Finally, a week with some decent releases in it. Not too many overall, but there are at least a few here I definitely want to rent (or have seen and can unequivocally recommend), and even that’s been tough to come by lately. Fairly quiet on the Instant front, though last week’s Star Trek: The Original Series drop turned out to actually be all the Star Trek series except Deep Space 9, which is pretty cool. Oh, do note that there’s another crop of Criterions due to expire from streaming on July 22nd. This post doesn’t go out far enough to list them, but they’ll be in next week’s.
NEW RELEASE PICKS OF THE WEEK
13 Assassins
One of the most enjoyable films I saw at the AFI Fest last year, a great take on the standard samurai story. It takes a bit to get going, but it’s totally worth it to set everything up, and then the fight at the end is epic.
2010 Japan. Director: Takashi Miike. Starring: Kôji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yûsuke Iseya.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix
Hobo With a Shotgun
I’m kicking myself still for missing this when it was in theatres; it looks like a completely over the top insane awesome piece of exploitation throw-back revenge cinema. My fingers are crossed for a relatively quick release onto Instant Watch; most Magnet films have made the leap within a few weeks of DVD release.
2011 USA. Director: Jason Eisener. Starring: Rutger Hauer.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix
Of Gods and Men
France’s entry to the Oscars this year looks like a contemplative look at faith and war, as a group of monks in Algeria decide whether to face terrorist threats from fundamentalists or flee the country.
2010 France. Director: Xavier Beauvois. Starring: Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale.
Amazon DVD/Blu-ray | Netflix
OTHER NEW RELEASES
Wake Wood (2011 UK, dir David Keating, stars Eva Birthistle, Amelia Crowley; Blu-ray/Netflix)
BloodRayne: The Third Reich (2011 USA, dir Uwe Boll, stars Natassia Malthe; Blu-ray/Netflix)
Empire of Assassins (2011 China, stars Miu Tse, Li Yuan; Netflix)
Ferocious Planet (2011 USA, dir Billy O’Brien, stars Joe Flanigan, John Rhys-Davies)
The Frankenstein Syndrome (2010 USA, dir Sean Tretta, stars Tiffany Shepis, Louis Mandylor; Netflix)
Illegal (2011 France, dir Olivier Masset-Depasse, stars Anne Coesens; Netflix)
Witchville (2010 USA, dir Pearry Reginald Teo, stars Luke Goss, Ed Speleers; Netflix)
CLASSIC PICK OF THE WEEK
The Sacrifice
I’m woefully uneducated on Tarkovsky, but I definitely want to get to his filmography soonish; this one is a Swedish rather than Russian film, about a young boy who offers himself to God in pleading for the world to be spared World War III.
1986 Sweden. Director: Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood.
Amazon DVD | Amazon Blu-ray | Netflix (not new edition)
OTHER CLASSIC/OLDER RELEASES
I Was Happy Here (1966 UK, dir Desmond Davis, stars Sarah Miles, Cyril Cusack)
BLU-RAY PICK OF THE WEEK
Das Boot 2-disc Collector’s Edition
Wolfgang Petersen’s masterpiece of submarine drama comes to Blu-ray in a 2-disc edition that includes both the theatrical and director’s cut (but not the super-long uncut TV version). I’ve yet to sit down with this, but if you’re a fan, looks like this is a great set.
1997 Germany. Director: Wolfgang Petersen. Starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer.
Amazon Blu-ray | Amazon DVD | Netflix
OTHER BLU-RAY RELEASES
Crack in the World (1965 USA, dir Andrew Marton, stars Dana Andrews, Janette Scott; DVD/Netflix)
The Cutting Edge (1992 USA, dir Paul Michael Glaser, stars D.B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly; DVD/Netflix)
Hannie Caulder (1972 USA, dir Burt Kennedy, stars Raquel Welch, Robert Culp; DVD/Netflix)
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992 USA, dir Andrew Bergman, stars Nicolas Cage; DVD/Netflix)
Overboard (1987 USA, dir Garry Marshall, stars Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell; DVD/Netflix)
TELEVISION PICKS OF THE WEEK
Eureka: Season 4.0
The cable channels have been outdoing the networks for me lately, and I have no doubt that when I get around to Eureka, it will reinforce that feeling, with its goofy sci-fi elements that made it perfect crossover material for Warehouse 13 last season.
