frozen river – FILMdetail

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DVD & BLU-RAY PICKS

Frozen River (Axiom Films): An deservedly acclaimed American indie drama about a desperate single mother (Melissa Leo) living in upstate New York who resorts to smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States as a means of making ends meet. Written and directed by first-timer Courtney Hunt, it co-stars Misty Upham and Charlie McDermott. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, it is well worth seeking out, especially for Leo’s performance which won her an Oscar nomination earlier this year. Axiom Films are releasing it on DVD priced at £15.99 (RRP) and on Blu-ray.

Features include:

1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
English DD2.0 and DD5.1 Surround
Exclusive interviews with writer/director Courtney Hunt and star Melissa Leo
Stills gallery
Trailer
English subtitles for hearing impaired (feature only)

[Buy on DVD or Blu-ray]

The Essential Michael Haneke (Artificial Eye): A substantial 10-disc box set entitled of the Austrian director’s work which includes all his previously released films including both the original and American re-make of Funny Games, his breakthrough film, and his adaptation of The Castle, based on the unfinished novel by Franz Kafka, which is released for the first time in the UK as part of this set.

The collection contains the following:

The Seventh Continent
Benny’s Video
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance
Funny Games (Original)
The Castle
Code Unknown
The Piano Teacher
Time of the Wolf, Hidden and Funny Games US.

Extra features on individual discs are identical to the original releases, with the addition of the previously unreleased documentary called ’24 Realities per Second’, which is a 60 minute documentary on Haneke and which has never been seen before on these shores.

At a whopping £74.99 it is pricey in these recessionary times, but this Haneke is one of Europe’s most accomplished living directors. The release of this coincides with Artificial Eye’s theatrical release of Haneke’s Palme D’Or winning film, The White Ribbon. [Buy on DVD]

The Complete Fritz Lang Mabuse Boxset (Eureka/Masters of Cinema): Throughout his career director Fritz Lang built a trilogy of thrillers focused on an entity who began as a criminal mastermind, and progressed into something more amorphous: fear itself, embodied only by a name – Dr. Mabuse. For the first time on DVD, all three of Fritz Lang’s Mabuse films have been collected for one package, in their complete and restored forms.

Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler [Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler] (1922) – Lang’s two-part, nearly 5-hour silent epic detailing the rise and fall of Dr. Mabuse in Weimar-era Berlin.
Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse [The Testament of Dr. Mabuse] (1933) – A thriller with supernatural elements, all revolving around an attempt by the now-institutionalised Mabuse (or someone acting under his name and possibly his will) to organise an “Empire of Crime”.
Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse [The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse] (1960) – Fritz Lang’s final film, in which hypnosis, clairvoyance, surveillance, and machine-guns come together for a whiplash climax that answers the question: Who’s channelling Mabuse’s methods in the Cold War era?

A four-disc set, the features include:

Original German-language intertitles for ‘Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler’ along with newly translated English-language subtitles for each film
Newly recorded feature-length audio commentaries on all three movies by film-scholar and Fritz Lang expert David Kalat
Three video-featurettes totalling an hour-and-a-half in length on: the score of Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler; the creation of Norbert Jacques’ “Mabuse” character; and the motifs running throughout the works
2002 video interview with Wolfgang Preiss, the star of Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse
An alternate ending to Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse taken from the French print of the film
Optional English-language dub track for Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse
3 lengthy booklets containing a new translation of Fritz Lang’s 1924 lecture on “Sensation Culture”; an essay by critic and scholar Michel Chion on the use of sound in Das Testament des Dr. Mabuse; new writing on Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse by critic David Cairns; extracts from period interviews with Fritz Lang; an abundance of production stills, illustrations, and marketing collateral – and more.

All three films are presented in their complete and restored forms, refreshed and improved from previous Eureka releases of the first two films. Die 1000 Augen des Dr. Mabuse is released here for the first time ever on home video in the UK. [Buy on DVD]

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ALSO OUT

35 Shots of Rum (New Wave Films)
Columbo: The Complete Series (Universal Playback)
Darker Than Black Volumes 3 & 4 (Manga)
Devil May Cry (Manga)
Horsemen (Icon)
I Sell The Dead (Anchor Bay)
King of the Hill (Optimum)
New Town Killers (High Fliers)
Phantom & Die Finanzen des Großherzogs (Eureka/Masters of Cinema)
Rudo y Cursi (Optimum)
Staunton Hill (Anchor Bay)
24 Season 7 (Fox)
The Haunting of Molly Hartley (Icon)
The Holly & The Ivy (Optimum)
The Keeper (Optimum)
The Last House on the Left (2009) (Universal)
The Uninvited (Paramount)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox)
X: Volume 1 (MVM)

