New documentary releases on dvd and Blu Ray for June 2014
Post date: Jun 12, 2014 1:17:28 PM
THE ARMSTRONG LIE (15) 2013 GIBNEY, ALEX DVD – £19.99 BLU RAY – £24.99
Explores the controversial career of American cyclist Lance Armstrong. Gibney followed Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion, on his return to racing in 2009. Armstrong’s goal in returning was to defy persistent allegations that his past victories were in part due to doping, but in 2012 he was handed a lifetime ban from cycling after being found guilty of taking performance-enhancing drugs, something he finally admitted in 2013.
The documentary includes interviews with Armstrong, who offers his side of the story, as well as contributions from cycling contemporaries and those who follow the sport.
BATTLE COMPANY: KORENGAL (15) 2014 JUNGER,S/HETHERINGTON, T DVD – £17.99 BLU RAY – £19.99On-the-ground Afghan war documentary by American journalist Sebastian Junger. The film follows on from ‘Restrepo’ (2012) chronicling the time that Junger spent in Afghanistan on assignment for Vanity Fair magazine. Embedded with an army unit in the treacherous Korangal Valley, Junger stationed himself in the heart of the action with the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company for 15 months, watching in anticipation as the men fought for their country and their lives.
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General Sir Ian Hamilton, commander of the Gallipoli campaign, introduces this rarity – a documentary on the events of World War One made close to the time of the conflict itself. Unseen for over sixty years, it features interviews with the men who fought in the trenches and lived to tell the tale.
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THE GREAT WAR POETS (E) 2014 £10.99 This powerful documentary hosted by Emmy Award winning writer and film maker Bob Carruthers revisits the battlefields where the war poets found their inspiration and presents a moving and comprehensive survey of their lives and work.
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DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY (15) 2013 DIAZ, RAMONA S. DVD – £15.99 BLU RAY – £17.99Documentary about how Filipino Arnel Pineda became the new lead singer of rock band Journey. Growing up in the Philippines in the 1970s, Pineda always dreamed of being on the stage with his own band. In 2007 Pineda received an email from guitarist Neal Schon who had seen his band The Zoo perform a Journey song on YouTube and wanted him to travel to San Francisco to audition for the band.
Six months later Pineda was announced as the new lead singer of Journey.
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FORGOTTEN MEN (12) 1934 £17.99
SIDE THE NATIONAL TRUST(E) 2013 £39.9920-part documentary series presented by Michael Buerk in which he visits National Trust locations across the United Kingdom. Featured in the series are Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, Wordsworth House in the Lake District, The Farne Islands, Sizergh Castle and Cragside near Northumberland.
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METRO-LAND (E) 1973 UK BETJEMAN, JOHN £24.99British poet John Betjeman presents this classic 1970s television documentary, a colourful and eccentric eulogy to the people and places served by London Underground’s Metropolitan Line.
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NANKING MASSACRE (15) 2007 GUTTENTAG, B/STURMAN, D £9.99Award-winning documentary examining the Japanese invasion of Nanking just before the Second World War, known as the Rape of Nanking. The film contains archive footage smuggled out of China during the Japanese occupation and interviews with both surviving Chinese victims and Japanese Imperial Army soldiers who took part in the campaign. Actors including Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway and Michelle Krusiec read the personal diaries and letters of European and American witnesses and Chinese and Japanese survivors.
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NEW WORLD ORDER: THE CONSPIRACY TO RULE YOUR MIND (E) 2014 £15.99Documentary that attempts to put forward the theory that the decisions, opinions and even thoughts of human beings across the planet are being heavily influenced by the so-called ‘ruling elite’, who have allegedly used the media, education systems, industry, military and political groups to achieve world domination.
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PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH, AND SUPERMARKETS (12 1914 HABICHT, FLORIAN £17.99Documentary and concert featuring alternative rock band Pulp who formed in 1978. Almost 20 years after they found fame and success with their single ‘Common People’, which reached number two in the UK, the band return to their home town of Sheffield where they give their final performance. The film also features interviews with fans and group members Jarvis Cocker, Mark Webber, Candida Doyle, Nick Banks and Steve Mackey.
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Features interviews, photographs, newsreels and home movies as well as live performances of the Polish pianist Arthur B. Rubinstein, narrated by his son John Rubinstein.
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THE PUNK SINGER: A FILM ABOUT KATHLEEN HANNA (E) 2013 ANDERSON, SINI £14.99Documentary about American punk musician and feminist activist Kathleen Hanna. Throughout the early 1990s, Hanna was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, a controversial and abrasive act characterised by Hanna’s politically infused lyrics and infamous stage performances. A figurehead of the ‘riot grrrl’ movement, Hanna believed that her band were being misrepresented in the American media and called for a media blackout before the group eventually disbanded in 1997.
However, this did not stop the group from influencing numerous acts who adopted their particular approach to challenging societal ideas. Through interviews with Kathleen herself, film-maker Sini Anderson provides insight into Hanna’s prolific career and ongoing musical projects.
RUBINSTEIN REMEMBERED (E) ROSEN, PETER £5.99
THE UNBELIEVERS (E) 2013 HOLWERDA, GUS £15.99The film follows renowned scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss across the globe as they speak publicly about the importance of science and reason in the modern world. Blasphemous to some, heroic to others, the weight of their message is impossible to ignore.
Presented in the style of rock ‘n’ roll tour films, The Unbelievers joins Dawkins and Krauss as they speak to sold-out stadiums and halls across three continents while contending with fans and critics along with religious extremists bent on stifling their pro-science/pro-reason message.
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UPSIDE DOWN – THE STORY OF CREATION RECORDS (15) 2010 O’CONNOR, DANNY £14.99Film about the independent UK record label Creation Records. Primal Scream, Oasis, Super Furry Animals and Teenage Fanclub were among the acts signed to the label that folded in 1999, after 16 years as a defining force within the British music industry. Contributors to the documentary include Alan McGee, founder of the label, and the novelist Irvine Welsh.
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WE THE PEOPLE – FROM CRISPUS ATTUCKS TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA (E) 2012 TAYLOR, TERRELL £12.99 American documentary exploring the links between the death of Crispus Attucks in 1770, the subsequent Revolutionary War and abolition of slavery, and the election of the country’s first African American president in 2008. Contributors include Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, Gayle King and Wyclef Jean.
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WEIR’S WAY: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION (E) 2014 £39.9952 episodes of the TV series which follows Scottish climber, author and broadcaster Tom Weir as he travels around Scotland exploring its landscape and natural history. In each programme Tom delves into a different region’s history, geography and the life and times of its local people.
DVD available to buy at –http://www.worldonlinecinema.com/Home/documentaries
