Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending July 4th

/0 Comments/in /by

There’s a couple of swell promotions I’d like to mention today; if you want a good comedy (at least according to the internets) we have a Cedar Rapids for rent at both stores. Big deal you say. Well here’s the thing – it’s only a measly $4.00 to rent! Only four bones you say, what a great deal! And right you would be to say such a thing. Manager’s special we like to call it. We have many (too many actually) copies for your enjoyment. It’s currently rated 85% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomato-meter. Come in and take home some big laughs.

And also we’re partnering up with Biercraft Restaurant and Beer Palace for a terrific deal. Come in to either Black Dog, spend $10.00 (That’s 2 copies of Cedar Rapids plus something else) and walk away with a $5.00 off voucher good for lunch at either Beircraft on Cambie St. and Commercial Drive. Yowsa!

New Releases for Tuesday June 28th

Barney’s Version – Paul Giamatti stars in this adaptation of Canadian author Mordecai Richler’s famous Canadian novel about a hard drinking, big living Canadian lout named Barney. Also stars non-canadians Dustin Hoffman and Minnie Driver (always wondered what happened to Minnie Driver – love that name!)

The Big C – No, it’s not the name (it was originally called “The C-Word,”) which I have been called too much over the course of my life . It’s a pretty good drama/comedy TV series about a woman dealing with a recent diagnosis of cancer in a humorous way. Nothing screams comedy like cancer! Stars the always excellent Laura Linney and Oliver Platt.

Beastly – A kind of modern day Beauty and the Beast tale finds a cocky high-school jerk being transformed by one of those Olsen twin witches into a hideous troll-boy where, you guessed it, he finds the true meaning of beauty (it’s on the inside, with all the guts and stuff).

Bloodworth – Nice looking drama finds crotchety Kris Kristofferson returning home to his white trash roots after 40 years wandering around playin’ his geetar only to find that the family he left behind (puffy Val Kilmer, Hilary Duff etc.) are not so keen on seeing the old coot.

In Search of Sex – Another ensemble cast wanders around (probably New York) either having lots of sex, dealing with the consequences of having lots of sex or just looking to have lots (or even some) sex. Aren’t we all, like, all the time doing this? Did I say that out loud?

Legend of the Fist – Donnie Yen (Ip Man) stars in this historical epic martial arts extravaganza about a famed martial arts dude who wants to infiltrate the powers that be that are helping the Japanese control and brutalize the Chinese back in the day.

Savage – Brutal revenge drama finds a dude revenging on some punks that done him wrong. Love the revenge thrillers. Hope that this one is good. Some of the keywords in the IMDb include, anger, castration, hate, anabolic steroid, tinnitus and social commentary so it has all of that going for it.

Season of the Witch – Nic Cage hams it up with Ron Pearlman as 14th century knights who have to transport a suspected witch somewhere so the monks can have a go at her to determine if she’s the cause of the Black Plague. Word has it that it’s a terrible movie (what Nic Cage in a bad film?!) but it falls into that category of so bad that’s it’s good and quite entertaining. Also on the Blu Ray.

Sucker Punch – What a disaster. How can a film that has dragons, zombie soldiers, killer robots, dirigibles and hot girls in fetish wear turn out to be such a painful movie-going experience? I’ll tell you how – spend all of your money on set deck and costumes and CGI stuff but none of it on script or acting lessons for the barbie dolls you hired to prance through this. I watched the extended Blu Ray cut – looked great and the action fantasy scenes were quite awesome, but the rest of it? Almost unwatchable. I had a finger on the fast forward button for a good chunk. To me it seems that Zack Snyder fell into the Wachowski Brother’s dilemma – trying to up the anti over the previous film, Watchmen for Snyder, Matrix for the Wachowskis, and failing miserably. Hopefully Snyder’s Superman film will get him back on track. On Extended cut Blu Ray and theatrical Blu Ray as well as DVD.

White Irish Drinkers – Heavy family drama set in New York in 1975 that finds a pair of brothers trying to make it on petty crimes and get away from their boozy dad. And it has Karen Allen in it? I thought she was dead. Who knew?

Old stuff Just In

Lord of the Rings – Extended Edition – Blu Rays. (I can’t wait to geek out over these!)
Orlando – DVD

Coming Next Week

Company Men
Ceremony
Hobo with a Shotgun (whoo-hoo!)
Essential Killing
The Warrior’s Way
Shelter
Mega Python vs. Gateroid
Elektra Luxx

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Season of the Witch – only for its badness
Breaking Bad S 3
Louie S 1
The Adjustment Bureau
Unknown
Another Year
True Blood S 3
Treme S 1
Biutiful
I Saw the Devil
Rubber
True Grit
Kisses

Great Job Internets!

You may have seen this but if you haven’t it’s pretty awesome in it’s awesomeness. Seagull cam! http://www.boingboing.net/2011/06/25/seagull-steals-video.html

Speaking of revenge films (mentioned earlier in case you’ve already forgotten) here’s a little list from the good folks at Rotten Tomatoes detailing some of their favorite revenge flicks. Nice to see Oldboy in there. I’d add I Saw the Devil – probably the most violent and nasty of the revenge flicks ever made. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/the_big_payback

First World Problems. A rap.

[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2p5svFJ9cQ [/youtube]

Ah! I just realized my kid is finished school on Wednesday! What am I going to do! Yikes. Maybe this will be the summer I introduce him to more sophisticated film fare. We’ll see. Keep watching.

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 27th

/4 Comments/in /by

Well here we are, the first day of summer! Wouldn’t really know it would you? And here we are, a week removed from the end of the hockey, and of course our fabulous riot. I’m not really going to say much about this as I’m sure that all has been said about the events of last Wednesday that needs to be said. But here’s my two cents anyways. It has been a strange week. We’ve gone from disappointing loss in game 7 (funny how no one is talking about that all that much) to crazy ass riot to bizarre witch hunt type of stuff on the interwebs. We’ve seen the worst element of society rear its ugly head – hooligans, thugs (yes I’m including the Boston Bruins in that category), teenagers and middle class bored punks burning shit and stealing useless stuff (who steals a mannequin leg?). We’ve seen a strange outpouring of apologies and caring from people that didn’t have anything to do with the riot – aren’t we Canadians a nice bunch of folk? And we’ve seen one awesome photograph – the kissing couple if ya didn’t know. (I hear they’ve hired an agent and are moving to Australia to become stand-up comedians!). And we’ve seen vigilante justice 2011 style – outing people on the internet, publishing their names, addresses and even threatening some of them. I’m not too sure who is worse, the rioters or the internet folk who are hounding them? I’m all for holding these boneheads accountable but the issue of privacy and use of the internet to find them is kind of weird and a bit problematic. Anyways, I said I wasn’t going to pontificate too much about all of this because if you’re anything like me, and I know that you are, you just might be suffering from riot fatigue. Onwards and upwards!

