Blu-Ray News: Lost German Classic, 1943's TITANIC Coming to Blu-Ray 10/17

From KINO CLASSICS (Blu-Ray & DVD)

1943 / Action-Drama / 85 min / NR / B&W / German with English subtitles

Launched in the midst of World War II, this epic production was intended as a Grand Hotel on the Atlantic, filled with romance and intrigue, laced with strong anti-British and -American sentiment, and climaxing with a spectacular recreation of humankind's most notorious maritime disaster. But the Tobis production was almost as doomed as the ocean liner itself, with the arrest and subsequent "suicide" of director Herbert Selpin (replaced by an uncredited Werner Klingler). For years, Titanic was withheld from release (largely because its scenes of panic might be demoralizing to wartime audiences), though some of the effects footage did appear, uncredited, in the 1958 British film A Night to Remember. Restored in 2004 by the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, Titanic can now take its place among the most important disaster films of the 20th Century.

Bonus Features: Audio commentary by Gaylyn Studlar, co-editor of Titanic: Anatomy of a Blockbuster | Original 1912 Newsreel | White Star Line promotional film, offering a tour of the Olympic, Titanic's sister ship | Theatrical Trailer

Blu-Ray News: SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING on Digital 9/26 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray & DVD 10/17

Loaded with Over 60-Minutes of Bonus Material, Including Deleted Scenes, Gag Reel, a Pop-up Factoid Track & Seven Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes!

One of the most beloved and iconic super heroes of all time is back with a fresh, new take on the character for SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, debuting on digital September 26 and on 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD October 17 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Tom Holland (Captain America: Civil War) stars as Peter Parker, who, with the help of his mentor Tony Stark (two-time Academy Award nominee Robert Downey, Jr., Best Actor, Chaplin, 1992; Best Supporting Actor, Tropic Thunder, 2008), tries to balance his life as an ordinary high school student in New York City while fighting crime as his superhero alter ego Spider-Man.
  
The SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Blu-ray comes loaded with over 60 minutes of bonus material, including deleted scenes, a gag reel and The Spidey Study Guide, an entertaining pop-up factoid track with facts on the movie in relation to the comics that Spidey fans will love.  Also included are four unseen alternate Captain America PSAs featuring Chris Evans, seven behind-the-scenes featurettes and a photo gallery.  In the featurette “A Tangled Web,” Kevin Feige details how Homecoming came to be and its integration in the constantly evolving Marvel Cinematic Universe.  “Searching for Spider-Man” explores the casting process and what makes Tom the perfect Peter Parker as witnessed from his audition tape.  Meet Homecoming’s adrenaline-craving stunt specialists in “Spidey Stunts,” as they crawl, swing and leap from great heights, and discover why Tom Holland rarely needed a stunt double. “Aftermath” features Kevin Feige and the producers filling in the blanks between the Battle of New York and where Homecoming begins. Explore Michael Keaton’s villainous turn in “The Vulture Takes Flight” and learn why he demands Peter Parker’s fear and respect. In “Jon Watts: Head of the Class,” fans catch up with the visionary director on the set, while he manages colossal set pieces, a massive crew and the daunting task of reintroducing one of Marvel’s most beloved characters.  Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon (Ned) discuss the humorous realities of life with superpowers in “Pros and Cons of Spider-Man.”

DVD Giveaway: PHANTASM: 5 MOVIE DVD COLLECTION

FREE KITTENS MOVIE GUIDE and WELL GO USA are giving away copies of the PHANTASM: 5 MOVIE DVD COLLECTION

Well Go USA Entertainment brings all five films in Don Coscarelli’s iconic horror franchise to DVD for the first time in one box set when PHANTASM: 5 MOVIE DVD COLLECTION debuts on September 19.  The collection includes PHANTASM: REMASTERED (1979), PHANTASM II (1988), PHANTASM III: LORD OF THE DEAD (1994), PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION (1998) and the most recent installment PHANTASM: RAVAGER (2016). Each film finds Mike (Michael Baldwin) facing off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and his lethal arsenal of terrible weapons.

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Blu-Ray Review: BORN IN CHINA

Narrated by John Krasinski. Directed by Lu Chuan. (2017, 79 min).

WALT DISNEY

Born in China is the latest film in the DisneyNature series, sort-of the 21st Century version of all those True-Life Adventures they used to make.

Some of you might remember those: Most of them were theatrical short subjects which occasionally showed up on ABC‘s Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights. They were cheerful - sometimes humorous - looks at various critters and their environments, accompanied by cornball narration from Winston Hibler. These movies were always fun, but not always documentaries in the truest sense. As we grew older and wiser, it was obvious many scenes were staged and scripted for the sake of entertainment.

