April 2012 - Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 30th

April 24, 2012/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

So I had a pretty good response to last weeks newsletter in which I touted some of Black Dog’s favorite things (businesses primarily) in each of the hoods where we reside. Here’s a few comments from some readers on things they liked and things I missed…
For the Drive.
The newly landscaped Grandview Park with it’s people-friendly “Town Square” design, a fabulous western City view at sunset and excellent bathrooms.
Joe’s Coffee (The untrendy coffee tradition for all of us non-trendies)
Elizabeth’s Bakery for their cheap and tasty Goulash soup and meat pies.
SuperValu 1st and Commercial (Not the best or cheapest supermarket but it’s Greater Vancouver’s only S.M. that’s open 24/365 for us night owls and shift workers and has underground parking Wow!)

Cambie Hood
I’ve been a patron at Thai Away Home for many years. They weathered the Canada Line construction and are still going strong. My partner and I (he buys stuff for me-yes!) also shop at Cocoon. They have beautiful, locally made clothing and accessories for women.
I think you were were remiss to include Walrus on your list of Cambie St businesses. Great store often carrying locally made items.
I’m surprised The Kino Cafe was not mentioned for The Cambie hood. It has long been a fine independent business even before the current owners took over many years ago.

So there you have it – some more places to check out in the neighborhoods. It’s refreshing to get a response to this newsletter that isn’t “please remove me from you mailing list”. I only got one of those last week!

Slim picking for New Releases this week – next week it picks up again followed by many a strong week. In the meantime, catch up on some great TV on the DVD or even, gasp, rent something old!

New Releases for Tuesday April 24th

The Big Fix – Doc about that horrendous BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Should be good for a few laughs. That is if you find baby seals covered in oil funny. You’re so cruel.

Cinema Verite – Diane Lane, Tim Robbins and Tony Soprano star in this cool looking docudrama about the first American family to be the subjects of a reality TV show. Little did they know that they would change the TV world into the tepid hellscape that it is today.

Contraband – Remake of the pretty good (from what I hear) Icelandic thriller Reykjavik-Rotterdam. It’s actually directed by the guy who starred in the original. Not too sure why I mentioned that, thought it might be of interest I guess. This remake stars Marky Mark (not too sure if there’s any shots of him in his underwear) as a guy who used to be involved in smuggling and stuff who get “pulled back in to do one last job”. I’m sure the usual hijinks ensue. Also on the Blu Ray.

Domain – French film finds the lovely gap-toothed Beatrice Dalle playing a teacher who enters into some sort of relationship with one of her students. Don’t know if that’s a sexy type of relationship but I like this description by Indiewire – Imagine “Harold and Maude” directed by Eric Rohmer with shades of film noir and doused in philosophical chatter enhanced by ample white wine. There ya go.

Frozen Planet – Another one of those amazingly filmed animals doing animal shit docs narrated by David Attenborough. This time around it looks at those crazy animals that live at the earth’s poles. Why anything would want to live there is beyond me. Also on the Blu Ray.

In the Land of Blood and Honey – I know that everyone loves a little blood and honey on their toast but I can’t imagine that premise going very far. Oh wait, I was thinking of something else. This is a heavy duty drama set during the Bosnian war that finds a Serb and a Bosnian entering into a complicated affair. Don’t expect a lot of laughs here – no oil covered seals for your enjoyment. Directed by the uber-lipped Angelina Joile. Also on the Blu Ray.

Pariah – From all accounts this is an excellent drama that finds a young gay teenager trying to deal with her traditional family and being true to herself. (Did I just write that? Eww).

The Wicker Tree – Kind of a sequel, maybe a remake of the awesome cult favorite Wicker Man. This time around a couple of missionaries travel to the remote Scottish island inhabited by weirdo hippies and Christopher Lee. Written and directed by the guy who made the original. Hope that its as weird and sexy as the first one although I’m not expecting good things here. Not too sure why this film exists. Might be of interest to fans of the original.

