This November, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release SteelBook Editions of various classic and contemporary hits from its catalog. Amongst them are Nicolas Winding Refn's
Drive, Wolfgang Petersen;s
Das Boot, Robert Rodríguez's
Desperado, and Martin Scorsese's
Taxi Driver. The Blu-ray SteelBooks will be sold exclusively at Best Buy.
Taxi Driver
Winner of the prestigious Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival (1976) and nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture (1976),
Taxi Driver stars Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's classic film of a psychotic New York cabby driven to violence by loneliness and desperation. Co-starring Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle and Cybill Shepherd, the film is presented on Blu-ray after an extensive 4K digital restoration and remastering under the guidance of cinematographer Michael Chapman and director Martin Scorsese. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Desperado
Antonio Banderas, Joaquim De Almeida, Salma Hayek, Cheech Marin, Steve Buscemi and Quentin Tarantino star in this stylish shoot-'em-up described as a south-of-the-border Pulp Fiction. Director Robert Rodriguez follows up his legendary debut film, El Mariachi, with this sexy sequel about a mysterious guitar player (Banderas) searching for vengeance against the men who murdered his girlfriend. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Das Boot
It is 1942 and the German submarine fleet is heavily engaged in the so called "Battle of the Atlantic" to harass and destroy English shipping. With better escorts of the Destroyer Class, however, German U-Boats have begun to take heavy losses.
Das Boot is the story of one such U-Boat crew, with the film examining how these submariners maintained their professionalism as soldiers, attempted to accomplish impossible missions, while all the time attempting to understand and obey the ideology of the government under which they served. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Drive
Ryan Gosling stars as a Hollywood stunt driver for movies by day and moonlights as a wheelman for criminals by night. Though a loner by nature, "Driver" can't help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband. After a heist goes wrong, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). Soon he realizes the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash and is forced to shift gears and go on the offense. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Snatch
When a dizzying robbery takes place in the Orthodox Jewish diamond district, a flawless 86- carat gem, the size of an infant's fist, is lifted in the snatch. Taking it to London, the diamond's thief and courier, Franky Four Fingers arrives in the city as a stopover en route to New York to deliver the huge diamond to his bigwig crime boss, Avi. But because Franky can't resist temptation and London is a town with its share of illegal trade, a small crowd of miscreants and malefactors eventually ends up chasing each other and the whereabouts of the diamond. These include: Doug the Head, a jeweler who pretends he's Jewish because it's good for business; Boris the Blade, a Russian gangster with a deserved reputation for being impossible to kill; Bullet Tooth Tony, a legendary hard guy and Brick Top, perhaps the scariest of the lot. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
The Raid: Redemption
A police raid on a decrepit, vast Indonesian apartment building populated by the city's most dangerous and desperate citizens turns into a bloodbath. The elite SWAT team who have breached the building, including courageous and noble policeman Rama, are pursuing the building's owner, a powerful drug lord. Their assignment proves even more dangerous and deadly than expected. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Léon: The Professional
A corrupt Drug Enforcement Administration boss and his thugs murder Mathilda's family in a drug deal gone awry. Orphaned by the massacre, Mathilda is forced to take shelter in the apartment of a neighbor, Léon, whom she knows only slightly. He's a loner and first generation immigrant, who also happens to be a professional hitman. He's never had reason to care about anybody and she has no one else to turn to. Together they form a makeshift bond that will forever change both their lives. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Kung Fu Hustle
In a town ruled by the Axe Gang, Sing desperately wants to become a member. He stumbles into a slum ruled by eccentric landlords who turn out to be kung fu masters in disguise. Sing's actions eventually cause the Axe Gang and the slumlords to engage in an explosive kung fu battle. Only one side will win and only one hero will emerge as the greatest kung fu master of all. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
The Karate Kid
Daniel arrives in Los Angeles from the east coast and faces the difficult task of making new friends. However, he becomes the object of bullying by the Cobras, a menacing gang of karate students, when he strikes up a relationship with Ali, the Cobra leader's ex-girlfriend. Eager to fight back and impress his new girlfriend but afraid to confront the dangerous gang, Daniel asks his handyman Miyagi, whom he learns is a master of the martial arts, to teach him karate. Miyagi teaches Daniel that karate is a mastery over the self, mind, and body and that fighting is always the last answer to a problem. Under Miyagi's guidance, Daniel develops not only physical skills but also the faith and self-confidence to compete despite tremendous odds. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
The Fifth Element
Set in the 23rd century, New York cab driver Korben Dallas didn't mean to be a hero, but he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years: A perfect beauty, a perfect being, a perfect weapon. Now, together, they must save the world. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Easy Rider
Bikers Captain America (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper, who also directs) set off across America on the proceeds of a cocaine deal. En route to the New Orleans Mardi Gras festival they stop off at a hippy commune, before being arrested in Texas for joining a street parade without a licence. In jail they meet boozy civil rights lawyer George Hanson (Jack Nicholson), who decides to join them on their odyssey. Made on a shoestring budget, 'Easy Rider' was a huge hit upon its release, and this success proved instrumental in persuading the big Hollywood studios to invest in more films from young directors. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
After a psychotic Air Force general unleashes ingenious foolproof and irrevocable scheme sending bombers to attack the Soviet Union. the U.S. President phones the Soviet premier in a desperate effort to save the world. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
District 9
Thirty years ago, aliens made first contact with Earth. Humans waited for the hostile attack, or the giant advances in technology. Neither came. Instead, the aliens were refugees, the last survivors of their home world. The creatures were set up in a makeshift home in South Africa's District 9 as the world's nations argued over what to do with them. Now, patience over the alien situation has run out. Control over the aliens has been contracted out to Multi- National United (MNU), a private company uninterested in the aliens' welfare. The tension between the aliens and the humans comes to a head when an MNU field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, contracts a mysterious virus that begins changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the most hunted man in the world, as well as the most valuable -- he is the key to unlocking the secrets of alien technology. Ostracized and friendless, there is only one place left for him to hide: District 9. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Superbad
A coming-of-age cautionary tale about two socially inept teenage boys about to graduate high school. Theirs is a ridiculously dependent friendship — but now they've gotten into different colleges and are forced to contemplate life apart. Evan is sweet, smart, and generally terrified. Seth is foul-mouthed, volatile, and all-consumed with the topic of human sexuality. This is the story of their misguided attempts to reverse a lifelong losing streak with the ladies in one panic-driven night... that awful, humiliating night you cherish for the rest of your life. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Tommy
This classic rock opera is brought energetically to life by an outstanding cast including many stars of the rock music industry. Told through the remarkable music of The Who, this is the story of Tommy, who, when just a boy of six, witnessed the murder of his father by his mother and her lover. They command him, "You didn't hear it, you didn't see it, and you won't say anything to anyone..." As a result, the traumatized boy retreats into the shadows of his mind and becomes deaf, dumb and blind. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.
Stripes
Thanks to a run of bad luck and go-nowhere jobs, John convinces Russell to join the army so they can get in shape, likening it to a health spa. Once in boot camp, wiseguy John tangles with his by-the-book Sgt. and becomes the unofficial leader for his platoon, made up mostly of other misfits and assorted losers. After somehow making it through graduation, they are given a special assignment but, thanks to John's romantic interest in a pretty MPO, the other men wind up behind the Iron Curtain until John, Russell, their dates and Sgt. Hulka make a daring rescue attempt in explosive style. STREET DATE: NOVEMBER 23.