The big difference is the DisneyNature films are big, sprawling and gorgeously shot. And while they attempt to turn their subjects into "characters," none of the animals are manipulated into performing. They usually round up an actor to provide narration - John Krasinski this time - which is created to manipulate the audience instead.

Not amused.

In my household - with two daughters - two animals rule the Cutieverse: Cats and pandas, especially baby cats and pandas. Born in China has both, meaning every time they happened to be in the room when the trailer showed up on TV last spring, I saw this:

Predictably, there's more cute in Born in China than the Surgeon General recommends, and not just panda and snow leopard cubs. We also follow a family of golden snub-nosed monkeys and a migrating herd of chiru, both with their own fair share of doe-eyed darlings. Watching this disc with my daughters, they patiently waited through those segments, which have their cute moments, but what they really wanted were more pandas, more kitties. So whenever the narrative returned to them...well...

But cute isn't all Born in China has to offer. It's the best looking DisneyNature film to-date and these "stories" are more interesting. One is even surprisingly poignant, which usually never happens in these movies (though the narrative does try to sugarcoat tragedy by rambling about the circle of life). Without giving anything away, when one of my daughters remarked how sad one animal's story was turning. I reassured her, "Don't worry, this is Disney. These things always end happy." However, once it was over, she turned to me and quipped, "Thanks a lot, Dad."

While the film does have its unexpectedly heart-tugging moments, it's also quite funny at times. The male chiru's courting dance had us laughing until it hurt, as did a lot of the unused footage that plays during the end credits, especially when the snow leopard cubs engage in the nature film version of breaking the fourth wall.

Born in China is another impeccably-crafted entry in the DisneyNature series, and the most engaging one since 2014's Bears. It's charmingly narrated, filled with beautiful imagery and, of course, dishes up an abundance of cute.

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES: "Panda Suits & Bamboo Shoots"; "Walking with Monkeys"; "Masters of Camouflage"; "Wading Through Wetlands" (All four are behind-the-scenes shorts about the painstaking efforts by the crew to capture these animals on film).

MUSIC VIDEO: "Everything Everything" by American Authors

PROMO VIDEO: "DisneyNature: Get Inspired, Get Involved"

DVD & DIGITAL COPIES

KITTY CONSENSUS:

 PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS

Blu-Ray Review: FREEBIE AND THE BEAN

Starring Alan Arkin, James Caan, Jack Kruschen, Valerie Harper, Loretta Swit, Alex Rocco, Mike Kellin, Paul Koslo, Linda Marsh, Christopher Morley. Directed by Richard Rush. (1974, 113 min).

WARNER ARCHIVE

Before Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys, there was Freebie and the Bean, a relatively forgotten 1974 action comedy that preceded the popularity of the "buddy cop" film by a decade. 

 

I remember seeing this with my folks at the local Southgate Quad when it was the bottom half of a double bill (remember those?). I don't recall the main feature at all, and even forgot Freebie and the Bean's plot by the time we got home. But it had destructive car chases, two cops swearing & fighting like an old married couple and - be-hold! - a sexy young woman's naked butt! 

When you're 11 years old, that stuff is glorious. 

Despite being a big hit and inspiring a short-lived TV series, Freebie and the Bean is mostly forgotten today, seldom cited among 70s' enduring action classics. I never gave the film much thought over the years, either, at least until it was mentioned in a recent website article and triggered old memories: "Hey! I remember that one!"

Watching the film forty years later, I was reminded of a few things:

Car chases were a virtual art-form in the 70s. Everything was done in-camera without seizure-inducing editing or CGI. Expertly-choreographed ballets of speed and destruction, they somehow looked & felt more real. Freebie and the Bean has, not one, but three elaborate chase scenes, one which is as slick and exciting as those in The French Connection or The Seven-Ups, and another with enough gratuitous destruction to rival The Blues Brothers.

At the worst possible moment, a bee flies into the car.

James Caan (Freebie) and Alan Arkin (the Bean) made a great team and it's a shame they didn't do more films together. Arkin has always been amusing, but considering Caan's tough guy reputation and dramatic intensity, this film is a great reminder of how genuinely funny he could be.

There's a good reason I never recalled the plot when I was a kid: It's nearly non-existent. Freebie and Bean are one witness away from nailing a local racketeer, Red Meyers, then learn there's a contract out on Red's life. Now they are forced to protect Red from hired hitmen until their witness turns up. The film spends about as much time on the actual plot as I did to write that summary. And it doesn't matter anyway because the movie's always been about the cantankerous friendship between Freebie and Bean.

