MGM

CHICAGO – HollywoodChicago.com is launching a series of calendars – starting with the release of a Blu-ray schedule – complete with links to pre-order the titles you just can’t wait to own!

CHICAGO – Russ Tamblyn has seen it all. In a show business career that is now over 60 years old, he has gone from child star (”Father of the Bride”) to Oscar nominee (”Peyton Place”) to classic role (”West Side Story”) and cult hero (”Twin Peaks”). With a span like that, he has collected a few stories.

CHICAGO – Westerns are regularly “called up” to HD Blu-ray at two times during the year — Father’s Day and Christmas. It’s logical in a marketing sense that Clint Eastwood would dominate new release shelves during the seasons where dear old dad is likely to get a gift, but it leaves the rest of the year as barren as a ghost town. MGM has a little summer gift for fans of alpha males going through withdrawal — four classics of the genre hitting Blu-ray this month — “A Fistful of Dollars,” “For a Few Dollars More,” “The Magnificent Seven,” and “Return of the Magnificent Seven.”

CHICAGO – What could “Last Tango in Paris,” “Moonstruck,” and “Rain Man” possibly have in common? Two won major oscars and the third should have? All three feature some of the career-best work by iconic actors? Honestly, all that they have in common is that they weren’t out on Blu-ray before and every catalog title needs a release date eventually and so MGM chose February 15th for the trio. Pick up all three.

CHICAGO – Can you believe that Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” is twenty years old? Me neither. Well, almost twenty. It’s really going to be two decades old in May and it’s next year’s Oscars that will mark the 20th anniversary of its win for Best Original Screenplay and other multiple nominations including Director and nods for both of its leads, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. All three lost to the wave of “The Silence of the Lambs” but it’s easy to see now that it was probably a close vote total for at least one of the two ladies.

CHICAGO – Can anyone else believe that it’s been 20 years since “Dances With Wolves”? In a lot of movie snob circles, the Kevin Costner epic has been relegated to a tragic tale as the thing most remembered about it is that it stole several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, from a movie that even Costner himself would probably now admit deserved them more — “GoodFellas.” Watching it again after so long, it’s easy to see what people liked about the film. It may not have deserved Best Picture but it’s still a worthy addition to many a movie lover’s collection.

CHICAGO – After Robert De Niro’s “Pupkin”-esque acceptance speech on Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, some of our younger readers may be curious about some of the films that got him to that awkward moment. His second Oscar came for what is undeniably one of the best performances of all time. De Niro would give at least a dozen great performances, some before and some after, but “Raging Bull,” recently released in a beautiful 30th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray, is the peak of one of the most notable acting careers in film history.

CHICAGO – Movie collectors can be gluttons for punishment. We strive to have complete collections of certain filmmakers or film franchises, even if we know better when it comes to actual quality. Such is the case with those of us excited that the “Robocop Trilogy” is now available on Blu-ray, given the fact that the first movie is an absolute classic while the two sequels are perfect examples of what NOT to do with a franchise.

CHICAGO – Start planning your Halloween marathon now. Last week, we highlighted the Universal wave of titles that included greats like “Shaun of the Dead” and “Army of Darkness” and we’re back with another wave of modern horror classics, including Oscar winners “Silence of the Lambs” and “Misery”.

CHICAGO – As our giveaways continue to grow in popularity, what we give away continues to sweeten, too. In this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, three lucky winners will be hooked up with our sweetest giveaway yet: a complete DVD set of 20 of the greatest classic films in recent memory.