Douglas Sirk + Barbara Stanwyck + Daria; DVD Update 12 February

Universal has announced a Barbara Stanwyck box set as part of their Blacklot Series. The six titles included are listed below, but the two that are most alluring are the two Stanwyck did with Douglas Sirk: All I Desire and There's Always Tomorrow. The set will be available on 27 April.

A couple of weeks ago, E1 Distribution announced their plans for a 50th Anniversary DVD and Blu-ray edition for Fellini's La dolce vita, set to be released sometime in 2010. In addition to that, they also acquired the rights to a quartet of Italian films: Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine [Sciuscià] and Luchino Visconti's La terra trema, Bellissima and Ossessione. Image released Shoeshine, La terra trema and Ossessione previously.

And in distribution news, Strand acquired François Ozon's latest, The Refuge [Le refuge], which stars Isabelle Carré and Melvil Poupaud. Keep in mind that the date for The White Ribbon is likely to change if it wins the Oscar. The DVDs below are in descending order of release.

- The Crucifier of Blood, 1991, d. Fraser Clarke Heston, Warner, 30 March, w. Charlton Heston
- Marina Abramovic: 7 Easy Pieces, 2007, d. Babette Mangolte, Microcinema, 30 March
- The Italian Straw Hat [Un chapeau de paille d'Italie], 1928, d. René Clair, Flicker Alley, 6 April
- Lord, Save Us from Your Followers, 2008, d. Dan Merchant, Virgil Films, 20 April
- The Descent: Part 2, 2009, d. Jon Harris, Lionsgate, 27 April
- The End of Poverty?, 2008, d. Philippe Diaz, Cinema Libre, 27 April
- Euro-Fantastico Double Feature [The Black Cobra (Die schwarze Kobra) / No Survivors Please (Der Chef wünscht keine Zeugen)], 1963/1964, d. Rudolf Zehetgruber, Hans Albin, Peter Benies, VCI, 27 April
- Georgia O'Keeffe, 2009, d. Bob Balaban, Sony, 27 April
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009, d. Terry Gilliam, also on Blu-ray, Sony, 27 April
- Is Everybody Happy But Me?, 1981, d. Bob Emenegger, VCI, 27 April
- The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], 2009, d. Michael Haneke, Sony, 27 April
- California Dreamin' (Endless) [California Dreamin' (Nesfârşit)], 2007, d. Cristian Nemescu, IFC Films, 4 May
- Eye for an Eye, 2008, d. Ahn Kwon-tae, Kwak Kyung-Taek, Cinema Epoch, 4 May
- Paper Covers Rock, 2008, d. Joe Maggio, IFC Films, 4 May
- Daria, The Complete Series, 1997-2001, Paramount, 11 May
- Jermal, 2008, d. Ravi L. Bharwani, Rayya Makarim, Orlow Seunke, IndiePix, 11 May
- American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James, 2010, d. Fred Olen Ray, E1 Distribution, 18 May, w. Peter Fonda
- Gamera: The Giant Monster, 1965, d. Noriaki Yuasa, Shout! Factory, 18 May
- The Girl on the Train [La fille du RER], 2009, d. André Téchiné, Strand, 18 May
- Stigma, 1972, d. David E. Durston, Code Red, 18 May
- Bottomland, 1992, d. Ed Radtke, Facets, 25 May
- Dany Laferrière: Films from a Poet's Imagination [On the Verge of a Fever (La goût des jeunes filles) / How to Conquer America in One Night (Comment conquérir l'Amérique)], 2004, d. John L'Ecuyer, Dany Laferrière, Art Mattan/Facets, 25 May
- Kamikaze Hearts, 1986, d. Juliet Bashore, Facets, 25 May, w. Sharon Mitchell
- What's Underground About Marshmallows?, 1996, d. Jill Godmilow, Facets, 25 May
- Yesterday Girl [Abschied von gestern - (Anita G.)], 1966, d. Alexander Kluge, Facets, 25 May

Barbara Stanwyck Collection, Universal, 27 April
- Internes Can't Take Money, 1937, d. Alfred Santell
- The Great Man's Lady, 1942, d. William A. Wellman
- The Bride Wore Boots, 1946, d. Irving Pichel
- The Lady Gambles, 1949, d. Michael Gordon
- All I Desire, 1953, d. Douglas Sirk
- There's Always Tomorrow, 1956, d. Douglas Sirk

