Forthcoming Blu-ray Titles

3rd May 2011

Some truly classic titles are headed our way onto Blu-ray in May and June. Check out these titles below with additional materials present and correct! Anyone looking for that perfect Father’s Day gift need look no further!

Midnight Cowboy

Texas greenhorn Joe Buck arrives in New York for the first time. Preening himself as a real ‘hustler’, he finds that he is the one getting ‘hustled’ until he teams up with a down-and-out but resilient outcast named Ratso Rizzo. The initial ‘country cousin meets city cousin’ relationship deepens. In their efforts to bilk a hostile world rebuffing them at every turn, this unlikely pair progress from partners in shady business to comrades. Rizzo’s backstory comes mostly through the things he tells Joe. His father was an illiterate shoe shiner who worked deep in a subway station, developed a bad back, and “coughed his lungs out breathin’ in that wax every day!” Rizzo learned shining from his father, but refuses to follow (such as he could, after polio crippled one leg) in the old man’s footsteps. Each has found his first real friend.

EXTRAS:

Audio Commentary by Producer Jerome – Hellman
After Midnight: Reflecting on the classics 35 years later
Controversy and Acclaim
Celebrating Schlesinger

RRP Price: £15.99
Certificate: 18 TBC
Running time: 113mins

Midnight Cowboy is out on 5^th May 2011.

Platoon

Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon. Two veteran sergeants clash when one of them precipitates a massacre of villagers.

EXTRAS:

Audio Commentary by Oliver Stone
Audio Commentary by Military Advisor Dale Dye
Deleted and Extended Scenes with Directors Commentary
Flashback to Platoon: Snapshot in Time: 1967-1968
Flashback to Platoon: Creating the ‘Nam
Flashback to Platoon: Raw Wounds: The Legacy of Platoon
One War Many Stories, Preparing for ‘Nam
Vignettes: Caputo & the 7^th Fleet, Dye Training Method & Gordon Gekko
Television Spot: Action,: Critical Acclaim,: The Director
Theatrical Trailer

RRP Price: £19.99
Certificate: 15 TBC
Running time: 120mins

Platoon is out on 16^th May 2011.

The Thin Red Line

In World War II, the outcome of the battle of Guadalcanal will strongly influence the Japanese’s advance into the pacific. A group of young soldiers is brought in as a relief for the battle-weary Marine units. The horrors of war forms the soldiers into a tight-knit group, their emotions develop into bonds of love and even family. The reasons for this war get further away as the world for the men gets smaller and smaller until their fighting is for mere survival and the life of the other men with them. In 1943, the first major U.S. offensive of World War II is drawing to a close on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal. To put an end to this campaign, the United States Army arrives with a full division of troops and equipment, deployed to break the last resistance of the Japanese. The exploits of this Division are seen from a number of perspectives amongst the soldiers; to include a war weary Sergeant, a power hungry Colonel, a Private who has known only desertion and AWOL, and a Company Commander is struggling with his abilities as a leader.

EXTRAS:

Commentary by Production Designer Jack Fish, Producer Grant Hill and Cinemaphotographer John Toll
The Thin Red Line: Actor’s Perspective
The Editing of the Thin Red Line; Shaping A Terrace Malick Film
Hans Zimmer on the Thin Red Line
8 x Deleted Scenes: Witt and Storm Drunk, Band Volunteers His Squad, Mazzi Drunk, Beads Kills A Japanese Soldier, Witt And The Sniper, Japanese POWs, Bell And Bosche and Fife Leaves
Guadalcanal in Newsreels x 5
Theatrical Trailer

RRP Price: £15.99
Certificate: 15 TBC
Running time: 100mins

The Thin Red Line is out on 16^th May 2011

Tigerland

Just released from the base stockade, recruit Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell) joins a platoon of young soldiers preparing to ship out to Vietnam. Bozz’s independence and outright defiance draws fire from his own men as well as commanding officers. But when the platoon is sent to Tigerland, a hellish training ground that is the last stop before Vietnam, Bozz’s leadership and loyalty bring his men together – triggering extraordinary consequences.

EXTRAS:

Commentary by Director Joel Schumacher
The Real Tigerland
Joel Schumacher: Journey to Tigerland
Ross Klavan: Ode to Tigerland
Featurette
Casting Session with Colin Farrell Part 1-4
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot: The One
TV Spot Compelling Review

RRP Price: £15.99
Certificate: 18 TBC
Running time: 100mins

Tigerland is out on 16^th May 2011.

The Hustler 50^th Anniversary Edition

Paul Newman heads a superb cast featuring Jackie Gleason, George C Scott and Piper Laurie in this riveting film that received an Academy Award nomination as Best Picture of 1961 and brought all four of its stars Oscar Nominations, Newman (Best Actor Nominee) is electrifying as Fast Eddie Felson, an arrogant, amoral hustler who haunts back street pool rooms fleecing anyone who’ll pick up a cue. Determined to be acclaimed as the best, Eddie seeks out legendary Minnesota Fats (Gleason, Supporting Actor nominee), who’s backed by Bert Gordon (Scott, Supporting Actor Nominee). The love of a lonely woman (Laurie, Best Actress Nominee) could turn Eddie’s life around, but he won’t rest until he beats Minnesota Fats, no matter what price he must pay. Voted one of the year’s best by the New York Times and Time, and distinguished by two Academy Awards. The Hustler is a dazzling cinematic triumph.

EXTRAS:

Paul Newman at Fox
Jackie Gleason: The Big Man
The Real Hustler : Walter Tevis
Life in the Fast Lane: Fast Eddie Felson and the Search for Greatness
Milestones in Cinema History: The Hustler
Swimming with Sharks: The Art of the Hustle
The Hustler: The Inside Story
Paul Newman: Hollywood’s Cool Hand
Trick Shot Analysis by Mike Massey
Opening Scene Demonstration
Fast Eddie and Minnesota Fat’s First Match
Theatrical Trailer
Spanish Theatrical Trailer

RRP Price: £15.99
Certificate: 15 TBC
Running time: 134mins

The Hustler is out on 23rd May 2011.

The Fifth Element

In the year 2257, a planet sized sphere of supreme evil is approaching the Earth at relentless speed, threatening to exterminate every living organism unless four ancient stones, representing the elements of earth, wind, fire and water are united with the mysterious “Fifth Element”. From Luc Besson, the acclaimed director of ‘Leon’ and ‘Nikita’ comes a film that turns science fiction inside out.