DVD Release Update, 24 January

More DVD updates. You'll find a number of new additions to the TCM Vault/Universal catalogue for 27 April. From Facets, the performance art piece Roy Cohn/Jack Smith (which stars Ron Vawter as Cohn and Smith, produced by Jonathan Demme), Raoul Ruiz's Dialogues of the Exiled and Harun Farocki's documentary How to Live in the German Federal Republic will all be available on 27 April as well. There's a slew of Roger Corman-produced B movies from Shout! Factory. And from Microcinema, a remastered re-release of Hal Hartley's Surviving Desire and the second set of short films from Hartley will hit shelves on 27 April (a busy week, no doubt). Surviving Desire will also include the shorts Theory of Achievement and Ambition, which were also featured on the now long out-of-print Wellspring disc. Via Microcinema's website, they are also planning new DVDs of Lynn Hershman-Leeson's Conceiving Ada and Teknolust, both starring Tilda Swinton, as well as a set of her early experimental works, which should be out by the end of the year.

On the Blu-ray front, Palm will be releasing The Basketball Diaries on 20 April. The Who's The Kids Are Alright will be released by Sanctuary Records on 2 March. Troma will be releasing Steve Balderson's teen slasher satire Pep Squad and Peter George's Surf Nazis Must Die on 25 May. And it looks as though Hannover House will be releasing a Blu-ray in addition to the DVD of Abel Ferrara's Chelsea on the Rocks on 4 May.

- Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, 2009, d. Lance Bangs, Spike Jonze, Oscilloscope Pictures, 2 March, w. Maurice Sendak, Jonze, Catherine Keener, Meryl Streep, James Gandolfini
- Up in the Air, 2009, d. Jason Reitman, also on Blu-ray, Paramount, 9 March
- William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, 2009, d. Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler, Arthouse Films/New Video, 30 March
- Irene in Time, 2009, d. Henry Jaglom, Breaking Glass Pictures, 6 April, w. Karen Black
- Jade Warrior [Jadesoturi], 2006, d. Antti-Jussi Annila, Lionsgate, 6 April
- Party Down, Season 1, 2009, d. Fred Savage, Bryan Gordon, Anchor Bay, 6 April
- Tetro, 2009, d. Francis Ford Coppola, also on Blu-ray, Lionsgate, 6 April
- Humanoids from the Deep, 1980, d. Barbara Peters, Jimmy T. Murakami, Shout! Factory, 13 April
- Tenderness, 2009, d. John Polson, Lionsgate, 13 April, w. Russell Crowe, Jon Foster, Laura Dern
- Three Kingdoms, 2008, d. Daniel Lee, Lionsgate, 13 April, w. Andy Lau, Sammo Hung, Maggie Q
- Duska [Dushka], 2007, d. Jos Stelling, Cinema Vault/MVD, 20 April
- Return to Hansala [Retorno a Hansala], 2008, d. Chus Gutiérrez, Cinema Vault, 20 April
- Wind Man, 2007, d. Khuat Akhmetov, Cinema Vault, 20 April
- Beginning of the End, 1957, d. Bert I. Gordon, Hens Tooth Video, 22 April
- Because of Him, 1946, d. Richard Wallace, Universal/TCM Vault, 27 April, w. Charles Laughton
- Dialogues of the Exiled [Diálogos de exiliados], 1975, d. Raoul Ruiz, Cnemateca/Facets, 27 April
- For the Love of Mary, 1948, d. Frederick De Cordova, Universal/TCM Vault, 27 April
- How to Live in the German Federal Republic [Leben - BRD], 1990, d. Harun Farocki, Facets, 27 April
- Mad About Music, 1938, d. Norman Taurog, Universal/TCM Vault, 27 April
- Possible Films, Volume 2: New Short Films by Hal Hartley, d. Hal Hartley, Microcinema, 27 April
- Red Rowan [Jarzębina czerwona], 1970, d. Ewa Petelska, Czesław Petelski, Polart/Facets, 27 April
- Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, 1994, d. Jill Godmilow, Facets, 27 April
- Surviving Desire, 1991, d. Hal Hartley, Microcinema, 27 April, w. Martin Donovan
- Sympathy, 2007, d. Andrew Moorman, Breaking Glass Pictures, 27 April
- That Certain Age, 1938, d. Edward Ludwig, Universal/TCM Vault, 27 April
- Three Smart Girls Grow Up, 1939, d. Henry Koster, Universal/TCM Vault, 27 April
- The Unquiet Death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, 1974, d. Alan Moorman, Facets, 27 April
- The Muse, 1999, d. Albert Brooks, Universal, 4 May, w. Brooks, Sharon Stone, Andie Macdowell, Jeff Bridges, Cybil Shepherd
- Suburbia, 1984, d. Penelope Spheeris, Shout! Factory, 4 May
- Love Games [Sette ragazze di classe], 1979, d. Pedro Lazaga, MYA Communication, 25 May
- Phyllis and Harold, 2008, d. Cindy Kleine, Breaking Glass Pictures, 25 May
- Sandok [Sandok: La montagna di luce], 1965, d. Umberto Lenzi, MYA Communication, 25 May
- Somebody's Knocking at the Door, 2009, d. Chad Ferrin, Breaking Glass Pictures, 25 May, w. Noah Segan
- True Blood, Season 2, 2009, also on Blu-ray, HBO, 25 May
- The Red Baron [Der rote Baron], 2008, d. Nikolai Müllerschön, Monterey Video, 1 June, w. Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes, Lena Headey
- Forbidden World [aka Mutant], 1982, d. Allan Holzman, Shout! Factory, 20 July
- Galaxy of Terror, 1981, d. Bruce D. Clark, Shout! Factory, 20 July, w. Robert Englund, Sid Haig, Grace Zabriskie

Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, Semaine de la Critique, Cannes 2009

More films playing at the 62nd annual Festival International de Cannes were revealed today. The line-up of both the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, aka Directors' Fortnight, and La Semaine de la Critique, aka The International Critics' Week, have been announced. Contrary to early reports, Francis Ford Coppola's Tetro will make a showing at Cannes this year, opening the Quinzaine. Coppola's company American Zoetrope will roll the film out in US theatres in early June. Other notable films screening at the Quinzaine are the latest from Pedro Costa (Colossal Youth), a documentary entitled Ne change rien, translated as Don't Change Anything; a new film from Hong Sang-soo called Like You Know It All; Luc Moullet's La terre de la folie; Yuki & Nina, a co-directorial effort from Nobuhiro Suwa and French actor Hippolyte Girardot, who starred in Suwa's segment in Paris je t'aime; the latest film Le roi d'évasion from Alain Guiraudie, who will show up on my Decade List in the coming months; and a trio of American films that made their premieres at Sundance in January. I Love You Phillip Morris finds our new favorite trend of Hollywood actors going gay as Jim Carrey falls in love with cellmate Ewan McGregor. Amreeka, about an immigrant woman in Illinois starring Hiam Abbass (The Visitor, Lemon Tree, The Limits of Control) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development), also played at New Directors/New Films on 25 March; National Geographic Films will release it theatrically. And Lynn Shelton's acclaimed Humpday is the third; Magnolia is releasing it this summer. I'm not familiar with any of the directors screening at La Semaine de la Critique, but among the shorts is one directed by actor Grégoire Colin, the star of a number of Claire Denis' films, entitled Le Baie du renard, loosely The Bay of the Fox. The directorial debuts in the Quinzaine will compete for the Caméra d'Or, whose previous winners include Steve McQueen's Hunger, Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know, Corneliu Porumboiu's 12:08 East of Bucharest, Tran Anh Hung's The Scent of Green Papaya, Jafar Panahi's The White Balloon, Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay! and Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise.

