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August 5
The Full Monty
(1997) Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber, Hugo Speer. Extras: Commentary by director Peter Cattaneo and actor Mark Addy, commentary by producer Uberto Pasolini, "The Deleted Footage," "The Cast," original publicity campaign, music machine, "Development," "Production," "The Success and Its Aftermath," "A Bigger Picture - A Look at the British Film Industry in the '90s." (Fox).
Phantom of the Paradise
(1974) Dir.: Brian De Palma; Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham. Extras: New interviews with Brian De Palma, Paul Williams and Tom Burman; new audio commentary with producer Jack Fisk; new audio commentary with Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham and the Juicy Fruits (Archie Hahn, Jeffrey Comanor and Harold Oblong aka Peter Eibling); a DVD of additional bonus content including a new interview with producer Edward R. Pressman, a new featurette on the neon poster art, more. (Shout! Factory).
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August 12
Black Angel (Senso '45)
(2002 -- Italy) Anna Galiena, Gabriel Garko. In 1945 Italy, Livia, the bored wife of an Italian official, recalls the taboo affair she has been having with a much younger Nazi lieutenant. The elation of her middle-aged sexual awakening is soon diminished when she discovers that her lover's intentions are far from honest. By maestro-of-erotica Tinto Brass with a score by Ennio Morricone. Italian with English subtitles. Extras: "The Making of Black Angel," "Black Angel" promo, theatrical trailer, photo video gallery, motion picture soundtrack. (Cult Epics/CAV Distributing).
Elvis: That's The Way It Is
(1970) A two-disc Blu-ray/DVD special edition premium Digibook newly remastered with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. Includes rare, behind-the-scenes photos. Released to coincide with this year's Elvis Week, which will be held August 9-August 17 in Memphis at Elvis Presley's Graceland. Extras: "Patch It Up: The Restoration of Elvis: That's The Way It Is," 12 outtakes: song/nonmusical sequences, 1970 original theatrical version. (Warner).
Love Streams
(1984) The electric filmmaking genius John Cassavetes and his brilliant wife and collaborator Gena Rowlands give luminous, fragile performances as two closely bound, emotionally wounded characters who reunite after years apart. Exhilarating and risky, mixing sober realism with surreal flourishes, "Love Streams" is a remarkable film that comes at the viewer in a torrent of beautiful, erratic feeling. This inquiry into the nature of love in all its forms was Cassavetes' last truly personal work. New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Extras: New audio commentary featuring writer Michael Ventura; new video essay on actor Gena Rowlands by film critic Sheila O'Malley; new interviews with executive producer and director of photography Al Ruban and actor Diahnne Abbott; interview from 2008 with actor Seymour Cassel; "I'm Almost Not Crazy ... John Cassavetes: The Man and His Work" (1984), a 60-minute documentary by Ventura on the making of "Love Streams"; trailer; a booklet featuring an essay by critic Dennis Lim and a 1984 piece by Cassavetes on the film from the New York Times. (The Criterion Collection).
Santa Sangre
(1989 -- Mexico/Italy) Dir.: Alejandro Jodorowsky; Axel Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Guy Stockwell. In the 1970s, his legendary films "El Topo" and "The Holy Mountain" redefined movies as both art and entertainment while changing the face of cinema forever. And in 1989, visionary writer-director Alejandro Jodorowsky returned with his modern masterpiece, the story of a young circus performer, the crime of passion that shatters his soul, and the macabre journey back to the world of his armless mother and his deaf-mute lover. It's an odyssey of ecstasy and anguish, belief and blasphemy, beauty and madness ... it's an epic of surreal genius. One of the most provocative and unforgettable motion picture experience of our time -- fully restored. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. Extras: Commentary with Jodorowsky and journalist Alan Jones, deleted scenes with Jodorowsky commentary, theatrical trailer, Japanese trailer. (Severin Films/CAV Distributing).
