Black Dog Video Newsletter

I have noticed that there are quite few Barak Obama inauguration parties around town tomorrow night. Pretty cool, pretty strange. I don’t seem to recall the same thing happening when Dubya was “elected” President back in 2000. On the flip side I have also noticed a few “Bushes last day in office parties”. Says a lot about the American idiot and what he’s put the world threw in the last 8 years. Dark times. Let’s hope that Obama stays true to his ideals and actually makes a difference for the good. I know that this doesn’t have anything to do with movies (it is a pretty lame week) but it is an historic occasion to be sure.

New Releases for Tuesday January 20th

American East - Some Jewish guys and a another guy from the Middle East open a restaurant somewhere. That’s it, that’s all I have - sorry. You’re on your own.

Children of Huang Shi - A Brit and an Aussie save a bunch of orphans in Japanese occupied China in 1937. Open and closed quickly in the theatres to mixed reviews. On the bright side, it has Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh in it.

City of Ember - Sci-Fi dealy that hardly anyone has ever heard of even with the talents of Bill Murray, Tim Robbins and B.J. Hogg.
Confessions of an Action Star - Mocumentary that follows the rise and fall of stripper turned action hero Frank Sledge. Might be funny, might not.

The Express - Sports bio-pic about Ernie Davis, the first black dude to win the Heisman trophy (US college football).

Henry Poole is Here - To me this film sounds dreadful - its about a guy who thinks he’s going to die but his faith in life is restored by some sort of miracle. Yikes. Miracle is a word that is thrown around way too often. A perfect example is that plane that landed in the Hudson River last week. All the headlines blared miracle this and miracle that. Come on, it was a successful emergency landing from a good pilot doing his job. There’s no miracle there. Stop the miracle horse-shit. Don’t even get me started about Miracle Whip!

Igor - Animated kids film about the famed evil scientist’s hunchback assistant.

Max Payne - Marky Mark continues his slide (remember The Happening?) into the dangerous waters of Steven Seagal and Eric Roberts films that go straight to video and wind up in the discount bin at Superstore with this turd about something based on a video game. Be careful Marky Mark, you’re a long way from Boogie Nights. Also on Blu-Ray.

MI-5 Season 6 - More drama and action from those lovable MI-5 kids.

Repo! The Genetic Opera - Horror musical comedy about organ harvesting and what not. Don’t let the fact that almost human (but not quite) Paris Hilton is in it, it also has Anthony Stewart Head, Ogre, Sarah Brightman, Bill Mosley and The Grave Robber to keep the cultiness flowing. (Its late from the studio so it should be on the shelves Friday - my apologies) Also on Blu-Ray.

Saw 5 - What else can I tell, its the fifth Saw movie. There ya go saw away. Also on Blu-Ray.

Coming next week…

Lakeview Terrace
The Lucky Ones
Open Season 2
Rec
The Rocker
RocknRolla
Vicky Christina Barcelona

Recently viewed and recommended…

Planet Earth (especially on blu-ray - it’ll flip your hair back!)
Red
Lost
Stuck
Taxi to the Dark Side
Standard Operating Procedure
Tokyo Gore Police
Battlestar Galactica Season 4
Pineapple Express
The Wackness
Baghead

Movie News and Notes….

In the remake of the week file comes George Romero’s The Crazies. It’s going to star Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) and the lovely Rhada Mitchell (Rogue). Hope that this one rocks.

In in the “I can almost guarantee that this remake will suck ass file” comes The Karate Kid starring Jackie Chan in the Mr. Miyagi role alongside Will Smith’s sprog Jaden as Ralph Macchio. Yikes I says!

And in the “watch my shoulders slump as I say this file” comes word of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy being developed for director, sorry I mean hack Roland Emmerich (10,000 BC)

Black Dog’s site/clip of the week…

If you like music videos, hey who doesn’t?, then watch these two gems….

Wonder whatever happened to egomaniac Tubbs from Miami Vice?

And then there is this clown. He looks like he’s actually serious!…

And what’s a little sexy pole dancing between lovers?

Black Dog’s celebrity mug shot of the week..

I know that I ran this one last week but what I didn’t get was the whole story. Warning there are potentially offensive descriptions in the following …

Charles Barkley’s Oral Statements
Ex-NBA superstar told Arizona cops he was racing to get a “blow job”

DECEMBER 31–Following his arrest earlier today for drunk driving, Charles Barkley told Arizona cops that he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up a girl who had “given him a ‘blow job’ one week earlier,” which the former NBA star described as “the best one he had ever had in his life.” According to a Gilbert Police Department report, a copy of which you’ll find here, police asked Barkley where he was going at the time of the 1:26 AM traffic stop in Scottsdale. “You want the truth? I was gonna drive around the corner and get a blow job,” answered Barkley, who is pictured in the below mug shot. A cooperative Barkley also joked with a civilian police employee that, “I’ll tattoo your name on my ass” if it would get him out of the DUI charge. Barkley, 45, was busted after failing field sobriety tests, and had blood drawn so investigators could establish his alcohol content. Barkley was cited for a misdemeanor charge and released at the scene, thus avoiding a trip to the Maricopa County jail. Barkley, now a basketball commentator on TNT, was elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 2006. His 16-year career included an MVP award and a spot on the 1992 U.S. Olympic basketball squad, the so-called Dream Team that captured the gold medal. He has several prior arrests, including a 1997 aggravated battery bust and a 1991 assault collar.

