Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending July 4th

There’s a couple of swell promotions I’d like to mention today; if you want a good comedy (at least according to the internets) we have a Cedar Rapids for rent at both stores. Big deal you say. Well here’s the thing – it’s only a measly $4.00 to rent! Only four bones you say, what a great deal! And right you would be to say such a thing. Manager’s special we like to call it. We have many (too many actually) copies for your enjoyment. It’s currently rated 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomato-meter. Come in and take home some big laughs.

And also we’re partnering up with Biercraft Restaurant and Beer Palace for a terrific deal. Come in to either Black Dog, spend $10.00 (That’s 2 copies of Cedar Rapids plus something else) and walk away with a $5.00 off voucher good for lunch at either Beircraft on Cambie St. and Commercial Drive. Yowsa!

New Releases for Tuesday June 28th

Barney’s Version – Paul Giamatti stars in this adaptation of Canadian author Mordecai Richler’s famous Canadian novel about a hard drinking, big living Canadian lout named Barney. Also stars non-canadians Dustin Hoffman and Minnie Driver (always wondered what happened to Minnie Driver – love that name!)

The Big C – No, it’s not the name (it was originally called “The C-Word,”) which I have been called too much over the course of my life . It’s a pretty good drama/comedy TV series about a woman dealing with a recent diagnosis of cancer in a humorous way. Nothing screams comedy like cancer! Stars the always excellent Laura Linney and Oliver Platt.

Beastly – A kind of modern day Beauty and the Beast tale finds a cocky high-school jerk being transformed by one of those Olsen twin witches into a hideous troll-boy where, you guessed it, he finds the true meaning of beauty (it’s on the inside, with all the guts and stuff).

Bloodworth – Nice looking drama finds crotchety Kris Kristofferson returning home to his white trash roots after 40 years wandering around playin’ his geetar only to find that the family he left behind (puffy Val Kilmer, Hilary Duff etc.) are not so keen on seeing the old coot.

In Search of Sex – Another ensemble cast wanders around (probably New York) either having lots of sex, dealing with the consequences of having lots of sex or just looking to have lots (or even some) sex. Aren’t we all, like, all the time doing this? Did I say that out loud?

Legend of the Fist – Donnie Yen (Ip Man) stars in this historical epic martial arts extravaganza about a famed martial arts dude who wants to infiltrate the powers that be that are helping the Japanese control and brutalize the Chinese back in the day.

Savage – Brutal revenge drama finds a dude revenging on some punks that done him wrong. Love the revenge thrillers. Hope that this one is good. Some of the keywords in the IMDb include, anger, castration, hate, anabolic steroid, tinnitus and social commentary so it has all of that going for it.

Season of the Witch – Nic Cage hams it up with Ron Pearlman as 14th century knights who have to transport a suspected witch somewhere so the monks can have a go at her to determine if she’s the cause of the Black Plague. Word has it that it’s a terrible movie (what Nic Cage in a bad film?!) but it falls into that category of so bad that’s it’s good and quite entertaining. Also on the Blu Ray.

Sucker Punch – What a disaster. How can a film that has dragons, zombie soldiers, killer robots, dirigibles and hot girls in fetish wear turn out to be such a painful movie-going experience? I’ll tell you how – spend all of your money on set deck and costumes and CGI stuff but none of it on script or acting lessons for the barbie dolls you hired to prance through this. I watched the extended Blu Ray cut – looked great and the action fantasy scenes were quite awesome, but the rest of it? Almost unwatchable. I had a finger on the fast forward button for a good chunk. To me it seems that Zack Snyder fell into the Wachowski Brother’s dilemma – trying to up the anti over the previous film, Watchmen for Snyder, Matrix for the Wachowskis, and failing miserably. Hopefully Snyder’s Superman film will get him back on track. On Extended cut Blu Ray and theatrical Blu Ray as well as DVD.

White Irish Drinkers – Heavy family drama set in New York in 1975 that finds a pair of brothers trying to make it on petty crimes and get away from their boozy dad. And it has Karen Allen in it? I thought she was dead. Who knew?