Just a note – the Cambie Store hours have changed slightly once again. They are as follows; Sunday – Thursday 1pm till 10pm. Friday – 1pm till 11pm and Saturday – noon till 11pm. Lots of time to get your movie on! (Can’t believe I just said that, I’m so urban)

New Releases for Tuesday June 21st

The Adjustment Bureau – Matt Damon (MATT DAMON!) and Emily Blunt display some fantastic chemistry that helps elevate this sci-fi tale out of the morass of mediocre tales of secret worlds and what not. Damon is a political dude who finds out that all things in his and everyone’s life are being controlled buy that guy from Mad Men. They have nifty hats that enable them to…well you’ll just have to watch this for yourself. It could have a been a better film, as I found it was lacking a certain something to make it all more cohesive. I liked the hats they wore but kept thinking that this would be a better film with sombreros. Based on a Philip K. Dick short story so it has that going for it. Also on the Blu Ray.

Bedways – German sexy film. Ya! Three Germans want to make sexy a film about sex and love and sex. Ya!

The Butcher’s Son – To add to our collection of Dominican Republic films (it now stands at one), comes this police thriller about a cop fighting the corrupt government. Word is it supposed to be quite excellent.

Cedar Rapids – Ed Helms and his giant teeth are sent to Iowa (whoo-hoo, Iowa!) for a convention where he meets some convention veterans who help him loosen up and party like he’s in Iowa! Supposed to be good fun from what I hear on the streets. Also stars the hilarious John C. Reilly and the even more hilarious Sigourney Weaver. Also on the Blu Ray.

Day of the Triffids – Yet another update of the classic tale of carnivorous plants who come to earth, blind everybody and then start eating everyone. It’s up to a small band of sighted survivors to save the day. Now if only the TV show Survivor was like this…

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 – Don’t know much about these wimpy kids, nor do I care. It’s here for those of you who do.

The Eagle – Sort of like a sequel kind of to Centurion that finds the son of one of the Roman dudes, who disappeared in England in yonder times, going to look for his dad and regain the titular prize that was lost there. I’m grooving on these medieval and Roman times tales as of late. Also on the Blu Ray.

Film Socialism – Jean-Luc Godard’s latest (he’s still alive?!) deals with three separate stories set on a cruise ship or something. Expect this to be very French and very Godardian.

Funkytown – Canadian funky movie about a bunch of Montrealers whooping it up in 1976 in the funky (kind of) era of disco and cocaine and funky times.

Happythankyoumoreplease – Hey what do you know? Another film about a bunch of 20 – 30 something’s loving and living and learning. And of course it’s set in New York.

Jackass 3.5 – More Jackass. More hilarity. Yee-haw.

Louie Season 1 – Louis CK, possible the funniest man alive, has his own most awesome show. Haven’t seen this yet but I saw him last year in the live stand-up mode and I almost barfed in my mouth several times because of the hilarity. Those of you who like the CK will love this show. Me? I can’t friggin’ wait to get my eyeballs on this!

Time That Remains – Award winning film about a family living through the creation of Israel in 1948 to the present. Good times.

Unknown – It’s the known knowns that we know. It’s the unknown unknowns that remain unknown. Liam Neeson is one of those known unknowns in this thriller where his identity becomes unknown to the people around him who know him. Yes, it’s another Liam Neeson kicking much (and much deserved) ass. Old men kicking butt. Rockin’! Also on Blu Ray.

Being Outed Next Week

3 Backyards
Sucker Punch
Wake Wood
Barney’s Version
Season of the Witch
Bloodworth
Savage
White Irish Drinkers
Beastly

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Adjustment Bureau
The Eagle
Treme S 1
True Blood S 3
Kill the Irishman
Another Year
Breaking Bad S 1
Rubber
True Grit
Biutiful
Kisses

Hey Internets!

Here’s a little compilation from the good folks at Rotten Tomatoes where they list their favorite most “intense” moments in film. Agree? Disagree? http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taxi_driver/news/1922995/the_15_most_intense_movie_moments/

Ooh! A new Cronenberg film! And what a cast! http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50108

Here’s a link to Slate.com’s career-o-matic which let’s you chart the career trajectory of your favorite stars. Fun fun! Hate to be Jennifer Love Hewitt today! http://www.slate.com/id/2296070/

That’s it for this week folks, enjoy the summer and make sure to keep watching!

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 20th

/0 Comments/in /by

I must apologize for the lateness of this week’s edition of the newsletter. I hope that I didn’t ruin anyone’s day or was the cause of stress or sleeplessness. I was on a little holiday to visit the family in the grim hell scape that is southern Ontario. Now don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Toronto and all, but the surrounding area where I grew up is just bleak and hideous now. I spent 30 years in what used to be a lot of farmland, rolling hills and dirt roads about fifty KM east of the big smoke. Driving that area just made me sad as its been transformed into an endless morass of strip malls, big box nightmares, fake Irish pubs and row upon row of ugly, obscenely huge homes that all resemble one another. Really made me yearn for lovely Vancouver.

What I wasn’t expecting when I returned was the damn hockey team to still be playing. That said I’ll be watching the game tonight (maybe followed by a flick) with anticipation. Even if they lose it’s been quite the ride these past couple of months and it is still quite the feat to make it to game seven of the finals. Good Job!

Just a reminder to all of you non-hockey fans out there that, a) thank you all for being non-hockey fans, and b) it’s five old films for $8.00 today. Enjoy no matter what you do.

Oh and another reminder, it’s car free day this Sunday on the Drive. So get out and enjoy!

Today’s newsletter will be a bit abbreviated only to return in its full glory next week.

New Releases for Yesterday the 14th of June

Battle: Los Angeles – Aliens from another world decide to invade Los Angeles for some reason. Big budget special effects thing plays out like a poor man’s Black Hawk Down and even poorer man’s District 9 had a threesome with a skanky Independance Day. Lots of running around, plenty of things blowin’ up real good and a barrage of cliches make this, well, somewhat passable entertainment for those of you who like this kind of thing. I usually do but I’d like to see an alien invasion flick where the aliens don’t always look like confusing, tentacled slime creatures. On the DVD and the Blu Ray.

