IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

This week, Kino Lorber Studio Classics announced several interesting titles for June, including a few that will be of special interest to fans of crime films and neo-noir.  Since these announcements only go up through June 18th, I have a feeling more June announcements are forthcoming.

Here are the announcements from the Kino Lorber Studio Classics Facebook page:

BRIGHT ANGEL (1990) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 4th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 93 Minutes 1.85:1 Rated R

• Brand New 2K Master!
• Audio Commentary by director Michael Fields
• A Booklet Essay by Writer Richard Ford
• Theatrical Trailer

George Russell (Dermot Mulroney, Career Opportunities) is about to be swept up by his own destiny and carried into a future he never planned. A teenager stuck in a broken home in smalltown Montana, George longs for something beyond the prairie. The vivacious Lucy (Lili Taylor, I Shot Andy Warhol) becomes his ticket to freedom. Both have their own reasons for driving to Casper, Wyoming: Lucy to free her imprisoned brother; George to grasp some sense of personal direction by catching up with his estranged mother. The ride south promises more than just family reunions, as George and Lucy’s mutual curiosity blossoms into something resembling love. The colorful cast of this unique road-movie odyssey includes Sam Shepard (Country), Valerie Perrine (The Border), Burt Young (Rocky), Bill Pullman (Lost Highway), Benjamin Bratt (Miss Congeniality), Mary Kay Place (The Big Chill), Delroy Lindo (Crooklyn), Kevin Tighe (Road House) and Sheila McCarthy (Die Hard 2).

MONEY FOR NOTHING (1993) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 4th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 100 Minutes 2.35:1 Rated R

• Available for the first time in its correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio on Blu-ray!
• Theatrical Trailer

John Cusack (Better Off Dead…) stars in the hilarious comedy for everyone who’s ever dreamt of instant millions. After finding a bagful of unmarked $100 bills, there were a million reasons for unemployed dockworker Joey Coyle to give the money back, but he couldn’t think of one. The lucky find launches a buying spree and a series of uproarious events leading to Joey’s outrageous attempt at sneaking out of the country—past the media, the mob and the cops. Money for Nothing is an action-comedy packed with priceless laughs, directed by Ramón Menéndez (Stand and Deliver) and co-starring Debi Mazar (Empire Records), Michael Madsen (The Hateful Eight), Benicio Del Toro (Sicario), James Gandolfini (TV’s The Sopranos), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Michael Rapaport (True Romance), Maury Chaykin (Unstrung Heroes), Fionnula Flanagan (The Others) and Frankie Faison (Hannibal).

VERONICA GUERIN (2003) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 4th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 98 Minutes 2.35:1 Rated R

• NEW Audio Commentary with Director Joel Schumacher
• Audio Commentary with Writers Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue
• Public Mask, Private Fears: The Making of Veronica Guerin
• A Conversation with Producer Jerry Bruckheimer
• Deleted Scene: Veronica Guerin Speaks at the Committee to Protect Journalists
• The Real Veronica Guerin Speaks at the Committee to Protect Journalists
• Producer’s Photo Diary with Jerry Bruckheimer
• Theatrical Trailer

Based on a True Story! Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) stars as Veronica Guerin in this action-packed, critically-acclaimed film about the real-life journalist who risked everything in search of the truth. In the mid-1990s, Dublin was nothing short of a war zone as the most powerful drug lords battled for absolute control. But their most fearsome opponent wasn’t the police, it was the courageous Sunday Independent reporter Veronica Guerin. Investigating the criminal underworld meant risking her life… and the lives of her family. Joel Schumacher (Flatliners, Falling Down) directed this crackling suspense-filled drama with a top-notch cast including Ciarán Hinds (Munich), Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot), Gerald McSorley (TV’s Omagh) and Colin Farrell (In Bruges).

THIRST (2009) In Korean with optional English subtitles

Coming June 4th on Blu-ray!

Color 135 Minutes 2.35:1 Rated R

• Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman
• Theatrical Trailer

From Chan-wook Park, the director of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance and Stoker, comes a shockingly original vampire story with a chilling, erotic style. A blood transfusion saves the life of a priest (Kang-ho Song, Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer), but also transforms him into a vampire. He struggles to control his insatiable thirst for blood until a love affair unleashes his darkest desires in deadly new ways. Daring and operatic, Thirst is a truly wicked love story that takes classic vampire lore to twisted new heights. “A MAD LOVE STORY! Director Park Chan-wook’s richest, craziest, most mature work yet!” – Richard Corliss, TIME

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS (1971) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 11th on Blu-ray!

Color 91 Minutes 1.85:1 Rated G

• Audio Commentary with Director Anthony Harvey and Film Archivist Robert A. Harris
• Madness… It’s Beautiful – Featurette
• THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS is presented in a special expanded version, featuring additional footage not seen in the original theatrical release.
• Theatrical Trailer

Wealthy, retired judge Justin Playfair (George C. Scott, The Day of the Dolphin, The Hustler) has a most peculiar eccentricity: he believes he is Sherlock Holmes. Betrayed by his scheming brother, “Holmes” comes under the care of psychiatrist Dr. Mildred Watson (Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve, Paris Blues). As Watson follows Holmes through Manhattan on a search for his elusive nemesis Moriarty, the unlikely pair are drawn into a world of danger and intrigue. Together, they discover an uncommon reality—and a most magical love. Three years after the film The Lion in Winter, director Anthony Harvey (Grace Quigley) and screenwriter/playwright James Goldman (Robin and Marian) reunited for this classic romantic comedy. The amazing cast includes Jack Gilford (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Al Lewis (TV’s The Munsters), Rue McClanahan (TV’s The Golden Girls), Kitty Winn (The Panic in Needle Park), F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) and M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple).