Charles Barkeley Mugshot

Black Dog now has a Twitter (man, what a stupid name) account to go along with the Facebook Black Dog site. I will try to maintain both with the Twitter (I even hate writing it) having little blurbs about films that we recommend -  http://twitter.com/BlackDogVideo. The Facebook site is a little more involved - the newsletter will be posted on there, plus whatever else we can come up with - and I hope that we get lots of input from anyone and everyone that wants to bother. Apparently, because of the weather, this coming Tuesday’s new releases may not make it in time to get on the shelves for our noon Tuesday opening. I will endeavor to get as much as I can so everyone can get their hands on Tokyo Gore Police and Swing Vote.

New Releases for Tuesday January 13th

Amal - Film fest fave about a rickshaw driver in New Delhi and the adventures that ensue.
Appaloosa - Western starring and directed by character actor Ed Harris. Also stars hunky Viggo Mortensen and creepy Jeremy Irons.
Brick Lane - Drama about a young Bangladeshi woman who moves to London on the 80’s for an arranged marriage and, surprise, doesn’t really like it all that much.
Brideshead Revisited - Latest retelling of the Evelyn Waugh novel. I dunno why but I’ve always hated the name Brideshead. Brideshead, what’s a Brideshead?
Mirrors - Latest crappy American horror film. This one stars Jack Bauer and a bunch of haunted mirrors or something spooky like that.
My Best Friends Girl - Another lame romantic comedy starring charisma and talent challenged Dane Cook and please-fire-my-agent Kate Hudson. You know its bad when the main character’s name is Tank.
Swing Vote - For some crazy reason the US Presidential election comes down to one vote - Kevin Costner’s. Yikes. Also stars Cheech, Frasier and Frank Booth.
Tokyo Gore Police - Crazy full-on nutfest featuring about, well, Police in Tokyo who run into a lot of gore. Features plenty of dismemberment, be-headings, sword-hacking, and of course, lots and lots of blood flying. Add to that limbs once torn off or exploded or shredded or whatever, springing back as crazy appendages that range from heat-seeking missiles to crocodile jaws to genital “restructuring.” Now that sounds like my kind of film. If you like Machine Girl I think that may enjoy this.

Coming the Following Week…

American East
Children of Huang Shi
City of Ember
Confessions of an Action Star
The Express
Henry Poole is Here
Igor
Max Payne
MI-5 Season 6
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Saw 5
Suburban Mayhem

Recently viewed and Recommended

The Wackness
Battlestar Galactica Season 4
Nip/Tuck Season 5
Pineapple Express
Burn After Reading
Generation Kill
Red
Stuck
Man on a Wire
Standard Operating Procedure

Movie News and Notes

Now I know that this is current but its a great story and its the first I’ve heard of it. I always that that Werner Herzog was an awesome dude. This just adds to his mystique…

HOLLYWOOD - Oscar-nominee Joaquin Phoenix was rescued from his car wreck last week by German cult director Werner Herzog.

The 31-year-old Walk the Line star overturned his car on a canyon road above Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood after his brakes failed and he collided with another vehicle.

Phoenix was saved because he was wearing his seat-belt, but has revealed he was helped from the wreckage by the 63-year-old, who has a home nearby.

The actor says, “I remember this knocking on the passenger window. There was this German voice saying, ‘Just relax.’ There’s the airbag, I can’t see and I’m saying, ‘I’m fine. I am relaxed. Finally, I rolled down the window and this head pops inside. And he said, ‘No, you’re not.’

“And suddenly I said to myself, ‘That’s Werner Herzog!’ There’s something so calming and beautiful about Werner Herzog’s voice. I felt completely fine and safe. I climbed out. I got out of the car and I said, ‘Thank you,’ and he was gone.”

Here’s an article about Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s (Amelie, City of Lost Children) latest film. I’m sure that it will be most excellent…

Here’s Spider-man’s new enemy..a vampire-were-wolf thing (Were-wolf? There wolf!) called Morbius …Looks pretty lame, but its Spider-man and it seems those films are getting worse with each new one. Please Sam Raimi, go back to horror films…

Morbius

Black Dog’s site clip of the week…

I may be overstating it a bit but this may be the best thing ever on the internets…

and if you like that one check this out…

And if you’re looking for a few fashion tips for the inner soccer player in you, look no further…

Here’s an article from the Onion about revamps that went better than expected. I couldn’t agree more with Battlestar Galactica. Its a fine show..

