Colossal Month for Criterion, har har

It's going to be hard for Criterion to deliver a more exciting month in 2010 following their March releases. Firstly, we have a Pedro Costa box-set, entitled Letters from Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, which includes the features Ossos, In Vanda's Room [No Quarto da Vanda] and Colossal Youth [Juventude Em Marcha], set for the 30th. The fourth disc contains a feature-length doc, All Blossoms Again [Tout refleurit: Pedro Costa, cinéaste] by Aurélien Gerbault, as well as two shorts from Costa, Tarrafal and The Rabbit Hunters, both taken from the omnibus features O Estado do Mundo and Memories, respectively. Then we have Nicholas Ray's classic Bigger Than Life, on DVD and Blu-ray, on the 23rd. Then, Marco Ferreri's Dillinger Is Dead [Dillinger è morto], with Michel Piccoli and Anita Pallenberg, on DVD on the 16th.

And... perfectly timed to celebrate Akira Kurosawa's 100th birthday on the 23rd (and, coincidentally, my 26th), Sanjuro and Yojimbo will debut on Blu-ray, available either together in a cheaper set or separately. And, perhaps best of all (depending on who you ask), Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven will get the Blu-ray treatment on the same date. If June was Criterion's exemplary month in 2009, March is certainly it for 2010.

Koch Lorber in July

Koch Lorber will be releasing Bertrand Blier's Ménage, aka Tenue de soirée, on 14 July. The comedy stars Gérard Depardieu, Michel Blanc and Miou-Miou. In addition to Ménage, they'll release stand-alone discs for Marco Ferreri's Bye Bye Monkey [Ciao maschio], with Depardieu and Marcello Mastroianni, and Don't Touch the White Woman! [Ne touchez pas à la femme blanche], with Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Philippe Noiret, Michel Piccoli and Ugo Tognazzi.

2009 Notebook: Vol 4

I still haven't decided on how I want to list the films I've watched. Putting them into a hierarchical grouping feels like a cheap way of reducing the films to star ratings and grades, which always end up changing the more I think (or don't think) about them. I also don't feel like writing cute, singular titles for them either as that's just an even lazier version of a capsule review. So for now, they'll just be placed into two: First viewing and Revisited.

First Viewing

The Cabin Movie - dir. Dylan Akio Smith - Canada - 2005 - N/A - with Arabella Bushnell, Ben Cotton, Brad Dryborough, Ryan Robbins, Justine Warrington, Erin Wells

The Dark Hours - dir. Paul Fox - Canada - 2005 - Freestyle Releasing - with Kate Greenhouse, Aidan Devine, Gordon Currie, Iris Graham, Dov Tiefenbach

Doubt - dir. John Patrick Shanley - USA - 2008 - Miramax - with Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Joseph Foster II

Dream Boy - dir. James Bolton - USA - 2008 - N/A - with Stephan Bender, Maximillian Roeg, Thomas Jay Ryan, Diana Scarwid, Randy Wayne, Owen Beckman, Tricia Mara, Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Gilroy

Six Days, Six Nights [À la folie] - dir. Diane Kurys - France - 1994 - N/A - with Anne Parillaud, Béatrice Dalle, Patrick Aurignac, Alain Chabat, Bernard Verley

The Story of Piera [Storia di Piera] - dir. Marco Ferreri - Italy/France/West Germany - 1983 - N/A - with Hannah Schygulla, Isabelle Huppert, Marcello Mastroianni, Bettina Grühn, Angelo Infanti, Tanya Lopert, Renato Cecchetto, Maurizio Donadoni

Revisited

Buffalo '66 - dir. Vincent Gallo - USA - 1998 - Lionsgate - with Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Jan-Michael Vincent, Kevin Corrigan

Exotica - dir. Atom Egoyan - Canada - 1994 - Miramax - with Bruce Greenwood, Elias Koteas, Mia Kirshner, Don McKellar, Arsinée Khanjian, Sarah Polley, Victor Garber

Freeway - dir. Matthew Bright - USA - 1996 - Republic - with Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Dan Hedaya, Wolfgang Bodison, Brooke Shields, Amanda Plummer, Michael T. Weiss, Bokeem Woodbine, Alanna Ubach, Brittany Murphy, Guillermo Díaz, Tara Subkoff

Wild Tigers I Have Known - dir. Cam Archer - USA - 2006 - IFC Films - with Malcolm Stumpf, Patrick White, Fairuza Balk, Max Paradise, Kim Dickens, Tom Gilroy

Koch Lorber in April

Koch Lorber has announced their April DVD releases. They plan to release stand-alone discs of Marco Ferreri's La grande bouffe and Tales of Ordinary Madness, which were both part of their Ferreri box set from last year. The only new title for April is Scott Hicks' documentary Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts. All street on 7 April.

For shame!

Eric has delivered the bad news: The Story of Piera will not be a part of Koch Lorber's Marco Ferreri box-set. Granted, I think I'm the only one who's disappointed about that, but still! He has the full list on his blog.

I'm fucking finished

Yeah, that's right. I finished my thesis... and I'm fucking spent. I actually have to prepare a powerpoint presentation for my evening class tonight, so "finished" isn't the right word. Anyway, good news, kids: Koch Lorber will be releasing a Marco Ferreri boxset on 5 August. The bad news? I have no idea what's in it. It's priced around $150, so I've got my hopes up... What could be in it? The Story of Piera??? Be still my heart! A teenage Isabelle Huppert putting the moves on her mother played by Hanna Schygulla? Count me in. More info when I get it, of course.

Koch Lorber will also be re-releasing René Clément's Joy House (Les félins) with Alain Delon and Jane Fonda. The film was previously released by Image and is long out-of-print. I'm sure the transfer will be improved.

In other sexy news, Lionsgate will release Mariano Barroso's Éxtasis on 29 July, starring that hunk Javier Bardem.