Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Pickpocket | Ugetsu: Criterion Collection
TV to DVD: Partridge Family | Beavis & Butthead | 21 Jump Street
Ugetsu | Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical | Rize
Yes | Cronicas | Margaret Cho: Assassin | Jumanji: Deluxe Edition

	Charlie & The Chocolate Factory Wiseass critics occasionally write things about their subjects that not only aren’t accurate, but also detract from their readers’ ability to enjoy a perfectly decent movie. By comparing Johnny Depp’s kooky portrayal of candy mogul Willie Wonka to Michael Jackson, a handful of widely read reviewers planted the seed that Tim Burton had turned “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” into some perverse endorsement of man-boy love. His wonderfully eccentric Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was no such thing, of course, but the damage was done. While hardly perfect, Burton’s brilliantly colorful re-imagining of Roald Dahl’s dyspeptic cautionary tale merged cutting-edge technology with old-fashioned Hollywood spectacle, resulting in a very entertaining product. There are several compelling reasons to go with the two-disc package, including featurettes on Dahl and his books; the digital cloning of the Oompa-Loompas; Veruca Salt’s encounter with the candy factory’s squirrels; and interactive games for kids. There’s no reason why fans of the Gene Wilder’s interpretation of Willy can’t enjoy Depp’s similarly inventive portrayal … neither of which owe anything to Jackson. Meanwhile, Columbia takes advantage of the DVD release of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by re-releasing Burton's delightful 2003 fantasy, Big Fish, with a 24-page booklet demystifying some of the magic ... but, not to the detriment of anyone's enjoyment of the perfectly delightful fractured fairy tale. Although Big Fish overflowed with artistry, intelligence and critical support, it failed to attract the box-office attention it deserved. One suspects it did better in DVD, though, and could further benefit from any ripple effect from Warners' extensive marketing campaign. In addition to the book, the new set includes all of the bonus features from the original DVD release. Big Fish represents Hollywood story-telling at its finest and most eccentric level. -- Gary Dretzka Ray Pride Review: The colors and textures and sounds of Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are marvels, but in John August's adaptation of Roald Dahl's book (while ignoring the existence of the inexplicably liked 1971 version starring Gene Wilder), there may not be enough story and heart for every audience to swoon. David Poland Review: Charlie & The Chocolate Factory is, in many ways, Tim Burton's most complete, most perfect film. He is in so many ways the film world's Willy Wonka, creating mind-boggling confections that amaze and delight every time he gets behind a camera.
	Pickpocket Whenever classic titles get a Criterion Collection upgrade, it's usually very good news, indeed. Pickpocket, Robert Bresson's portrait of a career thief, is as involving as any recent cinematic probe of the criminal mind or mystery novel (appropriate, as it was inspired by Crime and Punishment), and remains fascinating for its insight into the requirements of the job, itself. Throughout, Michel (Martin LaSalle) is pitted against a Parisian police inspector, who takes a both a paternal and professional interest in the thief. Their interplay is absolutely fascinating. Commentary is provided by American director Paul Schrader, several of whose characters and films have been greatly influenced by Pickpocket. The featurettes include studies of the pickpocket's art, interviews with the actors and an archived interview with Bresson. -- Gary Dretzka Pride, Unprejudiced: Robert Bresson's compact 1959 masterpiece, Pickpocket demonstrates what an intently physical director this often mischaracterized artist is.
	Yes 2005 has been a spectacular year for Joan Allen, one of Hollywood's most gifted and underappreciated actors. In Sally Potter's typically challenging romantic drama, the Steppenwolf graduate plays the wife of an English diplomat (Sam Neill), whose inner passions are ignited in a tryst with a self-exiled Lebanese surgeon, working currently in a London restaurant. Written largely in rhyming verse, Yes demands of Allen's Irish-American biologist that she examine everything she's come to expect from marriage, religion, death, home, politics, motherhood and her own tightly wrapped self. It's a fragile art-house piece, to be sure, but the eroticism is as palpable as the intelligence of its creator. -- Gary Dretzka
Ugetsu: Criterion Collection Kenji Mizoguchi's haunting story of love, loss and war in 16th Century Japan, likewise, is enhanced by the extras found in the two-disc set, which also includes a 72-book with a scholarly essay and the short stories that inspired the film. Ugetsu chronicles the journeys of two ambitious peasants - one a potter, the other a wannabe samurai --who embark on separate routes to prosperity. The commentary, interviews and background featurettes all are excellent. -- Gary Dretzka