And in an entirely related article here’s revamps that didn’t go so well…

Black Dog’s Celebrity Mug Shot of the Week…

Again with the drunk driving. Can’t celebrities afford a car and driver or maybe even a taxi?
Former NBA star Charles Barkley was arrested in December 2008 on suspicion of drunk driving after Arizona cops pulled his 2005 Infiniti over after he ran a stop sign. After Barkley, 45, failed field sobriety tests, he was given a blood test to register alcohol content. A cooperative Barkley, pictured in the below Gilbert Police Department mug shot, was cited on a misdemeanor DUI charge.

Charles Barkeley Mugshot

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

Recently viewed and recommended

Red
Stuck
Pineapple Express
Man on a Wire
Baghead
Burn After Reading
Hamlet 2
Generation Kill
Lomax The Songhunter
Encounters at the End of the World

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.

I guess I could start off this weeks newsletter talking about the weather and all the snow and slush that made it quite difficult driving or walking anywhere. It was and is quite lovely though and I wish I had a toboggan. Or I could mention the guy in Philadelphia who shot a talking guy in a movie theatre. While I detest the use of firearms I think I more detest jackasses who talk in the theatre. Or I could just say happy holidays to everyone and hope that ya’ll had a safe and fun Christmas season. But I think that I’ll just say thank you to everyone who patronized the stores over the past year and thanks to all of my great employees who have serviced you in 2008. Hope to see everyone again in 2009.

New Releases for Tuesday December 30th

American Teen - Doc that follows a bunch of diverse teens (think Breakfast Club but without the talents of Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald) as they navigate high school and friends and relationships and all that fun stuff that helped to make high school hellish.
Baghead - Comedy/horror about some struggling actors who retreat to a cabin to write a horror film but then it turns out that the horror is real! Little indie mumblecore flick has garnered a lot of praise on the festival circuit.
Battle for Haditha - Nick Broomfield (Fetishes, Biggie and Tupac) takes a break from docs to direct this feature about the massacre at Haditha, Iraq when a few marines murdered 24 women, men and children in retaliation for some of their buddies being killed. More blood on the hands of Bush, Cheney etc.
The Duchess - Another period piece starring Keira Knightly and Ralph Fiennes. Also on Blu-ray.
Eagle Eye - Preposterous thriller starring Shia LaBeouf and a lot of technology. Also on Blu-ray.
Executive Koala - Strange Japanese flick that is a cross between a prison movie, a slasher-flick, a musical, a love story, a drama and a Kung-Fu movie that stars a giant Koala bear in the lead role. Yes you read that right. (You have to check out the cover) From the director of The Calamari Wrestler. Yes you read that right as well.
Ghost Town - Romantic comedy starring Ricky Gervais(!) as a dentist who can see dead people. Like most romantic comedies, it starts off well with some good laughs but they dry up quickly as it turns into a predictable run of the mill rom-com. New York looks splendid though. Also on Blu-ray.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss - A romantic comedy where the laughs keep coming (so I hear) and it’s not told in the predictable mold of most (see above) rom-coms. This one is set in LA with a bunch of 20 somethings looking for love and laughs and, I assume, acting gigs as this is LA..
Pirates of the Great Salt Lake - Crazy, cultish comedy about modern day pirates who terrorize Salt Lake ( I assume the one in Utah?).
Resident Evil: Degeneration - Computer animated film about more of the same zombies and what not. Also on Blu-Ray.
Rug Cop - From the director of Executive Koala comes this cop thriller about a bunch of misfit detectives, one of which uses his toupee as his weapon of choice. Yes you read that right so stop asking.

Coming January 6th

Alphabet Killer
Babylon A.D.
Bangkok Dangerous
Battlestar Galactica Season 4
Duckman Season 3 and 4
Midnight Movie
Nip/Yuck Season 5
Pineapple Express
Ping Pong Playa
Righteous Kill
Secret Diary of a Call Girl Season 1
The Wackness

Recently viewed and recommended…

Shotgun Stories
Man on a Wire
Mad Men Season 1
Burn After Reading
Generation Kill
Sukiyaki Western Django
Mad Detective
Missing (1982)
Surfwise

And continuing with Black Dog’s picks of the year….

From Cambie

William

Best:

Dark Knight, WALL-E, I’ve Loved You So Long (France), Still Walking (Japan, yet to be released)

Special mention to the year’s most huggable film: Sita Sings the Blues
A delightful animated musical that played at the VIFF. It has no distributor yet. Now Roger Ebert is championing this gem on his blog so maybe its luck will change.

Best DVD release was Brand Upon the Brain! from Criterion.

Dishonorable mention to Quantum of Solace which everyone expected to be awesome but wasn’t. Weak story, forgettable song, couldn’t see the stunts for all the crappy shaky-cam.

Jessica

The Best of 2008 (in no particular order) (Technically a few of these are from 2007, but they didn’t come out on DVD until 2008)

Milk
Pineapple Express (I wasn’t even high and I thought it was funny)
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Funny Games (American)

Honorable Mention
Machine Girl
Be Kind Rewind
Snow Angels
In Bruges
Margot At the Wedding
Lars and the Real Girl

Best TV
Mad Men
30 Rock
… I didn’t watch much TV this year I guess.

and The WORST of 2008
Get Smart
Baby Mama
Step Brothers
Hancock (the first 30 minutes were OK and then what HAPPENED?!?!)

