Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.
Immigrant stories have been big in 2023, but the troubling core of Dear Jassi is actually an emigrant story,...
Immigrant stories have been big in 2023, but the troubling core of Dear Jassi is actually an emigrant story,...
- 10/9/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Italian actor-turned-director Andrea Di Stefano, whose sleek cop thriller “Last Night of Amore” just had its U.S. premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, is in advanced stages of development on “Karski” a feature about Jan Karski, the World War II Polish resistance fighter who risked his life to blow the whistle on the Holocaust.
Di Stefano’s high-profile project, which is titled “Karski,” is being developed by New York City-based production company Phiphen Pictures, the indie founded by Molly Conners most recently behind Netflix’s “Like Father” and “It’s Bruno!,” the director said. Italy’s expanding Indiana Production, which shepherded “Amore,” is also on board.
Karski in 1942, defying great danger, twice infiltrated Warsaw’s Jewish Ghetto to witness its horrors and managed to give first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Allies, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. But his alarm cries fell on deaf ears.
Di Stefano’s high-profile project, which is titled “Karski,” is being developed by New York City-based production company Phiphen Pictures, the indie founded by Molly Conners most recently behind Netflix’s “Like Father” and “It’s Bruno!,” the director said. Italy’s expanding Indiana Production, which shepherded “Amore,” is also on board.
Karski in 1942, defying great danger, twice infiltrated Warsaw’s Jewish Ghetto to witness its horrors and managed to give first-hand accounts of the Holocaust from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Allies, including U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. But his alarm cries fell on deaf ears.
- 6/15/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The first film in Fernando Di Leo’s so-called Milieu trilogy, Caliber 9 explores the criminal underbelly of Milan, a city more typically associated with the modish institutions of high finance and haute couture. The film’s full Italian title, Milan Caliber 9, emphasizes the centrality of location, while also referring to a collection of stories by crime writer Giorgio Scerbanenco, several of which Di Leo loosely adapted for the film. Generically, Caliber 9 is a fascinating mashup of the gritty poliziotteschi genre and stylish neo-noirs in the vein of Jean-Pierre Melville. Its tight-lipped protagonist certainly seems patterned after Alain Delon’s buttoned-down hitman in Le Samouraï, right down to the brown trench coat.
Di Leo’s film opens with a brilliantly executed pre-credits sequence that details a laundered currency handoff gone wrong, as well as the mob’s violent reprisals, along the way providing a handy cross-section of Milan’s criminal demimonde,...
Di Leo’s film opens with a brilliantly executed pre-credits sequence that details a laundered currency handoff gone wrong, as well as the mob’s violent reprisals, along the way providing a handy cross-section of Milan’s criminal demimonde,...
- 6/14/2023
- by Budd Wilkins
- Slant Magazine
Adriana Chiesa, the pioneering Italian sales agent who has been a fixture at Cannes for 40 years, has sold her film library to Italy’s Minerva Pictures.
The 85-title Acek library comprises a broad mix of prominent works by revered directors such as Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” (pictured) and “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and a Scent of Basil” and cult movies including Lamberto Bava’s gonzo horror “Macabro,” revenge Western “Garringo” by Rafael Romero Merchant, and Asia Argento’s directorial debut, “Scarlet Diva,” on which Chiesa and Minerva chief Gianluca Curti jointly served as executive producers.
“I am particularly happy because I know that Gianluca appreciates the value of my library and will carry on its legacy with all the love and respect that it deserves,” Chiesa told Variety. She added that she will now continue her production activity, making documentaries such as “Water and Sugar: Carlo...
The 85-title Acek library comprises a broad mix of prominent works by revered directors such as Lina Wertmuller’s “Swept Away” (pictured) and “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and a Scent of Basil” and cult movies including Lamberto Bava’s gonzo horror “Macabro,” revenge Western “Garringo” by Rafael Romero Merchant, and Asia Argento’s directorial debut, “Scarlet Diva,” on which Chiesa and Minerva chief Gianluca Curti jointly served as executive producers.
“I am particularly happy because I know that Gianluca appreciates the value of my library and will carry on its legacy with all the love and respect that it deserves,” Chiesa told Variety. She added that she will now continue her production activity, making documentaries such as “Water and Sugar: Carlo...
- 5/16/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
What will be your first movie of 2023? If you’re reading this it’s likely you put some (let’s be honest: too much) thought into what commences the cinematic year. The Criterion Channel’s January lineup will put some good things front and center: they’re launching a 20-film cinema verité series that highlights all major figures of the form; an eight-film Mike Leigh retrospective that focuses on his little-seen, lesser-discussed BBC features produced between 1973 and 1984; a series on Abbas Kiarostami’s studies of childhood; and because you’ve either seen Eo or have it marked to watch, Jerzy Skolimowski’s three most-acclaimed films should be of equal note.
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
Another 2022 favorite, Il Buco, will have its streaming premiere alongside Kamikaze Hearts, the Depardieu-led Cyrano de Bergerac, and the recent restoration of Lodge Kerrigan’s Keane. The sole Criterion Edition for this month is 3 Women, while some notable recent documentaries—The American Sector,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
In 1992, Quentin Tarantino received the greatest gift a provocateur director could ask for when his debut film, "Reservoir Dogs," proved so intense that multiple attendees of that year's Sundance Film Festival fled the first screening. The scene that sent them running was, of course, Michael Madsen's torture of a kidnapped cop scored to Stealers Wheel's kitschy '70s hit, "Stuck in the Middle with You." It's a macabrely hilarious sequence that peaks when Madsen's Mr. Blonde slices the officer's ear off with a straight razor, and it's particularly effective because Tarantino pans away from the cop as Madsen goes to work. In movies, it's often the brutality that's left to your imagination that cuts the deepest.
Tarantino, whose career would flourish due to his cast-iron stomach for ultraviolence, was understandably thrilled to learn that "Reservoir Dogs" had struck a raw nerve with Sundance audiences, but he was annoyed when Steve Buscemi (aka Mr.
Tarantino, whose career would flourish due to his cast-iron stomach for ultraviolence, was understandably thrilled to learn that "Reservoir Dogs" had struck a raw nerve with Sundance audiences, but he was annoyed when Steve Buscemi (aka Mr.
- 10/15/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Roberto De Paolis’ second film has such a heightened sense of the absurd — a playful, almost naïve tone that’s completely at odds with its subject matter — that it can only come from real life. That turns out to be very much the case in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section opener Princess, a story based on the true-experiences of Nigerian sex workers, many of them trafficked, in contemporary Italy. The result is a curiously queasy mix of comedy and drama that, while taking an admirable view of its lead character as a complex heroine rather than a victim to be pitied, falls into many of the same tropes in more cliched depictions of prostitution.
