DVD reviews

The latest addition to our DVD reviewers is Max Jordan. He is 8 years old and loves movies. We value his opinion. Here are some of them.

Pixies - loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies (MVDVisual). 5 ribs-though does leave a bad taste in the mouth.
“I don’t even feel like we broke up.” Charles Thompson aka Frank Black aka Black Francis says about the Pixies on this documentary about the band. When the Pixies broke up in 1992 due to serious tension between Thompson and Kim Deal, their fans were dismayed. When they reunited in 2004, those same fans and many more answered back in a big way, which is encapsulated in the DVD. loudQUIETloud follows the rehearsals and the warm up shows for the full-fledged, sold out reunion tour. It also catalogs the less glamorous side of the touring band lifestyle, getting as close to this enigmatic act as anyone is ever likely to get. Song Titles include: Where Is My Mind?, Hey, Here Comes Your Man, Umass, Caribou, Gouge Away, Nimrod's Son, In Heaven, Wave Of Mutilation, Something Against You, Bone Machine, Cactus, Vamos, Monkey Gone To Heaven and Iris. The Dvd shows all the ugliness between the members, though answers many questions and is a must have for fans. Will Jordan

Sublime - Tribute: Look At All The Love We Found Live (MVDVisual). 5 ribs-tasty.
There’s nothing like the real thing, but they came close with this one. On the evening of October 24 2005, The Music Box at Fonda Theater played host to “Look At All the Love We Found: A Tribute to Sublime,” a benefit concert to honor and celebrate the legacy of the 90s’ surf rock band as well as raise funds for those in need. It was a huge turnout as artists like Los Lobos, Unwritten Law, Ozomatli, Blackalicious, Fishbone & The Ziggens coming together on one stage to pay homage to one of the greatest groups of all time. Also included is a bonus audio CD contains never before heard covers of Sublime hits such as: Dr. Israel “Had a Dat” and The Banned feat. Chuck D. on “Ebin.” Go get this. Will Jordan

Bad Brains - Live at CBGB 1982 (MVDVisual). 5 ribs-vintage flavor.
Take a mash down memory lane with this rare footage taken at a Bad Brains gig at CBGB in 1982. On Christmas Eve 1982, Bad Brains began their three-day stint at a Hardcore Festival hosted by legendary CBGB. This DVD represents the very best of these shows, culled from over four hours of footage. The shots of the crowd are nearly as fun to watch as the shots of the band—mohawks, mashpits, dreads, sweat and leather.
Song Titles include: Big Take Over, Attitude, I, I and I Rasta, Supertouch/Shitfit, King of Glory w/ Dave Hahn, Right Brigade, F.V.K., Supertouch, Banned in DC, How Low Can a Punk Get, The Meek Shall Inherit, Riot Squad, F.V.K., We Will Not, Big Take Over, Coptic Times, I, At The Movies, Right Brigade, Rally Round Jah's Throne, Redbone in the City, Riot Squad, Pay to Cum. Will Jordan

What We Want, What We Believe: Black Panther Party Library (AK Press). 4 ribs-heavy sauce.
For the first time on DVD, three acclaimed Newsreel Films on the Black Panther Party: Off the Pig; Mayday; and Repression. These propaganda materials are crucial to understanding the Black Panther Party and their legacy and are incredible to see. The DVD features three films on the Black Panther Party and additional footage on their history and legacy. Disc One: Three Newsreel Films, Interviews with Field Marshall Donald Cox, Footage from 35th Anniversary Reunion. Disc Two: Interviews with Former FBI Agents, Footage from the Wheelock Academic Conference on the BPP. Disc Three: Interviews with various movement lawyers discussing Panther cases. Disc Four: Interviews with Newsreel members, extras from the Roz Payne Archives. Staff reports.

Bob Dylan 1966 World Tour [The Home Movies] (Highway 61 Entertainment). 2 ½ ribs-needs more meat on those bones.
With all the unauthorized documentaries out on Bob Dylan it’s hard to know which to sift through. With a set of drums and an 8mm color home movie camera, Mickey Jones toured the world with Bob Dylan and The Band. He captured a lot of this tour and the goings-on back stage and on the tour bus. While this documentary is relatively enjoyable, because of its candid shots, it’s more of a retelling of stories Jones’ remembers with accompanied tourist home movies, with only mere glimpses of band life or concert experiences. Jones would have done better with a good editor. By Freddie Lancaster

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Grade: C
Director: Gore Verbinski (The Weather Man)
Screenplay: Ted Elliott (Legend of Zorro), Terry Rossio (Shrek)
Cast: Johnny Depp (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Orlando Bloom (Elizabethtown), Keira Knightly (Pride and Prejudice)
Rating: PG 13

“They were a rough lot indeed, as sailors mostly are: being men rooted out of all the kindly parts of life, and condemned to toss together . . . them that had sailed with the pirates and seen things it would be a shame even to speak of . . . .” R.L Stevenson

Swishbuckling Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest reprises a role that in its maiden voyage looked like a great vehicle for Depp to show his many mugging and voice talents. Now he is a caricature of himself endlessly repeating the ticks that once tocked.

