DVD a Day

Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City

2012-02-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

In the original movie, directed by Takashi Miike (Audition), mild-mannered teacher Shin’ichi Ichikawa (Sho Aikawa) saw his dreams of being a vigilante superhero become a reality when he turned into Zebraman to save the world from an alien invasion. This sequel, also directed by Miike, is set 15 years in the future during an apocalyptic time when the high moral standards of Zebraman have been twisted to the point where there is now a government sanctioned 10-minute Zebra Time every day at 5 am and 5 pm where murder and mayhem are not only legal, but endorsed by the government. How did things get so out of control? Don’t ask Zebraman because he’s now a homeless amnesiac. The ultimate answer to how things went wrong and what has to be done to set it right will all be revealed during the two-hour roller coaster that the movie takes you on. It doesn’t always make a lot of sense, but that’s hardly the point. It’s a hell of a lot of fun just waiting to see what Miike comes up with next as the story barrels along at breakneck speed. That, and a dementedly sexy performance by Riisa Naka as the evil Zebra Queen, makes this a keeper.

Vampires

2012-02-19T06:58:00.000-05:00

‘They’re not scary, sexy or trendy. They’re just Belgium.’ With a tagline like that, who could resist a movie like this? The good news is that this mock-documentary, directed by Vincent Lannoo, is more than just a clever marketing campaign. It follows a film crew as it tries to capture the everyday — make that every night – life of a vampire family in Belgium. The fact that this is the third crew invited in to film the vampire community – and that the first two were accidentally eaten by their interview subjects – pretty much sets the tone for the movie. Lannoo doesn’t spare the audience when it comes to the gore factor of the film, but it’s hard to be scared or grossed out when you’re laughing so hard as you start to get to know the vampires, from the ever droll Georges (Carlo Ferrante) to his rebellious teenage daughter Grace (Fleur Lise Heuet) who dreams of one dying ‘just like a human.’ Vampires is not only the perfect antidote to all that Twilight nonsense out there in the world, but good enough to stand on its own as a vampire movie classic.

Chaos Head: The Complete Series

2012-02-18T05:37:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about anime is that there are almost no rules the animators have to follow: if the writers think of it, they can animate it. The creative team behind Chaos Head, however, deserves special recognition for what they’ve done here. It’s not that the images themselves are so wild; it’s the way the story – and the images – plays with the idea of reality that messes with your mind as you watch it. Chaos Head is the story of Takumi Nishijō, a high school student at a private academy who is more comfortable in his imagination than he is with the day-to-day reality of his life. Takumi lives in a old shipping container on the roof of his family’s apartment building where he spends his days playing video games and watching anime. The lines between Takumi’s imaginary world and the ‘real’ world are increasingly blurred, especially when he becomes suspect in a series of gruesome murders.

West Side Story

2012-02-17T06:49:00.000-05:00

It might have been made more than half a century ago, but watching West Side Story on this deluxe 50^th Anniversary blu-ray edition is as exciting as anything you’ve seen in theaters since. The classic retelling of Romeo and Juliet, set in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is filled with great songs and dance numbers, the sheer physicality of which will amaze you. The acting is good throughout, too, especially from Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her performance as the fiery Anita. The deluxe package is filled with extras that only enhance the experience, including some amazing song-specific commentary from lyricist Stephen Sondheim and a terrific look at the dance numbers in the movie from the people who made them come alive on the screen.

The Nickel Ride/99 44/100% Dead

2012-02-16T06:32:00.000-05:00

It’s been a long time since theaters showed an actual double feature, but this classic set from Shout Factory is a perfect example of what you might have seen back when you got two movies for the price of one. The Nickel Ride stars Jason Miller (The Exorcist) as Cooper, a small-time mobster facing some heavy competition from an up-and-coming young hood. Cooper has a plan to pull off one big score to regain his control over his territory, but he’s racing against the clock to make it happen. The second film stars Richard Harris as Harry Crown, an independent hit man hired by one mobster to kill his rival to stop a bloody turf war from getting out of hand. Both movies stand on their own as solid B-action movies, but there’s something about watching them back to back that makes for a great night at the movies.

Super 8

2012-02-15T05:19:00.000-05:00

While making a zombie home movie with their super 8 movie camera, a group of nerdy teens witness a gigantic train wreck, inadvertently capturing the carnage on film in the process. As bad as the wreck is, it is what escaped from the train when it went off the rails that will eventually get the kids in a lot of trouble while giving audiences a near-perfect summer movie thrill ride. Directed by J. J. Abrams, Super 8 is that rare kind of summer movie that is filled with state-of-the-art special effects which are there to actually enhance the story and not just to distract the audience so they won’t realize how lame the story -- or the acting -- is. In fact, cool as some of the effects are (and some of them are really, really cool) it is the characters that stay with you long after the movie is over. The fact that the characters are played by kids, many of whom you have never seen in a movie before, somehow makes it even more enjoyable.

Rushmore

2012-02-14T06:13:00.000-05:00

It’s still as quirky and charming as you remember it to be, but what makes settling in to watch this Criterion Collection edition of the Wes Anderson’s 1998 comedy so cool now is getting a chance to watch the amazing Bill Murray give one of the best performances of his film career. In the movie, Murray plays Herman Blume, a millionaire steel maker whose life is on the skids. He’s got a wife he doesn’t love, children he can’t believe are his and an outlook on life so bleak that if it wasn’t for booze, he’d probably have already killed himself. Then he meets perpetual Rushmore student Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) and rediscovers that there’s more to life than drinking and ignoring the people around him. Murray brings such a perfect blend of comedy and pathos to the part that it gives Anderson’s quirky comedy the heart it needs.

The Rolling Stones Some Girls Live in Texas 1978

2012-02-13T05:48:00.000-05:00

Talk about catching lightning in a bottle. When they hit the stage in Texas for this concert, The Rolling Stones didn’t surround themselves with a lot of showy stage sets or pyrotechnics. They didn’t have host of backup musicians playing behind them. It was just the band and a batch of new songs from their latest release. Ten minutes into it, you realize that’s all they needed. The year 1978 was a proving ground for The Rolling Stones, who were feeling the pressure of becoming passé as the punk rock movement came along, so there’s a fierceness to the band’s playing in the show that reminds you how good they could be when they wanted to be. The extras showing them playing on Saturday Night Life are a bit redundant, and the sketch of Jagger being interviewed by Dan Aykroyd as Tom Snider is embarrassing, but the 2011 interview Jagger gives about the show, and the band in 1978, is illuminating.

Helldriver

2012-02-12T05:57:00.000-05:00

If ever a movie needed to come with its own splatter guard, this is it. As anyone who has seen some of his earlier films, like Tokyo Gore Police or The Machine Girl, will tell you, director Yoshihiro Nishimura has never been shy about spraying buckets of blood and gore across the screen. They will also tell you that he does it with such absolute glee that it’s hard to be too horrified by what you see, as long as you’re not too squeamish to begin with. Helldriver takes place in an apocalyptic future where half of Japan has been turned into crazed alien zombies and the other half seem to be addicted to the powder made from the ground horns that sprout from the alien zombie’s foreheads. It’s up to Kika (Yumiko Hara), a beautiful high school girl armed with a chainsaw sword powered by an artificial heart, to save the day by killing the zombie queen Rikka (Eihi Shiina). It’s a wild ride.

New York Dolls – Lookin’ Fine on Television

2012-02-11T07:35:00.001-05:00

The actual quality of the performances captured in this 70s documentary of the legendary New York Dolls is anything but ‘fine,’ but somehow the rawness of the performances, as well as the rawness of the band members in the interview segments, is a perfect match with the music they were making. The Dolls were always a smashup of glamour and trash: it’s hard to be anything else when you’re a six-foot dude from the Staten Island like David Johansen who just happens to put on a dress, heels and a lot of makeup before he steps to the microphone to sing. The best thing about this film, shot by legendary rock photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya, is that it captures The Dolls in the moment just as they were reaching the peak of the new wave they were riding and makes that moment feel as fresh as it did back then.

The Littlest Angel

2012-02-10T05:48:00.001-05:00

Unless you have young children, this animated tale from director Dave Kim (Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike) may be the last thing you would think of sitting down to watch. But don’t let the cute angel and dog on the cover keep you away; it’s actually a fun little film. Based on the best-selling children’s book by Charles Tazewell, it’s the story of a young angel who just can’t seem to stay out of trouble in heaven. Putting his restlessness down to some things he left behind on earth, the Littlest Angel goes back to set things right. Although the film is obviously based on Christian beliefs, the religious aspect of the tale is never hammered home too hard. The end result is a fine film for the family to enjoy no matter what their beliefs may be.

