MCN DVD Reviews: October 1, 2008

*The Wrap Up ...*

Iron Man Two Disc Special Collectors Edition	When the casting decisions for Iron Man were announced, it was extremely difficult to picture Robert Downey Jr. playing a real man of steel. Slight of build and shorter than most of the actors associated with comic-book and action heroes, Downey had dispensed with most of the baggage he was forced to carry after his bouts with addiction. Still, the thought of having to watch him fight evil in a heavy-metal uniform would seem to have required far too much of a suspension of disbelief, even among those of us who greatly admire his work. Fortunately for everyone involved, however, Downey wore the suit of armor as if it were made of tin foil, while the humor written into the screenplay lightened his load even more. In DVD, Iron Man plays very much like a live-action comic-book for people who aren't particularly fond of such amusements. It helps greatly, as well, that at-home adult viewers can modulate the thunderous soundtrack with the touch of a button on the remote control and turn it back up to hear the chit-chat between robot and the disembodied voice of his computer. The picture looks pretty swell in Blu-ray, too. Part of the fun comes from watching Jeff Bridges play a Daddy Warbucks-like arms mogul and an auburn-haired Gwyneth Paltrow as Tony Stark's aide-de-camp. The two-disc set comes with 15 featurettes, 11 additional scenes, screen tests and a stills gallery. -- Gary Dretzka

The Godfater: The Coppola Restoration Earrings of Madame de ..	The last time I looked, my video library included editions of the Godfather trilogy in Beta, VHS, DVD and, now, Blu-ray (I haven't checked my laserdisc pile in years). The installments are available to me in individual packages and collections of all three, in both chronological and linear order, and in a few different gift editions. Each new variation on the previous version brings with it the promise of an extensive audio and video restoration, employing the latest technology, as well as spanking new commentaries and featurettes. Here, the new material includes a featurette about the splendid frame-by-frame restoration (after a while, docs about restoring movies become self-perpetuating bonus features); new commentary and interviews; and a look at the trilogy's impact on popular culture. It all adds up to four hours of extras. As the Blu-ray format progresses, I wouldn't be surprised to see another Godfather gift set, only, this time, with all manner of pop-up information and trivia; the video game; and Easter eggs. The good news in the Coppola Restoration edition arrives in the most obvious and valuable way possible: splendid audio and visual assets. Similarly loving attention has been paid to Max Ophuls' 1954 masterpiece, Earrings of Madame de ..., by the folks at Criterion Collection. In it, Danielle Darrieux plays the spendthrift wife of a wealthy Austrian general. To cover her debts, the comtesse sells an expensive pair of diamond earrings -- a wedding gift from her husband - to the same jeweler who put the jewelry on sale. Tipped to his wife's deceit, the General buys them back from the jeweler, so he can give them to his mistress, who's on her way to Istanbul. The earrings continue to change hands, slowly making their way back to Vienna, where reputations are tainted and lessons are learned. Buffs are encouraged to study the dexterity with which Ophuls choreographs his camera movements and how much more of Louise de Vilmorin's fin de siecle novella is revealed because of it. The usual bounty of scholarly commentary and essays, interviews and featurettes arrive with the package, as does a copy of the original story.-- Gary Dretzka
Speed Racer	Throughout the Wachowski brothers' supercharged action-fantasy, Speed Racer, my mind drifted back to such born-to-race flicks as Cars, Death Race 2000, Mad Max, Le Mans, Viva Las Vegas and Ben-Hur. Upon reflection, though, I could see that the greatest debt was owed to Disney's early experiment in computer-based filmmaking, TRON, in which a computer-code hacker became trapped within the digital architecture of a video game and was required to race his way to freedom. In the anime-inspired Speed Racer, like Jeff Bridge in TRON, Emile Hirsch appears to have been born into a world in which the borders separating the human and cyber universes have been erased. Like his brother and father before him, Speed Racer (yes, that's his name) won't be satisfied until he reaches the highest circle of the racing pantheon. Since his brother's mysterious crash, the circuit's winning circles have been dominated by racers recruited by a conglomerate with other things on its agenda than trophies. Speed is invited to drive for the company, but doesn't want to upset his car-designer father (John Goodman) or sully the memory of his brother, whose death remains a mystery. The storyline grows increasingly complicated as the big race approaches, but the real attraction here is the Wachowskis' depiction of breakneck racing action. The age-old battle between good and evil culminates in a harrowing competition reminiscent of the deadly chariot race in Ben-Hur. Even if the outcome is never in doubt, I found Speed Racer to be an enjoyable way to kill time. Between races, grown-ups can enjoy the wonderfully bright, colorful and imaginative set designs, which are best experienced in Blu-ray. If younger viewers lose their patience with the many expository elements, they should be reminded of the upcoming scenes with chimps and kung-fu fighting. The bonus features are extremely informative and completely accessible to younger audiences.-- Gary Dretzka

