October 2014 - Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for week of October 27th – November 2nd 2014

October 29, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. When dogs wear costumes.

Merry Fright Week

Do you have your costume picked out yet? We have over 500 horror films to rent full of spooky inspiration. What about your dog? Does your dog have a costume picked out yet? You still have a few days until Halloween. Rent a stack of horror movies and have a sleepover with your best friends and get too scared to sleep with the lights off.

In T-shirt news, the new batch of Black Dog shirts should be available in both locations by this Thursday October 30th. All sizes and colours will be available in abundance for just $15 each (including tax)!

New Releases:

Begin Again
Here’s a movie about a couple of songwriters whose young love turns sour when the male lands a huge record deal. The female is dejected until a quirky record executive happens upon her performing and the two decide to team up to make SWEET SWEET MUSIC. The back of the DVD box says “a blend of romance, music and dreams” – It must be a dream because there’s no such thing anymore as the recording industry the way it’s portrayed in this film at least! From the dude who made Once.

Life of Crime
The always wonderful John Hawkes and Mos Def play criminals who bungle the kidnapping of a wealthy lady (Jennifer Aniston) when her corrupt husband (Tim Robbins) refuses to pay any ransom. Sounds like a real crime caper.

Deliver Us From Evil
Eric Bana plays a New York City police officer who realizes a string of spooky crimes are linked supernaturally. He then enlists the help of a priest to help fight the demons that are terrorizing the city. Based on a book that is based on true events apparently! Here I always thought New York City’s problems were mostly socio-economic.

Wish I Was Here
Zach Braff is back with a movie about an actor who finds out his father (Mandy Patinkin) has a serious illness. He then decides to home-school his kids. This is probably like a more grown up version of Garden State which Zach Braff also wrote, directed and starred in 10 years ago.

Nothing Bad Can Happen
A Christian punk meets a man by chance and winds up moving in with him and his family. The man can’t resist playing a cruel prank on the punk to test his religious belief in miracles which leads to intense trials.

The Last Sentence
The biography of a Swedish journalist who stood up against Hitler and the Nazi party in the 30’s and helped to alert the Swedish public of the threat of fascism. Sounds like a cool guy.

Witching and Bitching
Strange Spanish director Alex De La Iglesia (The Last Circus)is back with another wacky comedy horror thriller. After a botched bank heist the thieves wind up on an adventure with some hostages which lead them to a strange town filled with witches. Oh boy.

An Eye for Beauty
A French Canadian film by Denys Arcand The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasion) about a philandering husband.

Kundo
A Korean take on Robin Hood with swords and other big knives and a bunch of revenge.

To Be Takei
A documentary about everyone’s favourite septuagenarian celebrity, George Takai. This movie covers his career, cult icon status and political activism for marriage equality, and includes interviews with his former Star Trek cast mates. Sounds great!

Louie – Season 3
The lovely Louie C.K. is back for another season of his excellent semi-autobiographical series in which he plays himself: an overweight, middle-aged, self-hating single father. Will Louie finally find love or at least go on a date that doesn’t end in disaster? Watch and find out!

Vikings – Season 2
Those sweaty, brawny long-haired men are back for another season of conquering kingdoms. A good substitute for Game of Thrones.

Hemlock Grove – Season 1
Yet another horror TV show out in time for Halloween. This time something evil is brewing in a sleepy Pennsylvania town. After a young girl is killed, the local community soon begins to uncover unsettling secrets. Sounds like a new twist on the Twin Peaks formula.

Coming Next Week

A Most Wanted Man
Citizen Koch
Good People
Hercules
Wolf
Maleficent
Planes: Fire and Rescue
Frontera
Step Up: All In
Coherence
Dog
The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug – Extended Cut
The Newsroom – Season 2

Free Hugs! Black Dog Newsletter for Week of October 20th – 26th 2014

October 21, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Look at this spooky wizard dog!!!!

Another Great Week in Movie Land

October is already three quarters of the way through and weird warm weather is probably keeping you outdoors longer these days but we’ve got a week full of exciting new releases that will make you want to coop yourself up indoors for a while.

Also Halloween is coming up! We’ll be giving out candy and other treats to kids this Saturday the 25th as part of the Cambie Village Halloween Hunt. If you’re in the mood for some spooky movies we have tons of recommendations and a vast selection of horror films at both locations.

Thanks to everyone who came out to Video Store Day and everyone who bought raffle tickets. We were able to raise a lot of money for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank!

We’re still waiting on the new batch of T-shirts but I will keep you posted on when they arrive!