TV to DVD Beavis & Butthead 1: Mike Judge Collection 21 Jump Street: The Complete Fourth Season The Partridge Family: The Complete Second Season Miracle's Boys Blue Collar TV: Season 1,Volume 1 Legend of Zelda: Complete Animated Series Duck Tales/Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers/Tales From Avonlea/Five Mile Creek Jeopardy: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show Tripping the Rift: The Complete First Season Sound Stage Presents: Lindsey Buckingham Faith American Experience: Las Vegas -- An Unconventional History Shortly after the dynamic duo of Beavis & Butthead emerged on MTV from the nether regions of Mike Judge's imagination, observers of American pop culture blamed the cartoon metal-heads for facilitating the dumbing down of America. While that distinction probably belongs to Married … With Children, launched six years earlier on Fox, the boys might actually have prompted a concurrent rise in arson-related crimes by impressionable teen slackers. If Judge's creations weren't the sharpest tools in the box, though, their caustic commentaries on suburban life, school, celebrities and other media obsessions were deceptively perceptive in their profane simplicity. If they were still on TV, B&B probably would have been inspired by the antics of our last two presidents, and incumbent California governor, who've all been forgiven their asinine behavior as not-so-little boys. Fans of 21 Jump Street already know that the material compiled in The Complete Fourth Season is noteworthy primarily for the virtual disappearance of Richard Grieco and Johnny Depp's decision to start phoning in his performances. Otherwise, Holly Robinson Peete's character gets raped, and Peter Deluise's goes to El Salvador to rescue his girlfriend from one dire fate or another. Greico probably was ill-advised to give up his day job for what must have looked like a bright future. Depp, of course, was never heard from again. Enough about David Cassidy and Danny Bonaduce, already. What I want to know is what ever happened to Susan Dey's career? She's so hot on the cover of The Partridge Family: The Complete Second Season, I didn't dare check her age at the time the photograph was shot … for fear I'd be accused of being a pedophile. As Roman Polanski once argued, though," Hey, she looked 18!" It was during the second season that her character started dating a biker, so, perhaps, I'm not as perverted as I feel right now. The special features are limited to quick access to musical performances. LeVar Burton, Bill Duke, Ernest Dickerson and Spike Lee lent their considerable talents to this smart and savvy dramatic mini-series for N, Nickelodeon's offshoot service for tweens and young teens. Miracle's Boys was adapted from Jacqueline Woodson's coming-of-age novel about three recently orphaned brothers, trying to make it on their own in Harlem. The oldest, Ty'ree, struggles mightily to keep the family together in the face of constant scrutiny from concerned teachers, social workers and the middle-brother's parole officer. Credit the A-list directorial talent for keeping the stories and dialogue real, and never condescending to Nick's young audience. Neither does Miracle's Boys offer easy solutions to real problems or fall back on the easy moralizing found in 40 years worth of network after-school specials. For many years, television's only concession to Southern humor was Hee-Haw, unless one counts the stuff folks living in Beverly Hills put in the mouths of the characters in The Dukes of Hazzard and Evening Shade. The WB built on a foundation laid by the Blue Collar Comedy Tour - which starred Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy - for Blue Collar TV. The sketch-comedy format played well with the material already being performed by the comics, and they were joined, as well, by a talented group of actors comfortable in the improv format. You might be a redneck … if you watch this DVD while driving your pickup with a DVD built into the driver's wheel. In the beginning, there was Pong. It wasn't until Nintendo introduced The Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, however, that video games exploded into the multibillion-dollar industry it has since become. Not surprisingly, television executives thought they could exploit the games' popularity with cartoon shows based on the hit titles. Considering how much time gamers spent actually playing the games, hardly any was left for watching cartoons. The Legend of Zelda lasted 13 episodes, all of which are included in this DVD box. There also are several Mario- and Zelda-related featurettes and interactive games. The folks at Disney are giving fans of its off-network services an early Christmas present, by releasing first-season collections of Duck Tales, Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers, Tales From Avonlea and Five Mile Creek. While hardly in the same league with cartoons and other material being made available in the Walt Disney Treasures packages, the shows served their cable-ready audiences well. Duck Tales follows the adventures of Huey, Dewey and Louie, who are entrusted to the care of Donald's Uncle Scrooge, while he's off on an adventure. In Chip 'n'.Dale: Rescue Rangers, the hyperactive chipmunks are turned into crimefighters. The family dramas, Tales From Avonlea and Five Mile Creek came to the Disney Channel via Canada and Australia. I never thought I'd see a DVD that focused on a TV game show, and wasn't actually an interactive game, itself. But, then came Jeopardy!: An Inside Look at America's Favorite Quiz Show, which goes behind the scenes of the hit program, offers tips for perspective contestants, catalogues 20 years worth of answer/questions and reprises such highlights as the first episode hosted by Alex Trebek and key moments in Ken Jenning's record-setting run. The Sci-Fi Channel's raunchy CGI series, Tripping the Rift, was adapted from a popular Internet spoof of Star Trek. It focuses on a group of goofy interplanetary smugglers, including a purple, three-eyed blob of a captain, named Chode; a foul-mouthed woman with three breasts; an effeminate robot; and a science officer (voiced by Gina Gershon) who doubles as the ship's science officer and Chode's sex slave. It's fun, but definitely not for children or impressionable FCC commissioners. Much of the credit for Fleetwood Mac's huge popular success in the '70s and '80s could be laid at the feet