Quick DVD Update for 17 December

In addition to the titles below, Cédric Klapisch's Paris, John Krasinski's Brief Interviews with Hideous Men and Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel have all had Blu-rays announced, though they originally were only planned for DVD. The titles in italics are date changes. In descending order of release.

- Freedom Road, 1979, d. Ján Kádar, Tango Entertainment, 2 February, w. Muhammad Ali, Kris Kristofferson
- Jump, 2005, d. Justin Bookey, Pathfinder, 9 February
- A Serious Man, 2009, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Focus Features, also on Blu-ray, 9 February
- Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love, 2008, d. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Oscilloscope, 9 February
- Daybreak, 2008, d. Adolfo Alix Jr., Water Bearer Films, 16 February
- Heavenly Touch, 2009, d. Joel Lamangan, Water Bearer Films, 16 February
- No Way Out [Walang kawala], 2008, d. Joel Lamangan, Water Bearer Films, 16 February
- Cool School: How LA Learned to Love Modern Art, 2008, d. Morgan Neville, New Video, 23 February
- Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker, 2005, d. Raymond Gayle, Microcinema, 23 February
- Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, 2006, d. Mary Jordan, New Video, 23 February
- Marathon, 2009, d. Biju Viswanath, Breaking Glass Pictures, 2 March
- Return to the 36th Chamber, 1980, d. Liu Chia-Liang, Dragon Dynasty, 2 March
- Capitalism: A Love Story, 2009, d. Michael Moore, also on Blu-ray, Anchor Bay, 9 March
- Escape from Blood Plantation [Die Insel der blutigen Plantage], 1983, d. Peter Kern, Kurt Raab, Substance/MVD, 9 March
- Hachi: A Dog's Tale, 2009, d. Lasse Hallström, also on Blu-ray, Sony, 9 March, w. Richard Gere, Joan Allen
- Obscene, 2007, d. Daniel O'Connor, Neil Ortenberg, New Video, 16 March
- South Park, The Complete 13th Season, 2009, also on Blu-ray, Comedy Central/Paramount, 16 March
- The Vengeance Trilogy [Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance / Oldboy / Lady Vengeance], 2002, 2003, 2005, d. Park Chan-wook, Palisades Tartan, 16 March
- Five from Barska Street [Piątka z ulicy Barskiej], 1954, d. Aleksander Ford, Polart/Facets, 23 March
- The Men Who Stare at Goats, 2009, d. Grant Heslov, also on Blu-ray, Anchor Bay, 23 March
- Sayuri Ichijo: Flowing Desire, 1972, d. Tatsumi Kumashiro, Kimstim/Kino, 23 March
- Twisted Path of Love, 2009, d. Tatsumi Kumashiro, Kimstim/Kino, 23 March
- Yakuza Justice: Erotic Code of Honor, 1973, d. Tatsumi Kumashiro, Kimstim/Kino, 23 March
- Afghan Star, 2009, d. Havana Marking, Zeitgeist, 30 March
- The Baader Meinhof Complex [Der Baader Meinhof Komplex], 2008, d. Uli Edel, also on Blu-ray, MPI, 30 March
- I Sell the Dead, 2008, d. Glenn McQuaid, IFC Films, also on Blu-ray, 30 March
- The Trouble with Romance, 2009, d. Gene Rhee, Breaking Glass Pictures, w. David Eigenberg, Kip Pardue
- The Awakening of Spring, 2008, d. Arthur Allan Seidelman, here! Films, 6 April
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, 2009, d. Werner Herzog, also on Blu-ray, First Look, 6 April
- Beeswax, 2009, d. Andrew Bujalski, Cinema Guild, 6 April
- Murder.com, 2008, d. Rex Piano, here! Films, 6 April
- The Blue Tooth Virgin, 2008, d. Russell Brown, here! Films, 20 April
- Prom Wars, 2008, d. Phil Price, Koch Vision, 20 April, w. Alia Shawkat

30 September DVD/Blu-ray Update

In foreign DVD news, Artificial Eye has announced Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank for 25 January. After a May delay, M6 Vidéo in France has set 12 November as the new date for their Édition Prestige of Marcel Carné's Les visiteurs du soir, which is set to include a documentary by Marc Caro on "le cinéma fantastique français." As expected, no English subtitles will be included on the disc. For those of you who can read German, Alive has announced a three-disc Jean Cocteau set, which will include Orphée, as well as the unavailable-in-the-US The Eagle with Two Heads [L'aigle à deux têtes] and Les parents terribles. The set will be available on 31 December.

