The Wrap Up ...
Ocean's 13	Steven Soderbergh's second sequel to his 2001 well-received updating of Ocean's Eleven -- a Rat Pack exercise that spawned a pair of sequels of its own - is the kind of sloppy celebrity-driven confection that begs the question, "Where's the justice?" How is it possible that such a cynically crafted product - and that's exactly how Ocean's Thirteen was marketed -- be rewarded with $120 million in domestic box-office receipts, when far more compelling festival and foreign-language films can't find distribution? It's highly likely that more time and energy were invested in the publicity campaign behind Thirteen than what was expended by its writers, director and stars. Warners' franchise exists as a moderately budgeted companion to Paramount's Mission: Impossible and Sony/MGM's 007 series. Like the chases that kick-start those films, the heists in Ocean require a significant suspension of disbelief, precision timing, impeccable stealth, high-tech tools and an incrementally larger army of crooks to pull off. Here, evil casino mogul Mike Bank (Al Pacino) is in possession of a cache of diamonds coveted by the equally greedy casino mogul, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). Bank has screwed Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) out of his share of a new mega-casino, causing him to be hospitalized. To avenge the double-cross of his mentor, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) forms an unholy alliance with his nemesis, Benedict. Naturally, the diamonds are considered to be impervious to theft. A no-brainer, right? Yes, if all Soderbergh and producer Jerry Weintraub wanted to do with their resources was make viewers ignore the fact that behind all the glitzy sets, fancy clothes and celebrity sizzle, there was no steak. As such, Thirteen will have approximately the same shelf life as Robin and the 7 Hoods and Sergeants Three. The movie has barely begun, when Soderbergh abruptly cuts to the chase. He's skipped such niceties as introducing the additional gang members, summarizing what's occurred between Eleven and Thirteen, and explaining newcomer Banks' unpaid debt to Tishkoff. The assumption is that the mogul never had any intention of honoring his commitment to Tishkoff, as if cheating legendary crooks somehow was good for business. Before you can say "ring-a-ding-ding," the crew has cooked up a plan to make the hard-opening of Bank's magnificent property nightmarish enough to scare away customers and deprive him of the money he needs to make his monthly nut. The scheme requires a computer bank that would rival any at M.I.T., the rigging of table games and slots, and a tunneling tool capable of replicating a 5.0 temblor. Sadly, there's no Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts or Angie Dickinson on hand to distract viewers when the narrative stops making sense. (Indeed, the less one knows about gambling, the better) Instead, we get a no-longer-incendiary Ellen Barkin and a quid pro quo cameo by Oprah. The Rat Pack's Eleven was fun because we knew the boys were operating on hangovers, zero sleep and a general disregard for the filmmaking process. We were in on the joke, just as we were with Soderbergh's Eleven. His Twelve and Thirteen feel more like annuities than action- comedies, though. By comparison, NBC's Vegas is Grand Hotel. Even worse are the bonus features, which include a few extraneous deleted scenes, a boosterish travelogue on Las Vegas and Weintraub's inexcusably low-brow tour of the set. On the plus side, however, it's likely that Clooney, Don Cheadle and Brad Pitt, at least, reinvested their salaries in campaigns to improve the lives of children in Africa and Southeast Asia. -- Gary Dretzka
Ratatouille Dangermouse: The Complete Series Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1	Don't be surprised if Brad Bird and Pixar's enchanting Ratatouille makes the cut when nominations for Best Picture are announced in January. It's a mortal lock to take home the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but, given the competition so far, it would be tough to deny this story of a lowly, if ambitious rat who dreamt of becoming a celebrity chef in the gastronomic heart of Europe. Anyone who's had the pleasure of fishing dead vermin out of a swimming pool, or watching a critter the size of Chihuahua scamper through the kitchen of their favorite restaurant, almost certainly will need some time to warm up to Ratatouille. It helps that the hero of the story, Remy, is bluebird blue, instead of dark gray or brown, as are the other anthropomorphic rats. But, Remy would be a rat of a different color, even if he were of a darker hue. Not content to dine on garbage and leftovers, like the rest of his family, Remy's cultivated taste buds demand the table scraps only found in four-star restaurants. Through a wild series of misadventures, Remy finds his way to the kitchen of Auguste Gusteau, one of France's most popular chefs and TV stars. Unfortunately, Remy's culinary hero recently passed away, leaving a huge question mark over his restaurant's future. After befriending the dimwitted errand boy, Remy conspires to scratch his way up the latter. This requires him to outfox egomaniacal pretenders to Gusteau's crown, teach the boy tricks of the trade and impress a snooty restaurant critic. The Pixar team constructed a delightfully cluttered kitchen, with plenty of places for a nimble rodent to disappear. The exterior shots capture all the magic of the City of Lights, without seeming hyper-realistic or clichéd. The relatively unknown comedian, Patton Oswalt, was chosen to voice Remy, and he does a swell job. The star power is reserved for the supporting roles, and includes Ian Holm, Brad Garrett, James Remar, Brian Dennehy, Janeanne Garofalo and, yes, John Ratzenberger. A real-life celebrity chef, Thomas Keller, helped choreograph the kitchen scenes, and made sure the ratatouille served to the critic (Peter O'Toole) was killer-diller. The extras include animated shorts, deleted scenes, interviews and an animated history of rat-dom. And, while we're on the subject: The delightful animated series, Dangermouse, began its life in England, and moved across the pond to help Nickelodeon establish itself as a network that could do more than drop goop on kids. The protagonist, who was based in London, came billed as the smallest secret agent in the world ... not that he limited himself to Earth. The show survived 10 seasons on the air by devising characters that were colorful, clever, offbeat and had great names, like Stilleto Mafiosa and Count Duckula. The boxed set adds the pilot episode, The Mystery of the Lost Chord, character profiles, a karaoke-friendly rendition of the theme song, a couple of Count Duckula episodes and alternative theme songs. Those who just can't get enough of Pixar (now, Disney) animation also will want to check out Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1. The cartoons feature state-of-the-art and experimental digital techniques, along with the distinct comic chops expected from the creators of Toy Story, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Cars. Some were made to serve as prototypes for larger projects, others to be seen alongside features and win Oscars in the short-format category. All are quite special. -- Gary Dretzka