Though definitely a product of its time - including a considerable amount of decidedly un-PC dialogue - Freebie and the Bean is still pretty damned entertaining, mainly because of the emphasis on character over action. With hindsight, its easy to see the film's belated influence on the action-comedy genre. Aside from a trailer, this disc from Warner Archive is sadly bereft of any bonus material, though still a wonderful stroll down memory lane.

EXTRA KIBBLES

TRAILER

KITTY CONSENSUS:

PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS

Blu-Ray Review: ALL EYEZ ON ME

Starring Demetrius Shipp Jr., Danai Gurira, Jamal Woolard, Kat Graham, Dominic L. Santana, Lauren Cohen, Jamie Hector, Annie Ilonzeh. Directed by Benny Boom. (2017, 140 min).

SUMMIT/LIONSGATE

Fairly or not, All Eyez on Me will inevitably be  compared to Straight Outta Compton. The latter gave us a nearly-epic story with rounded, three-dimensional characters. One didn't necessarily need to be an NWA fan to appreciate their musical influence and cultural impact. It also happened to be one hell of an entertaining film.

Surely an artist as charismatic, influential and culturally polarizing as Tupac Shakur is worthy of an equally compelling biography. But comparatively speaking, All Eyez on Me doesn't even come close.

It's certainly not the fault of newcomer Demetrius Shipp Jr in the lead role. He looks and sounds uncannily like Tupac, right down to his mannerisms and stage presence. However, his remarkable performance can't overcome the film's fatal flaws. The most tumultuous aspects of his life, career and conflicts (with both police & peers) are touched upon - perhaps over-speculated - but seldom explored in any depth before moving on, ultimately ending with his untimely demise.

Four-eyez on me.

Despite the movie's oppressive length, Tupac goes from zero-to-famous within the first thirty minutes, and after that, we don't really learn much about him beyond what countless tabloids have already told us. Not only are most of Tupac's well-publicized conflicts presented almost without context, the film suggests few of his issues were really his fault. It's been well-publicized that the man was no saint, so why does this film feel the inclination to consistently offer up Tupac as a victim?

Aside from Tupac's troubled mother, Afeni (Damai Gurira, in a surprisingly empathetic performance), most of the other characters come across as mere symbols of their real-life counterparts. Their relationships with Tupac - good or bad - are dutifully documented, but never revealing enough to engage the viewer. For example, it's long been speculated that the rivalry between Tupac and Biggie Smalls was the catalyst for both of their murders. Here, the complexities of that dynamic relationship - if not the entire East-Coast-West-Coast rivalry - are merely summed up in a few scenes.

In the end, I don't feel like I know Tupac Shakur any better than I did before. All Eyez on Me plays like a cross between a greatest hits album and a book of Cliff's Notes, skimming the surface and covering all the highlights without giving the viewer a comprehensive portrait of its subject. Comparisons to Straight Outta Compton may indeed be unfair, but even on its own terms, this film is a massive disappointment. 

EXTRA KIBBLES

FEATURETTES: "Legends Never Die: The Making of All Eyez on Me"; "Becoming Tupac"; "All Eyez on Me Conversations"; Demetrius Shipp Jr. Audition"

DELETED SCENES

DVD & DIGITAL COPIES

KITTY CONSENSUS:

MEH...

Rest in Peace, Richard Anderson

Richard Anderson (1926-2017)

Blu-Ray Review: THE STRANGER (1946)

Starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Philip Merivale, Richard Long, Konstantin Shayne. Directed by Orson Welles. (1946, 95 min).

OLIVE FILMS

It warrants mentioning where I'm at regarding Orson Welles...

While I freely acknowledge Citizen Kane as a technical and artistic cinema milestone, I must confess I've never really enjoyed it. The Stranger, a relative obscurity on his resume, is a lot more fun.

One of the few times he's essentially been a director-for-hire, Welles' casts himself as the heavy in this story of a U.N. appointed Nazi hunter, Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), in pursuit of fugitive war criminal Franz Kindler (Welles). Wilson follows a fellow Kindler crony, Meinike, to the small town of Harper, Connecticut. Kindler has assumed the identity of local professor named Charles Rankin. He's highly respected and about to marry Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of the town judge. Meinike's arrival alarms Kindler enough to kill him and hide the corpse in the woods. Wilson suspects Meinike is dead and hopes to convince Mary who her husband really is. She's reluctant, of course, unwilling to believe the man she knows as Charles is a notorious mass murderer.

"Rosebud? Nah, that was just my nickname in college."