Blu-ray

- Dune, 1984, d. David Lynch, Universal, 27 April
- The Jackal, 1997, d. Michael Caton-Jones, Universal, 27 April
- Out of Africa, 1985, d. Sydney Pollack, Universal, 27 April
- Traffic, 2000, d. Steven Soderbergh, Universal, 27 April
- Escape from L.A., 1996, d. John Carpenter, Paramount, 4 May
- K-19: The Widowmaker, 2002, d. Kathryn Bigelow, Paramount, 4 May
- The Getaway, 1972/1994, d. Sam Peckinpah, Roger Donaldson, Warner, 8 June
- Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935, d. Frank Lloyd, Warner, 16 November

Humpin' Around

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - d. Lee Daniels - 2009 - USA - Lionsgate

There's so little time left in the year for me to spend a whole lot of time writing about films that I don't like, but I need to flush my feelings for Lee Daniels' Precious out in some form. When my friend Tom sent me a Netflix note saying, "God help me, I partially agree with Armond White," I couldn't help but share his sentiment. Despite the editorial errors (really, how does giving the wrong title for a director's previous film, Shadowboxer not Shadowboxing, get past the NY Press' editor?) and including Marci X, Little Man, Mr. 3000 and Norbit (!!) in all seriousness as "excellent recent films with black themes," White sort of nails the self-loathing that runs through all of Precious, from its ludicrous fantasy sequences--the worst of which placing Precious (Gabourney Sidibe) and her mother (Mo'Nique) in a scene from Vittorio De Sica's Two Women as they watch it on television, despite the fact that Precious is barely literate--to its onslaught of racial stereotypes.

I am glad, however, that Lee Daniels' incompetence is finally getting some press after the film screened at the New York Film Festival. No one seemed to have a bad word to say about it at Sundance, Cannes or Toronto. Poverty porn, emotional porn, a new kind of blaxploitation, an impeccably acted piece of trash, a con job -- all of these descriptions are appropriate. One of the highlights of White's review points out one of Daniels' unsubtle, messy visual gimmicks: "The scene where Precious carries her baby past a “Spay and Neuter Your Pets” sign is sick." But I can't help but give it up, as most of the film's detractors other than White seem to be doing, to the actors, from newcomer Sidibe, a monstrous, Joan Crawford-on-welfare Mo'Nique, a make-up-less, ratty-wig-donning, Jersey-accented Mariah Carey and Paula Patton as the light-skinned lesbian teacher/saint who looks after Precious. Whether the actresses' collectively marvelous performances add to Daniels' lunacy or rise above it isn't certain... all I know is that, thanks to its audacity, if Precious does manage to take home the Best Picture Oscar next February, I won't moaning as much as I did when that other overblown race-issue melodrama did a few years back.

Pick Your Favorite Siren: More Great Moments in Bad Cover Art

Since I know a number of you already traded in your month-old Criterion discs of Repulsion in favor of Koch's exquisitely packaged "Cinema Sirens" edition, I thought you might like to collect some of your other favorite silver screen ladies, crudely photoshopped into always-appropriate beach attire. My personal favorite you can find above. Vittorio De Sica's Two Women [La ciociara] was a landmark film, introducing American audiences to the imitable Sophia Loren, who became the first actor to win a Best Actress Oscar for a performance not in the English-language with this film. A devastating WWII-era drama about a mother's attempts to keep her daughter safe from the bombings in Rome deserves some classy artwork. So what better than the beautiful Loren in fishnet stockings and clown make-up looking like she's ready to lay an egg? Wasn't there a horrific rape scene in Two Women? I guess that's really beside the point.

All of these ladies know a good bikini is only as good as the high heels you pair with them... which is why Ava Gardner on the cover of The Snows of Kilimanjaro is by far the weakest. Those ankle-strapped low heels are not what I expect out of a Cinema Siren... and why did Koch choose Gardner over the film's star, Miss Susan Hayward? She doesn't even get a mention on the box, and you know mauve is her color! I could complain about the choice of Jayne Mansfield over Phyllis Diller on the box for The Fat Spy, but they didn't even bother to ask Phyllis how she prefers to spell her name. I think I like the extra S; the extra hiss sounds more appropriate for her. Mansfield and Brigitte Bardot must have both asked for the Blondie comic strip hue at the salon. That color is always à la mode. Sadly, I couldn't find a decent-looking cover for a belly-dancing Gina Lollobrigida in Bambole, but you can get a glimpse of it here. The cover touts "Three Italian Bombshells in Four Comedic Vignettes; Also Starring Elke Sommer and Verna Lisi;" I guess that means Monica Vitti isn't a bombshell, Virna Lisi changed her name and Elke Sommer is no longer German. So which siren will you be taking home with you??