourself into, and it’s as much a note for me as for anyone, since it’s inevitable I will check both these movies out.
PLAY MOTEL (1979)
IMDb says: “A reporter and his girlfriend investigate deaths surrounding a hotel where several prominent people go to have sex.” Sold. And the female lead looks like that? I’m easy sometimes.
RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985)
This has been on Blu-Ray before. It’s new packaging.
RAMBO III (1988)
Same deal.
THE REIVERS (1969)
Apparently chock full of Steve McQueen making goofy faces. Based on a Faulkner novel. (Are the goofy faces in the book?)
THE REVENGERS (1972)
Came across this movie for the first time, via the remarkable poster, only a few months ago. Been dying to see it ever since. There’s no way it’s as good, but putting William Holden and Ernest Borgnine back together in a Western in 1972 is a huge chunk of the way towards reassembling THE WILD BUNCH. Seeing as how that’s one of my favorite movies ever and one of the best ever made, I’ll take even a knock-off version with two of its stars, just for a change.
THE RUNNER (2015)
Why fight it? Nicolas Cage has made a ton of movies over the past few years that regular people have never heard of, and I’ve seen half of them. Chances are better than 50-50 I’ll see this too.
THE SENDER (1982)
“A disturbed telepathic man is able to transmit his dreams and visions into the minds of the people around him.” Sounds cool. Who’s in it? A bunch of great actors whose faces you’d know, if not their names. And the director? Roger Christian, who worked on the original STAR WARS trilogy but who also made BATTLEFIELD: EARTH. Sounds risky, but those are my kind of odds.
THE SINGING DETECTIVE (2003)
A great cast, led by a pre-revival Robert Downey Jr., rounds out this film adaptation of a British miniseries about a detective who’s the imaginary creation of a man ailing from a severe skin disease. Like KISS KISS BANG BANG, but with psoriasis.
SKIN TRADE (2015)
Yup. Over here. Where do I sign?
STUDENT BODIES (1981)
At the zenith of the slasher-movie’s golden era and a year after AIRPLANE!, this parody emerged. Is it any good? I haven’t ever gotten around to seeing it, though I’ve sure seen plenty of the movies it’s spoofing.
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957)
To my understanding, this is a single-disc edition following Criterion’s previous two-disc extravaganza. The options are secondary; It’s Akira Kurosawa, so you’re going to want to see it no matter how you can get it.
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (2014)
Can’t wait to finally get a look at this movie. I’m totally on board with anything Marion Cotillard decides to do with her time.
WELCOME TO NEW YORK (2014)
This would be intriguing enough just off the pitch, which is an imagined depiction of what that creepy French pervert was up to in that fancy NYC hotel, but since it’s an Abel Ferrara film, it’s an essential to-do for the list.
WHERE HOPE GROWS (2015)
Hope is indeed a necessary lantern to hang around one’s neck as one ventures into the world of faith-based films, let alone one that features a character with Down syndrome. Will it be patronizing and saccharine? One can only hope.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP (1982)
Robin Williams’ first leading role after POPEYE, the one that proved he was the real deal, is a John Irving adaptation from the director of BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID. It’s a good movie — not a personal favorite, but what do I know? See it for yourself. Good story, great cast, terrific lead performance. Well worth it.
HAPPY CONSUMING,
— JON ABRAMS (@JONNYABOMB).
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Tags: Blu-ray, dvd, New Releases
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