News

Sights and sounds of the battlefield are brought to life when News and Documentary Emmy® Award-winning “WWII in HD” and “Vietnam in HD” arrive on DVD on October 17 from Lionsgate. Viewers embark on an epic journey alongside courageous soldiers in “Brothers in Arms: WWII & Vietnam War in HD,” which features voiceovers from Academy Award® nominee Gary Sinise, Primetime Emmy® nominee Michael C. Hall, Primetime Emmy® nominee Rob Lowe, Justin Bartha, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Edward Burns and more. “Brothers in Arms: WWII & Vietnam War in HD” will be available on DVD for the suggested retail price of $19.98.

Official Synopsis

See the epic battles of the 20th century through the eyes of the brave soldiers who fought two of

the most pivotal wars in world history with these two acclaimed docuseries from The History® Channel. Award-winning WWII in HD and Vietnam in HD provide stunning narratives of these seminal moments in time...

While his House of Cards TV wife Robin Wright is headed for real-world drama around Mount Everest, Kevin Spacey is also going into the past for his next role. Sierra/Affinity has announced they will be producing and financing the feature Captain of the Gate, a biopic centered on former British Prime Minister and all-around iconic figure Winston Churchill, and Spacey will don the signature Homburg hat for the role. Because no one plays a U.K. leader like an American, right? The Captain of the Gate screenplay is the first feature from Ben Kaplan, who has worked on historically-minded projects in the past such as 2009.s WWII in HD and 2011.s Vietnam in HD, both for the History Channel. He was also a story editor for When Melrose Place Ruled the World, which is almost certainly how he got this job. No director has been found yet, but Sierra...

Audiences and critics have given Kevin Spacey plenty of acclaim for his turn as politician Francis Underwood in the Netflix original series "House of Cards," but now the actor is preparing to play a real-life political figure on the big screen. THR has word that Spacey will play Sir Winston Churchill, the former two-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the 40s and 50s in a low budget drama called Captain of the Gate. The script comes from Ben Kaplan, who has plenty of experience with history as a writer on a Ronald Reagan film and the series Vietnam in HD and WWII in HD on The History Channel. More below! However, the production banner Sierra/Affinity (who is also fully financing the film) is still looking for a director, and they might get a boost from StudioCanal, currently in talks to produce the film as well. Spacey is an incredible actor,...

Apparently, even the White House wasn’t enough. Hot off his acclaimed turn as dastardly politician Frank Underwood on the second season of Netflix’s hit drama House of Cards, Kevin Spacey has signed on to play former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a biopic titled Captain of the Gate.

The biopic, which hails from Sierra/Affinity (Oculus, the upcoming Kill the Messenger), will focus on Churchill’s rise to power as he heroically took a stand against Parliament in order to protect England from Adolf Hitler’s powerful Third Reich. The script was penned by Ben Kaplan, who recently worked on the History Channel’s documentary Reagan. Kaplan also wrote episodes of historical documentary series Vietnam in HD and WWII in HD, both also for the History Channel, but Captain of the Gate will mark his feature debut.

Churchill has understandably been the subject of countless biopics, including...

DVD Playhouse—December 2011

By Allen Gardner

The Rules Of The Game (Criterion) Jean Renoir’s classic from 1939 was met with a riot at its premiere and was severely cut by its distributor, available only in truncated form for two decades until it was restored to the grandeur for which it is celebrated today. A biting comedy of manners set in the upstairs and downstairs of a French country estate, the film bitterly vivisects the bourgeoisie with a gentle ferocity that will tickle the laughter in your throat. Renoir co-stars as Octave. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Introduction to the film by Renoir; Commentary written by scholar Alexander Sesonske and read by Peter Bogdanovich; Comparison of the film’s two endings; Selected scene analysis by Renoir scholar Chris Faulkner; Featurettes and vintage film clips; Part one of David Thomson’s “Jean Renoir” BBC documentary; Video essay; Interviews with Renoir, crew members,...