The Toxic Avenger
(1984) Andree Maranda, Mitchell Cohen, Pat Ryan Jr., Jennifer Baptist, Robert Pritchard, Cindy Canion, Gary Schneider, Mark Torgl. Extras: Behind the scenes and production slideshow; interviews with Jennifer Babtist, Robert Prichard, Mitch Cohen, Dan Snow, Gary Schneider, Michael Herz; director's commentary; cast commentary; Mark Torgl's special video. (Troma/CAV Distributing).
Viva Las Vegas 50th Anniversary
(1964) Dir.: George Sidney; Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest. Premium Digibook includes rare, behind-the-scenes photos. Released to coincide with this year's Elvis Week, which will be held August 9-August 17 in Memphis at Elvis Presley's Graceland. Extras: Commentary by Steve Pond, rock journalist and author of "Elvis in Hollywood"; "Kingdom: Elvis in Vegas" featurette; theatrical trailer. (Warner).
August 19
The Flintstones
(1974) John Goodman, Kyle MacLachlan, Halle Berry, Rick Moranis, Rosie O'Donnell), Elizabeth Perkins, Elizabeth Taylor. Extras: "Discovering Bedrock" featurette, MCA soundtrack presentation, art department concept sketches, opening sequence comparisons, production photographs, teaser trailer, theatrical trailer, commentary with director Brian Levant. (Universal).
Leviathan
(1989) Dir.: George P. Cosmatos; Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Michael Carmine, Lisa Eilbacher and Hector Elizondo. Extras: New interviews with actors Hector Elizondo, Ernie Hudson and creature effects artists Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., theatrical trailer. (Shout! Factory).
Like Water for Chocolate
(1992 -- Mexico) Marco Leonardi, Lumi Cavazos, Regina Torne. Extras: Commentary with Alfonso Arau, Lumi Cavazos and Marco Leonardi. (Lionsgate).
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
(1990) Pedro Almodovar's colorful and controversial tribute to the pleasures and perils of Stockholm syndrome, "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" is a rambunctious dark comedy starring Antonio Banderas as an unbalanced but alluring former mental patient and Victoria Abril as the B-movie and porn star he takes prisoner in the hopes of convincing her to marry him. A highly unconventional romance that came on the spike heels of Almodovar's international sensation "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," this is a splashy, sexy central work in the career of one of the world's most beloved and provocative auteurs, radiantly shot by the director's great cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine. New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director Pedro Almodovar and executive producer Agustan Almodovar, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Extras: New documentary on the making of the film including interviews with Pedro and Agustin Almodovar; actors Antonio Banderas, Victoria Abril, Loles Leon, Rossy de Palma, and Penelope Cruz; production manager Esther Garcia; editor Jose Salcedo; and cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine; new interview with Almodovar collaborator and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker; conversation from 2003 between Almodovar and Banderas; footage from the film's 1990 premieres in Madrid and New York; a booklet featuring a 1990 piece about the film by Almodovar, a conversation between filmmaker Ces Anderson and critic Kent Jones, and an interview with Almodovar from 1989. (The Criterion Collection).
Y Tu Mama Tambien
(2001) The smash road comedy from the Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron is that rare movie to combine raunchy subject matter and emotional warmth. Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna shot to international stardom as a pair of horny Mexico City teenagers from different classes who, after their girlfriends jet off to Italy for the summer, are bewitched by a gorgeous older Spanish woman (Maribel Verdu) they meet at a wedding. When she agrees to accompany them on a trip to a faraway beach, the three form an increasingly intense and sensual alliance that ultimately strips them both physically and emotionally bare. Shot with elegance and dexterity by the great Emmanuel Lubezki, "Y Tu Mama Tambien" is a funny and moving look at human desire. New 2K digital restoration, supervised by director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki and approved by director Alfonso Cuaron, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Extras: "On Y tu mama tambien: Then" and "On Y tu mama tambien: Now," two new pieces on the making of the film, featuring interviews with actors Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, and Maribel Verdu; Cuaron; co-writer Carlos Cuaron; and Lubezki; new interview with philosopher Slavoj Zizek about the film; on-set documentary from 2001; deleted scenes; "You Owe Me One" (2002), a short film by Carlos Cuaron; trailers; booklet featuring an essay by critic Charles Taylor and character biographies by Carlos Cuaron. (The Criterion Collection).
