I managed to slink out of town this past weekend for a wonderful excursion to Saturna Island. Such an amazing place, full of nature like things – eagles, otters, seals, snakes, hippies, yetis – and so damn quiet. It took me a little while to adjust to the silence of the quiet as I’m so used to the noise and constant din of living in the city. It really is a magical place. I slept, ate, and drank (maybe a little too much) very well. Did some kayaking, hiking and just general relaxing. It’s quite impressive how all the stresses of everyday life just dissolve away as soon as you set foot there. It really sucked to have to come back to reality Sunday and be confronted with all the everyday crap and stresses. It was great while it lasted.

Amazeballs!

So this is the last week that Josie will be tending the desk over at Commercial. Her last day is Friday, so make sure you drop in, say hi/by. She also accepts beer.

All week, as long as the damn teacher’s strike lasts, we’ll be offering 2 for 1 old title kids films to make your having to hang out with children that much more tolerable.

If you have any DVDs or Blu Rays in good shape that you want to rid yourself of, we can help. Bring them into either Black Dog and we’ll take them off your hands. We can’t off offer much – $1 each or a store credit of $2 per unit. They also have to be stuff that we want so don’t bring in your Eric Roberts collection.

In Your Eyes

Blood Ties – Two bros, one a cop the other a criminal, face off against each other in 1970’s Brooklyn. Sounds like very familiar territory. Here’s hoping that the fine cast – Clive Owen (he has an enormous head), Marion Cotillard (love me some Marion Cotillard), Billy Crudup (he’s nice too) – can make up for the lack of originality. It’s also directed by the French guy who made the excellent Tell No One so it has that going for it. DVD and Blu Ray.

The Bridge Season 1 – Very good (from what I hears) TV detective show set on the Mexican/American border that finds cops from both countries working together to bring down a serial killer. Think The Killing but with less rain and more moustaches and accents. DVD

Enemy – A couple of Jake Gyllenhaals (what’s better than Jake Gyllenhaal? Two Jake Gyllenhaals!) creep around in this mind-melting noirish thriller that finds one of the Jake Gyllenhaals spotting another Jake Gyllenhaal in a movie so he sets out to find out what the poop is. Heard very good things about this messed up, tricked-out number. DVD and Blu Ray.

Gloria – A free-spirited older woman in Chile hits the clubs to find romance. The words free-spirited always scare me for some reason.

Jack Taylor Season 2 – More detective shenanigans starring that guy who’s in love with the dragon lady on Game of Thrones. Good stuff.

Masters of Sex Season 1 – Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan play those perverts, Masters and Johnson, who changed the way folks thought and knew and got down with sex back in the day. Excellent, juicy morsels for your brains. All of your brains if ya know what I mean. DVD.

300: Rise of an Empire – Lots of glistening abs and slow motion blood spatter highlight this sequel to 300 from a few years back. Don’t expect much of a history lesson here but if you want lots of the red stuff, buff dudes in loincloths violating each other’s toned flesh in all sorts of ways, and Eva Green, this should do the trick just nicely. DVD and Blu Ray.

Walk of Shame – Cutie Elizabeth Banks gets into a spot of trouble after a drunken one-night-stand. Hilarity and misunderstandings, I presume, ensue. DVD.

A Winter’s Tale – Treacly-looking thing finds doe-eyed Colin Farrell (whatever happened to that guy?) finding out he has the power of reincarnation so he tries to resurrect a dead heiress he fell in love with while burglarizing her house. Nope nothing creepy going on there. You may also see Russell Crowe lurking around somewhere in this one. Odd film to come out in the summertime, no? DVD and Blu Ray.

Wolf Creek 2 – One of the best on-screen villains in years is back to ply his trade on more unsuspecting coeds who make the mistake of traipsing around in Australia’s outback. I keep saying, never go to Australia, everything there wants to kill you. DVD.

Want to Watch Something Really Good? Might We Recommend…
https://blackdogvideo.ca/2013/02/for-your-viewing-pleasure/

Here’s some words of wisdom from our friends at Eyesore Cinema in Toronto. Pass it on…

Black Dog Video

Copyright © 2014 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.

Crazy Sunday on the Drive as millions of people flocked to Italian Days to wander the streets, shoulder to shoulder in the hot sun, yell and honk at each other as they fought for parking spots and waited in excruciatingly long lines to taste some mediocre food. I lasted about 45 minutes trapped in the sweaty, undulating mass of humanity before I had to break free and run (almost screaming) home. These things used to be fun for me but it seems that it has gotten way busier over the last few years and I really dislike big crowds. Big sweaty crowds with lots of exposed, glistening flesh. It’s not as sexy as it sounds. And it won’t be any different this Sunday as it’s Car Free Day. You’d think that the powers that be might want to space these two very similar events out a little bit?