Bill

In no particular order…

Let the Right One In
Tropic Thunder
In Bruges
Lars and the Real Girl
Persepolis
Be Kind, Rewind
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Control
Standard Operating Procedure
King of Kong
City of Men
Wall-E
Teeth

T.V.
Dexter, season 2
30 Rock, season 2
Generation Kill seems good but I’ve only seen the first couple episodes… make of that what you will

Worst:
The Happening
Hancock
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (I swear if I ever meet Ben Stein it will take all my strength to not run up and kick him in the beets)

And from Commercial…

Joe

My listses is thus:

Top Ten movies I saw in 2008 that we have in the store. In random order.

The Fall Directed by Tarsem (but don’t let that put you off) It’s a 21st Century Princess Bride.

My Winnipeg - Directed by my friend who introduced me to the writings of Knut Hamsun - Guy Maddin

Snow Angels - David Gordon Green is easily the best film maker working in America today, bar none. Fuck Wes Anderson, there I said it!.

Persepolis - Ummm it goes well with East Van’s favorite after dinner mint {wink} plus then you can tell people you read the graphic novel.

After The Wedding - I love those wacky Danes. Shakespeare knew his settings itellyawhat!

Adam’s Apples - funniest movie of the year in a way that makes you feel like you are a bad person for getting the humour. Mads is Da Man!

Machine Girl - High School Girl of the Japanese variety has a Machine gun arm (and a giant tempura hand too) ferchrissakes! This stuff writes itself.

In Bruges - Best fast talking movie of the year. a pure joy. Colin Farrell did well this year, who’d a thunk it?

Burn After Reading - possibly the best movie about the banal evil that is middle age, ever.

Control - totally absorbing ride inside the mind of an epileptic punk new romantic bourgeois suicidal cunt

Some great DVD re-releases this year of movies that have never been on DVD and largely unseen in decades:

The Fabulous Stains. Awesome document of an era of the power of Decline of Western Civilization, or Rude Boy!

The Second Track - Great unseen East German film from early 60’s. has a real noir/new wave zeitgeist and just tells a simple mystery to name a couple.

If you rent any of these do so at your own risk (is a small list from me as I’m fairly picky about what I watch)

Indiana Jones and Mr. Lonely’s Skull In The Name of The King…  to name three

Also why would you rent Drillbit Taylor? why, tell me I dare you.

Most Over-rated rentals - Most Documentaries. Well sure there were some awesome ones.

Zeitgeist, though… yawn. best thing about that was the genius tinfoil case.

Torsten

Best of 08

1)Adams Apples

2)Burn after Reading

3)Boy A

4)In Bruges

5)You Don’t Mess With The Zohan ( I stand by it!!!!)

6)After The Wedding

7)We Shall Overcome

8)Snow Angels

9)Encounters at The End Of the Earth

10)Born To Lose

Movie News and Notes…

I don’t know if anyone even heard of this film but Delgo has disappeared from theatres. It opened on 2,100 screens and went to 0 in a week. It took 8 years to make, lots of voice talent and ended up averaging $19 per screen. But I’m sure that you’ll be able to catch it on DVD sometime soon. It has already become a legend for being one of the biggest flops ever spurning on articles such as this one from The Onion…

Looks like James Cameron will be directing a remake of Forbidden Planet (one of my favorites).

And from the unnecessary sequel department comes word on a sequel to Rob Zombie’s terrible Halloween remake. Zombie will again be directing. I loved Devil’s Rejects so maybe he’ll get this one right.

Here’s the teaser poster for the Land of the Lost film starring Will Farrell (yes that’s him in the dingy.) I loved this show as a kid (even the weird rubber suited Sleestacks - good name for a band). I just wish that all the T-Rex’s they have in movies now didn’t all look like the ones from Jurassic Park.

Black Dog’s site/clip of the week….

From Defamer comes the top 10 celebrity feuds of 2008. Some good stuff here!   http://defamer.com/5118677/the-10-craziest-defamer-feuds-of-the-year?skyline=true&s=x

Check out this awesome trailer for this awesome film that we are presently trying to track down..

Black Dog’s celebrity mug shot of the week…

Seems that the celebrities were on their best behavior over Christmas so we dug deep into the archives for this one…

In 1989, Zsa Zsa Gabor was arrested for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer and for driving with an expired license. She spent 72 hours in jail and was required to work 120 hours of community service at a woman’s shelter. She later complained that the jury was not made up of her peers, saying, “It was not my class of people. There was not a producer, a press agent, a director, an actor.”

Since there aren’t any New Releases for this Tuesday this weeks column will be devoted to Christmas movies (surprise) and the start of the year end wrap up featuring our picks for the best and the worst of the films of 2008. I hope that everyone has a swell and safe holiday and is enjoying the huge dumps of snow that we’ve been receiving. And if you’re out driving around please try to pay attention and be a good driver as it seems that there re more pinheads on the roads at this time of year. Slow down people, its not a race.

