Mario Ruspoli, Prince of the Whales (2011) with Collected Shorts by Mario Ruspoli (1958-1972) Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

Mario Ruspoli, Prince of the Whales is an impressive documentary which explores the life and work of documentary filmmaker and artist Ruspoli. The feature-film is directed by Florence Dauman (Hollywood Mavericks). The piece explores the work of the acclaimed artist through captivating interviews with family and friends.

Ruspoli was renowned for his contributions to documentary filmmaking. Fellow filmmakers, family members, and friends recount the efforts of the artist and the significant historical elements which revolved around his development as an artist. Known as a filmmaker, artist, and writer, Ruspoli experimented in his field and managed to come up with a number of unique shorts that made his illustrious career a defining one.

Born in Rome, Ruspoli spent much of his life as an artist living in Paris, France. The documentary filmmaker delved into his stories with an emphasis on historical accounts and on entomology. The importance of art – and storytelling – was central to his life and work. Mario Ruspoli, Prince of the Whales explores those elements with a heartfelt eye.

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Three Sisters (1970) DVD9 and Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

Put celebrated actor Laurence Olivier in charge of directing an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters", and there's a guarantee of quality seldom seen in the stage-to-screen tradition. Preserving his work on the material for the Royal National Theater, Olivier shows immense respect for Chekhov's writing and the needs of cinema with this endeavor, part of the American Film Theater's efforts during the 1970s to bring theater to the masses.

Nearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga, a schoolmistress, attempts to support her siblings and the home that is the sole legacy of their late army officer father. Masha finds relief from her empty marriage in an affair with a passionate young colonel. Irina, the youngest, wills herself to return the affections of an ardent suitor in the hopes that he will whisk her off to the city before it is too late. Intoxicated by yesterday's triumphs and heedless of tomorrow's disasters, the Three Sisters are left to sift through the debris of their shattered dreams on the eve of the social and political upheaval that will transform Russia forever.

Olivier delivers a lengthy but alert interpretation of "Three Sisters" that benefits tremendously from a game cast, which includes Joan Plowright, Alan Bates, and Derek Jacobi. The ensemble is committed to the powerful emotionality of the play, but they join Olivier's interest in screen construction, mindful of the bigness of the frame and the power of the close-up, adjusting performances to preserves intimacies otherwise impossible to achieve in a theatrical setting.

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Bullets, Bombs and Babes – The Andy Sidaris Collection: Malibu Express (1985), Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987), Picasso Trigger (1988), Savage Beach (1989), Guns (1990), Do or Die (1991), Hard Hunted (1993), Enemy Gold (1993), Fit to Kill (1993), The Dallas Connection (1994), Day of the Warrior (1996), L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return to Savage Beach (1998) 12 x DVD9

Long before Marvel had their "cinematic universe", Andy Sidaris created his own "L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies Cinematic Universe". From 1985 to 1998, through the course of a dozen films, writer/director Andy Sidaris showed us how the agents of L.E.T.H.A.L. (Legion to Ensure Total Harmony And Law) worked and played. The films weren't trying to be Oscar-winners, and they usually followed the same formula, but they did the trick for the VHS generation. These films were popular mainstays on cable and premium channels, such as Cinemax and USA. The history of the Malibu Bay Films empire that Andy built was chronicled in the 2003 book "Bullets, Bombs and Babes: The Films of Andy Sidaris".

The unmistakable formula of director Andy Sidaris: beautiful people filmed in exotic locations with an unapologetic amount of explosions, gunplay, and Playboy Playmates & Penthouse Pets, all with big-budget production values on a low budget.... and did I mention women in and out of sexy outfits? Enjoy the entire collection fully loaded with bonus features including commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and new trailers. All of the movies are rated R, contain nudity and sexual situations.

Starring Playboy Playmates & Penthouse Pets:
Dona Speir, Julie K. Smith, Hope Marie Carlton, Sybil Danning, Roberta Vasquez, Julie Strain and many more!
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Jeune & Jolie / Young and Beautiful (2013) DVD5, DVD9, Blu-Ray

Following the well-received In The House, Francois Ozon returns with yet another voyeuristic character study with Jeune & Jolie (Young and Beautiful). Over the course of four weather seasons, the film follows a sexually driven adolescent striving to discover herself while pushing boundaries that society sets in front of her.

