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Finally - a summer week just full of inriguing new DVD releases, particularly for the more indie-minded among you:
Brick (2006; $20.56). The slangy, teen-noir is Raymond Chandler reimagined for modern day Orange County, and, adds GreenCine's Craig Phillips, while the film "takes a bit of time to get accustomed to - as if we, the audience, were collectively given a new eyeglass prescription and have to adjust to seeing a certain way - stick with it. Brick is a breakout debut, and one of the best films of 2006."
CSA: Confederate States of America (2005; $19.93). "I made it as a comedy because I want to reach the audience who would never go to see a serious film about slavery," said filmmaker Kevin Willmott in our interview with him, about his alternative history film which posits the question - what if the South had won the Civil War? "A brilliant and irresistible counterfactual overview of American history," raved the San Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle, "Ultimately not just amusing but moving because it reminds us that the Civil War was not some sectional disagreement or an argument between two equally worthy points of view, but rather a struggle for the country's moral decency and the future of democracy."
Inside Man (2006; $21.70) has Spike Lee working, with a fine cast, in full-on commercial (or Sidney Lumet) mode and the end result is pretty entertaining. "The suspense crackles, the acting sizzles and the script, by promising first-timer Russell Gewirtz, keeps tossing surprises like grenades," wrote Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. And "Denzel Washington energizes the movie."
Manderlay (2005; $19.93). Love him or hate him, there's no one else like Lars Von Trier. His latest, part of his ostentatious "America" trilogy (following up on Dogville) polarized critics as much as any of his works, poking at "uncomfortable truths," wrote Sam Adams (Philadelphia City Paper), who found it problematic but, "in throwing caution to the wind, [Von Trier] hits on ideas most American directors would be too sensitive to address."
Cavite (2005; $20.43) was filmed for a song but had such a perfect concept for a low-budget film - one main character, shot on location in Manila, it was a "paragon of guerrilla resourcefulness and a model citizen of the global village," wrote Dennis Lim in the Village Voice, "a more anxious and vivid experience than most movies with budgets literally a thousand times bigger... [an] impressively tense micro-thriller."
Also out this week: Don't Come Knocking $21.60 (see more on this Wenders-Shepard collaboration below); The Lost City (2005; $23.95; great cast + practically non-existent theatrical release = ?); Voices of Iraq (2004; $16.45); The Hidden Blade (2004; $19.95).
New anime: Papuwa vol. 1: Wild Things ($21.45). "I’ll cut to the chase: Papuwa is the most hilarious anime I’ve ever seen," raved Anime-Planet.com. "Cromartie was the big winner up until now...but Papuwa is absolutely ridiculous as far as spastic random comedies go." Also new: Basilisk vol. 1: Scrolls of Blood ($21.45).
GreenCine's review blog: Guru | A complete list of this week's new releases and all titles coming soon is available here | Ye Olde New Releases Archive | Your Queue
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