GreenCine, the #1 alternative online DVD rental, video-on-demand and DivX service, now has a blog devoted to its press coverage, marketing efforts, events, releases and newsletter. The blog is called Pravda. Enjoy.
GreenCine Thinks Outside the (mail)Box: Interview for Zoom In
Zoom In has published the interview they conducted with GreenCine's Jonathan Marlow for the Zoom In Online blog.
A conversation with Jonathan Marlow, Director of Content Acquisitions for VOD pioneer GreenCine
GreenCine is an online DVD Rent-by-Mail service and independent film distributor, with a large catalog of films available on your website as Video-on-Demand (VOD). In your own words, “GreenCine LLC (www.greencine.com) is the #1 shop and stop for film addicts, featuring one of the largest libraries of independent, international and documentary films in the world and exclusive interviews with the world's most influential filmmakers. GreenCine offers more than 30,000 films for rent through its award-winning DVD Rent-by-Mail service and over 10,000 titles available on-demand from its extensive VOD library from its own site and through its technology partners Akimbo, Google Video and others. Supporting one of the largest film communities on the Internet, www.greencine.com enables members to review and debate their favorite films and connect with other members with similar interests.” Originally appeared in April 2006 in the Zoom In email newsletter
Q. How did GreenCine get started?
A. GreenCine was launched in June 2002, primarily as a DVD Rent-by-Mail service. It was created by as a side-project of eLine, a San Francisco-based technology firm, and co-founded by Dennis Woo, GreenCine's Managing Partner. Our VOD service debuted in September-2003. We will introduce a long-awaited sell-through service in March.
The heatwave continues {{sweat}} so why not chill for a bit with some cool films, and a look at some of the people making them, in the mid-summer night's dream edition of the GreenCine newsletter.
We've got multiple tips for you this week - where shall we begin?
First, as promised, the new new (new) and coming releases page has been revamped - again - with easy to spot buttons and some of our editors' own favorites among the new and recent releases. Go here every week for the latest (and look for more tweaks in the future).
Speaking of editors' reviews, more on this below, but we're proud to announce the launch of GreenCine's new review blog, Guru - the place for sage advice from our wise reviewers on the subject of their favorite DVDs, new and old. Stop by frequently for a variety of useful reviews, and for that guru that we do so well.
"What do you want?" "Information." "Whose side are you on?" "That would be telling."
The 60s-era British television series The Prisoner "perhaps has more to say than any other about a world where 'free democratic' countries hold people prisoner for years without charge or trial," writes Glenn Deegan in an overview of the cult favorite that starred Patrick McGoohan. Full article >>
Try our trivia contest on the home page right now, too.
Who are the Blade children? After a famous detective disappears while trying to answer that question, his brother is left to investigate. Spiral [volume 1] offers
"a lot to like," writes Anime News Network, "because a lot of the show’s appeal will be completely unexpected to most viewers... gripping to watch, it’s easy to get hooked without even realizing it. It may lack the fanservice and action that draws in the average fan, but Spiral isn’t the average show. It rewards those willing to give it a chance, and ensnares those who underestimate the appeal of the show."
$21.45 per volume.
In addition to grabbing a handful of Polish film awards, director Piotr Trzaskalski's Edi was the Winner of the Don Quixote Award, FIPRESCI Prize of the Forum of New Cinema ("for its humanity and the warmth showing the life of a homeless man fighting for his dignity, but still caring for people around him"), and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - all at 2002's Berlin International Film Festival. Further thoughts come from the... read the rest here.
Boy, it's hot - but the only word we can come up with for this week's new releases is "cool":
Beastie Boys: Awesome; I F...in' Shot That! (2005; $21.76). Check your head for this awesome concert film, filmed at NY's Madison Square Garden, with the added gimmick of having been shot by scores of fans given DV cameras. They even left in one moment where a fan took the camera into the bathroom with him. But it's the performance itself that is a blast for Beastie fans.
