.: Black Dog Video, Vancouver :.

January 1-6, 2009 Newsletter

Ahh, a fresh new year with more fresh snow. As much as I enjoy walking around in the lovely white stuff, I hate driving in it. The side-streets are not/ cannot be plowed and I’ve shoveled enough snow to last a life time. This is not what I left Ontario for 15 years ago. Mixed bag of releases this week (although there are certainly a lot of them!) with some good stuff (Pineapple Express, The Wackness) some not so good stuff (Righteous Kill, Bangkok Dangerous) and some truly awful stuff (Disaster Movie).

New Releases for Tuesday January 6th

Alphabet Killer - Faith from Buffy stars as a schizophrenic detective in this run of the mill serial killer dealy.
Babylon A.D. - Vince Diesel continues to steer his career down the Steven Segal soon-to-be-only-seen-in-direct-to-video-films with this tepid sci-fi mess that was widely panned upon its release. The dvd is the directors cut which word has it makes the film quite superior to the theatrical miasma. Also on Blu-Ray.
Bangkok Dangerous - Nick Cage (and yet another bad haircut) tries to give Vin Diesel a run for his money with another crappy film. This time its a remake of the pretty good Thai film from a few years ago, both of which are directed by the awesomely named Oxide Pang. Also on Blu-Ray
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 - The second to last season of this superior sci-fi show that seems to get better with every season.
Disaster Movie - I don’t know why I bother getting this dreck. Please don’t rent it and I won’t get any more of these terrible “spoofs”. This is the second lowest rated film of all time on the IMDB. Enjoy.
Duckman Season 3 and 4 - I didn’t even know that this most excellent animated series made it this far. Good stuff.
Eden Lake - Highly touted and award winning horror flick about a couple on a romantic getaway who run into some loutish youths with unfortunate consequences. Never leave your house. Loutish youths abound everywhere!
Midnight Movie - Another award winning horror film (not too sure what awards these movies are winning). This one is about a midnight showing of a horror flick from 1974 where the killer comes out of the movie and starts killing off the audience. Based on a true story.
Nip/Tuck Season 5 - I can’t believe this twisted little gem has lasted this long. Great guilty pleasure for those in the know.
Pineapple Express - The unlikely pairing of director David Gordon Green (Snow Angels, Undertow) and Seth Rogan resulted in a pretty darn funny little stoner action flick. James Franco (James Dean lite) is great in this. One of the better comedies to hit the screens last year. Also on Blu-Ray.
Ping Pong Playa - A kid who has dreams of becoming a basketball player ends up becoming a great ping-pong player along the way. I love ping-pong.
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead - Horror zombie comedy from the Troma team. The tag-line reads as thus; Humans… the other white meat… Unless you’re black, then it’s dark meat… Or if you are Asian, then it’s yellow meat… Or if you are Native American, it’s red meat…
Righteous Kill - DeNiro and Pacino ham it up in this groan inducing cop thriller. Its a shame as I hear that these are two pretty good actors. Also on Blu-Ray.
Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season 1 - Hmmm, wonder what this one’s about? Nudity and British accents abound.
Summer Storm - Award winning German gay coming of age story. Probably didn’t win the same awards as the previously mentioned horror flicks.
Total Western - Full on French thriller about a heist gone bad. Someone’s comments about this film on the IMDB reads; If you like guns, tortures, blood and sometimes free violence, take a look to this TOTAL WESTERN.
Unconscious - Award winning Spanish mystery/comedy/sex romp. Sounds pleasing.
Under the Poison Tree - Doc about trying to bring to justice some Khmer Rouge responsible for the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. Not a lot of laughs here I’m guessing.
The Wackness - Comedy drama about a guy in NY in 1994 who sells pot and trades it to his shrink who happens to be Sir Ben Kingsley. All set to a pounding hip-hop score! Also on Blu-Ray.

Coming the following Week…

Amal
Appaloosa
Brick Lane
Brideshead Revisited
Mirrors
My Best Friends Girl
Swing Vote
Tokyo Gore Police

Old stuff that just showed up…

Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Julie Johnston

Movie News and Notes…

Here’s a trailer for a new documentary that looks, um, interesting…Lesbian Vampire Killers!

And speaking of vampires and what not, Park Chan Wook’s (Oldboy) new film is a vampire extravaganza. Its called Thirst and here’s a link with some stills if you are interested…

Black Dog’s clip/site of the week…

Here’s a good article from The Onion about dvds that haven’t been released on Region 1 (our format).

Yes its disgusting and I guess useful, but couldn’t they have thought of a better name for it? I present to you the Wonder Boner!

And here’s happy New Year from ABBA.

Black Dog’s Celebrity Mug Shot of the Week…

I knew that the celebrities couldn’t stay out of trouble for long…

Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor, was arrested in January 2009 on a drunk driving charge. Shepard was busted after police in Normal, Illinois pulled over his car for speeding (after detecting signs of intoxication, cops had Shepard take a Breathalyzer test, which showed his blood alcohol content was twice the state’s legal limit). Shepard told officers that he had been drinking in a Bloomington bar, and was en route to the Kentucky home he shares with actress Jessica Lange.

Sam Shepard