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.

EXTRAS:

• Discovering The Fifth Element
• Imagining The Fifth Element
• The Art Of Jean-Claude Mezieres
• An Audience With Diva Plavalaguna
• Elements Of Style
• Theatrical Trailer
• Visual Effects Commentary
• MTV Cannes Premiere

• RRP Price: £19.99
• Certificate: PG
• Running time: 126mins 

The Fifth Element is out on 6^th June 2011