A Canterbury Tale (Criterion) (1944; $29.97). Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger never made a bad film in their many years of collaboration, and this reworking of Chaucer - reset in wartime Britain - is no exception. "Highly recommended," extolls DVD Talk, "an enchanting cinematic parable that inspires and uplifts, reminding contemporary audiences of the struggles of the past and how they may reflect on the present and future." As to be expected from Criterion, the two-disc set is full of lovely extras and illuminating commentaries as well.
The Joy of Life (2005; $18.10). Filmmaker Jenni Olsontold GreenCine's Tamara Lees: "I want to convey a sense of time and place and history. The underlying agenda of the film is to create a visual document of the changing face of San Francisco... It's also my hope that audiences will be inspired by the film's form and bring this way of looking at the world with them when they leave the theater." Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti approved: "I was joyed," he told her in an e-mail. The film "makes the ordinary extraordinary" (Wesley Morris, The Boston Globe).
Feed (2005; $17.45) is "laced with a deep vein of dark humour (most notably in the film's brilliantly ironic use of several iconic pop songs)," says Monsters and Critics, "a fast-paced, intelligent, topical and highly entertaining thriller that, given its subject matter, deftly manages to avoid being exploitative." Be forewarned: It is also quite... gross.
While the GreenCine Daily's primary caretaker David Hudson is on vacation, the blog belongs to friends, old and new. Look for some amazing, rapid-fire responses to off-the-top-of-the-head, summertime questions, beginning with Doug Cummings asked about Los Angeles films, Twitch asked "What's the Twitchiest movie so far this year?" and WileyWiggins asked "Got a favorite soundtrack?" The Daily also offers up a new report on the latest DVD reviews, from D.K. Holm.
Speaking of The Prisoner, we've got a super new trivia contest up on our home page, in which you can win a set - we're talking the complete set! - of the show if you are No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3. What do we need? Information. Go there, now.
The GreenCine member list(s) of the week is ahogue's "Exceptional Anime" list. "For the anime dilettante, it's hard to find reliable reviews. These are the best I've seen in my year-long exploration of anime."
The next GreenCine-sponsored screening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be on Wednesday, August 2, as we proudly present the San Francisco premiere of Interkosmos (2006, 71 min., 16mm, in English and German with English subtitles). In the 1970s, the East Germans had a secret plan to establish Communist colonies on the moons of Saturn and Jupiter. These fabricated details are the grist for writer/director Jim Finn's first feature, an exceptional pseudo-documentary that chronicles the cosmonaut era from an alternate universe replete with musical numbers and faithful reconstructions of the rigors of space travel.
Wednesday, August 2, 7:30pm
$8/$6 GreenCine and YBCA Members, Students, Seniors
San Francisco premiere with the director in attendance!
We recommend viewing this newsletter in all of its HTML glory; check your e-mail program's settings to view HTML. This newsletter is sent to GreenCine members only. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, log in to the GreenCine site, click "View Your Profile" then click Edit Profile. Choose "no" on the "Subscribe to the GreenCine newsletter" option and click "Update Profile." Archives of the Dispatch are now available online at GreenCine's Press and Marketing blog.
The GreenCine "250 Core Set" is a list of the top 250 movies as ranked by our members. (Don't worry - these are titles that have been rated a number of times, as opposed to just once.) We've got other such lists in the works, too, so stay tuned.
Showing two faces of an issue now at a crisis point, Israel in a Time of Terror and Gaza Strip both make for important viewing during these tense times. "In the best vérité tradition, there are moments in Gaza Strip that disclose a wrenching human reality deeper and more basic than any politics" (A.O. Scott, NY Times), while Israel is a "no-frills doc [with] some tightly edited man/woman -on-the-street interviews about what it's like to live under a different kind of occupation - the kind in which sending your daughter out to the grocery store can mean sending her to a sudden violent death" (Seattle Weekly). Watch both timely docs on-demand on GreenCine.