What would the Black Dog staff like to recommend for your viewing pleasure over the holidays…

There are, of course, the classics…

Christmas Carol - The black and white version from 1951 with Alistar Sim, not the 1978 version with Rich Little nor the 2004 musical adaptation starring Kelsey Grammar, nor the 2001 animated version with the voice talents of Simon Callow, or the 1999 treatment with The Fonz.
Scrooged - Bill Murray’s tale is a great addition to the Christmas Carol canon.
Its a Wonderful Life - I’ve never seen it but it seems to be popular this time of year.
A Christmas Story - The Bob Clark classic. “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”

Or if you prefer…

Black Christmas - Another Christmas gem from Bob Clark. It has the best tag line, “If it doesn’t make you skin crawl, its on too tight.” The moral rating on Christian answers.net is “Extremely Offensive” Check out the review, its hilarious - http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2006/blackchristmas2006.html
Bad Santa - Billy Bob Thorton is great as the drunk, horrible thieving mall Santa. I love the scene when he destroys Santa’s village. The moral rating on Christian answers.net is “Very Offensive” The readers comments are very entertaining…http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/2003/badsanta.html
Christmas Evil - How can you go wrong with an axe wielding homicidal maniac Santa Clause?
Die Hard - Not exactly a Christmas film but it does take place during a Christmas party.
Gremlins - See above.
Elf - Will Farrell is great as the man/child Elf but Bob Newhart is even better.

Or you can check out this article from the Onion on Christmas films that don’t make you want to claw your eyes out with rage…

Since there are no films this week here’s what is coming out on December 30th….

American Teen
Baghead
Battle for Haditha
The Duchess
Eagle Eye
Ghost Town
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
Pirates of the Great Salt Lake
Resident Evil: Degeneration

Here’s the start of the staff’s picks for the best and worst films for the calendar year of 2008…

Darren’s picks

There’s a lot of films I have yet to see (Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Synecdoche, New York, Milk) but here’s the favorites from what I did see.

These may not be the best films others may put on their lists but they are the films that I enjoyed the most. (I saw a lot of horror films this year, some great, some not so great. The French seem to have a good handle on the horror genre at the moment.)

Let the Right One in
Cloverfield
Inside (French)
Rec
Man on a Wire
Taxi to the Dark Side
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
In Bruges
Persepolis
King of Kong

Honorable mention

Transsiberian, Rogue, Tropic Thunder, Wall-E, The Bank Job, Iron Man, Control, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Redbelt, Shotgun Stories, Frontier(s)

Worst films

Indiana Jones and blah blah blah, X-Files movie, 10,000 BC, The Strangers, Alien vs Predator:Requiem, Hancock

Best Comedy - The Happening

Best TV - Mad Men, final season of The Wire, The Shield Season 5, 30 Rock

John’s picks

It took more effort than usual to find the best stuff, but it was actually a pretty good year.

I loved:
Wendy & Lucy
4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days
The Edge of Heaven
Paranoid Park
Gomorrah
A Christmas Tale
the last 30 minutes of Hamlet 2
and the first hour of The Secret of the Grain.

There’s a special place in hell for the people who made:
Sex and the City
Mamma Mia
and the unbelievably dull Dark Knight.

There is still nothing good on television except reruns of Green Acres.

That’s all the picks I’ve received so far but there will be more to come in the following weeks…

Movie News and Notes…

Looks like the new Tron movie, TR2N will be entirely in 3-D. Could be totally cool or it might suck. Here’s a bit more info…

And here’s a little ditty on some notable people who passed away this year…

I know that many of you are going to be crushed by this news but…American Gladiators has been cancelled!

Oh and there is a new Judge Dredd film going into production. Sorry to ruin your Christmas.

Black Dog’s Clip/Site of the Week

in case you missed it last week, here’s the video the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes (both shoes - love it!) at Bush during a press conference…

Here’s a note from Robert Greenwald, director of the documentaries Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices and Iraq for Sale, on maybe why someone would want to throw his shoes at the American Idiot…

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters,

1. Watch the video

2. Send it to friends and family

The Bush administration isn’t about to let democracy or the will of the people stop them from further ruining this country before they leave office. Knowing he can’t get his long list of favors to his Republican cronies through Congress, Bush is doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power. These so-called “midnight regulations” will allow factories to pollute more, further restrict women’s access to abortion services, cut off aid to needy families in the middle of a recession, and much more — all without Congress’ oversight or approval. It’s wrong, it’s antidemocratic, but, sadly, it’s legal.

When given the opportunity to be “naughty or nice” this holiday season, Bush has clearly opted to go down as one of the naughtiest, most sinister presidents in our nation’s history. We’ve created a satirical spin on the famous poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, in order to show President Bush crafting his last-minute agenda for health care, the environment, civil liberties, and labor practices — rules that will affect everyone and will be difficult for the next administration to overturn. We are using humor here in the hopes that it both commands people’s attention and enables us to shine a light on these all-too-serious midnight regulations.

