March 2014 - Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending March 31

March 25, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

So our big DVD sale is in it’s final death throws and to help choke it out of existence we are lowering the prices on all remaining films. You can now snag a fine quality film for just $3! Yes you read that right, three bones! Or, if you’re feeling like walking on the wild side, you can nab 2 for a measly $5! Gonna run this for about another week. Get on yer spending pants and shuffle on down to the stores.

We are also doing a ticket giveaway for a film at the upcoming David Cronenberg (Black Dog favourite!) retrospective at the Pacific Cinematheque. Just pop into either store and drop a frisky little ballot in our box for a chance to win. Winner at Cambie gets 2 tickets for Dead Ringers. Winner at Commercial gets two tickets to see The Fly. You don’t even have to rent anything, although it would be nice if you did.

http://www.thecinematheque.ca/from-within-the-films-of-david-cronenberg

New Releases for Tuesday March 25th

At Middleton – Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga act like a couple of giddy school kids playing hooky while on a tour of their kids college. Of course they fall in love and shit. I imagine that there’s dancing, bicycle riding and finding oneself, all set to a contemporary beat.

Beyond Outrage – Takeshi “Beat” Kitano is back behind and in front of the camera in this sequel to Outrage (better title then Outrage 2: The Outraging, me thinks). Much yakusa style violence, I presume, ensues.

Broken Circle Breakdown – Oscar nominated foreign fare (Belgium) finds a couple of lovers and lovers of American Bluegrass music and lovers of tattoos dealing with the illness of their lovely child.

Californication Season 6 – This show is still on? I gave up after 3 or 4 seasons when it kind of turned into Three’s Company but only with lots of swearing and sex.

Delivery Man – Remake of a pretty good Canadian film (Starbuck) finds a really really tall Vince Vaughn (just look at that cover, he must be like 11 feet tall!) as a very fertile guy who’s given out a lot of sperm at fertility clinics over the years, fathering 533 children (that is a huge vat of sperm!). Then a bunch of moms want to legally find out the identity of the father of their kids. He’s going to have to buy an awful lot of Christmas presents! Hijinks, I presume, ensue. Also on the Blu Ray.

Odd Thomas – Small town short-order cook, who can see dead people because, well he just can, meets a mysterious stranger who blows into town with an entourage of soul-sucking beasties bent on raising some hell. It’s up to Odd Thomas, his girlfriend Stormy and Willem Dafoe to stop the onslaught. Heard quite good things about this little number.

The Past – Oscar nominated French/Iranian film finds a guy dumping his wife and kids to return to Iran. His wife then strikes up a new relationship which doesn’t sit too well with the husband who high-tailed it out of there. Drama, I presume, ensues. From the cat who made A Separation. Also on the Blu Ray.

Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery – It’s about time that the powers be finally combined two of societies most valuable properties – talking crime solving dogs and talking steroid monster freak-men in short, tight pants. Enjoy kids!

Veep Season 2 – Season 2 of this great little show that finds Elaine as Vice Prez of the good ole’ U. S. of A. Funny shit, man.

Walking with Dinosaurs – I was interested in seeing this as I love dinosaurs and enjoyed the BBC series of the same name but then I found out that the dinosaurs talk and sing and dance (not too sure about the singing and dancing part). Kind of the let the air out my tires. Lame. Also on Blu Ray and 3-D Blu Ray.

The Wolf of Wall Street – Leo DiCaprio almost won an Oscar for his fine work in this sex and drug-riddled, debauched Martin Scorsese romp through the disgusting world of high finance and the corruption that it breeds. Bring on the debauch! That’s what I say. Also on the Blu Ray.

Coming Next Week

47 Ronin
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Knights of Badassdom
Smuggler

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending March 24th

March 18, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Here’s a little snippet of a conversation that took place at the Cambie store last week. So one of our lovely, regular customers, we’ll call her Beulah, approached the desk to ask the clerk about the fantastic film, The Hunt. Our friendly and knowledgable video store representative replied, “It’s fantastic!”. But before she could further extrapolate on the fantastic properties of the flick, another customer interrupted her and blurted out read more…

The sale is drawing to a close at both stores in the next couple of weeks. Just added a batch of documentary DVDs to the bins at Cambie and some TV stuff at Commercial. Prices range on the TV stuff but regular DVDs can be had for $5 each or 2 for $8 and even 3 for $10! Come early, come often.

New Releases for Tuesday March 18th

American Hustle – David O. Russell’s fun, funky film tells the tale of a couple of grifters who, for some reason, have to work for the FBI to help bring down some Mafia types and such. Great cast, C-Bale, J-Law, B-Coop and A-Ad all lend to the sexy fun. Also on the Blu Ray.

Frozen – Another animated musical Disney yawn. This one is about perverted talking snowmen (he does have a rather large carrot for a nose) and killer snow bees and singing penguins or something like that. Don’t really know. Don’t really care. Also on the Blu Ray.

In Fear – Horror dealy that finds a young, nubile couple getting lost driving around the backwoods somewhere where they have backwoods. Of course an unseen tormenter torments them because, well…did I mention the backwoods?

