US DVD Update, 16 January

In taking time off from film writing for the past few weeks, I've been surprised how much I don't particularly miss doing it. At least, not yet. So, I apologize for the only updates on here being DVD announcements, but I'll be returning to actual writing soon. So for now, here's probably the most exciting release update so far this year, with dates announced for Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Serge Bozon's La France (one of my favorite films of the past decade), Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata, Jennifer M. Kroot's It Came from Kuchar and Ondi Timoner's We Live in Public. Also, Blu-rays for Death Race 2000 and William Friedkin's hilariously awful Jade (in its unavailable-on-DVD director's cut, as far as I've heard), as well as Michael Mann's Collateral. And Sony has also announced a Hammer box-set, including Joseph Losey's These Are the Damned (also known as The Damned) with Oliver Reed, which is posted below the Blu-rays.

DVDs

- Bitch Slap, 2009, d. Rick Jacobson, 20th Century Fox, 2 March
- We Live in Public, 2009, d. Ondi Timoner, Indiepix, 2 March
- Gentlemen Broncos, 2009, d. Jared Hess, also on Blu-ray, 20th Century Fox, 2 March
- Dread, 2009, d. Anthony DiBlasi, Lionsgate, 23 March
- Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2009, d. Wes Anderson, also on Blu-ray, 20th Century Fox, 23 March
- Hidden [Skjult], 2009, d. Pål Øie, Lionsgate, 23 March
- An Education, 2009, d. Lone Scherfig, also on Blu-ray, Sony Pictures, 30 March
- Focus/Refocus: When Porn Kills, 2009, d. Tony DiMarco, Breaking Glass Pictures, 30 April [A "softcore" edit of the most expensive gay porn film of 2009]
- AIR: The Musical, 2009, d. Jeremy Osbern, Cinema Epoch, 6 April
- Five Minutes of Heaven, 2009, d. Oliver Hirschbiegel, also on Blu-ray, IFC Films, 6 April
- La France, 2008, d. Serge Bozon, Lorber Films/Kino, 6 April
- All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, 2010, d. Tim Rutili, Indiepix, 13 April
- Evening Primrose, 1966, d. Paul Bogart, Koch Vision, 20 April, w. Anthony Perkins
- The Horse Boy, 2009, d. Michel O. Scott, Zeitgeist, 20 April
- Mammoth, 2009, d. Lukas Moodysson, IFC Films, 20 April
- Uncertainty, 2008, d. Scott McGehee, David Siegel, IFC Films, 20 April
- Dark Nature, 2009, d. Marc de Launay, also on Blu-ray, Troma, 27 April
- Raging Sun, Raging Sky [Rabioso sol, rabioso cielo], 2009, d. Julián Hernández, TLA Releasing, 27 April
- Matinee, 1993, d. Joe Dante, Universal, 4 May
- No Time for Sergeants, 1958, d. Mervyn LeRoy, Warner, 4 May, w. Andy Griffith
- Tokyo Sonata, 2008, d. Kiyoshi Kurosawa, here! Films, 4 May
- The World Unseen, 2007, d. Shamim Sarif, here! Films, 4 May
- Misconceptions, 2008, d. Ron Satlof, here! Films, 18 May
- Murder in Fashion [aka Fashion Victim], 2008, d. Ben Waller, here! Films, 18 May
- It Came from Kuchar, 2009, d. Jennifer M. Kroot, Indiepix, 15 June


Blu-ray

- Collateral, 2004, d. Michael Mann, DreamWorks/Paramount, 30 March
- Jade, 1995, d. William Friedkin, Lionsgate, 6 April
- Lords of Dogtown, 2005, d. Catherine Hardwicke, Sony Pictures, 6 April
- The Natural, 1984, d. Barry Levinson, Sony Pictures, 6 April
- The Relic, 1997, d. Peter Hyams, Lionsgate, 6 April
- Rock 'n' Roll High School, 1979, d. Allan Arkush, Joe Dante, Jerry Zucker, Shout! Factory, 4 May
- Death Race 2000, 1975, d. Paul Bartel, Shout! Factory, 22 June