A Passionate Woman

2012-02-09T06:11:00.000-05:00

After years spent as a pop singing diva and a sci-fi cultural icon, for her work as Rose in the Dr. Who series, Billie Piper needed to find a grown-up role to prove she was more than just a pretty face, and that’s just what this BBC mini-series gives her. In it, she plays Betty, a young mother and housewife circa 1950s London. Trapped in dull relationship, Betty finds passion with a downstairs neighbor named Craze (Theo James), whose marriage to a local girl is equally troubled. Piper is captivating as the young woman discovering her passionate side, and there’s real chemistry between her and James. She also has a knack for making the domestic suffocation of her character palpable to the audience. Betty’s youthful indiscretions are only half the story, though, as the series also lets us see what her life is like as an older woman (played by Sue Johnston). The second part of the story stands on its own, but it’s ten times as effective to watch because of the strength of Piper’s performance.

Blue Velvet: 25th Anniversary Edition

2012-02-08T05:54:00.000-05:00

It’s one of the weirdest – and most rewarding – movie experiences you can have, only now it’s even more intense thanks to close to an hour of new ‘lost footage’ contained in this excellent 25^th anniversary blu-ray of the David Lynch classic. What’s Blue Velvet about? Words can hardly describe what you will see – let alone feel – when you watch it. It’s a dark mystery about a night club singer (Isabella Rossellini) being blackmailed by a deranged psychopath (Dennis Hopper) with a passion for listening to classic crooners and huffing oxygen while committing unspeakable acts of violence. Blue Velvet is also a sweetly innocent love story about a two crazy kids falling for each other as they try to unravel the mystery that starts when one of them (Kyle MacLachlan) finds a severed ear rotting in the weeds of an abandoned house lot. Like we said, words don’t do it justice, Just check out the Siskel & Ebert review on the extras. Even they don’t know how to describe what Lynch has created.

Cars 2

2012-02-07T05:50:00.000-05:00

Cars 2 picks up pretty much where the 2006 hit left off, with Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) at the top of the racing circuit while his best friend Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) stays back in Radiator Springs thinking up ways for them to have fun together when the race season is over. A challenge to take part in a global rally designed to prove that a new fuel alternative is just as good as gasoline puts their plans on the back burner and Lightning and Mater head off on an adventure that soon has them joining a British spy car (voiced by Michael Caine) to stop a mysterious bad guy from taking over the world. If you strip away the fact that the story is being told by animated cars with eyes where their windshield should be talking though their bumpers, the plot to Cars 2 is a reheated rehash of spy movie clichés dumbed down for kids. So to keep the audience interested enough to ignore the obvious plot points of the story, co-directors John Lasseter and Brad Lewis fill the screen with eye-popping images, from the neon lights of Tokyo to a photo-realistic re-imagining of London.

Tabloid

2012-02-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

When was the last time you watched a movie and the story — not the acting, not the special effects, not the usual bells and whistles Hollywood uses to fill the gaping void of their stories — but the actual story made your jaw drop in astonishment? If you can’t remember when, or worse can’t remember it ever happening, the prepare to be astonished. Directed by Errol Morris, Tabloid is a documentary about a former beauty queen who rescues her fiancé from a dangerous religious cult. It’s also the story of a Mormon missionary who is kidnapped by a deranged woman and forced into being her sex slave. It’s the story of a virginal girl who gave up everything in her life for her one true love. It’s also the story of a prostitute who specialized in playing bondage and discipline games with any man who could afford her price. And just when you think you have a handle on what the story is all about, it quickly turns into the tale of a determined (or is that demented?) dog owner who pays a South Korean scientist a lot of money to clone her dog.

Justice

2012-02-05T08:30:00.000-05:00

On the surface, this BBC series feels like any one of a dozen other courtroom dramas about a new law enforcement agent coming to a tough town and trying to make things right. Most series, though, don’t have somebody like Robert Pugh playing the guy bringing the tough justice to town. In the show, Pugh plays Judge Patrick Coburn, a local lad who went away, made good and is now returning home to Liverpool to run an experimental courthouse designed to give offenders a better chance of making a new life for themselves. Just when his work in the courtroom starts having an effect, a newspaper reporter starts digging up facts about the judge, particularly about his life in Liverpool before he left, that could bring his career crashing down. Well paced and extremely well acted, the series doesn’t worry about giving every episode a cliffhanger ending because it knows, with characters like this, you’ll come back for more no matter what.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2012-02-04T06:26:00.000-05:00

When they think of spy movie’s most people think of James Bond battling Blofeld or, if they’re in a silly mood, Austin Powers going up against Dr. Evil. They don’t think of a bunch of pipe-smoking middle aged British guys sitting in a conference room deciding the fate of the world oh-so-politely. That’s what they get in this BBC series, and if they give it a chance they’ll see it’s just as exciting, and far more satisfying, than anything 007 ever did in a movie. Alec Guinness stars as George Smiley, a retired secret agent who is called back to duty to investigate charges that there’s a mole in the secret service, a mole placed at a very high level. The conversations that follow, so thick with spy speak that the DVD set comes with a glossary of terms so you can understand what everybody is talking about, are fascinating. The performance of Guinness is spellbinding.

Thankskilling

2012-02-03T06:16:00.001-05:00

One look at the cover will tell you if this is the movie for you: It truly is the “ultimate low-budget experience.” And that’s a good thing. Director Jordan Downey couldn’t have made a better movie if he had 10 times the budget. It’s the story of five teenagers who fall victim to an ancient Indian course that causes a deranged turkey/puppet to rise from its grave to seek bloody revenge. The special effects are laughable, but they’re meant to be. The script is a lot smarter than it pretends to be, especially to fans of horror movies that will recognize every cliché that Downey is gleefully exploiting. And the actors seem to be having as much fun in it as you will have watching it. Give it a chance.

Magic Beyond Words: The JK Rowling Story

2012-02-02T05:58:00.000-05:00

Poppy Montgomery stars in this stylish soap opera about the struggles that JK Rowling went through before becoming a global sensation as the creator of Harry Potter and his wizard friends. The facts may be correct – Rowling was living on the ‘dole’ as a single mom before she started writing the books that would make her one of the wealthiest women in the world – but a lot of the movie feels overdramatized for television, particularly the scenes of Rowling’s first marriage to an abusive man she hardly knew. And the scene where a young JK tells a red-headed friend that he’s too ‘weasley’ to be a character in her book will make you groan out loud (even if it really did happen). Montgomery is delightful to watch, however, and does a great job of making you feel at the end of the film that you really know JK.

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy

2012-02-01T07:03:00.000-05:00

It’s been almost 20 years since Steven Spielberg made his first big dinosaur movie, the original Jurassic Park (1993), and it’s nice to report that time has basically stood still for the effects in the first film, as well as its two sequels: The dinosaurs still look great. Revisiting the films gives audiences a chance to look beyond the wow factor and remember that as cool as the T Rex and Raptors look, it’s the performances from the actors that really sell the reality of the big lizards. Just watch Laura Dern’s face when she is cornered by the raptors and you can feel her fear. The first film set the gold standard for the series by combining the effects and the acting with a great, well-paced story. The first sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, throws the idea of story and acting out the window, despite some strong talent like Juliane Moore, to be a full-throttled action film. Jurassic Park III just doesn’t have the energy to make it even a close contender to the first two films.

Winnie the Pooh

2012-01-31T05:56:00.000-05:00

There have been some changes made since Winnie the Pooh first appeared on the big screen back in 1966 in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Some of the characters have new voices, such as Jim Cummings replacing Sterling Holloway as the voice of Pooh. And you can tell that the new film uses a lot of CGI effects that just don’t have the same warmth as the old-school hand-drawn animation did. Oddly enough, the best thing about the new Winnie the Pooh movie is that directors Stephen J Anderson and Don Hall have resisted the temptation to update the story or the characters in some misguided attempt to be hip to today’s young audience. Instead, they’ve stayed true to Pooh’s roots and created a delightfully entertaining family film.

City of Life and Dearh

2012-01-30T06:18:00.001-05:00

There have been a number of good films about the Japanese invasion (and destruction) of the Chinese capital of Nanking in 1937 (an infamous tragedy now referred to as the Rape of Nanking). Director Lu Chuan’s version of the story, the stunning City of Life and Death, is one of the great ones. Shot in gorgeous black and white by cinematographer Yu Cao, the film makes the bold choice of leaving the politics of the war behind in favor of telling the story of the people on both ides of the fighting — the invaders and the invaded — to show how they lived and died in the three-day siege of the city. The fact that more than 300,000 people died in the battle for Nanking is a terrible reminder that a lot of people didn’t survive, but the power of the story comes from the fact that some did.

Composing Outside The Beatles

2012-01-29T19:04:00.001-05:00

Together, they were the probably the greatest pop music writing team of all time. Once their days as the founding members of The Fab Four were over, though, ex-Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney struggled to find their solo musical voices. Combining a bit of archival interview footage from the musicians themselves and a lot of pontificating from rock music critics, this case this DVD tries to make about Lennon and McCartney consciously competing against each other is weak at best, but that’s OK. The trials and tribulations, successes and failures that they each go through in the seven years covered by the film stand on their own. The film is also a great reminder of how much good music — and musical history — Lennon and McCartney made once The Beatles broke up.

