Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending September 30th

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Late charges. Nobody likes to pay them, we hate to have to charge them. If there’s one negative thing, and thee only negative thing, one can say about your favourite local video rental shoppe is the eventuality of late charges. It was another time, another provence, another life when I was a renter and hated confronting the ugly Medusa-like head of late fees. I was a very frequent renter (no surprise there) and almost always on time but when I was slapped for being late (not literally slapped but sometimes that may have been preferred) I would get quite pissed off. If only because I was a good renter and almost always never late. Come on, Thomas Video, give a guy a break! Here at Black Dog we try to be very understanding and compassionate when it comes to the nasty late charges. I imagine that there are a number of fine folk who just don’t come back into the stores for fear of an embarrassing late charge or maybe for a film that one has lost. But we’re reasonable people. We care. We understand. So come on back in, let’s sit down and talk about it. We’ll make you feel better. Maybe a hug is in order?

I remember back in the day…read more..

Next Saturday at the Commercial location there’s gonna be a happenin’ transpiring. Local musician Jason Zumpano will be spinning some records including his new LP Custodian from his latest outfit, The Cyrillic Typewriter, in the store from 3 to 5 in the afternoon (be weird if it was 3-5 in the morning). Jason describes it as essentially a soundtrack to a non existent film. Come on by, take a listen, rent a film. Everyone walks away happy. http://jazrecords.com

New Releases for Tuesday September 24th

Apres Mai – AKA Something in the Air – Fine French filmmaker Olivier Assayas writes and directs this semi-autobiographical tale for a young couple in 1968 France participating in protests, wanting to start a revolution and other hippie shenanigans. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m27BchNk1o[/youtube]

The Croods – Animated cavemen (Nic Cage and Ryan Reynolds – not much a stretch in the casting department there) and cavewomen (Emma Stone and others) go on a quest for fire or something in this pretty good family fare.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzA2q-aiZYU[/youtube]

Dans la Maison – AKA In the House – Fine French filmmaker François Ozon writes and directs this tale of a high school French teacher who gets increasingly drawn into a precocious student’s increasingly transgressive story about his relationship with a friend’s family. Got that? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eegoZpxQCzc[/youtube]

The Deep – No, it’s not the famed Jacqueline Bisset wet t-shirt/moray eel film from the 70’s but a fine looking Icelandic thriller from the director of Contraband about a guy who’s fishing boat sinks and he tries to survive in the frigid arctic waters. Can’t say for sure if he just wears a white cotton t-shirt in it or not.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfDP44g__Q0[/youtube]

Fill the Void – I just filled the void with some leftover paella and eggs. Boy am I stuffed! Sorry…Award-winning film from Israel about a lovely young woman forced into getting married to some old coot.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQuWarA9KXg[/youtube]

Hannibal Season 1 – Most excellent, surprisingly so, series about murderers – how many serial killers are running around in Minnesota anyways? Add the great Mads Mikkelsen as the titular “hero” for even more awesomeness. Takes place before the events of Silence of the Lambs. Very well filmed – I could just watch Mads cook and eat his way through the show. Good stuff! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9bjEfzV_s[/youtube]

Iron Man 3 – Ho-hum sequel to Iron Man 2 reduces Tony Stark to a smarmy wuss who experiences panic attacks for no reason. Lame bad guys – didn’t explain what or who they even were. Lazy filmmaking. Better than the second one, not as good as number one. Had a few funny lines but mostly a pedantic, lame script bereft of any fun or believable ideas. Hopefully this will be the last one. Please? Also on the Blu Ray.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEIVPiTuYkQ[/youtube]

Kings of Summer – Most excellent (from what I’ve heard) coming of age tale about 3 friends who decide to build a house in the woods for themselves over the course of an eventful summer. Think of a combination of Stand by Me, Moonrise Kingdom and Cannibal Holocaust (well maybe not Cannibal Holocaust). (Will be late getting on the shelves at Cambie – our apologies) [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvF7aPX2ee8[/youtube]

Modern Family Season 4 – Ok comedy keeps winning the Emmy for best comedy series for some reason. I guess folks enjoy comedies where everyone over-acts, yells their lines and the kids are oh-so-precocious. [youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJAkyAyTgjs[/youtube]