Yep, another one of those summertime slow releasing days, but as always, still a few gems here:
Tsotsi (2005; $21.76). Winner of the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, South African director Gavin Hood's Tsotsi (which means "gangster") is "an explosive wide-screen vision of the street life of Soweto, bursting with music, danger and vitality, and the extraordinary story of a ruthless young criminal." [Salon's Andrew O'Hehir] "Turns on the debut performance of young Presley Chweneyagae as the hood, and it's magnificent," wrote J.R. Jones in the Chicago Reader. Or as Hood himself describes it in an interview for GreenCine, "you've got an environment, this tremendous flavor of Johannesburg that is not often seen on screen with a story that seems terribly local but deep down is really a classic myth, a classic fable." [interview]
Ultraman Series 1 ($28.45): Finally a legit Stateside release of this wacky Japanese series. Newly re-mastered with stereo sound and brilliant color in its original japanese audio, with new English subtitles, and English dubbed tracks created for the original TV broadcast by the same team that voiced Speed Racer. Look out for the Specium Beam!
Sybil (1976; $18.88). "Sybil has disassociated into a baby... I can't get her back!" Groundbreaking made-for-TV drama starring Sally Field (who won an Emmy) as the poor girl with multiple personality disorder. Joanne Woodward, too, is brilliant as Sybil's psychiatrist, in this still-gripping drama. Extras on the DVD release include interviews with Field, Woodward and friends of the real Sybil - plus a gallery of her artwork.
Don't Move (2004; $15.95) has "a rich, lyrical sweep and floats between past and present, reality and imagination, with ease. It is a richly satisfying experience," praised Kevin Thomas in the L.A. Times, of Serge Castillitto's "what if?" tale starring Penélope Cruz.
François Ozon has just been treated to a two-day tribute at MoMA in New York and was honored with the Frameline30 Award in San Francisco last month. Quite something for such a relatively young director whose work can't be pinned to any one genre. Hannah Eaves talks with him about his latest feature, Time to Leave.
GreenCine Daily takes a look at the latest issue of Sight and Sound, and offers up a few obituaries, too.
GreenCine's Genre of the Week is Political Thrillers, in honor of our brand new primer. "Sometimes the only way to fill in some of the blanks and get answers, or at least 'what ifs,' is to watch a good political thriller," writes Steve Goldstein. "The best political thrillers seamlessly weave together political insight and compelling suspense, and offer the unsettling thrill of having our flimsy notions and beliefs debunked." Sometimes there's nothing more fun than making yourself paranoid, and thrillers like Parallax View and Three Days of the Condor will certainly make you look over your shoulder. From JFK to Z, and especially focusing on what is the grandaddy of all political thrillers, The Manchurian Candidate, Goldstein will take you through these often prophetic films. Political Thrillers primer >>
The GreenCine member list(s) of the week is Misshaped's Banned Books list - compiling movies adapted from books that were at one point or another banned.
We're already hard at work preparing for our next screening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which will take place in August and which we will announce in detail here next week.
We recommend viewing this newsletter in all of its HTML glory; check your e-mail program's settings to view HTML. This newsletter is sent to GreenCine members only. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, log in to the GreenCine site, click "View Your Profile" then click Edit Profile. Choose "no" on the "Subscribe to the GreenCine newsletter" option and click "Update Profile." Archives of the Dispatch are now available online at GreenCine's Press and Marketing blog.
Some love for GreenCine: Sacramento News and Review
Thanks to Jonathan Kiefer for the shout-out for GreenCine in his article in the Sacramento News and Review, "Art House Blues."
But not just Netflix! There’s another video-on-demand and DVD rent-by-mail outfit you should know. San Francisco’s Greencine (www.greencine.com) specializes in the arty, indie, non-corporate stuff, from all over the planet. It’s guaranteed to have a better selection than any brick-and-mortar video store in Sacramento—unfortunately.
We apologize for the delayed release of this week's newsletter. We had some mail server issues this week that took a bit of time to get resolved. We hope this didn't cause any undue stress, emotional anguish or mass rioting. And without further ado, here it is, a jam-packed issue of the Dispatch.