La Vie en Rose (Extended Version)	Few lives have lent themselves so easily to cinematic interpretation as the relentlessly tragic one endured by the brilliant French chanteuse, Edith Piaf. The 31-year-old actor and singer Marion Cotillard - whose work went virtually unseen last winter in Ridley Scott's A Good Year-- deserves strong Oscar consideration for her heart-breaking portrayal of the 4-foot-8 "waif sparrow." As is the case with most biopics - even the good ones - writer-director Olivier Dahan was forced to pack too much of Piaf's extraordinary rags-to-riches story into far too small of a package, even at 140 minutes. This was, after all, a woman who was repeatedly shipped off by her parents - a cafe singer and street performance - to live with her grandmothers, one of whom worked in a brothel. She survived a battle with blindness after some of the working girls financed a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Thérèse de Lisieux. Employing biopic shorthand, Edith discovered her gift for singing while busking with her father. Nightclub owner Louis Leplée (Gerard Depardieu) offered her a shot at legitimate stardom, but not before changing her stage name to la Môme Piaf. Apparently, their friendship didn't sit well with the singer's hoodlum pals, who, along with Piaf, were believed by police to be responsible for his murder. Cleared of that charge, she rather quickly ascended to the pinnacle of stardom in France and, eventually, America. Tragedy struck again when her lover, boxer Marcel Cerdan, was killed in a plane crash. Then, in no particular order, came drug and alcohol addictions, random car accidents, tax problems, attempts at marriage and, finally, cancer. These plagues are telegraphed in flash-forwards and re-endured in flashbacks throughout the movie. Along the way, there's plenty of singing … but, perhaps, not enough to satisfy devoted fans. Piaf died at 48, although she might easily have been mistaken for 65 or 70. The amazing physical transformations certainly won't hurt Cotillard's chances for an Oscar. The extras here include the featurette, Stepping Into Character, which documents the hard work required of the actor and Olivier Dahan's creative team. -- Gary Dretzka
This is England	The Reagans may have been great pals with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, but the Iron Lady was no friend to the British working class. As more and more blue-collar workers were "made redundant" during her aggressively anti-union tenure, the proud residents of the country's smokestack communities were forced to accept life on the dole or risk starvation. Meanwhile, Thatcher and her upper-crust partisans demonstrated all the compassion of the Marquis de Sade. If there was anything positive that emerged from the prevailing aura of despair, it took the ragged form of music and movies that commented on the collapse of the native and immigrant working class. Movies as diverse as My Beautiful Laundromat, Made In Britain, High Hopes and The Full Monty were as much a part of Thatcher-era England as A Hard Day's Night, Poor Cow, Darling and Blow-Up were products of Swinging London and Carnaby Street. As a boy growing up in a West Midlands town, circa 1983, This Is England director Shane Meadows witnessed how dispossessed teens embraced anti-immigrant and proto-Nazi movements, hard drugs, gang crime and rebel music, be it the Clash or Bob Marley. His alter ego in This Is England is a socially awkward boy whose father was killed in the Falklands War. For some reason, this makes him the butt of jokes at school. During summer break, Shaun is adopted by a racially mixed group of skinheads, who look rough-and-ready but are mostly harmless. Things begin to change when a popular former gang leader returns from prison, radically changed by the experience. Suddenly, the lads are forced to choose between the ex-con's aggressively racist politics and the more laid-back approach they hitherto enjoyed. Shaun (Thomas Turgoose, in a brilliant debut) is seduced by the newcomer's radical stance and his revisionist assessment of the Falklands War, and elects to become part of a far more dangerous family. Sounds dreary, doesn't it. Actually, much of This Is England is quite charming, especially as it depicts the easy camaraderie of a group of boys and girls who find relief in music, fashion and petty crime. Shaun's introduction to the joys of sex is both hilarious and heart-warming. Meadows' ultimate accomplishment, though, is demonstrating how the fragility of youthful idealism can be corrupted so easily by cynical politicians and charismatic thugs. -- Gary Dretzka
Meet the Robinsons	Meet the Robinsons invariably will go down as one of Disney's lesser lights. The futuristic comedy started out one way, under the banner of Walt Disney Feature Animation, but then was forced to make a mid-stream adjustment when Pixar took control of all operations. New boss John Lasseter demanded that more than half of the picture be re-shot or re-rendered. I saw Meet the Robinsons in its digital 3D version, and quite enjoyed it. The story revolves around a 12-year-old orphan, Lewis, who dreams of becoming a great inventor. After one of his gadgets malfunctions at his school's science fair, Lewis is whisked into the future and moves in with the eccentric Robinson family. Suddenly, Meet the Robinsons becomes a cross between The Jetsons, Back to the Future and Wild, Wild West. Younger viewers will enjoy the movie more than anyone else. Too bad, though, it's not in 3D. Also included is the 1938 short Mickey Mouse's Boat Builder.
