THE MOVIE:

These days, if you mention that a film is over two hours long, you're likely to receive moans and eye rolls in response. We all accept as fact that movies should be somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes, and except in rare cases, any more is excess. (And by "we," I don't really mean "me." I'm merely being diplomatic.) This would all be well and good if these numbers were some kind of real indicator of what is inherently right in the art form, as opposed to a length cooked up for economic reasons. Shorter films mean more screenings in a day mean more ticket sales.

So, if people get all bent out of shape when you mention The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is 160 minutes, to name a recent example, imagine how they reacted ...Read the entire review

The Movie:
In my recent review of Frank Sinatra: The Early Years, I recounted having recently met a woman who works with the Sinatra children helping in the many image licensing deals they must manage. I was regaled with many stories that evening, and one thing came through quite clearly: the Sinatra kids are fiercely protective of their father's legacy. One might think that defensiveness might lead to a white-washing in a biopic produced by one of the kids (Tina), but in fact Sinatra is a refreshingly even-keeled look at the Chairman of the Board's incredible career, while not shirking from the darker elements of his personal life.

This 1992 Emmy and Golden Globe winning miniseries spans the years from 1925 to 1974 and is anchored by a remarkable performance by Philip Casnoff in the title role. Bearing just enough of a physical resemblance to the real Sinatra to properly...Read the entire review

The Movie:
CBS had such an embarrassment of ratings riches in the late 60s that shows were frequently cancelled for reasons other than falling ratings. The most famous example was Gilligan's Island, which got the axe after three top-rated seasons because the programmers found out that CBS Chairman William S. Paley would have had them all fired if they didn't keep an aging Gunsmoke on the air, and scheduling room needed to be made, leaving those wacky castaways forever lost, or at least until cheesy reunion movies saved them. The Wild, Wild West, which, while never a Top 10 mainstay had nonetheless proven quite successful for four seasons, found itself a victim of another late 60s bugaboo--the call for less televised violence. Those raised in the current climate of such ostensible "entertainments" as Grand Theft Auto may find this a quaint notion, especially considering...Read the entire review

The fourth volume from the H. P. Lovecraft collection has been re-released,and it takes a slightly different tact than the previous installments. This time the three versions of the same story, Pickman's Model,are presented and it makes for some very interesting viewing. Allthree films are unique and while one doesn't work as well as the others,it is fun to see how Lovecraft's story, and especially the role of Pickmanhimself, is adapted by three different directors on three continents.

Background:

It would be easy to write off H. P. Lovecraft as an over-rated hack. After all, his plots are very simple more often than not, there's frequentlylittle in the way of character development, and his prose is turgid andopaque. Indeed critics have raised all those points and more (especiallythe way h...Read the entire review

Cat-girls are popular right? I mean, how many shows have had some version of a cat-girl bouncing around whether they belonged or not? It seems kind of strange to say so but I've always felt that as appealing as these characters are they always seem out of place. They feel like random inclusions in most shows and a way to offer otaku something to ooh and ah over. In the case of Magical Meow Meow Taruto cat-girls take the center stage but ironically enough they fit naturally into the dynamic of the show.

Produced by Madhouse, Taruto is a twelve episode series that was originally released in 2001. Since its broadcast Bandai picked up the license and has run with it a few times going from the individual volume releases all the way to this second complete collection. The response from the anime community has been decent but I wouldn't call Taruto a...Read the entire review

A typically superb documentary by Frederick Wiseman, the made-for-TV Law and Order (1969) is a portrait of weary, sometimes testy Kansas City, Missouri police officers in the wake of the April 1968 riots there. Television producer John Langley, in his audio commentary accompanying the pilot for his show COPS, talks about seeing Wiseman's film many years later joking (I paraphrase), "Here I was being incredibly innovative - 20 years late!" Though Law and Order and COPS are different in subtle if fundamental ways, stylistically they're quite similar and Langley is right: just about everything good about COPS Wiseman was doing two decades before.

Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33224 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:13:11 PDT Recommended

THE FILM

Comedian Doug Benson (perhaps best known for his commentary on VH1's "Best Week Ever") watched Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" and had an incredible idea of his own: instead of ingesting fast food for 30 days, he would smoke weed nonstop for a month, as a way to gauge his dependence on marijuana, along with various other scientific and medical responses. Never one to say no to an endless parade of drugs, Benson embarked on the biggest challenge of his life.

