April 2013 - Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 29th

April 23, 2013/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

So the wife and the sprog have hightailed it back to old Toronto, T-dot as the kids like to say, for a week (work and family visit – not to worry) leaving me to my own devices and challenging my survival skills. Now, being a full grown man, one would expect that I would be able to fend for myself and survive quite easily on my own. Well, it’s only the third day and my world has gone to hell – there’s no food left in the house, I haven’t eaten in days and lost 15 pounds, the power’s gone off, the cat is either missing or is hiding and plotting to kill me and eat my face when I pass out, I think that there’s a family of possums living in the dining room and I can see buzzards circling overhead. I’ve gone from looking like this…

to foraging and shambling around the house and yard looking for sustenance in this decrepit sate of disrepair…

I just kidding, of course. This is a mini-vacation of sorts for me. I imagine that, given the opportunity, a lot of blokes might be tempted to head off to the local strip joint, massage parlour, heroin/crack/crank/ketamine/disco biscuit/bath salt/hocus/black whack/vitamin R/pumpers/Mexican Valium dealer or even hit their favourite saloon. Me? I’ll be holed up in my living room with a pile of cheese, wine and what-not watching movies. Lots of movies. Boring and old I am. In my eyes, that’s a little bit of heaven…

In other news…Black Dog Cambie just turned 17! Seventeen! Holy moly. So to celebrate our being alive this long we’re gonna offer our ever-so-popular late charge amnesty program. Starting Tuesday the 23rd and running till the end of the weekend please drop in with a donation to the food bank and we’ll absolve you of your late charges. Good deal, yes? Make it a healthy donation as well, no creamed eels please…

New Releases for Tuesday April 23rd

Broken City – Big cast – Marky Mark, Russell Crowe’s hairpiece, Catherine Zeta-Douglas plus others swim around in this tale of politics, corruption and da police. Haven’t we seen this before? Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx0U_abNTak[/youtube]

Cold Prey II – aka Fritt Vilt II (which is way more fun to say) picks up right after the proceedings in Fritt Vilt left off. The lone surviver of the nasty goings-ons has to, yet again, deal with a killer psychopath. There never seems to be any nice psychopaths in horror films. Wonder why that is? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TTHAWm3-l4[/youtube]

Gangster Squad – Who named this film, my 7 year-old? Like really, Gangster Squad? Sigh. Another big cast – The Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin and a bunch of others ham it up in this period piece about Johnny Law trying to bring down gangster kingpin Mickey Cohen. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qilrVR0miPU[/youtube]

Haunting in Connecticut 2 – For some reason this sequel takes place in Georgia. Shouldn’t they have called it Haunting in Georgia? Would that have been too confusing for folk who like their hauntings in Connecticut? Have they run out of ghosts in Connecticut? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHUVqbSyLfA[/youtube]

The Impossible -Oscar nominated Naomi Watts and Obi Wan Kenobi go on vacation in Thailand just in time for the big tsunami to sweep them away. Quite good despite some cheese and attempted emotional manipulation along the way. Great destruction scenes. The quote on the box – something about “heart-warming” and “life-affirming” almsot kept me from watching this but it is definitely worth your time. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure what life-affirming means? That life is better than death? Well duh. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgw394ZKsis[/youtube]

Promised Land – Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!!) stars in this tale of a natural gas salesman who travels to a small town where his company wants to exploit and rape the land. Does he engage with the townsfolk in unexpected ways leading him to reconsider his life and work choices? Probably. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHQt1NAkhIo[/youtube]

A Royal Affair – Young queen, married to an insane king, starts an affair with her doctor. Stars the Mads Mikkelsen. Love us the Mads! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g11xkVjl7bM[/youtube]

Summer Wars – Sci-fi anime about parallel worlds, teen crushes, cyber-punk and some end-of-the-world shenanigans. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryb3ljgtoMQ[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Wicked
Not Fade Away
Silver Linings Playbook
Details
As Luck Would Have It
Guilt Trip

Black Dog Video Newsletter for Week Ending April 22nd

April 17, 2013/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

So after a couple of weeks of sub-par and less than sub-par (is there a less than sub-par? subber-par?) films being released on the DVD and the Blu Rays, we finally are entering a stretch of good quality stuff hitting the shelves. I hope that you r eyeballs will be happy. This week we have Tarantino’s latest (and one of his best), a debut film from a Cronenberg and a few other cool looking things. In the following weeks we get to check out a variety of film ranging from Naomi Watts trying to survive that nasty tsunami in Thailand, New York crime dramas, a new doc from Ken Burns, Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar winning flick, an olde timer gangster number, some good looking horror and sci-fi films from Wachowski’s and the guy that made Primer, some fine TV shows and a whole lot more. In the meantime we still have the best selection of older titles in town, if not the universe, so maybe it’s time to revisit some classics or catch up on stuff you might have missed out on along the way. Our helpful, good-looking staff can recommend something sweet for your viewing pleasure. Hope to see you soon…

