Live From Tokyo:
Rapturous rhythm and skronk does the best it can at an impossible task. Director Lewis Rapkin rides the shuttles of steel, mixing, matching, not much fading; weaving a narrative as meaningless as it is subjective. In other words: protean and eternal. You say you want to know what goes on for underground music in Tokyo? That happened over and over again a long time ago and it's done now. Rapkin's documentary squeals up as close to the edge as possible. You gaze into the abyss and your head starts bobbing. There's no looking back, only going forward.

81 minutes of interviews, attempts to make sense of Tokyo and what it does to people there pushing music into the future. And music, lots of music, mostly music filmed at various underground clubs dotting the megacity. Performance videos interspersed with gorgeous shots of the city that's literally inside a Pachinko machine - col...Read the entire review

The Product:
When is a favored music group no longer themselves? Put another way, do constant member changes and personnel shifts forever alter the making up of a beloved rock and roll outfit, so much so that they really aren't the same? There's always chemistry to consider, and artistic direction. But if Journey is successfully touring the country minus its memorable lead singer, Steve Perry, or if Styx stays afloat absent its keyboard playing founder Dennis De Young, are we still talking about the same band, or just a cash machine milking shadow of its former self? That's the issue facing fans of Japanese pop punk queens Shonen Knife. As the move into their 30th year in the biz, they have had at least five significant alterations to their line-up. In fact, the spunky trio playing for appreciative fans in this DVD souvenir of their 2009 Buffalo, NY show have since reconfigured their members...Read the entire review

Poor Roger Corman. First Retromedia plasters his face across The Roger Corman Puerto Rico Trilogy, three public domain titles in eye-straining, at times literally out-of-focus transfers, then BCI slaps his puss even more prominently on the cover of The Cult Films of Roger Corman, a ten-film set of unwatchable transfers that might have been mastered in somebody's tool shed. He had nothing to do with either release. Now comes something like the 25th DVD incarnation (no foolin') of Corman's The Wasp Woman (1959), about a middle-aged cosmetics company president (Susan Cabot) and her search for eternal youth. I requested the title naively hoping this extremely low budget but somewhat interesting film migh...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Prevention Magazine was around long before the baby boom generation started touting organic foods and aerobic exercise as the keys to healthful living. This DVD of exercise dance routines maintains the magazine's positivity and enthusiasm for taking control of your own health destiny.

Geared towards women (though certainly appropriate for those of us of the opposite gender), the DVD is split into six segments, Warm Up, Jazz/Funk, Hip Hop, 90s Jam, Showtime and Cool Down, as well as an Introduction. Hostess/Instructor Tabitha D'umo is spunky and encouraging as she guides her on-screen dance co-horts and those viewing (and hopefully exercising) at home through varied steps in these variant musical styles. While the completely homogenous supporting dancers sport no minorities (at least no apparent ones), therefore seeming a little disingenuous doing a Hip Hop routine, and...Read the entire review

In terms of overly sappy, inspirational, based-on-a-real-story movies-of-the-week that let some TV star ham it up as a mentally challenged character, "Behind the Mask" is better than average; as a plus, it does not star Rosie O'Donnell. Its lone objective is to be sweet, which it is, and thanks to a solid cast and a few strong moments, the film manages to not be the horrible mess one would expect from such a project.

First broadcast on CBS in February 1999, the film stars Matthew Fox (then in his fifth season of "Party of Five") as James Jones, who for eight years has mopped floors at the Developmental Activities Center, where he is also a patient. The center is run by Dr. Bob Shushan (Donald Sutherland), a workaholic who suffers a heart attack and is rescued by James. The two become friends of a sort, with Dr. Shushan helping James find the father who abandoned him years ago. Meanwhile, Dr. Shu...Read the entire review

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to trying new Christmas movies. I can get a little Grinchy when somebody suggests adding a newer holiday entertainment to our traditional Christmas line-up (I had to be dragged to the TV to watch Elf and Home Alone). So I had zero hopes for 2002's The Christmas Shoes, based on the hit song and book (which frankly, I had never heard about before). But I was surprised by what a tender, lovely little film it turned out to be. I don't think it will become a Christmas tradition with me (more about that later), but The Christmas Shoes did pull at my heart strings (curse that three-sizes too small heart!), while impressing me with its sincerity and simplicity.