The Name of Love

2012-01-28T14:46:00.000-05:00

When was the last time you fell absolutely head-over-heels in love with a leading lady? That’s just what will happen as you watch the wonderful Sara Forestier (Perfume) in this delightful romantic comedy. In the movie, Forestier plays Baya, a liberal young woman who has a unique way of changing the political world: she sleeps with the right wing politicians she doesn’t agree with until they change their outlook. Then she moves on to the next. Her plan for French domination hits a snag, though, when she meets a lonely bird expert, Arthur Martin (Jacques Gamblin) with no political or personal inclinations of his own beyond making her happy. The film’s probably a lot more scathing to French audiences who get all the political barbs thrown by director Michel Leclerc, but lack of insight into Parisian politics won’t stop you from loving every frame that Forestier appears in.

Fire of Conscience

2012-01-27T06:12:00.000-05:00

It starts out feeling like just another police corruption drama, until about the halfway mark when the story – and the action – starts to accelerate to a breakneck pace that will leave you breathless. Police Captain Manfred (Leon Lai) isn’t averse to bending the rules – or breaking a few heads – if it means putting the bad guys away, but his penchant for using whatever means necessary get pushed to the limit when he partners with an inspector (Richie Ren) whose investigation of the police department may be a cover-up for a much darker problem. The script is complicated, but director Dante Lam (Vampire Effect) keeps it tight while filling the screen with lots of eye-popping, bone crunching action

Ray Charles Live in France

2012-01-26T06:19:00.000-05:00

Back in 2004, director Taylor Hackford and actor Jamie Foxx did a pretty good job of dramatically bringing the life of pioneering musician Ray Charles to life in the biopic, Ray. Good as it was, though, the movie failed to capture the raw excitement of Charles in concert. This excellent concert DVD gives audiences a chance to see what it was really like when Charles and his band took to the stage. Filmed in 1961 at the Antibes Jazz Festival, Charles’ first time playing live in Europe, the DVD gives you a close up view of the band as they play a set of Ray Charles classics, along with some special surprises that show how diverse their repertoire really was. The constant cutting away from the band to show the audience gets a bit wearisome after a while, mainly because you want the camera to stay on the band as they play.

Nazi Hunters

2012-01-25T07:03:00.000-05:00

There are so many movies and documentaries out there about WW II that it takes something really special to capture, and keep, your attention, and this National Geographic series has it. Each episode focuses on a Nazi war criminal – Adolf Eichman, Klaus Barbie, Herbert Cukurs and others – and gives viewers an in-depth, step-by-step explanation of how they were found and how they were captured. While the interviews with the men who actually did the capturing are fascinating, it is the way the plans are detailed, and then acted out in reenactments, that will keep you glued to the screen.

The Music Lovers

2012-01-24T09:55:00.000-05:00

Ken Russell was a mad man. Long before he brought The Who’s rock opera Tommy to the big screen, the British director created this madcap film biography of Russian composer Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky and his struggles to create great music while battling against his homosexuality, a battle he all but loses when he marries a nymphomaniac whom he cannot satisfy. The music is, of course, gorgeous, and the way Russell uses it to tell his story is brilliant. It is the acting, though, that will haunt you long after the soundtrack has left your mind. Richard Chamberlain is stunning as Tchaikovsky, as is Glenda Jackson as his wife, Nina. They are the kind of performances that will mark each actor forever in your imagination.

The Last Circus

2012-01-23T06:28:00.000-05:00

Whoever said that clowns weren’t scary hasn’t seen this thriller from director Alex de la Iglesia. It’s the story of a Javier (Carlos Areces), a clown of the sad tradition, meaning he never tries to make the audience laugh, but serves only to be the butt of the jokes of the more traditional, if abusive, happy clown, Sergio (Antonia de la Torre). While their act is a big hit, their personal lives are a mess, particularly when Javier gets it in his head to rescue the beautiful trapeze artist Natalia (Carolina Bang) from her abusive relationship with Sergio. Words can barely describe what happens in Iglesia’s movie, because there’s more to the film than the gore and the madness (although there is a lot of both). There is also a high level of cinematic art that needs to be seen to be truly appreciated.

Kuroneko

2012-01-22T11:02:00.000-05:00

It may seem tame when compared to today’s horror movies, but what it lacks in graphic gore this film from director Kaneto Shindo more than makes up for in sheer creepiness. The story opens in a remote farmhouse where a young woman and her mother-in-law, left alone when the man of the house is sent off to war, are brutalized and murdered by a gang of passing samurai. Just before they die, the women beg the gods to let them become ghosts who will haunt the world and drink the blood of samurais until there is no blood left to drink. The local authorities try to rid their town of the ghosts, but only add to the body count. A young hero returning from the war is charged with killing the ghosts once and for all, unaware that he is bound to them in surprising ways.

Captain America: The First Avenger

2012-01-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

Steve Rogers was always the Boy Scout of the Marvel Universe: He didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke, he didn’t womanize and he didn’t agonize over the hand fate had given him when he was turned into a Super Soldier by an army experiment. He is a product of the 1940s, when Capt. America was created to defeat the ‘bullies’ of Nazi Germany, and remains so even when he is thawed out after 70 years of frozen slumber in an iceberg. So why is Captain America: The First Avenger one of the best superhero movies in recent memory? It’s because that instead of trying to update the character to appeal to a younger crowd, director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer) embraces the ‘uncool’ qualities of Captain America’s personality and lets the action of the film (and the humor) show us how great a hero he really is.

A Better Life

2012-01-20T07:33:00.000-05:00

With a track record than ranges from American Pie to New Moon, it’s seems odd for a director like Chris Weitz to get behind the camera to tell the story of a poor undocumented gardener from East LA working hard to try and make a better life for his son. The scale of the story told in A Better Life somehow just feels too small.Although there is some humor in it, A Better Life is not an inherently funny story, and certainly isn’t filled with the kind of bawdy humour that made American Pie such a huge hit. And although it’s a simple story, it’s doesn’t have the kind of mega-franchise millions behind it that guarantees an audience no matter how simple it is, like the Twilight sequel did. Maybe the unexpected is just what Weitz needed to do to revive his career following his flopd with big budget book adaptations (one of which, The Golden Compass, failed to win critical favor or find an audience), because A Better Life is his best film to date.

Red State

2012-01-19T07:07:00.000-05:00

Who knew? After directing the worst movie of his career, the lame action comedy Cop Out, Kevin Smith has made what is arguably his best film, Red State. It’s the story of a religious cult in ‘middle America’ whose violent anti-gay agenda is being used as a cause to kill. Three young locals boys, lured into the promise of a menage a trois with a woman through an Internet ad placed by the cult, are kidnapped and sentenced to be executed because more than one man in a sexual act with a woman makes him a homosexual, according to cult doctrine. When the kidnapping is exposed, the local cops, followed by the FBI and DEA, descend on the cult compound with disastrous results. With the exception of the dialogue between the boys before they get kidnapped, the script has virtually none of Smith’s trademark humor; in fact, it’s pretty bleak, but still powerfully directed. The action scenes are taut and tension filled, and the ending will leave you stunned.

Valerie

2012-01-18T09:40:00.000-05:00

This 1957 western starts with the bleak image of a man walking into a remote farmhouse and shooting everybody inside. When the sheriff comes to get him, he surrenders because he ‘just did what any man would do.’ Learning that the people he shot were his wife and her family is just the first of many surprises sprung on you as the story unfolds. By the time you find out the wife is not only going to live, but will testify from her hospital bed about what really happened in the farmhouse, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat. Sterling Hayden gives a fantastic performance as the guy with the gun, able to seduce you in one scene and repulse you in the next. Anita Ekberg is equally good as the wife, even if she her long false eyelashes and perfectly manicured finger nails make her look a little out of place as a rancher’s wife.

The Captains

2012-01-17T06:25:00.000-05:00

It’s difficult to judge what non-Trekkies will think of William Shatner’s cinematic quest to track down and interview all of the actors who have played Captains in the Star Trek movie and television universe. The interviews aren’t very in-depth, and Shatner’s interview style is a manic mix of pit-bull aggression and fawning reverence (often in the same question), but there’s a sincerity there that can’t be denied. Shatner really wants to know why these other actors wanted to sit in the captain’s chair after him. And it doesn’t take very long to realize how important that phrase — ‘after him’ — is to the original Capt. James T. Kirk. The passion they all bring to their parts, and the fondness they have for the fans who helped make their accomplishments part of entertainment history, is palpable.

Ray: The Complete Collection

2012-01-16T00:18:00.001-05:00

Ray is a talented and beautiful surgeon with a special gift: She has X-Ray eyes that enable her to look at, and then into, any patient and immediately tell what’s wrong with them. As well as being the key to her success, her special eyes are a link to her past in a creepy orphanage that used children to provide product for a black market organ donor ring. Sound pretty weird? Just wait. The pay off for this anime series is right on target, although the story wanders around so much through the first few episodes that you will be tempted to stop long before you get there. Too many stories follow the same pattern: A strange medical case is found that only Ray can solve. Ray solves it. The real plot of the story is buried, with only hints of something better than the same old thing just around the bend. When it hits, though, it’s a knockout.