Old stuff Just In

Lord of the Rings – Extended Edition – Blu Rays. (I can’t wait to geek out over these!)
Orlando – DVD

Coming Next Week

Company Men
Ceremony
Hobo with a Shotgun (whoo-hoo!)
Essential Killing
The Warrior’s Way
Shelter
Mega Python vs. Gateroid
Elektra Luxx

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Season of the Witch – only for its badness
Breaking Bad S 3
Louie S 1
The Adjustment Bureau
Unknown
Another Year
True Blood S 3
Treme S 1
Biutiful
I Saw the Devil
Rubber
True Grit
Kisses

Great Job Internets!

You may have seen this but if you haven’t it’s pretty awesome in it’s awesomeness. Seagull cam! http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/25/seagull-steals-video.html

Speaking of revenge films (mentioned earlier in case you’ve already forgotten) here’s a little list from the good folks at Rotten Tomatoes detailing some of their favorite revenge flicks. Nice to see Oldboy in there. I’d add I Saw the Devil – probably the most violent and nasty of the revenge flicks ever made. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/the_big_payback

First World Problems. A rap.

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2p5svFJ9cQ [/youtube]

Ah! I just realized my kid is finished school on Wednesday! What am I going to do! Yikes. Maybe this will be the summer I introduce him to more sophisticated film fare. We’ll see. Keep watching.

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 27th

Well here we are, the first day of summer! Wouldn’t really know it would you? And here we are, a week removed from the end of the hockey, and of course our fabulous riot. I’m not really going to say much about this as I’m sure that all has been said about the events of last Wednesday that needs to be said. But here’s my two cents anyways. It has been a strange week. We’ve gone from disappointing loss in game 7 (funny how no one is talking about that all that much) to crazy ass riot to bizarre witch hunt type of stuff on the interwebs. We’ve seen the worst element of society rear its ugly head – hooligans, thugs (yes I’m including the Boston Bruins in that category), teenagers and middle class bored punks burning shit and stealing useless stuff (who steals a mannequin leg?). We’ve seen a strange outpouring of apologies and caring from people that didn’t have anything to do with the riot – aren’t we Canadians a nice bunch of folk? And we’ve seen one awesome photograph – the kissing couple if ya didn’t know. (I hear they’ve hired an agent and are moving to Australia to become stand-up comedians!). And we’ve seen vigilante justice 2011 style – outing people on the internet, publishing their names, addresses and even threatening some of them. I’m not too sure who is worse, the rioters or the internet folk who are hounding them? I’m all for holding these boneheads accountable but the issue of privacy and use of the internet to find them is kind of weird and a bit problematic. Anyways, I said I wasn’t going to pontificate too much about all of this because if you’re anything like me, and I know that you are, you just might be suffering from riot fatigue. Onwards and upwards!

Just a note – the Cambie Store hours have changed slightly once again. They are as follows; Sunday – Thursday 1pm till 10pm. Friday – 1pm till 11pm and Saturday – noon till 11pm. Lots of time to get your movie on! (Can’t believe I just said that, I’m so urban)

New Releases for Tuesday June 21st

The Adjustment Bureau – Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!) and Emily Blunt display some fantastic chemistry that helps elevate this sci-fi tale out of the morass of mediocre tales of secret worlds and what not. Damon is a political dude who finds out that all things in his and everyone’s life are being controlled buy that guy from Mad Men. They have nifty hats that enable them to…well you’ll just have to watch this for yourself. It could have a been a better film, as I found it was lacking a certain something to make it all more cohesive. I liked the hats they wore but kept thinking that this would be a better film with sombreros. Based on a Philip K. Dick short story so it has that going for it. Also on the Blu Ray.

Bedways – German sexy film. Ya! Three Germans want to make sexy a film about sex and love and sex. Ya!

The Butcher’s Son – To add to our collection of Dominican Republic films (it now stands at one), comes this police thriller about a cop fighting the corrupt government. Word is it supposed to be quite excellent.

Cedar Rapids – Ed Helms and his giant teeth are sent to Iowa (whoo-hoo, Iowa!) for a convention where he meets some convention veterans who help him loosen up and party like he’s in Iowa! Supposed to be good fun from what I hear on the streets. Also stars the hilarious John C. Reilly and the even more hilarious Sigourney Weaver. Also on the Blu Ray.

