March 2015 - Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter March 30 to April 5th “Easter Edition!”

March 30, 2015/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Hug me!

I don’t know if Swanson, my 9 year-old, still believes in the Easter Bunny but if he does then the Easter Bunny is an enormous rabbit who lives in the clouds and raises millions of chickens who “poop out eggs” for all the children of the world. Happy Easter weekend, folks.

New Releases

Boardwalk Empire Season 5 – Nucky wraps up his life of crime along with all of the other great characters on this fine shoe. (Sorry it’s a bit late getting on the shelves)

Gemma Bovery – Charming, in an oh-so-English-way, charmer about an ex-Parisian who settles in England somewhere. He notices the folks who move in beside him are remarkably similar to the main characters in the Flaubert novel he idolizes. Charming, no?

Grantchester – From what I can glean of the cover it seems that a young, handsome, but tough in a knuckle-sandwich type of way, priest investigates some wrongdoings in the town of Grantchester. I bet he plays by his own rules.

Imitation Game – Handsome Benedict Cumberblorgh is Alan Turning who used his strong math skills to break the enigma code for the allies during WWII. Pretty fascinating story. Especially if you like handsome mathematicians.

Inside Amy Schumer – Very funny lady and her very funny TV show.

Interstellar – Christopher Nolan shoots Mathew Mchonegay threw a wormhole. Something about saving all of mankind. No pressure there. Haven’t seen this yet (want to) but I’m always a little apprehensive about Nolan’s films as they tend to look nice but ultimately disappoint.

Killers – Balls out crazy violent flick about a psychopathic Japanese executive who gets involved with an equally disturbed journalist. You had me at psychopathic Japanese executive.

Outcast – Crazy hairy-looking Nic Cage (is there any other kind these days?) shows up in this action-type thing about a mysterious warrior who teams up with a couple of siblings to depose an evil Chinese emperor.

The Rewrite – Huge Grant is an Oscar-winning writer who goes to California to shake off his slumpy writers block. There he meets Marisa Tomei.

Silicon Valley – Excellent HBO comedy show about techies in Silicon Valley. For those of you who like comedy and computers.

Son of a Gun – Ewan McGregor is a notorious Australian gangster who breaks out of Aussie jail. In Australia.

Veep Season 3 – The laughs just keep on coming. Such a good show and Elaine is so damned good in this.

Wild Card – Jason Statham is a Vegas bodyguard with a gambling problem who gets in trouble with the mob. Bad, mob-type trouble. Will he kick and punch and snap and stab his way out of his problems? He usually does.

Whew! That’s a big list.

Coming Soon!

The Babadook
Big Eyes
Escobar
Foyle’s War Season 8
Goodbye to Language
I Am Steve McQueen
Missing
Woman in Black 2
You’re Not You

Black Dog Newsletter March 23rd to 30th, 2015

March 24, 2015/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Do I have to go in net?

Everyone likes hockey, right? What about beer? They go so well together, like peanut butter and jam, Scorsese and DeNiro, salt and peter! Ok, what about saving the children? We can all get behind that! What am I talking about? Well our good friends at Bomber Brewing are collaborating with a few other fine local breweries to put on the first annual Beer and Hockey Bash! Should be fun and it’s for a good cause. Details here.

New Releases!

A Five Star Life – Italian film about a luxury hotel inspector (yes please job!) who travels the word but is quite lonely. Will she find love and happiness amongst all the nice hotels and expensive people? If Eat, Pray, Love had an affair with Under the Tuscan Sun while Up in the Air watched from the bushes, this might have been the result.

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies – Finally the end of the damn hobbit and dwarf story. Lots of fighting and CGI hoo-haw. For such a short book, Peter Jackson really knows how to draw things out. Pretty bloated and over-blown spectacle. Still, if you’ve seen the first two… I imagine an even longer director’s cut will be out for Christmas. And if this story takes place before Lord of the Rings (still far superior) why does Legolas look so much older?

Into the Woods – Musical take on a bunch of fairy tales – Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstock, Cinderella, The Bible (sorry, couldn’t resist) – finds crusty old witch, Meryl Streep, tasking a baker and his wife (she probably does a little baking as well, I presume) to procure some things to reverse some sort of curse hoo-haw.

Listen Up Philip – Well received comedy/drama finds Black Dog favourite, Jason Schwartzman, as an anxious writer who befriends his literary hero. He then goes off to a cabin to hang out. The great Jonathan Pryce and excellent Elizabeth Moss are along for the ride as well.

Maison Close – French TV show about a high-end brothel in Paris in the year 1871. Ohh-la-la!

Mommy – Another fine film from Xavier Dolan (like really, can this guy do no wrong?! I’d say he’s Canada’s best filmmaker working today) about a woman trying to deal with her violent son. A fresh neighbour steps in to give her a hand.

Unbroken – Angelina Jolie directs a script by the Coens about a WWII pilot who crashes and then spends 47 days on a raft before being captured and tortured by the Japanese. Sounds like a crummy vacation.

Wild – The guy who directed Dallas Buyers Club and C.R.A.Z.Y. makes Reese Witherspoon walk 1,100 miles all by herself. Life lessons, I presume, abound. Heard fine things about this fine film.

And as an added bonus, there will be some other new films sneaking onto the shelves every day this week. Come on by to see what’s what! Do it!

Coming Soon

Interstellar
The Imitation Game
Wild
Gemma Bovery
Grantchester
Voices
Maison Close
Outcast
Veep
Silicon Valley

Black Dog Newsletter March 16th to 22nd

March 16, 2015/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Arf.

Seems spring is here to stay already! And with spring comes flowers, Frisbees and T-shirts. Can’t help you with the first two but we’ve got you covered with the last one. Time to step into a fabulous Black Dog T-shirt! You’ll be the belle of the ball, the talk of the town, the envy of all your friends, neighbours and enemies in one of our fine garments. Only $15! Available at both stores!

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Handsome!

New Releases

Annie – Just what the world needed! Annie! Again! Orphaned kid is saved by rich tycoon guy and everyone sings and dances and lives happily ever after. Cause that’s what happens with orphans, right? Kind of like Pretty Woman, but instead of hooker with a heart of gold who is saved by a rich guy, it’s a little girl!

Before I Go To Sleep – Good cast – Kidman, Firth, Strong – enliven the thrilling proceedings that finds a woman who wakes up everyday with no recollection of what happened the day before. Complications, I presume, ensue. Kind of the like the Hangover movies but without the hilarious consequences of blacking out.

Exodus: Gods and Kings – Ridley Scott and Christian Bale go all biblical on your asses in this tale of a guy named Moses and his freeing of a pile of slaves and a bunch of plagues (frogs, locusts, insurance salesman) and what-not. Cue the special effects.

Halo: Nightfall – Live-action miniseries finds some large men on a planet when a deadly biological attack unleashes a bunch of nightmarish things. I’m guessing that’s what happens anyways.

Late Phases – Small town is plagued, not by frogs or locusts or insurance salesmen, but by some mysterious beast. Might it be some sort of wolf? Maybe a red wolf with spooky eyes?

Penguins of Madagascar – It’s up to some wise-cracking penguins to stop an evil octopus from destroying the world. My question is, where’s the evil octopus going to live once he destroys the world? Think these things through, man!

Song of the Sea – A little girl, who can turn into a seal for some reason, goes on a quest with her brother (not too sure about his seal-changing into abilities) to save the spirit world and others like her. Maybe from an evil octopus?

Top Five – Funny man Chris Rock writes, directs and stars (he may have dome the catering as well) in this comedy about a comedian who tries to make it as a serious actor. Heard that this is a very fine satire banging on the cult of celebrity, race relations and romance. Yes, even romance!

Turn: Washington’s Spies – Fine looking TV shoe about some spies that help in the fight for America’s independence.

Young Ones – In a world with no water comes tale of a young lad who sets out on an incredible journey in order to save his family…starring the zombie from Warm Bodies, the Road kid and Michael Shannon’s enormous head.

Coming Next Week

A Five Star Life
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies
Into the Woods
Unbroken

Black Dog Newsletter March 9th to 16th – “Daylight Savings Edition!”

March 10, 2015/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

I hope that everyone has adjusted to the Daylight Savings silliness. I mean really, why do we still do this? Seems pretty pointless. And I bet that I’m not the only one who feels this way (cue that Peter Frampton song). I’ll leave you with this clip from John Oliver for proof…

http://ow.ly/K8slp

New Releases !

Code Black – Documentary about a real tough inner city E.R. (Emergency Room) known as the “hurt locker of medicine”. I guess they’re diffusing bombs and getting shot at a lot. Lousy inner city! Supposed to be pretty intense and pretty amazing.

The Humbling – A short, yelly stage actor (Pacino), who is slowly losing his mind (cue some over-acting), starts a relationship with a young lesbian woman (Gerwig). This sounds like it might be pretty terrible and potentially embarrassing but it’s directed by Barry Levinson from a Philip Roth novel. So it has that going for it.

Night at the Museum 3 : Secret of the Secrets – Or something like that. More museum shenanigans. I haven’t seen any of these films but if you like the first two, there’s a chance you’ll like this one. Another one of Robin Williams last roles.

The Notebook – Tough Hungarian WWII drama finds two siblings enduring the horrors of war while trying to survive the horrors of war. (At Commercial, soon to Cambie)

Outlander Season 1 – Kind of a sci-fi history, romance, action, swords and the like type TV show that finds a WWII nurse swept back into Scotland of 1743 where she encounters a dashing Scotsman and some peril. Terrible peril. Heard really good things about this despite my rambling synopsis.

Serena – Not to be confused with Selma (you are welcome to confuse the two on your own). This one finds Bradley Cooper (the talking raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy) as a timber baron who falls for a lady named Serena (Hungry Games‘ Jennifer Lawrence). Weren’t these two just in a movie together? She likes to dance and he wears a garbage bag? Maybe they’re next next Bogie and Bacall? The next Reynolds and Deluise?

Wolf Cop – Now here’s a film I can sink my teeth into! Get it?! An alcoholic cop finds that he’s been turned into a wolf-man (or werewolf if you please) for some reason. So, with the aid of his partner, he sets out to find out what’s going on! And it’s Canadian!

Coming Next Week!

Annie
Before I go to Sleep
Exodus
Halo: Nightfall
Mommy
Penguins of Madagascar
Song of the Sea
Top Five

Black Dog Newsletter March 2nd to 8th – “Birthday Edition!”

March 2, 2015/0 Comments/in Newsletter/by Darren

Happy Birthday to me!

As mentioned in last week’s edition of the newsletter, Black Dog on Cambie turns 19 this coming Thursday! What a long strange, wonderful, sad trip it’s been. We’ve seen births, deaths, fires, theft, disruptive construction, met many wonderful people, some not-so wonderful people, made lots of great friends and even a few enemies. We’ve seen plenty of changes happen in the Cambie neighbourhood. So many business have come and gone (I think besides Starbucks, Flying Wedge, Cambie Cycles and Kino, we may be the longest serving business in the hood) and more than a few folks have moved on due to the insane cost of housing in the area. When I first moved to Van back in 1995, we rented an entire house on 18th and Heather for $1100! Don’t think we’ll see that anytime soon again.

It’s been an amazing ride – easily one of the best experiences of my life. Here’s to all of you who’ve supported us through thick and thin, enjoyed our great staff and feasted on all the fantastic films we’ve proudly been able to provide. Let’s do 19 more years!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, drop into the Cambie store this coming Thursday, March 5th, and enjoy a few special specials;

– rent any 2 films, get a 3rd for free
– 50% off of all late charges
– our fabulous T-shirts can be had for a mere $10!
– a new batch of Black Dog pins will be there waiting to be stuck into your flesh – free if you rent something!

Hide your fleshy shame in one of these!

Hope to see you there!

New on the Shelves!

The Captive – Atom Egoyan continues to wallow in the swamp of mediocrity. This time out we find mediocre alliterative actors Ryan Reynolds and Scott Speedman working hard to try to figure out what happened to Cassandra, a 9 year-old-girl that disappeared many years earlier.

Foxcatcher – Intense drama follows Olympic wrestling hopeful and talking potato impersonator, Channing Tatum, as he accepts an invitation to train for the 1988 Olympics at the estate of oddball rich guy John du Pont who, for some reason, is played here by the hilarious Steve Carrell in a non-hilarious role. From the director of the underrated Moneyball and the rated Capote.

Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 1 – More Hungry Games to satisfy your future dystopia needs. One more to go after this one to see if our Katniss can save the world. The depressing future world.

Life Partners – Two best friend’s relationship is put to the test when one of them falls for a local boy. Local boys are the best!

Princess Grace Of Monaco – Nicole Kidman is Princess Grace of Monaco (well just for this movie) as she has a hard time dealing with politics and identity and that sort of thing in the 60’s. Expect lots of intrigue, Tim Roth and nice outfits.

Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast – Tinkerbell get down and dirty with the Neverbeast. I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Coming Next Week

Humbling
Late Phases
Night at the Museum 3
Serena
Turn: Washington Spies
Wolfcop

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Archive for month: March, 2015

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