This Week on DVD & Blu-ray (04-24-12)

Some notable releases from earlier this year make their way to the top of this week’s batch of new release pile. Mark Wahlberg delivers another blue-collar tough guy performance in “Contraband”, a movie he carries with his trademark scowled brow. Wahlberg fans anticipating an action flick may be disappointed, but the smuggling/heist movie does provide some decent entertainment and funny performances (intentional or not). For a legitmately unnerving suspence feature, there’s “The Innkeepers” the latest slow-burn horror entry from writer/director Ti West, which warrants repeat viewings. Another solid release from a writer/director is “Pariah”, helmed by Dee Rees, focusing on a teen girl in Brooklyn trying to figure out how to be true to herself despite mounting pressues from her friends and family. Expect reviews for those two later in the week. On the flipside, do not get drawn in by Halle Berry’s latest, an alleged thriller called “Dark Tide” in which the Oscar-winner plays a shark whisperer – need I say more?

 

Criterion is releasing an Italian film from 1963 called “The Organizer” starring Marcello Mastroianni as a travelling professor who shows up in Turin after an accident in a textile factory which has caused a walkout. He helps the workers stand up and unite for their rights. I had never heard of the turn-of-the-twentieth-century historical drama which received an Oscar-nomination for its screenplay, but I anticipate catching up with it in the future – or maybe The Criterion Completist will! At some point, I also plan on adding “Let the Bullets Fly” to my queue. The successful Chinese action comedy from 2010 starring Chow-Yun Fat had a recent limited run in select U.S. theaters. The 1920s period piece was nominated for several awards in Asia and premiered at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

 

 

• 11-11-11 (DVD)
• Blind Turn  (DVD)
• Camelot: 45th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)
• Cinema Verite (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Contraband (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Crime After Crime  (DVD)
• Dark Tide (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Death and Cremation  (DVD)
• Eclipse Series 32: Pearls of the Czech New Wave  (DVD)
• The Fields (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Girl on a Motorcycle: Remastered Edition (DVD/Blu-ray)
• The Innkeepers (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Iron Man Anime  (DVD)
• Let the Bullets Fly (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Let the Bullets Fly (Collector’s Edition) (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Marquis De Sade’s Justine: Remastered Edition (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Marvel Animated Features 3-Movie Collection (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Night Wolf  (DVD)
• The Organizer (Criterion Collection) (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Pariah (DVD/Blu-ray)
• Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour (DVD)
• Primitive London + London In The Raw: Jezebel Double Feature (DVD)
• The Red House (Combo Pack) (Blu-ray)
• The Theatre Bizarre  (DVD)
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979) (Blu-ray)
• Ubaldo Terzani Horror Show (Blu-ray)
• Ultimate Avengers Movie Collection (DVD/Blu-ray)
• When It Was a Game 2  (DVD)
• The Wicker Tree (DVD/Blu-ray)
• X-Men Anime  (DVD)
• Young Goethe in Love (DVD)