DVD Releases: September 30, 2005


	This Divided State Aftermath: Unanswered Questions From 9/11 Gay Republicans According to its founders, 9-year-old Disinformation Co. was created to be the search service of choice for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and the 'hidden information' that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate-owned media conglomerates. More left than right, the company's video arm has released a series of provocative documentaries that reflect its mission statement. Some enjoyed brief theatrical runs and sporadic critical notice, but most probably owed their existence to the ready availability of inexpensive and unobtrusive digital cameras. This Divided State is a perfect example of the do-it-yourself-documentary trend. At issue in Steven Greenstreet's bare-bones film are several basic rights guaranteed by the Constitution: 1) the right of filmmaker Michael Moore to address students of a mid-sized Utah college, at their invitation and expense; 2) the right of those same students to gather to hear Moore speak, or, conversely, prevent him from doing so; 3) the right to practice one's religion in any way one feels appropriate and proscribed; and 4) the right to profit from one's opinions. The controversy over Moore's appearance erupted just weeks before the presidential elections, just after he had released Fahrenheit 9/11 in theaters, on DVD and through the Internet. He was an overt supporter of the Democratic ticket and an irritant to conservatives, who tended to spend more time criticizing his fashion sense than refuting the arguments made in his film. Students anxious to hear Moore make his points in person, however, suddenly were faced with the very real possibility that conservative students and right-wing residents of the town would force school officials to cancel the speech. The resulting debate was often strident, but eventually inspiring … not in that Moore was able to deliver his vitriolic address and get paid for doing so, but because students of all political leanings stood up to those who would deny their rights. In effect, Greenstreet's camera was able to capture a skirmish between red and blues forces in a state whose red shadings were never in question. Nothing terribly shocking is revealed in This Divided State -- the willingness of students to take a stand against tyranny, even as revealed in the Stepford State, shouldn't surprise anyone -- but one is still left with an empty feeling. If Americans can't even agree on something as basic as the Bill of Rights, then how can we expect anyone else in the world to embrace our freedoms. Also new from Disinformation is Aftermath: Unanswered Question from 9/11, which posed many of the same questions -- and added a few more -- that Moore hoped American audiences would ask of their leaders after the terrorist attacks. Gay Republicans explores what it means to be homosexual and a member of the GOP, at a time when the president was using gay and lesbians as political piñatas. The film followed a handful of Log Cabin members as they dealt with the toxins poisoning their party and the schisms in their own souls. -- Gary Dretzka

	Martin Scorsese's Bob Dylan: No Direction Home For those of you whose TiVo machines were incapable of recording everything you wanted to watch on Monday and Tuesday night, all four hours worth of Martin Scorsese's wonderful documentary, Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, now can found be found at your nearest video outlet. Getting Dylan to sit down and focus on his early career was quite a feat, as was the gathering of a treasure trove of concert footage, rare recordings, peer interviews, photographs and archival documents. No Direction Home is a dozen times more cohesive and revealing than Dylan's recent autobiography, Chronicles: Volume One, thanks mostly to the careful editing of 12 hours worth of tape and Scorsese's command of his own medium. The contributions of Dave Van Ronk and Allen Ginsberg, both of whom died during the course of production, are especially revealing. The DVD package offers complete versions of the music heard on the show. -- Gary Dretzka Festival Voices: For the first time, in No Direction Home, Scorsese has made a great film where he is conversing primarily with himself and his own body of work.
	Vincent & Theo Films about artists and their work run the gamut from the inspirational to the unwatchable. In Vincent & Theo, Robert Altman delivered one of the most visually stimulating and intricately detailed biopics every made. In it, Altman depicts both Vincent Van Gogh's sad descent into madness and the determination of his brother, Theo, to simultaneously support Vincent's passions and enjoy a life of his own. The artist isn't portrayed as an underdog, battling some unseen Goliath, but a fragile human being struggling to cope with his own personal demons and popular taste. And, Tim Roth plays Van Gogh not as a hero, but as an extremely gifted, deeply troubled and thoroughly needy individual, who swims against a tide whose currents he can't even feel. Instead of evolving into yet another grim exercise in pop-psychoforensics, though, Altman transports viewers to many of the same locations used by Van Gogh for his painting. Like the art, these landscape remain stunningly beautiful. Moreover, he invites us to imagine what sensual stimuli were provided Van Gogh in the salons, taverns and brothels he frequented. Moreover, Altman's casting director populated these venues with actors and extras who might very well have been descendents of people Van Gogh actually painted. Watch Vincent & Theo with the DVD of Paul Cox's similarly essential docu-biography, Vincent, in which John Hurt reads from the artist's letters to Theo, while viewers survey his haunts. -- Gary Dretzka