2011 USA. Creator: Andrew Cosby, Jaime Paglia. Starring: Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield.
Amazon DVD | Netflix
Southland: Season 2
I dropped out of Southland pretty early in its run, but those who stuck with it rave about it incessently, and the fans were strong enough here for TNT to pick up the show after NBC dropped it – a really unusual move.
2010 USA. Creator: Ann Biderman. Starring: Ben Mackenzie, Michael Cudlitz.
Amazon DVD-R | Netflix
OTHER TELEVISION
According to Jim: Season 4 (2005 USA, creators Tracy Newman, Jonathan Stark, stars James Belushi; Netflix)
Boy Meets World: Season 6 (1999 USA, creators Michael Jacobs, April Kelly, stars Ben Savage; Netflix)
The Cape: Complete Series (2010 USA, creator Thomas Wheeler, starring: David Lyons; Netflix)
Mannix: Season 5 (1972 USA, creators Richard Levinson, William Link, stars Mike Connors; Netflix)
INSTANT WATCH PICKS OF THE WEEK
Camelot: Season 1
Starz’s take on the King Arthur legends, with an extremely solid cast that has me dying to check it out for myself.
2011 USA. Creator Michael Hirst, Chris Chibnall. Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green.
The Tourist [7/7]
This got pretty dismal reviews, but I’m still curious about it – curious enough for Instant anyway – due to the director and the attractive cast.
2010 USA. Director: Florian Henckel von Donnsersmarck. Starring: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie.
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
I mentioned Star Trek: The Original Series last week, but three of the other series dropped on Instant at the same time. I haven’t seen any of these series at all, though I’ve been meaning to for a long time. I’m pretty excited! The only one missing is Deep Space 9, which is rumored to be coming in October.
Charmed: Season 1
I neglected Charmed in favor of Buffy back in the day, but it’s nice to know some more of these shows from my teenage years are coming on Instant in case I ever want to go back and check them out again.
1998 USA. Creator Constance M. Burge. Starring: Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano.
Winged Migration [7/8]
A highly acclaimed nature documentary, following the migration patterns of many different kinds of birds on all seven continents – sounds routine, but some of these birds fly thousands of miles in arduous and dangerous conditions.
2001 USA. Directors: Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats, Jacques Perrin.
OTHER INSTANT WATCHES
The Chocolate War (1988 USA, dir Keith Gordon, stars John Glover, Wally Ward)
The Crush (1993 USA, dir Alan Shapiro, stars Alicia Silverstone, Cary Elwes)
Free of Eden (1999 USA, dir Leon Ichaso, stars Sidney Poitier, Sydney Tamila Poitier)
Get Carter (2000 USA, dir Stephen T. Kay, stars Sylvester Stallone, Miranda Richardson)
Navy Seals (1990 USA, dir Lewis Teague, stars Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley) [7/8]
Osmosis Jones (2001 USA, dir Peter & Bobby Farrelly, stars Chris Rock, Laurence Fishburne)
Tears of the Sun (2003 USA, dir Antoine Fuqua, stars Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci)
Vision Quest (1985 USA, dir Harold Becker, stars Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino) [7/8]
The Winning Season (2009 USA, dir James C. Strouse, stars Rob Corddry, Sam Rockwell) [7/8]
See all new and upcoming titles.
INSTANT WATCH EXPIRING PICKS
Early heads up, another bunch of Criterions are due to expire on July 22nd. So hit up InstantWatcher and catch any you need to. I’ll list them all out next week and the week after.