Day of the Triffids – Yet another update of the classic tale of carnivorous plants who come to earth, blind everybody and then start eating everyone. It’s up to a small band of sighted survivors to save the day. Now if only the TV show Survivor was like this…

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 – Don’t know much about these wimpy kids, nor do I care. It’s here for those of you who do.

The Eagle – Sort of like a sequel kind of to Centurion that finds the son of one of the Roman dudes, who disappeared in England in yonder times, going to look for his dad and regain the titular prize that was lost there. I’m grooving on these medieval and Roman times tales as of late. Also on the Blu Ray.

Film Socialism – Jean-Luc Godard’s latest (he’s still alive?!) deals with three separate stories set on a cruise ship or something. Expect this to be very French and very Godardian.

Funkytown – Canadian funky movie about a bunch of Montrealers whooping it up in 1976 in the funky (kind of) era of disco and cocaine and funky times.

Happythankyoumoreplease – Hey what do you know? Another film about a bunch of 20 – 30 something’s loving and living and learning. And of course it’s set in New York.

Jackass 3.5 – More Jackass. More hilarity. Yee-haw.

Louie Season 1 – Louis CK, possible the funniest man alive, has his own most awesome show. Haven’t seen this yet but I saw him last year in the live stand-up mode and I almost barfed in my mouth several times because of the hilarity. Those of you who like the CK will love this show. Me? I can’t friggin’ wait to get my eyeballs on this!

Time That Remains – Award winning film about a family living through the creation of Israel in 1948 to the present. Good times.

Unknown – It’s the known knowns that we know. It’s the unknown unknowns that remain unknown. Liam Neeson is one of those known unknowns in this thriller where his identity becomes unknown to the people around him who know him. Yes, it’s another Liam Neeson kicking much (and much deserved) ass. Old men kicking butt. Rockin’! Also on Blu Ray.

Being Outed Next Week

3 Backyards
Sucker Punch
Wake Wood
Barney’s Version
Season of the Witch
Bloodworth
Savage
White Irish Drinkers
Beastly

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Adjustment Bureau
The Eagle
Treme S 1
True Blood S 3
Kill the Irishman
Another Year
Breaking Bad S 1
Rubber
True Grit
Biutiful
Kisses

Hey Internets!

Here’s a little compilation from the good folks at Rotten Tomatoes where they list their favorite most “intense” moments in film. Agree? Disagree? http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_driver/news/1922995/the_15_most_intense_movie_moments/

Ooh! A new Cronenberg film! And what a cast! http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50108

Here’s a link to Slate.com’s career-o-matic which let’s you chart the career trajectory of your favorite stars. Fun fun! Hate to be Jennifer Love Hewitt today! http://www.slate.com/id/2296070/

That’s it for this week folks, enjoy the summer and make sure to keep watching!

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 20th

I must apologize for the lateness of this week’s edition of the newsletter. I hope that I didn’t ruin anyone’s day or was the cause of stress or sleeplessness. I was on a little holiday to visit the family in the grim hell scape that is southern Ontario. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Toronto and all, but the surrounding area where I grew up is just bleak and hideous now. I spent 30 years in what used to be a lot of farmland, rolling hills and dirt roads about fifty KM east of the big smoke. Driving that area just made me sad as its been transformed into an endless morass of strip malls, big box nightmares, fake Irish pubs and row upon row of ugly, obscenely huge homes that all resemble one another. Really made me yearn for lovely Vancouver.

What I wasn’t expecting when I returned was the damn hockey team to still be playing. That said I’ll be watching the game tonight (maybe followed by a flick) with anticipation. Even if they lose it’s been quite the ride these past couple of months and it is still quite the feat to make it to game seven of the finals. Good Job!

Just a reminder to all of you non-hockey fans out there that, a) thank you all for being non-hockey fans, and b) it’s five old films for $8.00 today. Enjoy no matter what you do.

Oh and another reminder, it’s car free day this Sunday on the Drive. So get out and enjoy!

Today’s newsletter will be a bit abbreviated only to return in its full glory next week.