88 Minutes Deception	Whenever TV commercials and print ads promise audiences that what transpires in a high-profile thriller will play out in real time, it would behoove the producers of said movie to keep a stop watch handy on set, location and in the editing room. Joel Schumacher made the gimmick work in the 81-minute Phone Booth, if only because such cubicles tend to be claustrophobic, anyway, and the smaller number of camera placements limit the movement of the actors. The tension rose with every succeeding tick-tock of the clock. By contrast, 88 Minutes defied credulity by having Al Pacino's forensic psychiatrist bounce around Seattle (Vancouver, actually) for what feels like a full afternoon, not the promised 88 minutes. It's almost as if Pacino's movements were being timed by a different stopwatch than the one being used by everyone else in the film. Likewise, the ground rules that control the mobility of average citizens of Seattle didn't apply to the characters in the movie. When, for example, Pacino hops into a cab and gives the driver a hundred-dollar bill for the use of his vehicle for the afternoon, it begs the questions: 1) Is it really that easy to find a cab in downtown Seattle?, and 2) Would $100 cover an hour's worth of driving and waiting, let alone 88 minutes? Real-time thrillers shouldn't allow audiences any wiggle room to ponder questions like these. But, for most of the last 100 years, Hollywood filmmakers have operated on the premise that they're allowed to make up the rules as they go along and manipulate time like Salvador Dali. Any fan of network crime shows will recognize the basic framework of 88 Minutes. Mere hours before a murderous fiend is scheduled to be executed, a series of murders that mimic the murderer's MO begin to occur. The killer doesn't want to die before he exacts revenge on his chief accuser, and his devotees on the outside will commit copycat crimes using the unpublished clues he provides. Typically, the victims are hot babes in mini-skirts, at least one of whom is related to the protagonist. Pacino's character learns he has 88 minutes to solve the killings - and save his own butt - while delivering a lecture at a local college. By this time, the movie's already 20 minutes old, so those of us who expected an 88-minute running time now were required to rewind our mental clocks. This narrative shortcut, so early in the game, gave audiences permission to question everything that followed, as well. If a viewer can get past those obstacles, however, it's possible to salvage something of value from the experience. 88 Minutes certainly benefits from an appealing cast of good-looking actors -- Neal McDonough, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Benjamin McKenzie, Deborah Kara Unger - and another one of Pacino's trademark over-the-top performances, complete with another weird hairdo. As is often the case, the critically trashed 88 Minutes will appeal more to DVD renters than theater-goers, who want something more for their $20 than a movie that raises more questions than it answers. Appropriately enough, the extras include an alternate ending, which took about five minutes to reveal 10 seconds of new material. Deception made the same shallow impression on critics as did 88 Minutes, if for entirely different reasons. Commercial director Marcel Langenegger's debut feature is as stylish as it can possibly be, populated by extremely well dressed human mannequins and shot in bars where the cocktails cost more than many investment banks are worth, these days. Set among the Big Apple's post-yuppie fast-money crowd, Deception has as its central conceit an anonymous sex ring, The List, whose members are too busy for introductions and chit-chats, but desperately in need of sexually healing. The one bad apple in the barrel is a brutally handsome conman, Wyatt (Hugh Jackman), who manipulates vulnerable lovers into using their company's computers to commit fraud. Among his unsuspecting recruits is a mousey tax auditor, Jonathan (Ewan McGregor), who can't believe his good luck after being set up on his first no-names-please date. Jonathan is reluctant to help out Wyatt when he asks him to move funds from an under-the-counter slush fund to a bank in Spain. He only agrees to participate after Wyatt threatens to harm the stunningly beautiful woman (Michelle Williams) he's been seeing. Although much of what transpires from this point onward is mildly surprising, any fan of the genre will see the twists coming from a mile away. How Langenegger got Natasha Henstridge and Charlotte Rampling to make cameo appearances as List members is anyone's guess. They're presence was welcome, however. One of the DVD's featurettes goes to great lengths to convince viewers that horny business executives actually do such things as meet strangers in hotel rooms for the purpose of exchanging bodily fluids. As usual, rich people have all the luck. -- Gary Dretzka