Arizona Dream (1994 USA, dir Emir Kusturica, stars Jerry Lewis, Johnny Depp) [7/6]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992 USA, dir Chris Columbus, stars Macaulay Culkin, Tim Curry) [7/6]
Lady Chatterley (1992 UK, dir Ken Russell, stars Joely Richardson, Sean Bean) [7/6]
The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998 USA, dir Rob Bowman, stars David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson) [7/6]
Momma’s Man (2008 USA, dir Azazel Jacobs, stars Matt Boren) [7/7]
Powder Blue (dir Timothy Linh Bui, stars Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Biel) [7/9]
The Jewel of the Nile (1985 USA, dir Lewis Teague, stars Michael Keaton, Kathleen Turner) [7/11]
Amreeka (2009 USA, dir Cherien Dabis, stars Nisreen Faour, Alia Shawkat) [7/12]
Indiscretion of an American Wife (1954 USA, dir Vittorio De Sica, stars Jennifer Jones) [7/12]
Robin Hood: Season 3 (2009 UK, creator Foz Allan, Dominic Minghella, stars Jonas Armstrong) [7/12]
My Year Without Sex (2009 Australia, dir Sarah Watt, stars Sacha Horler, Matt Day) [7/12]
Hamburger Hill (1987 USA, dir John Irvin, stars Dylan McDermott, Don Cheadle) [7/16]
Super Size Me (2004 USA, dir Morgan Spurlock) [7/16]
Trapped in Paradise (1994 USA, dir George Gallo, stars Dana Carvey, Nicolas Cage) [7/16]
Back to School (1986 USA, dir Alan Metter, stars Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon) [7/17]
Caramel (2007 Lebanon, dir Nadine Labaki, stars Nadine Labaki, Yasmine Elmasri) [7/17]
The Jacket (2005 USA, dir John Maybury, stars Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley) [7/17]
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002 Australia, dir Phillip Noyce, stars Kenneth Branagh, Laura Monaghan) [7/17]
See all expiring titles.
Disclaimers
- Amazon links use my affiliate account, and will kick a small percentage of your purchase back to me. You pay the same price you would anyway.
- Not all new releases are available on Netflix immediately. Some studio films have a 30-day release window before Netflix can rent them, and some smaller releases are not picked up by Netflix immediately. Add them to your “saved” queue if you’re interested; that tells Netflix there is demand for the disc.
- Not all new Blu-ray releases are available on Netflix – Netflix usually buys both DVD and Blu-ray editions of new releases, but if a DVD has already been released, they don’t always get the Blu-ray when it comes out later.
- Instant Watch releases are not always 100% accurate – often the data from the API is not fully accurate until the actual day of release. I always check on release day to make sure things actually do hit Instant Watch, but for things that come out later than Tuesday when I publish this post, I won’t be able to tell.
- Instant Watch expirations are not always 100% accurate – sometimes they don’t expire after all, sometimes things expire with little advance warning. I always check to make sure the data is accurate to the best of my knowledge when I publish the post, but things could still change, especially since I’m giving expiration warnings up to two weeks in advance.
- I rely on Box Office Mojo and InstantWatcher for the majority of the data for these posts, so thank you to them for the work they do.
You haven’t seen Das Boot yet? I can’t recommend it more highly; it is one of the great war films, if not THE greatest war film, ever made. Beg, borrow or steal a copy to watch. And watch the director’s cut, it’s better.
Absolutely Agree on Das Boot.
Some of my favourite War Films:
The Thin Red Line
The Big Red One
Das Boot
Apocalypse Now
Paths of Glory / Full Metal Jacket
The Deer Hunter
We’re gonna argue on something again, Kurt. I find Terrence Malick’s films too pretentious and boring – The Thin Red Line among them. It’ll probably come as no surprise to you that I find Savng Private Ryan a more… well, emotionally moving film experience… I never understood the love for TTRL, but then, I enjoyed Armageddon.
BUT:
The rest of your choices I agree wholeheartedly with, especially Apocalypse Now (theatrical or Redux, Kurt?) and Full Metal Jacket. Paths Of Glory left me cold, for some reason, but it was a while ago that I watched it, so a revisit is probably due soon. I’ll also nominate Downfall (I can’t remember the German language title of it, forgive me) and The Pianist as two of the best recent war films going around.
If I could also plug the Aussie film Rabbit-Proof Fence again, for anybody looking to see a great film with a wonderful message of love and hope, then that is it. Plus, it’s got stunning photography to boot. Anybody who hasn’t seen it yet, really shoud.
REDUX. Apocalypse Now only benefits from additional length.
Am a fan of Rabbit Proof Fence (and in general Philip Noyce), but it’s the C. Doyle Cinematography that really sells RPF.
Oddly I don’t see The Pianist or Downfall as war movies, but they are both good films. I still lament the savaging of Hershbeigel’s version of THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS with Nicole Kidman at the hands of the Wachowskis. Grrr…
But we remain on opposite sides of the fence my friend, he who can appreciate Armageddon but fail to be moved by The Thin Red Line.
And is it just me, or does 13 Assassins have a vaugely similar cover to the older Ninja Assassin.. the one directed by James McTeigue?
If you don’t see The Pianist or Downfall as “war” movies, what would you class them as, and what do you base your distinction on, if I may ask?
