Category Archives: Movies

DVDs, Movies

Get ready for school . . . and a new class of horror film

School starts.
And horror comes to campus in The Row, a modern take on the classic slasher film. The anxiety of rush week turns into sheer terror when sisters of a sorority are slain—and turned into dolls—by a serial killer.

New pledge Riley (played by Lala Kent) and her best friend, Becks (Mia Frampton), must endure late-night hazing rituals as the murderer watches and waits. Can Riley uncover the terrible secret shared by her cop father (Randy Couture) and deceased mother, a former Phi Lambda sister, before becoming a victim herself?
The Row will be available from Lionsgate on Blu-ray and DVD on September 25.

DVDs, Movies, Music

“Saving Faith” is warm and inspirational, and boy! What great gospel music!

Mark your calendar now. It’s important to save the date of September 18, not because it’s a day after my birthday (cards and gifts still accepted), but that’s the day the inspirational and heartwarming gospel drama, Saving Faith, arrives on DVD, Digital, and On Demand.

When the historic Ritz Theater is on the brink of foreclosure, the theater’s owner Faith Scott (played by Jenn Gotzon) and her Uncle Donny (Donny Richmond) decide to host a Christmas themed show, in June, to help save the building.  Even against all odds, Faith and Donny turn to their faith and friends to help pull off the impossible.
And when a local developer decides to sabotage the concert, it’ll take a miracle to make the show go on. Approved by the Dove Foundation for all ages, Saving Faith is a, “film that is balanced for family filmgoers” (The Dove Foundation).

Let us not forget the great music by Donny Richmond and Sunday Drive and appearances by Vince Gill, Amy Grant, Phil Vassar and members of the

DVDs, Movies

“Razzia” is a gorgeous, haunting film from a most talented female director out of North Africa

Look up the word “razzia”, and you discover is means “a hostile raid for purposes of conquest, plunder, and capture of slaves, especially one carried out by Moors in North Africa.”
Welcome to Razzia, a film by the most talented Nabil Ayouch. It stars performers you may not have heard of (yet)–Maryam Touzani, Arieh Worthalter, Amine Ennaji, Abdelilah Rachid, Dounia Binebine–but their talent  dominates the screen.

In this searing and mesmerizing drama, five Moroccans from different social and religious strata are pushed to the fringe by their extremist government. Spanning  three decades and several storylines, director Ayouch weaves an intricate tale of lost loves, forbidden desires, and fragile dreams in modern day Morocco.

An additional sidenote: The Moroccan Entry for the 2018 Academy Awards, Razzia was the Opening Night Film at the 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival.

DVDs, Movies, TV

The life and treks of Sir Edmund Hillary are chronicled in “Hillary”

Hillary is not about dear Ms. Clinton.

It is from New Zealand, a six-part mini-series based on the life of mountaineer and philanthropist Sir Edmund Hillary. Capturing Hillary’s life of incredible bravery and heartbreaking tragedy, the program lovingly and vividly brings back to life the man New Zealander’s affectionately called “Sir Ed.”

The saga is available on DVD from PBS Distribution.

Based on thousands of hours of exclusive interviews, Hillary tells the story of the first man to conquer Mt. Everest. The program recounts his beekeeping days in South Auckland, to his ascent of the world’s highest mountain with climbing partner Tenzing Norgay, to the plane crash that killed his wife and daughter.

When he summited Everest in May 1953 and, as he told it, “knocked the bastard off,” Hillary put his small home country on the map. He was so beloved in New Zealand that his likeness is featured on the five-dollar note, and he was given a state funeral after his 2008 death.

Andrew Munro stars as Hillary, while Dean O’Gorman plays George Lowe, his longtime friend and climbing partner, and Amy Usherwood plays his wife, Lady Louise Hillary.

Magnificent!

DVDs, Movies

It’s murder to make a movie in the Hollywood. Witness “The Big Take”

It’s murder to make a movie in the Hollywood.
Witness The Big Take, available on DVD and Digital, thank to Archstone Distribution via Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Save the date: September 4.

Oscar nominee Robert Forste, James McCaffrey, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Zoë Bell, Bill Sag and Dan Hedaya star in this comedic and suspenseful caper about a blackmailed movie star and an aspiring screenwriter looking for his big break whose lives become intertwined following a deadly case of mistaken identity. The film marks Justin Daly’s writing and directorial debut, previously working behind-the-scenes on such movies as the action classic Taken and the hit indie comedy Big Night.

The Big Take  is the perfect entertainment for thriller fans looking for big laughs and even bigger thrills this September.

Books, Movies

New bio of Madeleine L’Engle, “I’m painting a portrait of one of the spiritual giants,” says author

Lauren Bacall once told us that she earned her own of her wrinkles. She called them her “time lines”.