The Love Guru	When Razzies are handed out next February, it's a dead certainty that Mike Myers and The Love Guru will walk away with the lion's share of awards. Out of date by 30 years, at least, the sophomoric comedy couldn't hold a candle to any of the Austin Powers movies and even Myers' fans could smell it coming. It's been that long since followers of the Maharaj Ji made the 13-year-old guru a multimillionaire and 40 since the Beatles studied at the feet of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Myers plays Guru Pitka, whose spiritual advice to the lovelorn has made him Deepak Chopra's leading rival as holy man to the stars. Being Canadian, Myers coordinates much of the film's activity in and around a hockey rink, of which Los Angeles has two, at least. In exchange for a potentially lucrative guest spot on Oprah, Pitka is ask In return for helping repair a rift between a star hockey player (Romany Marco) and his wife (Meagan Good) - who's run off with an abundantly hung rival player (Justin Timberlake) - the local team's owner (Jessica Alba) has promised Pitka a guest spot on Oprah. Naturally, The Love Guru overflows with cheap puns, scatological humor, genitalia jokes and slapshticky sight gags. For every gag that works - and there are many that do -- there are a dozen that are tortuously unfunny. On the plus side, Alba is remarkably easy on the eyes and the appearance of a dozen big-name actors in cameo roles keeps things interesting for a while, anyway. Among them is Mariska Hargitay, whose name has a mystical hold on Pitka's followers. The DVD extras include a generous number of bloopers, deleted scenes, making-of featurettes and commentary. (Anyone looking for a really good comedy, in which a non-Asian actor looks and talks very much like an Indian, should rent Blake Edwards' The Party. Even after 40 years, Peter Sellers is hilarious.) -- Gary Dretzka

Leatherheads	After directing a pair of excellent dramas, George Clooney tried his hand at a period romantic comedy, with decidedly mixed results. Leatherheads is something of a one-trick pony, in that more attention was paid to the vintage costumes and realistic depiction of sporting events than on the story. Basically, Leatherheads is a depiction of the clash between old-school brawlers and new-school jocks that would lead to the formation of the NFL as we know it. Before that transpired, however, much fun is had watching out-of-shape lugs flop around in the mud and breaking curfew in speakeasies. George Clooney, Renée Zellweger and John Krasinski comprise the three points of a love triangle, threatened by reports of a star player's phony heroics during World War I. Despite this narrative hook, the story is no more substantial than the Marx Brothers' Horse Feathers or the Three Stooges' Three Little Pigskins. Given the talent involved, it's legitimate to ask if studio brass fumbled the ball by releasing Leatherheads in time for Opening Day of the baseball season, instead of closer to Labor Day or Thanksgiving. The movie didn't bomb, exactly, but it certainly underperformed at the box office. Better than the film itself are the making-of features, which describe how the filmmakers captured the period feel and used CGI backdrops to fill stadiums and build facades. There's also a brief history of professional football. -- Gary Dretzka



OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies It would be misleading to call OSS 117 an Austin Powers for smart people, or those who prefer vintage French wine to the rotgut sold by the carton to college students. Still, comparisons to the International Man of Mystery, Maxwell Smart, Inspector Clouseau and Top Secret! are inevitable. As suave and debonair as 007, and as chauvinistic as Charles De Gaulle, secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath is an international incident waiting to happen. In fact, while undercover in Cairo, OSS 117 mistakes a muezzin's call to prayer as the ravings of a drunk, and takes out the mosque's minaret so he can go back to sleep. Local fundamentalists aren't pleased, of course. To his credit, though, he can kill an enemy agent from 50 feet, using only a chicken, and change the currents of history with a roll in the hay. Americans are excused from knowing much about De La Bath, as Jean Bruce's 265 novels and previous, less comedic film adaptations of the OSS 117 series, were overshadowed by the popularity of Ian Fleming's 007 (introduced four years after De La Bath). Here, OSS 117 is called to Egypt to investigate the disappearance of a friend and fellow agent - disguised as a poultry mogul -- and maintain security along the Suez Canal. Nest of Spies is set against the backdrop of the abdication of King Farouk and rise in Arab nationalism in the mid-'50s, so the film actually has a tangential relationship to the current madness. More than anything else, though, its wacky dialogue and cheesy '50s backdrops are great fun to watch. -- Gary Dretzka

Chapter 27 When we recall the life and legacy of John Lennon, the last thing most of us want to do is spend more than a few seconds contemplating the motives and mental state of his assassin, Mark David Chapman. It's enough to know that this tortured young man undoubtedly pulled the trigger; was sent to a real prison, not a hospital; and the NRA fully supported his right to bear arms. Knowing that his great crime might have been inspired by something he read in The Catcher in the Rye was, and remains, as beside the point as learning that David Berkowitz was directed to kill young couples by a dog named Sam; John Hinckley Jr. wanted to impress Jodie Foster; Lynette Squeaky Fromme sought to free Charlie Manson; Arthur Bremer shot George Wallace only after Richard Nixon proved too elusive; and Sara Jane Moore was an SLA wanna-be. Maybe the Secret Service and FBI were able to discern something valuable from their after-the-fact interrogations of the shooters, but, Chapter 27 - a title that suggests the movie is a postscript to Salinger's novel - is more of a character study than a treatise on murder as a cheap alternative to psychiatry. To this end, though, Jared Leto reportedly went on a melted ice cream diet to gain 50 pounds, so he could more closely resemble the killer. He's very good, but it's difficult to imagine any occasion for which Chapter 27 would be the perfect movie. -- Gary Dretzka

Run Fatboy Run David Schwimmer directed this slight romantic comedy, which will be familiar to anyone interested in British rom-coms. The basic set-up requires that some poor schlub lose the love of his life for no good reason, then, when she finds a man capable of fulfilling her dreams, insinuate himself back into her life. Along the way, he also must discover some terrible character flaw in his new rival, and convince his former lover that she (and, more often than not, her cutesy-poo toddler) would be better off with him, after all. It's fairytale nonsense, of course, but one that endures through extreme wishful thinking. Here, popular Brit actor Simon Pegg plays a commitment-phobic slacker who abandons his pregnant fiancée (Thandie Newton) on the same afternoon they're scheduled to be married. Five years later, Pegg's character is in worse shape than he was during the period before the aborted wedding and his former flame is about to marry a suave American financier (Hank Azaria). As unlikely as it would have been for such a doofus to convince a total babe like Newton to marry him is the sporting event he chooses to demonstrate his new resolve. He hopes to re-win her heart by competing against Azaria in a marathon, and, against all odds, actually finishing something he set out to accomplish. You can guess the rest. Less discriminating fans of the rom-com genre probably will enjoy Run Fatboy Run, as it offers a couple of hours of harmless fun and a happy ending visible from outside the multiplex. . Otherwise, it's another case of been-there, done-it. -- Gary Dretzka