Redemption – AKA Hummingbird – Action man Jason Statham is a broken ex-special forces dude on the lam who assumes the identity of hit man or something in London’s underground crime scene. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82XwtyTU_1k[/youtube]

Unfinished Song – Grumpy and awesome Terence Stamp joins his deceased wife’s weirdo choir for some reason in this uplifting tale.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ucWDzb9jY[/youtube]

V/H/S 2 – Second, and from what I hear, superior film to the first V/H/S/ that finds a couple of investigators investigating the disappearance of a missing student who come across a bunch of old VHS tapes with something nasty on them. Something nasty indeed. Maybe part 3 will be called D/V/D/…also on the B/L/U/ R/A/Y/.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQybYqUIGy8[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

This is the End
Frozen Ground
Room 237
The English Teacher

What to Watch

Hannibal Season 1
Kon-Tiki
Orphan Black Season 1
Behind the Candelabra
Bling Ring
World War Z
Phil Spector
Mud
Boy
Amour

Laugh at this if you will. An oldie but a goodie… [youtube]http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/e8e4424115/between-two-ferns-with-zach-galifianakis-from-between-two-ferns-zach-galifianakis-michael-cera-and-comedy-deathray[/youtube]

Copyright © 2013 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
Black Dog Video
Cambie Street and/or Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC V6H 3J1
Canada

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending September 23rd

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So last week’s edition of the newsletter was a little heavy, what with all the deer carcasses littering the pages. I apologize if I traumatized any readers or their children. I promise that today’s prose will be 100% deer free, dead or otherwise. In fact I’m just going to leave you with this amusing tale from Australia. What’s unique about this story is that it’s from Australia but does not contain the words; poisonous, tentacled, man-eating, terrifying, trap-door or world’s most dangerous. It’s the tale of a feral pig who somehow managed to drink 18 beers at a campsite, proceed to trash said campsite and then got into a fight with a cow. Read more…

To change gears for a minute, a tiny bit of bad news for those of you who enjoy our awesome punch card deal. Starting October 1st the punch cards will no longer qualify for the 10 stamp system we have going. It’s still a great deal depending on what you rent. $35 (plus tax) will net you 10 rentals. You do the math. You just won’t be able to collect stamps for the free rental after 10. Sorry, but we have to pay the bills.

And another gear change for you – the film fest guides should be in the stores this Thursday or Friday. Come on in and pick one up. $10 me thinks they will cost.

One more gear change – our fabulous Black Dog underwear is going fast. Come in and slap on a pair while you can and be the envy of all your friends who actually see you in your underwear. $25 for mens, $15 for the ladies. Tax included.

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Note – This is not actually the Black Dog underwear I’m modelling here. Our underwear looks nothing like this (sorry to disappoint). If you want to check it out, click here…

New Releases for Tuesday September 17th

Arthur Newman – Colin Firth fakes his own death in order to assume a new identity. He meets Emily Blunt who seems to want the same thing. No big deal, right? We’ve all at some point tried to fake our own deaths. Right? Right? Hello… [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peS3xbgKbaw[/youtube]

Bates Motel Season 1 – New series that looks at the charming Norman Bates and his mommy issuses. I imagine that nothing odd or untoward happens around the Bates homestead. Do you? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lCWKKNGiKs[/youtube]

Behind the Candelabra – Michael Douglas is Liberace and Matt Damon is his younger lover and Steven Soderbergh is the director and you are the viewer enjoying this fabulous bio-pic. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ9OgbLCsUM[/youtube]

Bless Me Ultima – Weird name. Must be base on a novel or play. Let me check…Yep, it’s a novel. New Mexico, WWII, a young man strikes up a relationship with an elderly medicine woman in a small village who helps him manage the paradoxes of good and evil. Heard good and evil things about this one. Mostly good. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZigUok02nw[/youtube]

The Bling Ring – Sophia Coppola tries to recapture the magic she once displayed with flicks such as Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation with this number about a bunch of meddling kids who break into Hollywood celebrities homes and steal their shit. Haven’t seen it yet so I can’t tell you if the magic is there. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4c6hmrwba0[/youtube]