If you look close you can see me, right over there. No a little to the left. The guy who’s sobbing into his hands.

Over at the Cambie store it is with a heavy heart that we are saying goodbye to the lovely and talented Siobhan (aka Shoby, aka Fiobhan, aka Shobi-wan). She’ll be skipping town soon as she’s moving to Nunavut or Reykjavik or some godforsaken place. Drop in on Friday or Sunday to bid farewell and give her a hug and a beer. She loves hugs. And beer.

Get These into Your Eyes Today!

Alan Partridge – Funny-man Steve Coogan brings the funny, man, in Alan Partridge! He’s a famous DJ whose radio station gets taken over by an evil (of course it’s evil) media conglomerate. Hijinks, I presume, ensue. DVD and Blu ray.

Attack on Titan – Insanely awesome looking anime finds humanity, 2000 years in the future, on the brink of extinction because these things called titans keep eating everyone. I’m assuming that titans are really big fellas. Really big hungry fellas. DVD and Blu Ray. (At Commercial only, soon at Cambie)

Capital – New film from Costa-Gravas (Missing, Z) looks at the world of high finance as a CEO of a giant European investment bank works to hold on to his power when an American hedge fund company tries to buy out his company. Man, that’s a boring description. I almost fell asleep just writing it. I assume that the film itself will be much more scintillating. Stars Gabriel Byrne. DVD.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey – Science cool-guy, rock star, man-God Neil deGrasse Tyson brings us an amazing series based on the great work of Carl Sagan. Want to know everything there is to know about everything? This is your chance. DVD and Blu Ray.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Not too sure what a Shadow Recruit is, maybe an actual shadow that’s been recruited for some nefarious, shadowy purpose? Or is it a metaphor for the struggles of the working class in an increasingly dystopian society? Maybe it’s just an action movie starring that new Star Trek guy. Directed, for some reason, by Kenneth Branagh. DVD and Blu Ray.

Miraculum – Drama from Quebec finds a bunch of folks unwittingly interacting and affecting each other’s lives. Supposed to be quite a fine film. Think Crash, but in French and with an airplane in it and hopefully better than Crash..

Non-Stop – Dumb action film finds brooding, alcoholic air marshall Liam Neeson being taunted on an airplane by a terrorist/psycho who says he will start to kill the passengers if his demands aren’t met. One of his demands is that Liam Neeson act in better movies. What started out as a decent thriller soon turned in a silly improbable dunce-fest. My eyes almost rolled out of my head a few times. Liam Neeson is becoming the Nic Cage of the day. I did enjoy it on a certain level (think being tired and having one too many beers) but please don’t go in looking for anything good here. DVD and Blu Ray.

Ray Donovan Season 1 – Liev Schreiber is a Hollywood “fixer”. He can make your problems go away (man I could use a guy like that). That is if you’re rich and famous (scratch that). Then his seedy old man (Jon Voight, doing his best Jon Voightiest sleazy old dad guy) gets out of the slammer and causes trouble. Bad trouble. Heard terrific things about this show. DVD

Short Game – Fun little doc about the best golfers in the world competing in a golf tourney somewhere where there’s a golf course. Oh, did I mention that they’re all 7 years-old? Because they are.

A Short History of Decay – Comedy finds a failed Brooklyn writer (bet he’s some sort of mustachioed hipster) visiting is aging parents in Florida (mom is played by Linda Lavin!). I guess some other stuff happens as well. DVD.

Space Battleship Yamato – Crazy looking (as in crazy-awesome looking) Japanese flick about a space battleship (yes, you read that right) that sets out on a mission to try to save humanity. DVD and Blu Ray.

Tim’s Vermeer – Most excellent doc finds inventor Tim Jenison seeking to understand the painting techniques used by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer. Directed, for some reason, by Teller – the silent half of Penn and Teller. DVD and Blu Ray.

True Detective Season 1 – One of TVs best shows in recent memory finds a most excellent Matthew McConaughey and fabulous Woody Harrelson as detectives trying to solve a bunch of murders in the hot southern state of Louisiana. You can almost feel the humidity when you watch this. Or maybe it was just my dank house. Excellent from start to finish. DVD and Blu Ray.

On the Shelf to Dazzle You Next Week

Death in Paradise Season 1
Devil’s Knot
Drive Hard
Ernest & Celestine
Grand Budapest Hotel
House of Cards Season 2
Joe
The Lego Movie
Machine
Measure of the Sin
No Clue

Need something to watch? Thought so. Check out our recommendations!

https://blackdogvideo.ca/2013/02/for-your-viewing-pleasure/

That’s it for this week, my lovelies. Hope that everyone has a fabulous seven days. And hope to see all of you with your dazzling smiles in the stores real soon.

Black Dog Video

https://www.blackdogvideo.ca/

Copyright © 2014 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.