As for reactions to the various line-ups this year, it seems strange to comment about a group of films no one's seen yet; however, it's hard not to get excited about all the new films from such established directors, particularly after such a disappointing showing at Berlin and Sundance earlier. Of course, some of these films will not meet their high expectations. Some of the unavoidable things I'm not looking forward to reading this year include the homophonous substitute of "Cannes" for "can," the American media coverage of Angelina Jolie at the premiere of Inglourious Basterds, talk about how the recession has effected the festival unless it's warranted by, say, Vanessa Paradis walking down the red carpet naked and complaints about the poor showing of American directors. I'll also direct you to Vadim Rizov's wonderful piece about the festival's history with their national filmmakers. I've posted the line-up of features for the Quinzaine below. You can find the shorts here, and the Semaine de la Critique here, both via Variety. Oh, and if you're looking for anyone to sponsor coverage of the film, my schedule for May is wide open.

Directors' Fortnight

La Pivellina - dir. Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel - Austria

The Alasness of Things [De helaasheid der dingen] - dir. Felix van Groeningen (Steve + Sky) - Belgium/Netherlands

Eastern Plays - dir. Kamen Kalev - Bulgaria/Sweden

Carcasses - dir. Denis Côté - Canada

J'ai tué ma mère - dir. Xavier Dolan - Canada

Polytechnique - dir. Denis Villeneuve - Canada

Navidad - dir. Sebastián Lelio - Chile

Oxhide II - dir. Liu Jiayin - China

La famille Wolberg - dir. Axelle Ropert - France/Belgium

La terre de la folie [Land of Madness] - dir. Luc Moullet (A Girl Is a Gun, Anatomy of a Relationship) - France

Le Roi d'évasion - dir. Alain Guiraudie (No Rest for the Brave) - France

Les beaux gosses - dir. Riad Sattouf - France - with Emmanuelle Devos, Valeria Golino, Irène Jacob, Noémie Lvovsky

Yuki & Nina - dir. Nobuhiro Suwa (Un couple parfait, H Story), Hippolyte Girardot - France/Japan - with Girardot

Ajami - dir. Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani - Israel/Germany

Daniel & Ana - dir. Michel Franco - Mexico/Spain

Karaoke - dir. Christopher Chan Fui Chong - Malaysia

Ne change rien - dir. Pedro Costa - Portugal/France

Here - dir. Ho Tzy-nyen - Singapore/Canada

Like You Know It All - dir. Hong Sang-soo (Woman on the Beach, Night and Day) - South Korea

Amreeka - dir. Cherien Dabis - USA/Canada/Kuwait - with Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat

Go Get Some Rosemary - dir. Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie - USA/France

Humpday - dir. Lynn Shelton - USA - with Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard

I Love You Phillip Morris - dir. Glenn Ficarra, John Requa - USA - with Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro

Tetro - dir. Francis Ford Coppola - Argentina/Spain/Italy/USA - with Vincent Gallo, Maribel Verdú, Carmen Maura, Klaus Maria Brandauer

Cuatro / cinq / et, je t'emmerde, FFC!

Paramount has officially announced the long-overdue documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse for the 20th of November. The film serves as a wonderful companion piece to Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, a lot like Burden of Dreams to Fitzcarraldo (though I don't think Apocalypse Now is shitty, as I do about Fitzcarraldo).

UPDATE: And, Eclipse has announced Akira Kurosawa's I Live in Fear as part of January's Eclipse series, which will include Postwar Kurosawa films.

UPDATE 2: Shut the fuck up Francis Ford Coppola. You've probably heard about him bitching about Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro... and, as I'm sure many people have noted, this reeks of hypocrisy. Sure, any and all cinephiles are probably less-than-pleased with any of the work those three have done in the past decade or so... but, you!? Wasn't your last movie an adaptation of a John Grisham novel? And before that, a shitty comedy with Robin Williams? Wasn't Fran Drescher and Jennifer Lopez in that too? Also, thanks for re-editing and bringing that piece of ass The Legend of Suriyothai to the US. It was groundbreaking... oh wait, no, it just sucked. Stay in your vineyard and shut up, Francis; you're actually making me defend Jack "Anger Management" Nicholson, Al "Simone" Pacino, and Robert "Hide and Seek" De Niro. Thanks a lot.