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Insights from home entertainment industry experts. Home Media blogs give you the inside scoop on entertainment news, DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases, and the happenings at key studios and entertainment retailers. TK's Take analyzes and comments on home entertainment industry news and trends, Agent DVD Insider talks comic adaptations, and IndieFile delivers independent film news.

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November 18, 2009
Magnolia to Bow ‘Chevolution,’ ‘Outrage,’ ‘The Burning Plain’

The Burning Plain

Magnolia Home Entertainment in January is releasing one great film I have seen and two that I need to.

The Burning Plain

Genre: Drama
Studio: Magnolia
Street date: 1/12
Prebook: 12/15
Price/Format: $26.98 DVD, $29.98 BD
Reserve for purchase (DVD or Blu-ray)
Reserve on Netflix

Charlize Theron and Kim Bassinger star in the latest from Guillermo Arriaga (Babel, 21 Grams, Amores Perros). Theron stars as a restaurant hostess with a secret sex life; Bassinger is a desperate housewife; and Jennifer Lawrence stars as a young woman who falls in love with a man her father hates. In typical Arriaga fashion, the stories intertwine, and, I’m guessing, in typical Arriaga fashion, you won’t want to miss it.

Outrage

Genre: Documentary
Studio: Magnolia
Street date: 1/19
Prebook: 12/22
Price/Format: $26.98 DVD
Reserve for purchase
Reserve on Netflix

Kirby Dick’s searing documentary opens the closet holding allegedly gay and definitely anti-gay rights politicians such as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) and retired Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.). Dick, the firebrand behind This Film is Not Yet Rated, another great doc that explored hypocrisy (in that film with the MPAA), interviews blogger Michael Rogers, who outs closeted politicians who vote against gay rights, as well as Rep. Barney Frank, the openly gay Massachusetts Democrat who’s always good for dropping sardonic bits of wisdom into a stew of bull droppings. You might feel conflicted about both Dick’s and Rogers’ tactics with regard to the right to privacy (I sure do), but it’s hard to ignore the film’s point about why such hypocrisy shouldn’t be allowed to continue without exposure when the end result is so damaging to a group of people.


Chevolution

Genre: Documentary
Studio: Magnolia
Street date: 1/19
Prebook: 12/22
Price/Format: $26.98 DVD
Reserve for purchase
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Features interviews with various commentators on the socialist revolutionary, including actor Gael Garcia Bernal, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and artist Shepard Fairey.

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October 05, 2009
Anchor Bay Opens ‘Paper Heart’

Genre: Comedy/Drama/Documentary
Studio: Anchor Bay
Street date: 12/8
Prebook: 10/29
Price/Format: $29.98 DVD $39.98 Blu-ray
Reserve for purchase (DVD or Blu-ray)
Reserve on Netflix

Dec. 1 Anchor Bay is releasing pseudo-doc cuddlefest Paper Heart on DVD and Blu-ray. Charlene Yi, the funny Asian girl from Knocked Up, co-wrote and stars in the film, which weaves interviews with ministers, children, lawyers and plenty of others about love together with a sort of fantastical love story between her and actor Michael Cera. I don’t think it really matters which parts of it are real. No one cares that “The Hills” isn’t real. It’s original and Yi and Cera are irresistible geeks for the ages.

 

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October 02, 2009
Entering the Unknown With H.P. Lovecraft

Frank H. Woodward’s Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown explores the world of author H.P. Lovecraft, who was little-known during his lifetime but later became infamous for his horrific creations — tales of people driven to madness by the existence of tentacled creatures from other planes of existence. As the film shows, Lovecraft transformed horror, taking it from the gothic and into the more supernatural and cosmic.

The film, which hits DVD and Blu-ray Disc Oct. 13 for $24.95 each, from Cinevolve, explores his life as a recluse and the mythos he created, such as the ultimate evil, Cthulu, and the forbidden book of evil, the Necronomicon. It features interviews with experts and fans such as filmmakers Guillermo del Toro and John Carpenter and writer Neil Gaiman (of “The Sandman” comic book series).