So the big DVD sale is coming to a close. There’s still a pile for sale at Cambie and we’re gonna basically give them to you for free. If by free I mean $3 each for DVDs and $5 for Blu Rays. They’ll be at Cambie for a week and what’s left we’ll ship on over to Commercial. Capishe?

New Release for Tuesday April 16th

Antiviral – Cool looking creepy sci-fi dealy from Brandon Cronenberg – yes that’s David’s son – about a dude who works at a clinic that sells injections of live viruses harvested from sick celebrities to obsessed fans. He also smuggles said virus’ out in his own body to sell on the black market.Yes you read that right. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in that family apparently One has to assume that the guy’s plan doesn’t go off without any hitches. Bring on the hitches! Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcJTd69dMyQ[/youtube]

Django Unchained – Great Tarantino spaghetti western finds slave Django, bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz and their horses, Tony and Fritz, working their way through the American south in search of Django’s wife, Broomhilda. Fantastic cast – Christoph Waltz (won another Oscar here) is so good. One of my favourite characters in a film in recent memory. Probably the most entertaining film Tarantino has done – it was my pick for the best film of last year. It’s arguably a little too long (although I personally could have enjoyed even more) and really, Tarantino, please stop putting yourself in your films. You are a terrible actor and unconvincing screen presence. And what’s with the brutal Australian accent? Hell, even I could do a better accent and I royally suck at accents. Lots of great violence, dialogue, music and everything one might expect in a Tarantino flick. Good times to be had here. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUdM9vrCbow[/youtube]

Dragon – IP Man Donnie Yen stars in this cool-looking martial arts/mystery detective type thriller about a sinful martial arts expert who wants to start a new tranquil life, only to be hunted by a determined detective and his former master. Love me some Donnie Yen. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmF7ovPiE_o[/youtube]

In Another Country – Very nice looking Korean film starring the awesome Isabelle Huppert as a French tourist visiting a seaside resort. Part comedy, part drama, all good. (will be late hitting the shelves – hopefully by the end of the week) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha6PK1cR7uE[/youtube]

Spies of Warsaw – TV spy thriller that finds a military attaché at the French embassy who gets drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. I’d like to visit Warsaw. And, like most people, I love diplomatic salons. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaTkgFKE6AI[/youtube]

Therese Desqueyroux – Drama starring the lovely Audrey Tautou about a woman who is bored and disillusioned with her current state of affairs. What will she do? Leave her husband? Have an affair? Knit a sweater? Take up skeet-shooting? Who knows…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UCeBd-hdec[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Promised Land
A Royal Affair
Wasted on the Young
A Haunting in Connecticut II
Wuthering Heights
The Impossible
Broken City
Ken Burns: The Central Park 5
Cold Prey II

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 15th

April 9, 2013/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

It appears that next next year’s Oscar telecast’s “In Memorandum” section is going to be quite lengthy judging by the past few day’s climbing celebrity death toll. Over the weekend we had the great screenwriter of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Roger Ebert and fine documentary filmmaker Les Blank (Burden of Dreams) pass away. And then on Monday, it was if a bus full of celebrities careened off a mountain pass taking that woman that Meryl Streep played in Iron Lady, famous Mouseketeer Anette Funicello, Jason from Friday the 13th Part III – Richard Brooker, and the mysterious Raveen the Impossibilist to their watery graves. Crazy days. For those of you who are in celebrity death pools, check your scorecards. I wonder who might be up next? Kirk Douglas is looking kind of grim. Zsa Zsa Gabor is a spritely 96, Al Molinaro (Happy Days Al) is still shuffling about, Doris Day is rocking the 90’s pretty well, Lindsay Lohan is going to Cochella this weekend and any number of British Royals could kick off at any time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si6JyhH862I[/youtube]

The last of the DVDs and Blu Rays have been added to the sale bins at both stores. Lots of TV series are taking up space in the boxes at the front of each store waiting with breathless anticipation for you to take them with you and give them a good home. Prices vary. Come early, come often!

And if you like free stuff – free Compact Music Discs to be exact – drop by the Cambie store as we have piles of free CD’s to give away. Spring cleaning, yo.