Hall Pass – Remember when the Farrelly brother’s used to make good films? Or what passed for good films for them? Something About Mary? Kingpin? Well here’s what there up to today. Still doing the raunchy comedy thing, but are they any good? You tell me. Don’t know much about this one except that it stars Owen Wilson (just work with Wes Anderson please) and some other guy who get free passes from their wives to knock boots (love that expression) with other women for some reason. On DVD and the Blu Ray.

Kill the Irishman – Pretty good true crime tale of an Irish mobbish kind of guy in Cleveland in the 70’s whose enemies keep trying to kill him and blow him up and stuff. Great cast, Ray Stevenson and a wig that should be nominated for something, maybe a Razzie, Christopher Walken, Vincent D’Onofrio and a whole bunch of Sopranos. Worth a look.

The Other Woman – Heavy sounding drama about a guy who has an affair with Natalie Portman. Poor bastard. Complications ensue when there’s a pregnancy involved. Damn kids, ruin everything!

Red Riding Hood – Take on the Red Riding Hood tale (can’t you tell by the title?) starring the lovely Amanda Seyfried who gets into trouble with some werewolves on her way to grandma’s house. John Hurt is along for the ride to chew scenery and embarrass himself. On the Blu Ray as well.

Scenesters – Some hip LA hipsters try to catch a serial killer who’s offing young hip LA hipsters. Supposed to be OK but don’t hold me to that.

Sweet Karma – Trashy looking exploitation fare has a mute Russian girl in her underwear (just look at the box if you don’t believe me) who infiltrates the Toronto underground sex trade to avenge her sister or find her sister or something like that. Sounds like my kind of filth.

Undertow – A married fisherman struggles with his identity and his devotion to his gay lover in this ghostly tale set in a small Peruvian fishing village. Didn’t think I was going to say that did you? Word has it that this is an excellent little ditty.

On the Shelves Nest Week

Film Socialism
Funkytown
Happythankyoumoreplease
Bedways
West is West
Day of the Triffids
Cedar Rapids
Unknown
The Butcher’s Son
Adjustment Bureau
Time that Remains
Louie Season 1
The Eagle
Legend of the Fist

Recently Viewed and Recommended

True Grit
Kill the Irishman
Breaking Bad S. 3
Rubber
Another Year
Biutiful
True Blood Season 3
Kisses
Found Footage Festival #5
Down Terrace

So it seems that not too many of you were all that interested in the last contest that we had. So I’ll give you one more chance. I have three films to give away, Passion Play, Kaboom and The Prey or Proie. (You can look them up on the IDMB if you so choose). All you have to do is come into the store and say “Arby’s” if you want a Passion Play (that’s because it stars Mickey Rourke and I think that after all of his bad surgery he kind of looks like an Arby’s sandwich), “Kaboom!” if you want a copy of Kaboom and “Killer Pig” if you want a copy of The Prey. Let’s see how that goes.

That’s it for this week folks. Enjoy the hockey. Two teams, one cup! And don’t forget about us.

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 13th

/0 Comments/in /by

Just about to sit down and write this current newsletter and I thought I’d take out the trash before starting. What do I find beside the garbage can? That’s right, you guessed it, a whole chicken! Just sitting there basking in the sun, covered in flies. There must be a story as to how this chicken came to rest out in our alley. People are strange.

Great week for releases this Tuesday! Maybe the best of the year so far. Even with the nice weather there’s plenty of room to catch a quality flick. Oh, and there’s another little contest for some dvds – check out further on down in the newsletter.

And just a reminder, the Cambie St. store hours have changed slightly – Sunday to Thursday we’ll be open at 1pm as opposed to noon and close at 10pm. Friday and Saturday stay the same – noon to 11pm which are the hours at the Commercial store everyday. Also next week’s newsletter will either be late or nonexistent, depending if I can get to it (I’ll be on a bit of a holiday).

New Releases for Tuesday June 7th

American: The Bill Hicks Story – Doc about funny man Bill Hicks who died young. Fans should enjoy this. And maybe non-fans as well.

Another Year – Latest and greatest (John’s favorite film of 2010) from Mike Leigh. I imagine that there’s some family dysfunction, some sweet moments and some quality British hilarity. Don’t be alarmed when coming in to get this film – it only came in the Blu Ray/DVD combo pack, so yes we have the regular DVDs. And the Blu Rays.

Breaking Bad Season 3 – Love this show about the cancer-stricken high school science teacher meth cooker and dealer. Great show!

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights – Nerd alert! Animated fare concerning a guy who dresses up like a lantern to fight crime. Really dude, that’s the best costume you could come up with? Couldn’t get a job with the Illusionary festival?

Just Go With It – Wow, double whammy! Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston together at last in a romantic comedy! Why did it take this long? Something tells me it’s neither romantic or comedic. Up to you to decide.

La Rafle – AKA The Roundup – Jean Reno stars in this heavy French true story drama about Nazi collaborators in occupied Paris and how they rounded up the Jews living in Paris under the swine Vichy government. Lousy Nazis. Lousy Vichy French.

Rubber – Easily the strangest film of the week. An abandoned tire laying in the desert somewhere suddenly comes alive with telekinetic powers and starts blowin’ things up, real good. Not and entirely (pun intended) a successful film – it has a sub plot kind of involving a greek chorus type of crowd watching this film from afar – but it’s impressively filmed and strange and interesting enough to go the distance. Easily the best film ever made a about a killer tire.

Sanctum – Sanctum! Damn near killed him! James Cameron seems to have had something to do with this underwater cave swimming thriller. It seems that if it’s a movie about something underwater, Cameron has his tentacles all over it. Also on the blu ray.

Textuality – Canadian comedy about a couple trying to manage relationships via hand held technology. What an age we live in. I’m hoping that 10 years from now, this film will not have aged well, as I think that we have far too much technology in our lives.

True Grit – The Coen’s take on the classic novel far surpasses the tedious John Wayne effort from years ago. (I’m not a John Wayne fan). One of the best films of 2010 with a great cast, cinematography, script – everything that makes for a great film. Did I mention that I thought it was great? Check it out pardners! Also on the blu rays.

When We Leave – Heavy tale of a Turkish woman who flees her homeland under threats of persecution only to find more danger in Germany from her immediate family. These types of situations make me so mad I best not comment further. Take a deep breath….