Wonder if she ever read Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time? The author was known for her fascinating perspectives on science, art, story and faith. She was also a lightning rod for controversy—too Christian for some, too unorthodox for others. Somewhere in the middle was a complex woman whose embrace of paradox continues to be a beacon for generations of readers struggling to reconcile faith and science, art and religion, sacred and secular.

In A Light So Lovely: The Spiritual Legacy of Madeleine L’Engle, Author of A Wrinkle in Time, (Zondervan, $19.99) Sarah Arthur explores L’Engle’s spirituality and what her story means for each of us, now, in our own unique moment and within a larger narrative. Arthur recounts stories about L’Engle from friends and family as well as interviews with writers and thinkers who have been profoundly shaped by L’Engle’s writing.
“I’m painting a portrait of one of the spiritual giants who has gone before us,” writes Arthur. “And I’m encouraging a new generation of readers to seek and trust her as a spiritual guide. To borrow imagery from A Wrinkle in Time, we’re Meg Murry and she’s Mrs. Whatsit, traveling through time to challenge and encourage us.”

Arthur traces L’Engle’s spiritual journey through seven key movements including her self-proclaimed lonely childhood, her fascination with science and faith, her writings as a whole—specifically A Wrinkle in Time—and her influence on generations of artists who now embrace art as a spiritual vocation. Arthur also explores L’Engle’s paradoxical propensity to blur fact and fiction, and the impact of that tendency on her closest relationships.

Charlotte Jones Voiklis, L’Engle’s youngest granddaughter and literary executor, penned the foreword for A Light So Lovely.  In it she recalls crying the first time Sarah interviewed her. “We talked about my grandmother’s life: her habits, milestones and challenges, and what we each knew to be her impact on others. As we spoke, what moved me to tears was Sarah’s willingness to look at Madeleine and accept her as a full and flawed human being; an icon and iconoclast, not an idol.”

For a new generation that has known nothing but the increasingly polarized and contentious climate of contemporary religious discourse, L’Engle’s embrace of paradox is a welcome path forward. Arthur writes, “Let’s strike a match, light a candle. Let’s illuminate the life and legacy of this extraordinary woman such that we experience both the grace and the struggle that helped her share a generation and beyond. Because ultimately, it’s not her own light we’re drawn to, but the light of Christ she lifted up, however imperfectly, to the world. By knowing her better, we might better understand our own particular darknesses, in this unique chapter of American history, and how we’re called to be light-bearers too.”

DVDs, Movies

Maxine Peake creates a Hamlet that is both timeless and unique for today

To be, or not to be: that is the question . . .
To be honest William Shakespeare’s most iconic work, Hamlet,is the ultimate play about loyalty, love, betrayal, murder and madness. Every production is defined by its lead actor. Or actress.

Save the date: On June 12, Omnibus Entertainment releases the DVD of a stripped back, fresh and fast-paced staging by Sarah Frankcom for Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre in which Maxine Peake creates a Hamlet that is both timeless and unique for today. Though the part has a long history of being performed by women, Peake is the first female actor to be cast in a major production since Frances de la Tour assumed the role 40 years ago.
This above all: to thine own self be true.
DVDs, Movies

A trio of Blu-rays that Arrow Video aims right at your heart

There’s something to be said about Arrow Video, who take aim at horror fans hearts and deliver the soul of some spooky stuff. New flicks that are must-see, must-own:

Death Smiles on a Murderer
A haunting and dreamlike gothic horror/giallo hybrid, Death Smiles on a Murderer is a compelling early work from the legendary sleaze and horror film director Joe D’Amato , here billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi. Set in Austria in the early 1900s, the film stars Ewa Aulin as Greta, a beautiful young woman abused by her brother Franz (played by Luciano Rossi) and left to die in childbirth by her illicit lover, the aristocrat Dr. von Ravensbrück (Giacomo Rossi Stuart).
Death Smiles On A MurdererBereft with grief, Franz reanimates his dead sister using a formula engraved on an ancient Incan medallion. Greta then returns as an undead avenging angel, reaping revenge on the Ravensbrück family and her manically possessive brother. Presented here in a stunning 2K restoration, D’Amato’s film is a stately and surreal supernatural mystery which benefits from an achingly mournful score by Berto Pisano, several shocking scenes of gore, and a typically sinister performance from Klaus Kinski as a morbid doctor. Bonuses include D’Amato Smiles on Death, an archival interview in which the director discusses the film; All About Ewa, a newly-filmed, career-spanning interview with the Swedish star; Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the horror films of Joe D’Amato, a new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger and original trailers.

