June 28, 2006

Dispatch #139

Summertime, summertime, sum-sum-summertime. Celebrate the first days of summer with this sunny edition of GreenCine Dispatch.

"It's gonna be a good summer." -- GoodFellas.


#139 | June 27, 2006


"What I used to be able to pass off as a bad summer could now potentially turn into a bad life." -- Kicking and Screaming

From the "Didja Know" Department: Unlike our competitors, GreenCine ships out and receives discs on Saturdays! Our shipping department is actively shipping and receiving discs to our members six days a week. And on the seventh day, we rest, before the process begins anew all over again.

Summertime happens to be one of the finer, and more underrated, love stories on film. David Lean, working in the period between his modest films and the more epic ones for which he'd become famous, crafted a beautiful ode to Venice, Italy - and to star Katharine Hepburn. The freshly restored print on the crisp Criterion DVD does justice to the film's vibrant Technicolor and will make you want to get to Venice as soon as possible. But Hepburn's the centerpiece, in one of her best - and loneliest - of roles.

$22.46.

My Family and Other Animals is a delightful made-for-British telly movie based on Gerald Durrell's memoirs that can only be faulted for being too short. Starring the always resplendent Imelda Staunton as the matriarch of an eccentric brood, the youngest of which (Gerald, played by Eugene Simon) has a passion bordering on obsession for critters - setting up his future as a famed biologist. Set mostly in Corfu during WWII, where the family holes up in various ramshackle mansions, the film is charming and full of unexpected pleasures, as well as a fine cast both human and animal.

Buy now for only $13.45.

William Shakespeare's Richard the Second is low-budget Bard, a DV adaptation updating the play to modern times (the players here wearing battle fatigues and sporting Uzis). "Bold and imaginative interpretation of the little-seen and little-appreciated Shakespeare drama," stated FilmThreat. "The promise of a great filmmaker in director John Farrell's work is also apparent in the fruits of his imaginative labors... one of the finest contemporary Shakespeare films." See Richard II now or anytime via GreenCine's Video-on-Demand service.

$3.99 a pop.

 

More like this: Roman Holiday | Suddenly Last Summer More like this: Hope and Glory | Duma More like this: Richard III (Criterion Collection) | Malefic

Summer's a fairly slow time of year for new releases, but this week's list features some good 'uns:

cache

Caché (2005; $22.87). Winner of the Best Director, Fipresci (critics') prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at Cannes last year, Michael Haneke's Caché has also become what for these days is an extreme rarity, a non-English language box office hit in the US and the UK. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw declares it a "masterpiece: a compelling politico-psychological essay about the denial and guilt mixed into the foundations of western prosperity." With Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche.

We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen (2005; $17.95). A new film aims to school the world about the power of the seminal punk band The Minutemen, whose creative force was at its very peak when brought to a tragic halt. We Jam Econo is a sorely overdue eulogy of sorts; last year, Craig Phillips got co-director Tim Irwin on the phone to talk about the making of the film and the power of the music.

Why We Fight (2004; $21.60). In February, Hannah Eaves spoke with director Eugene Jarecki about his documentary, Why We Fight, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, which addresses, in part, how the US ended up in Iraq. She also asks what it is he admires in Dwight Eisenhower and Frank Capra. The film's "analysis of our imperial war machine is considerably more sober and self-contained than Michael Moore's," wrote J Hoberman, and "forcefully argues that the much abused word freedom cannot paper over the conflicts between capitalism and democracy."

Also out this week: Yakuza Graveyard (1976; $17.95); Find Me Guilty - Vin can act! (2005; $20.87); Imagine Me & You (2005; $20.87); Angel Guts: Nami, 9 out of 10 in DVD Times (1979; $17.95); Strangers With Candy: The Complete Series box set (1999 - 2000; $41.13); GreenCine Recommends: Evil (2003; $21.44).

New anime: Love Hina: Anime Legends Complete Collection ($48.38). "As far as 'harem' anime goes, this is the best I've seen," writes jeffs. "The strength of the series really lies in the characters." [Love Hina series.]

A complete list of this week's new releases and all titles coming soon is available here | New Releases Archive | Your Queue

 Sean Axmaker revels in the newly restored version of Army of Shadows and calls for more of Jean-Pierre Melville's seminal work to be made available. [Also: GreenCine's Craig has a few thoughts on Shadows, too.]

GreenCine Daily, our "indispensable" blog (Wall Street Journal), takes a look inside the latest issues of Film Quarterly and CineACTION! (emphasis theirs).

Here's a special note from our friends at Docurama regarding a cool new opportunity. Check our home page for a connected trivia contest, too, for the Docurama Film Festival DVD box set. Special offer: Anyone who purchases the set from GreenCine during the first thirty days will be mailed a free Docurama messenger bag.

Dear GreenCine members,

I would like to welcome you to the first ever Docurama Film Festival, a new way to experience the excitement of a festival, and most importantly the films, anywhere, and at any time on DVD. There are over 500 successful film festivals in the U.S. each year, and if you've ever been to one you'll know why. There's a unique energy and "buzz" around the films at a festival, with such a broad range of artistic talent and films introducing fascinating characters and topics that audiences would never get the chance to see anywhere else. And yet so often, when these festivals close their doors, scores of amazing, ground-breaking films disappear, never to be seen again. Until now. The 10 films I have selected to open Docurama's very first festival truly embody the festival spirit to the extent that they showcase astonishing, cutting edge, films that you can watch from the comfort of your own living room.

Enjoy,
Liz Ogilvie
Head Programmer

And thus, the list of the week is one we concocted a while back to honor one of our favorite distributors of excellent documentary films: yes, Docurama. A list that is actually four lists, to put their lengthy catalog into bite(byte)-sized pieces.

Our next screening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be on July 5, as we proudly present the exceptional noir-ish rarity Une si jolie petite plage (Such a Pretty Little Beach/Riptide). Yves Allégret's work is unjustifiably little-known in America, yet the director can be seen as a clear bridge between the pre-war Gallic filmmakers and the celebrated nouvelle vague. Such a Pretty Little Beach is a masterpiece of crime cinema, full of atmospheric tension, terror and tribulation.

Wednesday, July 5, 7:30pm
Une si jolie petite plage by Yves Allégret (1949, 105 min., 16mm, in French with English subtitles)
$7/$5 GreenCine and YBCA Members, Students, Seniors

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Posted by cphillips at June 28, 2006 11:07 AM