Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending January 9th

Well 2011 is finally behind us. Whew! It was quite a tough and challenging year for us in the video world (I also live in the real world on occasion). We saw an insane amount of good stores close and good people facing career change and an uncertain future. In just the past twelve months we saw the passing of such fine establishments as Independent Flicks, Happy Bats, Videomatica, Alpha, Applause, Bird Dog in Calgary and, of course, our little brother Black Dog in Toronto. We were not immune to the changing nature of how people get their entertainment. The proliferation of illegal and legal downloading, Netflix, Video on Demand, the Canucks in the playoffs and just a myriad of other distractions on and off the computer almost sunk us as well. As the months passed by, we persevered and business actually took an upswing at the end of the year. Many customers from the graveyard of dead video stores (including Blockbuster and Rogers) made there way to our shores. Welcome, ya’ll! Here’s hoping this trend continues for 2012 and beyond. As long as you lovely patrons keep coming, we’ll be here to provide you with the best selection of films in town. Cheers!

Over at Cambie Street we are going to continue to stay open until 11pm every night. If deemed successful we’ll keep those hours. If it is not we’ll be sliding back into the 10pm closing Sunday to Thursday. I will keep you posted.

New Releases for Tuesday January 3rd

Contagion – Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!!) tries to fight an outbreak of some disease killing everyone everywhere. I’m hoping that he employs all of those sweet hand-to-hand fighting techniques he learned when he was Jason Bourne. Big cast including Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hawkes and the uber lovely Marion Cotillard all join in the battle to save humanity for some reason. Why bother, the humans could use a bit of a culling, don’t you think?Also on the Blu Ray.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – Unnecessary remake of a pretty good horror number from 1973 finds a young girl moving into an old creepy mansion with old creepy Katie Holmes and discovering that small horrible monsters live in the basement and they like to eat peoples teeth. I guess they subsist on a calcium based diet. Also on the Blu Ray.

The Guard – Excellent dark comedy starring the awesome Brendan Gleeson as a sleazy Irish cop that enjoys drugs and hookers who teams up with the awesomer Don Cheadle’s FBI agent to solve some drug smuggling operation or something like that. Also on the Blu Ray.

I Don’t Know How She Does It – Tedious comedy/drama about a successful career woman who has a face like a horse and must overcome some obstacles to balance work and family life and the fact that she has a face like a horse.

Justified Season 2 – Season 2 of this excellent crimey series starring the dreamy Timothy Olyphant and the wonderfully named Walton Goggins. Good show. You should watch this.

Love Exposure – Strange and long (4 hours!) and ,from what I hear, very good Japanese flick about a guy who’s dad is a preacher guy who’s having an affair with a parishioner. But wait, that’s not all! The son has a fetish for taking up-skirt photos and is also a virgin. I doubt I’m doing this any justice with this simplistic, yet hilarious, review. You’ll have to check it out yourself. Here’s a link to Rotten Tomatoes for ya…. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_exposure_2008/

Mildred Pierce – Fabulous (looking anyways) mini-series about a woman (Kate Winslet) living in LA in 1931 who decides to open her own restaurant and has a tumultuous relationship with her daughter. And a bunch of other stuff happens as well. Be hard to erase the memory of the Joan Crawford version. Also on the Blu Ray.

Shark Night – Computer enhanced sharks feast on some unsuspecting bouncy coeds. Sharks love coeds. Who can blame them?. Also on the Blu Ray.

Snow and Ashes – A war correspondent wakes up from a coma to discover that his buddy and photographer didn’t make it home. So it’s back into the shit with him.

Transfer – German sci-fi number where people can transfer (hence the title) their mind to another body when things start to break down. Sheesh I wish that were reality. I’d be changing bodies on a weekly basis.

Coming Next Week

What’s Your Number?
Fish Story
Gurozuka
Killer Elite
Boardwalk Empire Season 1
Higher Ground
Primeval Season 3
A Turtles Tale
Moneyball
An Idiot Abroad Season 1
Triple Tap
The Tempest
1911

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