Cinema Libre To Release DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Everardo Valerio Gout's Days Of Grace On May 5

News arrived this past week that Cinema Libre has scored a major international film release for delivery to the domestic home entertainment arena.

Mexican filmmaker Everardo Valerio Gout pulls out all the stops with Days of Grace (aka: Dias de Gracia) and the result were rewarded with no-less than eight Ariel Awards (Mexico’s equivalent to the Oscar), a Cannes Film Festival nomination for the filmmaker and other international film festival awards (too numerous to mention).

Cinema Libre has selected May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) as the street date for both DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Mexico City and the quadrennial arrival of the FIFA World Cup serves as the back drop for a trio of inter-connected tales — each unfolding four years apart (2002, 2006 and 2010) — that are a full-frontal adrenaline assault on your senses.  Violence, intrigue, a time-jumping storyline and crafty cinematography make Days of Grace one of those must-see films for both action fans and discerning cinephiles. 

Mexico City cop, Lupe Esparza (Tenoch Huerta — Best Actor-winner for his performance here), is as tough, if not tougher than the criminals he comes up against on a daily basis.   Corruption is everywhere, but he will not be touched.  

In the first sequence he doesn’t come across as all that sympathetic as he deals out street justice to a pair of young wannabe drug dealers — he gives them a taste what they can expect if they continue down this unsavory path.   But we soon learn that he has a softer side (a lull between violent and well-staged set-pieces).

This “street meeting” will figure in the third leg of Days of Grace, as the kid (now eight years older), named Doroteo (Kristyan Ferrer — nominated for Best Support Actor), has become involved with a kidnapping ring.   

No, let’s make that a BRUTAL kidnapping ring and their latest snatch (played by Carlos Bardem), which he is responsible for guarding, is beaten (and more) with no regard to his survival.   Basically, pay or he dies … the longer it takes the worse it gets.

It should be noted that even though Days of Grace plays out over an eight-year period, filmmaker Everardo Valerio Gout has cut the segments together in such a way that the events seemingly unfold simultaneously … there is never any confusion as to where you are.   

Presented in Spanish with English subtitles, bonus features include a Behind-the-Scenes featurette and a photo gallery.

Mill Creek Entertainment Announces A Double Release Wave For The Month Of May

Mill Creek Entertainment announced a double-wave of price-to-owned DVD and Blu-ray product offerings that will be available on May 5 and May 19 respectively.

Included in the first wave is by far one of the best collections of early John Wayne films ever assembled for the home entertainment market place.   Titled 50 Movie Round-Up: John Wayne and the Western Trios, this ten-disc DVD set includes 33 of his feature films, the 1932, 12-chapter serial, The Shadow of the Eagle and the documentary, The American West of John Ford.

By the time John Wayne became a film star with his breakout role as the Ringo Kid in director John Ford’s 1939 film Stagecoach, Wayne had appeared in more movies than most actors do in an entire career.   During the period from 1930 to 1940 he appeared in numerous Westerns and Mill Creek Entertainment has assembled a number of those as part of this collection, including John Wayne as Stony Brooke.   He starred in eight of the 51 The Three Mesquiteers films and seven of which are included here.   

As a bonus, six of the films from The Rough Riders (starring Buck Jones, Tim McCoy and Raymond Hatton) series and nine films from The Ranger Busters (featuring Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Max Terhune and John “Dusty” King) series are included in this collection.   That’s a whopping 48 films, a 12-chapter serial and a feature-length documentary all for just $29.98 (before discounts at retail).

John Wayne films included in this package include The Dawn Rider (1935), Hell Town (aka: Born to the West – 1937), Sagebrush Trail (1933), Angel and the Badman (1947) and Winds of the Wasteland (1936).

Also on the May 5 release calendar from Mill Creek Entertainment are both DVD and Blu-ray editions of writer/director Steven Zaillian’s 2006 film adaptation of Robert Penn Warren’s 1946 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, All the King's Men, with Sean Penn as Willie Stark and director Luis Puenzo’s 1989 film release of Old Gringo, teaming Gregory Peck and Jimmy Smits with Jane Fonda.

On the kidvid release front on May 5, look for a four-disc helping of Astro Boy: The Complete Series and the double-disc DVD release of Johnny Test: The Complete Fifth Season.

Rounding out the first wave of releases is the ten-part documentary series titled Eagle Against the Sun, which chronicles the war in the Pacific during World War II between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Also on May 4 is the double-disc DVD debut of Innovations of War: The Evolution of Tactical Military Weapons … an examination of 12 revolutionary weapons from the Industrial Revolution through the Vietnam War.

Shifting to May 19 we find two Michael Keaton films (recently nominated Best Actor for Birdman) in the priced-to-own collection titled Double Feature: My Life and One Good Cop (the SRP is just $9.98).

On the TV-on-DVD front, May 19 brings complete series collections of The Larry Sanders Show: The Complete Series (a nine-disc set) and News Radio: The Complete Series (also nine discs), plus double-disc presentations of Married with Children: Season Nine and Married with Children: Season Ten.

For more information on DVD and Blu-ray product offerings during the month of May from Mill Creek Entertainment, please visit the company’s website at http://www.millcreekent.com.

Paramount Home Media Selects June 9 For The DVD Release Of Nickelodeon's Bubble Guppies: The Puppy & the Ring

Paramount Home Media Distribution has selected June 9 as the DVD debut date for the Nickelodeon production of Bubble Guppies: The Puppy & the Ring.