#141 | July 11, 2006
Statler: "'Take a cruise,' you said. 'See the world,' you said. Now here we are, stuck on the front of this stupid ship."
Waldorf: "Well, it could be worse. We could be stuck in the audience." -- Muppet Treasure Island
If you happen across any errors in DVD synopses on GreenCine, or any synopses containing spoilers, please drop a line to corrections@greencine.com. We get the majority of our DVD summaries from All Media Guide (AMG), and they are good, hard-working folks, but occasionally they goof up (and occasionally we do) - especially with over 40,000 titles in the catalog - so we always appreciate a kind nudge there.
Stanley Donen's Two for the Road was fashioned stylistically in a way after the French New Wave films of the 50s. It's an elegant, openhearted and heartbreaking a portrait of a marriage from many angles and moods, with Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney both lovely as a couple wondering "When did it all go wrong?" (and where did it also go right). The stars have great chemistry together and Donen manages to keep things breezing along even with the purposely fractured narrative and chronology. The director provides an insightful commentary on the DVD, too.
Only $10.95.
Seeing Rowan Atkinson so masterfully witty in the hilarious Black Adder series makes one even more wistful about some of the less than brilliant roles he's been stuck with recently. Never mind that. Black Adder is one of the more quotable British comedy series of all times, with Atkinson playing various incarnations of the titular character in four periods of history (along with a time travel escapade) and snarking with... read the rest here >>.
Box set: $87.95
Individual discs: $16.95
Of Marlon Brando's sole directorial effort, One-Eyed Jacks, GreenCiner dcarrberry wrote, "Scoff if you wish. Reel in disbelief: but this is easily one of my favorite Brando films and one of my favorite Westerns ever." Adds Jeffrey Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner: "Very cool. It's too bad Brando never directed again." Even cooler - you can watch One-Eyed Jackson-demand now or anytime you wish on GreenCine.
A one and a two (which was the international English title for first movie mentioned below)... here we go, a small week for new DVD releases in quantity, but large in quality:
Yi Yi (Criterion) (2000; Taiwanese director $29.96). Edward Yang's Yi Yi is nearly epic in length but intimate in scale and always engaging, it's as lucid as many a fine novel in its portrait of the struggles of a middle-class family. Criterion's new edition gives the film the treatment it deserves, with a restored high-definition digital transfer, audio commentary by Yang and noted Asian-cinema critic Tony Rayns, and a new interview with Rayns about Yang and the New Taiwan Cinema movement. One to treasure.
Also new from Criterion is Barbet Schroeder's KoKo: A Talking Gorilla (1978; $23.89), a compelling documentary on one of the world's most famous gorillas and her connection to research on the cognitive language link between human and animal. "Schroeder's doc runs just 80 minutes, but in that short time he manages to quietly create a compelling argument many would probably rather ignore," wrote Rich Rosell on DigitallyObsessed. "'A' for style, 'A' for substance."
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005; $20.98). "Rather than adapt the novel per se, [Michael] Winterbottom has adapted Sterne's hilarious attempts to make the mess of life fit the neat contours of the novel by making a movie about an attempt to make [Laurence] Sterne's chaotic and confusing novel fit the contours of a film," wrote Ken Fox of TV Guide. "If that sounds highbrow and pretentious, it's not. The neat trick of Tristram Shandy is that the whole thing comes off as a lark," adds the Philadelphia Inquirer's Steven Rea. In short, it's mind- and rib-tickling fun. With Steve Coogan, who needs to just keep working with Winterbottom.
On a Clear Day (2005). Underrated actor Peter Mullan is terrific in this British film about a working-class middle-aged swimmer determined to swim the English channel. "Resists formula just enough to achieve a surprising degree of emotional traction," wrote Jeannette Catsoulis in The New York Times. "Heartbreakingly real."
For over 15 years, Milestone Films has been restoring and bringing lost silent classics, foreign gems, landmarks of American independent cinema and docs no one else would touch to our living rooms and, just as importantly, to theaters, where they can be seen in all their big screen glory. As Beyond the Rocks sees its release, Milestoneco-founder Dennis Doros tells Sean Axmaker about some of their most exciting discoveries and about their future plans.