HM: Were you an H.P. Lovecraft buff before embarking on this project?

Woodward: I was definitely familiar with Lovecraft before. I had read the main stories — “The Call of Cthulu,” “The Outsider” and the earlier stories — so I knew who he was, who Cthulu was, but I didn’t know much about him outside of the broad strokes. I knew that he was an eccentric, but that obviously doesn’t convey how complex a guy he was. It started as a possible featurette for a DVD. I have produced Anchor Bay featurettes, and we had just finished doing Masters of Horror: Season One, during which I met Stuart Gordon and John Carpenter. They were putting out the anniversary edition of Re-Animator (the 1985 film based on a Lovecraft story), and there was discussion of, “Hey, let’s do something on Lovecraft.” For whatever reason, it didn’t end up on the DVD … but for me it was great because I got to learn about someone I was already curious about and in the process of it became even greater a fan.

HM: How was it made and brought out through Cinevolve?

Woodward: We decided we were going make it on a totally independent level. We didn’t shop it around until it had played at different festivals — we had already won at Comic-Con (best documentary, 2008) at that point.

At the time, unless Michael Moore was in the title someplace, a lot of the labels had totally binged on documentaries for a while, so documentaries weren’t as salable. They just didn’t do what people thought they would do. So we just came into it there, coupled with the wonderful start of the recession. But with Cinevolve, it was just like, these are the guys. It was like meeting your wife or significant other.

HM: How did you get people like John Carpenter and Guillermo del Toro involved?

Woodward: The pleasant surprise for everything was even for people we didn’t know, like Neil Gaiman, because they were such staunch fans of Lovecraft, they said, “Yes! We’d love to do it.” Guillermo I had actually approached at Comic-con one year about it. He was very keen to do it. This was just before Pan’s Labyrinth had come out and just before he got all the nominations and became the superstar that he is and deserves to be.

HM: Did you seek anyone out in particular?

Woodward: Not on a big-name side of things. [Lovecraft biographer] S.T. Joshi had to be involved. S.T. is the expert on Lovecraft. He has devoted quite a bit of his life to the biography. … You want as many authorities as you can. We needed that. Otherwise, in truth, it’s a lot of fans talking about him, and you don’t get into who the guy was.

HM: During the process of making this film, what did you discover to be the most fascinating thing about Lovecraft’s life?

Woodward: For me I don’t think there was anything necessarily surprising. The basic facts I knew about him; it was more about adding details and color to what I knew. What I delighted in learning, that will be on some of the extras on the DVD, is just how personable he was, especially with some of the other writers he was in correspondence with. He just wrote thousands of letters. … In some instances he was just a very friendly, giving man. When he would entertain, he would make sure he had coffee for everyone. Just how much affection he had for his friends was touching. For someone who people know as a xenophobe and racist, that’s not something you would expect.

HM: Speaking of which, did you struggle with how to include certain aspects, such as Lovecraft’s racism or specific criticisms of his writings?

Woodward: As far as the racism goes, he obviously had written things that were a little more objectionable than we included in the documentary. He was a staunch Aryan, and had written long letters about how the Aryan was the key to human success. We had initially had a section in there, and we wanted to talk about it, but I knew we didn’t want the film to only be about that. Obviously there is a balance you have to strike, and from what I’ve heard, we hit it. You can’t avoid it. … Most people we interviewed were on the same wavelength that yeah, it’s racist by today’s standards, but we can’t judge him through today’s eyes.

As far as his writing goes, as Gaiman says, there’s plenty o make fun of. I think that’s true of anyone who’s a diehard of anyone. I mean, “Star Trek” fans will pick apart the production values of old “Star Trek,” and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think they hated it. But it’s actually the opposite — it’s that you love it so much that you can go into detail. I think it comes from that place of deep love.