License to Wed I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry	In the lowbrow message-movie, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Adam Sandler and Kevin James portrayed a pair of macho New York firemen forced to pretend to be domestic partners to secure survivor benefits for Larry's motherless children. Chuck, a real ladies' man, isn't keen on the charade, but agrees to honor a huge debt owed to his friend. Logic doesn't apply in these sorts of urban fairy tales, so it's best to play along with the conceit. Falsifying pension forms is a serious crime, and city watchdogs smell a rat. Because of this, most of the first half of the movie is saturated with the kind of homophobic humor designed to have the actors' male fan base rolling in the aisles. The turning point comes when Chuck is required to rein in his libido and feign being a sensitive gay guy for their lawyer, who is played by the immensely sensuous Jessica Beal. With the exception of a hysterical star turn by Ving Rhames, the second half of the movie plays out like a grade school primer on tolerance and integrity. That said, it's worth noting that I Now Pronouce … raked in $120 million at the domestic box-office. Because of this, I'm confident America is now a vastly less homophobic place in which to live. If only Abbott & Costello were still around to have played Chuck and Larry. In comparison to License to Marry, however, I Now Pronounce You is La Cage Aux Folles. In it, Robin Williams plays an unorthodox priest who demands of engaged couples that they participate in what amounts to a boot camp for marriage. A grown-up Mandy Moore and John Krasinski, of The Office, play the unfortunate pair. As cute as they are, they can't compete with the forced kookiness of Williams' Reverend Frank. Any normal couple would have split the scene when Reverend Frank forced them to carry robotic devil dolls wherever they went. But, that would have made a very short movie. Instead, Williams goes on and on, like a deranged Energizer bunny. The only unexpected moments in License to Marry arrive in the 13-year-old form of Josh Flitter, who plays a pint-sized choir boy and partner-in-crime to Reverend Frank. He reminded me of Frank the Dog in the Men in Black films. -- Gary Dretzka
In The Land Of Women	Adam Brody, who played a teenager in The O.C., was able to play a character closer to his real age, 27, in writer-director Jon Kasdan's feature debut, In the Land if Women. He plays Carter Webb, a young man who aspires to write children's books, but pays the rent by hacking out scripts for soft-core pornos. He has just had his heart broken by a cutesy pop star, and splits for his ailing grandmother's home in Michigan to lick his wounds. Almost immediately, he finds himself in the middle of intense family drama being played out in the house across the street. Meg Ryan plays the mother of two daughters, one a rebellious teen and the other a precocious tweener. Carter offers a shoulder to all three women, with mom needing the most support. Yes, she has cancer, and can't possibly deal with her older daughter's acting out, while simultaneously undergoing chemo. Something, I can't remember what, queers Carter's friendship with the mother, and this gives him time to pour his frustrations into his work. Nothing much is memorable in In the Land of Women, except the anguished performance of Ryan and goofy antics of Grandma, who's played by Olympia Dukakis. The first two films made by Kasdan's father were The Big Chill and Body Heat. Sadly, In the Land of Women has nothing in common with those titles. -- Gary Dretzka
Talk To Me	Don Cheadle is on quite a roll. He seems incapable of delivering an uninteresting performance on film, while his efforts to save Africa from itself threaten to legitimize Hollywood-style activism. In Talk to Me, he takes a character who's been relegated to footnote status in the tumultuous social history of the '60s, and turns him into a hero worthy of consideration by viewers whose idealism is limited to picking up after their dog and recycling empty bottles of spring water. Cheadle plays a garden-variety street hustler, Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, who discovers his ability to communicate and entertain large numbers of people as deejay on a prison radio station. After serving his time in stir, Greene decides to take his act to a D.C. soul station that's losing its core audience. An ambitious radio exec (Chiwetel Ejiofor) convinces his white boss (Martin Sheen) to take a chance on Greene, who almost immediately is fired for calling the mayor a pimp. As coincidence would have it, Martin Luther King's assassination was about to stun the nation and Washington would become a free-fire zone. Greene used his street cred to speak directly to the rioters and those, at home, who were considering joining the fray. His outrage was palpable, but so was his concern for the folks who were about to lose their homes, businesses and access to public services in the widespread arson and looting. Greene also promised to bring James Brown to town to get people off the streets. That was a trick only slightly less difficult than pulling a rabbit out of a thimble. Eventually, Greene's demons would re-emerge and cause him to squander his new-found fame … albeit, in an interesting manner. Director Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou) manages to keep Talk to Me from drifting into cable-biopic territory, but, for this, she owes a debt of gratitude to Cheadle, Ejiofor, Sheen and a supporting cast that also includes Cedric the Entertainer and Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow). -- Gary Dretzka
Sicko: Special Edition Run Granny Run Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi Americans not only have been taught from birth that this country's medical system is the best on Earth, but they've also been brain-washed into believing that free, universal healthcare was an invention of Karl Marx, himself. Neither argument is valid, of course. Doctors in Canada, England, France and Cuba don't whistle the "The Internationale" while they work, and insurance companies have more control over who lives or dies than any doctor on the planet. Because Michael Moore made a case for affordable healthcare (a.k.a., socialized medicine) in his latest documentary, Sicko, he was racked over the coals by right-wing pundits, conservative politicians and HMO conglomerates. Typically, his methodology also was criticized by the documentarian establishment for its bull-in-a-china-shop approach to such a serious and complicated subject. If, however, only half of what Moore presents as fact in Sicko is accurate, our healthcare system truly is a mess, and it's unlikely that it will be legislated back to health. That's because a goodly share of the profits from astronomically expensive