DVD News

Magic in August

It's something of an oversight that Richard Attenborough's fourth film as director has not appeared on our Wish List. Actually, since the film is available on a a rather well specified region 1 disc from Dark Sky Films, it wouldn't qualify for the list. Why none of us have got round to buying it is another matter, of course. Well in August you won't have to worry about regional coding, as Anchor Bay UK are releasing the film on region 2 as a 2-disc special edition with pretty much the same set of extras as the Dark Sky DVD (which fitted all this onto one disc).

For those who do not know, the William Goldmna penned story concerns hopeless magician and ventriloquist Corky (a wonderfully twichy performance from Anthony Hopkins) who, after a period in the wilderness, re-emerges with a new found confidence, a new act and a new dummy named Fats. Destined for the big time, Corky's only problem appears to be that his attachment to Fats goes far beyond that of ventriloquist and his doll... The film also features solid work from Ann-Margaret, Berges Meredith and (hoorah!) Ed Lauter.

Featuring an anamorphic widescreen transfer and a choice of Dolby 2.0 stereo, Dolby 5.1 surround and DTS tracks, the following features are also confirmed:

Screenwriting For Dummies featurette;
Fats And Friends featurette;
an interview with cinematographer Victor J. Kemper;
an interview with Anthony Hopkins;
Anthony Hopkins radio interview;
English and Spanish radio spots;
English and Spanish TV spots;
English trailers; stills gallery;
Ann-Margret makeup test.

Release date is set for 21st August 2006 at the RRP of £14.99.

posted 26 June 2006

Faust from Masters of Cinema

This is a release that Masters of Cinema seem to have been prepping for some time now. F. W. Munau's final German film is without doubt the most visually astonishing film version of Goethe's play (and there have been many), a masterpiece of German expressionist cinema and one of the crowning achievements of Maunau's remarkable film career. That Masters of Cinema were giving is a makeover was good news in itself, but now the details are out it looks better than ever, and are to release Murnau's original domestic cut, which was never released outside of German and for a long time not even known to have existed at all. The print has been meticulously reconstructed by Luciano Berriatúa for Filmoteca Española from nitrate duplicate negatives printed by UFA in 1926, and is now to be made available for the first time in the UK. This 2-disc 80th Anniversary Edition will include the following features:

Disc 1:

Newly found domestic German print featuring completely different takes and much better resolution than the previously seen export print released outside of Germany;
Full-length audio commentary by critics David Ehrenstein and Bill Krohn;
New harp score by Stan Ambrose, as well as the Timothy Brock orchestral score;
Progressively encoded transfer, with original German intertitles;
Improved optional English subtitles;
Disc 2:
The previously available Export version of Faust;
Tony Rayns on Faust — a 38-minute video piece;
Faust: The different versions — a 28-minute video comparison by R. Dixon Smith.
plus
28-page booklet with new essays by Peter Spooner and R. Dixon Smith, and a selection of rare production stills.

Release date is scheduled for 26 June at the RRP of £22.99

posted 22 June 2006

Fellini's Amarcord from Criterion in August

First released by Criterion back in 1998 with a non-anamorphic print and no extras of note, Fellini's boistrous look at provincial Italy during the Fascist days is one of his most acclaimed and widely celebrated films. In what seems to be an ongoing project, Criterion are to re-release the title in August with a spanking new print and a whole host of extras. This new, two-disc set witl feature:

An all-new, restored high-definition digital transfer;
An audio commentary by film scholars Peter Brunette and Frank Burke;
American release trailer;
Deleted scene;
Optional English-dubbed soundtrack;
New and improved English subtitle translation;
New 45-minute documentary, Fellini’s Homecoming, on the
complicated relationship between the celebrated director, his
hometown, and his past;
Video interview with star Magali Noël;
Fellini’s drawings of characters in the film;
'Felliniana', a presentation of ephemera devoted to Amarcord
from the collection of Don Young;
Audio interviews with Fellini, his friends, and family by
Gideon Bachmann;
New restoration demonstration;
A book featuring a new essay by scholar Sam Rohdie,
author of Fellini Lexicon, and the full text of Fellini’s 1967
essay, "My Rimini."