Bones: The Complete Sixth Season

2012-01-15T06:17:00.000-05:00

When fans last saw the cast of Bones at the end of Season 5, they were scattered to the far corners of the earth, so wrapped up in their own problems that there was a feeling in the air that the band might not get back together after all. Yeah, right. As the opening episode of Season 6 shows, the primary characters are all back and ready to fight for justice for those who can no longer fight for it themselves (the recently and not so recently dead). The stories are strong in Season 6, particularly the recurring plot lines involving sniper Jacob Broadsky (Arnold Boslo), but like the previous five seasons, it is the sparkling chemistry between the characters, especially between forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones’ Brennan and FBI agent Seeley Booth that makes the show so ridiculously addictive.

The Street: The Complete Collection

2012-01-14T08:34:00.000-05:00

This fascinating BBC drama series may be set among the residents of a single working class street in Manchester, but it is packed with a veritable who’s who of British acting royalty, from Jim Broadbent and Bob Hoskins to Jane Horrocks and Anna Friel. The stories swing between Shakespearean-level tragedy to pure soap opera, but no matter what the plot, the level of talent makes it come alive on the screen. Horrocks, best known for her comedic work as Bubbles in Absolutely Fabulous, does some of the best work of her career playing Angela, a lonely housewife trying desperately to make more of her life.

Queensryche: Mindcrime at the Moore

2012-01-13T09:46:00.000-05:00

Along with being one of the most thunderous metal bands of the past few decades, Queensryche is also one of the most theatrical, as this hugely entertaining Blyu-Ray shows. Using videos, live actors and the dramatic power of singer Geoff Tate, the band brings their two classic Mindcrime albums to life in front of a sell out crowd in their hometown of Seattle. Although their sound is definitely based in power, the intricate twin-guitar sounds of Michael Wilton and Mike Stone is also very melodic in the way it not only supports Tate’s lyrics, but adds emotional color to the themes he sings about. Hats off to the beautiful, and powerful, Pamela Moore for her performance as Sister Mary in the Mindcrime stories.

Page One: Inside the New York Times

2012-01-12T08:40:00.000-05:00

While it certainly has a lot to say about the state of the newspaper business today, the really fascinating part of watching Andrew Rossi’s new documentary, especially for journalists, is getting a chance to peak behind the curtain and see how the New York Times operates on a daily basis. It’s great to share in the passion of the people who write the stories, the ones who edit the stories and even the ones who publish the stories, or at least decide which ones will be published for the next day’s edition. The harsh reality may be that the Internet and other publishing innovations have seriously dented the newspaper industry, but, as the movie proves, the idea of a world without a New York Times on the stands every day is unimaginable.

The Robber

2012-01-11T09:46:00.002-05:00

According to the reviewer blurb slapped across the cover, this movie from German director Benjamin Heisenberg contains “Chase Sequences to Outdo Hollywood’s Finest.” Well, don’t believe the hype from the Village Voice. The chase scenes in The Robber are actually pretty tame by any standards, but that’s what makes it work. The film tells the story of Johann Rettenberger (Andreas Lust), a marathon athlete who makes a living by robbing banks. Stealing is more than a job, though. It’s a compulsion as strong as his need to train. The disdain with which he hides the cash in his room shows how little he thinks of the spoils of his crime sprees. He robs banks for the thrill, to get his adrenaline pumping. The fact that he’s so good at both only fuels his determination to run more marathons and rob more banks. It’s only when he starts sharing his lonely life with another human (Franziska Weisz) that Rettenberger stumbles.

The Red Chapel

2012-01-10T06:59:00.000-05:00

Film crews have been trying for decades to get access into North Korea to make a movie about what life is really like under the dictatorial rule of Kim Jong-il. Maybe if they had employed a spastic Danish comic, like director Mads Brügger did for this hilarious movie, they might have had a better chance. The movie follows a cultural exchange program between Denmark and North Korea, spearheaded by Brügger and his co-stars (and co-conspirators), a two-man comedy team called The Red Chapel. In exchange for performing their ‘act,’ the trio get a chance to tour the country and meet its people. Under the tight control of the government, that means they get to see what the government wants them to see and meet who the government wants them to meet. Since they have to turn over their footage at the end of every day to be edited by the government, too, there isn’t much chance to say much about what they see. That is, of course, unless you let a spastic whose speech is almost untranslatable to the officials, do the talking.

Batman: Year One

2012-01-09T06:52:00.000-05:00

The Batman origin story has been told so many times before in comics that it seemed silly to have someone do it again. Then Frank Miller proved everyone wrong by writing his version and changing The Caped Crusader’s world forever. This animated film based on Miller’s work does the same thing; it’s not just the idea of putting a new spin on the story, but breaking it down to it’s core values and building it back up into something new. The film covers young Bruce Wayne returning to Gotham City and his first attempts to become a costumed vigilante. It weaves into it the story of James Gordon as he tries to stay an honest cop and survive in the corrupt world of the GCPD. It’s pretty cool. What’s even cooler is the Catwoman episode included as a bonus, featuring the sexy voice of Eliza Dushku.

Halloween Double Pack

2012-01-08T09:31:00.000-05:00

This inventive box set from Dreamworks includes two holiday spin-offs from their popular past animated films: Scared Shrekless, featuring the characters from the Shrek series, and Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space with the cast of Monsters Vs. Aliens. Unlike a lot of direct-to-video products, these two not only stand on their own, but come close to surpassing the films they were spawned from. Scared Shrekless is a trio of scary (but very family friendly) stories based on other Halloween movie classics like Pycho and The Exorcist. It also contains a pretty funny parody of Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. The Aliens Vs. Monsters movie has the heroes fighting a bunch of mutant pumpkins, created when an alien space craft empties it’s bathroom waste into a farmer’s prize crop. These are the kinds of DVDs you’ll not only enjoy now, but be taking down from the shelf every October.

Devil's Playground

2012-01-07T16:01:00.000-05:00

Just when you think there’s nothing new that can be added to the zombie film genre, director Mark McQueen comes up with a bit of brilliance: zombie pakour. The film is set in the near future, where a big British corporation has come up with a new energy drink product to help people get through their busy day. They test it on 30,000 people and 29,999 turn into the flesh eating undead, only flesh eating undead that are jacked up on the energy product so they’re not only strong and fast, but over-caffeinated to the point of leaping and jumping over everything in their path (that they aren’t eating). It’s not played for laughs, but for the high-octane thrill, which adds to the dark comedy of the situation as the few survivors try to get the one non-dead test subject to a lab so they can make a cure from her blood.

Drinking Made Easy Season One

2012-01-06T09:41:00.000-05:00

Imagine a wild night of partying with you friends, the kind of night where you not only get drunk, but actually do fun and interesting things while you get there. Now imagine somebody taped the whole thing so you can enjoy it the next day while pounding down a few beers to make the hangover go away. That’s what you get to experience virtually in every episode of this series from HDNet. Host Zane Lamprey and his friends travel across the country to take part in every drinking ritual they can find, with hilarious results. Lamprey is the perfect host for a show like this, and not just because he can out-drink just about anyone on the planet, but because, like most great drunks, he’s a great storyteller. The bonus feature of the show hosts performing stand-up comedy is proof that they haven’t killed all their brain cells filming the series…yet.

Buster Keaton: Go West/Battling Butler

2012-01-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

Screen chemistry is an elusive enough thing between two human actors to begin with; developing a believable relationship between a man and an animal is virtually impossible, but that is just what silent film legend Buster Keaton creates with his costar, a cow named Blue Eyes, in Go West. While just the picture of the sad-faced clown dressed in western duds is funny, it is the emotional attachment he has with an orphan cow that gives the film heart. The scenes of a cattle stampede through the streets of downtown LA are priceless. The second film has Keaton a a foppish young man mistaken for a prizefighter. The boxing scenes are classics of physical comedy, as are the scenes of Keaton training to be the man his intended thinks he is

Leap Year

2012-01-04T16:23:00.000-05:00

Directed by Michael Rowe, this story of a young girl looking for a relationship that lasts beyond a single night is one of the most haunting films you will ever see. Lara (a brilliant performance by Monica del Carmen) spends her days writing articles for a Mexican financial magazine and her nights in the clubs searching for a man who can give her the passion her everyday existence lacks. She gets more than she bargains for when she brings Arturo (Gustavo Sanchez Para) back home to her apartment. Their coupling is as robotic as the rest we have seen up to the point that Arturo slaps her in the heat of passion. The act opens a deeply hidden door in Lara that leads to a part of her she had been hiding from. At first Arturo is as excited as she is, but when he realizes Lara likes the abuse, in fact needs it from him, he gets scared. So do we.