prescription drugs and hospital-issued Q-Tips finds its way into the pockets of lawmakers, including Hillary Clinton, architect of her husband's failed health-care reforms. While It's difficult to dispute claims made by Moore's detractors that his tactics more closely resemble pranks than scholarship, it's impossible to dismiss the testimony of wives and mothers, whose loved ones died after being denied treatment by someone whose salary is based on how many claims are rejected. Nor is it possible that Moore simply imagined that employees of GE in France enjoy far superior health benefits than their American counterparts. It's common knowledge that convicts can count on better medical and dental treatment than lawful citizens, but who knew that this also applied to the terrorists warehoused at Guantanamo Bay? Unlike the survivors of 9/11, jailed terror suspects aren't required to get pre-approval for colonoscopies, appendectomies and experimental procedures. The proof is in the pudding. When one of his most vocal critics was forced to choose between maintaining his website and paying for his wife's surgery, it was Moore who played guardian angel and anonymously donated the $12,000 needed to keep both the woman and website healthy. Sicko forwards Moore's case in a way that's at once entertaining, compelling and deeply depressing. The extras include several deleted scenes and rare footage of Moore at a House briefing on health-care legislation, sans cap, hair combed and wearing a suit jacket. Run Granny Run chronicles the unlikely story of Doris "Granny D" Haddock, who, after 20 years of retirement, walked from Pasadena to Washington, D.C., as an advocate for campaign-finance reform. Four years later, the lifelong resident of New Hampshire made an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Judd Gregg. The great-grandmother of sixteen grabbed 34 percent of the vote, and continues to be a vocal advocate of liberal causes. It would be fun to watch Granny D take on Governor Arnold and Jesse Ventura in the political equivalent of a Texas Death Match. Alexandra Pelosi, who just happens to be the daughter of the current Speaker of the House, makes documentaries that allow viewers to join her on the occasional excursions she makes into the belly of the beast of American politics. This time, in HBO's Friends of God: A Road Trip with Alexandra Pelosi, her travels take her to various red-state religious potentates, who were charitable enough - dare I say, Christian enough? - to open up their churches and offices to a reporter they logically could assume to be hostile to their beliefs. That, she may have been, but her liberalism doesn't stand in the way of conducting interviews that are the next best thing to objective. Her subjects include several of the most prominent evangelical leaders, as well as such off-brand spin-offs as the Christian Wrestling Federation and Cruisers for Christ. -- Gary Dretzka
My So-Called Life: The Complete Series Flight of the Conchords: The Complete First Season The Sopranos/Seinfeld The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Volume One American Gangster: The Complete First Season The Company October Road: The Complete First Season Benny Hill: Complete & Unadulterated Megaset (1969-1989) Twin Peaks: The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series) The Best of the Colbert Report War & Peace/The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard/The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Set 2 Writers strikes come and go, but, thanks to DVD, good television no longer has to begin in September and end in May … if it lasts even that long. Try renting a season's worth of a classic series - My So-Called Life, for instance -- and compare it to a show like, say, Cavemen or Bionic Woman. Well, you get the picture. My So-Called Life is an example of a series - Friday Night Lights is another - that critics and fans loved, but Nielsen families didn't buy. Although its 19-show run ended on a cliffhanger, ABC decided America wasn't ready for a drama that addressed issues faced by real teens in real schools and real homes. The decision wasn't personal … just business … as usual. Clair Danes was anxious to become a big-screen star, anyway, and Thursday nights were locked up by NBC. In death, however, My So-Called Life would provide a template for a decade's worth of teen-oriented shows to come, as well as most of the original programming on the WB and MTV. The re-issued six-disc set from Shout! Factory adds lots of goodies, including an interview with Danes, a 36-page commemorative book and a conversation with the show's creators and cast. For this generation of teen-agers, My So-Called Life will feel as fresh as a new episode of The Hills, and a million times smarter. Faced with the imminent demise of The Sopranos, HBO threw several strands of spaghetti against the wall to see if any would stick. John From Cincinnati was too hip by half, and wasn't renewed. Flight of the Conchords often seemed to teeter on the edge of the same precipice, but its quirky characters and offbeat sense of humor quickly grew on audiences. The show observes the struggles of a digi-folk duo from New Zealand, as they attempt to conquer New York. Bret and Jemaine depend on their totally ineffectual manager - to book gigs and introduce them to the movers-and-shakers. Through it all, the only person who truly believes in the Kiwi crooners is Mel, an obsessive fan/stalker who is the president and sole member of their fan club. It's a hoot. The second half of the final season of The Sopranos has finally arrived, and, with it, a rekindling of the mystery surrounding the enigmatic Made in America finale. Nothing earth-shaking is revealed here, but the bonus-heavy boxed set will keep fans happy until David Chase spills the beans or announces plans for a feature-length movie (as inevitably happened with Sex and the City). Commentary is provided by Dominic Chianese, Robert Iler, Arthur Nascarella, Steven Schirripa and Stevie Van Zandt, while the featurettes include Making 'Cleaver,' a behind-the-scenes look at Christopher's horror film, and a discussion with Chase and others about the music featured in the series. If The Sopranos is a candidate for the honor of being television's greatest dramatic series - and it is - Seinfeld would certainly qualify as one of the finalists in the Greatest Sitcom category. I don't have a horse in those highly subjective races, but wouldn't argue against either landmark show coming out on top. The ninth and final season of Seinfeld concluded with an episode that, like The Sopranos, left audiences scratching their heads and demanding an explanation or apology. They won't find one here, either. Among the episodes included are The Butter Shave, The Betrayal, The Cartoon, The Maid, Puerto Rican Day, The Merv Griffin Show, The