Coming Next Week

Battle Los Angeles
Kill the Irishman
The Other Woman
Red Riding Hood
Sweet Karma
Hall Pass

Recently Viewed and Recommended

True Grit
Another Year
Rubber
Breaking Bad Season 3
Biutiful
Kisses
True Blood Season 3
I Saw the Devil
Public Speaking
Found Footage Festival Vol 5
Ip Man
Treme S 1
Marwencol
I Am You

Nice job, Internets!

As promised we have another contest! The prize? We have copies of Kaboom – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1523483/ , Prey – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907305/ and Passion Play – http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396221/. The contest. Tell us your weirdest find on the streets and alleys of Vancouver. The chicken I found today ranks up there for sure.

With the release of the fine flick True Grit tomorrow, the fine folks at Rotten Tomatoes have compiled a list of the best remakes of all time. Some interesting choices I must say – http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/best_remakes_50_years_50_movies/

And speaking of remakes, I have a feeling that this one may not make that list – the swell Japanese cult thingy Big Man Japan is getting a American remake. – http://www.avclub.com/articles/big-man-japan-to-get-american-remake-and-sequel,57128/

Here’s an amusing video for all you Star Wars prequel haters out there – http://laughingsquid.com/george-lucas-strikes-back-the-story-behind-the-star-wars-prequels/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+laughingsquid+%28Laughing+Squid%29

That’s it for this week kids. Remember, stay golden and keep watching…

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending June 6th

/0 Comments/in /by

You may recall, dear readers, a few weeks ago when I posted how I had been ripped off by this guy on Craigslist – http://ow.ly/5678i – well we had a little fun with it and there was a bit of anger directed towards this him – check the comments section of that link. I thought that was that, move on. I hadn’t actually thought about it in weeks.. So I was quite surprised to see a message in my email inbox from him on the weekend. It was just a bunch of sophomoric, pathetic insults. I wasn’t even sure he wrote the email – I thought it was written maybe by a seven year old. It was weird and sad. So I didn’t take the bait and reply to it. Instead I thought we’d have a little contest! The prize? The bootleg box set of all three seasons of Deadwood that caused all of this commotion in the first place. The contest? Tell me any stories of encounters you’ve had with idiots on the internet – be they from Craigslist or whatever. Our esteemed panel of judges (me) will determine the best entry and award said box set.

On another note – just a reminder that starting this Wednesday, June 1st, the Cambie store hours will change slightly. From Sunday to Thursday we will be open 1pm to 10pm (We are opening an hour later on these days) and Friday and Saturday will remain the same noon till 11pm. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone. The Commercial store hours will remain as is.

New Releases for Tuesday May 31st

Burning Palms – One of those ensemble cast thingies where a lot of characters do stuff and occasionally intersect with each other. I blame Crash for these types of films (although sometimes they can be quite good). This one has Shannon Doherty, Dylan McDermott, Zoe Saldana and Nick Stahl, set in LA, and is supposed to be quite dark, nasty and full of sex and sexual situations and all things sex. Interested yet?

Biutiful – If you’re looking for a bunch of laughs, look the other way. Javier Bardem (nominated for this) stars in this tragic tale of a dying guy who goes from one horror to the next in the seedy underbelly of Barcelona. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu the dude who made Amores Perros and Babel. Also on the Blu Ray.

Drive Angry – Who doesn’t drive angry? Nic Cage does. And he acts and looks all weird again playing a guy (demon, maybe I dunno) in this ludicrous tale of a fella driving around looking to avenge the death of his daughter at the hands of cult leader. Along for the ride is a tough, talking barbie doll. This is the WTF film of the year for me so far. I still am not too sure what happened and I just watched it last night. Entertaining it is for sure, just don’t expect too much. For me it falls into the so bad it’s almost good category with some inspired violence and strange dialogue. Also on the Blu Ray.

Kaboom – The latest from Greg Araki (Doom Generation, Mysterious Skin) that takes a look at the sexual awakenings of a bunch of college kids. Is there some “experimenting” going on here? What do you think? Have you seen any other of his films?

Kisses – Great little drama about a couple of kids who run away at Christmas and spend an incredible night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin. Word has is that it’s quite excellent!

Passion Play – This may be the other contender for the WTF film of the week. Bill Murray, Mickey Rourke and Meghan Fox star in this weird gangster thriller about an angel (?) stripper (?!) who tries to get out from under her menacing gangster boss with the aid of a down on his luck trumpet player. Haven’t seen this yet but it does sound intriguing. Anything with Bill Murray gets my attention.

Proie – AKA Prey – Because it’s been mere weeks since we had the last giant killer boar (or forrest pig as my 5 year old likes to call them) film, comes this gory horror film about, well a giant killer forrest pig! Move over Chawz, here come Proie!

Rock Steady: The Roots of Reggae – Title pretty much says it all. If you like the reggae, you’ll like this. Seems something to watch when the weather is nice and you have a cold one in your hand. (That’s basically the only time I enjoy those sweet, sweet reggae sounds)

Rogue Kill – An assassin must fend for himself when his boss puts out a contract on him. Hmmm contract eh? Something to consider if the employees ever get out of line. Stars the Baconater himself, Kevin Bacon! Mmm bacon.

The Shrine – Well received horror number about some kids investigating a cult rumored to be involved in human sacrifices. Hmmm human sacrifices eh? Something to consider if the employees ever get out of line.

True Blood Season 3 – The gangs all back ready to sink their teeth into season 3!  My 5 year old insists that he’s a vampire. A day-walker if you will. But he doesn’t drink human blood, just blood from the store, he says. Just like these vampires!

Coming Next Week

True Grit

Another Year

Just Go With It

When We Leave

Breaking Bad Season 3

Scenesters

Rubber

Sanctum

Texuality

American: The Bill Hicks Story

Rafle

Recently Viewed and Recommended

I Saw the Devil (good nasty, over the top violent fun)

Festival Express (good rock and roll fun)

Treme S 1

Found Footage Festival Volume 5

Public Speaking

Biutiful

Ip Man

Marwencol

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

Blue Valentine

I Am You

Vanishing on 7th St.

Go Internets Go!

