Today we have a super-special DVD and Blu-ray overview as we take a look at and listen to five brand new Blu-rays hitting the shelves in October, including two stunning Blu-ray debuts of two of Quentin Tarantino's seminal 90s films - PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN. While Tarantino won his only Oscar to date for his screenwriting work on PULP - a credit he shared with co-storywriter Roger Avery - it is his studied, mature and delicate directorial work on JACKIE BROWN that won over many film fans who may have found a bit too much flash, pop, sizzle and razzmatazz in the packed-to-the-gills PULP. Although, if all the Tarantino tough guy talk and off-the-wall soundtrack selections are not quite your speed, we also have three early Halloween selections sure to send some shivers up your spine, with MANHUNTER, HANNIBAL and the recent remake of THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. While MANHUNTER was the movie-going public's first glimpse of what became the most beloved movie villain of all-time - the cannibalistic genius himself, Hannibal Lector - it was in a very different, completely different guise: noted stage and screen actor Brian Cox plays the role that eventually was made famous (and Oscar-winning) by Anthony Hopkins in the second film of the Hannibal Lector series, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (by Jonathan Demme), just a few short years after Michael Mann's treatment of the original Thomas Harris novel, RED DRAGON. Of course, RED DRAGON was also made into a movie of the same name recently, directed by Brett Ratner and featuring an all-star cast comprising Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ralph Fiennes, Mary Louise Parker, Ed Norton, Harvey Keitel and many more. While many film fans certainly cite SILENCE as the finest Lector film - and it very well may be - my personal bias is for Ridley Scott's daring and gruesome 1999 hit, HANNIBAL, starring Hopkins alongside Julianne Moore in the role of Clarice Starling (made famous by Jodie Foster, who passed on the ultra-violent script), which is also finally getting the Blu-ray upgrade along with Mann's MANHUNTER. Then, there is the witty and disturbing remaining of one of the most scandalous and prurient torture porn films ever made - created long before that term was ever coined; in the age of Eli Roth and the SAW series - Wes Craven's harrowing horror revenge tale, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Recent PROMISES, PROMISES on Broadway star Tony Goldwyn was a recent InDepth InterView participant and told me about how pleased he was with this remake and while it does not have the seedy voyeuristic bent of the original, it makes an impact in a new and equally entertaining way. Whether checking out one or all of these superb new Blu-ray releases you are assured a memorable movie experience, just as the temperatures begin to cool and you yearn for nights of warmth inside away from the elements.
Thomas Harris News
Theatre of NOTE continues the celebration of its 30th anniversary with an homage to its roots of producing orginal one act plays: Pity of Things, an evening of 5 one act plays written by, Jason Grote (Kawaisoo), Phinneas Kiyomura (The Little Darling), Bill Robens (Breaking), Tommy Smith (PTSD) and Delondra Williams (Desert Aria). The plays will be directed by Sabrina Lloyd (Kawaisoo), Phinneas Kiyomura (The Little Darling), Jaime Robledo, Sabina Ptasznik, Christopher William Johnson (Desert Aria). Pity of Things will preview on Thursday, July 14 at 8pm and will open on Friday, July 15th at 8pm and run through Saturday, August 7th at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd. (just North of Sunset) in Hollywood.
Theatre of NOTE continues the celebration of its 30th anniversary with an homage to its roots of producing orginal one act plays: Pity of Things, an evening of 5 one act plays written by, Jason Grote (Kawaisoo), Phinneas Kiyomura (The Little Darling), Bill Robens (Breaking), Tommy Smith (PTSD) and Delondra Williams (Desert Aria). The plays will be directed by Sabrina Lloyd (Kawaisoo), Phinneas Kiyomura (The Little Darling), Jaime Robledo, Sabina Ptasznik, Christopher William Johnson (Desert Aria). Pity of Things will preview on Thursday, July 14 at 8pm and will open on Friday, July 15th at 8pm and run through Saturday, August 7th at Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga Blvd. (just North of Sunset) in Hollywood.
A versatile actor and comedian who doubles as an acting coach, Jack Plotnick dishes on such subjects as his latest film Stay, his 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' death scene, his drag alter ego Evie, and his online book 'New Thoughts for Actors'
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