Frogger and The Voice - just recalling the titles makes me laugh -- as well as the concluding two-parter, which could have been written by Rod Serling. Few series in the history were quite as ambitious - and expensive -- as The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which, of course, was based on the character immortalized by George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford (and, who's soon to return to a theater near you). Far more than an exploitative prequel for the small-screen set, each of the 44 episodes of Young Indiana Jones could hold their own with 90 percent of the action pictures made then and now. That owes much to the producers' willingness to forgo Vancouver and shoot on location in such places as England, Russia, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Kenya, France, India, China, Austria, Egypt, Morocco, Ireland, Italy, Africa, Turkey, Greece and Thailand, at a tab of $1.5 million apiece. The show often referenced the parent trilogy, but it was able to stand on its own two feet quite well, thank you. It helped that the lineup of writers and directors included Frank Darabont, Nicolas Roeg, Mike Leigh, Jonathan Hensleigh, Terry Jones, Simon Wincer and Carrie Fisher, and story ideas from Lucas, his own self. Look for a second batch of episodes to arrive in December. Timed to coincide with the theatrical release of the Denzel Washington/Russell Crowe movie of the same name, BET's American Gangster series chronicled the rise and fall of Nicky Barnes, along with nearly a dozen other infamous African-American hoodlums, master thieves and druglords. Among other theories, the Ving Rhames-narrated series traces the rise of the Crips and other elaborately constructed criminal operations to the splintering of the civil-rights movement after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. True to the nature of most true-crime shows on cable networks, American Gangster often is as lurid as it is cautionary. Either way, it makes for captivating television. TNT presented its compelling spy-vs.-spy mini-series, The Company, in close enough proximity to The Good Shepherd and The Good German that it might have been overshadowed both by their theatrical rollouts and DVD launches. Based on a Robert Littell novel, The Company co-mingled real and invented spooks to add a human spin to the CIA and its role in some of the 20th Century's most dramatic events. The three-parter starred Chris O'Donnell, Alfred Molina and Michael Keaton, and was executive-produced by Ridley, Tony Scott, Cary Brokaw and John Calley. As such, it's a very classy presentation. October Road returns to the ABC lineup later this month, and it is being advanced by this set of freshman-season episodes. The concept behind it is pretty good: a best-selling novelist, who based his teenage characters on old friends, he left behind have gone through many changes.Could a sequel be in store? Yes, and no. Most dedicated fans of Benny Hill - and you know who you are -will have the sketches and gags included in the Complete & Unadulterated Megaset (1969-1989) already memorized. They also likely will possess one or two of the previous DVD collections. Until they find this 58-episode, 585-skech, 18-disc, 2,900-minute boxed set under their trees on Christmas morning, they won't have the whole ball of wax. The Megabox not only allows fans to watch the evolution of Fred Scuttle, Chow Mein and Pierre de Terre, but they can also follow the rotation of buxom babes who served as Hill's Angels. DVD features include The World s Favorite Clown, The Benny Hill Cheeky Challenge Trivia Quiz 1-6, Benny Hill: Laughter and Controversy, I Was a Hill's Angel, Hill's Angels: Off the Record and Hill's Angels: In Conversation. Other new British imports include the BBC's epic 1972 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's War & Peace, in which Anthony Hopkins played Pierre Bezuhov and David Swift was Napoleon. Kids, this is the edition to watch if you don't have the time to read the novel or CliffsNotes version. In another few years, Hopkins would begin his reign as one of the finest actors in Hollywood, as well. The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard stars the supremely talented Jane Horrocks - who some might remember as the ditzy assistant, Bubbles, in Absolutely Fabulous - as a supermarket manager who runs for the top political office in Britain, and wins. Janet McTear (Songcatcher) is also prominent in the six-part series, which currently can be seen on PBS' Masterpiece Theater, too. The time-tested policing of Reg Wexford in The Ruth Rendell Mysteries: Set 2 will satisfy lovers of the British whodunits shown on PBS' Mystery! Both seasons of Mark Frost and David Lynch's surrealistic serial, Twin Peaks, have been collected in a super-duper Gold Box Edition. The show still stands as one of the medium's riskiest and potentially most rewarding experiments. By comparison, John From Cincinnati was a stroll on the beach. The 10-disc Gold Box Edition adds both the original and European version of the pilot, re-mastered episodes with 5.1 Surround Sound, new interviews and introductions. The release of The Best of the Colbert Report neatly coincides with the host's faux run for the presidency, which is getting more MSM attention than what's been reserved for the legitimate candidates. This would be swell, if it weren't for the fact that Stephen Colbert has spent as much time investigating the truthiness of the media as he has to fibs of professional politicians. I'd feel better if pundits like Chris Matthews were simply willing to laugh at Colbert's parodies, and not be the primary providers of fresh targets. The writers' strike, if it lingers, will give TiVo-deprived fans of long-running series plenty of time to catch up with their favorites. Mind of Mencia: Uncensored Season 3, is for folks who aren't timid about language and politically incorrect humor; Medium: The Third Season represents the hope of all series that debut at mid-season, and have to get out of the gate fast or risk being killed before anyone even knows they were on; Project Runway: The Complete Third Season offers extended-length episodes, supermodel Heidi Klum, several decent bonus features and supercyborg Tim Gunn; NCIS: The Fourth Season and C.S.I. Miami: The Fifth Season keep right on rolling along; the fourth season of The L Word broadened its horizons by introducing storylines for Cybill Shepherd and Marlee Matlin, and extended visits by Rosanna Arquette, Eric Roberts and Jane Lynch; Wings: The Fifth Season, was Cheers in an airport; NBC's own Thursday-night survivor series continues apace in Scrubs: The Complete Sixth Season; and, for parents who watched Sesame Street as children, and want to share the experience with their kids, there's the greatest-hits package, Old School: Volume 2 (1974-1979).