The title character, Princess (Glory Kevin), works in a forest outside a major city with her friend Success, with whom she competes for “clients” — usually white men who pull up in their sports cars,...
The title character, Princess (Glory Kevin), works in a forest outside a major city with her friend Success, with whom she competes for “clients” — usually white men who pull up in their sports cars,...
- 8/31/2022
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
The Filming Italy — Los Angeles fest, which runs March 18-21, is a bridgehead between Italy and Hollywood. Here are some of the event’s highlights:
‘The Life Ahead’ panel
“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.
‘It Was Spring Outside’
This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...
‘The Life Ahead’ panel
“The Life Ahead” director Edoardo Ponti, which is an Italian Netflix Original, will hold an online conversation with Diane Warren, who wrote the film’s theme song “Io Si (Seen).” “The Life Ahead” will be the fest’s opener.
‘It Was Spring Outside’
This life-in-lockdown doc by Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores will have its U.S. premiere at Filming in Italy after launching at the Rome Film Festival. Using material from social media and cellphone videos sent to Salvatores and other sources, this collective project assembled by the prolific helmer, who won an Academy Award for “Mediterraneo,” provides a tapestry of fresh first-hand accounts of how Italians experienced the coronavirus crisis — from empty piazzas to the heroes on the front lines...
- 3/15/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Italy’s Minerva Pictures — the company specialized in genre fare such as teen chiller “Shortcut” that recently made a U.S. splash — is launching world sales at AFM on “Mondocane,” a dystopian drama about the struggle of two 13-year-old orphan boys in a Southern Italian gangland.
“Mondocane” toplines Alessandro Borghi (“Devils”).
In “Mondocane,” Borghi (pictured) plays the leader of one of two gangs vying for control of the Southern Italian port city of Taranto which in a dystopian near-future that has become a no man’s land surrounded by barbed wire and abandoned by police. The film is being marketed as an “Oliver Twist tale in a ‘Mad Max’ setting,” Minerva Pictures international sales chief Francesca Delise told Variety.
Delise noted that for Minerva, “Mondocane” segues from the international success it saw with Alessio Liguori’s “Shortcut,” which despite the pandemic recently went out theatrically on almost 700 U.S. screens via Gravitas Ventures.
“Mondocane” toplines Alessandro Borghi (“Devils”).
In “Mondocane,” Borghi (pictured) plays the leader of one of two gangs vying for control of the Southern Italian port city of Taranto which in a dystopian near-future that has become a no man’s land surrounded by barbed wire and abandoned by police. The film is being marketed as an “Oliver Twist tale in a ‘Mad Max’ setting,” Minerva Pictures international sales chief Francesca Delise told Variety.
Delise noted that for Minerva, “Mondocane” segues from the international success it saw with Alessio Liguori’s “Shortcut,” which despite the pandemic recently went out theatrically on almost 700 U.S. screens via Gravitas Ventures.
- 11/9/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
You’ve asked questions. Prepare for the answers.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sweet Smell Of Success (1957)
The Beguiled (1971)
Tenet (2021? Maybe?)
Smokey Is The Bandit (1983)
Robin Hood (2010)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976)
The Devils (1971)
Song of the South (1946)
Gremlins (1984)
Dillinger (1973)
Marcello I’m So Bored (1966)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Big Wednesday (1978)
Swamp Thing (1982)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Payback (1999)
Bell, Book And Candle (1958)
Blowup (1966)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Medium Cool (1969)
25th Hour (2002)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Palm Springs (2020)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Mandy (2018)
The Sadist (1963)
Spider Baby (1968)
Night Tide (1960)
Stark Fear
Carnival of Souls (1962)
The Devil’s Messenger (1961)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Léolo (1992)
The Howling (1981)
Showgirls (1995)
Green Book (2018)
The Last Hurrah (1958)
The Best Man (1964)
Advise and Consent (1962)
The Candidate (1972)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Seven Days In May (1964)
The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)
The Man (1972)
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970)
Four Lions (2010)
Pump Up The Volume (1990)
Nightmare In The Sun (1965)
The Wild Angels (1966)
The Omega Man (1971)
The Nanny (1965)
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man...
- 7/24/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
New works by Ferzan Ozpetek and Alessandro Rak are among the titles set to be presented on 12 December, with a co-production market featuring 13 projects. The 12th edition of the Italian Film Meetings – “De Rome à Paris” (read our news) will open with two professional days held on 12 and 13 December in Paris. The programme includes a Work In Progress session for French distributers, with 9 feature films set to screen on Thursday 12 December at the l’Arlequin cinema. Standing out among them is the Belgian co-production Caliber 9 by Toni D’Angelo, a work presented as a sequel to Milan Caliber 9 by Fernando Di Leo (1972). The story, which unfolds in the Lombardian city in the present-day, revolves around a brilliant criminal defence lawyer, raised by his mother in order that his destiny might be different to that of his criminal father. But the prime suspect...
- 12/11/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
The title sounds like a typically nihilistic Italian spaghetti western but it’s really a typically nihilistic Italian crime thriller. Directed by Fernando Di Leo, the action revolves around a cop who is happy dabbling in bribery until the bodies begin to pile up. A box office hit in its homeland, the movie benefits from some frenetic car chases and the presence of the formidable Richard Conte.
The post Shoot First, Die Later appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
The post Shoot First, Die Later appeared first on Trailers From Hell.
- 6/10/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Italy’s Minerva Pictures is ramping up its sales side, having acquired international distribution rights to veteran auteur Gianni Amelio’s anticipated “Hammamet,” a biopic of disgraced late Italian prime minister Bettino Craxi. It’s also taken rights to period drama “Aspromonte,” starring Marcello Fonte, winner of last year’s Cannes best actor award for “Dogman.”
“Hammamet,” which portrays Craxi’s final years in the Tunisian seaside villa where he fled from Italian justice, stars Pierfrancesco Favino, who will be in Cannes as the lead actor of Marco Bellocchio’s competition title, “The Traitor.” Now shooting, “Hammamet” is produced by Pepito Prods. and Rai Cinema. Amelio’s previous features include “Lamerica”; “Stolen Children,” which took the Cannes Grand Prix; and “The Way We Laughed,” which won Venice’s Golden Lion.
“Aspromonte” is helmed by Mimmo Calopresti, whose first feature, “The Second Time,” competed in Cannes. Fonte stars as a poet...
