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DVD RELEASES 2010/8/31

Recommended

Red Riding Trilogy (IFC Films) — The Red Riding films are beautifully shot, meticulously cast (with just the right buck-toothed chubsters and pale beauties) and more complex than anything American television audiences are used to. The directors are an all-star band, as Julian Jarrold lathers the viewer into a terrible frenzy, James Marsh solidifies our suspicion that something is rotten in Yorkshire, and Anand Tucker delivers a soaring conclusion that raises more questions than it answers. Read the rest of Lena Dunham’s review, then buy the 3-film sets on DVD or Blu-ray.

A Quiet Little Marriage (IFC Films) — Winner of the Narrative Grand Jury Award at the 2009 Slamdance Film Festival, Mo Perkins’ A Quiet Little Marriage is, as its cozy title implies, a charming little movie. But, as with the production’s superficially glossy high-def presentation, that title belies a more insidious purpose. With her debut feature, Perkins sets her sights on a complicated subject that is rarely addressed in contemporary cinema. Read the rest of my review, then buy it on DVD.

Have Not Seen But Sound Intriguing In Some Way, Shape, or Form

Cinevardaphoto (Cinema Guild) — This release contains not just Agnes Varda’s Cinevardaphoto triptych—Ydessa, The Bears and Etc., Ulysses, and Salut les Cubains—but six more shorts spanning the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. Buy it on DVD.

Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire (Tony Palmer) — Long thought lost, this 1972 documentary by Tony Palmer has been dug up from the grave and is now ours for the taking. Combined with the release of Leonard Cohen Live At The Isle Of Wight 1970, it’s been a very, very good year for Leonard Cohen fans. Buy it on DVD.

Dear Pyongyang (Typecast Releasing) — Buy it on DVD.

Rio Breaks (Factory 25) — Buy it on DVD.

Harry Brown (Sony Pictures) — Buy it on DVD or Blu-ray.

New To Blu-ray

The Evil Dead (Limited Edition) (Anchor Bay) — I’m not sure exactly what makes this a limited edition other than there being a bonus disc with presumably lots of goodies for the taking, but if you care about this release, you probably already know what those distinguishing perks are. Buy it on Blu-ray.

Bonus Pick

The Best of Soul Train (Time Life Entertainment) — Yes, Soul Train was notorious for its clearly lip-synced performances, but many of those lip-synced songs—as well as this era’s style—can’t be beat. Or if that doesn’t do the trick, the description of this release says it contains footage of “Marvin Gaye and Don Cornelius playing one-on-one basketball with Smokey Robinson refereeing.” Did this really happen??? Buy the 3-DVD Set.

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Michael Tully is an award-winning writer/director whose films have garnered widespread critical acclaim, his projects having premiered at some of the most renowned film festivals across the globe. He is also the former (and founding) editor of this site. In 2006, Michael's first feature, COCAINE ANGEL, chronicling a tragic week in the life of a young drug addict, world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film immediately solidified the director as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film,” a reputation that was reinforced a year later when his follow-up feature, SILVER JEW, a documentary capturing the late David Berman's rare musical performances in Tel Aviv, world-premiered at SXSW and landed distribution with cult indie-music label Drag City. In 2011, Michael wrote, directed, and starred in his third feature, SEPTIEN, which debuted at the 27th annual Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects banner. A few years later, in 2014, Michael returned to Sundance with the world premiere of his fourth feature, PING PONG SUMMER, an ‘80s set coming-of-age tale that was quickly picked up for theatrical distribution by Gravitas Ventures. In 2018, Michael wrote and directed the dread-inducing genre film DON'T LEAVE HOME, which has been described as "Get Out with Catholic guilt in the Irish countryside" (IndieWire). The film premiered at SXSW and was subsequently acquired by Cranked Up Films and Shudder.

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