After you’ve enjoyed this video, send it to friends and family and don’t forget to digg it. Let them know the harm President Bush’s midnight regulations will bring. And stress the fact that there are far too many Congressional representatives who have remained silent while Bush pushes midnight regulations that will wreak havoc on the lives of their constituents and local communities. We must call the tacit approval of these representatives into question.

Keep in mind that it’s not just voters in blue states who will be affected — these midnight regulations will hurt people in the states and districts of Bush’s enablers in Congress. And remember that these last-minute policies are the outcome of Congressional Republicans’ loyal support for the Bush agenda over the past eight years. We should hold them accountable for the huge lump of coal Bush is handing over to the nation this Christmas.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Films team

——
Brave New Films is supported by members like you, please consider making a donation. You can get all our latest videos via email, RSS, iTunes or YouTube here. To stop receiving updates from us, click here. We are located at 10510 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232 and info@bravenewfilms.org.

Here’s a good way to help you find a film that you didn’t know that you wanted to watch…Clerkdogs!  Or you just ask our friendly and knowledgeable staff…

Black Dog’s celebrity mug-shot of the week…

Since its the end of the year I’d like to present to Smoking Gun’s top 20 mug shots of the year. Check out the 2nd place winner (number 19)

What makes a good photograph? A compelling subject, proper lighting, and exquisite composition would certainly be components. But what makes a good mug shot? A compelling subject, of course. And a cow costume never hurts. On the following pages you’ll find the 2008 Mug Shots of the Year, 20 booking photos selected from among the tens of thousands reviewed this year by TSG’s staff (all three of us). While most of the images speak for themselves, on some pages you’ll find links to stories providing additional details about the arrestees. As seen below, the list, arranged in descending order, kicks off with an unruly Jersey girl who got bounced from a Shore bar and then kicked, punched, and bit some cops. And befitting a year marked by a historic presidential election, the list reaches its apex with a group of suspects busted in the act of advocating change.

Thanks for reading and have a fabulous and safe holiday!

This edition of the newsletter will be somewhat abbreviated as I spent the weekend moving and am still dealing with all that that entails. Missing will be week the witty detailed synopsis of this weeks releases, movie news, clips and the famed celebrity mug shot. Everything will return to normal next week. My apologies.

What a huge crazy pain in the ass moving is (I don’t think anyone finds it pleasant). In the course of the move I lost my keys, a hubcap and a piece from my son’s bed. (Lousy IKEA). I managed to hold the bed together with a few books for support and some tape and chewing gum. Its fine as long as he doesn’t move in it. I was going to bail on the newsletter altogether but its an unusual week as there are 2 release dates. I also wanted to mention that the newsletter is also available online at our website although if you are reading this than you don’t need to go to the website to read it. Tell your friends. We’ll also be coming out with the staff picks for the best and worst films of the year in the next couple of weeks.

New Releases for Tuesday December 16th

Elite Squad - Multi-award winning thriller from Brazil.

Generation Kill - Acclaimed HBO show from the creators of The Wire follows a journalist in Iraq at the beginning of the invasion.

Good Humor Man - Stoner comedy starring Hurley from Lost.

Lomax the Songhunter - Doc about a guy named Lomax who collected music.

Looking for Cheyenne - Lesbian drama.

Mama Mia! - Come sing along to a bunch of ABBA tunes as sung by Meryl Streep and Remington Steel.

Man on a Wire - Great doc about a crazy dude who walked a tightrope between the World Trade Centre towers back in the seventies.

Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - More cgi inspired crap starring shaved ape Brendan Fraser.

Sukiyaki Western Django - Takeshi Miike’s (Audition, Visitor Q) first english language film is a crazy western sort of thing.

Swingtown - TV series about the swinging 70’s. Bring on the key party!

New Releases for Friday December 19th

Burn After Reading - Coen brothers latest is a screwball comedy starring most of Hollywood.

Death Race - Nothing says Christmas like Death Race.

Hamlet 2 - Comedy starring the great Steve Coogan as a high school drama teacher out to do a new version of Hamlet amongst other classics.

House Bunny - A former Playboy Bunny helps a sorority of “movie” unattractive coeds become beautiful inside and out. Uh-huh.

Traitor - Don Cheadle stars in this action thriller. Is he the traitor? Maybe. Or maybe not.

The Women - Tepid remake of the olde tyme classic.

Coming Next Week…

American Teen
Baghead
Resident Evil Degeneration
Executive Koala
Rug Cop
The World Sinks…Except for Japan

Old titles just in…

Bottle Rocket - Criterion
Chunking Express - Criterion
Europa aka Zentropa - Criterion
Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh

Recently viewed and recommended

The Shield Season 5
Man on a Wire
A Colbert Christmas
The Dark Knight
Wanted
Red
Surfwise
Tropic Thunder
Wall-E
Transsiberian

Sorry folks but that’s all for this week….