New Releases for Tuesday April 9th

The Comedy – Is it a comedy? It has those two guys from Tim and Eric (Tim and Eric) in it. Is it a drama? It says so on some parts of the internets. Looks interesting enough though – bored hipsters in Williamsburg hang out, drink and goof off. What is it? You tell me. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0Rs7UTQwhA[/youtube]

Hyde Park on the Hudson – Bill Murray plays famous ghostbuster FDR in this drama bio-pic about the former president getting his freak on with his cousin Laura Linney. Oh those wacky presidents and their good-looking cousins. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQaScjiWDyY[/youtube]

Midnight’s Children – Fine pedigree on this one – Deepa Mehta directs from Salman Rushdie’s screenplay about a pair of children born in India at the same time the country gets it’s independence from Britain. Much acting and reflections on the changing nature of India and stuff like that, I presume, ensue. I hear that it’s an OK adaptation of the great book. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zircAqna3sc[/youtube]

You’ve Been Trumped – David and Goliath sort of tale that pits the folk of a small Scottish town against this unsightly hairpiece with a big douchebag attached to it in a fight for some nice wilderness that The Donald wants to turn into a golf resort. He’s such a dick. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kM1D1igMeI[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Django Unchained
Antiviral
Dragon
Summer Wars
Spies of Warsaw
Therese Desqueyroux

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending April 8th

April 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

I’m a broken down old man. I was out playing some soccer in the park with Swanson (my 7 year-old) and my body feels like it needs about a week in a hyperbolic chamber. I wonder if Michael Jackson’s old one is still available? I did something to my shoulder (and back and leg and ass) so this week’s newsletter is going to be a short, but hopefully sweet, one as it’s painful to type. I took a puck in the foot on Saturday so my foot hurts as well so I can’t use that to type in case that’s what you were thinking. And yes, it was my left foot. My apologies to those tuning in looking for some witty banter. Next week, I promise. Or should say I hope.

The big DVD sales are starting to wind down. Just a few more DVDs to add to the sale bins over the course of this week. So come early and come often to score some fine deals – $5 each or 3 of 12 clams.

New Releases for Tuesday April 6th

End of Time – Time man, what is it? Where is it going? Who invented it? And why? How do we stop it? Documentary to answer all of your questions and perceptions. Trippy…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF22eO5My4Y[/youtube]

John Dies at the End – Films don’t get much more “cult” than this freak of nature. Time travel, alien invasions, exploding eyeballs, meat monsters, Paul Giamatti, hotdog phones and so much more. As one can surmise, it’s not for all tastes but this flick from the writer/director of Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep is a boatload of fun. If you are one who might partake in the finer herbs that Vancouver has to offer, I might recommended that you do so. But that would be just pointing out the obvious now wouldn’t it? Also on the Blu Ray. NSFW trailer – [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OQ82sGrWME[/youtube]

Great Barrier Reef – Fine looking BBC documentary looks at the fine looking reef over yonder near Australia. It’s only on the Blu Ray so slap it in your Blu Ray player and pretend that you have the worlds best fish tank in your living room. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyDDWEuO-4M[/youtube]

Hemingway and Gellhorn – HBO hullabaloo bio-pic about the title characters and their romance and whatnot. Good cast, (even has Lars Ulrich from Metallica in it!), fine director – Philip Kaufman (Henry and June) are there to help things along. You’re going to rent this, aren’t you…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=436eNdCUvEQ[/youtube]

Stitches: Bad Clown – Documentary about a murdered clown who comes back to life to seek revenge on those responsible for his untimely demise at a party. Did I say documentary? I meant stupid horror film. Who doesn’t enjoy a killer ghost clown movie every now and then? NSFW trailer – [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrpoEG8fI6I[/youtube]

The Sweeney – Tough cop movie from across the pond (England) that has tough guy Ray Winstone toughing it up and solving some tough crimes. Based on the TV show of the same name…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoYiikdxGR8[/youtube]

Womb – This one sounds nice and messed up – A woman loves her dead husband so much, she has him cloned. From his infancy to manhood, she faces the unavoidable complexities of her controversial decision. No freaking kidding. That would be a really weird Christmas dinner. Stars the lovely Eve Green so it has that going for it. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgn4a7J8QlM[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Hyde Park on the Hudson

Midnight’s Children

You’ve Been Trumped

As Luck Would Have It

Comedy

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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Archive for month: April, 2013

New Releases for Tuesday April 23rd

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New Release for Tuesday April 16th

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New Releases for Tuesday April 9th

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New Releases for Tuesday April 6th

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