Cockneys vs Zombies – The title really says it all. A bunch of old, hard to understand Brits have to fight off a zombie invasion for some reason. Comedy + horror = cinematic gold. Sometimes. Bonus points for having the great Alan Ford in it. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3p-giK1MU[/youtube]

Drift – Surf movie about some surfers and the all the surfing that they do. Not internet surfing, mind you, but real actual water surfing. Hang ten, bro! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGEwsKORMQ8[/youtube]

The East – We love the Brit Marling here at Black Dog. This is her new flick – she co-wrote and stars in it. She works for a private intelligence firm who’s tasked with infiltrating some anarchist group that sabotage nasty corporations. Does she start to side with the anarchists? Only time (well the time it takes you to view this flick) will tell. Interesting side note – Marling and Zal Batmanglij, who co-wrote the screenplay and directed the film, based it on their experiences in the summer of 2009 practicing freeganism and joining an anarchist collective. Talk about immersing yourself in your work! Not too sure what freeganism is but it sounds unpleasant. (Note – I messed up the orders for this and am currently scrambling to get a few more DVDs. Bare with us please). [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHpT9B7e7-Q[/youtube]

Greetings from Tim Buckley – Kind of a bio-pic that looks at the days leading up to a 1991 concert by Jeff Buckley that was a tribute type of affair for his father, Tim. You like the Buckley’s music? You should prolly check this out.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyPoTI-59HU[/youtube]

Phil Spector – Al Pacino sports some amazing, hilarious Phil Spector wigs in this sorta bio-pic that looks at Spector’s relationship with his attorney, Helen Mirren, during his trial for murder. A murder most foul. Written and directed by David Mamet.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdRS2UX8c_0[/youtube]

Renoir – Sorta bio-pic (notice a bit of theme with this week’s releases?) of Jean Renoir as he returns from the front in WWI after being wounded to convalesce and frolic on the French Riviera. There’s a warning of “art-related nudity”. You’ve been warned. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZTiQ_quEPA[/youtube]

Simon Killer – Poor Simon breaks up with his girlfriend so he flees to Paris and starts up a relationship with a prostitute. Well of course he does, haven’t we all done this? Right? Hello…. Things aren’t what they seem as his potentially dark past may be revealed. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXdIlx29W2s[/youtube]

World War Z – Big budget zombies. Brad Pitt. Great book. Pretty good “action” film – it’s not really much of a zombie movie though – hardly any blood, ridiculous plotting (talk to me after watching the plane sequence) and the only thing it really has in common with the book is the title. Still I enjoyed it for what it was – at least the first 2/3rd’s. It bogs down into a boring absurd medical drama for the last 3rd. Oh, what could have been. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md6Dvxdr0AQ[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Iron Man 3
Unfinished Song
Dans la Maison
Fill the Void
Redemption
Apres Mai
V/H/S/ 2
Modern Family Season 4
Hannibal Season 1
Kings of Summer

Recently Viewed and You Should Too

Orphan Black
World War Z
Boardwalk Empire S 3
From Up on Poppy Hill
Homeland S 2
Mud
Kon-Tiki
Amour
Boy

You like drinking? You like history? Then you should like some drunk history…. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaDk0wG-HWk[/youtube]

Copyright © 2013 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Black Dog Video
Cambie Street and/or Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC V6H 3J1
Canada

 

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending September 16th

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Sometimes life throws you a curveball. I’m not too sure why it is suggested that a curveball is harder to hit than, say, a fastball or a knuckle ball or even a slider, but I don’t play the baseball or make up these odd sayings. I guess maybe what it means is that you might be expecting something – say some “high heat” – but then a lazy curveball drifts over the plate and the next thing you know you’re sitting back in the dugout wondering what the hell just happened. Or one moment you’re a baby deer walking along with your sibling and your mom and the next moment…read more…

New Releases for Tuesday September 10th

Damages Season 5 – The last season for this fine lawyerin’ show that stars the Glenn Close.