TV-to-DVD The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset Crime Story: Seasons One and Two The Ren & Stimpy Show: Season Five and Some More of Four Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset It is the nature of purveyors of licensed DVD properties to continue to repackage their assets until every possible nugget of previously undistributed content finds its way into the marketplace in one variation of the special collector's edition conceit, or another. Naturally, some repeat offenders are more welcome than others. At $199.95 (MSRP, natch), Monty Python completists might blanch at being compelled to add The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset to their collection, if only because it includes Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Live at Aspen and Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python. But, they'll do it, anyway. Those who come to Monty Python only through the prism of segmented reruns on BBC America, however, will appreciate the convenience provided by this chronologically organized set, which further benefits from the use of space-saving Thinpaks as disc jackets. Otherwise, it's the same great Monty Python that revolutionized sketch comedy on television, and remains as anarchic as it ever was on DVD. Exec-produced by Michael Mann, whose Miami Vice was still producing big numbers for NBC in 1986, Crime Story is barely accorded a footnote in the official history of network television. Yet, in the hindsight accorded by the newly available boxed set of episodes from both seasons (Season One, came out in a different package), it's possible to see the stylishly retro series' influence on such shows as Wiseguy, The Sopranos, The Shield, Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire, just as Crime Story seemed to owe a debt of gratitude to ABC's The Untouchables and Mann's own Thief. Informing the drama were co-creator Chuck Adamson and lead actor Dennis Farina, both veterans of the Chicago Police Department, and craggy co-star John Santucci, himself a notorious Windy City hoodlum. The 22-episode story arc played out well against the noir backdrop of Chicago's fabled underworld. And, at times, Farina's hand-picked cadre of detectives weren't much more virtuous than their gangland foes. In Season 2, the action would move to Las Vegas and Latin America. Looking back, it's wonderful to see how many of the occasional actors and guest stars -- David Caruso, Gary Sinise, Ving Rhames, Lorraine Bracco, Julia Roberts and, in a recurring role, Andrew Dice Clay -- have gone on to enjoy significant careers. The boxed Ren & Stimpy set covers material from its final seasons on Nickelodeon, which, incidentally, were created without the input of series creator John Kricfalusi. Naturally, after being promised creative control, the rug was pulled from underneath the cartoonist when the show began too popular (and, therefore, beholden to its sponsors). The same thing happened when SpikeTV promised a censorship-free environment for Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, but, predictably, reneged after three episodes. You probably can expect to see those in a DVD package sometime soon, as well. In any case, any Ren & Stimpy beats no Ren & Stimpy, and the new box will please fans. For the uninitiated, though, the animated series revolves a nutso chihuahua, Ren Höek, and his eediot sidekick cat, Stimpy, and such eccentric comrades as George Liquor, Mr. Horse, Powdered Toast Man, Muddy Mudskipper, Mr. and Mrs. Pipe, Mrs. Buttloaf, and Svën Höek. Great fun, but not for the young'uns. Season 4 of Gilmore Girls finds Rory entering her freshman year at Yale and Lorelai inaugurating the Dragonfly Inn, after borrowing money to fulfill here dream. There's probably a very good reason this chatty series, about an overachieving small-town teen and her effervescent single mom, has just entered its sixth stanza on the WB. But, being a guy, I'd be hard-pressed to figure out what it could be. I suspect it has something to do with the ties that bind obsessive mothers to their post-pubescent daughters, and vice versa (when they're not threatening to kill each other, anyway), some perceptive writing and an appealing supporting cast. But, I'm only guessing. Fans can expect a another boxed set, encapsulating the fifth-season, in mid-December. -- Gary Dretzka

Face The Evil Dead 2: Book of the Dead Add Face to the growing list of top-shelf supernatural horror flicks from Asia. Korean director Sang-Gon Yoo's thriller has everything: ghosts, a serial killer, conspiracies, skulls, bones, flesh-eating acid and a forensic sculptor who helps police identify crime victims by reconstructing their faces. What's not to like? As with most of these creepy Asian imports, it's best to watch Face with a friend. Meanwhile, like any zombie worth its salt, The Evil Dead 2: Book of the Dead keeps returning to life in new and unexpected incarnations. This time, Sam Raimi's quasi-parody of the splatter genre he helped create arrives in a Limited Edition encased in a rubber gore mask, just like the 2002 Limited Edition of the original The Evil Dead. Besides the bonus material already found in the Special Edition version of the same film, this re-birth adds the featurettes, Evil Dead 2: Behind-The-Screams and The Gore The Merrier. -- Gary Dretzka

Experiments in Terror The Billy Nayer Show: The Early Years The 70s Dimension So Wrong They're Right Released through Facets Video, the consistently offbeat and artistically challenging titles from Other Cinema DVD defy easy description and pat criticism. They represent the work of those filmmakers who toil in the commercially arid fields of the cinema's underground, avant-garde and experimental vanguard. The latest entries include Experiments in Terror, a collection of bizarro horror shorts from the early 1960s to the present (The Haunted Mouth, a tooth decay movie narrated by Cesar Romero, anyone?), and The Billy Nayer Show: The Early Years. The latter represents three early short films from writer/director/star Cory McAbee, whose band, the Billy Nayer Show, provided a Greek chorus for the indie sci-fi freakfest, The American Astronaut. To be sure, McAbee/Nayer is an acquired taste, but one that will reward adventurous souls and/or art-school graduates. Even more fun is The 70s Dimension, a compilation of commercials and PSAs from the cheesiest decade of the last century, all scavenged from a dumpster behind a Portland TV station. If this weren't an amusing enough concept -- or frightening, depending on one's point of view -- the second half of the disc has been turned over a group of experimental filmmakers, who sliced and diced the material into something far more hysterical and disturbing. So Wrong They're Right also looks back at those wacky '70s, through the eyes of rabid collectors of 8-track tapes. It includes interviews with David Byrne, T-Bone Burnett and, of course, Tiny Tim. The cinema doesn't get much further out than this. Also available through Facets Video (http://www.facets.org/) are two new titles from LifeSize, Rouleman, Panos Karkanevatos' investigation into the mysterious death of a young Greek woman, who dreamed of leaving home to become a singer; and John Sullivan's coming-of-age drama, Sleepover. The latter documents what can happen when a diverse group of teenage boys rendezvous with a similarly unfettered group of girls, over the course of a summer night. It's perhaps most notable for its Jeff Buckley soundtrack. -- Gary Dretzka

MCN's 2004 DVD Year In Review
Doug Pratt's Ten Best - Multiplatter And Single Platter
Digital Nation: Gary Dretzka's Best DVDs of the Year
Ray Pride's Five Best DVDs And Five Best Boxed Sets