As it turns out, part of that challenge was actually to avoid marijuana first for 30 days in a detoxification process that would allow Benson to enjoy more direct results of his eventual pot excess. For a fellow who has made a name for himself as a stoner comedian (he's the creator of "The Marijuana-Logues"), taking pot away from Benson is like snatching a teddy bear out of a child's grasp.

So what exactly is "Sup...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33220 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:11:51 PDT Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
The space cowboy can still rock

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Classic rock, "Steve Miller Band: 1974-1978"
Likes: Concert Films
Dislikes: Old bands' old fans
Hates: Festival seating

The Show
Like most people who didn't experience The Steve Miller Band at their hit-making peak, I discovered the group via their incredible 1974-1978 Greatest Hits collection, perhaps the greatest compilation of its kind. It was my freshman year of college, and the smooth sound of Miller's guitar joined The Who as the two pillars of my post-adolescent pantheon of rock. In a display of kismet, shortly after I learned of Miller's music, his band came to campus for a concert.

I remember enjoying myself, but two thing...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33218 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:11:51 PDT Rent It

"You wanna make God laugh? Tell him your plans." - Valerie Maas

The Movie
Valerie Maas has herself in a bit of a pickle. When the curtain rises on this thriller, a man is shot by a hooded figure--and the wife/mother (played by Aunjanue Ellis) is the prime suspect. The assistant district attorney would love to charge her, giving his election campaign a boost. He puts Detective Hicks (Louis Gossett Jr.) in charge of getting a confession, and the story unfolds in flashbacks as Valerie tells her tale from the interrogation room.

Having recently moved from Atlanta to Philly with her daughter and psychiatrist husband Dutch (Raz Adoti), Valerie has given up her own photography studio to help her man pursue his career. But it's quickly clear that things aren't so rosy, and Valer...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33223 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:10:06 PDT DVD Talk Collector Series

The Movie:
I am obviously not Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, or any of the other famous filmmakers who have been indelibly touched by this film, and yet I proudly proclaim myself a lifetime member of the Thief of Bagdad club. Like Scorsese and Coppola, whose joint (though separately recorded) commentary is one of the neat extras on this wonderful new two DVD set from Criterion, I well remember the first time I saw Thief. Unlike Scorsese and Coppola, who saw it on tiny television screens in black and white in their young childhoods, I was lucky enough to see it at a rococo neighborhood theater in San Francisco sometime in the late 70s, in full, if somewhat faded, Technicolor, and on a nice big (Academy ratio) screen. This was long before CGI wizardry overtook even smaller budgeted features, and though there were some hokey elements to some of the spec...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33217 Wed, 14 May 2008 04:10:06 PDT Rent It

The Movie:

Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is perhaps the classic author's most well-known work. It has served as the basis for a lot of horror films over the years, and the story's public domain status has certainly contributed to this prolific output. My personal favorite is still the old black and white version with Fredric March who won the Academy Award for Best Actor that year, but then, I'm a big fan of the old black and white horror films of the 1930s and 1940s and thus it suits my bias.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the latest retelling of Stevenson's work. It places the events in modern day with marginal results.

Dougray Scott plays the lead character(s) in this go-round, and he isn't bad. His Dr. Jekyll is suitably likeable and his Mr. Hyde, here an outgrowth of a personal scientific experiment gone awry, is equally siniste...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33216 Tue, 13 May 2008 17:38:46 PDT Recommended

THE MOVIE:

"We need to confront vague ideas with clear images." - slogan painted on the wall in La Chinoise

"In any case, you need sincerity and violence." - Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Leaud)

1967's Jean-Luc Godard feature La Chinoise (The Chinese) makes no bones about the director's emulation of agitprop pioneer Bertold Brecht. Not only does one of the main revolutionaries, Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Leaud, The 400 Blows), espouse the benefits of the playwright's political theatre as handily as he praises Chairman Mao, but in one scene, standing before a blackboard filled with names of philosophers, politicians, and other figures of the world stage, Guillaume erases them all except Brecht. La Chinoise is Goda...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33215 Tue, 13 May 2008 17:38:46 PDT Recommended

Sesame Street: Dinosaurs!:
A blind grab from the old stack of screeners, Sesame Street: Dinosaurs seems like a good bet. Kid and dad both like dinosaurs, and Sesame Street is the closest thing to a kid's religion that we have. Big surprise, if Sesame Street is a religion, Elmo is the Big Cheese. Does everything Sesame Street by default end up being anchored by Elmo? Well, no worries, this brief (40 minute) collection of dinosaur-related short subjects is charming and informative, and you get to see Elmo as both a Stegosaurus and a Pterodactyl - pretty cool!