“Hammamet,” which portrays Craxi’s final years in the Tunisian seaside villa where he fled from Italian justice, stars Pierfrancesco Favino, who will be in Cannes as the lead actor of Marco Bellocchio’s competition title, “The Traitor.” Now shooting, “Hammamet” is produced by Pepito Prods. and Rai Cinema. Amelio’s previous features include “Lamerica”; “Stolen Children,” which took the Cannes Grand Prix; and “The Way We Laughed,” which won Venice’s Golden Lion.
“Aspromonte” is helmed by Mimmo Calopresti, whose first feature, “The Second Time,” competed in Cannes. Fonte stars as a poet...
- 5/15/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Review by Roger Carpenter
Jim Henry (Richard Conte) is a decorated soldier who has just returned from the Korean War. Making his way across the country to California, he’s stopped over in Vegas to visit an Army friend. While killing time until his dinner date he cozies up to a pretty blonde in a bar before the two argue very publicly. The next day finds Jim hitchhiking out of Vegas when he is arrested by the police—for the murder of the girl he fought with the night before. Jim claims he can prove his innocence but his Army pal, on a classified mission, has disappeared, along with Jim’s alibi. Feeling railroaded, Jim manages to escape the clutches of Detective White Eagle (Reed Hadley) to go on the run.
While on the road he meets two ladies, a high-class photographer, Mrs. Cummings (Joan Bennett), and her assistant, the...
Jim Henry (Richard Conte) is a decorated soldier who has just returned from the Korean War. Making his way across the country to California, he’s stopped over in Vegas to visit an Army friend. While killing time until his dinner date he cozies up to a pretty blonde in a bar before the two argue very publicly. The next day finds Jim hitchhiking out of Vegas when he is arrested by the police—for the murder of the girl he fought with the night before. Jim claims he can prove his innocence but his Army pal, on a classified mission, has disappeared, along with Jim’s alibi. Feeling railroaded, Jim manages to escape the clutches of Detective White Eagle (Reed Hadley) to go on the run.
While on the road he meets two ladies, a high-class photographer, Mrs. Cummings (Joan Bennett), and her assistant, the...
- 4/30/2018
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Review by Roger Carpenter
Italian director Fernando Di Leo is best known for his violent poliziotteschi, or crime films, like Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Kidnap Syndicate, to name a few. However, like the majority of working Italian directors in the 70’s and 80’s, he worked in many genres including WWII pictures (Code Name, Red Roses), horror (Slaughter Hotel; Madness), and erotic dramas (Burn, Boy, Burn; A Wrong Way to Love). Seduction falls into this latter category.
Maurice Ronet stars as Giuseppe Lagan, a European playboy come back from Paris to settle his dead father’s affairs. He arrives in Catania, Sicily, and immediately rekindles his old friendship with Alfredo (Pino Caruso), a schoolmate of Giuseppe’s who is now a prominent jeweler in town. As they reminisce about their old flames, Giuseppe asks about Caterina (Lisa Gastoni), an ex-lover he’s never forgotten. It seems Caterina...
Italian director Fernando Di Leo is best known for his violent poliziotteschi, or crime films, like Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Kidnap Syndicate, to name a few. However, like the majority of working Italian directors in the 70’s and 80’s, he worked in many genres including WWII pictures (Code Name, Red Roses), horror (Slaughter Hotel; Madness), and erotic dramas (Burn, Boy, Burn; A Wrong Way to Love). Seduction falls into this latter category.
Maurice Ronet stars as Giuseppe Lagan, a European playboy come back from Paris to settle his dead father’s affairs. He arrives in Catania, Sicily, and immediately rekindles his old friendship with Alfredo (Pino Caruso), a schoolmate of Giuseppe’s who is now a prominent jeweler in town. As they reminisce about their old flames, Giuseppe asks about Caterina (Lisa Gastoni), an ex-lover he’s never forgotten. It seems Caterina...
- 8/27/2017
- by Movie Geeks
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Kino Lorber brings the infamous 1967 Spaghetti western Navajo Joe to Blu-ray, an overlooked gem of the genre that’s long been shadowed by its troubled reputation and the continual disparagement of its lead star, Burt Reynolds. In retrospect, this Italian/Spanish co-production promises to be a bit too politically incorrect to be taken seriously considering the casting of American star Reynolds as a Navajo Indian (he is, in fact, partly of Cherokee descent, though not enough to avoid the necessity of bronzer and a black wig).
It’s hardly the first or last time we’ve seen whitewashed casting of Native Americans (Audrey Hepburn in John Huston’s 1960 western The Unforgiven comes to mind), and to many the casting seems to compromise the integrity of the title. Instantly reviled and dismissed by Reynolds in his second starring role during his transition from television to film, it is, nevertheless, a very...
It’s hardly the first or last time we’ve seen whitewashed casting of Native Americans (Audrey Hepburn in John Huston’s 1960 western The Unforgiven comes to mind), and to many the casting seems to compromise the integrity of the title. Instantly reviled and dismissed by Reynolds in his second starring role during his transition from television to film, it is, nevertheless, a very...
- 9/1/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Stars: Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, Ivo Garrani, Philippe Leroy, Lionel Stander, Mario Novelli, Giuseppe Castellano, Salvatore Arico, Fernando Cerulli | Written and Directed by Fernando Di Leo
One of the things I love about Arrow Video releases is the ability they give me to extend my exposure to movies that are harder to find, especially world cinema releases. Fernando Di Leo’s Milano Calibro 9 is the latest Italian gangster film to be released by the company and brings on the gritty ultra-violence to the gangster movie.
When Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin) is released from jail he looks to lead a straight, the last thing he wants is to return to his life of crime. This is soon out of the question though when psychopathic hoodlum Rocco (Mario Adorf) informs him his former boss wants to see him. With $300,000 missing from a previous job all...
One of the things I love about Arrow Video releases is the ability they give me to extend my exposure to movies that are harder to find, especially world cinema releases. Fernando Di Leo’s Milano Calibro 9 is the latest Italian gangster film to be released by the company and brings on the gritty ultra-violence to the gangster movie.
When Ugo Piazza (Gastone Moschin) is released from jail he looks to lead a straight, the last thing he wants is to return to his life of crime. This is soon out of the question though when psychopathic hoodlum Rocco (Mario Adorf) informs him his former boss wants to see him. With $300,000 missing from a previous job all...
