A woman wakes up in a blindingly white cuboid cell, where a general uses increasingly sophisticated and cruel methods to torture her for information . . . information she claims not to have. As questions of trust are placed both on captor and captive, they find themselves embroiled in an increasingly spiraling journey into the nature of authority.
This is the United Kingdom in the near future. Civil war rages, and martial law has been declared by a military government hellbent on squashing the opposition.
Fake news? Tense, shocking, and all-too relevant, White Chamberasks the question: can there even be such a thing as certainty in these most uncertain of times?
A solid and riveting film, coming to Blu-ray and DVD from Dark Sky Films on May 21. Shauna MacDonald plays the woman; Oded Fehr is the general.
Ask to name the greatest artist/architect/scientist/mathematician/astronomer/cartographer, and Leo’s name pop ups. He may be called Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci by his family, but most know Leo as Leonardo da Vinci.
He’s still popping up, and so wonderfully in Leonardo Pop-Ups(Thames & Hudson, $34.95), paper engineer Courtney Watson McCarthy’s nifty book offering a variety of dramatic 3-D pop-ups showcasing Leo’s many talents.
“Today, da Vinci is among the few historical figures whose names are universally recognized,” writes Watson McCarthy in her introduction. “The Mona Lisa is undoubtedly the most famous painting in the world, with The Last Supper a close second. Neglected for centuries, the sketches, diagrams and prescient ideas in his notebooks provoke awe for the eyes that saw so deeply and in such detail; for his exhilarating mind that could leap from mystery to mystery and unravel every one using only the powers of observation and intellect. This book is intended as a fun and engaging tribute to that great mind.”
Indeed.
Featuring many of da Vinci’s most enduring artworks, both as illustrations and pop-ups, Leonardo Pop-Ups includes the Vitruvian Man, The Annunciation, the ornithopter, Da Vinci’s self-portrait, as well as an overview of his architectural designs. The book also features explanatory text and complementary quotes, culminating in a beautiful new way of looking into one of the greatest minds of all time.
A beautiful new way of looking into one of the greatest minds of all time, Leonardo Pop-Ups is fun for experienced art historians and budding artists alike.
We hear about important programs being released on DVD by PBS Distribution, and we must share the news. Rise of the Rockets (NOVA) An explosion of private companies is sparking the development of new technologies and lowering costs to bring space closer than ever. And at the same time, NASA is returning to crewed spaceflight with gusto, building a rocket more powerful even than the storied Saturn V to take us far beyond Earth.
Will today’s optimism prove prescient, or nothing more than hype and wishful thinking? As costs come down and rockets with new capabilities come online, a new generation is reaching for the cosmos, daring to dream big and yearning to go farther, in greater numbers than ever before.
Watch for it May 7.
In The Next Pompeii, NOVA joins investigators as they hunt for clues hidden beneath the surface of Italy’s lesser-known volcano Campi Flegrei, and assesses the risk of a new and potentially devastating eruption. The program also follows historians and geologists as they discover the latest evidence of Pompeii’s fiery destruction, unpacking the chain of events that led to the ancient world’s most notorious disaster.
https://youtu.be/tzjUV0RiOJ8
What lessons does the tragedy of Pompeii hold for Naples’ citizens, who may face a mounting threat from the unseen forces beneath their feet?
Watch for it May 14.
The Roman emperor Nero is considered one of history’s greatest criminals, a cruel, insane and brutal ruler. His name has become synonymous with evil, and he stands accused of killing his step-brother, his wife, and his mother, as well as burning Rome to the ground for his own artistic inspiration. But are these stories true? Can they be proven?
Recent research, modern interpretations of historical sources, and new discoveries cast a different light on the accusations levelled at the Roman emperor. The Nero Filesinvestigates Nero’s reign with the help of criminal psychologist Thomas Müller, using “cold case” methodology. Did history get it wrong? Was Nero a far better ruler than he’s ever been given credit for?
Watch for it May 14.
In the aftermath of the brutal wars that decimated Yugoslavia in the early 1990’s, former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic was accused of genocide and other war crimes—including the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995—considered the worst crime perpetrated on European soil since World War II. The Trial of Ratko Mladic(Frontline) chronicles the horror.
After 16 years on the run, Mladic was apprehended and brought to The Hague to stand trial before the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal, the biggest and only truly international war crimes tribunal since Nuremburg.
In the two-hour special Frontline goes inside the historic five-year trial, with unprecedented, behind-the-scenes access to the prosecution and defense teams, as well as to witnesses from both sides who came to present evidence. The Trial of Ratko Mladic provides haunting insights into a war criminal’s motives, and the genocide he commanded his troops to carry out—as well as an intimate look at the victims left behind, who remain haunted by what their families endured. It tells an epic story of justice, accountability and a country trying to escape its bloody past.