First up is the almost-20-minute-long bit of ADD-inspired insanity known as Elmo's world. All the favorite members of the world are there, talking about those old thunder lizards. Mr. Fish has a song; Mr. Noodle scares everyone by working through a number of pantomimes in his quest to imitate a dinosaur; cartoon Dorothy also has a cool s...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33210 Tue, 13 May 2008 17:38:46 PDT Recommended

In 1975, when PBS first aired Frederick Wiseman's documentary, Welfare, examining the war on poverty from the trenches of a New York City welfare office, no contextual explanation was needed. Everybody in America was as familiar then with the war on poverty as we are now with the war in Iraq. More than thirty years on though, a bit of contextual knowledge may be needed to fully appreciate this documentary.

In 1964, President Johnson declared a war on poverty in the United States. He pushed through legislation to establish social security for the aged and infirmed and welfare programs for the poor. Collectively, social security and welfare halved the poverty rate in the United States from historic levels of 20-25% prior to 1964, to 10-13% by 1975. Though many of Johnson's welfare programs were attacked for incentivizing single parent households and endemic multi-generational poverty, th...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33213 Tue, 13 May 2008 13:53:33 PDT DVD Talk Collector Series

The Film:

Reaching deep at the heart of a conflict Russia has been unable to resolve diplomatically Alexander Sokurov's Aleksandra (2007) is a powerful film about war and those who suffer by it. Graced by an indescribably moving performance by opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya (the wife of late cello-virtuoso Mstislav Rostropovich) this is easily the Russian director's most accomplished work yet.

An old woman (Vishnevskaya) heads to an "unknown" location on the outskirts of the Russian state to visit her son (Shevtsov) He is an officer who has been away from home for years, battling the enemy. The babushka arrives at a large military camp where soldiers are dispatched daily on secretive missions. Her son welcomes her.

After a few days of wandering around the babushka decides to attend a nearby market. Before moving through the camp's gate the soldiers beg her to bring back...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33211 Tue, 13 May 2008 13:52:41 PDT Highly Recommended

The Show:

Some anime licenses withstand the test of time and these properties make their way into cult status. 1996's Martian Successor Nadesico shines as a perfect example of a revered anime license. This series straddles the line of parody, comedy, and drama in such a way that the mixture is almost seamless. It pulls off so many elements at once that it becomes a perfect hybrid of many genres and it withstands the test of time as a fun, witty science fiction piece that isn't to be missed. As such it's not surprising that ADV has visited the show numerous times for DVD releases. Other than the individual volume releases we have seen an Essential's collection, a complete collection, and ADV has decided to revisit the series one more time with a Perfect Collection.

With so many releases under its belt it's safe to say that most of you have seen or at least heard about ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33212 Tue, 13 May 2008 13:52:41 PDT Skip It

Black & Gold: The Story of the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation may have been undertaken by filmmakers Rick Rowley (Deserter) and Jacqueline Soohen with the best of intentions, but it ended up a fictional tale divorced from the facts. The story that Rowley and Soohen hoped to document was that of a New York City gang leader, four-time convicted felon and former crack-addict, who had turned his life around and was at the forefront of a revolutionary street political organization akin to that of the 1960's Young Lords.

This would-be working class hero was Antonio Fernandez, a k a King Tone, who was anointed "Inca" of the New York chapter of the Latin Kings in 1996 when the prior Inca, Luis Felipe, a k a King Blood, was sentenced to life, plus forty-five years solitary confinement for ordering numerous murders from hi...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33214 Tue, 13 May 2008 13:51:51 PDT Highly Recommended

MGM has released a disappointingly bare-bones edition of one of the best Westerns of the 1950s, Man of the West, directed by Anthony Mann and starring Gary Cooper. Not a hit when originally released in 1958, Man of the West's reputation has grown significantly over the years, with its influence seen in countless, later "adult" and "spaghetti" westerns. Brutal, vicious, and complex, with typically stunning, meaningful location work by Mann, Man of the West looks quite good here in its original CinemaScope ratio, but the lack of any extras - not even a trailer - is curious considering the film's overall standing in the Western oeuvre.