Having won a Silver Bear when it premiered in Berlin in February, The Road to Guantánamo has since screened widely throughout Europe and was even broadcast on British television. Here in the States, it's a bit harder to find but absolutely worth seeking out. David D'Arcy talks with Michael Winterbottom about why this movie will go on mattering even if the camp were to be closed tomorrow.
"These kids are very poor. They don't have much but they have spirit. And they love living and they live life to the fullest." Larry Clarktells Thomas Logoreci why he was compelled to make the most difficult film of his career, Wassup Rockers.
With the help of DK Holm, GreenCine Daily surveys some of them thar new and notable DVD releases - so you don't have to.
GreenCine's Genre of the Week is Swashbucklers (which is listed under "Adventure") in all their swashbuckliness. From Robin Hood to Scaramouche and the Scarlet Pimpernel, snarling pirates, slashing swordfights and mask-wearing mystery men, every "yarr" and "avast ye" is covered here.
Congratulations are in order to the lucky winners of our recent Neil Young: Heart of Gold trivia contest: ChefCFP and MokusMaster. Discs are on their way! Winners of the Docurama contest will be announced here soon.
Thanks to all who attended our screening of Une si jolie petite plage (Such a Pretty Little Beach/Riptide) at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. We're already hard at work preparing for our next screening in August, and trust us, it will be something special. More details forthcoming in this very space.
We recommend viewing this newsletter in all of its HTML glory; check your e-mail program's settings to view HTML. This newsletter is sent to GreenCine members only. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, log in to the GreenCine site, click "View Your Profile" then click Edit Profile. Choose "no" on the "Subscribe to the GreenCine newsletter" option and click "Update Profile." Archives of the Dispatch are now available online at GreenCine's Press and Marketing blog.
Happy Fourth of July! Well, actually, Happy Fifth of July, as the Dispatch comes to you a day late (and a dollar short) but holding sparklers in both hands in celebration of the red, white and blue (and GreenCine). Read on for a lot of cool happenings as GC celebrates "American Independents Day."
A big part of the GreenCine member community is member reviews. The more of you reviewing films on our site the better, as it helps to reflect the diverse cross-section of folks we have using the service and can make for some interesting "dialogues" on the perceived success or failure of each title. For some tips on reviewing movies on GreenCine, peruse through our FAQ on the subject.
July Rhapsody stars the late pop singer and talented actress Anita Mui, in a mesmerizing love story that puts a Hong Kong spin on the mid-life crisis story. Jacky Cheung (As Tears Go By) plays a teacher coming to terms with his mortality and the student who falls for him; Cheung is excellent here, while Mui is simply radiant. A relatively quiet film, Ann Hui's July Rhapsody is ultimately quite touching, with a very rewarding ending.
Only $7.45.
With Jean Pierre Melville's brilliant 1969 film about the French Resistance, Army of Shadows, finally seeing an American release, now would be a good time to visit some of his other masterpieces already on DVD. Criterion has blessed us with three of them: the cool crime yarn Le Cercle Rouge (two discs, $29.96), the incisive character noir Le Samourai ($22.46), and the superior, entertaining gangster film Bob le Flambeur ($22.46). The latter found Melville working in a slightly lighter mood than the others - but all the films are enthralling on a purely cinematic level. See them all to visit with one of cinema's more underrated auteurs.
Voices of Dissent: Activism & American Democracy uses theatre, music, satire, and interviews with many well-known personalities to remind Americans of our roots and the importance of protecting authentic democracy. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Terry Sanders called Voices of Dissent "an excellent, very professional and effective piece. It moves swiftly and entertainingly and has an amazing cast of characters." You can watch Voices via GreenCine's Video-on-Demand any time you wish.