- 6/18/2015
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
December 9th is the big day for all you Guardians of the Galaxy fans, as James Gunn’s space epic finally makes its way home on Blu-ray and DVD this week. Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow 2 is also being released and Warner Home Video is celebrating several of its landmark titles in high def this Tuesday as well, including the 30th anniversary edition of Joe Dante’s Gremlins.
Spotlight Titles:
Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead (Well Go USA, Blu-ray & DVD)
Dubbed “bigger, brasher, bloodier” by Film Threat’s Brian Tallerico, Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead debuts on DVD and in a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray December 9th from Well Go USA Entertainment.
The sequel to the cult horror comedy from director Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) stars Vegar Hoel (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), Martin Starr (Knocked Up, Superbad), Jocelyn DeBoer (Stuck Like Chuck...
Spotlight Titles:
Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead (Well Go USA, Blu-ray & DVD)
Dubbed “bigger, brasher, bloodier” by Film Threat’s Brian Tallerico, Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead debuts on DVD and in a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray December 9th from Well Go USA Entertainment.
The sequel to the cult horror comedy from director Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) stars Vegar Hoel (Dead Snow, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), Martin Starr (Knocked Up, Superbad), Jocelyn DeBoer (Stuck Like Chuck...
- 12/9/2014
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
So, I’ll be the first to admit that I have never seen this film, nor have I ever heard it mentioned, even on the corners of the internet where friends are obsessed with Italian cinema. However, this is a Raro Video Blu-ray, which means it will be part of my collection. I don’t know if you that are reading have ever purchased a Raro Blu-ray before, but they are fantastic releases, and serve a great purpose of exposing us to some of the best of the criminally ignored entries into the Italian genre film scene. On August 5th, Raro Video, in partnership with Kino Lorber will release the new Raro Video Blu-ray release of Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair, and if you’re a fan of what Raro and Kino do, then you should probably hit this link and pre-order a copy for yourself. Check out the press release below.
- 7/26/2014
- by Shawn Savage
- The Liberal Dead
They came to the sanitarium seeking help, but the women in 1971′s Slaughter Hotel have unknowingly checked into a building they may never leave alive. In director Fernando Di Leo’s Italian slasher film, a lunatic with an axe stalks the women of the sanitarium, pushing their sanities — and their bodies — to the breaking point. Raro Video USA is now bringing this bloody Italian shocker to Blu-ray and DVD in the Us.
Also known as La bestia uccide a sangue freddo, Slaughter Hotel stars the legendary Klaus Kinski, Margaret Lee, and Rosalba Neri. Blu-ray.com reports that the fresh high definition transfer of the film’s original 35mm negative will be hitting Blu-ray in the Us this September. It will also be released on DVD at the same time.
“From the maestro of mayhem, Fernando Di Leo (Rulers of the City, Manhunt) comes one of the sleaziest and nastiest slasher films ever made.
Also known as La bestia uccide a sangue freddo, Slaughter Hotel stars the legendary Klaus Kinski, Margaret Lee, and Rosalba Neri. Blu-ray.com reports that the fresh high definition transfer of the film’s original 35mm negative will be hitting Blu-ray in the Us this September. It will also be released on DVD at the same time.
“From the maestro of mayhem, Fernando Di Leo (Rulers of the City, Manhunt) comes one of the sleaziest and nastiest slasher films ever made.
- 5/30/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Back in 2009, the Criterion collection released Roberto Rossellini’s 1959 film General Della Rovere on DVD, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and saw the auteur receive celebratory reception, the first since his famed collaborative efforts with then wife Ingrid Bergman earlier in the decade had all been deemed critical and financial missteps. While that release has lapsed out of print, Raro Video, which has focused on releasing cult and classic oddities from around the globe (recently, they delightfully resurrected several Fernando Di Leo titles, and have a host of other upcoming refurbishments from Italy, including titles from Liliana Cavani and Umberto Lenzi), has thankfully been graceful enough to grant this mid-career notable from Rossellini a Blu-ray release. While it’s a return to Rossellini’s celebrated rendering of a historical period, the ‘father’ of neorealism is operating in recuperative mode here, a distinctly unique conversation piece to his 1940’s War Trilogy,...
- 12/3/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Before digging into early-to-mid August's disc highlights, I'd like to set the Way Back Machine to two weeks ago and point out some eclectic late-July gems we missed, such as Twilight Time's exquisite Blu-ray edition of Walter Hill's 1978 neo-noir "The Driver," Olive Films' unexpected release of Anthony Mann's 1958 brazen, quasi-hicksploitation melodrama "God's Little Acre," and the Warner Archive re-release of 1998's eccentrically funny "Zero Effect," starring Ben Stiller and Bill Pullman as a socially stunted private investigator. From Europe, Raro Video lived up to their name with a rare trilogy of gritty moralist thrillers in "Fernando di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection (Volume 2)," Music Box Films stressed us out with the terrifically icy German thriller "The Silence," and sci-fi didn't get more provocative than the erotic Lithuanian curiosity "Vanishing Waves" (which Artsploitation lovingly packaged as a two-dvd set that includes director Kristina Buozyte's feature debut "The.
- 8/6/2013
- by Aaron Hillis
- The Playlist
Welcome back to This Week In Discs! As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it. The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh Leon (Aaron Poole) has returned to his estranged mother’s (Vanessa Redgrave) home for the first time in years, but it’s her death that brought him back. Charged with going through her belongings before selling off the property he discovers that before she passed away his mother had developed an odd fascination with angels. The discoveries continue as strange events begin happening that lead him to believe his mother may be trying to communicate with him from beyond. Haunted house movies, both the good ones and the bad, usually share little more than a desire to entertain and scare, but the rare ones try to do a little more than that and make audiences feel or think as well. Writer...
- 7/30/2013
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Il tempo di massacro (Massacre Time)
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Fernando Di Leo
Italy, 1966
Lucio Fulci’s Massacre Time is playing at Fantasia in conjunction with the Festival du Nouveau Cinema as part of the The Django Project. The series takes a look at the western genre, as appropriated by other cultures, as it blends with irony, excess and pop-art. Though best known for his giallo thrillers, Fulci’s Massacre Time is an exuberant and exciting spaghetti western. Starring Franco Nero in a role obviously evocative of his work in Django, he plays a prospector who must return to his home and reclaim his family’s ranch from a man named Scott and his sadistic son Junior.
Massacre Time opens with a bewildering pre-credit sequence demonstrating Fulci’s greatest assets as a filmmaker: The ever moving camera, the swift cuts and the perverse penchant for sadism. Following a...