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 5 Sony's Martini Movies Fox caps its terrific Charlie Chan series with seven of titles that took Sidney Toler's incarnation of the detective hither and yon in pursuit of evil-doers: Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum, Murder Over New York, Dead Men Tell, Charlie Chan in Rio, Charlie Chan in Panama, Murder Cruise and Castle in the Desert. In addition to being highly entertaining, the films demonstrated an awareness of the storms heading our way from Japan and Europe. Indeed, by the end of Charlie Chan in Rio, No. 2 Son Jimmy Chan will have received his draft notice. I'm not sure what criteria Sony used to differentiate titles in its new Martini Movie series from other catalogue releases. They all involve some sort of crime, but, otherwise, are unrelated by release dates, casts or genre. Their arrival in the DVD marketplace, though, comes as good news to collectors. In Richard Brooks' underappreciated caper, Dollars, Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn endeavor to fleece well-heeled drug dealers, racketeers, gamblers and other criminals out of their hidden nest eggs. The Garment Jungle pits union organizers and union busters. In Affair in Trinidad, Rita Hayworth exacts revenge from the spies who murdered her husband. Sean Connery and Dyan Cannon star in Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes, one of the first films to address the rising tide of video-surveillance technology. Based on one of Joseph Wambaugh's first novels, The New Centurions set the standard for a decade's worth of police-procedurals and realistic portrayals of cops in film and on television, warts and all.-- Gary Dretzka

Finding Amanda Considering how many people in Hollywood have logged time in various rehab centers and 12-step programs, it's astonishing how many liberties filmmakers still are allowed to take when portraying people with addiction problems. In Finding Amanda, Taylor Peters (Matthew Broderick) is a television writer whose career has been put into jeopardy by excessive gambling and a craving for all the usual social intoxicants. When he's asked by his wife (Maura Tierney) to rescue their 20-year-old niece, Amanda (Brittany Snow), from a life of shame and debauchery in Las Vegas, he readily agrees to scour the casinos for the pretty young blond. He hopes to convince her to enter a treatment center in Malibu, which is exactly where he should have been sent, instead of Sin City (talk about enabling). Although Peters vows not to revert to bad habits, Las Vegas proves too great a test for his attempts at sobriety. Neither has Amanda reached a point in her life where she'll willingly forgo the pleasures of life in the fast lane, so they actually become fast friends. Before long, however, both have surrendered to their addictions, and the story turns into a contest to determine who will hit rock bottom first. Apparently, TV veteran Peter Tolan couldn't decide whether to emphasize the comedic elements of his theatrical debut or the dramatic aspects. To its determent, Tolken chose to straddle the middle ground. Finding Miranda is being marketed as an edgy comedy, even if there's not a lot of humor to be found in it. The movie's publicists probably felt audiences would associate Broderick and Snow with lighter fare and more readily buy a ticket for a comedy. (Nearly 30 years after Arthur, the antics of movie drunks are far less amusing.) A true pro, Broderick makes the most of his conflicted character. The normally bright and peppy Snow makes a credible Vegas prostitute - pretty in a plain sort of way - and she's accorded most of the surprise moments in Finding Amanda. -- Gary Dretzka

Kabluey Comedies, even those of the indie persuasion, don't get much more offbeat and quirky than Kabluey. Lisa Kudrow, a far more interesting actor since her tenure in Friends, plays Leslie, a disgruntled army wife on the brink of a nervous breakdown, accelerated by her anarchic children and lack of a sex life. She reluctantly accepts the assistance of her brother-in-law, Salman (Scott Prendergast), a well-intentioned slacker who becomes an easy target for the kids' sadistic pranks. Beaten down and penniless, Salman takes a part-time job as a large, blue mascot for a bankrupt company. The faceless character is assigned to hand out fliers on a the edge of a remote corn field, where his only takers are an odd assortment of passing motorists. Until Salman discovers that Leslie's harboring a potentially dangerous secret, she treats him as if he were an absent-minded teenage nanny, entitled only to the basic necessities of life and a steady diet of verbal abuse. The job gave Salman a release from the agony back home, while the anonymity of the costume allowed him to open up to people with whom he normally would have trouble conversing. Salman's return to normalcy provided a catalyst for change among those who revolved in the same orbit. The invisible spectre of Leslie's soldier husband is palpable throughout the film, but never more so than when her home life stabilizes. None of the family members know who or what to expect when the man returns home from the war, making Kabluey as much a statement about the affect of the war on the home front as it is an edgy domestic comedy. None of Leslie's troubles would have occurred if her husband hadn't been required to remain in Iraq for an unconscionably long time. But, then, Salman might not have been given an opportunity to climb out of his shell and gain his own independence. Kabluey may be a small movie, but it's one that resonates long after the closing credits roll. -- Gary Dretzka