If you are a regular reader of this newsletter, you know that I’m a big fan of The Onion. Here’s a funny link to some of the Onion’s Facebook postings that people thought were real.

http://literallyunbelievable.tumblr.com/

And keeping with the Craigslist theme. Here’s one of my favorite sites – You Suck at Craigslist. While it doesn’t deal with scoundrels like the guy who ripped me off, it has a lot of funny postings. Peruse, enjoy and make sure you check out  “The 8 suckiest Craigslist ads” and the “Not a Lion” section.

http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/

Ooh! There’s a new Between Two Ferns! http://ow.ly/5679q

That’s it for this week folks. Looking forward to hearing your internet tales. Bootleg Box Set could be yours!

 

 

Black Dog Video

https://www.blackdogvideo.ca/

 

 

 

 

Black Dog Video

https://www.blackdogvideo.ca/

 

 

 

 

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending May 30th

/0 Comments/in /by

Alright, enough with the talk of businesses closing and what not. Time to welcome a few new shops to the hoods. On Cambie we have a fine (hopefully it’s fine – haven’t tried it yet) new little restaurant called Pronto which has opened up in the old Art’s Flowers local. Looks like a tasty sandwich place specializing in the the wonders of the pig – the magical animal. I also hear they have a liquor license which sweetens the pot a little. Over here on the Drive it’s goodbye Me and Julio’s (never was much of a fan to be honest) and hello Sorry Babushka which identifies themselves as a “Euro themed sports bar”. Make of that what you will. But the place that I’m most interested in, if it indeeds happens, is Liberty Wines opening in the old Wazubee space. It would be nice to have an alternative to the current liquor outlet with it’s sad, diabolical selection of wines and beers. Good luck to you all!

New Releases for Tuesday May 24th

All Good Things– The lovely Kirsten Dunst and the suave Ryan Gosling star in this unheard of drama/ thriller about a lovely New York couple who have the idyllic life. Or do they? It’s a movie so of course they don’t. She goes missing, he’s a suspect. What’s to happen? Based on a true tale.

Bedeviled – As if there haven’t been enough South Korean revenge thrillers! If you weren’t satiated by the awesome and awesomely violent I Saw the Devil, maybe you can wet your whistle on this puppy. A woman returns to the small island of her upbringing to visit a childhood friend. Apparently things aren’t going to well for the friend. Much nastiness and horror ensue. This one gets quite good ratings on the internets!

Blood Creek – Revenge, Nazis and the occult are on the plate in this tasty looking morsel. Upside – I like all the subject matter. Downside – it’s directed by Joel Schumacher. Make a good double bill with Blood River.

Down Terrace – The British specialize in family crime films (especially comedic family crime films) almost as much as the Koreans work in the revenge genre. This one looks pretty good as a British crime family tries to ferret out the informant in their midst who is making their lives uncomfortable. Comes with much acclaim and aplomb.

Found Footage Festival Vol. 5 – Saw this at the Rio the other night and it had me laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face. Tears! Great party DVD. Invite some friends over, have a few pops and/or other stuff and enjoy. One of the highlights was a clip called Rent-A-Friend, about a guy who made a tape of himself pretending to have a conversation with you. It’s hilarious as he starts to delve into some dark secrets of his own family! It was so enjoyable that I also brought in the original Rent-A-Friend production. Trailer can be viewed below. Amazing!

Gnomeo and Juliet – Animated thing retelling the famed Shakespeare tragedy but in garden gnome form. Wonder if everyone dies at the end?

I Am Number Four – Pretty good (from what I hear) sci-fi thingy about a teen on the run who has some special abilities or something and is being chased by some bad guys with special abilities or something. Has the always good Timothy Olyphant so it has that going for it. Also on Blu Ray.

Oliver Sherman – Tense, drama dealy from the country known as Canada. Garret Dillahunt (one of my favorite actors going today) stars as a dude who invites himself to stay with an old army buddy and his wife (always swell Molly Parker). Things seem pleasant at first, but you know this guy’s going have something else going on that is not quite kosher with his hosts.

Public Speaking – Martin Scorsese directed doc about famed talker Fran Lebowitz. If you like her, I’m sure that you enjoy this doc. If you don’t like her I suggest you watch something else – Gnomeo and Juliet perhaps?

Red, White and Blue – Heavy drama set in Austin, Texas about a freewheeling girl ( she’ll sleep with anyone) who runs into various savory and unsavory characters. Supposed to be very good and dramatic in a heavy drama kinda way.

Coming Next Week

Biutiful
Rock Steady
Drive Angry
The Shrine
Rogue Kill
Burning Palms
True Blood Season 3
Kaboom
Proie

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Found Footage Festival #5
I Saw the Devil (nasty, insane shit)
enIp Man 1 and 2

Vanishing on 7th Street
I Am You
The Kids are Alright
The Girl
Marwencol
Lemmy
Rabbit Hole

Great Job Internets!

I’m sure (well not really all that sure) that you heard about Lars Von Trier’s weird Nazi lovin’ press conference at Cannes last week. Well here’s the clip of him babbling on and on. It’s great just to watch Kirsten Dunst seated next to him react to the nonsense he was saying – [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LayW8aq4GLw[/youtube]

In case you were wondering who walked away with the hardware at Cannes, here’s a article featuring the winners and losers – http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-tree-of-life-and-kirsten-dunst-overcome-boos-a,56442/

And of course you all know that May is Zombie Awareness Month. Well the fine folks at the Centre for Disease control issued this guide on what to do in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse. Just so ya know – http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

And here’s a little trailer for Rent-A-Friend as promised. http://foundfootagefest.com/

Well, that’s all for this week, kids. Have a great 7 days, and remember, keep watching.

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending May 23rd

/0 Comments/in /by

It’s really quite amazing – not the good kind of amazing unfortunately – to see what has transpired in the first five months of 2011 with regards to this business. Since the beginning of the year no less than ten DVD rental stores have either closed or will be closing in the very near future. And that’s not counting the Blockbusters and the Rogers. It shocks and saddens me to think that a town the size of Vancouver might be without any video stores. Bizarre. That said, rest assured that Black Dog is not going anywhere. At least that’s the plan. There will be a few changes in the future to the business; starting June 1st the Cambie store will be opening at 1pm Sunday to Thursday instead of the regular noon openings. Stay tuned.

New Releases for Tuesday May 17th

Autre Dumas – The round Gerard Depardieu stars in this period drama about the famous writer ( Dumas) and his uncredited writing partner who decides to pretend he’s Dumas to seduce a young Dumas groupie. Kind sounds like an episode of Three’s Company.

Daydream Nation – Locally shot number about a lovely big city gal who has to move to a small town for some reason and then becomes embroiled in a love triangle with her young handsome teacher and stoner classmate. Stars the lovely Kat Dennings and the lovely Josh Lucas. Lovely!