Cooper plays Link Jones, who's on his way to Fort Worth to hire a school teacher for his town, Good Hope. Riding t...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33206 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:40:33 PDT Highly Recommended

The Product:
2008 promises to be an interesting year for Chris Seaver and his Low Budget Pictures label. After years of relying on a ViewAskew-style universe revolving around the fake suburbia of Bonejack Heights, and the various exploits of community characters like Teenape, Choach, Heather, Puggly, and "Spanish-Indian" Proudfoot, among others, he's finally testing the mainstream moviemaking waters. Later this year, his homage to '80s sci-fi sports sex comedies, Ski Wolf, will mark his first foray into full blown non-LBP product. While we wait for that glorious goofball moment, Tempe is treating us to a few more examples of the madman's amazing output. As part of his growth process, a concerted effort away from the homemade horror humor he's relied on for over a decade, we get this delightful double feature. While one movie remains firmly affixed to his old ideals, its companion is a ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33209 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:40:33 PDT Rent It

In a move fans of the original 1957-62 television series must find incredibly frustrating, and understandably so, Warner Home Video once again is foregoing season sets of the original Maverick in favor of something virtually no one particularly wants. Back in September 2005 the label released three lonely episodes on a single-disc, part of Warner's "Television Favorites" line. Though that seems to have spurred the release of season sets of F-Troop, no more Mavericks were forthcoming.

This release, on the other hand, is something of a cheat. The New Maverick is a 1978 TV movie, actually the pilot for Young Maverick, a new series starring Charles Frank, that ran an incredible eight episodes (at least one more was shot but never aired) before being cancelled. The TV movie is a handsomely produced but a lifeless misfire, despite the dominating presence of original seri...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33207 Tue, 13 May 2008 04:40:33 PDT Rent It

In 10 Words or Less
Kids goofing off, singing, dancing and playing pretend

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation, Noggin
Likes:
Dislikes: Most kids programming
Hates: Tasha

The Story So Far...
The Backyardigans are five animal-children (Austin the Kangaroo, Pablo the Penguin, Tyrone the Moose, Tasha the Hippo and Uniqua...the Uniqua) who share a backyard due to the positions of their families' homes and who play pretend, imagining grand adventures for episodes that air on Nickelodeon and Noggin. There have been 12 random episode collections released on DVD, including "Cave Party," which was reviewed by DVDTalk.

The Show<...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33202 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:31:46 PDT Highly Recommended

Since publication of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle in 1906, the conditions in slaughterhouses have been a source of concern and fascination to North Americans and Europeans. From Georges Franju's starkly beautiful and gruesome short documentary, Blood of the Beasts (Le Sang des B tes) in 1949, to Richard Linklater's recent fictionalized film adaptation of Eric Schlosser's expos Fast Food Nation, animal slaughter has frequently been the focus of documentary and popular film. In fact, I've reviewed three other new DVD releases documenting the use of animals in industrialized food production since January: King Corn, I am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA, and Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33200 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:28:03 PDT Highly Recommended

"A Date with Judy" is a bubbly wonder, a light-as-air mix of music and comedy eager to earn smiles, a delightful piece of light entertainment that actually manages to make the phrase "sitcom" a good thing.

"Judy" began in 1941 as a popular radio series, originally slated as a summer replacement first, for Bob Hope, then Eddie Cantor. The comedy followed the misadventures of teenaged Judy Foster, her beleaguered family, and almost-boyfriend Ogden "Oggie" Pringle. By 1948, the series (now on its third Judy) was enough of a hit to earn its own cinematic adaptation, with starlet Jane Powell taking over in the title role. More impressive was the supporting line-up, with Oscar-winner Wallace Beery as Judy's dad; Elizabeth Taylor, fresh off "National Velvet" and "Life with Father," as Oggie's spoiled older sis; Carmen Miranda and Xavier Cugat adding musical flair; and a handsome young chap named Robert...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33203 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:27:48 PDT Highly Recommended

The Movie:
If you are prone to think of Indian film as Bollywood and nothing but Bollywood, you will either be shocked or amazed, probably both, by Rajnesh Domalpalli's amazing first full-length feature Vanaja. Filmed to fulfill Domalpalli's Master's Thesis requirements at Columbia, the film is indeed masterful, though those used to seeing exuberant singing and dancing in surreal settings are likely going to be disturbed, and rightly so, by this film's depiction of a lower caste girl's coming of age, replete as it with rape, an illegitimate child, and various other trials and tribulations.

