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Summer Preview: Anywhere But a Movie Theater
Not all films go to theaters -- here's a look at what's premiere on DVD, VOD and online.
July 7
“Dead Wood”
No relation to the dearly departed HBO western series, this low-budget horror film centers on four urbanites whose trip into the woods doesn’t end well. Then again, when does it ever? At least the film has received kudos from its 2007 festival run at places like Shockerfest and Salento Fear Fest.
“Five Fingers”
Ryan Philippe plays a Dutch pianist and social worker who ventures to help out a humanitarian aid program in Morocco, only to be kidnapped by terrorists, led by Lawrence Fishburne, who spends much of the film stroking his beard and putting Philippe through unendurable torture in this chamber drama that played at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006.
“Garrison”
Writer/director Kerry Valderrama took inspiration from the murders of four army wives at Fort Bragg in 2002 for a drama starring James Barnes as a soldier who goes A.W.O.L. and the ensuing search for him by members of his squad.
“Night Train”
Steve Zahn, Leelee Sobieski and Danny Glover play strangers on a train who come across a dead man with a mysterious box that leads them to find a way to dump the body. Oddly from the trailer, the pastel-like visuals and the Christmastime setting of Brian King’s directorial debut make the film look like “Murder on the Polar Express.”
“One Missed Call 3: Final”
The Edward Burns/Shannyn Sossamon remake of Takashi Miike’s thriller may never have caught on in America, but that doesn’t mean they don’t keep churning them out overseas. Which is how the 2006 threequel will finally arrive in America, courtesy of Media Blasters.
“Reclaiming the Blade”
“Lord of the Rings” fans looking to recreate their favorite Aragorn sword moves might do well to pick up this doc on the art of staged sword fighting, featuring a host of sword fighting experts and many “LOTR” vets like Viggo Mortensen, Karl Urban and WETA’s Richard Taylor.
“Resolved”
Greg Whiteley’s doc about two debate teams from different social strata won the audience award at the 2007 L.A. Film Festival before premiering on HBO, but for those who missed it, the director follows an upper class Caucasian duo from Highland Park, Texas and a working class African-American team from Long Beach, California who not only compete at a high level, but on distinctively different terms from each other.
Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: The John Barrymore Collection including “The Beloved Rogue,” Mystery Science 3000: Vol. XV (including “The Robot vs. the Aztec Mummy,” “The Girl in Lover’s Lane,” “Zombie Nightmare,” “Racket Girls”)
July 14
“Break”
“In the tradition of ‘True Romance,’ ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’” without Quentin Tarantino’s name anywhere near it, this thriller at least got David Carradine and Michael Madsen to co-star alongside Frank Krueger, who plays a hit man tasked with assassinating a crime boss who ordered the hit himself.
“Dakota Skye”
A favorite at the Charlotte and Phoenix Film Festivals, John Humber’s drama stars Eileen April Boylan as the titular teen who’s sheltered herself off from the world until she meets a kindred spirit in Jonah (Ian Nelson), a classmate who just happens to be her boyfriend’s best friend.
“Flicker”
For the user who complained of ads on SnagFilms, Nik Sheehan’s doc on the life of poet and mystic Brion Gysin will be commercially available and uninterrupted on DVD via Alive Mind.
“Nickel Children”
One needs only to read the tortured history compiled by a fan of Jeremy Sisto’s to understand why it’s taken four years since Glenn Klinker’s drama made the festival rounds to come to home video. But hopefully the wait is worth it for this drama about two teen runaways who become hookers out of necessity. Sisto, Tom Sizemore and Max Perlich are just a few of the people they meet on the street.
“Welcome to Macintosh”
Robert Baca and Josh Rizzo bow to the altar of Steve Jobs in this Steve Wozniak-endorsed doc that traces the history of the computer company and indulges in what it calls a “mix [of] history, criticism and an unapologetic revelry of all things Apple.”
Other indies that played theaters, but you might’ve missed: “Explicit Ills,” “The Edge of Love,” the 2005 Italian comedy “Sorry You Can’t Get Through”
Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: “The Human Condition” (Criterion)
New to Blu-ray: “For All Mankind,” “This is Spinal Tap”
July 21
“Children of God”
Hot off of Hot Docs, Yi Seung-jun’s documentary follows a group of poverty-stricken Nepalese children who get by on their work for a local crematory and their belief in an afterlife.
“Dim Sum Funeral”
A dysfunctional Chinese-American family is reunited for the services of their matriarch in this comedy from Anna Chi that stars Steph Song, Kelly Hu, Bai Ling, Talia Shire and Russell Wong.
“Demon Warriors”
Magnolia’s Magnet Releasing label loves their Thai action films, so thankfully they’re bringing Thanakorn Pongsuwan’s supernatural action thriller about an immortal detective doomed to investigate a race of superghouls Stateside.
“The Empress & The Warriors”
Then again, the Weinsteins’ Asian imprint Dragon Dynasty loves their kung fu, which is why Donnie Yen’s 2008 period war drama is coming to the U.S.
Other indies that played theaters, but you might’ve missed: Dennis Belogorsky’s 2005 drama “Common Senses,” Young Man Kang’s 2001 romantic comedy “Cupid’s Mistake,” “Echelon Conspiracy,” “Global Metal,” “The Great Buck Howard,” “Sherman’s Way,” “Giuseppe Tornatore’s thriller “The Unknown Woman”
Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: Jean-Luc Godard’s “Made in U.S.A.,” “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her.”
July 28
“Nobody Loves Alice”
The title explains the motive of the title character, but writer/director Roger A. Scheck fills in the rest with a story about the unloved young Alice, whose best friend wants to test her fiancé’s fidelity by having Alice make a pass at him. Seeing as this is a horror film, things get bloody. Seeing as this is a director’s cut, things get really bloody.
Other indies that played theaters, but you might’ve missed: “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29″
Oldies but goodies resurfacing or appearing for the first time on DVD: a reissued two-disc set of Takashi Miike’s “Ichi the Killer,” a Criterion version of Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” (also on Blu-ray), Blue Underground reissues the Marcello Mastroianni-Ursula Andress sci-fi cult classic “The 10th Victim” and Sergio Martino’s 1973 Giallo “Torso.”
New to Blu-ray: “Bad Boy Bubby,” “Children of the Corn,” the original Enzo D. Castellari WWII movie “Inglorious Bastards”