And, just as all of Akira Kurosawa's films are finally becoming available on DVD in the US, Japan is one-upping us by putting all of them on Blu-ray. Jesnet released Madadayo, Ran, Rashômon and The Quiet Duel on Blu-ray earlier this year. Toho will unleash several more starting in October. Set for 23 October: Kagemusha, Seven Samurai, Sanshiro Sugata, Sanshiro Sugata 2, The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, Sanjuro and The Bad Sleep Well. 18 December: The Lower Depths, The Most Beautiful, I Live in Fear, Ikiru, The Hidden Fortress, Stray Dog and Yojimbo. And for 19 February 2010: Red Beard, Dodes'ka-den, Throne of Blood, One Wonderful Sunday, High and Low, No Regrets for My Youth and Drunken Angel. Most Japanese Blu-rays are Region A, which is also the US code, so you might want to check 'em out (assuming English subtitles are present).

Anyway, on with the US DVD announcements. I suppose there's a chance that the dates could change, but it looks as though Anchor Bay has made a quick turn-around on a trio of their titles before the end of the year. Both Pandorum, a space horror directed by Christian Alvart (Antibodies) and starring Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster, and Peter Hyams' remake of Fritz Lang's Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, with Michael Douglas and Amber Tamblyn, will bow on DVD and Blu-ray 22 December; and Michael Moore's latest, Capitalism: A Love Story, with hit both formats the following week.

- The Mighty Boosh, 2004-2007, BBC/Warner, 13 October
- Psycho Love Story [Cennet], 2008, d. Biray Dalkiran, Pathfinder, 13 October
- P, 2005, d. Paul Spurrier, Palisades Tartan, 20 October
- Criminal Justice, 2008, d. Otto Bathurst, Luke Watson, BFS, 3 November, w. Ben Wishaw, Pete Postlethwaite
- The Band, 2009, d. Anna Brownfield, Breaking Glass Pictures, 17 November
- Kobe Doin' Work, 2009, d. Spike Lee, ESPN/Buena Vista, 24 November
- The Hangover, 2009, d. Todd Phillips, Warner, also on Blu-ray, 15 December
- Let Them Chirp Awhile, 2007, d. Jonathan Blitstein, Cinevolve, also on Blu-ray, 15 December, w. Justin Rice, Brendan Sexton III
- Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, 2009, d. Peter Hyams, Anchor Bay, also on Blu-ray, 22 December
- Kartemquin Films: The Early Years, Volume 1 (Parents / Thumbs Down), 1968, d. Gerald Temaner, Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin/Facets, 22 December
- Pandorum, 2009, d. Christian Alvart, Anchor Bay, also on Blu-ray, 22 December
- Capitalism: A Love Story, 2009, d. Michael Moore, Anchor Bay, also on Blu-ray, 29 December
- Blade of the Ripper [Lo strain vizio della Signora Wardh, aka The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh], 1971, d. Sergio Martino, MYA, 26 January, w. Edwige Fenech
- Desirable Teacher [Pierino contro tutti], 1981, d. Marino Girolami, MYA, 26 January
- Goodbye Gemini, 1970, d. Alan Gibson, Scorpion Releasing, 26 January, w. Michael Redgrave
- Hello Goodbye, 2008, d. Graham Guit, Liberation, 26 January, w. Fanny Ardant, Gérard Depardieu
- Not Now Darling, 1973, d. Ray Cooney, David Croft, Jezebel/Alternative Distribution Alliance, 26 January
- Sex Advice [Sesso in confessionale], 1974, d. Vittorio De Sisti, MYA, 26 January
- Troma's War, 1988, d. Michael Herz, Lloyd Kaufman, Troma, 26 January

Blu-ray

- The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue [Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti, aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie], 1974, d. Jorge Grau, Blue Underground, 27 October
- Stargate, 1994, d. Roland Emmerich, Lionsgate, 27 October
- Logan's Run, 1976, d. Michael Anderson, Warner, 10 November
- Monsters, Inc., 2001, d. Peter Docter, David Silverman, Lee Unkrich, Disney, 10 November
- The Mask of Zorro, 1998, d. Martin Campbell, Sony, 1 December
- The Mel Brooks Collection [Blazing Saddles / Spaceballs / Young Frankenstein / High Anxiety / History of the World: Part 1 / Robin Hood: Men in Tights / Silent Movie / To Be or Not to Be / The Twelve Chairs], 1970-1993, d. Mel Brooks, Alan Johnson, Fox, 15 December
- Versus, 2000, d. Ryuhei Kitamura, Tokyo Shock, 29 December
- The Green Berets, 1968, d. Ray Kellogg, John Wayne, Mervyn LeRoy, Warner, 5 January
- Magnolia, 1999, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, New Line, 19 January
- The Toolbox Murders, 1978, d. Dennis Donnelly, Blue Underground, 26 January