Vanaja follows the story of its title heroine, a winsome young girl portrayed in an amazing performance by newcomer Mamatha Bukhya (in fact virtually all of the film's cast are nonprofessionals doing their first film work here). Vanaja has dreams of being a dancer, something that is out o...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33198 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:27:24 PDT Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
Import a little kid with a big mouth from Japan

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation, good sitcoms
Likes: Anime
Dislikes: gross-out comedy
Hates:

The Show
The path to where "Shin Chan" is today is one of the more unusual amongst its [adult swim] brethren, starting over a decade ago in Japan as a cheeky family comedy, before a few abortive attempts to dub it as a kids show. Then Funimation got the idea to take the animation and go in an entirely different direction, recasting it as a surreal adult-themed comedy, essentially a much more cohesive application of the What's Up Tiger Lily? Concept.

The star of the show is the titular Shin Chan, an odd little 6-year-old with an obsession with ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33204 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:27:24 PDT Recommended

Bob the Builder: Building Bobland Bay:
My forays into reviewing kids' DVDs for my daughter's sake became a concerted effort, now a compulsion, and it shows no signs of slowing down. Still something better suited to the preschool and older crowd than my two-year-old, Bob the Builder nonetheless holds a place in our hearts; except she calls him Bob named Builder. Said Builder is working on his own little seaside resort in Bob the Builder: Building Bobland Bay, a 54-minute collection of six 'never seen on TV' episodes of the children's favorite.

Unless these episodes are being released prior to their being aired on television, there's no reason they didn't make the cut. Containing the usual down-to-earth jocularity and can-do brio of any other Bob the Builder collection, this is an as-usual exemplary group. After building the town of Sunflower Valley from scratch, Bob sets his sights on the ne...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33199 Mon, 12 May 2008 14:27:07 PDT Recommended

Generic Pre-Review Wrestling Disclaimer: Long before my affinity for globetrotting documentaries, Martin Scorsese films and The Criterion Collection, I found a soft spot for professional wrestling. Don't ask me how this happened; it just did. Despite this declaration, I shower daily, all my teeth are accounted for, I have a college degree...and, most importantly, I have a wife with the same merits. I'm not alone, of course. The wrestling fans I know aren't slack-jawed yokels; they simply appreciate the spectacle and illusion that this genuine sport creates, in t...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33201 Mon, 12 May 2008 12:10:36 PDT Recommended

In honor of the upcoming tenth anniversary of the death of Frank Sinatra, a whole slew of films starring the Chairman of the Board are making their way to you for the first time on DVD. Warner Bros.' Frank Sinatra: The Golden Years features five titles spanning ten years in the movie-making history of Ol' Blue Eyes. Transfers are near perfect; audio mixes are, well... mixed (only one in 5.1), and a few extras probably make this five-disc boxed set a must-have for the Sinatra completist. Let's look at the individual films.

THE TENDER TRAP

Based on 1954's modest Broadway hit of the same name by Max Shulman (Rally Round the Flag, Boys) and Robert Paul Smith, 1955's The Tender Trap stars Frank Sinatra as Charlie...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33197 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:29:37 PDT Highly Recommended

The Product:
Fans of old fashioned exploitation like to point to Frank Henenlotter and his infamous film Basket Case as the last legitimate example of pure grindhouse aesthetic. Using New York's 42nd Street as a backdrop and a wealth of genre knowledge, it truly is a wonderfully weird little horror homage. But there is another filmmaker who really understands the supremely satisfying nature of a slimy sleazoid romp. Taking his cues from the more mean spirited offerings within the category, his sadistic cinema celebrates violence while relying on the gonzo guerilla style that made the old independent experience so exciting. While his most recent film, The Manson Family, has been a DVD staple, his first foray into full contact craziness, Deadbeat at Dawn has been hard to find since Image released it back in 1999. Now, Dark Sky Films is releasing both titles in a wonderful f...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33193 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:29:37 PDT Recommended

In 10 Words or Less
Coping alongside the parents of children with autism

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Good documentaries
Likes: A life-affirming story
Dislikes:
Hates: Feeling bad because of the plight of others

The Movie
In the months leading up to the birth of my daughter, one thing worried me more than anything else, and that was the statistic that said that one in 150 children is diagnosed with Autism. You try and tell yourself that what ever happens is the way it's meant to be, and that you will love your child no matter what, but until you are in that reality, you never know how you will handle it.

