Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending January 16th

Unconfirmed reports are telling me that something called Mario’s Pizza will be sliding into the spot once occupied by Alpha Video on the Drive. I believe it may be a chain and may even be that East Side Mario’s with all those great commercials on the TV. I certainly hope not but I guess that we’ll have to wait and see. It’s such a great location for something cool but this sounds like it just may be quite the opposite. If anyone has any other info lease let us know. I noticed that Marcello’s is beefing up their outside seating arrangement maybe to get a jump on the next door competition. As mentioned this is still unconfirmed but my source usually knows what’s going on around the hood. The Drive definitely needs more (or even one) really good restaurant as it’s a bit of a wasteland over here.

Pretty good week for releases this week with the addition of some of the more highly acclaimed films and TV shows that were out on screen last year. Enjoy.

Unthank Cinema’s weekly Wednesday night showings of the fabulous and strange have been put on hiatus until further notice. Sorry.

New Releases for Tuesday January 10th

An Idiot Abroad – Very funny and fun show that follows idiot Carl Pilkington, friend of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant who send the poor sap around the world to visit stuff he really has no interest in seeing. Good stuff.

Boardwalk Empire Season 1 – Wow. Just watched the first couple of episodes and, wow, what a great show! It’s much better than I anticipated it would be but I shouldn’t be surprised as the it’s created by one of the driving forces behind The Sopranos and the first episode was directed by Scorsese and it stars some of my favorite actors – Steve Buscemi, Michael Shannon, Kelly McDonald, Omar from The Wire and Dabney Coleman. Atlantic City in 1920, prohibition has just come into effect and all that it entails. Awesome awesome show. Also on the Blu Ray.

Fish Story – Bizarre Japanese flick that deals with such weighty topics as the end of the world (a comet is about to destroy the earth), the healing powers of punk rock, Japanese game shows, time travel (I think) and a myriad of other important topics. I’ve read great things about this film. Here’s a gushing review from one of the Ain’t it Cool guys – http://www.aintitcool.com/node/42640

Higher Ground – The lovely Vera Farmigna (Source Code, Up in the Air) makes her directorial debut with this heavy drama about a woman’s life-long struggle with her faith. Hopefully it’s a lot better than it sounds. Go Atheists! Also on Blu Ray.

Killer Elite – Actiony type number starring a bunch of manly men – Statham, Clive Owen, DeNiro who all play hit men at various stages of their careers who probably have to do “one last job” before they can retire or something like that. Good cast, hoping it’s a pretty good time waster. Also on the Blu Ray.

Moneyball – The writer of the fantastic Social Network penned this film about the baseball team known to some as the Oakland A’s and their unorthodox manager who attempts to build a successful team based on computer statistics. I hear this one is pretty good with fine performances by Mr. Angelina Jolie and Jonah Hill. If the writer can make such an exciting, absorbing film about the creation of a computer program I imagine he can do the same with one about, yawn, baseball. Also on the Blu Ray.

Primeval Season 3 – Season 3 of the fine British sci-fi show about dinosaurs who’ve managed to come through time somehow into modern day England and it’s up to a crack band of scientists or zookeepers or whoever they are to fight and control the beasts. Good fun. Too bad this isn’t a documentary. Might be cool to have giant lizards roaming around although it would make walking the boy to school a little more challenging.

The Tempest – The second Tempesty film that came out last year. This is the one you’ve been waiting for though – directed by Julie Taymor and starring Helen Mirren, Russell Brand and a bunch of other actors acting all Shakespearian and what not. Also on the Blu Ray.

Old Stuff Just In

Citizen Kane – Blu Ray
Little Shop Around the Corner
Can’t Hardly Wait

Coming Next Week

Abduction
Thorne: Sleepyhead
Ides of March
Redline
Dirty Girl
Poetry
Killing Bono
First Squad
Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Boardwalk Empire
Mildred Pierce
The Guard
Moneyball
A Better Life
Ip Man 2
An Idiot Abroad
Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
Justified Season 2
Tree of Life
A Somewhat Gentle Man

I have a funny feeling we’ll be seeing this film come Oscar time next year…. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/a2cffa7e20/knight-blade?playlist=featured_videos

That’s it for this week, folks. Stay warm, eat well, drink if you must and remember, keep watching.

Black Dog Video