The pirates are looking for too many treasures, gold and human, so the film ends up being a stew of concepts looking for a rest. Thank goodness for easy-to-look-at Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann, a damsel hopelessly caught between her need to save virtuous fiancé Will Turner and her passion for the reprobate Sparrow. The special effects are the same old quick cuts and malleable cosmetics, crafting a crafty Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) with moving worms on his face and a kraken with tentacles worthy of Jules Verne but far more believable. Depp is the Errol Flynn of our time but with much deeper talent and narrower taste in women (Vanessa Paradis as a wife is enough for any man in a lifetime).

I have little else to say. The original Pirates of the Caribbean was an original and Depp a most creative Sparrow. The second time around it’s more of the same, not a stretch or a necessity for an actor of Depp’s considerable talent. As for Orlando Bloom, a sizable paycheck for no challenge is a bit like a pirate finding a chest of gold—he doesn’t deserve it, but it still gets the girls and the audience. John DeSando

Tsotsi
Grade: A
Director: Gavin Hood
Screenplay: Hood, Athol Fugard (Novel)
Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto
Rating: R

“Hell is yourself [and the only redemption is] when a person puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.” Tennessee Williams

An inadvertently abducted child during a carjacking? Yes, Julianne Moore’s child in Freedomland a few weeks ago suffered this situation, but we were uncertain if Moore was telling the truth. In Tsotsi (Thug), the South African entry for best foreign-language Oscar, the “abduction” is played for real, and Presley Chweneyagae as the titular anti-hero is so movingly ambivalent about the crime, I wonder why he is not nominated for an Oscar.

Tsotsi heads a vicious gang preying on commuters in a Johannesburg train station. The abduction scenario brings him face to face with innocence in the form of the baby and the surrogate mother he arranges for the baby. While murder is still a part of the gang’s act, the child changes things into a struggle between Tsotsi’s gang and his redemption.

First-time director Gavin Hood contrasts powerfully the difference between the gated, Mercedes-populated homes and the squalor of the shack city, from which no one, not even a would-be teacher, can hope to escape. City of God had the same trapped feeling and similarly somber look to enhance the underworld ambience.

In the end this crime film is a morality play about sin and love. Although it is open for criticism for its sentimentality and common arc of redemption, it is a powerful statement about the transforming nature of guilt.

Tsotsi’s a worthy Oscar contender morphing morality play simplicity into the sublime. John DeSando

Radiohead OK Computer: A Classic Album Under Review (MVD/Sexy Intellectual) 3 ½ ribs-pablo-honey-baked
Everything you’ve ever or never wanted to know about Radiohead’s OK Computer is revealed in this 53-minute documentary. Featuring various folks with British lilts, the documentary goes into great detail about the hows and whys behind the band’s mosat notable release. It also clips of live performances, snippets of videos and “The Hardest Interactive Radiohead Quiz Ever.” Not for the fair-weather Radiohead fan. Will Jordan

Undertaking Betty (Miramax) 3 ribs-odd flavor
A bizarre twist of fate and a love of ballroom dancing bring together Betty (Brenda Blethyn) and a quiet funeral director (Alfred Molina). When they discover they are in love, they devise a plan to fake Betty’s death in order to run away together. But the flamboyantly absurd competition (Christopher Walkin) is not so forgiving and becomes relentless in his pursuit of Betty’s undertaking. Complications arise and the odd turns never cease. Will Jordan

Soft Machine Legacy; Live at the New Morning (Inakustik). Hippy drippy: 3 ribs.
Forty years later, it's no wonder that one of Britain's first psychedelic groups stuck to their jazz-rock roots here, de doo Dada-ing its way through four "celestial" songs in 43 minutes flat on the first disc. The second, six songs in 48 minutes and still devoid of a sung word, takes the band's moniker way too close to heart, however - showing off masterful yet woefully woozy improvisational musicianship in solos by drummer John Marshall, guitarist John Etheridge and horn player Elton Dean, who sadly died a mere two months after this last reunion. David Thornton

Faith No More Live At The Brixton Academy, London You Fat Bastards/Who Cares A Lot? The Greatest Videos (Rhino). 5 ribs-Plenty of meat even for fat bastards.
Faith No More hailed from San Francisco and stuck together for 16 years, though they seem to have faded from many folks’ memories. Since the 1998demise of the band, the members have all pursued independent projects, but fans have long screamed for Faith No More. Long out of print and with VHS copies fetching enormous amounts on Ebay and the like, the two videos have been melded into one and remastered in 5.1 surround sound. Disk 1 is a live performance filmed at The Brixton Academy in London April 28, 1990 and Disk 2 is a compilation of the band’s greatest videos. Will Jordan

Darkwing Duck (Disney DVD). 5 ribs tasty duck sauce.
Darkwing Duck is about a duck that is so funny he gags. He fights crime with Kung Fu and stuff. Darkwing Duck is a funny TV series because he does silly stuff with his partner. It looks very old but it’s very cool. I can’t believe that they finally put them on DVD. I bet other kids would like to watch this because it’s very entertaining. Max Jordan