Two Thousand Maniacs
After shocking and outraging the world with his genre-defining 1963 gore-fest Blood Feast, exploitation pioneer H.G. Lewis would seek (and positively succeed) to outdo himself with the deliciously depraved Two Thousand Maniacs.
Two Thousand Maniacs!When a group of Yankee tourists take a detour and wind up in the small Southern town of Pleasant Valley—which has magically rematerialized 100 years after its destruction during the Civil War—they find themselves welcomed by the eager townsfolk as guests of honor at their centennial celebrations. Little do the Northerners know that the festivities are set to include torture, death and dismemberment. Also including H.G. Lewis’ fist fightin’, hooch-swillin’ epic Moonshine Mountain as a bonus feature, this is one double-dose of hicksploitation truly worthy of an almighty “Yeehah!” Bonuses include Herschell’s Art of Advertising in which H.G. Lewis shares his expert opinion on the art of selling movies; Two Thousand Maniacs Can’t be Wrong, in which filmmaker Tim Sullivan on H.G. Lewis’ gore classic and Hickspoitation: Confidential, a visual essay on the depiction of the American South in exploitation cinema.

The Bloodthirsty Trilogy
Inspired by the runaway success of the British and American gothic horror films of the ’60s, Toho Studios brought the vampiric tropes of the Dracula legend to Japanese screens with The Vampire Doll, Lake of Dracula and Evil of Dracula, a trio of spookily effective cult classics collectively known as The Bloodthirsty Trilogy. In The Vampire Doll, a young man goes missing after visiting his girlfriend’s isolated country home. His sister and her boyfriend trace him to the creepy mansion, but their search becomes perilous when they uncover a gruesome family history.
The Bloodthirsty TrilogyLake of Dracula begins with a young girl suffering a terrifying nightmare of a vampire with blazing golden eyes. Eighteen years later, the dream is revealed to be a hellish prophecy when a strange package containing an empty coffin mysteriously turns up at a nearby lake. In Evil of Dracula, a professor takes up a new post at an all-girls school only to discover the school’s principle conceals a dark secret and the pupils are in grave danger. Abounding with images of dark thunderous nights, ghostly mansions and bloody fangs, Michio Yamamoto’s trilogy emphasizes atmosphere and style and is sure to please both fans of classic gothic horror and Japanese genre cinema. Bonuses include newly translated English subtitles; Kim Newman on The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, a new video appraisal by the critic and writer; and reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Griffin.

DVDs, Movies, TV

Two must-see PBS programs: “GI Jews” and “Art of the Shine”

We are always gushing over programs, documentaries, shows, specials, films and mini-series that are released on Blu-ray and DVD by PBS Distribution. And with good reason. They are always riveting. Here are two that could easily fall through the cracks. Take note!

Through the eyes of servicemen and women, GI Jews: Jewish Americans in WWII brings to life the little-known story of Jews in World War II—as active participants in the fight against Hitler, bigotry and intolerance. These men and women were religious and secular, Zionists, socialists, even pacifists. Some had been in America for generations; others were recent immigrants, with close family members left behind in Hitler’s Europe. Their extraordinary experiences are at the heart of the film, telling the story of World War II from a uniquely Jewish perspective.

Like all Americans, they fought against fascism, but they also fought a more personal fight– to save their brethren in Europe. In the midst of it all, they battled anti-Semitism within the ranks of the U.S. military, facing slurs and violence from their fellow servicemen. In the end, the story of the Jewish GIs is the story of becoming American; the story of immigrants who earned their citizenship by shedding blood and fought for democracy and tolerance abroad and at home.

Meet the men and women who make their living cleaning our shoes. From the brash street shiners of New York City, to the masked shoe shine boys of La Paz, this program takes viewers around the world to give viewers an insider’s perspective of this overlooked profession. The Art of the Shine introduces the people who do this job and the chance to see the world through their eyes.

Viewers discover that despite being literally and figuratively “looked down upon” by society, shoe shiners universally take great pride in their work. They like the freedom that comes with being their own bosses and enjoy interacting with customers who always walk away happy. People around the world have turned to shoe shining to provide for themselves and their families. These are their stories. Step into their world. You’ll never look at a shoe shiner the same way again.

DVDs, Movies

Whoever knew road trips could be so funny and filthy? Welcome to “Frat Pack”

You’re invited to an insane wedding, a decadent frat party and a filthy, funny, 700-mile road trip. Since we love road trips, truly, we tagged along. That’s why we love Frat Pack, the wildly hilarious and raunchy flick, arriving on DVD, Digital, and On Demand June 19 from Lionsgate.

When Moira (portrayed by Beverly D’Angelo) decides to marry into a larger-than-life American family, her son, Elliot (Richard Alan Reid), is dragged on a road trip across the country with his soon-to-be stepbrothers for an epic alumni-weekend fraternity rager. The out-of-control comedy also stars Danny Trejo, Lochlyn Munro and Hana Mae Lee.  On the road, the gang meets drug dealers, tattoo artists, snooty clerks, and party gals who don’t act like ladies. All the while, Elliot’s dying to make a pass at sweet, sensible neighbor Skylar—but will he pass out instead?