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Fernando Di Leo
Italy, 1966
Lucio Fulci’s Massacre Time is playing at Fantasia in conjunction with the Festival du Nouveau Cinema as part of the The Django Project. The series takes a look at the western genre, as appropriated by other cultures, as it blends with irony, excess and pop-art. Though best known for his giallo thrillers, Fulci’s Massacre Time is an exuberant and exciting spaghetti western. Starring Franco Nero in a role obviously evocative of his work in Django, he plays a prospector who must return to his home and reclaim his family’s ranch from a man named Scott and his sadistic son Junior.
Massacre Time opens with a bewildering pre-credit sequence demonstrating Fulci’s greatest assets as a filmmaker: The ever moving camera, the swift cuts and the perverse penchant for sadism. Following a...
- 7/20/2013
- by Justine
- SoundOnSight
Raro Video will be releasing the second volume of Fernando Di Leo’s crime films in a three piece set on Blu-Ray or DVD including the films Shoot First, Die Later, Kidnap Syndicate and Naked Violence. For those of you unfamiliar with Di Leo’s films, I have included the trailers & synopses below the official Press Release info. For fans of Reservoir Dogs or just crime & heist films in general, you will find some delight in these Di Leo films. Bravo to Raro for giving these films the TLC that was needed.
Los Angeles - (May 30, 2013) – Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film label Raro Video announces the company will debut a second volume of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful films of the “Master of mafia mayhem” Fernando Di Leo.
Outstanding in bold, intricately plotted, ultra-violent stories about pimps and petty gangsters,...
Los Angeles - (May 30, 2013) – Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film label Raro Video announces the company will debut a second volume of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful films of the “Master of mafia mayhem” Fernando Di Leo.
Outstanding in bold, intricately plotted, ultra-violent stories about pimps and petty gangsters,...
- 5/30/2013
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
Today let's dig into a more obscure entry in the giallo genre, a sleazy and totally weird thriller starring the legendary Klaus Kinski. While many fans of classic horror know Kinski for his career-defining performance in the title role of Werner Herzog's amazing 1979 version of Nosferatu, he's appeared in tons of other horror films including Crawlspace, Creature and Jack the Ripper; he's played Renfield, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Marquis de Sade, and often appeared in the films of Jess Franco. He was also totally insane, and his reputation as a wild man and notorious womanizer often overshadowed his prolific film career, a genre-spanning body of work which ran the spectrum from classics to crap. His resume also includes a few giallo titles, like this oddball 1971 production (originally titled The Cold-Blooded Beast, also Asylum Erotica) from director Fernando Di Leo, best known for the 1972 crime thriller The Italian Connection.
- 4/18/2013
- by Gregory Burkart
- FEARnet
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: May 28, 2013
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $24.95
Studio: Raro Video/Kino Lorber
Luc Merenda stars in Shoot First, Die Later.
Italian genre master Fernando Di Leo’s 1974 crime film Shoot First, Die Later will be the debut title in the new distribution partnership between Italian film label Raro and U.S. supplier Kino Lorber.
In Shoot First, Die Later, Luc Merenda stars as a highly regarded police detective who is taking syndicate money in exchange for departmental favors. His father, a simple man, also works for the department but at a lower level; he isn’t jealous of his son, but rather proud of him, little knowing that he’s a crooked cop. A series of events leads the young detective to ask his father for a tricky favor, and it doesn’t take long for daddy to realize his son is on the take, which leads to numerous complications.
Price: DVD $19.95, Blu-ray $24.95
Studio: Raro Video/Kino Lorber
Luc Merenda stars in Shoot First, Die Later.
Italian genre master Fernando Di Leo’s 1974 crime film Shoot First, Die Later will be the debut title in the new distribution partnership between Italian film label Raro and U.S. supplier Kino Lorber.
In Shoot First, Die Later, Luc Merenda stars as a highly regarded police detective who is taking syndicate money in exchange for departmental favors. His father, a simple man, also works for the department but at a lower level; he isn’t jealous of his son, but rather proud of him, little knowing that he’s a crooked cop. A series of events leads the young detective to ask his father for a tricky favor, and it doesn’t take long for daddy to realize his son is on the take, which leads to numerous complications.
- 4/8/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
December is Tarantino Month here at Sos, and in the week leading up our January month-long theme of westerns, I thought it would be best to whip up an article spotlighting some films that influenced Tarantino’s long awaited take on the western, Django Unchained. For my money, all of the films listed below are essential viewing for fans of Django Unchained. I’ll be diving deeper into these films come January, but in the meantime, this should hopefully whet your appetite. Enjoy!
Note: This is the second of a three part article.
****
The Mercenary (Il Mercenario) (A Professional Gun)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Written by Giorgio Arlorio and Adriano Bolzoni
1968, Italy / Spain
Second only to Leone, Sergio Corbucci is the best when it comes to making spaghetti westerns. The man would never take a break, directing Django, The Great Silence, Navajo Joe and The Mercenary within a span of two years.
Note: This is the second of a three part article.
****
The Mercenary (Il Mercenario) (A Professional Gun)
Directed by Sergio Corbucci
Written by Giorgio Arlorio and Adriano Bolzoni
1968, Italy / Spain
Second only to Leone, Sergio Corbucci is the best when it comes to making spaghetti westerns. The man would never take a break, directing Django, The Great Silence, Navajo Joe and The Mercenary within a span of two years.
- 12/27/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Italian filmmaker Fernando Di Leo’s lost 1974 crime thriller “Shoot First, Die Later” will screen in the U.S. for the first time ever at the New Beverly Cinema at midnight on Saturday, Dec. 22. RaroVideo plans a DVD and Blu-ray release of the film early in 2013. Never before released worldwide, “Shoot First” stars Luc Merenda as a crooked detective whose proud father, also in the police department, slowly realizes his son is on the take with the syndicate. The film has yet to emerge on DVD anywhere in the world; only low-quality bootlegs currently exist.
- 12/18/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
After a night of good scotch, good cigars and even finer women, Detective Peter Linton kick starts month of Italian crime films from director Fernando Di Leo. Focusing on the titles in the Raro Video box set. To start off we are looking at Caliber 9 (Milano Calibro 9) a tale about an ex con who wants out but both the police and the mafia believe he has hidden a large sum of cash. A tale of lies, deceit and violence, this action packed ultra violent crime flick really packs a punch. Not only that but a technically brilliant film to boot. So join Linton in this celebration of one of the finest eras in the already prestigious history of Italian cinema… just be easy on the milk.
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067429/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLL560XjOE...
IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067429/
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXLL560XjOE...
