Chop Shop (2007) Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

For his acclaimed follow-up to Man Push Cart, Ramin Bahrani once again turned his camera on a slice of New York City rarely seen on-screen.

Willets Point is its own hermetically-sealed world of garages and body shops where twelve-year-old Alejandro busts his ass to scrape out a living among the mechanics (both legit and dubious ones) and the street hustlers. Little Ale gamely flags down drivers who havecruised into the area looking for cheap repairs, guiding them to the shop run by his boss Rob (Rob Sowulski, a real garage owner.) A perpetual motion machine, Ale skips up stairways, races across bridges, and squeezes his tiny body through windows in the relentless pursuit of an extra buck, selling bootleg DVDs, stolen hubcaps, or anything else he can scrounge.

Soon, Ale's teenage sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzalez) arrives from a safe house to live with him in a cramped room above Rob's garage. Without parents, an education, or any kind of social safety net to rely on, the siblings' life seems precarious, but Ale is confident he can surmount any obstacle. He assures Izzy there's nothing to worry about because: "I'm gonna work this shit out"...
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Jess + Moss (2011) DVD5

Jess + Moss, Clay Jeter's unusually heartfelt film about two kids growing up in western Kentucky, is a film experience unlike any other. Almost all the cinematic rules are broken, and the results are somehow transcendent. Featuring two actors, very little dialogue and grainy footage, it would appear that Jeter's film was more like home-video footage than a 2012 arthouse indie. This rawness and sparseness works wonders, creating a sense of reality and endearment.

Jess (Sarah Hagan) has already graduated high school, but she spends the summer like a child. Her mother has moved out, leaving behind promises that one day she'll return. Her father is distant and perhaps violent. Her only friend is Moss (Austin Vickers), her younger first cousin who wiles away the summer days in the fields and abandoned houses of Kentucky. Together, these title characters find a world of their own, one where dreams collide with nightmares, where parents are only present in spirit, where anything seems possible. They are free and depressed, working through the two extremes in a split second.

DVD5 | NTSC 16:9 | 01:21:59 | 4.37 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none

Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Boys from the Blackstuff (1982), The Black Stuff (1980) 3 x DVD

"Gizza job. Go on, gizza job. I can do that." The hectoring catchphrase of Yosser Hughes, the character played by Bernard Hill in Alan Bleasdale's classic BBC drama Boys from the Blackstuff, passed almost overnight into the language under the first Thatcher government.
The original TV play, The Black Stuff followed Yosser and a gang of Liverpudlian tarmac-layers as they went on a mishap-laden job in Middlesbrough. The subsequent 1982 series, Boys from the Blackstuff, depicted the effect of unemployment on the same characters just as the number of those without work in the UK topped three million.
Alan Bleasdale's 1982 series vividly captured the mood of the nation, driven to despair by rising unemployment. It was set in Liverpool, but it could have been in any city or town in Britain where men felt thrown on the scrapheap of life, no longer able to provide for their families.

DVD5 + 2xDVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 103 + 306 minutes | 19.4 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Cast: Michael Angelis, Bernard Hill, Alan Igbon, Tom Georgeson
Country: UK
Genre: Drama
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

The Complete Films of Agnès Varda: Varda by Agnes (2019), La Pointe Courte (1955), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Daguerréotypes (1976), Le Bonheur (Happiness) (1965), Les Créatures (1966), Uncle Yanco (1967), Black Panthers (1968), Mur Murs (1980), Documenteur (1981), One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1977), Vagabond (1985), Jane B. par Agnès V. (1988), Kung-Fu Master! (1988), Jacquot de Nantes (1991), One Hundred and One Nights (Les cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma) (1995), The Gleaners and I (2000), Faces Places (Visages Villages) (2017), Agnès de ci de là Varda (Agnès Varda: From Here to There) (2011), The Beaches of Agnès (Les plages d’Agnès) (2008) 15 x Blu-Ray Criterion Collection

Though often overshadowed by her male counterparts, the Belgian-born Greek-French filmmaker was a New Wave innovator who left a vibrant body of work, all of it restored and available in a new collection. All thirty-nine films from the French cinema icon including essential classics, shorts, documentaries, and multimedia works, together for the first time.