Watch for it May 28.
PBS Distribution welcomes May with two knock-out DVDs. May we introduce them?
When human remains are found by a motorway near London, the crime-solving duo, Cassie and Sunny are called to the scene. Dogged work leads the team to Hayley Reid, a 16-year-old girl who went missing on the eve of the millennium. The police’s failure to find out what happened to Hayley wrecked her family’s life. Cassie’s compassion makes her determined to correct the mistakes made by the original investigating team—whatever the cost is to herself.
Welcome Unforgotten, Season 3.
A close-knit group of old school friends hold the key to what happened: Doctor Tim Finch, television host James Hollis, failing salesman Pete Carr and artist Chris Lowe.
As the four suspects find themselves under the spotlight, their tight bond is put to the test. They all have secrets in their past, events that have pulled their lives apart. None of them are quite who they seem to be, but is one of them capable of murder?
Watch for it May 7.
A blockbuster novel for over 150 years comes vividly to life in award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies’ multi-layered retelling of Victor Hugos’ Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. This enthralling six-episode adaptation stars Dominic West as Jean Valjean, the most famous fugitive in literature; David Oyelowo stars as his relentless pursuer, Javert; and Lily Collins as the tragic seamstress, Fantine; Ellie Bamber plays her adolescent daughter, Cosette; Olivia Colman and Adeel Akhtar are Cosette’s cruel overseers, the Thénardiers; and Josh O’Connor is the student and reluctant revolutionary Marius, who falls in love with Cosette at first sight.
Joining the extensive cast are David Bradley as Marius’s formidable grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand; and Derek Jacobi as the kindly Bishop of Digne, who rescues Valjean at his lowest ebb. London’s The Guardian calls this Les Misérables “a rich feast…c’est magnifique!”
Watch for it May 21.
Leave it to Arrow Video US and Arrow Academy US to release flicks you just got to have. Two of the best DVDs coming . . .
Have you ever heard the saying “it’s a man’s world”? Well don’t dare repeat that to The Man-Eaters – a raucous, rowdy and randy gang of female bikers who ride their men just as viciously as they do their motorcycles. When they’re not racing each other to get first pick of the “stud line-up”, these female hellcats are busy terrorizing the town and clashing with the rival male gangs.
Adapted by acclaimed screenwriter Jonathan Latimer from a novel by the equally renowned crime author Kenneth Fearing, The Big Clock (available May 14) is a superior suspense film which brilliantly combines screwball comedy with heady thrills. Overworked true crime magazine editor George Stroud (played by Ray Milland) has been planning a vacation for months. However, when his boss, the tyrannical media tycoon Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), insists he skips his holiday, Stroud resigns in disgust before embarking on an impromptu drunken night out with his boss’s mistress, Pauline York (Rita Johnson).
When Janoth kills Pauline in a fit of rage, Stroud finds himself to have been the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time: his staff have been tasked with finding a suspect with an all too familiar description . . . Stroud’s very own!
Directed with panache by John Farrow (yes, his daughter is Mia, whose mother, the film’s Maureen O’Sullivan, is her mother and his wife), who stylishly renders the film’s towering central set, the Janoth Building, The Big Clock benefits from exuberant performances who make hay with the script’s snappy dialogue. A huge success on its release, it is no wonder this fast-moving noir was remade years later as the Kevin Costner vehicle No Way Out.
Wild! Vicious! With motorcycles as their lovers! Experience sights and sounds beyond your very imagining as “Godfather of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis tackles the biker chick sub-sub-genre with She-Devils on Wheels! (May 21). Have you ever heard the saying “it’s a man’s world”? Well don’t dare repeat that to The Man-Eaters, a raucous, rowdy and randy gang of female bikers who ride their men just as viciously as they do their motorcycles.
When they’re not racing each other to get first pick of the “stud line-up”, these female hellcats are busy terrorizing the town and clashing with the rival male gangs. Billed as “by far the most exciting picture of its type ever filmed”, She-Devils on Wheels sees splatter pioneer H.G. Lewis going full throttle with the most shocking biker flick of its kind – now accompanied by his other vicious gang opus Just for the Hell of It for a thrilling, pulse-racing double-bill!
Guess who? Guess who is the subject of a hot new DVD? Randy Bachman. As a member of The Guess Who, he was part of the first- ever No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by a Canadian band with “American Woman/No Sugar Tonight,” and then topped the Hot 100 again in 1974 with another band, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, with “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”
“That’s a pretty rare thing for a recording artist who gets two No. 1s with two different bands,” notes John Einarson,” biographer and music historian, at the start of the new documentary, Bachman (FilmRise).