Watching the families at the center of Autism: The Musical live with the hands life dealt them is like loo...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33196 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:29:37 PDT Recommended

THE DVD

During the opening titles of "Wild West Comedy Show," Vince Vaughn is interviewed on a morning zoo radio show, trying to explain the bus tour he and four comedians are about to undertake in September/October of 2005. He describes the rolling circus as a journey through the heartland of America, where regular folk don't often have the chance to catch a big-city comedy show.

The tour proceeds to open in Hollywood and spends the next week in Southern California. So much for mingling with the rubes.

"Wild West" is a documentary on Vince Vaughn's dream project: to spend a month in a bus with comedian friends who he could help with some needed exposure, while allowing him, the non-stand-up, a chance to shake hands across the country and make people laugh. It's an admirable goal, and the film resulting from that grueling schedule is a jocular, engaging, s...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33195 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:29:37 PDT Rent It

THE FILM

There's a fine line between nostalgia and whining, and "The Lather Effect" has the most difficult time trying to find its place between the two volumes of execution. A drowsy look at the influence of youth, the purity of pop music, and the damages caused by uncontrollable sexual urges, "Lather" is a familiar snapshot of thirtysomething malaise, pulled together with a noticeable lack of dramatic refinement by director Sarah Kelly.

Throwing an '80s-themed weekend bash to counteract all the negativity and pressure of her life, Valinda (Connie Britton) has brought in all her friends and family (including Ione Skye, Eric Stoltz, David Herman, Sarah Clarke, Peter Facinelli, Tate Donovan, Caitlin Keats, and William Mapother) from near and far to bask in the glow of their youthful indifference. Trudging through memories and party games, the group finds that alcohol and rekindled ...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33194 Mon, 12 May 2008 05:22:15 PDT Recommended

The Movie:

Some lines should not be crossed. . .

Well, here it is at last. The movie that rather infamously had to be left out of the 2nd Annual After Dark Horrorfest because it crossed too many lines and received an NC-17 rating. Lionsgate releases the grisly Frontier(s) on DVD with the same "After Dark Horrorfest" banner art that the 8 films in the 2007 film festival received on home video, so Frontier(s) can now be placed on the shelf beside its sister titles as originally intended.

I think a number of horror film fans here in the United States were curious about this French import, and while it doesn't quite live up to its notoriety, it is an intense and bloody exercise in misanthropy - a sort of hybrid of Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Hostel. This most certainly isn't for everyone, but horror film fans will appreciate it, especially since Lio...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33192 Sun, 11 May 2008 17:02:22 PDT Rent It

The Entrance:
Like Satan himself, or whatever misbegotten entity torments the damned sinners in The Entrance, I feel like a little damning tonight. Hold the calls to Fathers Merrin or Karas, however, I'm just damning with faint praise. The Entrance is not a bad little direct-to-video supernatural thriller, it's lean; it's mean, it's not hokey, stupid or pandering. It's not that scary either, and its close-to-the-vest brevity and brio may leave you scratching your head. But in light of the endless stream of poor indie-DTV horrors that cram the shelves and queues at your video outlet of choice, (regardless of Horror's successes and failures in the multiplex) The Entrance is a light breath of fresh air.

A sweaty, paranoid man (Michael Eklund as Ryan James) suddenly finds himself in a deserted underground parking garage, (or parkade as the characters call it) the seeming victim of vengeful supe...Read the entire review

]]> DVD Video http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=33190 Sun, 11 May 2008 14:39:21 PDT Recommended

The Movie

Hollywood never seems to tire of trying to re-invent the super-hero genre. Every summer, studios roll out fresh takes on iconic characters, hoping to find the right mixture of grim realism, cutting-edge effects and gripping narrative to hook audiences and produce a blockbuster sensation. While it occasionally works, most re-boots aren't anywhere close to the roots of a character. Far more fascinating, in my opinion, are the films wherein Tinseltowners try to approximate a super-hero story, taking new elements and creating something heretofore unseen. M. Night Shyamalan did so, to mesmerizing effect, in Unbreakable, as did Brad Bird with The Incredibles and to a lesser extent, Alex Proyas, in Dark City.

Doug Liman's Jumper, adapted from Steven Gould's series for young adults, is an intriguing blend of straight-ahead multiplex entertainment ...Read the entire review

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