Australian label Via Vision Entertainment has informed us that it will add various new titles to its catalog in December. Amongst them are Michael Mann's
Thief, Norman Jewison's
Rollerball, and Blake Edwards' classic comedy
The Party.
Thief
Michael Mann writes and directs this crime drama starring James Caan as the titular criminal. Professional jewel thief Frank (Caan) needs just one more job before he can retire with his girlfriend Jessie (Tuesday Weld) and fulfill his dream of starting a family. The opportunity arrives in the form of a proposition from Chicago gangster Leo (Robert Prosky), who wants Frank to get into a high-security vault in Los Angeles. Frank agrees, enlisting the help of his friend Barry (James Belushi), but it transpires that the job is not as straightforward as it at first seemed.
Special Features: Two-disc edition featuring the original and director's cuts of the film plus audio commentary by Michael Mann and James Caan.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
Rollerball
Norman Jewison's now classic sci-fi film portrays a near-future in the aftermath of the Corporate Wars, in which nations have crumbled and conglomerates rule. The year is 2018. In place of freedom the people are given bread and circuses: material comfort and rollerball itself. Played on a circular, slanted track by men on skates and motorbikes, this extreme sport is the ultimate extrapolation of the primitive blood lust implicit in many team sports. James Caan is Jonathan E, star player with the Houston team. The Corporation has taken away the woman he loves but it can't take away his soul.
Special Features: Audio commentaries by Norma Jewison and screenwriter William Harrison, UK featurette 'The Making Of Rollerball, 'Return to Rollerball' stills gallery of production design and TV spots.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
The Party
Peter Sellers plays an accident-prone Indian actor, Hrundi V. Bakshi, at large in Hollywood where he ruins a big-budget movie and is thrown off the set by the producer. However, the producer then, by accident, invites Bakshi to a Hollywood party where he manages to cause havoc once again; but this time with party guests such as a drunken starlet, a foreign princess and a model. The legendary Blake Edwards (A Shot in the Dark, Breakfast at Tiffany's) orchestrates a series of tributes to silent comedy, Jacques Tati and the poetry of chaos.
Special Features: Multiple featurettes on the making of the film and its classic status.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
Salvador
Salvador recounts the conflict between the peasant revolution and the US-backed death squads in El Salvador in the early 1980s as seen through the eyes of American photojournalist Richard Boyle. Telling unpalatable truths condensed into intense fiction, Oliver Stone's film is typically confrontational, the real Boyle writing the source material for Stone's savage screenplay. The journalist is brought to life by James Woods, who was nominated for an Oscar, in a brilliant hyper-kinetic performance: his powerful commitment to the truth balances his self-destructive, drink, drugs and danger-fueled personality. Providing excellent support is James Belushi as partner in debauchery Dr Rock, while Stone delivers the most spectacular $4 million movie imaginable by conning the El Salvadorian military into lending tanks, planes and helicopters for a film which brands many of their leaders as war criminals. Genuinely radical cinema, Salvador blisters with moral fury.
Special Features: Includes audio commentary by Oliver Stone, documentary 'Into the Valley of Death' plus deleted and extended scenes.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
Rise of the Legend
In 1868 during the late Qing Dynasty, rampant corruption on the Imperial Court inflicts much suffering in people's lives. For years, the Black Tiger's fearsome boss Lei Gong has been trying to get rid of the leader of the Northern Sea. One of his latest recruits is Fei, a fearless fighter who takes the Northern Sea leader's head after a fierce fight. Just as Lei Gong believes he has total control of the port, a new gang called the Orphans rises in power. Led by Fei's childhood friend Huo, the Orphans are out to eliminate all the criminal power from the port.
Special Features: Included on the disc is a Making of documentary.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
Wild Orchid
Set in the sultry splendor of Rio de Janeiro, Wild Orchid is a "torrid" (Variety) adventure of the senses. Filled with "exotic settings" (The Hollywood Reporter), it is a hypnotic odyssey that will leave you breathless and spellbound. Beautiful young attorney Emily Reed (Carrie Otis) travels to Rio to work with international negotiator Claudia Lirones (Jacqueline Bisset) on a multi-million dollar deal. But once exposed to the raw sensuality of her surroundings, Emily is increasingly drawn into a world of erotic fantasy. Eager to guide Emily through this underworld is Claudia's old flame Wheeler (Rourke). Mysterious and seductive, Wheeler unleashes Emily's most primitive desires even as she threatens to unlock his world-weary heart.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.
F Is for Family
Created by comedian Bill Burr (Breaking Bad) and Michael Price (exec producer on The Simpsons) the Netflix animated comedy also features the voices of Laura Dern, Justin Long and Sam Rockwell.
This loosely autobiographical series explores the extremes of growing up in the 1970s. Murphy family patriarch Frank (Burr) is a middle-aged baggage worker at a regional airport. In addition to the dead end job he is battling to raise precocious kids on a low income wage in a middle class suburb. It's war all the time. He combats endless bills, a moody son flunking school and the failing systems of rustbelt America with fierce hostility. Knowing he is stuck only adds to his candid and amusing rancor.
STREET DATE: DECEMBER 7.