But now on to what you’ve all been waiting for:

THE NEW RELEASES

Snowpiercer
Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s first English-language film has been much talked about. And for good reason, its most excellent. The film is set in a post apocalyptic world where the earth has been ravaged by global warming (and freezing). The few human survivors left all live on a train that circles the planet which has developed its own class system. Things go awry when the lower-class passengers start to revolt against the higher class train cars. It stars Chris Evans, John Hurt, Ed Harris and the fabulous Tilda Swinton.

Venus in Fur
Roman Polanski is back with a new movie based on a Tony award winning play. The main character is played by Mathieu Amalric who looks like a younger Polanski and plays a man sick of auditioning actresses who don’t fit the part until a certain femme-fatale shows up. The audition becomes intense and eventually turns in to an obsessive fascination. Polanski has directed some great films. I’m not too sold on his latest few movies but this one sounds intriguing. If you’ve never seen Knife in the Water, Cul-De-Sac, Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant or any of Polanski’s older films we have most of them and I recommend checking them out.

Sex Tape
Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel play a married couple who decide to spice up their love life with a video camera. But wait – all of a sudden their video becomes public. They then have a madcap adventure to trace the leak of their private video. Whoops! Maybe they shouldn’t have shot their sex video on an iPad!

The Purge: Anarchy
This horror movie is the sequel to The Purge, a film about legal murder. The plot revolves around the idea of “what if for 12 hours a year nothing was illegal.” So of course everyone and their dog turn in to serial killers for a bit. The plot revolves around five strangers trying to survive the night. Spooky.

The Quiet Ones
Here’s another horror movie in time for Halloween. This one stars the lovely Jared Harris as a non-traditional university professor who in the name of science and supernatural research winds up in a spooky old house with a possessed girl and a spooky doll. Those things together sound like the perfect horror combination. I would watch this just to see Jared Harris’ character try to maintain his cool British nonchalance while there are demons and such trying to spook him to death.

You and the Night
Sometimes the descriptions on imdb.com are so perfect that I have to just copy them verbatim: “Around midnight, a young couple and their transvestite maid prepare for an orgy. Their guests will be The Slut, The Star, The Stud, and The Teen.” It’s been described as a sexy French Breakfast Club-esque film with all the colourful imagination of Kenneth Anger and Dario Argento. Sounds cool?

Cannibal
This Spanish-Romanian-Russian-French co-production film is about a highly esteemed tailor who is also a serial killer and cannibal. It’s insane how many films and TV shows there are about serial killers. There are probably more movie serial killers than the number of actual serial killers ever in all of history combined. That being said this is about a serial killer who finally falls for a girl after he’s already killed and eaten her identical twin sister. Aw, that’s so sweet! Maybe save this one for Valentine’s day?

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Earth to Echo
A bunch of kids find an adorable tiny alien and try and figure out how to help him get home. Like a cuter ET meets *Batteries Not Included*? Perhaps!

See No Evil 2
Ah finally, the sequel to the 2006 film See No Evil – which we peculiarly don’t have in stock. The reason that we do have this film is because it’s directed by local horror superstars Soska Sisters of American Mary fame and it’s actually supposed to be quite fabulous. ! I’m sure you’ll be able to watch this without having seen the original though. This stars a professional wrestler as an undead man who is discovered at a morgue where a bunch of friends just happening to be partying. Too bad for the partiers because this psychopath is probably going to kill them all in overly-theatrical ways and then mutter some witty one-liners.

Chinese Puzzle
What do you know it’s another sequel to French the films L’Auberge Espagnole and Russian Dolls! By now the main characters have gotten divorced, but when the ex-wife moves with the children to New York their father is forced to follow. This dramatic romantic comedy is sure to have lots of French fish-out-of-water escapades. This third and final installment of the “Spanish Apartment Trilogy” stars the always delightful Audrey Tautou.

For a Woman
The semi-autobiographical French love story of a couple who meet in a concentration camp told by their daughter decades later.

A Letter to Momo
Here’s a cool looking new animated film from the makers of Ghost in the Shell and Jin-Roh. This supernatural anime features thousands of squirming, morphing ghosts and spirits. After her father dies, young Momo moves to an isolated Japanese island with her mother. She discovers a trio of mischievous, goofy ghosts in her attic which only she can see. They get up to all sorts of crazy antics but also help her to discover the mysteries her father left behind. This movie sounds great and the character design is beautiful.