Dragon Ball Z: Box 6

2012-01-03T06:55:00.000-05:00

The great thing about the Dragon Ball Z series is the wild way the stories can swing from low brow comedy to intense action to heartfelt emotions, often in a single episode. One minute we’re watching a cheap fart joke with a character called Mr Satan, the next we’re witnessing a mad sniper shoot and kill a cute little puppy. Sure, fans of the series know the puppy will turn out to be only wounded in later episodes, but that doesn’t keep the scene from being emotionally intense. Unfortunately, while this set has a lot of interesting moments scattered throughout it’s six discs, the continuing story line of the good guys lining up to battle the indestructible bad guy, a bubblegum-colored blob named Boo, wears thin after a while.

Submarino

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000-05:00

Do yourself a favor before sitting down to this excellent movie from director Thomas Vinterberg: check your internal well being. If you are feeling the least little bit depressed about anything, then save it for another day because while it’s fascinating to watch, Submario is absolutely bleak. It’s the story of two brothers who survived an abusive childhood to become two very damaged adults. Nick (Jakob Cedergren) is an ex-cop whose attempts to reform his life get derailed when he tries to help a friend, and his brother, Martin (Peter Plaugborg), is a junkie trying to keep his addiction under control so he can raise his son. Although their lives are intrinsically intertwined, the film follows each of the brothers’ stories separately, saving the end to show how even when they aren’t together their past keeps them linked forever. It’s deeply disturbing, but worth the effort.

The Trip

2012-01-01T09:04:00.000-05:00

The movie is side-splittingly funny, particularly if you are a fan of Steve Coogan and/or Rob Brydon. The pseudo-documentary nature of the film, directed by Michael Winterbottom, gives these talented comedians a chance to stretch out and riff off each other like great jazz musicians, only their instrument is humor. Watching them do dueling Michael Caine imitations is worth the price of the DVD. What makes the film resonate beyond the laughs, though, is Coogan’s delicate dramatic performance as a middle aged man facing loneliness. He never wanted to bring Brydon on the trip to begin with; he only took the assignment to travel around and try fancy restaurants because he thought it would be a romantic getaway for him and his lady. When that falls through, the complications that it creates forces the man to reexamine his life in fascinating ways.

Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

2011-12-31T07:16:00.000-05:00

The film world can now be divided into two parts: those who have seen this excellent Criterion edition of Pasolini’s controversial film, and those who have not. Unlike today’s torture porn (The Human Centipede, Hostel), though, which challenges the audience to watch horrific acts as sheer endurance with no artistic payoff, the experience of watching Salo leaves you both exhausted and, oddly enough, exhilarated. You feel like a survivor who wants, no…who needs to go back and see it again because underneath the horror is absolute cinematic artistry. What the story of the four fascist libertines living out their ultimate desires in a remote villa means to you — or does to you — is a personal experience unlike any other you will have from watching a movie. And, as the six essays in the booklet accompanying the film show, that’s OK. Just know that once the final scene ends, you will never be the same.

Gamera Trilogy

2011-12-30T09:40:00.000-05:00

Godzilla and King Kong may rule the movie monster world, but as this excellent collection proves, there is always room for a guy dressed in a giant rubber turtle costume when it comes to saving the world. And, as fans know, that is said with all the love in the world. Although it’s easy to make fun of Gamera — he is, after all, a giant turtle who flies by pulling in his legs and blasting rockets out of the leg holes (which causes him to spin like a spiralling firework when he flies) — this set reminds us that these films weren’t played for laughs. They’re action/adventure movies made with the same seriousness as Jurassic Park, only with a tenth of the technical skills and a millionth of the budget.

A Haunting in Salem

2011-12-30T09:36:00.000-05:00

Maybe it’s because it was shot in 3D and needed to be lit in a certain way, but there’s something definitely off about this haunted house film from director Shane Van Dyke: It’s too bright! It’s creepy, and there are a few good scares in it, but the fact that most of the scenes, particularly the ones set inside the house, are shot in such stark and unflattering light, that it bleeds the tension out of the scenes. And that’s too bad because even though it’s a bit predictable, at least in terms of the story, it’s a pretty good horror movie. The acting is strong, particularly from Bill Oberst, Jr, as the head of the family being haunted by the ghosts who live in the house, and Jenna Stone as his daughter, the one that the ghosts use as a medium to deliver their message.

Beavis and Butthead: Mike Judge’s Most Wanted

2011-12-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

Watching this collection of cartoons featuring the world’s most famous animated underachievers is an absolute blast, particularly if you are old enough to remember when Beavis and Butthead first aired on MTV almost 20 years ago. These episodes seem tame, even quaint, when measured against today’s animated bad boys from South Park or Family Guy, but as the excellent DVD extras remind us, the establishment really hated and feared Beavis and Butthead when they came out because they knew if kids watched Frog Baseball they’d want to go out and play frog baseball. That probably never happened, but the influence of Mike Judge’s creation runs deeper than parents could ever imagine.

Fast Five

2011-12-28T10:17:00.000-05:00

If all you are looking for in Fast Five is a couple of hours of fast cars racing around and wrecking stuff through the streets of Brazil, then you will be extremely satisfied with what director Justin Lin has slapped together to make this movie, the fifth in the series. Trying to imagine if what these guy do — stealing a vault from a heavily guarded police station, for example – could actually be done is as useless an exercise as trying to find out why they never seem to get hurt no matter how many times they crash, get shot at or beaten up. Stop thinking about anything but the cool factor of the film and you’ll be just fine.

Escape From Vampire Island

2011-12-27T09:40:00.000-05:00

When young Akira (Hideo Ishiquro) finds out that his missing brother is actually being held captive on a remote island, he bands together with his friends to rescue him. Akira soon discovers that his brother isn’t a prisoner; he’s actually on the island trying to defeat an army of blood-thirsty vampires bent on destroying the world. What follows is 90 minutes of martial arts mayhem as Akira and his crew hack and slash their way through the vampires to get at their leader. Director Tae-gyun Kim has a stylish eye when it comes to directing the action scenes in the movie, and he sure isn’t shy about spattering the blood and gore around. At more than two hours, though, it’s almost too much of a good thing.

Dracula: The Vampire and the Voivode

2011-12-26T11:31:00.002-05:00

Don’t let the terrible title stop you from checking out this well-done documentary that explores both the life of Bram Stoker, the man who gave the world its most famous vampire, and the real life ruler that inspired the legend. While the film, directed by Michael Nayley Hughes, does a good job of detailing the history behind the Count, it is the interviews with the modern day followers and fans that really makes the movie come to life. Whether it’s the local Transylvania merchants who have built a cottage industry out of making Dracula crap to sell to tourists or the people from the same village who think the whole idea stinks, it’s a new angle to an old story.

Elvira’s Movie Macabre: Santa Clause Conquers the Martians, Beast From Haunted Cave

2011-12-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) has made a career out of making fun of really bad movies, but she may have met her match with Santa Clause Conquers the Martians. Directed by Nicholas Webster, this low-low-low budget film follows a band of Martian dads as they try to kidnap Old St. Nick so their children back home (who learn about Christmas from watching pirated earth TV) can have a Merry Christmas. It’s just the kind of movie that Elvira can so delightfully skewer, with one exception: It’s actually so bad, it’s good. The spots the Mistress of the Dark does before the show (one of this series best) and during the commercial breaks are pretty funny, but the pop-up interruptions just aren’t as fun to watch as the movie itself. Beast From Haunted Cave, on the other hand, some silliness about bank robbers and a giant spider, is just bad and deserves everything Elvira throws at it.

The Hollies: Look Through Any Window 1963-1975

2011-12-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

With a running time of more than three hours, this might seem like the kind of DVD that only die-hard fans of the legendary British group will enjoy. The fact is that even the casual fan, the kind who recognizes the songs but didn’t know it was The Hollies who recorded them, will find plenty to enjoy here. The interviews are good, and the movie does a great job of putting the band and their music in perspective, both in relationship to their peers (The Beatles and The Rolling Stones) and with music history (The Hollies were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010). Best of all, the majority of musical performances in the film are live, which adds a lot of energy to the story.

Moby Dick

2011-12-23T09:06:00.000-05:00

It’s a story that’s been filmed so many times that it’s hard to imagine what new twist anybody could bring to it to make Capt. Ahab’s obsession with the Great White Whale worth watching again. You get the answer about 10 minutes after this fascinating mini-series begins when Ahab, played with subtle restraint by William Hurt, makes his first appearance. Just the fact that we see Ahab interacting with his family before the Pequod ever sets sail is a nice improvement to the usual Moby Dicks, which always keep Ahab locked in his cabin like an evil spectre. In fact, there’s a sense of understatement — and realism –throughout the story that really highlights the battle of one man versus the greatest achievement nature ever put on this earth. The only real disappointment, strangely enough, are the not-so-special effects used to show us what Moby Dick looks like.