August 26
All That Jazz
(1979) The preternaturally gifted director and choreographer Bob Fosse turned the camera on his own life for this madly imaginative, self-excoriating musical masterpiece. Roy Scheider gives the performance of his career as Joe Gideon, whose exhausting work schedule -- mounting a Broadway production by day and editing his latest movie at night -- and routine of amphetamines, booze, and sex are putting his health at serious risk. Fosse burrows into Gideon's (and his own) mind, rendering his interior world as phantasmagoric spectacle. Assembled with visionary editing that makes dance come alive on-screen as never before, and overflowing with sublime footwork by the likes of Ben Vereen, Leland Palmer, and the awesomely leggy Ann Reinking, "All That Jazz" pushes the musical genre to personal depths and virtuosic aesthetic heights. New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Extras: Two audio commentaries: a feature-length one with editor Alan Heim and a scene-specific one with actor Roy Scheider; "Razzle-Dazzle," a new video essay on the film by critic Matt Zoller Seitz; episode from 1980 of the television talk show "Tomorrow," featuring director Bob Fosse and choreographer Agnes de Mille; new interview with Heim; new interview with Fosse biographer Sam Wasson; interview excerpts and footage from the set, featuring Fosse and Scheider; "Portrait of a Choreographer," a 2007 documentary on Fosse; "The Soundtrack: Perverting Thee Standards," a 2007 documentary about the music in the film; interview from 2007 with George Benson about his song "On Broadway," which opens the film; a booklet featuring an essay by theater critic Hilton Alls. (The Criterion Collection).
High School Confidential!
(1958) Dir.: Jack Arnold; Russ Tamblyn, Mamie Van Doren, Jackie Coogan, Jan Sterling, John Drew Barrymore, Diane Jergens, Ray Anthony, Charles Chaplin Jr., Michael Landon, Lyle Talbot. Fanning the flames of Eisenhower America's growing paranoia, "High School Confidential!" is the quintessential juvenile delinquency film that celebrates the very sex-drugs-and-rock 'n' roll culture it pretends to condemn. Staring Russ Tamblyn as Tony Baker, the new kid at Santa Bellow High, whose cocky attitude and ambitious weed-dealing enable him to infiltrate the gang of a local narcotics boss played by Jackie Coogan. But "High School Confidential!" is much more than a hardboiled crime picture: It's a pop-culture touchstone, a" Rebel Without a Cause" without the angst," The Wild One," but even wilder. The opening sequence with a piano pounding performance of the theme song by Jerry Lee Lewis on a flatbed truck is one that still sizzles and shakes. (Olive Films).
The Legend of Hell House
(1973) Pamela Franklin, Roddy McDowall, Clive Revill, Gayle Hunnicutt. Extras: New interview with director John Hough, new audio commentary with actress Pamela Franklin, theatrical trailer. (Scream Factory/Shout! Factory).
Vengeance Is Mine
(1979) A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) is on the run from the police. Director Shohei Imamura turns this fact-based story -- about the 78-day killing spree of a remorseless man from a devoutly Catholic family -- into a cold, perverse, and at times diabolically funny examination of the primitive co-existing with the modern. More than just a true-crime tale, "Vengeance Is Mine" bares humanity's snarling id. Restored high-definition digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Extras: Commentary from 2005 featuring critic Tony Rayns; excerpts from a 1999 interview with director Shohei Imamura, produced by the Directors Guild of Japan; trailer and tease; booklet featuring an essay by critic Michael Atkinson, a 1994 interview with Imamura by writer Toichi Nakata, and writings by Imamura on "Vengeance Is Mine" and his approach to filmmaking. (The Criterion Collection).
This Month's BR