Frankenstein’s Army – Yee-haw, this one looks so cool! A mad scientist creates an army of Nazi zombies that wear lots of metal armour and have some crazy tubes sticking out of them. This army of the Nazi undead feast on some invading Russian soldiers near the end of WWII. “A delirious plunge into the darkest depths of insanity” so says the box. Sign my up for some of that sweet darkest depths of insanity stuff! Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOF8GiIXtGY[/youtube]

From up On Poppy Hill – From the great Miyazaki (he wrote this one I believe) and studio Ghibli comes this amazing looking animated piece about the inhabitants of Yokohama in 1963 as they prepare for the upcoming Olympics. Of course this will be a damn fine film although I’m not too sure if there are any giant cats with umbrellas in it. Also on the Blu Ray.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vfzhfq5JA[/youtube]

Homeland Season 2 – More paranoia, home-grown terrorists and the folks who love them and the CIA who don’t so much and all that good stuff.

Love is All You Need – Gross-looking romantic comedy that finds Remington Steele becoming romantically involved with the mom of the woman who’s going to marry his son. That make sense? At least it’s set in Italy. Directed by Suzanne Bier (In Another World) for some reason. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHS51O_Sn9Q[/youtube]

Luther Season 3– Stringer Bell kills it once again as Luther in Luther Season 3!

The Reluctant Fundamentalist – Heavy looking drama from director Mira Nair finds a young Wall Street Pakistani guy caught up in paranoia and stuff during that September 11th bugaboo from a few years back. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouXWUenv5_Y[/youtube]

Parade’s End – The insanely cutely named Benedict Cumberbatch (“awww”, you’re saying right now, aren’t you?) stars in the great little HBO miniseries that deals with some stuffy upper-crust British folk dealing with the changing times in England at the start of WWI. Good stuff I’ve been told. Good stuff indeed.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTDCj9-spF8[/youtube]

Sharknado – A bunch of tornados suck up a bunch of sharks out of the ocean and toss them on shore where they must attack stud acting legend, Ian Zierling and others. Haven’t seen it yet, but it looks to be a bunch of cheesy good-time fun. My only complaint is that I wish this were a documentary.  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3saKaKXSy-A[/youtube]

Star Trek: Into Darkness – The aforementioned Benedict Cumberbatch (“awww” – I can hear you!) pops up again as the bad guy in the latest Star Trek movie. Not as good as the first new one, but it’s an OK ride (although I’m not too sure what darkness they’re going into, what with all the lens flares and such). When are they going to leave friggin’ earth and have some deep space adventures? Come on already. And please, let’s go easy on those lens flares next time, JJ. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAEkuVgt6Aw[/youtube]

Wish You Were Here – Some friends holiday in Cambodia. Four go in, only 3 leave. What gives? Where’s the other guy? What happened? Only one of the them knows for sure….Mystery abounds…  [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv8uFj9SlVQ[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

The Bling Ring
World War Z
Renoir
Greetings from Tim Buckley
Stuck in Love
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Fill the Void
Simon Killer
Bates Motel Season 1
Drift
The East

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Luther Season 3
Iceman
Mud
Kon-Tiki
Boy
Magic Magic
Walking Dead Season 3
Amour
Oblivion
Aftershock
On the Road
Place Beyond the Pines

For your weekly guffaw, may I present to you…  http://happyplace.someecards.com/26136/10-inexplicable-warning-signs-youll-really-with-you-knew-the-backstory-behind

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending September 9th

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I’m getting a divorce. It’s been far too long. How many nights have I spent cold, wet and miserable? That’s it, I’m done with you. Camping and I are officially broken up. We had some fine years, mostly when I was young and brash – the honeymoon faze I believe it’s called – but no more. I’ve had it with your miserable weather, brutal sleeps, poison squirrels, and smelling like dirt, smoke and desperation. All of it. I knew that our latest camping expedition was doomed from the start when we ended up stuck on the highway for an hour because of an overturned semi. Not a good omen. If we have left the house about 4 minutes earlier we would have missed the whole mess. Walking around on the highway was eerily like being in some apocalyptic horror film or something. Zombies, aliens or a meteor strike seemed imminent.

photo copy 2

“Brains! Where are the brains?!”