Release date is set for 5th September 2006 at the SRP of £39.95.

posted 20 June 2006

Kicking and Screaming from Criterion in August

Noah Baumbach's 1995 Kicking and Screaming is one of those films that is rarely seen and you sort of hope someone like Criterion will pick up for release. Well what do you know, they have. The story of a group of college friends who on the completion of their courses choose to hang around on campus rather than face the real world, the film has been acclaimed as one of the accurate portrayals of post-college angst, when the world of education gives way to the demands of the world of work.

Criterion are to release the film in a director approved special edition with the following features:

New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Noah Baumbach;
New Dolby Digital 5.1 audio remix;
New video interview with writer-director Baumbach;
New video conversations featuring Baumbach and cast
members Chris Eigeman, Josh Hamilton, and Carlos Jacott;
Rare deleted scenes;
Conrad and Butler in Conrad and Butler Take a Vacation, a
short film from 2000, directed by Baumbach and starring
Kicking and Screaming cast members Carlos Jacott and John
Lehr;
Brief 1995 interviews with Baumbach and the cast, originally
broadcast on IFC;
Theatrical trailer;
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing;
A new essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Release date is set for August 22nd 2006 at the SRP of $29.99.

posted 20 June 2006

Seven Samurai 3-disc special edition in September

It's the greatest adventure movie ever made and one of the most richly enjoyable movie experiences you'll ever have. Remade and ripped off over the years, the original still towers over all of them. We're accepting no argument here - Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) is one of cinema history's bona fide masterpieces. Already available on DVD in the US from Criterion and the UK from BFI, both are set to be eclipsed by what could prove to be the definitive DVD release of the film, as Criterion announce a 3-disc special edition re-release for September. A dream come true? Let's hope so. the announced features are:

All-new, restored high-definition digital transfer;
Two audio commentaries: one by film scholars David Desser, Joan Mellen, Stephen Prince, Tony Rayns, and Donald Richie; the other by Japanese-film expert Michael Jeck;
A 50-minute documentary on the making of Seven Samurai, part of the Toho Masterworks series Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful to Create;
My Life in Cinema, a two-hour video conversation between Akira Kurosawa and Nagisa Oshima produced by the Directors Guild of Japan;
Seven Samurai: Origins and Influences, a new documentary lookimg at the samurai traditions and films that impacted Kurosawa's masterpiece;
Theatrical trailers and teaser;
Gallery of rare posters and behind-the scenes and production stills;
New and improved English subtitle translation;
PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Peter Cowie, Philip Kemp, Peggy Chiao, Alain Silver, Kenneth Turan, Stuart Galbraith, Arthur Penn, and Sindey Lumet and an interview with Toshiro Mifune;
More!

Exact release date and price have yet to be confirmed - we will update the story as soon as we have the information.

posted 16 June 2006

The Proposition in July

Australian westerns are thin on the ground and decent ones from anywhere have been just as rare in recent times, so the appearance of a damned fine Australian western is something to celebrate. Such was the case earlier this year with this second collaboration between writer amd musician Nick Cave and director John Hillcoat, who gave us the extraordinary Ghosts...of the Civil Dead back in 1988. The film features an intriguingly international cast, including local lad Guy Pearce, American Danny Huston and Brits Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and John Hurt.

Already available as a bare bones region 4 Australian disc, Tartan have been for some time hinting at something more substantial for its UK release and have now confirmed this to be the case. The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer and Dolby 2.0 stereo, 5.1 surround and DTS soundtracks will be joined by the following extras:

Feature Commentary with director John Hillcoat and writer Nck Cave
Interviews with Guy Pearce and Danny Huston (exclusive to UK disc)
Cast and crew interviews with Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Dave Wenham, Nick Cave and John Hillcoat
Behind the scenes featurettes.

The release date is set for 17th July 2006 at the retail price of £19.99.

Read our review of Ghosts...of the Civil Dead

posted 15 June 2006

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