Coming Next Week

Dark Tide
Haywire
George Harrison – Living in the Material World
Joyful Noise
Nazis at the Centre of the Earth
New Years Eve
Great Expectations
The Innkeepers
Tomorrow When the War Began

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 23rd

April 17, 2012/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

I was thinking to other day how lucky I am to live and work in, not one but, two great neighborhoods in this fine city. And it got me wondering as to what makes a neighborhood great? Well you have stuff like parks, and good neighbors and a relative safe environment, but for me at least, what makes the Cambie hood and Commercial Drive two of my favorite places in town are the fine selection of small independently run businesses. I mean really, have you ever heard anyone say that their neighborhood is fabulous because they live next door to a giant Best Buy or Canadian Tire? Small businesses are the lifeblood of a good hood and can enrich our lives and those of us around us. So all that said I’d like to give a shout out to some of our favorite places to patronize. Try these places out if you already haven’t and help keep your hood a fabulous place to live. If I missed any or if you have a particular favorite please feel free to chime in.

Cambie Hood

Biercraft, Benton Brothers Cheese Emporium, The Dutch Wooden Shoe, Pronto, Choices, Honey Romantic Gifts, Tokyo John Sushi, Beans Coffee, Shiro Sushi, Park Theatre, Firefly Wines and Ales, Las Tortas, Pied a Terre, Cambie General Store, Cambie Cycles.

Commercial Drive

Biercraft, Liberty Wine Merchants, Daily Catch, JN and Z Deli, Moccia Butchers, East Village Bakery, Pharmasave on the Drive, Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen, Rio Theatre (Yay, they can finally start showing films again!),
St. Augustines, Continental Coffee, Turk’s Coffee, Prado Coffee, Little Nest, Via Tevere Pizzeria Napoletana, Sophie’s Pet Palace, Havana (for their patio), Britannia Community Centre, Dandelion Kids, Norman’s Fruit and Vegetables, Libre Room, Dilly Dally Toys, East Van Co-op, Drive Organics, Chop Shop Hair, Fratelli Bakery.

Also just wanted to mention that we’re winding down our fabulous DVD sale. Another week or so and that’s it folks. We still have plenty (especially at Cambie) of titles left and we’ve even reduced the price to get these things moving. All DVDs are now only $4.00 each or 3 for $10.00! Holy cow! It’s be wrong not to stop in and buy some.

One other note – Please don’t call the store (Commercial location specifically) and request us to come outside to fetch your film for you because you don’t want to or can’t find a place to park your car. We’re too busy to provide that service. Thanks.

New Releases for Tuesday April 17th

Bob’s Burgers Season 1 – Love this show about the Belcher family who run a hamburger restaurant with hilarious results. Snappy writing, great one-liners and zingers and a cast of great characters elevate this show far above any other animated show on the telly. I’m looking at you Simpsons, Family Guy et all.

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front – Acclaimed doc about the Earth Liberation Front, the radical environmental group that the FBI calls America’s ‘number one domestic terrorist threat.’ Really FBI? That’s the best you can do? What about all those weirdo survivalists and weirdo fundamentalist that your country is teeming with? Me? I’m a member of the radical Sandwich Liberation Front and I just liberated one into my belly a few moments ago!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – Pretty entertaining actiony flick starring Mr. Katie Holmes. Great stunts – especially the scenes involving a really high building and stuff (I saw this on the IMAX and it totally flipped my hair back). Directed by Brad Bird (Iron Giant, Incredibles). And it can’t hurt to have Simon Pegg in any film, really. As for the plot? I’ve seen the film but couldn’t tell you really what it was about. Don’t think that it matters all that much. Also on the Blu Ray.

Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us? I’ll tell you what they’re telling us; Bzzzzzzz. Anyways, this doc takes a look at two very important things – what it means to the earth’s survival if the bees disappear (which they have been at an alarming rate). I read somewhere that if the bees vanish, then people have about 4 years until we’re all gone a s well. The other very important thing this doc let’s us in on is how to attract bees to your face so you can sport an impressive beard of bees. And really who doesn’t want to try on a beard of bees at some point in your life?

Shame – Michael Fassbender stars as a depressingly out-of-control sex addict. Then is crazy sister ( the impossibly cute Carey Mulligan) comes to stay for a visit, putting a crimp (to say the least) in his lifestyle. I imagine most would think that being a sex addict is a good thing, but like most addictions it’s not entirely roses and sunshine. Blu Ray was late – should be here soon.

Treme Season 2 – More drama and comedy and music and food and everything in between in this fine fine show set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina (the hurricane).

