Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 11th

So you may recall a few weeks back I was blathering on about how Disney is looking to put us lovely independent video stores out of business. Well is seems that a company in our industry has taken to coordinating a boycott against the mouse house. Staring tomorrow we will have a petition at both stores that we are encouraging ya’ll to sign to help show Disney the error of their ways. There is also a website – http://boycottdisney.ca/ – that you can go to and show your displeasure with this “family friendly” corporation. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, Disney has implemented in Canada a 28 day holdback on renting their new release DVDs. Their goal? They want everyone to buy their product instead of renting it. Why do they want this? Well it’s quite obvious, greed (I guess pulling in over a billion dollars with The Avengers, and counting, isn’t enough for them). I’m not too sure why they think that tons of people will flock to the Wal-Mart to pay $35.00 for a lame film like John Carter. Most would prefer to rent it for $5 I imagine. They are taking away the consumers choice as how to get their entertainment. It’s just not right and could have a crippling effect on the DVD stores if the other studios start to follow suit. So if you happen to be in the stores in the near future think about the petition or go to the website and tell Disney that what they are doing is not cool. Thanks for letting me prattle on.

This coming Sunday – June 10th – it’s the annual Italian Days on the Drive. For our limited participation we’ll be featuring all of our Italian films for only $3.00! Or 2 for $5.00. Yay! Commercial location only.

New Releases for Tuesday June 5th

Act of Valor – Sort of famous for being an action film starring real live active Navy Seals (making “orf-orf” seal noises right now) blowing shit up real good. Also on the Blu Ray.

Bad Ass – The great Danny Trejo stars as Bad Ass (What were his parents thinking?!) a guy who becomes a bit of a hero after coming to the rescue of a guy being pummeled on a bus by some skinheads. Some more revenging takes place after Bad Ass’ friend is killed and the cops don’t do anything about it. My friend and I used to have a band called Bad Ass when we were 14. Just thought I’d share that not-very-interesting nugget of information with you.

Breaking Bad Season 4 – Love this show. Don’t really need to say more cause if you watch it, you probably love it as well and if you don’t watch it, well, what are ya doin’?

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 8 – See above. I can’t believe this has been on for 8 seasons! My wife doesn’t like this show because she says that I remind her too much of Larry David and she doesn’t like Larry David. Should I be offended by this?

Declaration of War – French film that finds a young couple – Romeo and Julliete (really?!) who have a baby only to find out that the kid has brain cancer. I’m going out on a limb here and thinking that this film probably isn’t a comedy. Or maybe it is, who knows? It is French.

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island – The Rock joins forces with some children to find an old man on a mysterious island filled with giant bees and lizards and poison monkeys and other sorts of mysterious things. Also on the Blu Ray.

Machine Gun Preacher – Big-headed Gerald Butler plays a former tough-guy, biker outlaw thug who (sighs) finds God and then goes to the Sudan to help out children who are forced to be soldiers. There he fights some giant bees and lizards and poison monkeys. (I may be getting my films mixed up). Based somewhat on a true story (only the poison monkey part). Also on the Blu Ray.

Man on a Ledge – Heist action film about a guy standing on a ledge while a big diamond stealing job goes down. I’m glad that there’s more to this film than a guy standing on the ledge of a building for two hours. That would be a very boring premise. That and a hostage taking scenarios are probably the least interesting plot devices in film I can think of. Also on the Blu Ray.

Safe House – Denzel Washington stars in this actioner as a guy who is on the lam from some shady government type bad guys because his has some information. The Green Lantern plays a rookie “safe house” nanny who tries to capture/help him. Pretty good thriller with lots of fine chasing and fighting and shit despite the lame title – so they spend time in a safe house or two, is that enough to call the film Safe House? There’s lots of chasing, why not “Guys Chasing Each other for Some Reason?” Much better title. Also on the Blu Ray.

W.E. – Madonna thinks she’s a director and writer now. She wore both hats in this drama about a couple of romances – King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson back in the ’30s and a married woman and a Russian security guard in our times. Yawn. I got tired just writing that description. Might be good. Might not. Also on the Blu Ray.

The Woodmans – Doc about a family that suffers some sort of tragedy (poison monkeys?) but they persevere and find redemption through art. Nice.

Coming Next Week

Metal Evolution
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows
In Darkness
Hit so Hard
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Entourage Season 8
Dog Bites Man
Accident
Prodigies
Demoted

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Safe House
The Woman
Chronicle
Miss Bala
Guilty
Reykjavik to Rotterdam
Goon
True Blood S 4
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Rampart
Merantau

And for those of you who are fans of the Wes Anderson (I think that they’re a couple of you out there) here’s a nice little piece about “accessories” found in his films – http://www.avclub.com/articles/a-video-quilt-of-whimsical-wes-anderson-accessorie,79271/

Well that’s it for this week ya’ll. Have a great week, watch out for those damn crows, feast, be merry and keep watching.

Black Dog Video