Robert Layton (Rob Lowe) is a small-town lawyer beset by family and professional problems. He works as a junior associate, so he has to take the cases he doesn't ...Read the entire review

The Movie

Not much more than a feature-length home movie from a bunch of Little Italy goofballs, Chooch is an absolute chore to sit through, unless you happen to come from the same block as the filmmakers, in which case you might come up with a few charitable chuckles, just to be nice.

The mind-numbing plot has to do with a perpetual idiot called Dino who sinks into a serious despair after letting his pals down in a neighborhood softball game. Now referred to as "Chooch" (it's Italian for "jackass"), Dino is one melancholy man-child -- but along comes cousin Jube and two tickets to Cancun, Mexico. (Yes, he was so depressed about a softball game that his misery required a trip to Mexico.)

Since Chooch is a desperately derivative piece of work, you can of course expect a very valuable package to be planted within Dino's luggage, thereby inviting a collection of sweaty Latino vi...Read the entire review

Isaac Hayes – The Black Moses of Soul
Before we get this show on the road, there's something you all need to know about me: I have a fairly impressive collection of bootleg videos. Now, before you go rushing off and reporting me to the authorities, let me clarify and say that the bootleg films I have are not shot-in-the-theatre-on-camcorder copies of movies like Shrek 2 or Soul Plane . Sure, I've seen those types of bootlegs, and they don't do anything for me. No, my collection is brimming with films that you can't really get on video. I'm talking about videos mastered off of scratchy 16 millimeter prints of blaxploitation flicks, and dubs of spaghetti westerns made from the Turkish video release (complete with subtitles). The picture quality on many of these films is terrible – it can almost be like you're watching the movie underwater. The colors are washed out and faded...Read the entire review

What initially sounds like a dull idea turns out to be a great one with this collection of The Beatles' four appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 and 1965. Presented without explanation or editorializing are the complete broacasts of the four evenings, with the other peformers, intros and commercials intact. The Beatles come on for two sets in each show. As a time capsule, the shows are a revelation.

It's hard to believe how tacky the Sullivan show is, what a lousy emcee he made, and how condescending he was to the Fab Four. The Sullivan variety show is a parade of comedians that Ed must have personally liked, including Allen & Rossi, a simply horrible act lost to time and the ravages of The Last of the Secret Agents?, the absolute worst spy spoof ever made.

But we do get to see some good singers like Cilla Black...Read the entire review

TV Show:
Considering that Ed Sullivan looks like the doorman at the monster's ball, is stiff as a board and has a rather introverted personality it's a wonder that he had one of the most significant variety shows in the history of television.

Sullivan had a show from 1948 to 1971, which was a stopover for every major entertainment act of the period. The Very Best of the Ed Sullivan Show: Unforgettable Performances DVD (which is volume 1 of many more) is basically a highlight reel of those years. It features music, comedy acts, musical numbers, novelty acts and some children's variety performances.

Unfortunately, the structure of the documentary is rather poor. Each of the highlighted acts is presented in a scattershot manner and the entire DVD begins to feel like one long trailer. The film's first few moments show us a young Carol Burnett (1957) followed by The Rolling Stones (1966...Read the entire review

Our survey of evangelical exploitation cinema continues with the non-sequel sequel to the film responsible for the mainstream emergence of a unique B-genre. The Omega Code was buoyed to surprising box office success by a massive mobilization of largely Christian moviegoers through various religious groups, but largely via exuberant trumpeting on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (helmed by the film's executive producer). It's just the sort of incestuous marketing perfected in the secular world. What makes the flick's performance particularly noteworthy, is that it proved there was potential profitability in faith-based filmmaking. Even if a picture STINKS! Numbero Uno was more baffling than evangelical with it...Read the entire review

The Movie:
ZULU (1964) is an epic, true story about the battle between an undermanned British mission defending themselves against hordes of attacking Zulu warriors. Set on January 22, 1879 in Natal, this film tells of the brave defense by overwhelmed British troops at the small outpost of Rorke's Drift. In the end, 150 British soldiers fought 4000 Zulus.

Having been warned that a British army contingent has been recently been killed by Zulu warriors that are now moving on Rorke's Drift, Lt. John Chard (Stanley Baker, who also produced the film) orders his troops to remain and defend the site. Despite the pleas of second-in-command Lt. Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine, in his first major motion picture), the British troops begin preparations for battle and attempt to withstand a seemingly never-ending series of attacks.

This amazing film manages to be very accurate in its depict...Read the entire review