A founder of the French New Wave who became an international art-house icon, Agnes Varda was a fiercely independent, restlessly curious visionary whose work was at once personal and passionately committed to the world around her. In an abundant career in which she never stopped expanding the notion of what a movie can be, Varda forged a unique cinematic vocabulary that frequently blurs the boundaries between narrative and documentary, and entwines loving portraits of her friends, her family, and her own inner world with a social consciousness that was closely attuned to the 1960s counterculture, the women's liberation movement, the plight of the poor and socially marginalized, and the ecology of our planet.

As Criterion did with their 2018 box set, Ingmar Bergman's Cinema, they have chosen not to present these films in strict chronological order. Instead, each of the set's 15 discs has a theme. As one progresses through all these discs, the connections between the films -- and not only those that have been included together -- become clearer. This makes Agnes Varda's output feel like one large, multi-part artwork.

Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Ishiro Honda Double Feature: The H-Man / Beauty and the Liquidman (1958), Battle in Outer Space (1959) 2 x Blu-Ray Eureka – Masters of Cinema

Ishiro Honda lived a long and eventful life that saw him forge a really remarkable career in the Japanese film industry. Though being at least intermittently associated with such legends as Akira Kurosawa, Honda may forever be best remembered for his relationship with another "legend" of sorts: Gojira. Honda was instrumental in developing what a lot of folks think of as the "modern" kaiju film, having not just helmed the first (and several subsequent) Godzilla outings, but also Rodan and Mothra. While all of those kaiju entries probably at least flirted with a science fiction ambience, Honda also made films which were inarguably firmly within a sci-fi idiom, including The Mysterians, as well as both of the films Eureka! Entertainment's Masters of Cinema series has aggregated together here in this release.

2xBD50 | 1080p AVC | 347 min | 45 Gb + 44.6 Gb
Language: Japanese, English
Subtitles: English
Genre: Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

British Musicals of the 1930s: Volume 4: Dance Band (1935), Kathleen Mavourneen (1937), Hold My Hand (1938), Yes, Madam? (1939) 2 x DVD9

From playful romantic comedies to variety extravaganzas, the pre-war British musical films offered audiences a source of much-needed escapism throughout the decade haunted by the Great Depression and the growing menace of war.

Often adapting much-loved hits of the music hall as well as serving as vehicles for the era's composers, performers and band leaders, they showcased home-grown talent alongside some of Hollywood's most bankable stars.

This ongoing, multi-volume collection makes available a wealth of rare gems from the very earliest days of the British talkies, many of which have remained unseen since their original release. Volume 4 features four rarely screened films from the decade, each of them presented uncut, in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.

DVD9 | PAL 4:3 | 295 mins | 5.93 Gb + 6.26 Gb
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Genre: Musical, Drama, Comedy, Romance

Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Seven Sinners (1936) DVD5

Carnival. Nice, France. Fireworks. Drinks, costumes and wild dancing. And in the middle of it all, the American John Harwood. Dressed as a devil and somewhat drunk, Harwood stumbles upon a dead man when accidentally entering the wrong hotel room. But when he manages to convince others to come to the scene, the body is gone. Who died? And why? The plot thickens with a train crash that just may have been sabotage and the disappearance of a woman that Harwood met.

In many ways, this film reminds of Alfred Hitchcock's English films from the 1930s. Though competently made, Seven Sinners does not have the edge in composition and editing that Hitchcock does. The story and acting, however, are quite up to Hitchcock's standards, so if you enjoy Hitchcock's British films, there is a good chance that you will enjoy this one as well.

DVD5 | PAL 4:3 | 01:06:47 | 2.96 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none

Director: Albert de Courville
Cast: Edmund Lowe, Constance Cummings, Thomy Bourdelle
Country: UK
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Laurel or Hardy: Early Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (1914-1926) 2 x Blu-Ray Flicker Alley

Arthur Stanley Jefferson comes from the British vaudeville scene, and was at one time Chaplin's understudy. Oliver Norvell Hardy, a comedian born on film, worked steadily for years in Hollywood and built his notoriety in over 300 supporting roles. Although the two had different styles and came from distinct backgrounds, they followed similar creative paths, each marked with trials, errors, successes, and the occasional strokes of genius. Along the way, they made millions of people laugh, offering ample evidence of the incredible individual talents that would eventually merge together to create one of the greatest comedy duos in all of film history.