Elvira’s Haunted Hills

2011-12-22T08:58:00.000-05:00

While en route to Paris to start her career as a cabaret star, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is sidetracked when her carriage breaks down on a desolate highway. (The film is set in 1851) She accepts a ride from a passing nobleman and soon finds herself at the center of a mystery involving a spooky Lord (Richard O’Brien from The Rocky Horror Picture Show), his dead wife (played by Elvira) and other assorted creepy characters. There aren’t really many scares in the movie, but there is a lot of the campy burlesque-style comedy that has made Elvira (real name Cassandra Peterson) a living legend. While she’s best know for her commentary on her popular Movie Macabre series, it’s nice to see Elvira get a chance to stretch out and do more than make fun of other people’s films. She’s best whens he pokes fun at herself.

Lego Hero Factory Savage Planet

2011-12-21T06:24:00.000-05:00

Sure, it’s geared towards kids, but animated film fans of any age will enjoy watching this clever story about a factory that actually builds and equips heroes for specific assignments. In Savage Planet, a group is put together to stop a rogue Hero called Witch Doctor whose plans to steal the energy source he needs to be more powerful is destroying the planet he’s mining it from. The story is filled with messages for kids, everything from the importance of friendship to environmental issues, but it never lectures its audience. The creators are far too busy making sure the action figures on the screen look and act cool. And they do. Having people like Malcolm McDowell, Henry Winkler and Mark Hamill give their voices to the characters only makes it cooler (especially to adults).

Goosebumps: Attack of the Mutants

2011-12-20T06:26:00.000-05:00

Skipper Matthews isn’t just a comic book fan; he’s a comic book fanatic who is close to getting grounded for life by his parents if he doesn’t put his comics down and do his homework. So is it any wonder nobody believes him when the comic villains and heroes he is reading about start to come to life? Like the popular R. L. Stine book series the story is based on, this DVD is inventive, entertaining and full of unexpected plot twists. The acting is good, and the added bonus of having Adam West show up as one of the comic book heroes is perfect. The DVD includes a bonus movie, Phantom of the Auditorium, about a high school production haunted by a scary guy in a mask.

Robocop 2

2011-12-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

As if life in Detroit wasn’t bad enough, there’s a new, highly addictive drug called Nuke that is sweeping the city and it’s up to Robocop (Peter Weller) to clean things up. It doesn’t have the edge that made the original Robocop so much fun, but director Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) does a decent enough job of filling the screen with so much action that you never really have time to stop and worry about the plot. Weller seems to be having a blast playing the cyborg policeman, and Tom Noonan (Manhunter) chews the scenery with gusto as the drug kingpin, Cain. The special effects are a bit dated, especially the computer imagery used for Cain’s face when he is transformed into a machine, but it somehow adds to the camp quality of the film (a quality they probably didn’t have in mind when they made the movie).

First Light

2011-12-18T14:12:00.000-05:00

A young pilot named Geoffrey Wellim (Sam Heughan) finds himself thrown into the deep end of aerial combat when he joins a fighter squadron on the eve of Britain’s greatest air battle. The film would be worth watching just for it’s gorgeous aerial photography, including some intense dogfight scenes. The fact that it’s also a well-written drama about an 18-year-old boy going up against the greatest challenge a man can face is a bonus. The acting is strong, particularly Heughan performance as Wellum, and Tupence Missleton as Grace, the girl who has to face her own challenges when the man she loves is called away.

Battle of Britain

2011-12-17T07:52:00.001-05:00

Long before he ever dreamed he would grow up to be Obi-Wan Kenobi in a Star Wars movie, Ewan McGregor, and his older brother Colin, dreamed of being fighter pilots. Not modern day fighter pilots, mind you, but one of ‘The Few,’ the members of the RAF who fought to protect their country in The Battle of Britain. Ewan grew up to be a movie star, while Colin actually joined the RAf and flew jets in Iraq. Their love of the WWII heroes of their youth remained with them both, however, so when they got a chance to do a documentary about the battle, they couldn’t resist. The film has a lot of documentary footage, but what makes it so engaging is the interviews the brothers do with some of the men who flew the actual flights. Their enthusiasm to talk to these real-life heroes is palpable, as is the joy Colin feels when he actually gets to fly a vintage Spitfire.

Holly’s World: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2

2011-12-16T07:50:00.000-05:00

For 5 seasons on The Girls Next Door, Holly Madison was not only Hugh Hefner’s #1 girlfriend, but kind of the unofficial house-mom of the Playboy mansion, keeping an eye on the rowdier Bridget and Kendra. Now that she’s out on her own, its fun for fans to see Madison let her hair down a bit as she starts her new life in Las Vegas. The insider view the show gives you to Sin City is impressive because it avoids the usual travel show cliches. The show stumbles a bit by surrounding Madison with an entourage of friends who add little but shrillness to the show, unless you count the jaw- dropping sound bites of stupidity that come out of the mouth of her friend, Laura Croft.

Pretenders Loose in L.A.

2011-12-15T09:57:00.000-05:00

Is there anything sexier (or more rock and roll) than Chrissie Hynde strapping on a guitar and stepping up to the microphone to sing a Pretenders’ song? OK maybe it’s Hynde putting down the guitar to let us use our imagination as she struts across the stage singing Brass in Pocket. Or when she starts playing the harmonica in Middle of the Road. Heck, even her clumsy dance at the start of Mystery Achievement will get your motor running. Get the picture? Unlike today’s pop tarts who think acting like a stripper without a pole is sexy on stage, Hynde embodies everything that’s hot about rock just by being herself. This excellent Blu-ray concert film captures it all, including the excellent sound. The backstage footage on the extras gives fans a chance to listen to the band talk about how (and why) decades after first hitting the scene with their classic debut album, The Pretenders only get better with age.

Mordock Scramble (The First Compression)

2011-12-14T12:02:00.002-05:00

A troubled young girl named Balot falls in love with the first man who shows her kindness, unaware that he’s a serial killer who enjoys burning his victims and turning their ashes into blue diamond jewelry. Instead of being his latest victim, though, the girl — more precisely a clone of the girl — wakes up in a secret government lab with a chance to train hard and join the people who want to catch the killer before he can strike again. Directed by Susumu Kudo. Mordock Scramble is eye-popping adventure set in a future that looks like the world depicted in Blade Runner, only drawn in bright neon green. The characters look cool, the action is exciting and the story is so compelling you almost shout out loud when The First Compression ends suddenly on a seriously gun battle cliffhanger.

Iggy Pop and the Stooges: Raw Power Live

2011-12-13T07:24:00.002-05:00

History, at least rock and roll history, was made on Friday, Sept. 3, 2010 12 as the reformed Stooges’ (Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton, James Williamson, Steve Mackay, Mike Watt) took to the stage at the All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival to play all eight of the songs from their iconic album, Raw Power, live for the first time in decades. Thank god there were cameras there to capture the moment. The footage is as raw and messy as the music, but it’s perfect for watching the 63-year-old front man wiggle and dance his way across the stage as the powerful force of the music attacks the crowd. Fans have been waiting a lifetime for this disc; now it’s time for the rest of the world to watch one of the greatest garage bands to ever plug into an amp turn it up to 11.

The Phantom Carriage

2011-12-12T06:02:00.000-05:00

Most people think of silent movies as grainy black and white films filled with either slapstick comedy or melodramatic romances, all acted out to the sound of swirling organ music. This 1921 film from Swedish director Victor Sjöström should help fix that problem. Using the 1921 version of cutting edge special effects, that still look pretty cool today, the movie brings to life the folklore tradition that the spirit of the last person to die on New Year’s Eve will be forced to spend the next calendar year as Death’s servant, roaming the globe collecting spirits for the underworld. When David Holm (Sjöström) dies at the stroke of midnight, he starts a journey that forces him to look at his past life and search for some sort of final redemption.

Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story

2011-12-11T15:11:00.000-05:00

Long before Kate Bosworth made surfing look cool and sexy in Blue Crush, American girls had a different idol hanging 10 with the boys, an idol named Gidget. Featured in a series of hit movies and a popular televisions series (starring Sally Fields in the title role), the image of the free-spirited girl next door who loved having fun on a surfboard is an important part of American culture. Who knew she was based on an actual girl? The answer, with the exception of the few people who actually were part of the 1950s surfing scene where it all began, is writer/director Brian Gillogly. In his fascinating film, Gillogly does a nice job of balancing the facts of the real Gidget’s life with the fiction that American pop culture has built around her over the years. The best part is listening to today’s surfers as they proudly proclaim what Gidget has meant to them.

The Stool Pigeon

2011-12-10T07:30:00.000-05:00

About the only thing more dangerous in movies than a rogue cop is a cop with a conscience. Detective Don Lee (Nick Cheung) heads up a successful police information department that finds, trains and uses a network of paid informants to help the local cops fight crime. When one of his pigeons is nearly killed by the drug dealers he was snooping on, and later goes mad from the experience, Lee is tortured by the guilt. But that doesn’t stop him from hiring an ex-con (Nicholas Tse) to take his place. Directed by Dante Lam, the film is stylish and action packed. What makes it better, much better, than just another martial arts film is the way Lam gives the characters plenty of time to explore the emotional impact of the violent acts they commit. He doesn’t give the audience an easy answer to it all, but he sure gives them plenty to think about beyond just how cool the movie is.