Icons of Suspense: Hammer Films, Sony Pictures, 6 April

- Stop Me Before I Kill! [aka The Full Treatment], 1960, d. Val Guest
- Cash on Demand, 1961, d. Quentin Lawrence, w. Peter Cushing
- Never Take Candy from a Stranger [aka Never Take Sweets from a Stranger], 1960, d. Cyril Frankel
- Maniac, 1963, d. Michael Carreras
- The Snorkel, 1958, d. Guy Green
- These Are the Damned [The Damned], 1963, d. Joseph Losey, w. Oliver Reed

The Decade List: Bug (2006)

Bug – dir. William Friedkin

Mistreated by Lionsgate, who apparently thought they could market William Friedkin’s adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Off Broadway play to the Hostel and Saw crowd by throwing “From the director of The Exorcist” on the poster, Bug was an utterly unnerving and bleak examination of a woman’s (a brilliant Ashley Judd) descent into complete obsessive terror with the help of a stranger in town (Michael Shannon). It was, basically, the alternative to the sort of cheap gore-fests that seemed so popular at the time (I hope we’re past that now).

William Friedkin walks Bug along a dangerous line between sheer horror and over-the-top mayhem, and to those without patience (mainly the people who bought into Lionsgate’s misleading promotion), it didn’t work. It takes a certain kind of delicacy to pull something like Bug off on the big screen, and for Friedkin, Judd and Shannon, it was the perfect amount, even if too many of the wrong people saw it. For the rest of us, Bug unsettled to the point of cringing and total personal disruption. I was literally shaken and stirred, and formed a return appreciation for Freidkin’s dying brand of terror.

With: Ashley Judd, Michael Shannon, Brian F. O’Byrne, Harry Connick Jr., Lynn Collins
Screenplay: Tracy Letts, based on his play
Cinematography: Michael Grady
Music: Brian Tyler
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Lionsgate

Premiere: 19 May 2006 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 11 November 2006 (AFI Film Festival)

Awards: FIPRESCI Prize: Quinzaine des réalisateurs (Cannes Film Festival)

R.I.P. Dominick Dunne

Though his contributions to cinema fell second to his journalistic accomplishments, Dominick Dunne acted as producer on three significant films from the 70s: adaptations of his sister-in-law Joan Didion's novels Panic in Needle Park and Play It As It Lays, as well as William Friedkin's The Boys in the Band. His daughter Dominique was the victim of a notorious murder scandal shortly after completing her work in the mythically cursed Poltergeist. He was 83.

DVD Update, 13 July

Not a totally exciting list, but here's what's been announced recently, in descending order of release.

DVD

- Sleep Dealer, 2008, d. Alex Rivera, Maya Releasing, also on Blu-ray, 8 September
- Marelene, 1984, d. Maximilian Schell, Kino, 6 October
- Made in France [Origine contrôlée], 2001, d. Ahmed Bouchaala, Zakia Tahri, Synkronized USA, 13 October, w. Ronit Elkabetz
- Black Rain, 1989, d. Shohei Imamura, AnimEigo, 20 October
- Fados, 2007, d. Carlos Saura, Zeitgeist, 20 October
- Born of Fire, 1983, d. Jamil Dehlavi, Mondo Macabro, 27 October, w. Peter Firth
- Graveyard Disturbance [Una notte al cimitero], 1987, d. Lamberto Bava, MYA Communication, 27 October

Blu-ray

- The Exorcist, 1973, d. William Friedkin, Warner, 8 September
- Easy Rider, 1969, d. Dennis Hopper, Sony, 13 October
- Heat, 1995, d. Michael Mann, Warner, 10 November

Some Changes

The Blu-rays of Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead have been upped to 22 September. Jeremiah Zagar's In a Dream will now be out 29 September. The Blu-ray of sex, lies and videotape has been pushed to 15 September. The news about a release of the theatrical version of Grindhouse on DVD and Blu-ray was bogus. Shout! Factory will also release a 2-disc Collector's Edition of Audition on DVD in addition to the Blu-ray on 7 October. And finally, Kino's I Can See You and The Viewer will now be out 27 October instead of in September.