There’s something called the Three Days of Shopping in Cambie Village coming this weekend, Friday to Sunday. Apparently it is a promotion targeting people who live in the area to come and check out the stores on Cambie which, I assume will have some fabulous Christmas promotions happening. Come and check it out. As we are a rental business, we won’t have much Christmas stuff for sale. (Well none actually - but don’t let that stop you from coming in!)

New Releases for Tuesday December 9th

A Colbert Christmas - Stephen Colbert invites you for some holiday cheer at his cabin where he’s hemmed in by a bear and is forced to sing songs with the likes of Elvis Costello, Feist, Willie Nelson and for some reason county music buffoon Toby Keith. Good fun.

The Dark Knight - Pretty good sequel to Batman Begins. Over long and silly at times (what’s with Batman’s voice?) but entertaining none the less. Heath Ledger’s Joker is worth the film itself but the possibility for a sequel(s) was spoiled by him dying. Way to go. Also on Blu-Ray.

Frost/Nixon - The original interviews with David Frost and Tricky Dick from the 70’s are made available for the first time. Supposed to be fascinating stuff and with the Hollywood version coming out soon you’ll want to brush up on your history, right? Also on Blu-ray. (just kidding).

Garden Party - Bunch of 20-somethings try to follow their dreams in LA. Let me guess, maybe acting? Model? Rock Star? Dancer? Heavy Equipment Operator?

George Carlin: Its Bad for Ya - Last  filmed stand up performance by the late great Carlin.
Horton Hears a Who - Fun stuff for the kids finds an elephant who discovers a tiny community of “Whos” living in a flower. Ya smoke another one “Dr.” Suess.

Lost Season 4 - More of the same from the kids on the island. I kind of lost interest after season 2 but I hear its still pretty good.

Mad Detective - From Johnnie To (The Mission, Exiled) comes this cool sounding cop story about a pair of detectives, one with some mad detecting skills, who track a serial killer.

Mister Foe - Award winning strange little ditty from across the pond finds Billy Eliot taking to the rooftops in his neighborhood to spy on people.

River Queen - Jack Bauer down under (sort of) finds drunky Keifer Sutherland caught between the British and the Maori during the British colonization of New Zealand during the 1860s. Is NZ referred to as down under as well?

Superman Doomsday - Animated Superman thingy finds the Man of Steel actually getting is ass killed.

Coming the Following Week…

Generation Kill
Mama Mia!
Man on a Wire
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Traitor

Recently Viewed and recommended

A Colbert Christmas
The Dark Knight
Taxi to the Dark Side
Metalocalypse 2
Wanted
Encounters at the End of the World
Red
Surfwise
Wall-E
The Shield Season 6

Movie News and Notes

In a recent interview Sigourney Weaver mentioned that her and director Ridley Scott had been talking about another Alien film. But she said that because of the super crappy Alien vs Predator films that the alien has become over exposed and if they did another film it might be alien free. Hmmmmm…

Good news to some, bad to others - Looks like there won’t be a Jurassic Park 4….

Here’s Roger Ebert’s picks for the best films of 2008. A little early but here they are…

Black Dog’s clip/site of the week… Just to reconfirm that one shouldn’t drink/do drugs or any combination of mind altering drugs, recreational or pharmaceutical, while driving…

Its about time someone took Apple down a peg. A whole peg!

From the Onion comes a funny little article about bad gift ideas in the movies…

And again from the Onion, the latest in there ongoing series of new great cult films. This week they check out The Devil’s Rejects (a personal fave)…

Black Dog’s Celebrity Mug Shot of the Week

They don’t call it Jackass for nothing….
Steve - O
“Jackass” star Steve-O (aka Stephen Glover) was arrested in August 2002 for exposing himself during a nightclub performance in Louisiana. Glover allegedly stapled his scrotum to his thigh and also participated in another stunt during which a bouncer slammed a patron’s head on the ground. The 28-year-old Johnny Knoxville sidekick, who was charged with obscenity and being an accessory to second-degree battery, is scheduled to be arraigned December 16.

I’m not too sure why but until late last week I had never heard the term Black Friday and when I did I thought that it was in reference to the stock market having a bad day. But since I heard this term used on Wednesday I figured out that wasn’t it. In case anyone out there is as clueless as myself, Black Friday is the name of the day after the American Thanksgiving, when the Christmas shopping season officially begins. The term Black Friday originated in Philadelphia in reference to bad traffic on that day. It also has been used to describe merchants whose profits are in the black for the holidays. Why am I boring you with this, you ask? In keeping with the holiday spirit a clerk at a Wal-Mart was trampled to death in Valley Stream, NY on Black Friday as a large crowd, many of whom had been camping out since 2am, broke through the glass doors just before the 5am opening. Trampled to death! Guess that the loogans just had to bust in there and get their TV’s or popcorn makers or wedding dresses or whatever it is that Wal-Mart sells. Out of my way, there’s batteries on sale! The crowd also refused to leave the checkout lines when the police made the tragedy a crime scene. A pregnant woman was also hospitalized in the melee. And in California 2 idiots shot each other in a Toys-R-US. Nothing says Christmas like a good shooting or trampling.

