DVD Release Update for March/April 09

I'm still waiting for that big 2009 DVD announcement to cream my shorts, but until then, here are some recently announced titles (I'm still working out how to properly format these updates). Severin has re-announced Patrice Leconte's The Hairdresser's Husband (Le mari de la coiffeuse) and The Perfume of Yvonne (Le parfum d'Yvonne) for 28 April. In other Ryko news, three skin flicks will be available on the same date: Sergio Martino's Craving Desire (Graffiante desiderio) from MYA, Tinto Brass' Deadly Sweet (Col cuore in gola) with Jean-Louis Trintignant from Cult Epics and some film called Naked Rashomon from Mondo Macabre (I couldn't find any information on this one, but it sounded worth mentioning). Also, The Disinformation Company is releasing Aleksei Balabanov's Cargo 200, which was Aaron Hillis' first "Film of the Week" as the new editor of GreenCine Daily, on the same date.

From First Run Features, Vadim Glowna's House of the Sleeping Beauties (Das Haus der schlafenden Schönen), which co-stars the director alongside Maximilian Schell and Birol Ünel, and Parvez Sharma's documentary A Jihad for Love, about gay Muslims, street on 21 April. From Cinequest, Robert Peters' German-English musical Half Empty, with Marek Harloff, and Mária Procházková's Shark in the Head (Zralok v hlave), from the Czech Republic, will be out 25 March. And speaking of musicals, Troma's Crazy Animal, which co-stars Ron Jeremy and Lloyd Kaufman (of course), hits stores 31 March.

Anchor Bay will release the French sci-fi yarn Chrysalis, which stars Albert Dupontel, on 17 March. Zeitgeist is releasing the documentary Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains on 28 April. Ariztical Entertainment will have the German farce Fashion Victims (Reine Geschmacksache), which features a brief appearance from the wonderful Irm Hermann, out on 24 March.

No one seems to have been very kind to Anthony Page's BBC drama My Zinc Bed, which stars Paddy Considine, Uma Thurman and Jonathan Pryce, but HBO is releasing it still on 17 March. And finally, Wolfe has Ben from Lost and Arlene from True Blood (real life married couple) as the single mother and homo neighbor of a little boy who wants to be a cheerleader in Ready? OK!, which is out 24 March. All for now.

2008 Progress Report, Part 4

And finally, here's a list of some notable films that finally made their way onto DVD in the United States. By no means is this a comprehensive list, and some of these films have just been announced and not officially released yet. I'm only counting films that had never been on DVD R1/USA prior to this year. October still is wide-open, as well as November and December. Cross your fingers for Warner to re-announce Ken Russell's The Devils for me! I can't take any more heartbreak.

Max Ophüls

Earrings of Madame de..., The [Madame de...] - dir. Max Ophüls - Criterion
Plaisir, Le - dir. Max Ophüls - Criterion
Ronde, La - dir. Max Ophüls – Criterion

Jean-Luc Godard

Chinoise, La - dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Koch Lorber
Gai savoir, Le - dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Koch Lorber
Passion – dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Lionsgate
Détective – dir. Jean-Luc Godard – Lionsgate
Hélas pour moi [Oh, Woe Is Me] – dir. Jean-Luc Godard - Lionsgate

Louis Malle

Lovers, The [Amants, Les] - dir. Louis Malle – Criterion
Fire Within, The [Feu follet, Le] – dir. Louis Malle – Criterion

Derek Jarman

War Requiem – dir. Derek Jarman – Kino
Blue – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Wittgenstein – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Caravaggio – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist
Angelic Conversation, The – dir. Derek Jarman – Zeitgeist

Patrice Leconte

Girl on the Bridge, The [Fille sur le pont, La] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Paramount/Legend
Hairdresser’s Husband, The [Mari de la coiffeuse, Le] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Severin
Perfume of Yvonne, The [Parfum d’Yvonne, Le] – dir. Patrice Leconte – Severin

The Taviani Brothers

Fiorile – dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani – Koch Lorber
Kaos – dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani – Koch Lorber

Luis Buñuel

Ilusión viaja en tranvía, La [Illusion Travels by Streetcar] - dir. Luis Buñuel – Lionsgate
Nazarín – dir. Luis Buñuel - Lionsgate

From Asia

I Live in Fear - dir. Akira Kurosawa - Eclipse/Criterion
Autumn Afternoon, An – dir. Yasujiro Ozu – Criterion
Ballad of Narayama, The – dir. Shohei Imamura – AnimEigo
Wayward Cloud, The – dir. Tsai Ming-liang – Strand Releasing

From France

Bonheur, Le – dir. Agnès Varda – Criterion
J’embrasse pas [I Don’t Kiss] – dir. André Téchiné – Lionsgate
Beyond Hatred [Au-delà de la haine] – dir. Olivier Meyrou – First Run Features
Nathalie Granger – dir. Marguerite Duras – blaq out/Facets

From Europe

Ludwig – dir. Luchino Visconti – Koch Lorber
Kingdom 2, The [Riget 2] – dir. Lars von Trier – Koch Lorber
Sátántangó – dir. Béla Tarr – Facets
Before the Rain – dir. Milcho Manchevski – Criterion