The documentary chronicling the life of this 74-year-old who is still regularly making music and performing. The film follows Bachman as he looks to the past for inspiration from rarely seen footage, pictures and documents that have been stored at the National Archives in Ottawa for decades.
Among the other hits Bachman has written or co-written are “These Eyes,” “No Time,” “New Mother Nature,” “Takin’ Care of Business,” “Let It Ride,” and “Roll On Down The Highway.”
“He was like my biggest influence when I was a kid,” says Neil Young in the film. “Watching him play guitar, he had an amazing sense about the way he played. And the feeling that you got when you listened to him. It was more than just chops.”
Young, who has known Bachman for about 55 years, addsed, “I hear Randy – when I see him, I hear him, and I feel him.”
The documentary made its world premiere in Toronto at Hot Docs 2018 before a festival run, and eventual airing in Canada on CBC’s Documentary Channel. Incorporating numerous present-day interviews with family, management and fellow musicians, director John Barnard touches on everything from Bachman’s childhood to his various rock bands—The Guess Who, Brave Belt, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bachman-Turner—as well as his solo work.
Once upon a time in 1998, I met David Hockney. We were at a party celebrating his just-released book David Hockney’s Dog Days, a wonderful and whimsical An engaging collection of paintings and drawings by Hockney of his canine companions, dachshunds Stanley and Boodgie.
I introduced myself, handed him my copy of the book an asked him to sign it to my dogs, Doris (a Harlequin Great Dane) and Alma (a beagle mix). He smiled and penned away!
I cherish the book. I cherish the memory.
Daring, vibrant and always authentically himself, Hockney, who recently shattered records for the highest selling piece of art by a living artist at auction for his masterpiece “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)”, sold for $90.3 million, is captured in a compelling new hybrid of novel and biography, Catherine Cusset’s Life of David Hockney (Other Press, $15.99). The book releases May 14.
Through a host of sources, including her personal meeting with Hockney, autobiographies, biographies, interviews, essays, films and articles, Cusset vividly pieces together the puzzle of the revered artist’s life and the enthralling stories that drove the creation of legendary works like “Portrait of an Artist”, painted in a three-month frenzy following a brutal breakup, and “My Parents”.
The book sheds light on the unbreakable spirit at the core of this living legend, who as a homosexual artist in a world where long-standing barriers had yet to be broken down, famously upended the norms of the art world, all through heartbreak and personal tragedy suffered in the wake of the AIDS epidemic. Cusset offers a window into Hockney’s roller coaster love life as he shuttles between London, New York and California, carving out a home in all three locales, whose spirit penetrates and contours his art.
Self-portrait, 2012. Photograph: David Hockney/National Gallery of Victoria.
Born in the small town of Bradford in the north of England in 1937, Hockney had to fight to become an artist. After leaving his home for the Royal College of Art in London, his career flourished, his work appearing in galleries and sold alongside his professor’s works while still a student, but he continued to struggle with a sense of not belonging because of his homosexuality, which had yet to be decriminalized, and his inclination for a figurative style of art not sufficiently “contemporary” to be valued.
Trips to New York and California—where he would live for many years and paint his iconic swimming pools—introduced him to new scenes and new loves, beginning a journey that would take him through the fraught years of the AIDS epidemic.
Cusset, author of 13 award-winning, best-selling literary novels translated into 18 languages, skillfully depicts a Hockey driven by impulse to always do and create what resonates most viscerally. In her intimate and lively portrait, Cusset submerges the reader in Hockney’s life with clear and bright prose, offering a lens into an artist of unlimited and unfiltered potential, reflected and represented through his dynamic oeuvre, but also as a human being with a tireless work ethic, caring deeply for his family and friends, stumbling and vulnerable at times and defined also by the turns of adversity and loss.
The book offers a fresh vision of a groundbreaking artist in form and style, a painter, draftsman and set designer whose art is as accessible as it is compelling, and whose passion to create is never deterred by heartbreak, illness or loss.
There’s no need to worry about having to read small print. We announce the news, as transparent as this clean, fresh font.
MPI Media Group will be releasing a favorite TV classic on DVD on May 14. Save the date! Originally airing on ABC-TV from 1958 to 1966, The Donna Reed Show is one of the most popular and enduring family sitcoms in television history. Starring Oscar-winning Donna Reedas homemaker Donna Stone, Carl Betzas her pediatrician husband Alex, Shelley Fabares as daughter Mary, Paul Petersen as son Jeff and, later, Patty Petersen as adoptee Trisha, the series is a humorous and heartwarming slice of Americana that has earned a legion of new fans through showings on Nick at Nite, TV Land and MeTV.