I Saw the Devil – Can’t wait to check this one out! Nobody does the revenge flicks like the South Koreans. When a psycho kills the pregnant wife of an “elite special agent” he gets more than he bargained for when the husband exacts his own brand of nasty-ass revenge. Word has it that it is crazy violent and crazy good. This one jumps to the top of my viewing que for sure.

The Mechanic – So-so action thingy about a hit man who takes on the son of one of his targets to teach him the trade. I was actually looking forward to this as I kinda like the Jason Statham (does he do anything else beside steely-eyed hit men roles?) but it’s pretty cliched (hello beautiful prostitute) and ridiculous with improbable action scenes that are edited too fast and pseudo stylized which all adds up to just another tired action flick. Also on the Blu Ray.

Modra – Canadian/ Slovakian production about a young girl who gets dumped by her boyfriend just before she leaves Toronto for a vacation abroad. So she invites a cute boy named Leco from her school to join her. Misunderstandings and some sort of self discovery hijinks, I presume, ensue.

The Rite – Sir Anthony Hopkins + exorcism horror film = well I hope that it equals something pretty good. But I’m not holding my breath. Also on the Blu Ray.

The Roommate – Another in the long line of “crazy hot roommate at college who looks a lot like you and who may end up killing your boyfriend and stealing your identity for some reason” films.

Thor: Tales of Asgard (Animated) – Word has it that this animated Thor feature (coincidence that it hits DVD the same time that the non-animated one hits the theatres?) is actually pretty darn good. For all you nerds out there who like this sort of thing.

Three Idiots – Wacky (don’t believe me? Look at the box art) comedy from India about a couple of friends who embark on a journey to find a long lost buddy. And they do it without pants!

Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show Great Job! Season 5 – More of the insane, hilarious and insane skits and what-not from these jokesters.

Vanishing on 7th Street – Everyone in Detroit has mysteriously disappeared (insert Detroit joke here) leaving behind nothing but a pile of clothes (whoo-hoo! free clothes!). What is in the dark that is doing this? Is it some sort of evil? Is it the Rapture? A small band of survivors must figure it out before it’s too late. From Brad Anderson (Session 9, Transsiberian) one of the most under-rated directors working (in my not-so-humble opinion) today.

The Way Back – Peter Weir finally returns to the director’s chair in this trueish tale about a bunch of prisoners who escape a Gulag in Siberia and trek ten million miles to India. I read the book, which was quite interesting and exciting but I seem to recall there was a Yeti sighting in it. Wonder if that will make it onto the screen. Hope so. Also on the Blu Ray.

Coming Next Week

  • Oliver Sherman
  • Blood Creek
  • Bedeviled
  • Public Speaking
  • All Good Things
  • Gnomeo and Juliet
  • I am Number Four

Recently Viewed and Recommended

The Illusionist
Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
A Somewhat Gentle Man
The Girl

Inside Job

Somewhere

King’s Speech
Marwencol

Great Job Internets!

Ever wonder what a Turkish tailgate party might look like? Of course you have. Now here’s your chance![youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUzC78VNnB0[/youtube]

Looks like Jim Jaramuch is going to venture into the tired and well trodden vampire flick genre. At least it will probably be a lot more interesting than the Twilight stuff. It will star Tilda Swinton who already looks like a vampire so it’s got that going for it. http://www.avclub.com/articles/even-jim-jarmusch-is-making-a-vampire-movie,56118/

The First Weekend Club would like you to know about a showing of the locally shot Repeaters this week… http://www.bigbluesafe.com/email/display.php?M=81692&C=b6cb8cd1b1f1e7648778570ec1f4d974&S=908&L=33&N=649

Another thing I was thinking of has been made true because of the internets! Great Job. Why in romantic comedies do woman fall down all the time? Here’s a bunch of evidence. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH2Bpl42WXo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Want to see something utterly ridiculous and offensive? Check out the size of Will Smith’s trailer (not what you’re thinking, perverts) It even has a name it’s so big… http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/monster_that_ate_soho_VdW5POGj4kk2YKCD1R0g6I?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4dccda72952ab787%2C0

Thats it for today folks. Enjoy the hockey if that’s your bag but don’t forget about us! Keep watching.

Black Dog Video

News at Black Dog Video

Black Dog Newletter for Week Ending May 16th

/12 Comments/in /by

Well it’s been quite the week I must say – the incredibly disappointing election (really? there’s that many people who think Harper is doing that good a job?!), I got burned on Craigslist – details to follow, and Videomatica announced that they are closing. I’ve just completed an essay on my thoughts of this and just what is happening to the DVD rental industry and the possible grim future it has. Check it out on the blog portion of the site if you wish…

Have you ever been burned by some loser, ass-face on Craigslist? Up until this week I have had nothing but relatively positive experiences. I arranged to by a box set of seasons 1-3 of Deadwood from some guy on Craigslist. Seemed like a pretty good deal. He even dropped them off at the Cambie store. I wasn’t there for the transaction but when I came in a few days later I noticed that the it was a cheap bootleg. I contacted him about this and he said he had no idea it was a bootleg (he even claimed he didn’t know what a bootleg was) and that he’d be willing to refund my money. We made arrangements. He never showed. I emailed him a few times and he finally responded saying that he wasn’t going to give me a refund. Buyer beware he said. I was shocked and pissed. I sent him a stern but reasonable email asking what had happened and why he wasn’t going to give me a refund. His response was filled with insults and mockery; “get over it Darren. U act like you never got the raw end of a deal. I never lied to you. The fact is, you should have not left this transaction to your untrained employee. And as far as your business is concerned, did you really think the video business was going to pay your bills? You are the fool. The movie business has changed, ever heard of Netflix? How about LimeWire? I am surprised you actually thought a complete stranger was going to give you a refund! HAHAHAH You’re a sucker. One born every minute….too much fun. I hope everytime you hear the word Deadwood, you think of me and how gullable you are. Civilize this…. Fuck you.”
Needless to say I was entirely infuriated. Crimson anger. After one more email he returned with this; “Maybe u want to buy some more bootleg shit from me? Haha sucker. I make my living off suckers like u. It’s an entire industry. Sucker.”
So not only is he a tool, a thief, and a sociopath, he’s also not very bright (seems to like the word sucker). His signs his name Andy and his email is Sandy Watters <> – His phone number is 604-727-7671. Just in case you run across him on Craigslist or want to drop him a line.