Tyrannosaur – Great heavy drama directed by Paddy Considine and starring Peter Mullen as a man driven by rage and hate and more hate with a little rage on the side who has a chance at some sort of redemption. A fine film who’s only flaw was the noticeable lack of Tyrannosaurs.

Coming Next Week

In the Land of Blood and Honey
Let the Bullets Fly
Pariah
The Wicker Tree
Big Fix
Cinema Verite
Contraband

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 16th

April 10, 2012/2 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Well it’s that time of year again, hockey playoffs (I heard that collective groan!). I have a love/hate relationship with the Canucks and the hockey in general. While I do love the sport – playing it as well as watching – and the playoffs are the best time to watch the game, it just does such a number on business that it makes it tough for me to fully get behind all the hoopla. I guess in a perfect world the Canucks would win the cup by sweeping every series and not playing on the weekends. Hoping for that or a first round exit. Sigh.

On another note, all of our garbage and recycling containers and bags have disappeared from behind the Cambie store. This actually happens quite often (although it’s the first time that the garbage bin as gone missing) and I’m always bewildered as to why anyone would want to take these things. They’re free from the city and they’re also new and shiny. What’s wrong with people?

So the sales of the used DVDs are winding down – probably another week at Commercial and maybe a bit longer at Cambie so come on down and see what you can pick up for real cheap – $6 per DVD or $5 each if you purchase three or more. You’re saving money by buying them!

New Releases for Tuesday April 10th

Cannibal – Latest gore fest from France finds a dude who’s living in the woods in a nice little cabin who stumbles across a woman covered in blood. He takes her home (of course he does) only to realize later on that she’s got a taste for human flesh (of course she does). She then gets kidnapped by some Gypsy mobsters for some reason and has to eat her way to freedom. I hear that humans taste like chicken.

The Darkest Hour – Haven’t heard too many good things about this supposed sci-fi thriller that finds some Americans in Russia who have to battle electric aliens or something that are bent on destroying the world. Why are almost all aliens who visit our fine planet bent on destroying it? Who goes on vacation with the expressed purpose of wrecking everything and trying to assimilate everyone and everything to their way of life? Besides Americans that is. Jerks. Also on the Blu Ray.

The Divide – Survivors of a nuclear attack on New York take refuge in a basement until the gravity of the situation forces them to act, shall we say, badly. This one looks like it might be pretty promising, even if I’ve never heard of it before. From the French director of the pretty awesome Frontier(s). Available only at Cambie for the moment, coming soon to Commercial.

El Bulli – Slow moving doc about the famed Spanish restaurant in Spain known as the best restaurant in the world for their fancy foamy art food. Pretty good flick (but pretty slow as mentioned) especially if you’re a foodie type.

Into the Abyss – The always amazing Werner Herzog’s latest doc about some (not-so-bright) guys who are death row for killing some people over a car somewhere in the States.

Iron Lady – Meryl Steep won some awards for her portrayal of that awful woman with that great hair who was the president of England back in the eighties. Can’t say that I’m much of a fan of the bio-pic, especially about particularly despicable people, unless they are really scathing. Haven’t seen this so I can’t really say. Also on the Blu Ray.

Louder Than a Bomb – Crowd pleasing doc that follows four teams of poetry slammers from Chicago as they prepare for a throw-down, cage-match, no-holds-barred poetry slammathon.

One Life – One of those really well filmed docs about animals getting their animal thang on and what not. Also on the Blu Ray. Available only at Cambie for the moment, coming soon to Commercial.

Sleeping Beauty – Strange looking weird erotic drama finds a woman who takes the job of a “sleeping beauty” which entails her being rendered unconscious and letting gross men do things with/to her while she’s asleep. So many layers of creepiness just in the description makes me want to check this deviant little number out. Hopefully you don’t get this film from the stores when you come in to rent the Disney Sleeping Beauty although that would make for a funny story for us.