So we pressed on to Manning park. The plan was to enjoy a lovely night at Lightning Lake and then travel on to see some friends in the Okanagan. As soon as we pulled into the park, the rains started. Read More…

If any of your out there are fans of local rock heroes The Odds and are not fans of cancer, here’s your chance to do something about both. The Odds are doing a cool little secret benefit concert at the Raven in Deep Cove this Sunday. They (and myself) are also playing hockey the following weekend for a cancer charity dealy. Donate to our cause and get in free to the show. Easy peasy…

OddsRavenSept813

New Releases for Tuesday September 3rd

Bleak House – Fine BBC series about a house that’s very bleak. Very very bleak. Or it’s the famed Dickens’ tale about injustices in the legal system. Stars Scully, so it has that going for it. At Commercial, soon to Cambie. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H09ZTmgUQd4[/youtube]

Borgias Season 3 – More crime and corruption and intrigue and Italians and Jeremy Irons in this swell series. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8s1bm9GS3w[/youtube]

Brooklyn Castle – Great uplifting (for lack of a better word) doc about the trials and tribulations and turmoil of a high school chess team. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOFtm_XlNjo[/youtube]

A Company Man – Fine Korean thriller about a guy wanting to quit his job. The only problem is his job is at a company of assassins. Can you quit a company that specializes in assassinations? How do I get a job there? Do they assassinate pigeons? If so, I’m in. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMAZYdtiorM[/youtube]

Extracted – Inceptiony sounding thriller about a scientist who can watch people’s memories. He is tasked with checking in on the brain of a heroin addict to see if he committed murder or not. Sounds heavy. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSvdRTA3hhQ[/youtube]

Hammer of the Gods – Swords and sandals and blood and guts are the order of the day in this action dealy that finds a guy travelling to find his brother, Hakan the Ferrocious, who is said can lead his people to victory or something. I wish we still had names like that nowadays. I’d be Darren the Hungry, Darren the Disinterested or maybe Darren the Sleepy! The possibilities seem endless. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_BeZv9cCyE[/youtube]

Iceman – True story about Richard Kuklinski, a notorious hired killer and family man (not to sure he was a notorious family man or not). Stars the great, large-headed and creepy Michael Shannon. Also on The Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z1EDW784Qk[/youtube]

Lords of Salem – Rob Zombie makes a movie about witches. If you’re a Zombie fan, you’re already on board. If not, well I’d steer clear. Or not. Your call. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT14gtUCNw8[/youtube]

Now You See Me – Kind of an Ocean’s 11 but with a bunch of magicians. Some magic people pull off some heists during their performances and then litter the audience with the loot. Needless to say they draw the ire of some bankers and Johnny Law. Also on the Blu Ray. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OtM9j2lcUA[/youtube]

The Office Season 9 – Final season finally. The documentary crew must have so much footage by now! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tye7PniyjUc[/youtube]

Parks and Recreation Season 5 – This is a show that just gets better and funnier as it goes along. Great cast, fine writing, solid laughs. Good on ya, kids! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oER-kg7ffU[/youtube]

Revolution – Doc form the dude who made Sharkwater about changing the world somehow, going for broke, fighting for your right to party, taking a stand and other cliches. Also on the DVD. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxcophNGLdg[/youtube]

Spartacus: War of the Damned – They’re still making this sweaty, half-naked, sandal wearing, sexy gladiator show? Ahem, excuse me while I go and rent this…ahem…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qXoC-DykyM[/youtube]

Coming Next Week

Parades End

Sharknado

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Homeland Season 2

Love is All You Need

Luther Season 3

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Frankenstein’s Army

Wish You Were Here

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Walking Dead Season 3
Kon-Tiki
Great Gatsby
Mud
Amour
Boardwalk Empire Season 3
Wrong
The Thick of It

And now I will leave you with this hilarious (at least to me) video of one of those mounted singing fish. Why is this funny? Well the batteries on it are slowly dying and and it sounds like it’s possessed by some hellish demon. Enjoy…[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHchmWsrfUo[/youtube]

Copyright © 2013 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.Our mailing address is:

Black Dog Video
Cambie Street and/or Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC V6H 3J1
Canada