Black Dog Newsletter December 14 to 20 “Good Times, Bad Times Edition!”

I’ll keep my preamble short today as there’s a ton of films to get to this week. But I have to mention a couple of things, one good, one not-so-good – this Saturday at the Commercial Drive Black Dog local musical hero, Jason Zumpano, will be spinning some sweet Christmasy type sounds live in the store. Starts at 5. Drop on by! And on a less festive note, we’ve slightly increased the cost of our wonderful punch cards. They will now set you back $40 (plus that dreaded tax). Still a great deal with a potential savings on rentals of almost $13.00. Good stocking stuffer that is. Along with our Gift Certificates, T-Shirts, Hoodies and previously-loved films. Get those stockings stuffed!

New Releases

Fantastic Four – All I want for Christmas is a good Fantastic Four movie. Maybe next year, kid.

God Help the Girl – Written and directed by the guy from indie music darlings Belle and Sebastian, this sweet tale follows Eve who writes songs to deal with life’s big problems (well big when you’re a youngin’). She then meets a couple of wayward musician types and together they tramp around Glasgow for one magical summer. Being a fan of Belle and Sebastian, I’ll have to give this one a go.

He Named Me Malala – Inspiring documentary about the title girl who was shot by those shit-bag Taliban knobs for wanting an education and then who went on to win a Nobel Peace Prize Medal and become a world-wide spokesperson for the plight of girls around the globe. Good on ya!

I am Chris Farley – Might not be as inspiring as the Malala documentary but this fine doc chronicles the life and untimely death of the much-loved comedian. Maybe it will be inspiring in it’s own way?

Magician: Astonishing Work and Life of Orson Welles – Well-made (maybe even inspiring?) doc about the life and career of super-genius Orson Welles (that guy who made that little film called Citizen Kane and freaked out the eastern seaboard with War of the Worlds).

Marfa Girl – Larry Clark’s latest teen angst sex drama. Set in Marfa, Texas (not the most appealing name) the film follows the ups, the downs, the sex lives and skateboarding adventures of some teens. Being a Larry Clark (Kids, Ken Park) movie expect lots and lots of sex, some bad cops, questionable decisions with maybe even a little sex thrown in for good sexy measure. Probably not a good film to watch with the in-laws over the holidays.

Maze Runner: Scorch Trials – The second of three films finds the teen heroes fighting their way through some desolate terrain filled with “unimaginable obstacles”. Let’s try to imagine what those obstacles might be: sand? inclement weather? flesh-eating sand-worms? Kardashians (zing!), flesh-eating sand-Kardashians? Who knows?! When I first read the title I thought it said Scotch Trials and thus I was interested.

Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation – “Will someone get that Scientologist off of my airplane?!” Tom Cruise is back saving the world from some bad guys in the latest instalment of this pretty darn good series. He must be getting up there in age, that Tom Cruise. I wonder how he stays so young-looking and fit? The virgin blood of young Scientologists would be my guess.

Set Fire to the Stars – Frodo has to save Dylan Thomas from the excesses of New York in this wild bio-pic – “angel, beast and madman” says the description on the box. Looks like fun and I like what Elijah Wood has done with his career post Lord of the Rings. Good job, Mr. Frodo!

Ted 2 – More shenanigans starring that rude-talking teddy bear and that thespian-challenged talking piece of racist tree-bark, Marky-Mark.

Turbo Kid – Probably the most fun film of the week, if not the month or year! The Kid, riding his BMX in the post-apocalyptic wasteland with his new girlfriend, Apple, go on a great adventure to fight the evil warlord, Zeus (Michael Ironside – yay!) and save the wasteland. Because the wasteland needs saving. Great fun!

Wolf Totem – From The Bear director Jean-Jacques Annaud, comes this amazing-looking tale of a young Chinese fellow sent to live with the nomadic herdsmen in Mongolia for some reason. Lots of great scenery and wolf encounters, I presume, ensue.

Coming Soon!

Nasty Baby
Pan
Pawn Sacrifice
Sleeping with Other People
Bone Tomahawk
Burroughs: The Movie
Partisan

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Mississippi Grind
The Seven-Five
Turbo Kid
Knock Knock
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Mistress America
Tangerine
Roar!
Mad Max: Fury Road
Wild Tales

For more sweet recommendations hit this button here. Also keep up to date with all that is lovely and amazing at Black Dog on the Facebook and the Twitters. See you in the funny papers.

Copyright © 2015 Black Dog Video, All rights reserved.

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