Picking up right where the Karas: The Prophecy ends, in the new beautifully animated (using 2D/3D hybrid animation) film Karas: The Revelation [official site], Otaha seeks vengeance against the yakuza that murdered his brother and almost killed him. "Karas the Revelation not only lives up to the amazing first volume, but exceeds it in every way," raves Play Magazine. The sequel, out on DVD today, features the voices of Jay Hernamdez, Matthew Lillard and Cree Summer. And now, thanks to the generosity of Manga Video, ten (10) lucky winners of our Karas: The Revelation contest will receive a copy of the new DVD! Go here for details >>

Days of Heaven (Criterion)  Rent 

Finally, Terrence Malick's gorgeous period drama-- "one of the most beautiful films ever made" says Roger Ebert--gets the DVD treatment it deserves (considering it's "almost incontestably the most gorgeously photographed film ever made," wrote Michael Atkinson), with this lavish-looking print from Criterion. (Ditto Breathless, also reissued this week.) Richard Gere and Brooke Adams star as lovers who pose as siblings while working on a farm in the 1900s. This new print is director approved, supervised by Malick and his editor.

Into Great Silence Rent  

While this documentary -about Roman Catholic monks who barely utter a word - may not sound like much, we can't recommend it highly enough. "I hesitate, given the early date and the project's modesty, to call Into Great Silence one of the best films of the year," wrote AO Scott of the NY Times. "I prefer to think of it as the antidote to all of the others." Adds Michael Wilmington: "A film of great spiritual intensity and haunting minimalism that enlarges your concepts of movies and of life. Like the monks of the Carthusian order, it distills something intoxicating through a style that's pure and rigorous."

Ton of good stuff out this week: Breathless (Criterion); The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume 1; Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq; Home of the Brave; Hostel: Part II; Dog Bite Dog; Meet the Robinsons; Mr. Brooks; The Sopranos: Season Six, Part II (as the show fades to black); Fido (very funny low-budget zombie flick); Under the Volcano (Criterion); Executive Action; Stanley Kubrick: Life In Pictures; The L Word: The Complete Fourth Season; Apartment 1303; 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama; Hell Girl; Pumpkin Scissors 1: Horror & Blood.

New and Coming Releases lists | Your Queue | Discuss! | GreenCine's review blog: Guru | GC Member Reviews

More on new DVD releases at GreenCine Daily.

O Lucky Man! Rent  

Following up on the heels of the long-awaited release of Lindsay Anderson's If..., comes this equally anticipated cult film, which was Anderson's second collaboration with actor Malcom McDowell (they'd do a third 9 years later). O Lucky Man! (out today in a two-disc special edition) stars McDowell as Mick Travis (same name as his character in If..., but not quite same person) in a film Variety hailed as "most provocative." Also a treat: a young Helen Mirren as the hippie girl he has an affair with; and Alan Price's songs counterpointing the action.

More like this Clockwork Orange | Brittania Hospital

I'm Reed Fish  Rent  

If you're looking for a light romantic-comedy/coming-of-age flick, you could do worse--much, much--than renting I'm Reed Fish, which fills this bill nicely, even adding extra charm due to the movie's location: a tiny Pacific Northwest town in which everybody knows everybody (and their business). And then, once you're settled in for something sweet and happy, in a single moment of surprise, director/co-writer Zackary Adler. Read review here >>

More like this Everything's Gone Green | Undeclared

We sponsored a screening in San Francisco of this one way back when, and now writer/director Jim Finn's first feature arrives on DVD, 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. More from the Village Voice: "Weaves together lovingly faked archival footage, charmingly undermotivated musical numbers, propagandistic maxims ('Capitalism is like a kindergarten of boneless children'), stop-motion animation (of a suitably crude GDR-era level), a Teutonic (and vaguely Herzogian) voiceover, and a superb garage-y Kraut-rock score (by Jim Becker and Colleen Burke). Finn's deadpan is immaculately bone-dry, and his antiquarian fastidiousness is worthy of Guy Maddin."

More like this Tribulation 99 | East Side Story

A new feature's coming to our site which should make a lot of you happy. It's coming real soon. But we can't tell you about it yet. But we really want to. But we can't. But soon... So there.

Congratulations to the winners of our Rendition contest: SPlank|, Minouchette, gyllenhaalic, BTjosvold, bratky. They each win a package of DVDs from New Line Home Video.