New Releases for Tuesday December 2

Book of Revelation - Australian erotic (not two words often heard together) mystery about a guy who’s abducted and sexually abused and tortured by three women.

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Second part of the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings light film series. Also on Blu-Ray.

Crosby Stills Nash and Young: Deja Vu - Concert film helmed by Old Creaky (Young) with all of his curmudgeon buddies.

Fly Me to the Moon - Animated kiddie fare in 3-D has some flies going to the moon or something.

Home Sick - A maniac with a suitcase full of razor-blades unleashes a super human killer upon a group of kids in a small Alabama town. Jeeze, all I have in my suitcase is a banana and an egg salad sandwich. Word has it that this is a totally fun crazy B-Horror slasher extravaganza. Enjoy.

Kiss Attack - No idea what this is except from a description on the Internets - the first ever erotic action vampire film. Sounds naughty for those of us who like the naughty.

Metalocalypse 2 - More animated fun from Adult Swim follows the heavy metal outfit Dethklok as they do what they do. Whatever that may be.

Primeval - British TV series follows some scientists and the like as they try to track down dinosaurs that have made there way into present day England via some sort of time portal. As a dinosaur nerd myself I must say that this one looks interesting. Hope that there is lots of good eating.

Rise of the Footsoldier - British Goodfellas wanna be film set against the backdrop of football culture and the rave scene in the late 80’s. Again, if there were as many gangsters in real life as there are in film/TV we’d all be in gang bangers.

Step Brothers - Another tired Will Farrell comedy. This time around he’s a 40 year old loser who gets another 40 year old loser (Reed Rothchild from Boogie Nights) as a stepbother. I wanted to like this film but there is just too much juvenile bathroom humour. Like come on, how many testicle rubbing on the drum set/eating dog shit jokes can one take? Also on Blu-Ray.

Wanted - A frustrated office worker learns that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his father’s superhuman killing abilities. I wish I had superhuman killing abilities. Mine are just so pedestrian. Stars Angelina Joie and some tattoos. Directed by the guy who made the cool Russian flicks

Nightwatch, Daywatch and the forthcoming Twilight Watch. Also on Blu-Ray.

X-Files: I Want to Believe - I want to believe this is good but from most accounts that I’ve heard it is just the opposite. With all of the time since the series expired why couldn’t they have made this better than an average episode? Maybe Duchovny and his over-sexed loins wanted to turn it into some sort of sex romp or erotic action vampire film. Also on Blu-Ray.

Coming the following week…

The Dark Knight
Horton Hears a Who
Lost Season 4
Man on a Wire
Mister Foe
River Queen

Old Stuff just in….

Baby Blood
The Black Cauldron
Bukowski Live: There’s Gonna be a God Damn Riot in Here!
The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith
The Devil’s Playground
LA Confidential - Blu-Ray
One of our Aircraft is Missing
Poltergeist - Blu-Ray
Story of O - Blu- Ray

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Taxi to the Dark Side
Tropic Thunder (I hear the commentary is outstanding as well)
The Shield Season 6
Christmas on Mars
Encounters at the End of the World
Red
Surfwise
Wall-E
Transsiberian

Movie News and Notes…

Bruno Heller, creator of the TV series Rome is hoping to make a big screen adaptation of the acclaimed series. Here’s what he has to say…
“I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end,” Heller said. “The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There’s certainly more than enough history to go around.”

The same goes for Arrested Development. When asked about it, here’s what Opie had to say…”
Yeah, we’re closer than ever. Mitch [Hurwitz] is really focused on it, the cast seems really interested, the studio [Fox Searchlight] seems to be on board, and God know they’ve got a narrator who’s just chomping at the bit. [laughs] So we don’t have a script yet, but we all want it and we want it to be good. We’re pushing in that direction and all really pushing together for the first time in ages. So, I think we’ve got a very good chance of it happening.

Those are two quality series that I for one wouldn’t mind seeing more of.

For those of you waiting to see The Hobbit on the big screen, you’ll have to wait a few more years. Seems filming doesn’t commence until 2010 and will take over a year to shoot.

Black Dog’s site/clips of the week…

Looking for a new exercise regiment? What to blow out your lats and quads? Look no further…

Why is the auto industry in the crisis that they are in at the moment? A little look back at its history might shed some light on the matter…

And from the Onion comes a fun article about long lost projects some are hoping to see the light of day…

A dead Bruce Lee shilling for Nokia cameras!

In case anyone was wondering how far W’s popularity has fallen all over the globe watch this video…

Black Dog’s celebrity mug - shot of the week…

The Thunderdome eh? Two tennis players enter, on tennis player leaves!

Tennis legend Jimmy Connors was arrested in November 2008 after he allegedly refused to comply with a police order to leave an area outside a California arena. Connors, 56, was nabbed outside Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome, where the top-ranked University of North Carolina basketball team was facing UC Santa Barbara. Connors was busted by the university police and booked into the Santa Barbara County jail, where the below mug shot was snapped.