Molly (voiced by Bailey Gambertoglio), Gil (voiced by Jacob Bertrand) and Bubble Puppy are off to Bubbledom on a mission to return the magical Ring of the Sun to the Sun King.   If they fail, the nasty Night Wizard (voiced by Jeffrey Tambor) will be able to work one of his evil spells and bring eternal darkness to Bubbledom.

The following week, June 16, Paramount will be back with two new TV-on-DVD Mega Packs.

All eight mirth-filled seasons (all 176 episodes) of the antics of Laverne DeFazio (Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (Cindy Williams) will be available in the 28-disc collection of Laverne and Shirley: The Complete Series.

Milwaukee sidekicks included Lenny (Michael McKean) and Squiggy (David L. Landers) and special appearances were logged in by Happy Days veterans Henry Winkler and Ron Howards … others included Carrie Fisher, Ed Begley, Jr., Ted Danson and James Belushi.

Also on June 16 is the classic TV sitcom, The Odd Couple: The Complete Series, which arrives as 20-disc Mega Set featuring all five seasons starring mismatched roommates Felix Unger (played by Tony Randall) and Oscar Madison (played by Jack Klugman).

MVD Entertainment Tabs June 23 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Valerie R. Castro's The Craving

Summer barbecues, special recipes and delicious foods … anyone can be a chef!   So TomCat Releasing, with sales and distribution expertise provided by the MVD Entertainment Group, has cooked up the perfect start-to-summer DVD release on June 23 (just two days into the season) with writer/director Valerie R. Castro’s The Craving.

The alluring Ronnie Sixtos (Anna Curtis — Shadow: Dead Rot, Love Suicides) is a San Francisco celebrity chef.  She is the highly visible owner of the very trendy La Diabla Pica restaurant and she wows her patrons and the critics with her menu … if anything, she is an award-winning food rock star!!!

But, with this burden of fame comes a dark side.  It seems that our girl Ronnie is not only a master chef, but a serial killer with a taste for … her victims!!!   The police are stumped, but former lover — and a pastry chef to boot — Celeste Von Wilder (played by burlesque star Velocity Chyaldd) is begining to suspect that Ronnie might be into “off-menu” delicacies.     

The question is: will this well-endowed pastry chef become dessert?

The Film Detective Sets Three Classics For Blu-ray On May 12

The Film Detective goes Hi-Def on May 12 with a trio of newly restored classic film selections making their debut on the Blu-ray format.

First up is director Steve Sekely’s 1948 film noir adaptation of the Murray Forbes novel, Hollow Triumph.   Paul Henreid stars as a murderer on the run who hits upon the perfect hide-in-plain-sight identity … only to fall victim to his on cleverness.   Joan Bennett co-stars.

Humphrey Bogart joins Peter Lorre, Robert Morley, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida in director John Huston’s conmen-conning-conmen comedy, Beat the Devil (the script was provided by none other than Truman Capote).

And lastly, Herbert J. Biberman’s 1954 historical drama, Salt of the Earth — starring Will Geer — will be available for the first time as a newly-restored Blu-ray product offering.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment Announces Fifty Shades Of Grey For DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions On Friday, May 8

Universal Studios has selected Friday, May 8 (that’s correct, a Friday street date) as the retail-ready date for director Sam Taylor-Johnson’s film adaptation of the E. L. James’ best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.   DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Editions are planned.

The ARR is a very fast-to-market 84 days and ticket sales stand at a torrid $163.8 million.

With the magnitude of the box office receipts there can be little doubt that whatever trepidations about being seen as a ticket-buying patron at a bondage-themed film were quickly set aside.   But there is much more going on here than just sexual “experimentations” and one has to wonder if that, and not necessarily the lurid nature of the film, was even a bigger draw.

Basically, Fifty Shades of Grey is a film version of a pulp “Romance Novel,” but on steroids.  It’s about sex, money, power and control with the participants — in this case Dakota Johnson (The Social Network, The Five-Year Engagement, etc.) as Ana (aka: Anastasia) and Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey — being attractive and bringing the necessary attributes to the story.   

So successful has this adaptation been that an instant franchise has been born for Universal Studios — grossing roughly two dollars overseas for every dollar domestically (that’s $563 million and counting).   So it is only natural that Fifty Shades Darker will be released theatrically in 2017 and Fifty Shades Freed will make the rounds the following year (Johnson and Dornan will return). 

As to bonus features, the Blu-ray SKU delivers two viewing options — the theatrical cut (R-rated) and an unrated version (presumably with excised footage that would have garnered Fifty Shades of Grey a NC-17 rating). 

Common to both the DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions are the featurette titled, “The World of Fifty Shades of Grey: Friends and Family” and a Behind-the-Scenes production tour.

Exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU are an alternated ending to the films, a trio of music videos, a 360° tour of the various sets used in the film and additional featurettes, including multi-part examinations of both Ana and Christian Grey.

20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment Taps May 5 For DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Mike Binder's Black Or White

20^th Century-Fox Home Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Mike Binder’s Black or White, a heartbreaking story of love, a racially-charged custody battle and a rocky path to forgiveness and understanding will be heading to retail on May 5. 

This Kevin Costner star vehicle arrives as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings with an ARR of 95 days and domestic ticket sales were $21.4 million.

Bonus features are three featurettes (two exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU), including one titled “Shades of Gray: The Making of Black or White.”