Monday, September 22, 2008
New DVD releases round up 22nd / 23rd September
Sifting through this weeks crop of contemporary DVD releases, we've come up with some recommendations for you.
In the UK, our pick of the DVD releases on 22nd September 2008 are:
Jean-Luc Godard's place in cinematic history is already assured with a long list of stunning and challenging movies such as Weekend, Made In USA and Breathless to name but three, but his eight episode series of histories of the cinema may well be his crowning glory. Made over a period of 10 years, this series is a truly mammoth critical meditation on 20th century cinema its glory and failings and taken in so much more. All done is a godard stylee it is a truly remarkable piece of work.
Bullet Boy. This film about the mean streets of London from 2005 is even more relevant given the escalation in the media profile of knife crime in the capital in the last year, and so this fine film is given a timely re-release. The story expands on themes of loyalty, kinship, courage, and escapism against the tough realities of surviving in a pressure cooker urban environment where doing the right thing is rarely a straight forward judgement call.
The Red Balloon / Flight of the Red Balloon. AKA Le Voyage Du Ballon Rouge/Le Ballon Rouge. Cult DVD label Network continues to build on its excellent repertoire of TV releases with its growing roster of film DVDs. They have now released The Red Ballon (1954) a 34 film minute with minimal dialogue, and an almost balletic story of a boy and his balloon meandering through the streets and rooftops of a changing Paris. Absolutely beautifully photographed it was also the winner of that years Oscar for best screenplay (even though it was only classed as a short film).
In the USA, the pick of the DVD releases on 23rd September 2008 are:
Bill Douglas was something of a lost name in British cinema, but his trilogy of films My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home are some of the most strongly autobiographical stories ever brought to life in Cinema. With those personal stories the joy and crushing lows of being brought up in a poverty stricken mining town in Scotland, and the 'escape' from home cut into the viewer like a knife. We here at alt-flix are dying to see Douglas' truly lost classic Comrades an extremely rarely shown epic about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
The Singing Detective . A re-telling of Dennis Potter's classic 1980s TV serial. Surprisingly for a Hollywood produced movie, the retelling only loses a small amount of the charm and the darkly bitten spite of the original series. Robert Downey Jr gives his finest performance so far in the film, and the rest of the cast are pretty good too. Having said all that I would strongly recommend that anyone who enjoys watching this film should track down the DVD of the original series as it is an absolute masterpiece.
Aki Kaurismaki's Proletariat Trilogy (Shadows in Paradise / Ariel / The Match Factory Girl). Switching disarmingly and constantly rotating somewhere between tragedy and comedy, these social-realist comedies beautifully trevail the trials of the working-class of Kaurismaki's native Finland. A uniquely talented film maker whose work deserves a much wider audience.
Cinematographer Style. A truly fascinating and beautiful documentary focusing on the art and artists involved in cinematography. Includes inllumintaion from such cinematographers as Roger Deakins (the Coen brother's cinematographer) and Vittorio Storaro (whose stunning cinematography graced Apocalypse Now).
Other recommended new DVD releases can be found on our site at alt-flix.co.uk DVD releases.
In the UK, our pick of the DVD releases on 22nd September 2008 are:
Jean-Luc Godard's place in cinematic history is already assured with a long list of stunning and challenging movies such as Weekend, Made In USA and Breathless to name but three, but his eight episode series of histories of the cinema may well be his crowning glory. Made over a period of 10 years, this series is a truly mammoth critical meditation on 20th century cinema its glory and failings and taken in so much more. All done is a godard stylee it is a truly remarkable piece of work.
Bullet Boy. This film about the mean streets of London from 2005 is even more relevant given the escalation in the media profile of knife crime in the capital in the last year, and so this fine film is given a timely re-release. The story expands on themes of loyalty, kinship, courage, and escapism against the tough realities of surviving in a pressure cooker urban environment where doing the right thing is rarely a straight forward judgement call.
The Red Balloon / Flight of the Red Balloon. AKA Le Voyage Du Ballon Rouge/Le Ballon Rouge. Cult DVD label Network continues to build on its excellent repertoire of TV releases with its growing roster of film DVDs. They have now released The Red Ballon (1954) a 34 film minute with minimal dialogue, and an almost balletic story of a boy and his balloon meandering through the streets and rooftops of a changing Paris. Absolutely beautifully photographed it was also the winner of that years Oscar for best screenplay (even though it was only classed as a short film).
In the USA, the pick of the DVD releases on 23rd September 2008 are:
Bill Douglas was something of a lost name in British cinema, but his trilogy of films My Childhood, My Ain Folk and My Way Home are some of the most strongly autobiographical stories ever brought to life in Cinema. With those personal stories the joy and crushing lows of being brought up in a poverty stricken mining town in Scotland, and the 'escape' from home cut into the viewer like a knife. We here at alt-flix are dying to see Douglas' truly lost classic Comrades an extremely rarely shown epic about the Tolpuddle Martyrs.
The Singing Detective . A re-telling of Dennis Potter's classic 1980s TV serial. Surprisingly for a Hollywood produced movie, the retelling only loses a small amount of the charm and the darkly bitten spite of the original series. Robert Downey Jr gives his finest performance so far in the film, and the rest of the cast are pretty good too. Having said all that I would strongly recommend that anyone who enjoys watching this film should track down the DVD of the original series as it is an absolute masterpiece.
Aki Kaurismaki's Proletariat Trilogy (Shadows in Paradise / Ariel / The Match Factory Girl). Switching disarmingly and constantly rotating somewhere between tragedy and comedy, these social-realist comedies beautifully trevail the trials of the working-class of Kaurismaki's native Finland. A uniquely talented film maker whose work deserves a much wider audience.
Cinematographer Style. A truly fascinating and beautiful documentary focusing on the art and artists involved in cinematography. Includes inllumintaion from such cinematographers as Roger Deakins (the Coen brother's cinematographer) and Vittorio Storaro (whose stunning cinematography graced Apocalypse Now).
Other recommended new DVD releases can be found on our site at alt-flix.co.uk DVD releases.
Labels: Histoire Du Cinema, The Bill Douglas Trilogy
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