HM: What else is on the DVD/Blu-ray?

Woodward: There are 72 extra minutes made into a featurette, art from artists who lent us art for the documentary and a fan film easter egg from our music composer. For Lovecraft fans, for sure it’s definitely going to be a fun disc.

Click to reserve Lovecraft for purchase.

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September 23, 2009
Lionsgate Explores ‘The Cove’

Genre: Documentary
Studio: Lionsgate
Street date: 12/8
Prebook: 11/11
Price/Format: $27.98 DVD
Reserve for purchase
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The Cove is a controversial film by nature — it follows animal activist and formal dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry and a dive team as they explore the killing of dolphins in a lagoon in Taiji, Japan. The crew uses hidden microphones and cameras to show how fishermen of Taiji hunt thousands of dolphins for purposes of the dolphin entertainment industry and the black market for dolphin meat.

The film’s pedigree speaks for itself: It has won the Audience Awards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, 2009 Silver Docs Film Festival, 2009 HotDocs Film Festival, 2009 Sydney Film Festival and 2009 Maui Film Festival, as well as Golden Space Needle at the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival, Best Feature Film and Best Storytelling at the 2009 Nantucket Film Festival, Best in Festival and Best Theatrical from the 2009 Blue Ocean Film Festival.

Personally, I just keep hearing about this film and its disturbing subject matter — the aura around this documentary reminds me of Zoo two years ago. And young actress and animal activist Hayden Panettiere appears in the film, which it pretty cool of her.

The DVD has a commentary, a documentary on the dangers of mercury, behind-the-scenes footage and deleted and extended scenes. 

 

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September 17, 2009
December Criterion Titles Include Akira Kurosawa Set

Title: AK 100: 25 Films By Akira Kurosawa
Street Date: 12/8
Prebook Date: 11/10
Studio: Criterion
Price/Format: DVD $399
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Criterion is pulling out the big guns in December, releasing an ambitious, 25-film set from Akira Kurosawa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Japanese director. The linen-bound set includes an illustrated book with an introduction by Stephen Prince (The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa) and notes on each film and a remembrance by Donald Richie (Films of Akira Kurosawa). It includes restored digital transfers of the following films:

The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Dodes’ka-den (1970)
Drunken Angel (1948)
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
High and Low (1963)
I Live in Fear (1955)
The Idiot (1951)
Ikiru (1952)
Kagemusha (1980)
The Lower Depths (1957)
Madadayo (1993)
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)*
The Most Beautiful (1944)*
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Rashomon (1951)
Red Beard (1965)
Sanjuro (1962)
Sanshiro Sugata (1943)*
Sanshiro Sugata, Part II (1944)*
Scandal (1950)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Stray Dog (1949)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Yojimbo (1961)

*previously unreleased on DVD


Title: Gimme Shelter
Street Date: 12/1
Prebook Date: 11/3
Studio: Criterion
Price/Format: Blu-ray $39.95
Reserve for purchase

This new high-definition digital transfer of 30th anniversary version of the notorious 1969 Rolling Stones tour film is remastered and restored from the camera original and has a DTS-HD master audio soundtrack, exclusive Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround-sound mixes, commentary with directors Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin and collaborator Stanley Goldstein, backstage outtakes and more. This edition also includes a booklet with essays by Mick Jagger’s former assistant Georgia Bergman, music writers Michael Lydon and Stanley Booth, and film critics Amy Taubin and Godfrey Cheshire.

Title: A Christmas Tale (DATE CHANGE)
Street Date: 12/1
Prebook Date: 11/3
Studio: Criterion
Price/Format: DVD or Blu-ray $39.95
Reserve for purchase (DVD)

Catherine Deneuve stars as the matriarch of a troubled family at Christmas.

Additionally, the release dates of Criterion’s October titles have been changed (see the releases and new dates here).

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