Date Changes/Delays

- Rage, 2009, d. Sally Potter, Liberation [available now, as opposed to in November]
- Made in France [Origine contrôlée], 2001, d. Ahmed Bouchaala, Zakia Tahri, Synkronized USA, now 10 November
- The House of the Devil, 2009, d. Ti West, MPI, now 8 December [moved up]
- Hansel & Gretel, 2007, d. Yim Pil-Sung, Tokyo Shock, now 29 December
- The Brothers Bloom, 2009, d. Rian Johnson, Summit [according to a friend, available for rental everywhere, but won't be for purchase until a later date]
- Tennessee, 2008, d. Aaron Woodley, Vivendi [sorry, Mariah fans, delayed until further notice]
- Casualties of War, 1989, d. Brian De Palma, Sony, Blu-ray [postponed indefinitely]
- Punch-Drunk Love, 2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, Sony, Blu-ray [postponed indefinitely]

New Denis, Rivette, Ferrara, Chéreau, Akin, Sequels to Repo Man, Tetsuo at Venice 09

The official Venice Film Festival line-up was announced today in Italy with some very exciting prospects, not least of which the latest from Claire Denis and Jacques Rivette. The fest will show their national spirit by opening with (groan) Giuseppe Tornatore's latest Baarìa (in other Tornatore news, did you know Miramax remade Everybody's Fine with Robert De Niro, Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore and Kate Beckinsale? It'll be out later this year). A number of the films announced will also screen at this year's Toronto. I suspect Toronto might have been waiting for Venice's announcement to add the final details to their roster. My long-shot of a hope that Sébastien Lifshitz's Plein sud would premiere there didn't happen (its release has also been moved to December in France), but otherwise, 2009 has been a pretty promising year at the big festivals. If that's only by name and/or prestige, I can't say... But can we at least expect an Abel Ferrara/Werner Herzog showdown in Venice this year?

In Competition

- 36 vues du Pic Saint-Loup - d. Jacques Rivette - w. Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto, Jacques Bonnaffé, André Marcon
- Accident - Cheang Pou-Soi (Dog Bite Dog)
- Baarìa, la porta del vento - d. Giuseppe Tornatore - w. Monica Bellucci, Raoul Bova, Ángela Molina
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - d. Werner Herzog
- Between Two Worlds - Vimukthi Jayasundara (The Foresaken Land)
- Capitalism: A Love Story - d. Michael Moore
- La doppia ora - d. Giuseppe Capotondi (directorial debut) - w. Filippo Timi
- Il grande sogno - d. Michele Placido (Romanzo criminale) - w. Riccardo Scamarcio, Laura Morante
- Lebanon - d. Samuel Maoz
- Life During Wartime - d. Todd Solondz
- Lourdes - d. Jessica Hausner - w. Sylvie Testud, Bruno Todeschini, Léa Seydoux
- Mr. Nobody - d. Jaco van Dormael (Le huitième jour, Toto le héros) - w. Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Rhys Ifans
- Persécution - d. Patrice Chéreau - w. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Romain Duris, Jean-Hughes Anglade
- Prince of Tears - Yonfan (Bishonen)
- The Road - d. John Hillcoat (The Proposition) - w. Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Michael K. Williams, Molly Parker, Garret Dillahunt
- A Single Man - d. Tom Ford (yes, the designer) - w. Julianne Moore, Colin Firth, Matthew Goode, Gennifer Goodwin
- Soul Kitchen - d. Fatih Akin - w. Birol Ünel, Moritz Bleibtreu
- Lo spazio bianco - d. Francesca Comencini (Visions of Europe) - w. Margherita Buy, Salvatore Cantalupo
- Survival of the Dead - d. George A. Romero - w. Kenneth Welsh, Devon Bostick (really, in competition?)
- Tetsuo: The Bullet Man - d. Shinya Tsukamoto
- The Traveller - Ahmed Maher
- White Material - d. Claire Denis - w. Isabelle Huppert, Isaach De Bankolé, Christopher Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle
- Women Without Men - d. Shirin Neshat