The Stranger is a lot more entertaining (and amusing) than it sounds. Though there's some disturbing real-life concentration camp footage (the first Hollywood film to feature any), the fleet-footed story unfolds like a straightforward suspense thriller with a few bits of subtle humor (mostly courtesy of a checker-loving shopkeeper). Robinson is fun as Wilson, while Welles hams it up considerably - even sporting a "dastardly" mustache - and clearly having a good time with his character's unrepentant nastiness.

"One move and I'll shoot your pee-pee off."

It's no secret that Welles' heart really wasn't in this one. But by appearing to go through the motions directing what's essentially a potboiler, he accidentally crafted one of the more exciting films of his career. It may not have garnered him the accolades he was used to, but ironically, The Stranger was a bigger box office hit than his more ambitious projects.

The Stranger is not Welles' greatest film. In my humble opinion, that honor goes to Touch of Evil, which perhaps owes some of its existence to this similarly-noirish little gem. Additionally, this new disc by Olive Films doesn't have as many bonus features as previous Blu-Ray releases, but sports much better picture and sound.

EXTRA KIBBLES

ESSAY: "The Strangers: Murderers Among Us," by film historian Dr. Jennifer Lynde Barker

AUDIO COMMENTARY - By classic film blogger Nora Fiore

TRAILER

KITTY CONSENSUS:

PURR-R-R...LIKE A GOOD SCRATCH BEHIND THE EARS

Soundtrack News: CHRISTINE Film Score LP Coming 9/29

Varèse Sarabande will release John Carpenter’s classic score for CHRISTINE on LP available September 29, 2017.  The CHRISTINE– Original Motion Picture Score has been fully remastered and is being released on blue vinyl.  The album features fantastic new art from award-winning movie poster artist Gary Pullin (“Ghoulish Gary”). In the past few years, there has been a tremendous upsurge in interest for John Carpenter's signature score compositions following the success of the Carpenter's Lost Themes and Lost Themes II albums, and subsequent tours.  The rare director-composer combo, Carpenter’s scores for his classic horror films are a favorite of electronic music aficionados.

Chris Alexander of ComingSoon.net rated Christine as #3 of the top 10 John Carpenter scores, saying, “Pulsing, moody, dread-filled, this is a car-centric and pop-tinted progression of the Halloween score and it’s probably this writer’s favorite of all the Carpenter soundtracks.” 

Fact Magazine says Christine, with “its soundtrack is another synth-heavy masterclass, and again finds Carpenter teaming up with Alan Howarth. ‘Obsessed With The Car’ is one of the score’s most low-key cues, and is noteworthy simply because of its beautiful, unhurried simplicity.” 

To complement the remastered audio, Award-winning artist and leading designer in the world of alternative movie posters, Gary Pullin was commissioned to create original artwork for the packaging. "I’ve always loved Stephen King's novel and the cover is a stunner - a stylized hood ornament with a screaming skull, Christine in chrome as it blazes across the hard cover,” he explained. “For the films’ score, I wanted to feature the Plymouth Fury logo front and centre, in a simplistic and new way. The shape of the V reminded me of devil horns - she's the car from hell! The blue glow represents the supernatural force living under the hood and inside her evil grinning grill. I often go for atmospheric designs when creating artwork for movie soundtracks and the art seemed like a perfect fit for the electronic score that Carpenter and Howarth created to drive the film’s suspense and bring the fury of Christine to life.”

DVD Giveaway: THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

“Witness Oprah Winfrey give one of the best performances of her career”- Variety

 

An African-American woman becomes the unwitting pioneer for multiple medical developments, such as the Polio vaccine, when her cells are harvested to create the first immortal human cell line. Her story, previously lost in history, is brought to life in HBO® Films’ The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Led by Oscar® nominee and TV icon Oprah Winfrey and Emmy® nominee Rose Byrne, the “Intriguing and thought provoking” (The New York Times) HBO® Film, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, is available to own on Blu-Ray^TM and DVD September 5, 2017.

 

​​In this adaptation of Rebecca Skloot’s critically acclaimed, bestselling nonfiction book of the same name, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is told through the eyes of Henrietta Lacks’ daughter, Deborah Lacks (Winfrey). The film chronicles her search, along with journalist Rebecca Skloot (Byrne), to learn about the mother she never knew and understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. With a supporting cast that includes Renée Elise Goldsberry, Reg E. Cathey, Courtney B. Vance, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Leslie Uggams, Reed Birney, Rocky Carroll and John Douglas Thompson, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people.

 

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THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

Available on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 5, 2017