Thou Shalt Laugh 2: The Deuce The Three Stooges Collection, Volume One: 1934-1936 Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl: 201 Every time I'm confronted with the concept, family-friendly entertainment, one question springs immediately to mind: whose family are we discussing? The Manson family? The Brady Bunch? Sly and the Family Stone? My family? The assumption, of course, is that such entertainment wouldn't be found offensive by any single member of the Waltons … even gramps. A cynic might assume, as well, that sometime during the course of a show or movie, a Christian comic will quote scripture by memory, invoke the name of God or Jesus, avoid any mention of Mary Magdalene and tell a joke in tongues. The Christian comedians represented in the first two Thou Shalt Laugh collections aren't afraid to include God and Jesus in their material. They don't, however, wear their faith on their sleeves, and audience members don't raise their arms in the air and shout hallelujah after a particularly humorous bit. I don't know about the rest of my family, but I found much of the material here to be very funny … and, I appreciate a good dirty joke as much as the next guy. Much of the humor would fly right over the heads of most tweeners, but not all of it. If the MPAA were to rate this DVD, the board probably would agree it was closer to PG-13 than G, and compromise on PG. By adding a 100-percent guarantee that viewers will find these clean comedians as funny as their foul-mouthed counterparts, (or) we'll buy you one of their DVDs, methinks the producer (who handled the unclean Blue Collar Comedy movie) is being just a wee bit disingenuous. These and other comics who work clean needn't envy the success of their counterparts. They have access to enthusiastic audiences at Christian colleges, evangelical rallies and coffee houses favored by those folks who read the bible in places other than hotel rooms. Once tapped into that market, a comic can make a nice living, indeed. There are understood limits to what can be said on stage - even by a ventriloquist's dummy - which isn't all that horrible, considering most of the salty language heard in clubs is done primarily for effect, as a sop to audience demographics or out of sheer laziness. (Most of Lenny Bruce's early- and mid-period material would be rated PG today, and it's still effective.) The Thou Shalt Laugh performers - Taylor Mason, Thor Ramsey, Victoria Jackson, Dan Nainan, Bone Hampton and host Tim Conway -- have embraced the label for their own reasons, and God bless 'em. If their promoters didn't make such a big deal about clean not being a dirty word, however. they'd probably land more appearances on late-night talk shows and sell more tickets and DVDs. The larger question is, of course, would Jesus laugh at a fart joke? (His response, Only if done in good taste.) For more than 70 years, the Three Stooges have epitomized red-white-and-blue family entertainment (in black-and-white) … if, of course, one doesn't take into account moms, grandmothers and most post-pubescent girls. The vast majority of all American males, however, would find it difficult to change the channel on a TV, even to a football game, if they saw the Stooges doing Swinging the Alphabet. It's been easy to find DVD collections in stores, but the first installment of Sony's The Three Stooges Collection (1934-1936) puts the shorts in chronological release order, gives them a digital facelift and restores them to their original length. Over the next 30 years, the boys would go on to make 190 shorts - a.k.a., two reelers -- and five feature films for Columbia Pictures. So, expect new volumes to keep on coming. Robert Wuhl almost certainly can be lumped together with the other foul-mouthed comedians, who allegedly are polluting our stages and TV shows. He's also a tremendously funny guy, and his occasional HBO series, Assume the Position With Mr. Wuhl, should be of interest to anyone who's sat through even a semester of a high school or college history course. It's generally accepted as fact that history is written by the victorious. This explains why so many people are willing to believe the lies told to them every time an incumbent president leads us into war, references a bogus treaty and kisses the ass of a foreign tyrant. In Assume the Position, Wuhl stands before a class of college-age kids and attempts to add context, background and his jaundiced eye to the most entertaining lesson they'll ever attend. HBO has also released D.L. Hughley: Unapologetic, an extended version of the actor-comedian's recent in-performance special. The 60-minute routine was filmed before a live audience at the Lincoln Theater, in Washington, D.C. -- Gary Dretzka
Vitus I sincerely hope the depiction of the bespectacled piano prodigy on this DVD's cover doesn't dissuade anyone from taking a chance on Fredi M. Murer's entirely winning story about a Swiss boy whose genius for music and numbers is as much a blessing as it is a curse. There is no shortage of movies about impossibly gifted children and the problems they face when, one day, they wake up to the realization they're no longer young, amusing or all that unusual. At the ripe old age of 6, Vitus begins feeling trapped by the perfectly reasonable aspirations that his parents have for him. His heightened intelligence suggests that Vitus must leave his friends and piano teacher behind. This, he doesn't want to do. His mother even freaks out when she discovers that her down-to-Earth father-in-law is allowing him to use sharp tools to make a giant toy bat, and, worse, she catches the boy rough-housing and playing rock 'n' roll with his babysitter. While Vitus is dedicated to his music, and enjoys showing up his science and math teachers, his twin obsessions are bats and airplanes. He decides to get out while the getting is good, by faking a calamitous accident and leaving his parents with no recourse but to put their dreams for him on hold. After overhearing his father fret about the financial state of his employer, Vitus enlists his mildly eccentric gramps (Bruno Ganz) in a scheme that only a genius could devise. Hollywood probably would have turned Vitus into a Dennis the Menace with a special gift for the electric guitar and file sharing, but the Swiss march to a decidedly different cadence. The many surprise twists play out at an even pace, and with plenty of room reserved for character development and guesswork on the part of viewers. For once, the actors aren't as insufferably precocious as the geniuses they portray: the 12-year-old Vitus is played by Teo Gheorghiu, a genuine prodigy in his own right, while Fabrizio Borsani is suitably adorable as the 6-year-old Vitus. Sony Classics hopes the same folks who dug Amadeus and Shine will find Vitus, and enjoy it enough to create some buzz around it. I do, too. -- Gary Dretzka