Snow Angels Just as such icy dramas as The Ice Storm, The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction were able to re-create the oppressiveness of winter in rural New England and Canada, David Gordon Green's similarly chilly Snow Angels asks us to find a glow of warmth in characters whose pilot lights were snuffed out long before we meet them. Although the novel from which Snow Angels was adapted was set in Pennsylvania, around Halloween, the movie actually was shot in Nova Scotia in the wake of a recent snow storm. It effectively describes how bad timing and worse luck can push men and women, sons and daughters, into an abyss of madness and despair. In one way or another, the troubles of six estranged spouses impact nearly everyone else in the community. In other movies, the budding of one teenage romance among such emotional chaos might have been cause for optimism. Here, it merely foreshadows more problems to come. Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell are pitch-perfect as the recently divorced parents of a beautiful young daughter trapped in the middle of a firestorm. The ex-wife is having an affair with the husband of a co-worker, while her former husband searches for Jesus in a bottle. Meanwhile, the young lovers are trapped in the choppy wake of the nasty separation between his philandering father and desperately unhappy mom. If this sounds far too heartbreaking for words, be assured that it is. Still, anyone who made it through The Ice Storm, The Sweet Hereafter and Affliction shouldn't have any problem finding something remarkable in Snow Angels. Certainly, Rockwell and Beckinsale's performances would be worthy of Oscar buzz, if it weren't for the fact that academy members routinely ignore such low-budget indies. There are no bonus features worth noting. -- Gary Dretzka

Noise Unless you've lived in a heavily populated neighborhood in a large city in the last 20 years, you might not be able to appreciate fully the demented humor that's at the core of Henry Bean's Noise. In it, Tim Robbins' David Owen is a lawyer who is driven to vigilantism by the grinding cacophony of car alarms, garbage trucks, motorcycles and burglar alarms, especially at night. While there are laws enacted to control the noise, they're rarely enforced. Frustrated by official indifference, Owen assumes the identity of the Rectifier. Like Howard Beale, in Network, the Rectifier embarks on a quixotic crusade that is as obsessive as it is popular with the public. Robbins is convincing as an urban Bufford Pusser, and William Hurt created a delightfully unctuous mayor of New York. Noise might not be in the same league as Network and Falling Down, but, as fairy tales go, it isn't bad. -- Gary Dretzka