Guest stars include Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Buster Keaton, Bob Crane, Marion Ross, Gale Gordon, John Astin, Ted Knight, Richard Deacon, Don Drysdale, Esther Williams, Tony Martin and Jimmy Hawkins. This special collection presents all 186 episodes from Seasons 1 through 5 in complete versions and digitally remastered.
The set also includes new featurettes and interviews with Shelley Fabares and Paul and Patty Petersen, vintage promotional spots, original cast and sponsor commercials, Donna Reed’s tribute on This Is Your Life, rare footage and much more.
Insight Editions promises that if you rub a genie’s bottle . . .
And the wishes have come true.
The Art and Making of Aladdin (Insight Editions, $45) treats Aladdin fans to images that capture the visual majesty and behind-the-scenes accounts of the Disney film’s fascinating development and production.
In the book, fans will discover how the streets of Agrabah come to vibrant life in the thrilling live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1992 classic, Aladdin. Yep, this is the exciting tale of the charming street rat Aladdin, the courageous and self-determined Princess Jasmine and the Genie who may be the key to their future.
The Art and Making of Aladdin takes an in-depth look at gorgeous concept art and unit photography and delves into characters old and new, including Will Smith’s Genie and Nasim Pedrad’s new character, Dalia. Revealing interviews with filmmakers, cast, and crewmembers provide unique insight into the Aladdin filmmaking experience through a beautifully designed exploration of the film’s
creation.
The beautifully packaged book also features exclusive interviews with director Guy Ritchie, Disney composer Alan Menken, lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and key cast and crew.
The Art and Making of Aladdin moves beyond a simple commemoration. It is the definitive chronicle of hundreds of people’s shared mission to reimagine a beloved film in a completely new format.
You’ll need to flip the book back and forth to get the full impact of Isaac Mizrahi’s autobiography. Flip! Huge “I”. Flip! Huge “M”.
Isaac Mizrachi. Perhaps “I, Marvelous”? Or “Isaac, Minnelli”?
The diva designer/actor/QVC flak has unzipped all the details (good, bad, sexy and, yes, even phone sex!) of his life and career (starry-eyed man meets and works for stars . . . think Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Sarah Jessica Parker).
And what an absolute joy (do we dare add “and right on Target”?) I.M.:A Memoir (Flatiron Books, $28.99) is.
So, what was your first introduction to I.M.? Are you one of the people who was lucky enough to get your hands on the designer’s early line in the early ’90’s? Was it the first time you saw his behind-the-scenes documentary, Unzipped? Or when you stepped into a Target and saw that there was a new line by the designer being sold there? (My pooch still loves her official I.M. dog toy!)
Maybe you’ve seen Isaac during one of his cabaret shows in New York City or, flipping through the channels at home only to realize that the charming host you’ve been watching on QVC is none other than the designer himself?
In I.M., Mizrahi offers a poignant, candid, and touching look back on his life so far. And what a life it’s been. He tells the story of growing up gay in a sheltered Syrian Jewish Orthodox family, portraying a strained relationship with his father and a complicated one with his beloved mother. At the famed LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts, Isaac found his people (and appeared in his first movie, Fame). As a budding fashion designer, Isaac worked with luminaries such as Perry Ellis and Calvin Klein.
I.M. with QVC favorite saleslady Shawn Killinger
After branching out on his own, his label’s instant success anointed him the wunderkind of the international fashion world. Isaac’s unique talents drew him into fashion and celebrity circles that read like a who’s who of the 20th and 21st centuries: Richard Avedon, Audrey Hepburn, Anna Wintour, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey. He looks back on his groundbreaking documentary, Unzipped, and after his first fall from grace, his partnership with Target that brought his high-end collection to the masses and revolutionized fashion retail.
Isaac describes his numerous self-reinventions that landed him back to his first true calling of show business. He delves into his lifelong battles with his weight, insomnia, and depression. He tells what it was like to be an out gay man in a homophobic age and to witness the ravaging effects of the AIDS epidemic. In his elegant memoir, brimming with intimate details and inimitable wit, Isaac reveals not just the glamour of his years, but the grit beneath the glitz. Rich with memorable stories from in and out of the spotlight, I.M. illuminates deep emotional truths.
Guest stars include Harvey Korman, Cloris Leachman, Buster Keaton, Bob Crane, Marion Ross, Gale Gordon, John Astin, Ted Knight, Richard Deacon, Don Drysdale, Esther Williams, Tony Martin and Jimmy Hawkins. This special collection presents all 186 episodes from Seasons 1 through 5 in complete versions and digitally remastered.