Out of Competition

- [REC] 2 - d. Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
- Anni luce - d. Francesco Maselli (L'amore in città)
- Chengdu, I Love You - d. Fruit Chan, Cui Jian
- The Hole - d. Joe Dante (Gremlins, The 'burbs) - w. Bruce Dern, Teri Polo
- The Informant! - d. Steven Soderbergh
- The Men Who Stare at Goats - d. Grant Heslov (HBO's Unscripted) - w. Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Stephen Lang
- Napoli Napoli Napoli - d. Abel Ferrara
- L'oro di Cuba - d. Giuliano Montaldo (Sacco & Vanzetti)
- Prove per una tragedia Siciliana - d. John Turturro, Roman Paska
- Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story - d. Yousry Nasrallah (La porte du soleil)
- South of the Border - d. Oliver Stone
- Yona Yona Penguin - d. Rintaro (Metropolis)

Midnight Movies

- Brooklyn's Finest - d. Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) - w. Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes, Lili Taylor, Ellen Barkin, Will Patton, Vincent D'Onofrio, Brian F. O'Byrne
- Delhi-6 - d. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
- Dev D - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Gulaal - d. Anurag Kashyap
- Valhalla Rising - d. Nicolas Winding Refn (the Pusher series) - w. Mads Mikkelsen, Jamie Sives

Horizons

- 1428 - d. Du Haibin (China)
- Adrift - d. Bui Thac Chuyên (Vietnam)
- Buried Secrets - d. Raja Amari (Satin Rouge, Tunisia)
- Il colore delle parole - d. Marco Simon Puccioni (Riparo, Italy)
- Cow - d. Guan Hu (China)
- Crush - d. Pyotr Buslov, Aleksei German Jr., Boris Khlebnikov, Kirill Serebrennikov, Ivan Vrypayev (Russia)
- Engkwentro - d. Pepe Diokno (Philippines)
- Francesca - d. Bobby Paunescu (Romania) - w. Luminita Gheorghiu
- I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You - d. Marcelo Gomes (Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus), Karim Ainouz (Brazil)
- Insolacao - d. Daniela Thomas, Felipe Hirsch (Brazil)
- Io sono l'amore [I Am Love] - d. Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P.) - w. Tilda Swinton
- Judge - Liu Jie (China)
- The Man's Woman and Other Stories - d. Amit Dutta (India)
- Once Upon a Time Proletarian: 12 Tales of a Country - d. Guo Xiaolu (China)
- The One All Alone - d. Frank Scheffer (Netherlands)
- One-Zero - d. Kamla Abou Zekry (Egypt)
- Paraiso - d. Héctor Gálvez (Peru)
- Pepperminta - d. Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland) - w. Sabine Timoteo
- Repo Chick - d. Alex Cox (U.S.)
- Tender Parasites [Zarte Parasiten] - d. Christian Becker, Oliver Schwabe (Germany)
- Toto - d. Peter Schreiner (Austria)
- Tris di donne e abiti nunziali - d. Martina Gedeck (Italy)
- Villalobos - d. Romuald Karmakar (Deutschland 09, Germany)

There were a few more events named, including some stuff from Werner Herzog, Aleksandr Sokurov, Tinto Brass and Phillip Haas. There was also a New Italian Cinema Trends side-bar that I didn't post -- but you can get the titles via Variety. I'll post more when I hear of it.

More from Toronto: Pippa Lee, Bad Lieutenant, Michael Moore, Coens and Danis Tanovic

Sorry for the delay, but Toronto unveiled another crop of films playing in September the other day. They include a new offering from the Coen brothers, Werner Herzog's not-remake of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, Michael Moore's latest, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Danis Tanovic's English-language debut and the North American premiere of Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee.

- Dorian Gray - d. Oliver Parker - w. Colin Firth
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - d. Rebecca Miller - w. Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, Winona Ryder, Mario Bello, Shirley Knight, Keanu Reeves, Blake Lively, Julianne Moore, Monica Bellucci
- Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - d. Werner Herzog - w. Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes, Jennifer Coolidge, Fairuza Balk, Brad Dourif, Xzibit, Irma P. Hall
- Capitalism: A Love Story - d. Michael Moore
- Harry Brown - d. Daniel Barber - w. Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer
- Perrier's Bounty - d. Ian Fitzgibbon - w. Jim Broadbent, Brendan Gleeson, Cillian Murphy
- A Serious Man - d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - w. Adam Arkin
- Triage - d. Danis Tanovic - w. Christopher Lee, Colin Farrell, Paz Vega, Kelly Reilly, Juliet Stevenson, Jamie Sives
- Whip It - d. Drew Barrymore - w. Ellen Page, Barrymore, Alia Shawkat, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Zoe Bell, Eve, Ari Graynor