Live From Tokyo

It starts out blending imagery and sound like a modern day version of the 1982 epic Koyaanisqati, only instead of trying to show us a world teetering on the edge of destruction to a soundtrack of Phillip Glass music, director Lewis Rapking is using the various musical styles of Tokyo to show us the city that inspired the musicians to write and play in the first place. Eventually the story settles down a bit to include interviews of the various underground bands playing in Tokyo, all of whom seem to be in it for the pure pleasure of creating something new and not just to be famous or make money (the fact that most bands have to pay the club owners for the privilege of playing at all is a shocking tribute to how much they believe in what they do.) Watch it with a pen and paper handy, because although you may not love — or even like — some of the sounds you hear, chances are watching Live from Tokyo will inspire you to add to your own music collection.

Wainwright Walks – Lake District

Do not adjust the color levels on your television set. The scenery that host Julia Bradbury walks through in this British television series really is that lush, green and breathtakingly beautiful. It’s picturesque enough to turn down the volume and watch the landscape flow by, dreaming of the day you can get over there and see if for yourself. The good news is that the stories that Bradbury shares as she climbs the fells (mountains) of the Lake District, based on the writings of the area’s most famous proponent, Alfred Wainwrights, are just as compelling. It’s the kind of series that makes you want to go get Wainwright’s books en route to the travel agent to book a trip of your own.

Little Big Soldier

Best known in America for action comedies like Rush Hour and crappy comedies like The Spy Next Door, Jackie Chan has a parallel career of movies made for and primarily only shown to Asian audiences. Every once in a while, one of his Chinese movies arrives in America, and the case of this historical action film, it’s a delightful surprise. In the movie, Chan plays Big Soldier, a reluctant warrior who spends more time avoiding fights than taking part in them. Following a epic battle where everybody else in his army is wiped out, Big Soldier finds the general of the opposing army is the only survivor on the other side. Dreaming of a ransom that will let him buy a farm and get out of the army, Big Soldier captures the general and tries to bring him back home. He soon finds out a lot of other people have plans of their own for the general.The action is fantastic: both Chan and Leehom Wang (as the general) fly around the screen with skill and precision. It’s the story, and Chan’s performance between the fights, that raises the film to a level most US fans haven’t seen Chan work at in years.

John Wayne The Tribute Collection

This one may be more for fans of the legendary actor than those with only a casual acquaintance with John Wayne since most of it focuses on the B-movies from The Duke’s early career. Still, it’s fun to watch Wayne, looking tall and lean in his youth, as he battles bad guys and rescues frontier damsels in distress. Too many of the movies, however, start to feel too much alike after a while. The addition of a few of Wayne’s later hits, including the classic comedy McLintock featuring one of Wayne’s best leading ladies, the fiery Maureen O’Hara, help make up for the blandness of his early work.

The Best of Jack Benny

Jack Benny was one of the world’s funniest people, and this “Best of” set does a good job of reminding the world of just how funny he was. Benny had the comic persona of being cheap, as well as a terrible violin player, and there are plenty of moments in the show that underline these traits (the documentary feature on the set does a nice job of explaining these and other “Benny-ism to the uninitiated). It’s when he goes outside the familiar that Benny shines, though. He had a near-perfect sense of comic timing, and woe be it to anyone who dared to stand next to him on the stage and try to match him joke for joke. There also wasn’t a mean bone n the man’s body, and although he often won any battle of the wits he was in, Benny was that rare kind of funny man who liked to laugh, too, even if it was at his own expense.

The Beverly Hillbillies Meet the Clampetts

For almost a decade, the suddenly rich Clampett clan wreaked havoc on the Hollywood social scene in the popular Beverly Hillbillies series, and although some of the jokes in the episodes included in this box set haven’t aged well, the spirit of the show is still strong. While the premise was a bit narrow, the performances of the main characters, particularly Buddy Ebsen as Jed Clampett and Irene Ryan as Granny, are broadly entertaining. It’s fun to watch the characters grow over the course of the 40 episodes in the set, and the bonus documentary gives you a compelling look behind the scenes with the actors who created them. It’s a great nostalgia trip for original fans, and the perfect introduction for TV fans looking for something ‘new’ to watch.

The Beaver

This gut-wrenching story of a man slowly descending into madness never really stood a chance at the box office because of the media frenzy surrounding it’s star. If you can separate the man from the media, though, this is a perfect reminder of how good Mel Gibson can be when he’s given a chance to be more than a wise-cracking action hero. Director (and co-star) Jodie Foster somehow finds a balance between the man and the puppet he uses to communicate with the world, a balance that allows you to enter the movie’s world in a non-judgemental way which is key to understanding the journey that it takes you through. Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence round out a superb cast.