New Releases for Yesterday the 14th of June

Battle: Los Angeles – Aliens from another world decide to invade Los Angeles for some reason. Big budget special effects thing plays out like a poor man’s Black Hawk Down and even poorer man’s District 9 had a threesome with a skanky Independance Day. Lots of running around, plenty of things blowin’ up real good and a barrage of cliches make this, well, somewhat passable entertainment for those of you who like this kind of thing. I usually do but I’d like to see an alien invasion flick where the aliens don’t always look like confusing, tentacled slime creatures. On the DVD and the Blu Ray.

Hall Pass – Remember when the Farrelly brother’s used to make good films? Or what passed for good films for them? Something About Mary? Kingpin? Well here’s what there up to today. Still doing the raunchy comedy thing, but are they any good? You tell me. Don’t know much about this one except that it stars Owen Wilson (just work with Wes Anderson please) and some other guy who get free passes from their wives to knock boots (love that expression) with other women for some reason. On DVD and the Blu Ray.

Kill the Irishman – Pretty good true crime tale of an Irish mobbish kind of guy in Cleveland in the 70’s whose enemies keep trying to kill him and blow him up and stuff. Great cast, Ray Stevenson and a wig that should be nominated for something, maybe a Razzie, Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio and a whole bunch of Sopranos. Worth a look.

The Other Woman – Heavy sounding drama about a guy who has an affair with Natalie Portman. Poor bastard. Complications ensue when there’s a pregnancy involved. Damn kids, ruin everything!

Red Riding Hood – Take on the Red Riding Hood tale (can’t you tell by the title?) starring the lovely Amanda Seyfried who gets into trouble with some werewolves on her way to grandma’s house. John Hurt is along for the ride to chew scenery and embarrass himself. On the Blu Ray as well.

Scenesters – Some hip LA hipsters try to catch a serial killer who’s offing young hip LA hipsters. Supposed to be OK but don’t hold me to that.

Sweet Karma – Trashy looking exploitation fare has a mute Russian girl in her underwear (just look at the box if you don’t believe me) who infiltrates the Toronto underground sex trade to avenge her sister or find her sister or something like that. Sounds like my kind of filth.

Undertow – A married fisherman struggles with his identity and his devotion to his gay lover in this ghostly tale set in a small Peruvian fishing village. Didn’t think I was going to say that did you? Word has it that this is an excellent little ditty.

On the Shelves Nest Week

Film Socialism
Funkytown
Happythankyoumoreplease
Bedways
West is West
Day of the Triffids
Cedar Rapids
Unknown
The Butcher’s Son
Adjustment Bureau
Time that Remains
Louie Season 1
The Eagle
Legend of the Fist

Recently Viewed and Recommended

True Grit
Kill the Irishman
Breaking Bad S. 3
Rubber
Another Year
Biutiful
True Blood Season 3
Kisses
Found Footage Festival #5
Down Terrace

So it seems that not too many of you were all that interested in the last contest that we had. So I’ll give you one more chance. I have three films to give away, Passion Play, Kaboom and The Prey or Proie. (You can look them up on the IDMB if you so choose). All you have to do is come into the store and say “Arby’s” if you want a Passion Play (that’s because it stars Mickey Rourke and I think that after all of his bad surgery he kind of looks like an Arby’s sandwich), “Kaboom!” if you want a copy of Kaboom and “Killer Pig” if you want a copy of The Prey. Let’s see how that goes.

That’s it for this week folks. Enjoy the hockey. Two teams, one cup! And don’t forget about us.

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 13th

Just about to sit down and write this current newsletter and I thought I’d take out the trash before starting. What do I find beside the garbage can? That’s right, you guessed it, a whole chicken! Just sitting there basking in the sun, covered in flies. There must be a story as to how this chicken came to rest out in our alley. People are strange.

Great week for releases this Tuesday! Maybe the best of the year so far. Even with the nice weather there’s plenty of room to catch a quality flick. Oh, and there’s another little contest for some dvds – check out further on down in the newsletter.