> Browse more DVD Releases at Amazon UK and Play
> Check the latest DVD prices at DVD Price Check
> Take a look at the current UK cinema releases (W/C Friday 16th October)

UK Cinema Releases 17-07-09

NATIONAL RELEASES

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (Warner Bros): The sixth film in the Harry Potter series is again directed by David Yates and adapted by Steve Kloves. The regular cast (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron, Emma Watson as Hermione and Michael Gambon as Dumbledore) all return and the plot sees the apprentice wizard go back to Hogwarts to find out more about the early years of Lord Voldemort.

Dark clouds are beginning gather over the wizard and regular worlds and Dumbledore enlists the aid of an old professor (Jim Broadbent) to help Harry, who has also found a new book of spells which was once owned by the mysterious ‘Half-Blood Prince’.

Although the first two Potter films were full of back-story and maybe a little sluggish for the more discerning viewer, they have improved since Alfonso Cuaron helped to creatively jump start the franchise in 2004 with the Prisoner of Azkaban.

David Yates did a solid job with the last film and here he moves proceedings along with considerable pace and verve, so much so that you don’t really notice the 153 minute running time. Visually it is the most advanced of the Potter series, with a crisp, clean look and CGI which is expertly woven in with the costumes and production design.

Anticipating the huge interest for what is likely to be the biggest film of the year, Warner Bros released it early on Wednesday and it is set for a massive opening weekend worldwide. [Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide / Cert 12A / Opened on Weds 15th July]

Moon (Sony Pictures): It isn’t often that you get an intelligent low-budget sci-fi film opening at UK cinemas but this first-time effort by director Duncan Jones is highly impressive. Set in the near future, Sam Rockwell stars as an astronaught who works on the moon harvesting helium-3 for a company who have helped reverse the planet’s energy crisis.

To say too much more about the plot would give away too much as it takes off in interesting and unexpected directions. The script by Jones and Nathan Parker taps into the vein of more cerebral sci-fi classics like Solaris (both versions), 2001 and Silent Running.

Given the budgetary limitations, it looks terrific with clever use of sets amd special effects, However, the biggest highlight of all is Rockwell who gives a remarkable performance in what is largely a one man show. Kevin Spacey also provides nice support as the voice of the base computer GERTY.

Sony Classics acquired this after it screened at Sundance back in January and to their credit Sony Pictures UK are giving it a decent national release here. [Nationwide / Cert 15]

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IN LIMITED RELEASE

UK Limited Releases 17-07-09

Frozen River (Axiom Films): An acclaimed American indie drama about a desperate single mother (Melissa Leo) living in upstate New York who resorts to smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States as a means of making ends meet. Written and directed by first-timer Courtney Hunt, it co-stars Misty Upham and Charlie McDermott. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, it is well worth seeking out, especially for Leo’s performance which won her an Oscar nomination earlier this year. [Apollo Piccadilly Circus, Odeon Panton Street & Key Cities / Cert 15]

Kisses (Optimum Releasing): A low budget Irish film about two young children named Kylie (Kelly O’Neill) and Dylan (Shane Curry) who run away together to Dublin for one night. Directed by Lance Daly, it screened at various festivals last year to considerable acclaim. [Odeon Covent Garden, Tricycle Theatre & Key Cities / Cert 15]

* Listen to our interview with Lance Daly about Kisses *

The Informers (Entertainment): An ensemble drama written by Bret Easton Ellis and Nicholas Jarecki and directed by Gregor Jordan. Based on Ellis’ 1994 collection of short stories of the same name, it stars Billy Bob Thornton, Winona Ryder, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, the late Brad Renfro and Amber Heard. The abysmal US reviews and distinct lack of buzz may see this slip quietly from cinemas sooner rather than later. [Apollo Piccadilly, Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue & Odeon Panton Street / Cert 15]

Burma VJ (Dogwoof): A documentary directed by Anders Østergaard which follows the September 2007 uprisings against the military regime in Burma. Filmed entirely on hand-held cameras (due to government restrictions), the footage was later smuggled out of the country. [Renoir, ICA, Ritzy & Nationwide / Cert 12A]

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> UK cinema releases for July 2009
> DVD Picks for this week including Religulous, Mad Men Season 2, The Young Victoria and Genova (W/C Monday 13th July)