Bashing The Bill Douglas Trilogy In the exceedingly sad and truly bizarre Japanese drama, Bashing, writer-director Masahiro Kobayashi describes how a young aid worker was treated by her family, friends, co-workers and complete strangers after returning home from a harrowing ordeal in Iraq. Instead of being welcomed home, the newly released hostage, Yuko, is ostracized for having gone to Iraq in the first place. The details of the kidnapping are kept sketchy throughout the fact-based movie, so it's difficult for non-Japanese audiences to get a handle on why exactly Yuko's being shunned. We assume it's just another goofy national quirk - like oddly translated slogans on t-shirts, Hello Kitty accessories and the Matthew's BestHitTV show -- but can people be that cruel to an innocent victim of the war? According to one review of Bashing I read in an English-language Japanese newspaper, such ritual shunning is not at all unusual, although it tends to occur out of sight of western eyes. By the time we're introduced to Yuko and her family, the hazing has already begun in earnest. They're being deluged with insulting phone calls; fellow workers have begun asking their superiors not to assign work in their presence; hoodlums pester Yuko when she goes to the local convenience store; and she's ditched by her boyfriend. By way of explanation, the family members basically are told that her kidnapping was Yuko's own fault -- punishment for helping Iraqi children, instead of Japanese kids - and the parents were guilty of raising a child who would have wanted to leave the country. Fusako Urabe delivers a stunning portrayal of Yuko, who desperately wants to return to Iraq, where the children appreciate her help and welcome her with smiles. Scottish auteur Bill Douglas made the kinds of films that American comedians loved to parody in the '60s. Intensely personal, his films described life in a small coal-mining town, during and immediately after World War II. Douglas' alter ego is Jamie, a seriously withdrawn boy who wouldn't have been out of place in a novel by Charles Dickens. In the trilogy, we follow Jamie's progress from his tragic early boyhood to a fortuitous encounter with an outgoing and well educated fellow serviceman, in Egypt. Douglas' camera lingers on the empty horizons and craggy faces of local residents, many of whom were integrated into the professional cast. Beyond the occasional beating and booze-inspired prank, there's very little action in the trilogy, and entire conversations are conducted in monosyllabic words, slurred phrases and the occasional grunt. And, yet, given time, a definitive portrait of the artist-to-be emerges from sparse ingredients. A biographical featurette on Douglas's evolution from street urchin to teacher, actor and filmmaker is nearly as interesting as the trilogy, itself. Also from Facets comes Santuri: The Music Man, a contemporary Iranian drama about musician whose romance with heroin and his traditional stringed instrument, the santoor, crumbles when authorities forbid him to play in public. According to the publicity material, director Dariush Mehrjui has the distinction of being censored by both the Shah of Iran and the current Islamic regime. Janoz Szasz' pre-WWII period drama, The Witman Boys, follows a pair of disaffected Hungarian brothers on a troubled journey to adulthood. -- Gary Dretzka

My Three Sons: The First Season, Vol. 1 Lewis Black's Root of All Evil Edward the King Trial and Retribution Set 1 Like Ozzie & Harriet, The Donna Reed Show and Leave I to Beaver, the beloved sitcom My Three Sons began its 12-year television run at a time when the words dysfunctional and family were rarely, if ever paired in the same sentence. Typically, nothing more dire than a bent putter, flat tire or inappropriate birthday gift would come between mom, dad and the kiddies, but, at the dawn of the '60s, those things were sufficient cause for hysteria in suburbia. Fred MacMurray, as likeable a dad as television has ever produced, played the widowed father of a trio of boys who made Ricky Nelson look like Jerry Lee Lewis. Despite the relative calm, the writers were able to find amusing ways to keep the story rolling, even as the country was becoming unglued. After the show migrated from ABC to CBS - ostensibly because ABC wouldn't cough up the dough for color - My Three Sons renewed itself by adding various girlfriends, wives, jobs, friends and family members. It's difficult to imagine any contemporary sitcom profiting from such constant re-invention and cast changes. The biggest drawback with this long-awaited set can be found in the title: The First Season, Vol. 1. Sadly, this means that full seasons will be sent out piecemeal, adding to the overall price tag for collectors. Fans have also complained about fundamental changes made to the shows, including missing music, grainy transfers and clumsy editing. Depending upon which side of the political aisle one sits, Lewis Black is either an uproariously funny and wickedly perceptive commentator, or a foul-mouthed menace to society. Personally, I think he makes more sense than any candidate for the presidency in 30 years. He's also one of the crankiest and most abrasive comedians on Earth. His Comedy Channel series, Root of All Evil, provided a forum for comedians to debate the relative wickedness of such institutions as Wall Street, Strip Clubs, Sororities, Las Vegas, YouTube, Paris Hilton and The Hills, with Black delivering the ultimate verdict. He's joined by such comics as Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo and Andrew Daly. The best part is not having to put up with all the bleeps inserted by Comedy Channel. The 1979 British mini-series, Edward the King, profiled the son of Queen Victoria who waited nearly 60 years to become king, but only ruled for 9. Instead of electing to ride out his remaining years as a figurehead monarch, the playboy prince decided he would represent the crown as a diplomat and statesman. Not everyone was comfortable with his decision, thus the need for 13 segments. The cast included Timothy West, Annette Crosbie, Robert Hardy, John Gielgud, Felicity Kendal, Charles Dance, and Francesca Annis. The DVD set adds commentaries for selected episodes, episode introductions, a pair of featurettes and a photo gallery. The same woman who created Prime Suspect also was responsible for Trial & Retribution, a series that followed cases from the commission of a crime to the delivery of a verdict, with special attention paid to the emotional impact on survivors and investigators. The series starred David Hayman and Kate Buffery, and featured guest appearances by Simon Callow, Richard E. Grant, Rhys Ifans, James Wilby, Helen McCrory, Iain Glen, Hugh Dancy, and Corin Redgrave. The bonus features include an interview with creator Lynda La Plante. Among the other new TV-to-DVD packages are My Name is Earl: Season Three, NUMB3RS: The Complete Fourth Season, Beauty and the Beast: The Complete Series and Masters of Horror: The Complete First Season. -- Gary Dretzka

