Staten Island, Coming Soon to Blu Ray!

If you’re anything like me, you completely missed out on the theatrical release of the only major motion picture sharing a name with our borough. Seeing how Staten Islanders as a whole have a tendency to ignore it’s own art and music scene, it’s not too far off to imagine that most of Staten Island slept on a film, not only about Staten Island… but actually called “Staten Island”!!

Released on August 5th 2009, Staten Island which was directed by James DeMonaco (Who wrote “The Negotiator” and “Assault on Precinct 13″) and stars Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Seymour Cassel. Dubbed as a different kind of Mafia movie, Staten Island was released and quickly discarded. (Possibly because of that very dubbing) Check out the trailer, which features some prominent SI locations.

(note: the film is called “Little New York” in some foreign releases)

One reviewer, Leslie Felperin of Variety, compared the film to Pulp Fiction and Sin City saying “All in all, despite a tangible sense of place stemming from the use of Staten Island and surrounding locations, the pic has a weirdly European vibe about it, by way of the Tarantino school of knowingness — rising perhaps from the over-ironic, slightly mocking chapter titles that introduce each section.” Perhaps it’s Staten Island’s fight against the bad reputation that caused this film to be swept under the rug, and perhaps it just isn’t very good. We can only really tell by checking the flick out for ourselves. I know I’d like to check it out, even tho i missed it in the theaters.

The DVD/Blu Ray Release Date is currently scheduled for 12/22/09. So, if this little write up inspired your curiosity about the film, you can pre order it on Amazon or Netflix.