Kill Your Darlings – Harry Potter is Alan Ginsberg. That guy with half a face from Boardwalk Empire is Jack Kerouac and another guy is William Burroughs in this bio-picy tale of murder and poetry.

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Stringer Bell AKA Luther hams it up as Nelson Mandela in this bio-pic that follows the great man from his humble beginnings as a young upstart hockey goalie (I made that part up) to his becoming the first democratically elected president of South Africa (that part is real). Also on the DVD.

On My Way – The lovely Catherine Deneuve is a woman facing a failed relationship and a failing restaurant so she decides to go on a road trip with her grandson for some reason. Life lessons, I presume, ensue.

Saving Mr. Banks – Mr. Tom Hanks is Walt Disney who tries to persuade Emma Thompson’s author PL Travers to let her adapt Mary Poppins for the big screen. Whaa? That’s what this flick is about? Seriously? Is there at least a monkey knife-fight in it? Also on the Blu Ray.

Coming Next Week

Californication Season 6
Delivery Man
Odd Thomas
Past
Veep Season 2
Walking with Dinosaurs
The Wolf of Wall Street

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending March 10th

March 4, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

This Wednesday (5th of March) Black Dog Video on Cambie comes of age. That’s right, we turn 18 this week (that’s 126 or something in dog years). Crazy! It’s been a fun, exciting, sometimes bumpy, ride. We’ve seen lots of fine folks – employees and customers alike – come and go, survived a devastating fire and the miasma of construction (remember the RAV hole out front for months on end?), been robbed, had dogs and children defecate in the store, threw some wicked parties, rented out a few movies and made some life-long friends (again employees and customers included). I still enjoy this business as much as I did when we opened across the street back in 96. I love this job, I really do. I love bringing in films – especially cool, hard to find ones, and getting them on the shelves for everyone to enjoy. I love chatting with folks about films and having a nice place to hang out and spread the movie love. I can only hope that we survive this internet craze (OK, I’ll admit that it may not just be a fad) and stick around for a few more years (or even longer). It all depends on you fine folk and your need/want for quality films and TV shows. To show our appreciation for your support over the years we are going to be offering our famous late-charge amnesty! Starting tomorrow (Wednesday) stop by with a donation to the food bank – non-perishable of course (here’s a guide on what not to donate…read more) and we’ll obliterate, annihilate and utterly destroy any late charges you may have accrued up to this point. (Cambie store only) Everyone wins! Hope to see you soon.

New Releases for Tuesday March 4th

12 Years a Slave – Funny how it took some Brits and Aussie’s to tell a harrowing tale of the brutal slave trade in the US. Are American filmmakers afraid to admit to their own disgusting history? Who knows. Anyways, this Best Picture winner delves into the true horror story of a free black guy who was abducted off the streets of Washington and taken to the South where he was forced into slavery for 12 miserable years. Has anything good every come out of the American South? Hmmm. Also on the Blu Ray.

Banshee Chapter – Cool looking thriller type of horror dealy finds a woman investigating the disappearance of her friend who ingested some weird CIA experimental drug. More drugs, unexplained radio transmissions, disfigured entities and general weirdness ensue.

Girl Rising – Hard-hitting doc that follows nine girls as they try to overcome such devastating things as forced marriage, slavery and other nasty injustices, get an education and rise above the horrors that have befallen them. Go girls!

The Grandmaster – Another take on the famous IP-Man, who ended up training a certain Bruce Lee. Loved the Donnie Yen films and this one, directed by the stylish Wong Kar Wai, looks to be quite impressive. Yes please! Also on the Blu Ray.

The Hungry Games : Catching Fire – Second film in the trilogy follows klutzy Jennifer Lawrence (Je-Lawr to her cool fans and the Twitters) as she fights for survival and revolution in some dystopian future where kids are forced to fight each other to the death for the amusement of the rich and garishly dressed. Seems we’re not too far away from that type of scenario already. Also on the Blu Ray.

Oldboy – Absolutely pointless remake of the great Korean film that finds a guy imprisoned in a small room for, like, 20 years or so. Then he’s let out and goes revenging with his best friend, claw hammer, to find out why he had to endure imprisonment and who put him there. I haven’t seen Spike Lee’s version and I’m not too sure that I want to. Loved the Korean film and I can’t see them keeping the same demented twists that made the original so great. Also on the BLu Ray.

Untold History of the United States – Leave to Oliver Stone to slice open the fetid underbelly of the history (almost all 20th Century) of the US. Supposed to be a pretty great doc. On 4 disks as it’s that long.

Coming Next Week

The Book Thief

Easy Money: Hard to Kill

Gabrielle

Here Comes the Devil

Homefront

Inside Llewyn Davis

Last Days on Mars

Out of the Furnace

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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Archive for month: March, 2014

New Releases for Tuesday March 25th

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

New Releases for Tuesday March 18th

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

New Releases for Tuesday March 4th

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Recently Viewed and Recommended

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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