- 11/2/2012
- by Guest
- Nerdly
Reviewer: Jeffrey M Anderson
Ratings (out of five): **
Fernando Di Leo was a kind of mad genius in the Italian sub-movie industry, starting as a writer for Spaghetti Westerns and moving up to directing a series of astounding crime movies. Raro Video has been slowly unleashing a good many of these in the past couple of years, and many of them are very much worth looking into, especially for exploitation fans. Sadly, Madness (1980) is not one of them.
Forgoing any of the twisty plots and unbelievable action of his earlier films, Madness focuses on a handful of characters and stays mostly in one place. Joe Dallesandro stars as "Joe," an escaped killer who runs around the countryside in a tank top. Apparently, he buried some stolen loot under a fireplace in a country house. ...
Ratings (out of five): **
Fernando Di Leo was a kind of mad genius in the Italian sub-movie industry, starting as a writer for Spaghetti Westerns and moving up to directing a series of astounding crime movies. Raro Video has been slowly unleashing a good many of these in the past couple of years, and many of them are very much worth looking into, especially for exploitation fans. Sadly, Madness (1980) is not one of them.
Forgoing any of the twisty plots and unbelievable action of his earlier films, Madness focuses on a handful of characters and stays mostly in one place. Joe Dallesandro stars as "Joe," an escaped killer who runs around the countryside in a tank top. Apparently, he buried some stolen loot under a fireplace in a country house. ...
- 9/11/2012
- by weezy
- GreenCine
We know you guys are always on the lookout for rare and unusual films so when we got the announcement that RaroVideo will be releasing Fernando Di Leo's Madness, starring Joe Dallesandro, in August, of course we had to share the news!
From the Press Release:
Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film boutique RaroVideo announces Fernando Di Leo's Madness (1980) DVD release on August 14, 2012.
The film stars Joe Dallesandro, better known as the “Little Joe” mentioned in Lou Reed’s hit 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side.” Dallesandro is considered by many to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, having starred in Flesh, Trash, and Heat among many others. A photograph taken by Andy Warhol of Dallesandro’s crotch bulge encased in a tight-fitting pair of jeans...
From the Press Release:
Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian film boutique RaroVideo announces Fernando Di Leo's Madness (1980) DVD release on August 14, 2012.
The film stars Joe Dallesandro, better known as the “Little Joe” mentioned in Lou Reed’s hit 1972 song “Walk on the Wild Side.” Dallesandro is considered by many to be the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, having starred in Flesh, Trash, and Heat among many others. A photograph taken by Andy Warhol of Dallesandro’s crotch bulge encased in a tight-fitting pair of jeans...
- 7/24/2012
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Ratings (out of five): *** 1/2
The wonderful Raro Video is single-handedly reminding the world that the Italian crime director Fernando Di Leo once existed. Last year they released a wonderful four-disc box set of Di Leo films (with a Blu-Ray set added just a month ago). The company has also been releasing some of Di Leo's screenwriting efforts for other directors, notably the awesome Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976).
Now comes Young, Violent, Dangerous (Liberi Armati Pericolosi) (1976), directed by Romolo Guerrieri. Though it has an equally crazy title, it's distinctly different in tone. This one is more cautionary, and comes with a little bit of conscience.
Ratings (out of five): *** 1/2
The wonderful Raro Video is single-handedly reminding the world that the Italian crime director Fernando Di Leo once existed. Last year they released a wonderful four-disc box set of Di Leo films (with a Blu-Ray set added just a month ago). The company has also been releasing some of Di Leo's screenwriting efforts for other directors, notably the awesome Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man (1976).
Now comes Young, Violent, Dangerous (Liberi Armati Pericolosi) (1976), directed by Romolo Guerrieri. Though it has an equally crazy title, it's distinctly different in tone. This one is more cautionary, and comes with a little bit of conscience.
- 3/20/2012
- by weezy
- GreenCine
God bless Raro Video USA for exposing American cult movie fans to more Eurocrime. Their latest release is appropriately titled Young, Violent, Dangerous, and is an ode to mayhem. While the film was directed by the lesser known Romolo Guerrieri, the more famous of the principle crew is the screenwriter, Fernando Di Leo. I've tackled Di Leo before reviewing Raro titles, most recently the Blu-ray upgrade of the Di Leo Crime Collection. The other Raro title that definitely fits into this vein is Ruggero Deodato's Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man. Young, Violent, Dangerous definitely falls in the same category of all-out craziness with those two films, and Di Leo's involvement is very much in evidence, which is a good thing.1976 was a...
- 3/13/2012
- Screen Anarchy
The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection was RaroVideo's second home video release in the USA last year. The films were reviewed and discussed quite thoroughly by our Peter Martin at that time. It only makes sense that RaroVideo's follow up to their inaugural Blu-ray of The Clowns would be this set, and a welcome addition to the collection it is. Peter's review was pretty thorough, so mine will be more observational, hopefully, but I feel that these films deserve more attention, especially since the jump in quality is mostly very impressive.Fernando Di Leo was not a big name in the Us, despite considerable box office success abroad in Italy and western Europe. In fact, apart from a few cinephiles, I would imagine that few film...
- 1/31/2012
- Screen Anarchy
This week on DVD/Blu-ray: "Drive," arguably the best action film of the year; Ami Canaan Mann's scorching debut "Texas Killing Fields"; the late Anthony Minghella's most beloved film; the Jamie Foxx-approved documentary "Thunder Soul;" and four Italian crime classics from master Fernando Di Leo. 1. Critic’s Pick: “Drive” (DVD and Blu-ray) Sure, “The Tree of Life” was the big winner at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, but the film that got the pulses of the jury racing was “Drive,” Nicolas Winding Refn’s steely cool homage to the best action flicks of the ‘80s. He beat three of the most celebrated living auteurs (Terrence Malick, Pedro Almodovar and Lars von Trier) to walk away with the festival’s directing prize. And for good reason. Upon catching the film on La Croisette, Eric Kohn wrote, “Combing a memorably gritty Ryan Gosling performance with the breakneck tempo...
- 1/31/2012
- Indiewire
This just in from RaroVideo HQ! The newest announcements from this kick ass label are up! Someone spent a lot of time crafting this press release, so I'm going to post it as is. However, I want to say, "Fernando Di Leo on Blu-ray! Hooray!"RaroVideo Announces January 2012 ReleasesROME, Italy & Hollywood, CA (January 28, 2011) -- Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian DVD label RaroVideo announces an exciting January 2012 slate of DVD and Blu-ray releases beginning with the Blu-ray edition of the boxed set that DVD Talk called "one of the year's best DVD releases." Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times and USA Today also highlighted this incredible collection of films....