Mad Men – Season 7 Part 1
Don Draper and his ragtag gang of alcoholics are back for the first part of the last season of everyone’s favourite retro soap opera! This show is worth watching just for the amazing clothes and furniture; also, something really shocking will occasionally happen, like someone losing a toe, or an eye, or a nipple. Seriously. There are so many flesh wounds in this show!

Adventure Time – Season 2, 3, and 4
This is one of the best shows on TV. For years I thought this was just another animated show for kids until I finally started watching it and then I couldn’t stop! The celebrity voices on this show are amazing and hilarious and the art is beautiful and will make you want to live in the magical world of Ooo. The show is about Fin, the last human alive after a nuclear holocaust and his best friend, a talking dog Jake who has magical powers to stretch in to any size or shape. They hang out in the candy kingdom and sometimes get thrown in to other dimensions and get up to crazy adventures with Princess Bubblegum who is the smartest most powerful female character I’ve ever seen in an animated show. The positive messages in the show, beautiful psychedelic colours, and catchy cute music are so lovely that this show will brighten your day.

Coming Next Week

Begin Again

Child of God

Deliver Us From Evil

Life of Crime

Regine de la Beaute

Wish I Was Here

Witching and Bitching

Need Something for Your Eyes? Might We Suggest…

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

**editor’s note**On a sad note, our good friend and former Black Dog employee, JR, has closed his fabulous store in Toronto. Big Daddy’s in the Junction was a fine place filled with great films and quality folks. You will be missed. What’s that saying – When a DVD store closes, God masturbates on a kitten and then kills it? Something like that.

Well that’s it for this week. Watch a movie and pet a dog whenever possible. It will make your life better.

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

Free Hugs! Black Dog Newsletter for week of October 13th – 19th 2014

October 16, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Fall is here. Time to watch movies non-stop for the next 6 months.
Happy pumpkin times!

Independent Video Store Day is Next Saturday!

Don’t forget to stop by the stores to enter our raffles! Tickets are $5 each or 3 for $12 and all of the ticket sales goes to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. What could you win, you ask? Why a whole basket of exciting goods and services from local businesses in either the Cambie Village area or Commercial Drive. The contests ends this Saturday, October 18th – which is also VIDEO STORE DAY! Make sure to swing by then to take advantage of our special rental deals and get your late fees cut in HALF! IN HALF!

In T-shirt news, the response to our latest design has been so popular that we’re getting 100 more shirts made. So if you missed out on the first batch or we were already out of your size when you came by to buy one we’ll be able to satisfy your T-shirt desires again soon! Stay tuned on the Black Dog facebook page for updates on when the shirts are available in both stores.

Ok and now on to the main event:

NEW RELEASES

X-Men: Days of Future Past
I’m not big on super hero movies, but I love all of the X-Men movies. They’re great and you know what else is great? Time travel. This movie has both the X-Men and time travel in it! Bryan Singer (the director of the first 2 X-Men movies) is back to direct this one, which combines the casts of the original trilogy and the new series reboot. Rent this and enjoy not only Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan but also Michael Fassbender AND Peter Dinklage and a gazillion other great actors mostly in goofy outfits and blue makeup.

Tom at the Farm
Xavier Dolan is perhaps today’s best and brightest Canadian filmmaker. He’s back with another excellent movie which he stars in (and also wrote and directed). This thriller centres around a man who upon attending his boyfriend’s funeral discovers that nobody there has ever heard of him. He quickly finds himself part of a twisted game in a strange household with a dark past. If you haven’t seen any of Dolan’s films before we have them all! Highly recommended!

Are You Here
Funny people Zach Galifianakis, Amy Poehler and Owen Wilson star in this comedy by the creator of Mad Men. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d be typing. Two childhood best friends embark on a road trip back to their home town after one of them learns he has inherited a large sum of money from his recently deceased estranged father. Apparently there’s also a chicken in the movie.

Hellion
Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis star in this dysfunctional family drama that also includes motocross, heavy metal and drama. Guaranteed grittiness.

Whitey: United States of America Vs. James J. Bulger
Another excellent true crime documentary from directer Joe Berlinger (director of the Paradise Lost documentary trilogy) about one real big bad guy. Number 2 on America’s Most Wanted list after Osama Big Laden, James “Whitey” Bulger terrorized the city of Boston for years without ever being charged with so much as a misdemeanor. He was a monster, murdering over a dozen known victims, but did the the FBI and local law enforcement give his reign of terror over South Boston a free pass? Fascinating, scary stuff!

