The Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete First Season

Along with creating The Office and Extras, British comedian Ricky Gervais is famous on the internet for his podcast, as show where he sits around with friends Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington and riffs about whatever crosses his mind (the shows are probably scripted, but have an improvisational feel). Since a television show of them sitting and talking would be boring, they came up with the idea of doing an animated series of it for HBO. The result is generally hilarious, particularly once you get used to the way the three so rapidly riff off each other. The continuing gag of Monkey News is worth the price alone.

Howl

In Howl, directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman do what hundreds, probably thousands, of literature majors, tenured English professors and wannabe hipsters have been trying, and failing, to do for years. Thanks to a strong script, some fantastic acting and the imaginative animation designs of Eric Drooker, they make Allen Ginsberg’s epic Beat Generation poem, Howl, accessible. They don’t necessarily make it comprehensible, mind you; they leave that up to the audience to work on for themselves once the film is done. But they do give them the key – or maybe a key – to get them inside the mind of the man who created Howl in the first place.

The Lena Baker Story

Tichina Arnold has been making audiences laugh for years, though her work on TV (Everybody Hates Chris) and movies (Dance Flick). With the release of this powerful film by director Ralph Wilcox, fans get a chance to see the talented actress exercise her dramatic skills playing the part of a rural southern Black woman caught up in a violent and destructive relationship with the White man she is hired to care for. The facts of the story – Baker was found guilty of murdering the man despite acting in self-defense and eventually became the only woman to ever die in the electric chair in the state of Georgia – will appall you; the way that Arnold and Peter Coyote bring these dark characters to life in the film will amaze you. Everything about the film – the story, the cinematography, the soundtrack and the excellent acting from the entire cast – will stay with you long after it is over.

Soul Kitchen

Although it’s very popular with his friends, Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos) knows that if his restaurant doesn’t start making money soon, he’s going to have to kick them out and close the door. So he hires a maniac gourmet chef to run the kitchen so he can concentrate on making money (while keeping an eye on his ex-con brother who gets hired to manage the place). Directed by Fatih Akin, Soul Kitchen is less about food than it is about the relationships people develop over a meal. The acting is good, particularly from the leads, and the soundtrack kicks ass.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 3

The Elric’s brothers search for a philosopher’s stone to help them regain their original human bodies leads them to the barren north where they face some extreme challenges, meet some old friends, and continue to battle the hordes of homunculi that are out to stop them. Like the previous two parts of this epic anime series, the voice acting and animation are some of the best you will ever see. What separates Full Metal Alchemist from other anime series, though, is the intricate and intense storylines of each and every episode. The battle for Edward and Alphonse to recover their bodies is always at the center of the action, but there is plenty of exciting side stories to thicken the plot along the way.

Kamui Gaiden

A lone warrior wanders the world trying to keep the ninja clan he left behind from finding him and kicking his butt. His travels lead him to a secluded fishing village where he begins to realize his dream of a life at peace, a dream that is shattered when a band of pirates invade the village. The story gets a little confusing at times, but director Yoichi Sai does a pretty good job of pacing the action so we never really have time to think about the logic of the plot too much. By the time you get to the part where the pirates go shark hunting --- and use their kung fu to kill the gigantic man-eaters – any worries you have about where the story is heading should fade away in the fun you will be having.

Baseball’s Greatest Game

Baseball fans, the ones who actually watch old games on the classic sports networks, will salivate over this rare recording of the seventh game of the 1960 World Series between the Pirates and the Yankees. The series winning home run by Bill Mazeroski – the first walk off home run to ever win a World Series – is the stuff of legend and thought to be lost to all time until a rare print of the game was found in Bing Crosby’s wine cellar (the crooner was a one of the Pirate’s owners). But the good news is that non-baseball fan will enjoy watching this footage, too, particularly for a nostalgic look at how television was made a half century ago.