- 12/29/2011
- Screen Anarchy
In the late ’60s and ’70s, as feminist movements of various kinds surged through the United States and Europe, B-movie producers were right there with their cameras, eager to celebrate the liberated woman. But for obvious reasons, it’s rare for an exploitation movie to look beyond free love and T&A and note how women can be punished, brutally, for their sexuality. Made in 1978, deep into Fernando Di Leo’s career as one of Italy’s most prolific genre specialists, To Be Twenty is a tale of two very different—and both mostly tedious—films. The director’s ...
- 10/19/2011
- avclub.com
For the horror buff, Fall is the best time of the year. The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and a feeling of death hangs on the air. Here at Sound on Sight we have some of the biggest horror fans you can find. We are continually showcasing the best of genre cinema, so we’ve decided to put our horror knowledge and passion to the test in a horror watching contest. Each week in October, Ricky D, James Merolla and Justine Smith will post a list of the horror films they have watched. By the end of the month, the person who has seen the most films wins. Prize Tbd.
Justine Smith (11 viewings) Total of 31 viewings
Purchase
Spider Baby or The Maddest Story Ever Told
Directed by Jack Jill
This movie is very fun, not so much scary as gleefully depraved. The film revels in it’s childhood attitude,...
Justine Smith (11 viewings) Total of 31 viewings
Purchase
Spider Baby or The Maddest Story Ever Told
Directed by Jack Jill
This movie is very fun, not so much scary as gleefully depraved. The film revels in it’s childhood attitude,...
- 10/18/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Release Date: Oct. 18, 2011
Price: Blu-ray $39.98
Studio: Raro Video
The belly laugh is on in The Clowns.
The first high-definition Blu-ray release in the U.S. from Italian DVD label Raro Video is a goodie: Federico Fellini’s1970 Italian TV movie The Clowns.
It’s the same film that marked the supplier’s DVD launch in the U.S. in February 2011, along with The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-disc set featuring the Italian genre filmmaker.
Fellini’s The Clowns is a typically “Fellini-esque” documentary/memoir mash-up about the lives of circus clowns, with Fellini delighting in the role of ringmaster. The movie features a carnival-sounding score composed by Nino Rota and an appearance by Anita Ekberg (star of Fellini’s 1960 La Dolce Vita).
As with the DVD, the Blu-ray version of The Clowns includes an additional short film by Fellini, a video essay on the genesis of the...
Price: Blu-ray $39.98
Studio: Raro Video
The belly laugh is on in The Clowns.
The first high-definition Blu-ray release in the U.S. from Italian DVD label Raro Video is a goodie: Federico Fellini’s1970 Italian TV movie The Clowns.
It’s the same film that marked the supplier’s DVD launch in the U.S. in February 2011, along with The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-disc set featuring the Italian genre filmmaker.
Fellini’s The Clowns is a typically “Fellini-esque” documentary/memoir mash-up about the lives of circus clowns, with Fellini delighting in the role of ringmaster. The movie features a carnival-sounding score composed by Nino Rota and an appearance by Anita Ekberg (star of Fellini’s 1960 La Dolce Vita).
As with the DVD, the Blu-ray version of The Clowns includes an additional short film by Fellini, a video essay on the genesis of the...
- 9/22/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
RaroVideo:Referenced in Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2, Uomini si Nasce Poliziotti si Muore (Live Like A Cop, Die Like A Man, 1976) opens with an insane motorcycle chase that was filmed in rush hour in downtown Rome with no permission from the local authorities. To top it off, this is one of the most violent and unconventional Italian style action films of its time. The credit goes to the director, Ruggero Doedato, best known for his infamous and censored film Cannibal Holocaust, and the scriptwriter Fernando Di Leo, author and director of some of the best Italian gangster films from the 70s such as Caliber 9, The Boss and The Italian Connection. Never before in film history have we seen such nihilistic and pathological behavior...
- 8/31/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Disc 2 episodes are bonus / supplement episodes of The Criterion Cast. Ryan Gallagher, James McCormick & Travis George are joined by Moises Chiullan to chat about the weeks new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, as well as what they’ve been watching. “Off the Shelf” runs through the week’s new releases on DVD and Blu-ray, while “On The Screen” is where they discuss what they’ve been watching over the past week. This is what they recommend to you, the listeners.
What do you think of the show? Send your feedback to CriterionCast@gmail.com or call their voicemail line @ 209-877-7335 or follow them on twitter @CriterionCast or comment on their blog, http://CriterionCast.com.
Thank you for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave your reviews in iTunes.
Our next episode they will highlight and discuss Criterion # 356 Jane Campion’s 1989 film, Sweetie.
Add It To Your Netflix Queue.
What do you think of the show? Send your feedback to CriterionCast@gmail.com or call their voicemail line @ 209-877-7335 or follow them on twitter @CriterionCast or comment on their blog, http://CriterionCast.com.
Thank you for listening. Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast and leave your reviews in iTunes.
Our next episode they will highlight and discuss Criterion # 356 Jane Campion’s 1989 film, Sweetie.
Add It To Your Netflix Queue.
- 7/6/2011
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Pale Flower Directed by: Masahiro Shinoda Written by: Ataru Baba, Masahiro Shinoda Starring: Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki I have practically no experience with Japanese New Wave filmmaking but it's clear that the influence of Pale Flower has seeped its way through the landscape of modern crime films (Jim Jarmusch's filmography comes to mind). After my first viewing I found Masahiro Shinoda's film to be as mysterious as it is cool with it's stark black and white photography, inspired visuals and complex characterizations. It also left me realizing that it might take a second viewing to totally grasp the subtleties of Pale Flower. The film stars Ryo Ikebe as Muraki, a Yakuza gangster fresh out of prison. Having been put away for murdering a member of a rival gang, he quickly realizes upon his release that the two factions have since called a truce, leaving him to adjust to the changes.
- 5/25/2011
- by Jay C.
- FilmJunk
Grades: Caliber 9: B+; The Italian Connection: B+; The Boss: B; Rulers Of The City: B- During Italian cinema’s boom years of the ’60s and ’70s, producers specialized in cranking out action films that could export easily, even if that meant tackling genres that weren’t exactly locally grown—like Westerns. Writer-director Fernando Di Leo worked with Sergio Leone on the earliest spaghetti Westerns, then tried his hand at a variety of genres, having his greatest successes with erotic dramas and the two-fisted crime pictures known as poliziotteschi. Unlike the Westerns, the best Italian crime movies came packed with ...