From North America

Apprentice, The [Fleur bleu] – dir. Larry Kent – Sommerville House
Kiss of the Spider Woman – dir. Hector Babenco – City Lights
When Night Is Falling – dir. Patricia Rozema – Wolfe

From the USA

Boomerang - dir. Elia Kazan - 20th Century Fox
She’s Gotta Have It – dir. Spike Lee – MGM
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains – dir. Lou Adler – Rhino
Lost Highway – dir. David Lynch – Focus Features
Touch – dir. Paul Schrader – MGM
Baby, It’s You – dir. John Sayles – Paramount/Legend
Daniel - dir. Sidney Lumet - Paramount/Legend

Madame / Butterfly

As I'm sure you already know, Criterion announced their releases for September: three films by Max Ophüls, The Earrings of Madame de... [Madame de...], Le plaisir and La ronde. Though it's not on their site yet, Ozu's Autumn Afternoon will be available in September as well. The Eclipse box will be Aki Kaurismäki's Proletariat Trilogy, which includes Ariel, The Match Factory Girl and Shadows in Paradise.

Ryko has listed their September releases as well, which includes a single-disc version of Harry Kümel's wonderful Daughters of Darkness, starring Delphine Seyrig, a new version of Andrzej Żuławski's Possession, with Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, and Vicente Aranda's The Blood Spattered Bride, all from Blue Underground.

Through Severin, two Patrice Leconte films, The Hairdresser's Husband [Le mari de la coiffeuse], with Jean Rochefort, and The Perfume of Yvonne [Le parfum d'Yvonne], with Hippolyte Girardot. Cult Epics will release a two-disc special edition of Slogan, better known as the film where Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin met, with additional interviews with Gainsbourg and Birkin as well as television commercials from the director.

Excitingly, the epic disaster known as Butterfly, starring Orson Welles and Pia Zadora in a well-deserved Golden Globe win, will make its way on DVD on 30 September [all of the Ryko discs will street on this day as well]. Ry Russo Young's Orphans will also be available through Carnivalesque Films.

Paramount will release the animated Chicago 10 on 26 August. TLA will release the animated adaptation of Dante's Inferno, with the voices of Dermot Mulroney and James Cromwell, on the same day. Showtime will release the first season of This American Life, which if you didn't know is the best thing currently on television, on 23 September. And, finally, Zeitgeist will release Jellyfish [Les méduses] on 30 September.

Paramount Catalogue for Summer 08: UPDATED

Paramount announced a slew of catalogue titles for this summer, none of which you've likely ever heard of. Thankfully, there were a few you might know. On 1 July, Paramount will (finally) make available Patrice Leconte's internationally successful The Girl on the Bridge, with Vanessa Paradis and Daniel Auteuil. Also bowing on that day is John Sayles' Baby It's You, starring Rosanna Arquette and Vincent Spano. The other titles are as follows, but don't blame if you haven't heard of some of them. Almost an Angel with Elias Koteas and Paul Hogan (3 Jun), Blue City with Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and (yuck!) David Caruso (3 Jun), William Castle's The Busy Body with Sid Caeser among others (1 Jul), Desperate Characters with Shirley Maclaine (1 Jul), Hitler: The Last Ten Days with Alec Guiness as Hitler (3 Jun), Houdini with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (3 Jun), Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again (3 Jun), Frank Pierson's King of the Gypsies with Sterling Hayden, Shelley Winters, (yuck) Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, Annette O'Toole, Eric Roberts and Annie Potts (3 Jun), Mandingo with James Mason and Perry King (3 Jun), Carl Reiner's The One and Only with Henry Winkler (3 Jun), The Optimists with Peter Sellers (3 Jun), Papa's Delicate Condition with Jackie Gleason (1 Jul), Partners with Ryan O'Neal and John Hurt (1 Jul), The Possession of Joel Delaney with Perry King and Shirley Maclaine, Rhubarb with Ray Milland (1 Jul), Serial with Martin Mull and Tuesday Weld (1 Jul), The Skull with Peter Cushing (3 Jun), Some Kind of Hero with Richard Pryor and Margot Kidder (!), Student Bodies (3 Jun), Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (aka Monte Carlo or Bust) with Tony Curtis (3 Jun), Villa Rides with Yul Brynner, Robert Mitchum and Charles Bronson (awesome cast) (3 Jun), The Whoopee Boys (3 Jun), and ZPG with Oliver Reed and Gerladine Chaplin (3 Jun). Whew.

UPDATE: According to DVDDrive-in, these titles will be released by Legend Films, a division of Genius Products. I don't quite know what's going on. Also announced with these titles: Sidney Lumet's Daniel with Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin, Ellen Barkin and Ed Asner (1 Jul).

Also, via Eric, Lionsgate will be releasing another actor-themed box, via Studio Canal; this time it's Catherine Deneuve. The set contains some minor Deneuve work: Jean Aurel's Manon 70, Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage, André Téchiné's Hôtel des Amériques, Robin Davis's Le choc and Alain Corneau's Fort Saganne. I'm probably most excited about the Téchiné film, which would be the first of five collaborations between the director and star, preceding Scene of the Crime, My Favorite Season, Les voleurs and Changing Times. The set will be available on 10 June.