Old but New to Us

Highway Patrolman (Alex Cox)

Coming Next Week

Bob’s Burgers Season 1
Domain
Girl Fight
Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
Shame
Treme Season 2

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 9th

April 3, 2012/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

So I sat down to watch the Fincher remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo the other evening. It’s a very well made, taut thriller that packs a bit of a punch. It probably would have packed even more of said punch had it been an original piece of work, not a remake of a film that arrived on theses shores a scant 2 years ago. I just don’t get Hollywood’s obsession with remakes or sequels or movies based on toys or amusement rides or video games or whatever else may have been popular at some point in time. Fincher is a very gifted director and I want to see him doing more interesting stuff like with Zodiac or Seven or Fight Club. Doing a remake seems almost beneath him. I hope that he doesn’t sign up for the other two films. Another thing that quite irked me (apart from the over 2 and 1/2 hour running time) is the film is set in Sweden but everyone speaks English. Not only does everyone speak English but they do it with a slight Scandinavian accent. This makes it hard to understand some of the dialogue. To make things more confusing, all of the words – say street signs, newspaper headlines etc. – are in Swedish! How did they decide where to draw the line on was is Swedish and what is English? Bizarre. All that said, the film is solid and worth a look if you have the time and interest.

The fabulous DVD sale continues at both stores this week. I’m hoping to finish off the Commercial store tomorrow – going through the documentaries and then we’re done. Cambie shouldn’t be too far behind. Just added a pile of comedies there yesterday. $6.00 a piece or if you buy 3 or more the price drops to $5.00. Easy peasy!

New Releases for Tuesday April 3rd

Being Elmo: A Puppeteers Journey – Doc about the guy who has his hand up the gaping hole of that wretched puppet thing Elmo. I must say as the father of a small child I am eternally grateful that my kid didn’t take to Elmo the way so many millions of other sprogs have. That grating voice is almost enough for me to stick a compass in my eardrum. I was reading the description on the IMDB and I found the line, “Millions of children tune in daily to watch Elmo, yet when Kevin walks down the street he is not recognized”. No fucking kidding. He’s working a puppet! Does that make him sad? Too fucking bad, you just have your hand stuffed inside a gutted muppet! Nobody cares who you are. (Sorry for the profanity, just had to get that off my chest). All that said the doc is supposed to be quite good.

Chasing Madoff – Doc about the investigation into that incredible dirt bag Bernie Madoff who made the term ponzi scheme part of the vernacular. This scum bag scammed something like $18 billion from investors. Jeez dude, don’t you think you could have maybe stopped at $8 billion and been happy with that? Hope this turd rots in jail.

House of Pleasures – French drama that follows the lives of several prostitutes in a steamy brothel in Paris at the end of the 19th century. Supposed to be quite a fine number.

Private Eye – Mystery thriller from South Korea involving a young medical student who teams up with a hard boiled detective to solve a murder. Looks pretty cool. Lots of good stuff coming out of South Korea these days. (At the Cambie store, soon to Commercial)

Toast – Fine looking coming of age dealy set in late sixties England that finds a young boy growing up with a mom that’s a terrible cook. He tries to cope with the terrible food while maintaining high aspirations to become a great chef. Reminds me of growing up (I didn’t have aspirations though) as my mum was a terrible cook (it’s OK she doesn’t read the newsletter). Fried ground beef, boiled potatoes and cream corn anyone? Stars the tasty Helen Bonham Cater.

Space Dogs – Russian animated kids fare about the first dogs in space. I couldn’t find much else about this except this weird blurb form the IMDB – “Schoolbooks say that Belka and Strelka were first space dogs. But the dogs say that people dissemble a lot.” Huh?

War Horse – Senior Speilbergo’s second film from last year about a special horse that goes off to help win the first world war. I guess it has, like, machine guns for legs or something? Also on the Blu Ray.

We Bought a Zoo – Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!) and Scarlett Johansson – two of the prettiest people on the planet – buy a zoo, or animal jail as some like to call it, for some reason. Heart-warming comedic hijinks, I presume, ensue. The once promising Cameron Crowe – remember Say Anything – directs this tepid looking family film. All I can say in my head is “We bought a mother-fucking zoo!” Again sorry for the profanity. I have a potty mouth today. Also on the Blu Ray.

Coming Next Week

The Darkest Hour
Tyrannosaur
One Life
Cannibal
If a Tree Falls
Into the Abyss
The Iron Lady
Sleeping Beauty

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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Archive for month: April, 2012

New Releases for Tuesday April 24th

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

New Releases for Tuesday April 17th

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

New Releases for Tuesday April 10th

Old but New to Us

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

New Releases for Tuesday April 3rd

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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