- 4/6/2011
- avclub.com
"Antonioni's career can be divided into the periods before and after L'Avventura (1960)," writes Dennis Lim in the Los Angeles Times. "By the time that film was booed and championed at Cannes, putting him on the global map, he had been active for well more than a decade — though his formative work always has remained in the shadows of his more influential later films, which essentially invented a cinematic vocabulary for alienation. Now thanks to Raro Video, Antonioni's second feature from 1953, I Vinti (The Vanquished), a muddled triptych of stories that nonetheless anticipates the themes and methods of his better-known films, is finally available for the first time on DVD here. An Italian label that recently launched an American division, Raro also has just released Federico Fellini's pseudo-documentary The Clowns (1970) and a boxed set devoted to the genre auteur Fernando Di Leo."...
- 4/5/2011
- MUBI
Raro Video U.S. will release a restored version of Michelangelo Antonioni’s (Blow-up) 1953 I Vinti, one of the Italian master’s first feature films, on DVD on March 29.
Passion and murder collide in Michelangelo Antonioni's I Vinti.
I Vinti is a unique triptych film revolving around three murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. All of the perpetrators are affluent youths, each killing for dubious motives. In the France segment, a group of adolescents kill for money, even though they don’t need it; in the London segment, a poet uncovers a woman’s body and tries to profit from the discovery; and in the Italian segment, a student becomes caught up in a smuggling ring, with deadly results.
The film is told with Antonioni’s trademark splintered chronology, which weaves multiple story lines, in this case. The director remains one of...
Passion and murder collide in Michelangelo Antonioni's I Vinti.
I Vinti is a unique triptych film revolving around three murders, one taking place in Paris, another in Rome, and another in London. All of the perpetrators are affluent youths, each killing for dubious motives. In the France segment, a group of adolescents kill for money, even though they don’t need it; in the London segment, a poet uncovers a woman’s body and tries to profit from the discovery; and in the Italian segment, a student becomes caught up in a smuggling ring, with deadly results.
The film is told with Antonioni’s trademark splintered chronology, which weaves multiple story lines, in this case. The director remains one of...
- 3/24/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
A look at what's new on DVD today:
"Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection"
Directed by Fernando Di Leo
Released by RaroVideo
Fans of badass '70s cinema and the stoic Henry Silva rejoice! Underappreciated Italian crime master director Fernando Di Leo finally comes to the U.S. via this set of four films -- "Caliber 9," "The Italian Connection," "The Boss," and "Rulers of the City" -- that shows what made him an influence of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.
"The Absent" (2011)
Directed by Sage Bannick
Released by Passion River
Twin brothers are bonded by the experience of having their parents try to kill them for insurance money, only to become killers themselves in this slasher film from Sage Bannick.
"Be My Teacher" (2011)
Directed by Lakisha R. Lemons
Released by Maverick Entertainment Group
A student's (Derek Lee Nixon) flirtations with his English teacher (Lateace Towns-Cuellar) has serious...
"Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection"
Directed by Fernando Di Leo
Released by RaroVideo
Fans of badass '70s cinema and the stoic Henry Silva rejoice! Underappreciated Italian crime master director Fernando Di Leo finally comes to the U.S. via this set of four films -- "Caliber 9," "The Italian Connection," "The Boss," and "Rulers of the City" -- that shows what made him an influence of filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino and John Woo.
"The Absent" (2011)
Directed by Sage Bannick
Released by Passion River
Twin brothers are bonded by the experience of having their parents try to kill them for insurance money, only to become killers themselves in this slasher film from Sage Bannick.
"Be My Teacher" (2011)
Directed by Lakisha R. Lemons
Released by Maverick Entertainment Group
A student's (Derek Lee Nixon) flirtations with his English teacher (Lateace Towns-Cuellar) has serious...
- 3/14/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
70s Italian gangsters! It's a world where men speak with their glares and their fists and their bullets, and women do well to stay out of the way, preferably in bed, eager for sex. It's the world of Fernando Di Leo, and it's captured in a four-disc set coming to Region 1 DVD from Raro Video USA on Tuesday. Entitled Fernando Di Leo: The Italian Crime Collection, the set features fine-looking transfers of Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, The Boss, and Rulers of the City, all directed by Di Leo and starring a handful of American stars (Lionel Stander, Henry Silva, Woody Strode, Richard Conte, Jack Palance) alongside stalworth Italian actors (Mario Adorf, Gastone Moschin, Gianni Garko) and stark raving beauties (Barbara Bouchet, Antonia Santilli,...
- 3/14/2011
- Screen Anarchy
Everett Collection Jackass 3-D
On Friday, March 11, the South by Southwest Film festival gets underway in Austin, TX, ushering in a whole new group of independent and foreign films that will receive a great deal of critical buzz (both positive and negative) before their limited theatrical run, and eventually, their arrival on DVD and Blu-ray.
The interesting thing about smaller films is that they seem to linger in our memories just as long as the blockbusters, because they spend so...
On Friday, March 11, the South by Southwest Film festival gets underway in Austin, TX, ushering in a whole new group of independent and foreign films that will receive a great deal of critical buzz (both positive and negative) before their limited theatrical run, and eventually, their arrival on DVD and Blu-ray.
The interesting thing about smaller films is that they seem to linger in our memories just as long as the blockbusters, because they spend so...
- 3/9/2011
- by Todd Gilchrist
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wDOXQ-jM468lEYPw9-fpK8Jka74/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="RaroVideo.jpg" src="http://twitchfilm.com/news/RaroVideo.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0pt 20px 20px 0pt;" width="190" height="158" /></span> <div>Exciting news for fans of international cult film with word that Italy's RaroVideo - one of the finest boutique video labels in the world - is coming to the Us. I have a handful of Raro titles in my collection at the moment and their reputation for delivering the highest quality product, both in terms of transfers and extras, is very well deserved in my opinion. Here's the official announcement:<br /><br /><blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><i>Hailed by cinephiles for expertly restoring rare films by influential filmmakers and publishing them with compelling extras, Italian DVD label RaroVideo announces the company will begin distributing its acclaimed DVDs in the U.S. for the first time ever in February 2011 through E One Entertainment.</i><br /><br /><i>To launch RaroVideo in the U.S., the company will spotlight two powerhouse directors of Italian cinema with Federico Fellini's hard-to-find The Clowns (1970) and The Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection, a four-disc set that...
- 12/2/2010
- Screen Anarchy
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