of virtuoso guitarist-singer-songwriter Lindsey Buckingham. His imaginative string acrobatics and pop sensibility - along with a romantic history with Stevie Nicks - broadened the appeal of the former bluesers, Fleetwood Mac, by creating songs that were smart, sexy and radio friendly. Sound Stage Presents: Lindsey Buckingham could have benefited mightily from another half-hour's worth of material, but what's here is very good, indeed. The British mini-series, Faith, stars the great Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Being Julia), as a high-ranking government official, trying to keep his sordid lifestyle from being uncovered by his daughter's reporter boyfriend. Like most imports from Britain, it takes some patience to become fully involved in the story, but the rewards are worth the effort. Considering how much time and effort is expended on Las Vegas by cable networks, it's a wonder there was anything else left for PBS to exploit in its American Experience: Las Vegas -- An Unconventional History, which is being shown simultaneously with the DVD release. Fact is, there isn't. But, it looks good, and provides a far more measured approach to the city's past, present and future than most of what's been forwarded on cable and in such Hollywood wet dreams as Bugsy and Showgirls. It's interesting, though, how PBS has shrunk the window on DVD releases of its marquee titles - the Bob Dylan package actually went out a few days earlier than the broadcast - effectively testing the waters for day-and-date releases by other entertainment providers. Why? . -- Gary Dretzka
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical Louis Gasnier's infamous anti-marijuana propaganda film from 1936 inspired this highly entertaining musical romp, starring Alan Cumming, Neve Campbell, Kristen Bell and Steven Weber. Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical spoofs the notion that pot-smoking can turn innocent teens into raging sexaholics with the mere encouragement of a puff or two. (A well-timed joint helps, of course, but so does alcohol, concert tickets and Dove Bars.) The over-the-top campiness is entirely appropriate here, as is the parody of the Prohibition on marijuana, itself. It's also plain ol' fun. -- Gary Dretzka
Rize Movies about the break-dancing phenomenon have come and gone, but the urban culture continues to produce dance trends worthy of coverage by documentarians. Rize was a patiently constructed study of an exciting dance movement, born in L.A.'s South Central district. The intensely aerobic form of interpretive dance merged everything that went before it, including jitterbugging, boogie-woogie, hip-hop and African tribal rituals. Forwarding the craze was a fellow dubbed Tommy Clown - for reasons that will become obvious - who saw in it an opportunity for local teens to comment peacefully on the brutality often associated with police in the 'hood. Clowning, as it was known, required of its adherents a belief that positive change can be facilitated through dance, wild makeup and unbridled enthusiasm, and that such therapy is contagious. The Clowning movement evolved into Krumping, which requires even more makeup, athleticism and physical dexterity. It's an amazing show, simultaneously inspirational and awe-inspiring. . -- Gary Dretzka
Cronicas In this Ecuadorian thriller, John Leguizamo plays a reporter for a Spanish-language television network, popular throughout the Americas. While not quite as self-promotional as Geraldo Rivera, the character played by the Colombian-born actor is cast from the same mold, in that he's destined to compromise his good intentions for personal gain. In this case, he has decided that the best way to come out ahead in an investigation into a series of brutal child murders is to do an end-run around a dedicated and incorruptible local police detective. While covering a seemingly unrelated act of violence in a small town, the reporter is surprised by an offer to exchange key information in the killings for a favorable profile of a man accused of vehicular homicide. As the two investigations begin to overlap, the reporter is forced to make decisions that will have a huge impact on his career, the ethical convictions of his crew and the detective's search. Written and directed by Sebastián Cordero, and produced by Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón, Crónicas asks questions about journalistic responsibility in Spanish that deserve answers in all languages, especially the English spoken on Fox News and CNN. -- Gary Dretzka
Margaret Cho: Assassin If a comedian's words could kill, Assassin would provide all the evidence a court would need to put Margaret Cho behind bars for a long time. This time around, Cho took her one-woman barrage of razor-sharp satire to within a short cab ride of the White House: the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. Assassin is more political than previous recorded concerts, which makes it an even more dangerous weapon against the political and religious right. -- Gary Dretzka
Jumanji: Deluxe Edition The third DVD incarnation of Jumanji coincides with the imminent release of Zathura, which was adapted from a graphic novel by the Caldecott-winning fantasist Chris Van Allsburg (who also provided the source material for The Polar Express). Starring Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst, Bonnie Hunt and Bradley Pierce, the wildly inventive Jumanji imagined a scenario in which a modern-day genie is unleashed from captivity in a magical board game. In doing so, a quiet middle-class neighborhood is transformed into a suburban jungle. The extras in the two-disc package include several new featurettes, activities for children and a free ticket to Zathura. -- 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