THE SCREENING ROOM

DVD: “Life of Pi,” “Hitchcock,” “Sagat,” “Love Free Or Die,” And More!

k-11

This week in home entertainment runs the gamut from an Oscar-winning spectacle to low-if gay vampire debacle: Ang Lee’s Life of Pi brings the acclaimed novel about an Indian lad stuck at sea with a dangerous tiger to stunning 3D Blu-ray, while Anthony Hopkins brings the master of suspense back to life in Hitchcock.

Two very different modern gay icons are profiled in a pair of documentaries: Gay-porn star Francois Sagat in Sagat, and openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson in Love Free or Die.

Kristen Stewart’s mom, Jules, makes her directorial debut with K-11 (above), a grindhouse flick set in L.A. County’s transgender-prisoner unit. And, speaking of Twilight, what would a week be without a saucy gay vampire flick—in this case, Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood.

FIRST UP: The boy or the tiger, in Life of Pi.

http://youtu.be/mX2HBsHbNZM

Life of Pi
($49.99 3D Blu-ray, $39.99 Blu-ray, $29.98 DVD; 20th Century Fox)

Pi, a 16-year-old Indian boy, survives a shipwreck only to find himself sharing a lifeboat with a deadly Bengal tiger in Ang Lee’s cinematic adaptation of Yann Martel’s “unfilmable” novel. With a spectacular array of 3-D effects, Pi has been hailed as the next Avatar, but the comparisons end there: Lee’s film is vastly superior and emotionally engaging, with a gorgeous score and haunting Oscar-nominated theme song, “Pi’s Lullaby.” Extras include a comprehensive “A Filmmaker’s Epic Journey” making-of, deleted scenes, and featurettes dedicated to the special effects and the tiger itself.

NEXT: Love Free or Die should be required viewing for the College of Cardinals

 

http://youtu.be/PSNH5COHULo

Love Free or Die
(VOD; Wolfe)

Gene Robinson’s appointment as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop was not without its controversy. (He wore a bulletproof vest to his 2003 consecration.) But his open love for his husband, Mark Andrew, was equally shocking to some of the faithful. Director Macky Alston follows Robinson on his quest for equality and progress within not only Christendom, but the entire world. This video-on-demand engagement precedes an April 9 DVD release.

NEXT: Meet the man behind the jowls in Hitchcock

 

http://youtu.be/BAdaP9wwQDE

Hitchcock
($39.99 Blu-ray; 20th Century Fox)

Anthony Hopkins dons a prosthetic neck to play Hitch, whose behind-the-scenes struggle to make Psycho is dramatized here. Dame Helen Mirren is a joy as Hitchcock’s wife (and largely unsung creative partner) Alma, but Scarlett Johansson is an odd choice for Psycho star Janet Leigh. Extras include a handful of featurettes, a director’s commentary and deleted scene.

NEXT: Sagat guides us through the life of the famous French porn star

http://youtu.be/lJZ_Kg4x06c

Sagat
($19.99 DVD; TLA Releasing)

The life and career of French gay porn star Francois Sagat, he of the tattooed scalp, is chronicled in this revealing documentary. We follow the brutish beauty from his start as intern for designer Thierry Mugler to his rise as a porn superstar, and crossover work in films like Saw VI and Bruce La Bruce’s L.A. Zombie, featuring interviews from colleagues like Chi Chi LaRue.

NEXT: Caged Heat has nothing on K-11.

 

http://youtu.be/-EMsG-GTuJk

K-11
(VOD, Breaking Glass Pictures)

The directorial debut of veteran script supervisor (and mother to Twilight‘s Kristen Stewart) Jules Stewart, K-11 is seriously twisted, paying homage to exploitation flicks of decades past. Goran Visjnic stars as a record producer whose homicidal drug binge lands him in a L.A. County Jail unit reserved for LGBT prisoners, where brutal Mexican trans woman Mousey rules with an iron fist. Pretty soon Raymond finds himself facing horrors that would give the cons in Oz nightmares. This March 15 VOD release coincides with same-day theatrical engagements in New York, L.A., Phoenix, Denver, Tempe and Philadelphia.

 

http://youtu.be/SrnUhXpFEAE

Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood
($24.99 DVD; Ariztical Entertainment)

A sequel to 2010’s erotic guilty pleasure, Vampire Boys (don’t worry – you don’t need to see the first one to understand what’s going on), VB2 sees happy bloodsucking couple Jasin and Caleb threatened by an old nemesis, Demetrius, whose plans involve turning hot young boxers into vampires.

 

ALSO OUT ON DVD:

this must be the place
Rise of the Guardians

Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away

This Must Be The Place

Smashed

The Blob (Criterion)

In Their Skin

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