The Echo Game

2011-12-09T07:22:00.000-05:00

Strange behaviour from her daughter leads a mom on a journey through her past where she finds some dark and disturbing secrets, secrets that are soon coming back to haunt her. Directed by Brian Feeny, this taut thriller is a great balance of mind games and gut-churning gore, the kind of movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next, and never disappoints when that next thing hits the screen. The acting is strong, especially from Alisha Seaton as the mom and Jeannie Bolet as her wife. That’s right, wife. One of the best things about The Echo Game is the fact that the parents of the little girl in danger are lesbians and, with the exception of a quick question from a detective at the beginning of the film, noting is ever made of it one way or the other. They are just parents trying to save the child they love. Cheers to that.

Art of the Western World

2011-12-08T12:18:00.002-05:00

It may sound like the last DVD box set you wan to settle down to watch at the end of the day, but don’t let the title or any leftover classroom fears fool you into missing this one. Host Michael Wood does such a good job of explaining art that you won’t even realize you’re leaning something until the next time you walk past a bank or town hall and make the mental connection of just where the inspiration for those pillars in the front of the building came from. The series doesn’t stoop to using all sorts of flashy bells and whistles to make the art ‘come alive,’ which is a relief. Instead, it lets Wood set the scene for why the art is important, historically speaking, and then lets your imagination do the rest.

Deadtime Stories Volume 2

2011-12-07T09:10:00.002-05:00

In the fine tradition of such classics as The Night Gallery and Trilogy of Terror, not to forget Deadtime Stories Volume 1, this disc features three well-made horror stories whose only connection with one another is the introduction by the host, legendary director George Romero. The stories aren’t big on surprises or twist endings, but they sure do crank up the gore … in a good way. What’s the point of telling a story about hikers trapped in a cave who resort to unspeakable lengths to survive (The Gorge) if you don’t show the audience what those lengths really look like?

Footloose

2011-12-06T09:54:00.000-05:00

Time sure can be cruel to the films of your youth. When he first danced his way across Smalltown, USA almost 30 years ago, Kevin Bacon looked so cool in his skinny tie, tight jeans and soft-punk hairdo. Now he looks kind of silly. And that soundtrack you played so much you wore grooves in the vinyl? It’s now kind of lame. What’s weird is that although the things you used to love look silly, the things you probably ignored back in 1984 — like the performances of Bacon and costars John Lithgow — are a lot better than you remembered. It’s actually a good teen drama with something to say. They just dance when they aren’t saying it. There’s plenty of extras, including a cool interview with Bacon that provides some great behind-the- scenes tidbits, like the fact that his cool haircut cost the studio $1500, and that’s in 1980s dollars.

The Cleveland Show: Season 2

2011-12-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

Boom goes the dynamite! It doesn’t get as much attention as its parent TV show, and maybe that’s a good thing for this spin-off from the Fox animated series Family Guy because it’s given the creative team a chance to build something really special. And really, really funny. The animate adventures of Cleveland Brown and his new family run the gantlet from the familiar (celebrating Thanksgiving with family) to the fantastic (the hilarious ‘live’ episode), with the pendulum often swinging from extreme to extreme in a single episode. It may start out as a story about equal rights for the overweight, but when the characters leave Stoolbend to go to Wisconsin is where everybody is almost too fat to walk, it’s both weird and wonderful.

Raising Hope Season 1

2011-12-04T11:38:00.000-05:00

When was the last time your jaw dropped watching something so funny on TV that it took your breath away? Welcome to the wonderfully weird world of the Chance clan, three generations of scrappy survivors who set a new standard for family values in this hit Fox series. Their adventure begins when young Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff) has a one night stand with Lucy (Bijou Phillips), an on-the-lam and seriously sexy serial killer. The result of their one night in a van leads to the birth of baby Hope, while the result of her killing leads Lucy to the electric chair. Rather than ‘drop the baby off at the firehouse” as his mom (Martha Plimpton) suggests, Jimmy decides to do the right thing and raise Hope himself. Or with the help of his equally clueless family. The comedy is outrageous, but extremely smart and well written, while the fantastic acting adds depth and soul to the ongoing shenanigans.

Carlos

2011-12-03T19:05:00.000-05:00

In our Post-911 World it’s fascinating to settle down with this compelling series to watch how terrorists operated decades before the Twin Towers fell. It’s not the differences between now and then that amaze us; it’s the similarities that scare us. Édgar Ramírez stars as Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known to the world as Carlos, a brutal, charismatic killer who was responsible for a wave of terror attacks in Europe and the Middle East in the ’70s and ’80s. Director Olivier Assayas manages pull off the unthinkable in his movie: he makes the dialogue as explosive as any of the actual detonations taking place on the screen. When Carlos talks, you listen. More than that, thanks to a seductive performance by Ramírez, you completely understand why people listen, then act on what they’ve been told.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble

2011-12-02T12:04:00.000-05:00

Twenty years ago, legendary (and reluctant) gunfighter Vash the Stampede stopped a musclebound outlaw named Gasback from robbing a bank. Rather than kill him when he had a chance, Vash let the man go to prison instead. When he gets out, Gasback decides to get his revenge. While you don’t really have to have watched the original Trigun series to enjoy this feature-length anime, it may be a good idea to go back and do it just to enrich the experience. Knowing just how Vash became an outlaw/hero helps understand a lot of what happens in Badlands Rumble. Plus you’ll have a better sense of characters like Meryl and Milly, the two sexiest insurance investigators you will ever meet, when they turn up.

Modern Family Season 2

2011-12-01T09:01:00.000-05:00

A lot of TV shows have trouble putting together a single decent story line week after week. The creators of this Emmy Award-winning FOX TV series somehow manage to put together not one. but four in just about every episode, one for each of the main three couples in the film and a fourth based on the ways the various family members interact (in some cases collide) with each other. It’s a phenomenal achievement, one that really hit its stride in Season 2. The show has a real knack for taking the most mundane situations, from getting ready for Halloween to changing the batteries in a smoke detector, and raising them to the level of art. We’ve all been through what these people are going through, and it’s cathartic to laugh at they way they handle it.

The Sword With No Name

2011-11-30T09:49:00.000-05:00

The fight sequences in this movie from director Yong-gyumn Kim are spectacular, particularly the final battle scene where a single palace guard, dedicated to saving the life of his queen, takes on an entire army by himself. What makes this movie so epic, though, is the beautiful love story woven between the battles. It starts with a young woman (Soo-Ae) whose last wish before going off to marry the king is to go see the ocean. She hires a local man (Seung-woo Cho) to day and her day of solitary reflection turns into something more as romantic sparks fly between the two. Promised to another — and the King, no less — the woman decides to keep the day as a perfect memory of her life, and not pursue it further. The man, smitten to the bone, decides to dedicate his life to protecting the woman he may never know. It’s beautiful, sumptuous and romantic as hell.

Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer: The Complete Series

2011-11-29T09:03:00.000-05:00

When it was first aired back in the early 1950s, this gritty series was attacked by critics and viewers for it’s “excessive and gratuitous violence.” More than five decades later, it may not be as shocking, but it’s just as intense. Darren McGavin stars as Mike Hammer, Mickey Spillane’s tough-talking private eye, and he does a terrific job of making Spillane’s tough-guy talk come to life, whether he’s wising off to a thug or sweet talking a dame in a tight dress. The cases Hammer solves from episode to episode are pretty routine by today’s CSI-saturated standards, but yo don’t really watch them today to see how Hammer will solve he crime. Yo watch it to listen to the razor-sharp dialogue, waiting to see if it leads to a killing or a kiss

Dumbo

2011-11-28T08:56:00.000-05:00

It’s been 70 years since audiences still saw an elephant fly for the first time, but this classic Walt Disney animated feature is as much fun as anything that’s been releases since. Maybe even more. The story, about an elephant who is ostracized for his over-sized ears, is classic and the songs, even the lullaby “Baby Mine” avoid the usually sugary sweetness of a Disney soundtrack. Above all, the animation is amazing, particularly when the artist let their animation run wild to show what might be running through a baby elephant mind if he accidentally got drunk on cheap champagne (Pink Elephants). Be sure to watch the extras and discover how a tight deadline and even tighter budget helped make this movie the success it was.