PURSUIT (1972 TV Movie) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 11th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 74 Minutes 1.33:1 Not Rated

• Brand New 2K Master
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Lee Gambin and Comic Artist/Writer Tristan Jones

The Ultimate Weapon is about to be Unleashed! What begins as a routine investigation quickly escalates into a heart-stopping race to save millions from certain death in this taut and gripping thriller from the creator of Westworld, Coma and Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton (The Great Train Robbery, Looker, Runaway) makes an impressive directorial debut in this deadly cat-and-mouse game in which the stakes couldn’t get any higher. When government agent Steven Graves (Ben Gazzara, The Neptune Factor) investigates political extremist James Wright (E.G. Marshall, Nixon), he uncovers a diabolical plot to blast lethal nerve gas into San Diego during the Republican Convention. What’s worse, a computer hacker (Martin Sheen, Loophole) has provided Wright with a psychological profile to help him outwit Graves. Can Graves find a way to stop Wright before the ultimate nightmare begins? Co-starring Joseph Wiseman (Dr. No) and William Windom (The Detective).

KIDNAPPED (1971) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 11th!

First Time on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 107 Minutes 2.35:1 Rated G

• Brand New 2K Master!
• Theatrical Trailer

In this Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island) adventure story, the battlefield of Culloden is awash with the blood of Scottish Highlanders making their last stand against the Hanoverian forces. Against this wartorn backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion, the young orphan David Balfour seeks to claim his inheritance from his uncle Ebenezer (Donald Pleasence, The Great Escape), who in turn shanghais David into slavery. A prisoner at sea, David finds a swashbuckling companion in fugitive Jacobite rebel Alan Breck (played with panache by Michael Caine, The Black Windmill). Veteran Hollywood filmmaker Delbert Mann (Marty, Separate Tables) directed this old-fashioned classic adventure yarn co-starring Trevor Howard (Von Ryan’s Express) and Jack Hawkins (The Bridge on the River Kwai).

THE SILENT PARTNER (1978) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 18th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 106 Minutes 1.85:1 Rated R

• NEW Interview with star Elliott Gould
• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson
• Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spot

A masterpiece of cunning and suspense… Miles Cullen (Elliott Gould, The Long Goodbye) discovers how interesting life can be when he is transformed from mild-mannered bank teller into daring, ingenious bank robber in a matter of seconds. Held up at the bank by the criminal Reikle (Christopher Plummer, Ordeal by Innocence), Miles manages to stash most of the money in a deposit box first. When Reikle realizes he’s been shortchanged, he plans to take revenge—and a great battle of wits ensues. To keep the money, Miles reaches new heights of courage, seducing the robber’s girlfriend (Céline Lomez, Plague) and his boss’s mistress (Susannah York, The Killing of Sister George). Filled with equal parts intrigue, romance and unexpected twists, this chilling psychological thriller also features comedy legend John Candy (Delirious) in an early film role. The screenplay by future filmmaker extraordinaire Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) was based on the book Think of a Number by Anders Bodelsen. Wonderfully directed by Daryl Duke (Payday).

SLAYGROUND (1984) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 18th on DVD and Blu-ray!

Color 89 Minutes 1.85:1 Rated R

• NEW Interview with star Peter Coyote
• Theatrical Trailer

From Donald E. Westlake, the creator of Point Blank, The Outfit and The Grifters! It should have been a quick and easy heist for Stone (Peter Coyote, Bitter Moon, Heart of Midnight), a cold cash hit on an armored car. But things turn ugly when a young girl is accidentally killed during the getaway and the child’s grieving father hires a sadistic assassin to avenge her death. Now Stone is on the run from a relentless killing machine, a chase that will lead them to a run-down amusement park on the bleak British coast where death is the final contract and vengeance is the ultimate ride. Billie Whitelaw (Frenzy, The Krays) and comedy legend Mel Smith (Brain Donors) co-star in this violent action-thriller with a screenplay by Trevor Preston (I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, The Sweeney) and top-notch direction by veteran cameraman Terry Bedford (Jabberwocky).

THE BORDER (1982) with optional English subtitles

Coming June 18th on Blu-ray!

Color 108 Minutes 2.35:1 Rated R

• NEW Audio Commentary by Film Critic and Author Simon Abrams
• Theatrical Trailer

At the edge of risk… on the other side of reason! Screen legend Jack Nicholson (The Shining, Prizzi’s Honor, Chinatown) stars in this gripping story of a man torn between his career and his conscience. As a border guard involved in drug smuggling along the Rio Grande, Charlie Smith (Nicholson) has crossed the line many times. But when he decides to clean up his act and help unite an “illegal” woman with her baby, he runs afoul of his corrupt department, his greedy wife (Valerie Perrine, Superman: The Movie) and a ruthless neighbor (Harvey Keitel, Blue Collar) in this action-packed suspense-thriller. Veteran filmmaker Tony Richardson (Tom Jones, The Hotel New Hampshire) directed this tension-filled crime-drama co-starring the great Warren Oates (The Brink’s Job).