New Releases for Tuesday May 10th

Black Death – Middling sword and knight affair set in the 13th century that follows some inquisitive knights led by Sean Bean as they search for witches to torture and a place in the country to relax that the Black Plague has not ravaged. I was hoping for more blood and torture and gore (just the mood I was in), picturing Sandy Watters being drawn and quartered. Still not a bad watch for those of you who like this sort of thing, I just think that it could have been better.

Blue Valentine – Heavy duty relationship drama starring the always smartly dressed Ryan Gosling and the former Mrs. Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams. Word has it that its gritty, sexily sexy and very good. Also on the Blu Ray.

Concert – Uplifting French drama about a dude, Andrei Simoniovich Filipov, (there’s a mouthful) the renowned conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra, who was fired 30 years ago for hiring Jewish musicians. Now he’s a janitor, or custodial engineer as I like to refer to that profession, at the Bolshoi. Then he sees a chance for a way back in. Drama and enjoyment ensue.

I Am You – Very well received drama, mystery, thriller from down under (Australia) about a family who’s 15 year-old daughter goes missing. Who could be responsible? The loving dad? The loving boyfriend? The psychotic babysitter? Sandy Watters? Who knows? Great cast – Guy Pearce, Miranda Otto, Sam Neill. Looks like one to check out. I must say the quality thrillers coming out of Australia as of late has been quite craggy! ( I think that means impressive) Also known as In Her Skin.

The Illusionist – Amazing animated French film from the cats who brought you the wonderful Triplets of Belleville a few years back. From an original screenplay by Jacques Tati. Nominated for best animated feature at this years Oscars. Also on the Blu Ray.

Life with Murder – Great doc about an Ontario girl murdered in her home. All evidence points to her brother. Or Sandy Watters. Word has it that it’s an amazing story and fine piece of work. Love me a good doc!

No Strings Attached – Oh Natalie Portman, what have ye done? Where have you gone? From winning an Oscar in the excellent Black Swan to starring in a romantic comedy about friends with benefits with Ashton Kutchner. I guess ya got to pay those Harvard bills. On the Blu Ray as well.

The Violent Kind – From auteurs The Butcher Brothers comes this tale of a small group of hardened young bikers and their girlfriends are tormented when one of the girls becomes savagely possessed and a gang of “Rockabillies” seemingly from the 1950’s descends upon them to collect what is growing inside her. I think it may be a documentary?

Coming Next Week

Modra
Down Terrace
The Way Back
Thor: Tales of Asgard (Animated)
The Mechanic
The Rite
Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show Great Job Season 5
Vanishing on 7th Street
Daydream Nation
The Roommate
Autre Dumas

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Blue Valentine
Rabbit Hole
Mad Men S. 4
A Somewhat Gentle Man
The Girl
Inside Job
Lemmy
The King’s Speech
Somewhere
Made in Dagenham
Fair Game
Four Lions

Great Job Internets!

Sorry it’s a day late but here is Mr. T telling you about his mother (just in almost time for Mother’s Day) …http://foundfootagefest.com/videos/mr-ts-mother

And from local filmmaker and friend of Black Dog, Mina Shum comes a little short (little short?!) film for all you hip-hop mom’s out there…www.hiphopmomfilm.com

Here’s a fine column to catch up on a bunch of movie news including Tarantino’s next flick and a movie about the hunt for some guy named Bin Laden … http://ow.ly/4QDLZ

Star Wars by way of existentialist, Jean- Paul Sartre. Brilliant! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-uQWNd540I

Well that’s all for this week kids. I hope that you had a chance to read my blog regarding the state of the DVD rental biz and also to stay clear of any douche bags on the Craigslist. You know who I’m talking about.

Black Dog Video
https://www.blackdogvideo.ca/

Black Dog Video
https://www.blackdogvideo.ca/

Black Dog Video Newsletter for Week Ending May 9th

/0 Comments/in /by

So much is going on at the moment, it’s hard to keep everything straight! We’ve got the royal wedding between Osama Bin Laden and Kate Middlebrow, Obama finally got have Trump’s douche, er I mean birth certificate released, the US finally were able to hunt down the evil Price William and kill him in his “mansion” on the hill in Pakistan (I thought he was supposed to be living in a cave in Afghanistan?), the Canucks are playing really boring hockey in the playoffs, and we have a real chance of getting President Harper out of office. Crazy times! I hope that everyone gets out today to vote – remember friends don’t let friends vote Conservative. Or as my friend Robert says; “Today is the day where you can either vote for a Harper Government or a Canadian Government”. So get our, vote early and vote often and then pop by the shop to treat yourself to a fine flick for the evening.

New Releases for Tuesday May 3rd

Curious George Plays Ball – A monkey playing baseball?! Well I never. You’ll have to watch this documentary to find out, sorry, what’s that? It’s not a documentary? It’s an animated kids show? Well, OK then.
Curling – I’ve never tried to curl before but it does look like it may be fun to try (more fun than watching I have to assume) as I do enjoy sweaters, sweeping and drinking. As for this film, I’m not to sure if it has much to do with curling. It seems like a somewhat sombre Canadian piece about a strange, off-beat relationship between a dad and his daughter set somewhere in a remote part of the countryside. How Canadian does that sound?
The Dilemma – The real dilemma here is how Vince Vaughn still gets work. Like come on, does he do anything but these lame comedies and cheer for the Blackhawks? At least this film has comic genius Kevin James (Mall Cop) to carry it. (Can you sense the sarcasm dripping from my keyboard?) So the story goes as this – man discovers his best friend’s wife is having an affair. Let the comedy begin. Anyone else getting a little tired of fat, ugly dudes who have drop dead gorgeous wives in the movies and on the TV?
Eleanor’s Secret – Excellent animated feature about a little guy who discovers that the books in the library in his grandma’s house are full of lively characters that need his protection. Or something like that. Fun for the whole family!
The Godfathers of Ganja – From the guys who brought you Cocaine Cowboys comes this tale of Miami’s pot smuggling scene of the 1970s, populated with redneck pirates, a ganja-smoking church, and the longest serving marijuana prisoner in American history. For some reason this film is also called Square Grouper.
Green Hornet – Oh look, here comes another “superhero comic book movie”. Seth Rogan and Jay Chou team up to fight crime and comedy in this popcorn flick. I imagine that Bruce Lee and Van Williams are rolling over in their respective graves (that is a strange expression). Also on the Blu Rays.
Marwencol – Fascinating looking doc about a dude who gets badly beaten up, ends up with brain damage and then for some reason decides to build a 1/6th scale recreation of WWII in his backyard. Brains are weird. Unless you’re a zombie, then they’re tasty.
A Somewhat Gentle Man – Stellan Skarsgård plays a dude fresh out of prison who has to deal with this old gang, his ex, an impending wedding and losing his hair in this dark comedy that, word on the street has it, is quite excellent.
The Two Escobars – Riveting doc about Escobar, the most famous soccer player in Columbia and Escobar, the biggest most powerful drug king-pin in the world (and Columbia). One thing learned from this film – don’t score on your own goal in soccer and don’t become a big drug kingpin. I guess that’s two things.