Mr. Peabody and Sherman
Everyone’s favourite brainiac dog and his adopted son travel through time having probably less stressful adventures than the X-Men.

Mystery Road
This Australian film centres on an indigenous detective who returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl. Sounds a little similar to the plot of the New Zealand based TV-show Top of the Lake – which if you haven’t already seen – rent it!

Beneath the Harvest Sky
A teen drama set in a farming town in Maine. This coming of age story turns dark when one of two best friends decides it would be a good idea to start smuggling drugs over the Canadian border. We don’t want your drugs, Maine! Potatoes yes, drugs no. Stars the guy who plays Littlefinger in Game of Thrones as a bad influence outlaw-father.

Dario Argento’s Dracula
The Italian master of horror is back with a new version of Dracula. This one of course has his daughter Asia Argento in it and is reportedly very sexy. Also it has a whopping 3.6 / 10 rating on imdb.com! That alone makes me want to watch it.

Gerontophilia
Cult director Bruce La Bruce brings us this new movie about a young man who realizes he is attracted to the elderly. Hi-jinx, I’m sure, ensue in this atypical romantic comedy. Oh you scamp you, Bruce LaBruce!

Sharknado 2: The Second One
What can I say, this is the sequel to a movie about a tornado made of sharks. This is a TV movie that stars Tara Reid which means that her character didn’t die in the first one. If you saw Sharknado I’m sure this one is the same but better.

Fargo – Season 1
The beloved Coen brothers’ movie from 1996 is now a TV show packed with great actors (like Mr. Bob Odenkirk) and shot in beautiful snowy Calgary, Alberta. Expect lots of dorky accents and brutal murders.

Penny Dreadful – Season 1
Here’s a new series that straddles horror, sci-fi, fantasy and historical drama. Characters like Dr. Frankenstein and Jack the Ripper show up and hang out. Stars Josh Harnet and Timothy Dalton. So THAT’S what those guys have been up to!

In Your Face Next Week!

Cannibal

Casse-Tete Chinois

Earth to Echo

For a Woman

Kundo: Beyond Vengeance

Last Sentence

Letter to Momo

Mad Men: Final Season Part 1

Purge: Anarchy

Sex Tape

Snowpiercer

And some bonus recommendations!

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

Sorry for the lateness of this newsletter everyone. It was delayed due to the holiday Monday rush of customers in the store, and then faulty internet on Tuesday and today. I hope it didn’t stress anyone out too terribly.

Have a fabulous week and don’t forget to stop by the stores on Saturday for Video Store Day!

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

Black Dog Newsletter for week of October 6th – 12th 2014

October 7, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Another week in movie renting history.

Happy October!

Independent Video Store Day is less than 2 weeks away!

We will be celebrating at both locations on Saturday October 18th. There will be exclusive rental deals, late fees will be cut in half and we’ll be raffling off gift baskets full of goods and services from local businesses. All proceeds from the raffle will go to the Vancouver Food Bank so come on in and buy a raffle ticket!

T-Shirts!

We have only 5 Black Dog T-shirts left at the Cambie store and a few more at the Commercial location so if you have always dreamed of owning a video store shirt with a dog wearing sunglasses and watching TV on it then come on down. Shirts are $15 including tax and come in brilliant black and wondrous white! We’re mostly sold out of the larger sizes so pass this on to your small-boned friends.

The New Releases!

Edge of Tomorrow

AKA Live Die Repeat AKA Tom Cruise’s Groundhog Day. This movie is actually pretty great despite the fact it’s an unholy union of Starship Troopers and Groundhog Day. Even if you don’t like Tom Cruise I would recommend this film because you get to see him die dozens of times! Director Doug Liman and star Tom Cruise have managed to make a pretty solid sci-fi that L. Ron Hubbard and even Lord Xenu himself would be proud of.

Obvious Child
What happens when you accidentally get pregnant on a first date? For some reason Hollywood comedies of recent years would have you believe that a lady in such a predicament would just surrender to becoming a mother. Well not in this movie! It’s been called the “most winning abortion-themed rom-com ever made”. Wowza! A must see!

A Million Ways to Die in the West
The creator of Family Guy has finally teamed up with Liam Neeson and Charlize Theron in that Western comedy that we’ve been begging for for all these years! Also stars Sarah Silverman, Neil Patrick Harris and Giovanni Ribisi. Laugh if you must.

Million Dollar Arm
The always lovely Jon Hamm plays a sports agent who travels to India (Mmm Indian Hamm) to recruit cricket players to become Major League Baseball pitchers. Looks like a nice uplifting sports movie! Still doesn’t make me want to go to India.

Tracks
Mia Wasikowska plays a lady who decides to walk across Australia with 4 camels and a dog. I can understand the occasional need to go on a walk by yourself to clear your head but this seems excessive.

Houdini
Adrian Brody and his crazy hair is/are Houdini in this 2 part biographical mini-series from the History channel.

American Horror Story Season 3 (Coven)
This spooky show is back for another season. This one is about a coven of witches and stars Jessica Lang, Kathy Bates and some other witchy women. This show makes witches seem really stylish.

Bates Motel Season 2
Yet another horror TV show! This prequel to the Psycho franchise is back for a second season. It stars Freddie Highmore as young Norman Bates and Vera Farmiga as his overbearing mother.

Coming to Your Homes Next Week

Beneath the Harvest Sky

Dario Argento’s Dracula

Fargo Season 1

Gerontophilia

Hellion

Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Sharknado 2: The Second One

Penny Dreadful Season 1

Mystery Road

Tom at the Farm

Vikings Season 2

Whitey: USA vs James Bulger

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Free Hugs: Black Dog’s Words and Pictures for September 30th

October 1, 2014/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Another week in movie renting history!

Well we all knew this day would come. The grey, wet season of infinite rain is upon us. But fear not, we have some exciting new releases to keep your mind off how gross it is outside.

Our Black Dog T-shirts are selling out fast! We only have a couple of each size left. So act now if you need a Black Dog T-shirt in your life. They’re $15 including tax.

THE NEW RELEASES:

Chef
Jon Favreau writes, directs, stars and eats in this comedy about a chef who quits his job at a restaurant to start up a food truck business. The cast boasts Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr., Amy Sedaris, Scarlett Johansson and many more. And lots of food.

Transformers: Age of Extinction
Well Michael Bay is back at it with his fourth installment of giant robot movies. This time Marky-Mark teams up with Optimus Prime to save the human race. Probably lots of explosions and robots punching each other. Also available in 3D Blu-ray if you are able to play one of those things.

Cold In July
Dexter’s Michael C. Hall teams up with Don Johnson and a bunch of other tough guys who will probably drive around in trucks wearing cowboy hats and glare moodily at other guys in this gritty crime thriller.

Words and Pictures
Everyone’s favourite French lady Juliette Binoche teams up with Clive Owen in this academic love story. She’s an art teacher, he’s a literature professor, they decide to make their students choose what is more important: words or pictures. The sequel should be called Words and Pictures and Sounds – throw a music teacher in there for a nice love triangle.

Very Good Girls
Dakota Fanning and Elizabeth Olsen play two teenagers who make a plan to lose their virginity. But WAIT they both fall for the same guy. Uh oh. Girls don’t forget: uteruses before duderuses! Also features Ellen Barkin and Richard Dreyfuss.

Space Station 76
Remember how everyone thought we’d be driving flying cars and living on the moon with exotic pets from other galaxies by now? How silly of us. This si-fi comedy goes back to the good old days of how we thought the future would be in 1976. Stars Liv Tyler and Patrick Wilson.

The Field of Blood – Season 1
Set in 1982 in Glasgow this crime drama centres on a female investigating a murder in a mostly sexist male-run world.

Coming Next Week

American Horror Story: Coven

Are You Here

Bates Motel Season 2

Edge of Tomorrow

Hemlock Grove Season 1

Houdini

Million Dollar Arm

A Million Ways to Die in the West

Tracks

Need Some Recommendations?

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

Well that’s it for next week. Stay out of the rain, wear a sweater, and trust no one. The truth is out there.

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

Video Store on Commercial Drive

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Archive for month: October, 2014

Merry Fright Week

New Releases:

Coming Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Another Great Week in Movie Land

Coming Next Week

Need Something for Your Eyes? Might We Suggest…

NEW RELEASES

In Your Face Next Week!

Recently Viewed and Recommended:

Tom at the Farm Obvious Child Edge of Tomorrow Neighbors They Came Together It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 9 True Detective We Are the Best! Jodorowsky’s Dune

And some bonus recommendations!

The New Releases!

Coming to Your Homes Next Week

Recently Viewed and Recommended

THE NEW RELEASES:

Coming Next Week

Need Some Recommendations?

Video Store on Commercial Drive

Memberships are here!

Where To?

Search

Tom at the Farm
Obvious Child
Edge of Tomorrow
Neighbors
They Came Together
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 9
True Detective
We Are the Best!
Jodorowsky’s Dune