Laurel and Hardy became cinematic legends together, but before they were ever hauling pianos or throwing pies as a hilarious and unforgettable comedic duo, each had to develop as an individual artist and performer. Laurel or Hardy: Early Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy offers fans new and old the rare opportunity to track the early solo careers of two comedy icons.

Unfortunately, these films will mainly be of interest to the most die-hard fans or to historians. To casual fans of silent comedy, the shorts are not terribly ingenious or terribly funny. Laurel had yet to find his rhythms as an actor (he tended to open his mouth too wide), and Hardy — credited here as "Babe" Hardy — was relegated mainly to supporting roles. And quite a few of the shorts are merely attempts to copy Chaplin.

Featuring all new 2K restorations sourced from materials contributed by archives and collectors around the world, this comprehensive 2-disc Blu-ray collection features 35 films and includes new scores from some of the best silent film composers working today.

Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2003) DVD9 Wild Side, Blu-Ray Severin Films

Three narratives combine to create a shocking trilogy of modern American life, a portrait drawn with brushstrokes of hidden violence and disturbing cruelty. Directed by Douglas Buck, this unflinching film reveals what lies behind the drawn curtains of so-called "ordinary" households.

A desperate housewife, a troubled father and a crippled disfigured teenage girl journey into self-mutilation, murder, and the pits of despair in three chapters. In "Cutting Moments" (1997), a troubled family descends into incest and murder. "Home" (1998) acts as a follow-up to the previous film, and "Prologue" (2003) tells the tale of a young teenage girl, brutally attacked just one year before, returning to her hometown where she will confront her attacker.

Douglas Buck has an uncanny way of getting under the skin of the the viewer with his sordid tales of both small town and suburban life, he does so with a sparse style that peels away the shiny veneer to expose the rotten underside.

Director: Douglas Buck
Cast: Jared Barsky, Gary Betsworth, Ray Bland, Sally Conway
Country: USA
Genre: Drama, Horror
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

The Duel at Silver Creek (1952) Blu-Ray Kino Lorber

With a gang of claim jumpers making life hard for all small claim owners it becomes an unsafe world as they force them to sign over the claims before killing them. But they made an enemy in Luke Cromwell (Audie Murphy - The Cimarron Kid) when they kill his father and injure him. They also make an enemy of Marshal Lightning Tyrone (Stephen McNally - Winchester '73) when they shoot his deputy in his absence as he convalesces from a gun shot wound. Cromwell and Tyrone find themselves joining forces but with Tyrone taking an interest in Opal Lacy (Faith Domergue) tensions run high as not only is Opal a femme fatal but it is Opal and her brother Rod (Gerald Mohr) who are behind all the trouble, running things secretly right under everyone's noses.

BD25 | 1080p AVC | 01:16:56 | 19 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Genre: Western

Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Audie Murphy, Faith Domergue, Stephen McNally
Country: USA
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws

Madhouse (1974) Blu-Ray Wicked-Vision Media

The last bona fide horror star vehicle for Vincent Price, this co-production between British horror specialists Amicus Productions and U.S. drive-in king AIP is often regarded as a swan song of sorts for the type of horror films being usurped at the time by more savage fare.

Years after retiring his famous Dr. Death character, actor Paul Toombes (Price) is eager to get on with his career in a decidedly no-horrific direction, especially after his wife gets her head lopped off during a showbiz New Year's Eve party. Now after extensive therapy he's back on his feet and reluctantly agreeing to reprise his most famous character in a British TV series, but someone starts killing off people involved in the production while wearing a creepy skull mask and brandishing a nasty knife. Among the suspects are the arrogant producer Oliver Quayle (Quarry, who nods to his most famous role in Count Yorga, Vampire during the costume party scene) and Paul's writer, Herbert (Cushing), who once nursed dreams of acting stardom himself. However, Paul starts to think that perhaps he is responsible for the murders himself... and Dr. Death might be more than just a fictional character.

Director: Jim Clark
Cast: Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry, Adrienne Corri
Country: UK, USA
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Читать дальше...

Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws