Black Dog Newsletter August 10th to 16th “What’s Old is New Edition”
Remember VHS (or even what VHS stood for)? They were those bulky, unwieldy cassettes that you had to be kind and rewind? Well it seems that they might be making a resurgence of sorts. I was working at the Commercial store last Thursday when these two hippity-hoppity blokes strut in – you know the type; baggy jeans, gold chains, stiff baseball caps worn slightly askew, the kind of guys who move their arms up and down when they talk. With smirks on their smug faces they ask if we had any VHS. “Aren’t I hilarious?!” one of them barks. My reply, “You’re the third ones today to ask for VHS so, no, you’re not hilarious”. They asked what we had on VHS. I picked up a handful of the, maybe 30, incredibly dusty tapes that we still have, “Pride and Prejudice, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (which I actually rented out the previous week) and Latcho Drom,” For some reason they weren’t all that interested. Not too sure what they were looking for, probably something with Wesley Snipes in it. Is VHS going to make a comeback similar to records? Are they popular with the punks and hipsters and such these days? Weird. What’s old is new again.
New Releases
Beyond the Lights – This film will help you with all the feels you could ever want! The pressures of fame are keeping budding superstar “Noni” down. Then she meets a buff, handsome policeman who gives her the strength and courage to follow her dreams. Is there anything cops can’t do?
The Comeback S1 and 2 – Most amazingly excellent HBO show stars Lisa Kudrow as an ex A-list celebrity attempting a comeback (see title) by going the reality TV route. This show is somewhat of a comeback itself as it aired for one season back in ’05 and then a second season aired last year. Get on this!
The Dead Lands – Action packed Maori mayhem finds the teenage son of a slain Maori chief avenging his death. Expect lots of gory, bloody, good-time revenging.
Hot Pursuit – Yawner of a comedy finds uptight Reese Witherspoon’s cop transporting freewheeling sultry Sophia Vergara’s mob boss widow somewhere for some reason while being pursued by… sorry I nodded off there a bit..pursued by some bad guys who want to…zzzzzz
A Little Chaos – Stuffy-looking romance between two landscapers who are toiling away on Louis XIV’s garden at Versailles. Kate Winslet, I believe, is one of the landscape folks. When I had a job back in my teens as a landscape guy I referred to myself as a landscape artist or technician. Just because. No romance for me in those days though. Just mosquito bites and quiet despair.
Rick and Morty Season 1 – Greatly excellent animated TV show about a brilliant scientist and his dim-bulb grandson. I assume that they many exploits and adventures. All hilarious. All the time.
Robot Overlords – Hello, best title ever! Robots have conquered the earth and anyone who goes outside gets vaporized. That would really put a crimp in the video store business. Luckily a group of plucky teenagers is on hand to save the day. From the dude who made the very entertaining Grabbers.
Schitt’s Creek S1 – After reading the first line in the synopsis “Filthy rich video store magnet, Johnny Rose…” I had to get this. Its either science fiction or absurd comedy as those words don’t really make sense to me. I’ve heard very good things about this Canadian TV show starring Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara that finds said video store baron relocating to the title town to regroup after his vast video store empire crumbles. I need to watch this to get some pointers.
Suite Francaise – Just after France is occupied by those no-goodnick Nazis, romance is in the air (bet you weren’t expecting me to say that) involving a lovely young French lass and a hunky German soldier who’s billeting at their abode. Ooh-la-la.
One Thousand Times Goodnight – War photographer Juliette Binoche (Juliette Bingo Ho according to Google translate) is at odds with her dangerous job and her beardy husband, Jamie Lannister, who wants her to give up her fingernail biting profession. What will she choose, exciting job or hairy husband?
Unfriended – Scary stuff is lurking on some teens internets on their computers (cause that’s where you find the internets these days) as a nasty spirit invades a chat room using their dead friends account. Always clear your cache is the lesson to be learned here. Supposed to actually be a pretty good little horror number.
Vic & Flo Saw a Bear – A couple of lesbian ex-cons settle in some backwater Quebec town only to find that things aren’t quite what they seem. “The bears are not what they seem”, someone might have said at some time. Winner, not un-ironically, of the Silver Bear award at the 2013 Berlin Film Fest.
Coming Next Week
Cub
Famille Belier
Lambert & Stamp
Mississippi Grind
Open Grave
Orphan Black S 3
Recently Viewed and Recommended
It Follows
Inherent Vice
Slow West
The Comeback
Schitt’s Creek
Rick and Morty
Adventure Time
Clouds of Sils Maria
White God
Girlhood
While We’re Young
For many more suggestions, please enjoy this link!
That’s it for this week folks. Summer is almost over. Get out enjoy the sun, drink a beer on a patio, pet a dog, fight a bear. But remember, keep watching.
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