No idea. Neither of them feel like a war movie to me, yet, curiously, The Thin Red Line (which is the most unique one of the bunch) does…. Go Figure. You got me there.
13 Assassins is a great film. I was done with McTeague as soon as he fucked up The Invasion with his action reshoots.
Ooh, I had Rabbit Proof Fence credited to the wrong country, thanks Rodney! I fixed it.
I MEAN to watch Das Boot, I just don’t quite get to it. It actually played the Retro section of the LA Film Fest a couple of weeks ago, but it’s long and would’ve taken up two slots and prevented me from seeing new stuff I really wanted to catch. I will see it sometime, though.
I watched Apocalypse Now (not Redux) a few months back for the first time…and immediately put it on the rewatch list. It was like watching a fever dream, and I wasn’t quite ready for that.
Love Malick, though. More than Spielberg. Sorry, Rodney.
But I haven’t seen The Thin Red Line yet. I do agree with you wholeheartedly on Downfall, though – that’s a great film, but I’m not sure I’d consider it a war film either. I’d probably go back to Ford stuff like They Were Expendable for my favorites, to be honest.
I have actually seen both 13 Assassins and Ninja Assassin. 13 Assassins is 1000x better, though I had forgettable fun watching Ninja Assassin.
Jandy, you’ll also find that Keifer Sutherland ain’t in RPF… I think you’re thinking of Kenneth Brannagh…. unless I was watching a different film!
Don’t get me started on Kidman’s The Invasion. What a waste of time that was.
Apocalypse Now, in either iteration, is a film you absorb rather than watch. Fever dream is also an apt descriptor – and if you get a chance, try watching the documentary accompanying it on the new BluRay release, Hearts Of Darkness: The Making Of Apocalypse Now. Possibly one of the best fly-on-the-wall making of documentaries ever made.
I actually saw that Doc in school, ,long before I saw the film, and then a weird thing happened, the doc became almost impossible to find. glad to see it FFC got the rights from his wife (?!!?) or whoever prevented HoD from accompanying the previous 20 odd release of Apocalypse Now.
I tried to find the doco on VHS many years back (probably mid-90′s, I think), and ended up renting a film of the same name with… I think it was John Malkovich or someone… terrible film anyway, and not what I was after…. but I vividly recall the doco in my minds eye as being revelatory (for me, at the time) about filmmaking.
Holy shit. I’ve been thinking that was Keifer Sutherland forever. I didn’t even check the cast list for once. This is like that time I thought Robert Altman directed Catch-22 and then my mind was blown when I found out it was really Mike Nichols.
My one great memory on NINJA ASSASSIN was the packed 700+ seat theatre of Korean fangirls (and boys) swooning audibly when Rain first appeared onscreen. I’ll never forget it.
Handy – regarding fevered dream of APOCALYPSE NOW – I had a similar feeling the first time I saw JACOB’S LADDER. Went better for me the econd time around.
Really enjoyed Camelot. I still have half the series to watch but enjoyed what I’ve seen to date. Sad to hear it won’t be back for a second season.
Oh Christ. That was supposed to read Jandy not Handy. Sorry about that. Bloody autocorrect!
Marina, I still haven’t seen Jacob’s Ladder, either. I want to, though. The little I’ve heard about it makes me think I’ll really dig it. Apocalypse Now…I may have been slightly too tired while watching it, which added to the fever dream feeling. I definitely want to revisit it after a little time has passed.
I didn’t realize Camelot wasn’t coming back for another season. That’s too bad. I look forward to checking out the series – it’s got a pretty cool cast.
No worries on the autocorrect.
I’ve successfully trained my phone on that one, but I think my iPad actually sends out email from “handy stone” still. I gotta get that fixed.
Always had a soft spot for Jacob’s Ladder. Especially the wonderfully terrifying corridor/gurney sequence.
Finally caught Hobo with a Shotgun… The hype is deserved, very enjoyable… Reminded me for some strange reason of Van Damme’s Cyborg… I guess how over the top the dystopia is played with. Now planning to revisit Cyborg and Hard Target.
Loved the Canadian-ness of Hobo, the accents were pretty thick
I caught it this weekend too. God it was great. Had a surprising heart to it too. The OTT nastiness of it’s world took me about half an hour to adjust to though. Once the Hobo started dishing out justice it was all good.