Old Shite

Sweet Smell of Success – Criterion
Fish Tank – Criterion

Coming Next Week

  • The Illusionist
  • No Strings Attached
  • Black Death
  • That’s What I Am
  • Life with Murder
  • The Violent Kind
  • Concert
  • Blue Valentine
  • I Am You

Recently Viewed and Recommended

  • A Somewhat Gentle Man
  • Mad Men S 4
  • The Girl
  • The Green Hornet
  • Carlos The Jackal
  • Inside Job
  • Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
  • King’s Speech
  • Somewhere
  • Made in Dagenham
  • The Walking Dead S 1
  • Treme S 1
  • Alamar
  • Fair Game
  • Black Swan
  • Lemmy
  • Four Lions

Go Internets Go!

Here’s an amusing (if a little long) clip of Obama roasting The Donald. Pretty good jabs. What’s with Trump anyways? Is he just plain nuts? I really hope that he runs for President! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TwRmX6zs4[/youtube]
With the new Fast and Furious film raking in the dough, here’s a nice interview with the screen writer…[youtube]http://ow.ly/4LvQA[/youtube]
If you’ve been watching the great series Human Planet, here’s a piece that was cut form the final cut; The Douche – [youtube]http://ow.ly/4LwAp[/youtube]
And one more – Oscar Wilde meets the Jersey Shore – [youtube]http://ow.ly/4LwKh[/youtube]
That’s it for this week folks, remember, get out and vote today and also keep watching.

Black Dog Newsletter for Week Ending May 2nd

/0 Comments/in /by

With so much happening right now – impending election (remember, friends don’t let friends vote Conservative!), the impending implosion of the Canucks (I kid, I want them to win as much as the next fan) – when is one going to find time to watch some quality films? I guess it’s not a bad thing that it’s a sub-par week for releases? I take that back it is always a bad thing when pickings are slim. It really has been feast of famine over the past few and next couple of weeks with regards to new films hitting the shelves. Good thing that we have such a swell collection of older titles for everyone to catch up on.

And catch up on you shall with all of our swell deals! Sunday to Thursday 2 flicks for $7.00. Eight dollar madness on Wednesdays – 5 oldies for 8 bones! Don’t forget the $35 pre-paid card. Get them while they last! And the fabulous Black Dog T-shirts are still available. See ya’ll soon.

New Releases for Tuesday April 26th

Casino Jack – Jack Abramoff plays political criminal douche bag Kevin Spacey (or is it the other way around?) in this docudrama that charts the uprise and downfall of the famed evil Washington lobbyist.

Chawz – Is anyone else getting a little tired of the South Korean giant killer pig movies? Raise your hand. I see you! If you’re not, then here you are. Go crazy. Do it!

Human Planet – The Complete Series – Compelling, beautifully shot doc that looks at human’s relationship with nature or something. Word has it that it’s quite awesome and that we’re not really nice to the planet (surprise!) and some critters especially the little monkeys. Also on stunning blu ray.

IP Man 2 – For those of you who couldn’t get enough IP Man! Supposed to be quite awesome in a kick you in the face and then the throat kind of way. Also on the most kung-fuiest of Blu Rays.

Jolene – A teenage orphan travels across the land seeking out adventure, finding love and sex, experiencing heartbreak and solving crimes (maybe not the solving crimes part) in this interesting looking drama type thing.

Lucky – Doc that checks in on lottery winners to see how winning piles of dough has affected their lives – for the good and the bad. Word has it that it’s quite an excellent little number – it’s from the fine folks who brought you Spellbound. I’m always amazed to hear how many people factor in winning the lottery as part of their retirement plans. Good luck!

Wasteland – Most popular film at last year’s film fest! Doc about people who use garbage (it’s set in a huge land fill just outside Rio) to make art. “I don’t know much about art, but I knows what I likes!”

Older titles

Capone – Cool 70’s retelling of the story of the famed mobster. Stars Ben Gazzara, Sly Stallone, John Cassavettes and Susan Blakely.

Coming Next Week

  • Curling
  • A Somewhat Gentle Man
  • The Green Hornet
  • Bloomington
  • The Dilemma
  • The Godfathers of Ganja

Recently Viewed and Recommended

Inside Job – Why aren’t people storming Wall St. with pitchforks and torches?! Those bastards.

  • Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
  • King’s Speech
  • Somewhere
  • Mad Men S 4
  • Made in Dagenham
  • The Walking Dead S 1
  • Treme S 1
  • Alamar
  • The Girl
  • Fair Game
  • Black Swan
  • Lemmy
  • Four Lions

Go, Internets, Go!

Here’s a good rant for those of you (us) that feel that maybe TV is ruining everyone’s life. And it’s funny! [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f2iEQwApm8[/youtube]

This has always been one of my pet peeves in films – good to see someone articulate it for me (although it was in my hopper to rant on about on my blog soon – dang!). It’s a funny article about speech giving in films – like in Braveheart when Mad Mel is riding along his enormous legion of troops shouting out some sort of inspirational speech. Who the hell can hear him except maybe the first couple of rows – and that’s if he stands still, not riding up and down the ranks? I picture myself in the army there leaning over to a fellow soldier, “What’d he say? We’re doing what?!” Or shouting “Speak up!”
http://livvyjams.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/strange-cinema-conventions-the-pre-battle-horseback-pep-talk-minus-megaphone/

And to sort of keep with that theme, hear’s a funny article from the Onion about odd movie jobs that we wish were real, especially in these hard economic times…
http://www.avclub.com/articles/nice-work-if-you-can-get-it-22-nichey-job-fields-w,55022/

Alright, ya’ll that’s it for today/this week. Enjoy the hockey game, keep the rioting to a minimum if they lose, get out there and vote next Monday and remember to keep watching!

Black Dog Video

Welcome to Black Dog Video!