O Lucky Man!: Two-Disc Special Edition Released in 1973 in theaters, and, again, in 1995, on VHS, Lindsay Anderson's brilliant comic spin take on Candide finally has found its way onto DVD, and not a moment too soon. His incendiary put down of British public schools, If …, recently enjoyed a Criterion upgrade. The protagonist of that brutal satire, Mick Travis, also emerged as the eternal optimist in O Lucky Man! Back then, Malcolm McDowell -- whose Alex de Large, in A Clockwork Orange, could have been Mick's twin - simply had to turn his head and stare into the camera to seduce audiences around the world. Here, Mick embarks on a journey through England that tests every reason he has to believe he's living in Voltaire's best of all possible worlds. Mick's encounters with the cruel realities of life are accompanied by an electrified Greek chorus, led by the brilliant former keyboard specialist for the Animals, Alan Price. The savagely cynical ditties not only provide a running commentary on Mick's travels, but they also anticipate how the opiate of unfettered capitalism will imprison even the purest of intentions. Finally, after Mick's180-minute-long roller-coaster ride, Price concludes, If you've found a reason to live on and not to die, you are a lucky man, and, indeed, that's all any of us really need. Look for a young, angelic Helen Mirren as the daughter of the worst man on Earth, played with frightening arrogance by Ralph Richardson. Commentary is provided by McDowell, Price and screenwriter David Sherwin. Featurettes include a career profile on McDowell and a making-of doc. -- Gary Dretzka
No End in Sight Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq Popular Mechanics: The New Technology of War Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later Married in America 2 Pundits have wasted reams of newsprint lately pondering why American audiences have yet to embrace any of the movies that have been made about the war in Iraq, unless, of course, one counts Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Likely, those Americans who pay attention to the war's progress, such as it is, fall into two distinct camps: one, friends and relatives of soldiers and support staff stationed there; and, two, folks who are so pissed off over the arrogance of President Bush and Vice President Cheney that they can't take their eyes off the wreckage. Apparently, members of both groups - and there's considerable overlap -- hardly need a visual reminder of the horrors faced daily by fighters and civilians who fear every new day will be their last. Those Americans who get their news from the tabloids, ET and Hustler magazine believed the President when he declared victory on the aircraft carrier, and can't be bothered. In 1999, though, Three Kings told a terrific story, while also commenting forcefully on the elder Bush's shameful desertion of anti-Saddam forces in the south of Iraq. It may have made a bit of money, too. Nothing that has emerged from the current struggle has blended the same amount of drama, humor, action, heroics and soldierly irreverence in such an attractive package. No matter, the many Iraq-inspired documentaries have done an excellent job explaining what's at stake there for all Americans, but especially for our over-extended all-volunteer army. No End in Sight explains in great detail how it came to be that American and British liberators became the enemy of so many Iraqis, seemingly overnight. Lest one suspect director Charles Ferguson is some bleeding-heart liberal, or a front man for the Democratic Party, know that he was very much in favor of the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, and has served on the boards of various think tanks, taught at elite universities and also is Republican-rich. He's interviewed policy makers, military brass, scholars, intelligence officers, key Iraqi officials and soldiers, in an effort to pinpoint what went sour and when. The answers are frightening. The DVD package adds new interviews and material shot in Iraq. Originally shown on HBO, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq provided a platform for 10 Iraq war veterans to describe their experiences in combat and recount their efforts to recover from lost limbs, blindness, brain damage and post-traumatic stress disorder. The decidedly non-partisan interviews were conducted by James Gandolfini, whose imposing physical stature adds a necessarily non-journalistic texture to the proceedings. The young men and women represented here make real the news reports of roadside explosions, chaotic firefights and other random acts of violence. Among other things, the documentary provides ample evidence of the ability of American doctors to treat wounds that in previous wars would have killed the victims (an unprecedented 90 percent of the wounded survive their injuries, if only barely). Emotional wounds heal at a different pace, however, especially for women combatants, for whom there are few applicable precedents. Just as the medical community has figured out how to save the lives of soldiers whose wounds would have killed them in wars past, scientists and engineers continue to invent weapons that decimate civilians and combatants, alike, with greater efficiency, stealth and ferocity. Popular Mechanics: The New Technology of War examines how GCI animation, robots, smart munitions and unmanned flight vehicles have altered the landscape of war, and communications have improved to the point where soldiers can learn what's behind the next corner from a computer geek several miles away. The documentary is comprised of five parts: ground forces, air power, sea power, counter-terrorism and the future of war. God help the USA, if it ever picks on a nation with the same lethal toys we have at our disposal. The civil-rights struggles in the South didn't hit home for the rest of the country until the saw news footage of black children being blocked from attending a Little Rock school, while being pelted with abuse by a racist mob. Television was still in its infancy as a news-gathering service in 1957, but its presence at such events meant that politicians and voters no longer could plead ignorance to the toxic effects of segregation. For the HBO documentary, Little Rock Central High: 50 Years Later, Brent and Craig Renaud returned to Central High to examine what a half-century of integration has meant for students, faculty and residents of the Arkansas capital. Michael Apted has become relatively famous for the series of documentaries that began in 1964 with Seven Up! and has been updated every seven years since then. Likewise, Married in America 2 updated the same nine soon-to-be-married couples Apted interviewed in 2001. Through the expectations, recollections and opinions of the people introduced by Apted in both series, viewers have been able to measure their own lives against those experienced by peers in the U.S. and Britain. In Married, Apted brought together a group of adults from different religious, racial and social backgrounds, and simply asked them questions about what made them commit to marriage and how they anticipated it to evolve. Such projects represent an exceptional commitment of time, energy and an enthusiasm - on both sides of the camera -- for seeing the work through to one of two finite conclusions: death or divorce. The DVD adds an interview with Apted, casting sessions and a photo gallery. -- Gary Dretzka
Jackie Chan: The Myth Tough to imagine that a Jackie Chan vehicle, even one he didn't direct, would make its U.S. debut on DVD. The dual-period, multi-genre historical adventure was released on a hard-to-find DVD in 2005, and Sony is given this one a decent push (Chan's name is a recent addition to the title). Shot primarily in India, Chan's archaeologist character, Jack, agrees to collaborate with a scientist on a project that would substantiate - or debunk - an ancient myth involving immortality, levitation and a Korean princess-turned-concubine for Emperor Qin. If nothing else, The Myth provided Chan an opportunity to wear splendid Qin Dynasty warrior uniforms and display hybrid martial-arts techniques. As producer, Chan was hoping to land some top Bollywood stars, including the world's most beautiful woman, Aishwarya Rai, but she wasn't available. Nevertheless, the gossip mill ran wild, speculating that the princess role stipulated full-frontal-nudity, which an Indian star of her stature wouldn't do, and, incidentally, wasn't actually required. -- Gary Dretzka