Dirty Sexy Money: Season One Cashmere Mafia: The Complete Series Chuck: The Complete First Season Samantha Who?: The Complete First Season Private Practice: The Complete First Season This American Life: Season 1 Gangland: The Complete Season One Ax Men: Season 1 Friday the 13th: The Series: The First Season The continuity normally necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff on television was interrupted last season by the ridiculously long Writers Guild strike. Some shows survived the forced break, while others got lost in the shuffle. Only a few of the replacement shows proved popular enough to be brought back for another stanza, but, oddly enough, they'll continue to haunt the TV-to-DVD marketplace forever. Of the two replacement rich-bitch fests, The Cashmere Mafia and Lipstick Mafia, the survivor naturally was the show that delivered the hottest MILF and cougar action. The survivor was NBC's Lipstick Jungle, which, in addition, to some terrific clothes and much PG-13 sexuality was larded with an ungodly number of product-placement opportunities. Cashmere Mafia, which focused more on cutthroat business practices and power-lunching, failed to make the cut. Here it is, however, in glorious DVD. NBC's geek-spy series Chuck survived the strike by the skin of its quirky characters' gleaming white teeth. The intricacy of its storyline and the producers' many artistic conceits were far too fragile to be picked up after such a long break. The network had faith in the concept, however, and renewed the show without much hesitation. Newcomers and those who might need a refresher course can get up to date with the Chuck DVD package. It was pretty much a lock that ABC would renew the Christina Applegate-as-amnesia-victim sitcom, Samantha Who? Popular from Week One, the series was both smart and funny. Even though the furiously hyped Grey's Anatomy spin-off Private Practice didn't explode as expected, it, too, was given a second chance. Cable series weren't required to weather the storm, primarily because so many are reality based and theoretically aren't scripted. Ira Glass' provocative study of non-typical Americans, This American Life, successfully made the transition from public radio to Showtime. Each week, Glass would deliver a striking visual essay on an aspect of American life not normally covered by mainstream news operations and introduce viewers to people they wouldn't meet, otherwise. A&E's Gangland took an even-handed approach to its documentation of life among America's growing number of street gangs and how they became so powerful. The History Channel's Ax Men provided an intimate look at how the descendants of Paul Bunyan have adapted their rugged lifestyle and extremely dangerous profession to the realities of 21st Century life. Friday the 13th: The Series is an unfortunately titled suspense-mystery series from Canada that has nothing to do with a certain fiend named Jason, but is thrilling enough to satisfy most fans of the horror genre. Each chapter required a small group of Indiana Jones types to track down and retrieve cursed objects. Also new to the TV-to-DVD marketplace are Duckman: Seasons One & Two, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Season 3, Criminal Minds: The Complete Third Season, Boston Legal: Season Four, CSI: NY: The Fourth Season, The Red Green Show: 2000 Season, Star Trek: Alternate Realities, Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Definitive Collection, Horatio Hornblower: Collector's Edition and Robin Williams: Inside Actors Studio. -- Gary Dretzka