Friday, May 11, 2007

**** new release list no. 115


Hey Out There,

We have another massive week of new stuff for you. Bunches of foreign films (PAN'S LABYRINTH, TEARS OF A BLACK TIGER, UN CHANT D'AMOUR, LA HAINE, FAMILY LAW, THE HISTORY BOYS, EXILES), TV (MAUDE: 1st SEASON), docs (ADDICTION, PLANET EARTH: THE COMPLETE SERIES), music (BAD BRAINS: LIVE AT CBGB'S 1982, LEONARD COHEN: UNDER REVIEW), kids stuff (CURIOUS GEORGE: ROCKET RIDE) and many other releases (DEAD GIRL, FUN DOWN THERE, THE FOUNTAIN, STOMP THE YARD, SERAPHIM FALLS).

Hope you enjoy them.

Best regards,
Ken

............**//RELEASE OF THE WEEK//**............

PAN'S LABYRINTH.
Drama/Romance.
Ivana Baquero/Sergi Lopez/Ariadna Gil/Doug Jones.
Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
* One of the most-acclaimed films of 2006. This fantasy horror tale won 3 Oscars and was nominated for 3 more. It is the tale of Ofelia (12-year old Ivana Baquero), the step-daughter of a psychotic army office in WWII Spain. She escapes her hellish life into an equally hellish fantasy world where she must prove her royalty by surviving three gruesome tasks. Del Toro's fine direction and superb story-telling shines in this dark fairytale about the intricate and and slippery power of imagination.

............//NEW TITLES//............


DEAD GIRL.
Drama/Mystery/Thriller.
Brittany Murphy/Toni Collette/Marcia Gay Harden/James Franco/Rose Byrne/Giovanni Ribisi/Kerry Washington/Mary Steenburgen.
Directed by Karen Moncrieff.
* Quiet and full of life, the death one of girl is the intersection of seven other lives.

EL TOPO.
Western.
Alexandro Jodorowsky/Mara Lorenzio/Jacqueline Luis.
Directed by Alexandro Jodorowsky.
* Vicious sheriffs, bizarre cults, clans of deformed people, master gunman, a remote cavern and a mission to build a tunnel out...Wow, it must be seen to be believed.

EXILES.
Drama/Foreign.
Romain Duris/Lubna Azabal.
Directed by Tony Gatlif
Two young Arab lovers leave Paris, without much money or food, in search of adventure. With the vague plan of visiting their Algerian relatives, the couple ends up having experiences they never could have predicted. - CD Universe

FAMILY LAW.
Comedy/Drama.
Daniel Hendler, Arturo Goetz, Julieta Diaz, Eloy Burman.
Directed by Daniel Burman.
* A light-hearted story about new father who is reconciling his relationship with his own father as he adjusts to life as a husband and a dad. This won multiple festival awards.

THE FOUNTAIN.
action/Drama.
Hugh Jackman/Rachel Weisz/Ellen Burstyn.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky.
* The motherlode, I think Hugh found it! The Fountain refers to the fountain of youth that exists in this tale of love, death and endless days.

FUN DOWN THERE.
Drama.
Michael Waite/Nickolas B. Nagourney/Martin Goldin.
Directed by Roger Stigliano.
* A gentle and sweet coming-of-age story about a gay kid from the country moving to the big city. And he's a dairy farmer!

THE HISTORY BOYS.
Comedy/Drama.
Richard Griffiths/Clive Merrison/Frances de la Tour/Stephen Campbell Moore.
Directed by Nicholas Hytner.
* Charming smart teenagers, looking for sex and being pursued by higher education. With the terrific Richard Griffiths (Withnail and I).

LA HAINE.
Crime/Drama.
Vincent Cassel, Saïd Taghmaoui.
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.
* Translating as "The Hate", this a tale tale of French suburban racial tension and violence. Three friends find a police man's lost gun and one swears to shoot a cop if their fourth friend dies from a beating he received from the police during riots the night before.

PAN'S LABYRINTH.
See Above: Release of the
Week

SERAPHIM FALLS.
Western.
Pierce Brosnan/Liam Neeson/Angie Harmon/Anjelica Huston.
Directed by David Von Ancken.
* A tense psychological thriller, Seraphim Falls follows Colonel Morsman Carver (Liam Neeson) at the end of the Civil War as he chases Gideon (Pierce Brosnan) intent on killing him.

STOMP THE YARD.
Drama/Musical/Romance.
Columbus Short/Meagan Good/Chris Brown/Brian J. White/Ne-Yo.
Directed by Sylvain White.
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition. - Promo
Maybe lighter fare but...see also: Bring It On

TEARS OF A BLACK TIGER.
Cult Western/Foreign.
Chartchai Ngamsan/Suwinit Panjamawat.
Directed by Wisit Sasanatieng.
* A western from Thailand! A gang of outlaws make a region of countryside in Thailand unsafe. Treachery, betrayal, pumping music and spectacular battles make this an exciting romp.

UN CHANT D AMOUR.
Drama/Foreign.
Java/André Reybaz.
Directed by Jean Genet.
Two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by the thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication. - IMDB

............//DOCUMENTARY//............

ADDICTION: HBO DOCUMENTARY.
Documentary.
Directed by Many.
* This is a documentary made up of nine separate segments on the topic of drug addiction.

PLANET EARTH: THE COMPLETE SERIES.
Series.
Narrated by David Attenborough.
* 40 Camera crews, 200 locations, 5 years in the making. This breathtaking and mind-boggling series will be a dream come true for nature doc lovers. The imagery is amazing. There are five one hour discs in this set.

............//MUSIC//............

BAD BRAINS: LIVE CBGB's 1982.
Music Video.
* Bad Brains, led by the irresistible HR, was one of the most influential bands of the American Hardcore scene. And they were versatile as well, mixing in a major dose of reggae to go along with the more thrashing stuff. This was culled from over 4 hours of footage from a three-day stint at the Hardcore Festival at CBGB's in late December 1982. As my bandmate JJ would say "Rawk!"

LEONARD COHEN: UNDER REVIEW.
Music.
* This is a 90 minute Doc on the music, poetry, performance and career of Leonard Cohen. The Under Review series takes a scholarly look at performers and mixes in analysis, hard to find footage, interviews and live performance in their review.

............//TELEVISION//............

MAUDE: 1ST SEASON.
Series.
Beatrice Arthur/Bill Macy/Adrienne Barbeau.
* Debuting on my third birthday (12 September 1972), Maude was a All In The Family spinoff series about Edith's liberal cousin Maude. This 70's comedy followed the path of it's originator and other shows of it's era (Good Times) in dealing with controversial issues of it's day..

............//ANIMATION//............

FILMS OF SUZANN PITT.
Animation.
Directed by Suzann Pitt.
* This collection presents three of Suzann Pitt's distinctly surreal animated film shorts: ASPARAGUS (1979) offers a revelatory exploration of female sexuality; JOY STREET (1995) documents a suicidal woman's spiritual redemption; and EL DOCTOR (2006) chronicles an elderly Mexican doctor's last days. -Newbury Comics

............//FAMILY//............

CURIOUS GEORGE: ROCKET RIDE AND OTHER ADVENTURES.
Kids.
George/Man with Yellow Hat.
* Come take a wild ride with George and his imperialist friend with the Yellow Hat! What the heck - my kids love this.



****

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