Barbara Stanwyck: The Signature Collection Golden Boy The Jazz Singer: Three-Disc Deluxe Edition Born 100 years ago, last July 16, Barbara Stanwyck (a.k.a. Ruby Stevens) was one of Hollywood's greatest stars. Her movie and television career spanned seven decades, with roles that ranged from fan dancer to matriarch of TV's Colby clan. In between, she developed a reputation for being highly professional, extremely versatile and unusually pleasant for a Hollywood luminary. As for her screen persona, Stanwyck summed it up best when she observed, I'm a tough old broad from Brooklyn. Her response to a question about her four-years-younger fiancé, Robert Taylor, said volumes about her undeniable sexual appeal, The boy's got a lot to learn and I've got a lot to teach. Warner Home Video's centennial collection brings six of films to DVD for the first time: Annie Oakley, East Side, West Side, My Reputation, Executive Suite, Jeopardy and To Please a Lady. There were plenty of impressive names involved here, even if the movies themselves equal those for which Stanwyck won Oscar nominations. They include directors Robert Wise, Mervyn Leroy, George Stevens and John Sturges, and co-stars Frederic March, William Holden, Preston Foster, George Brent, Ava Gardner, James Mason, Van Heflin and Clark Gable. The package also adds vintage shorts, radio interviews and commentary by Oliver Stone. Sony also is also observing the Stanwyck centennial by sending out Golden Boy, in which she finds herself caught between her boxing-manager lover (Adolph Menjou) and an aspiring middle-weight (William Holden, in his first major role) who can't decide if he should seek the crown or play the violin. Anyone familiar with the The Jazz Singer will recognize the dilemma faced by boxer Joe Bonaparte, whose father is vehemently opposed to his pugilism. Knowing that much, you can guess the rest. Still, director Rouben Mamoulian keeps the ball rolling swiftly throughout, and the adaptation of Clifford Odets' play is sound. Holden credited Stanwyck with standing up for him when the producers wanted him replaced. Maybe she just dug his long, curly hair and sweet face, but her intervention made Hollywood a better place. The bonus features include an amusing cartoon parody of Golden Boy; a hilarious short subject, Pleased to Mitt You, co-starring Shemp Howard; a 1930 Screen Snapshots newsreel, in Stanwyck plays golf in heels; a rarely seen Ford Television Theater episode, from 1956, in which Stanwyck plays a sheriff's wife; and other entertaining material from the Columbia Pictures archives. The Jazz Singer is the movie historians have generously credited with being the first talkie. Vitaphone-Sound-on-Disc was the system used to amplify the half-dozen musical numbers and snippets of dialogue -- Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain't heard nothin' yet! - that would forever grant Warner Bros. bragging rights for revolutionizing the movie industry. Adapted from a play by Samson Raphaelson, Alan Crosland's overwrought melodrama pits an aspiring pop singer (clearly, not jazz) against his deeply religious father, who is outraged when his son elects not to follow in his footsteps as a cantor. Released in 1927, Al Jolson had yet to learn that adding sound to the mix diminishes the need to exaggerate facial expressions and gestures. But, hey, small potatoes, right? The Jazz Singer has gained notoriety, as well, for Jolson's performances in blackface, which, by anyone's standards, remain shocking in their pointlessness. One might also wince at the effrontery of introducing the pejorative term, shiksa, to the young medium's vernacular. That said, bulk of the material in the three-disc Deluxe Edition is spectacular. In addition to a handsome digital transfer and nearly spotless soundtrack, the bonus material overflows with fascinating archival material featuring Jolson and other stars; vintage short subjects, including a1926 Vitaphone sampler, A Plantation Act, in which Jolson donned blackface to mimic an actual slave; a new feature-length documentary, The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk; a funny cartoon parody; a pair of rarely seen Technicolor excerpts from the 1929 Gold Diggers of Broadway; footage from various anniversary testimonials; and more than three hours of historic vaudeville performances captured on Vitaphone. I couldn't take my eyes off them. - Gary Dretzka
The Jack Nicholson Collection: Chinatown / The Two Jakes While Jack Nicholson deserves a great deal of credit for putting both of these movies on the cinematic map, Chinatown and the much-troubled Two Jakes were the creations of Robert Towne. The now-legendary screenwriter and script doctor had originally planned a trilogy of movies, each set 11 years apart, describing the immeasurable harm done to Los Angeles by greedy developers, oil tycoons, automakers and politicians. His and Roman Polanski's masterpiece, Chinatown, was set in pre-war Los Angeles and focused on water rights. The Two Jakes (1990) put the emphasis on oil and natural gas. If it had been made, Cloverleaf would have examined the shady dealings that led to Los Angeles becoming the most automobile-friendly and smoggy city in the country. By now, anyone with a VCR and Internet access knows the story of Chinatown. For those who don't, the features in Paramount's new Special Edition will get them up to speed. The Two Jakes returns to the Valley 11 years later, when oil interests are clashing with construction interests. Jake Gittes has been hired by developer Jake Berman (Harvey Keitel) to investigate the fidelity of his wife (Meg Tilly). One thing leads to another, and … well, Gittes is up to his ears in noir-tinged trouble. It pays to watch this installment carefully, and remember the twists in Chinatown. The Two Jakes got a bad rap because of problems encountered in the early stages of production. Nicholson did a fine job, both as the movie's star and as its director to see that it got made. - Gary Dretzka
Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who The Who has followed a far more interesting career arc than almost any other group in the history of rock-'n'-roll. After starting out as the house band for Britain's burgeoning '60s Mod scene (The Kids Are Alright, My Generation), they would soon add a volcanic element to performances by destroying their equipment on stage, like a bunch of spoiled kids. The band's lyrics would evolve into something more socially and politically informed (Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again). They would go on to create rock operas and try their hands at Hollywood and Broadway. Two of the original members died of causes related, more or less, to longterm substance abuse. Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who and Amazing Journey: Six Quick Ones describes the group's musical journey through interviews, testimonials, concert footage and other archival material. - Gary Dretzka