One summer, Isabelle, 16, is on holiday with her family on the French Riviera. Encouraged by her hedonistic parents, she allows an attractive young man to rob her of her virginity, but she takes no pleasure in the experience and sees no real significance in it. The following autumn, Isabelle, now 17, is a fully fledged Parisian prostitute, although naturally she keeps this fact from her parents. Between leaving school and returning to her comfortable middleclass home, she arranges to meet up with her clients at various hotels, clients she has no difficulty attracting over the internet.

Throughout, she remains curiously aloof, showing little interest in the encounters themselves or the money she makes, while Ozon slyly refrains from offering easy answers. As the enigmatic Isabelle, Marine Vacth is magnetic, delivering a star-making breakout performance in this sleek and sexy coming-of-age drama.

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The Stunt Man (1980) 2xDVD9 and Blu-Ray Severin Films

This brilliant and provocative film has the dubious distinction of sitting on the shelf with the label "commercially unviable." Lawrence B. Marcus's screenplay is based on Paul Brodeur's 1970 novel of the same title. The movie presents a fast-paced, revealing, and thoroughly engaging look at the movie business. Propelled by the excellent music of Dominic Frontiere and the expert cinematography of Mario Tosi, The Stunt Man is a beguiling work of art which lingers in the mind long after its closing credits.

Cameron (Steve Railsback) is a Vietnam veteran who is being pursued by the police and the FBI. During his flights from the law, he is involved in a strange episode where he apparently causes the death of another man. Eli Cross (Peter O'Toole), a charismatic and authoritarian film director who is making a movie about World War I, offers him work as a stunt man. Cameron soon discovers that the dead man was his predecessor in the job. For a while, the young fugitive is safe from discovery by the police; instead he is at the mercy of the director — an obsessed genius who senses that Cameron possesses the feral drive and madness to make his film something extraordinary.

Director Richard Rush thrusts us into the mad mad world of moviemaking. We see the hectic last three days of production from Cameron's point of view. In several daring stunt scenes, Cameron proves his pluck and death-defying courage. Each of the film's stunts is more dangerous than the one preceding it, and Eli Cross seems hellbent on capturing Cameron's death on film. Cameron is driven the point of total paranoia, unsure if he can trust anyone around him or even if he can rely on his own perceptions.

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Dopo mezzanotte / After Midnight (2004) DVD5

Almost any film would automatically be worth watching if it were set in the amazingly gorgeous Mole Antonelliana the Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy — but After Midnight surpasses all expectations.

Giorgio Pasotti plays Martino, the sad-eyed museum worker who venerates Keaton and who has tried as best he can to approximate Keaton's world, from the witty gadgets that populated his movie sets (a record player that turns into a bar) to the actor's signature pratfalls, tics and subtle physical gags. But Martino's tightly controlled universe is shattered with the arrival of Amanda (Francesca Inaudi), a fast-food clerk who crashes into his life after dousing her boss with a vat of french fry oil. The two embark on an unlikely romance, made problematic by Amanda's volatile boyfriend, Angel (Fabio Troiano).

The film utilizes the magic of cinema to communicate emotions between the characters in an enchanting way.

Director: Davide Ferrario
Cast: Giorgio Pasotti, Francesca Inaudi, Fabio Troiano, Francesca Picozza, Silvio Orlando, Pietro Eandi, Andrea Romero, Giampiero Perone
Country: Italy
Genre: Comedy, Romance
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A Night at the Opera (1935) Blu-Ray Warner

The first movie the Marx Brothers did for MGM under the watchful eye of Irving Thalberg, A Night at the Opera is a comedic tour de force that was not only one of the Brother's funniest films, but also one of the most successful. In 1993, the movie was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

The plot to this movie, like all of the Marx brothers' best films, is really only there as a backdrop, a reason for all the zaniness to take place.

Groucho plays Otis B. Driftwood, a con man working the Opera scene in Italy. He is hired by the clueless widow, Mrs. Claypool (Margaret Dumont), to help her break into proper society. Meanwhile the egomaniacal star of the opera, Lassparri (Walter Woolf King), abuses his dresser (Harpo) and sexually harasses the company's young ingenue, Rosa (Kitty Carlisle), who is in love with the less successful, but equally talented tenor, Riccardo (Allan Jones). Riccardo is managed by Fiorello (Chico) who hustles Otis into signing him to a contract.
As the opera company sets sail to New York the three Marx Brothers follow it in order to help the young lovers reunite, make some cash, and bring down the arrogant Lassparri.
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