And just a reminder, the Cambie St. store hours have changed slightly – Sunday to Thursday we’ll be open at 1pm as opposed to noon and close at 10pm. Friday and Saturday stay the same – noon to 11pm which are the hours at the Commercial store everyday. Also next week’s newsletter will either be late or nonexistent, depending if I can get to it (I’ll be on a bit of a holiday).

New Releases for Tuesday June 7th

American: The Bill Hicks Story – Doc about funny man Bill Hicks who died young. Fans should enjoy this. And maybe non-fans as well.

Another Year – Latest and greatest (John’s favorite film of 2010) from Mike Leigh. I imagine that there’s some family dysfunction, some sweet moments and some quality British hilarity. Don’t be alarmed when coming in to get this film – it only came in the Blu Ray/DVD combo pack, so yes we have the regular DVDs. And the Blu Rays.

Breaking Bad Season 3 – Love this show about the cancer-stricken high school science teacher meth cooker and dealer. Great show!

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights – Nerd alert! Animated fare concerning a guy who dresses up like a lantern to fight crime. Really dude, that’s the best costume you could come up with? Couldn’t get a job with the Illusionary festival?

Just Go With It – Wow, double whammy! Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston together at last in a romantic comedy! Why did it take this long? Something tells me it’s neither romantic or comedic. Up to you to decide.

La Rafle – AKA The Roundup – Jean Reno stars in this heavy French true story drama about Nazi collaborators in occupied Paris and how they rounded up the Jews living in Paris under the swine Vichy government. Lousy Nazis. Lousy Vichy French.

Rubber – Easily the strangest film of the week. An abandoned tire laying in the desert somewhere suddenly comes alive with telekinetic powers and starts blowin’ things up, real good. Not and entirely (pun intended) a successful film – it has a sub plot kind of involving a greek chorus type of crowd watching this film from afar – but it’s impressively filmed and strange and interesting enough to go the distance. Easily the best film ever made a about a killer tire.

Sanctum – Sanctum! Damn near killed him! James Cameron seems to have had something to do with this underwater cave swimming thriller. It seems that if it’s a movie about something underwater, Cameron has his tentacles all over it. Also on the blu ray.

Textuality – Canadian comedy about a couple trying to manage relationships via hand held technology. What an age we live in. I’m hoping that 10 years from now, this film will not have aged well, as I think that we have far too much technology in our lives.

True Grit – The Coen’s take on the classic novel far surpasses the tedious John Wayne effort from years ago. (I’m not a John Wayne fan). One of the best films of 2010 with a great cast, cinematography, script – everything that makes for a great film. Did I mention that I thought it was great? Check it out pardners! Also on the blu rays.

When We Leave – Heavy tale of a Turkish woman who flees her homeland under threats of persecution only to find more danger in Germany from her immediate family. These types of situations make me so mad I best not comment further. Take a deep breath….

Coming Next Week

Battle Los Angeles
Kill the Irishman
The Other Woman
Red Riding Hood
Sweet Karma
Hall Pass

Recently Viewed and Recommended

True Grit
Another Year
Rubber
Breaking Bad Season 3
Biutiful
Kisses
True Blood Season 3
I Saw the Devil
Public Speaking
Found Footage Festival Vol 5
Ip Man
Treme S 1
Marwencol
I Am You

Nice job, Internets!

As promised we have another contest! The prize? We have copies of Kaboom – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1523483/ , Prey – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907305/ and Passion Play – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396221/. The contest. Tell us your weirdest find on the streets and alleys of Vancouver. The chicken I found today ranks up there for sure.

With the release of the fine flick True Grit tomorrow, the fine folks at Rotten Tomatoes have compiled a list of the best remakes of all time. Some interesting choices I must say – http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_remakes_50_years_50_movies/

And speaking of remakes, I have a feeling that this one may not make that list – the swell Japanese cult thingy Big Man Japan is getting a American remake. – http://www.avclub.com/articles/big-man-japan-to-get-american-remake-and-sequel,57128/

Here’s an amusing video for all you Star Wars prequel haters out there – http://laughingsquid.com/george-lucas-strikes-back-the-story-behind-the-star-wars-prequels/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+laughingsquid+%28Laughing+Squid%29

That’s it for this week kids. Remember, stay golden and keep watching…

Black Dog Video

Black Dog Video