Bridesmaids

2011-11-27T12:09:00.000-05:00

One look at the poster, showing a row of tough looking women dressed in fluorescent pink dresses and you might think Bridesmaids is just another chick flick. Think again. Written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, Bridesmaids is an hilarious comedy about the lengths friends will go to when they need them most. It’s a buddy film and a raunchy comedy, wrapped up in a smartly written script that’s filled with strong characters brought to life by actors who know what it takes to make an audience laugh.
It just happens to star six of the best comediennes in show business. Leading the pack is Wiig, best known for her comedic work on Saturday Night Live and her dramatic work in films like Whip It and All Good Things. In the movie, Wiig plays Annie, a struggling single woman faced with the biggest challenge of her life: The need to make sure her best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph) has the perfect wedding day. (Read out interview with Kristen Wig by clicking HERE)

Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal

2011-11-26T17:34:00.002-05:00

The cinematic adaptations of movies based on author Terry Pratchett’s Disc World series of novels have been a mixed bag, from the good (The Color of Magic) to the godawful (the animated Soul Music). This latest film, directed by Jon Jones (Northanger Abbey), ranks among the best. It’s the story of a conman named Moist Von Lipwig (Richard Coyle) who escapes the gallows only by agreeing to becoming the Post Master and restoring the Ankh-Morpork mail service so it can compete with the primitive Internet-style services provided by the evil Reacher Gilt (David Suchet). There are a lot of in- jokes for fans of the original novel, but the story is clear enough for all to enjoy. The acting, particularly Suchet’s performance, is superb.

Glee Season 2

2011-11-25T09:02:00.000-05:00

With all the hype surrounding it’s first season’s success, there was bound to be some critical (and fan) backlash as the singing students from William McKinley High School battle back from losing the Regionals at the end of Season 1. Well, don’t believe the hype because Season 2 is better than you expect. Much better. The music is more diverse throughout the season, but the way they dedicate single episodes to the music of Britney Spears or The Rocky Horror Picture Show is inspired. The Glee Music Juke Box extra on the Blu-ray lets you enjoy all the songs and videos on their own, but why would you when you can watch the them while waiting for the awesome Sue Sylvester (Emmy Award winner Jane Lynch) to walk on camera and steal the scene.

Brand New Day

2011-11-24T13:20:00.002-05:00

When the budding romance for a local girl (Jessica Mauboy) starts making him have conflicting feelings about his calling for the priesthood, a young Aborigine named Willie (Rocky McKenzie) decides to head home to see if there’s more to life than religion. It may sound like a dry and serious subject, but under the delightful direction of Rachel Perkins this high- energy musical (that’s right, musical) is an absolute delight. The songs are catchy as hell — don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing ‘Nothing I Would Rather be (Than an Aborigine)’ for days after you see it — and the dancing is energetic and well filmed. The two leads give good performances, but it is Geoffrey Rush’s work as the priest who wants the boy to come back into the fold that steals the show.

Gettysburg

2011-11-23T18:33:00.000-05:00

When you see the names of directors Ridley Scott and Tony Scott as producers at the start of this History Channel special about the bloodiest battle ever fought on American soil, you have a pretty good idea that what you are going to get — an intensity level cranked up to 11. The show starts out with a bang and never lets up. You’ll be so wrapped up in the action (it’s not too many history shows on TV where the blood splatters into the camera lens) that you may not even realize how much you are learning about the war and the people who fought it. This is one TV show that deserved to be seen up on the big screen.

Lee & Grant

2011-11-22T19:03:00.000-05:00

One is a gentleman from the South and one is a drunken reprobate from the North. So much for the cliches, which is about all most people will remember about the two generals who held the future of America in their hands for the long and bloody years of the Civil War. This fascinating portrait of the two men does more than set the record straight, it fleshes out the facts to give viewers a fully-informed look at how Lee and Grant were different, how they were similar and how a few decisions made by either one became the key to why one won the war and one went home in defeat.

3rd Rock From the Sun, Season 1 and 2

2011-11-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

For five years, John Lithgow and company ruled the airwaves with this delirious blend of slapstick and verbal gymnastics to tell the story of what would happen if aliens really did land on the planet. They’re not here to take over, though. They just want to study our habits and learn from them. The results are hilarious, whether it’s the leader Dick (Lithgow) trying to understand the romantic feelings he is developing for his coworker (Jame Curtain) or the heroic fighter of the group (Kristen Johnston) trying to understand why he got stuck in a hot earth women’s body. French Stewart and Joseph Gordon -Levitt round out the stellar cast. It’s a trip worth taking again and again.

That 70s Show, Season 1 and 2

2011-11-20T15:57:00.000-05:00

It was the launching pad for some of the hottest young talents in Hollywood today — Topher Grace, Ashton Kutcher to Mila Kunis — and it’s a hoot to watch these shows and see how young they were. They’re pretty funny, too, especially Kunis as Jackie Burkhart the relatively straight-laced girlfriend who likes her man (Kutcher) kept on a very short leash. Watching the series now, though, it’s the parents who come across as the really funny people. Debra Jo Rupp is fantastic as Kitty Forman, the slightly off-center wife of the hilarious patriarch of the Forman clan, Red (Kurtwood Smith). Some of the 70s references may feel a little dated, but the parents in the show are timeless.

We Are the Night

2011-11-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

A trio of fashionable female trendsetters have a dark secret. When they aren’t partying at the local discos or racing their expensive sports cars through the streets late at night, they’re killing people. Killing them for food. Louise, Charlotte and Nora (Nina Hoss, Hennifer Ulrich and Anna Fisher) are vampires. Not the moody and angst-ridden vampires of Twilight, but blood-thirsty feminist vampires who have, over the years, slowly culled all the men from their nocturnal world of the undead. Louise, leader of the pack, is still unsatisfied, though, because she can’t find the love of her life. That is, until a troubled young girl named Lena (Karoline Herfurth) enters their world and changes it forever. It’s stylish, gory and a hell of a lot of fun.

3 Women

2011-11-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

Ah, the 70s. A time when a director could convince a studio to give him the money to make a movie without having to show them a finished script, or even a complete outline of what the final film would be. You didn’t need a finished script, the studio would say, if the director in question was an artist like Robert Altman. While it isn’t nearly as polished — or purposeful — as Nashville, this weird little mystery is one of Altman’s best thanks to the freedom he gives his two leading ladies to create — and ultimately destroy — their characters. Sissy Spacek is stunning as Pinky Rose, a little lost lamb of a girl who slowly adopts, then consumes, the personality of her roommate Millie (Shelly Duvall). Unfortunately, the addition of the third woman (Jancie Rule) to the story is underdeveloped and feels tacked on.

The Revolutionary

2011-11-17T09:49:00.002-05:00

Directed by Paul Williams (Miss Right), this 1970 drama stars John Voight as A, a disillusioned young man frustrated by the way his so-called revolutionary friends talk a big game, but ultimately do nothing to change the way of the world. When he falls out with his intellectual friends, A starts hanging out with a more militant crowd, the kind of people who think words are OK, but nothing settles an argument more effectively than a bomb. It’s more than a bit dated, both thematically and cinematically, but Voight gives a good performance, as does Robert Duvall as a radical union leader and Seymour Cassell as the hard-line revolutionary.

The Office Season 7

2011-11-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

Fans of the show know that the cast of The Office are experts in the art of making emotionally painful moments hysterically funny. In the seventh season, the last one for star Steve Carrell as office manager Michael Scott, they pull out all the stops in their effort to make you cringe as you cry out with laughter, whether it’s watching (Ed Helms) flop on the stage of a community production of Sweeney Todd when his cell phone goes off, or being a fly on the wall during Scott’s anger management sessions. Because of the attention the series was getting with Carrell’s departure, the season is packed with special guest appearances from Timothy Olyphant (Justified) to Ricky Gervais (start of the British series the show is based on). Some of them work better than others, primarily because the challenge of stepping into the well-oiled comedy machine the cast has built over six seasons is just too big a challenge. The regulars, especially Jenna Fischer as Pam, make each show a master class in how to be funny. Includes Threat Level Midnight: The Movie as part of a plethora or extras.

Leading Ladies

2011-11-15T10:18:00.000-05:00

When her sister Sheri (Melanie LaPatin) has to pull out of a ballroom dance competition because she’s pregnant, Toni (Laurel Vail) reluctantly agrees to take her place on one condition, that she get to pick her own dance partner. When that partner turns out to be her new girlfriend Mona (Nicole Dionne), all heck breaks loose, especially since nobody knew Toni was gay to begin with (least of all Toni). Directors Daniel Beahm and Erika Randal Beahm throw everything they can up on the screen to make the comedy as zany as possible, and most of it works, too: The dance number set in a grocery store is priceless. The real thrill here, though, is discovering newcomers Vail and Lapatin as the sisters who would love to dance if only their dominating stage mother (the wonderful Shannon Lea Smith) didn’t hover over everything they do. The first dance between Toni and her new girlfriend Mona is pure poetry.

Le Quattro Volte

2011-11-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

When a goat herder in a remote Italian village dies, his soul travels into the body of a newborn goat. When the goat dies, his spirit is taken up by the roots of young tree. When the tree dies, it is made into charcoal which, still containing the spirit of the man, the goat and the tree, is sold in the village as fuel. The villagers breathe the spirit into themselves from the smoke of the coal fires and the cycle begins again. Sure, it all sound a bit too metaphysical to be entertaining, but writer/director Michelangelo Frammartino tells the story with such pure cinematic poetry — and hardly a line of dialogue — that it just sweeps you up and takes you away