A small batch of new releases during this Independence week, but a few interesting titles nonetheless:
The Libertine (2004; $21.04). "The interestingly degenerate real-life reprobate John Wilmot, Second Earl of Rochester (1647-80), gallant soldier, poet, satirist and wit, the most notorious of Restoration rakes, is the subject of John Malkovich's intriguing The Libertine," wrote the Observer's Philip French late last year, noting that the film "features a performance of considerable power by Johnny Depp, who's in virtually every scene.... Malkovich himself, sporting a false nose, is impressively sardonic as King Charles, Samantha Morton is touching as Lizzie Barry, the actress whom Rochester coaches into a new authenticity, and Tom Hollander is suitably suave as the playwright George Etherege."
The Matador (2005; $22.87). Speaking of libertines. "Playing a near-sociopathic deadeye dick in Richard Shepard's new dependie, The Matador, Pierce Brosnan is a creepy wonder - the Bondian sangfroid is visible in mid-curdle, the gears of his Don Juan-istic bravado are rusting to a dead stop," writes Michael Atkinson in the Village Voice. "Shepard gets all of his laughs if not the ironic heart-tugs, and his cast is perfectly in tune. ([Hope] Davis in comedic-observant mode is funnier than most American actresses in fifth gear.)" Features, too, of course, Greg Kinnear.
Stoned (2005; $15.45). "You don't have to have been alive or conscious in the summer of 1969 to care about Brian Jones," writes Andrew O'Hehir in Salon. Jones was, he adds, "the first and in many ways the purest of rock gods [and] pretty much the guy who invented rock-star flamboyance and decadence, as well as rock's first true guitar hero." As for Stoned, Stephen Woolley's biopic, O'Hehir's fellow Salon reviewer Stephanie Zacharek writes: "The movie's vision of rock-star glamour may be cartoony, but it's the kind of cartoon we can't resist."
New anime:Kyo Kara Maoh! God (?) Save Our King! Volume 8 ($19.45). "I admit it, I absolutely loved this anime," writesBattie of one of the most highly rated series around here. "It really stomped along the line between shounen-ai and regular anime, and was so slashy, I giggled myself silly through half of it.... I spent a large portion of this anime with, 'Oh my lord,' coming out of my mouth, followed by wild snickering. I'd definitely recommend it to fangirls."
On hand to help open AngloMania: Tradition and Transgression in British Fashion, an exhibition at the Metropolitan in New York open though September 4, John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten's got an opinion on just about any subject you care to raise - as David D'Arcy found out in a wide-ranging conversation about British and American politics, the origins of punk, fashion, soccer, and of course, movies.
GreenCine Daily takes a peek at some of the fests and events happening around the world, as well as a ton of short snippets of film news. Find out why the Wall Street Journal called our blog "indispensable."
GreenCine's Most Valuable Indies list doesn't just focus on the period many call the "heyday" of American Independent cinema - the 80s - but also reaches way back to some of the most important early forebears of films made outside of the studio system; films like Sam Fuller's The Naked Kiss, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead and John Cassavetes' Shadows. All of these directors made these movies on their own terms and if some of them have since mainstreamed a bit (we're talking to you Spike and Robert), many others continued to be mavericks artistically for years after their debuts, people like John Sayles, Steven Soderbergh, Todd Haynes, as well as less heralded filmmakers like David Gordon Green and Jim McKay. Celebrate American Independence with true independents, this week on GreenCine.
The member list of the week is also by one of our own, as Dwoodwoo secretly captured a bunch of GreenCine staff members' guilty pleasures while sitting around the lunch table. Now you can laugh at our cheesy confessions, but, hey, we all have some cinematic skeletons in our closet now, don't we?
Tonight! Please join us for a special screening at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 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
We recommend viewing this newsletter in all of its HTML glory; check your e-mail program's settings to view HTML. This newsletter is sent to GreenCine members only. If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future, log in to the GreenCine site, click "View Your Profile" then click Edit Profile. Choose "no" on the "Subscribe to the GreenCine newsletter" option and click "Update Profile." Archives of the Dispatch are now available online at GreenCine's Press and Marketing blog.
Articles galore:
Tonight! Please join us for a special screening at the