Talespin (Disney DVD). 5 ribs hot off the grill.
Talespin is about Baloo who us a bear and there’s a kid who was a pirate but didn’t weant to be so now he’s not a pirate and he works with Baloo. Baloo is a pilot and they all go on different adventures, but there’s a French guy named Don Karnage who tries to fight Baloo with his machine guns but he never gets them. They blow up ships with speceial airplane moves. This TV series is very cool and entertaining too and it’s about the same characters that were in Jungle Book. Even though it is kind of old it looks like a new version. Other kids would love to watch this. Max Jordan

The Tick (Buena Vista). 5 chop full of blood.
The Tick is about this big tick guy that gets other guys like clowns and different kinds of bad guys that try to take over the world. I think this is really weird and silly but I think it’s a really great movie because they are great actors and good characters. I think the Tick vs. the Tick is cool because he’s the same guy verses himself. It look s very cool. Max Jordan

Eight Below (Walt Disney). 4 ribs.
I like Eight Below and I think it’s a great movie. I like the part in the movie when the Leopard seal jumped out of the belly of the killer whale because my mom screamed. It was scary, but the husky dogs were nice. One of the dog’s names was Max and that was very cool. I can’t believe Paul Walker was in there, because he’s a great actor. I bet it hurt Maya when she got bit on the leg by the Leopard seal. It was based on a true story. Max Jordan

Leroy & Stitch (Disney). 4 ½ ribs.
I like Stitch because he sang Elvis. It was very funny. Jumba is funny because he always beaks stuff. Pleaklely was funny because he thought he was a girl because he had a wig on. It was a great adventure for stitch and Lilo because they’ve never had an adventure like this. Max Jordan

Walt Disney’s Funny Factory With Mickey Volume 1 (Disney). 4 ribs.
I liked this movie because a seal got into Mickey’s house and started swimming and swimming and lots of walruses got in there too. Mickey, Donald and Pluto are pals and they were tricking the mooses because they were having a fight with each other. It was funny. Max Jordan

The Suite Life Of Zack & Cody Taking over The Tipton (Disney). 5 ribs.
I would make this movie a 6 for the best because it was a funny movie. What happens is Zack and Cody get in a lot of trouble in the Tipton. They spy on Jessie McCartney. Zack was trying to sell his clothes. On the last one, they did a play and Zack kissed a girl. It was nasty. There was a French episode. Cody never had a girlfriend, but he found one in the Tipton. Mattie and London were fighting a criminal and it was funny and a Spanish guy was trying to get him, but he couldn’t. He got really hurt. London beat up the bad guy and got her purse back. The bad guy was arrested. This movie was cool, with action and adventure. Max Jordan

Kung Faux (Tommy Boy) 4 ribs-kung pao-style
Remixing classic Kung Fu films, Kung Faux pieces together old school flicks, video game flavors, anime inspired special fx , manga style comic books, and hit music with voiceovers from a handful of hip hop icons. Kung Faux on TV is a half hour hip-hop flavored, action and comedy television series that originally aired on the “FUSE” channel in the USA, but has since migrated to the “Starz/Encore” group. The five DVD “Volumes” of Kung Faux that culminate with their scheduled release this Summer 2006 have been co-branded as “BentoBox.TV” due to their artfully boxed TV style mix of measured portioned servings of episodes from the Kung Faux TV series alongside a variety of pop culture flavored tidbits ranging from music videos from top international hip hop artists like “Petter” (Sweden), “Scribe” (New Zealand), “Curse”& “Gentleman” (Germany), to rarely seen video game promos & movie trailers, as well as ?a special “karaoke” game feature function that allows viewers to perform their own live dialogue to original Kung Faux clips for dessert. Artists heard in the “Kung Faux” series include: Above the Law, Afrika Bambaataa, Biz Markie, Brooklyn Mike, Crazy Legs, D the Schizophrenic, De La Soul, Dimitri from Paris, Elephant Man, Espo, FannyPack, Force MD's, Grooverider, Guru, Harold Hunter, Indo G, Information Society, Jean Grae, Jocelyn Enriquez, Jonzun Crew, Kaws, Lord Sear, Masta Ace, Mr. Len, Mister Live, Naughty By Nature, Paris, Prince Paul, Queen Latifah, Grand Master Roc Raida, Ron Van Clief, Sadat X, Shoestring and Stetsasonic. Will Jordan

Delicatessen (Miramax) 4 ½ ribs-Tastes like people
In French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s post-apocalyptic world displayed in cult film Delicatessen, meat has become scarce and cannibalism becomes more popular. When a down-on-his-luck retired clown takes a new job at a dilapidated deli, he soon discovers he’s next on the menu. But the butcher’s daughter falls for the clown and goes to great and absurd lengths to save her newfound love and all sorts of bizarre twists unfold. Check out this cult phenomenon, which has finally been released on DVD since its original release in 1992, and is loaded with bonus features. Will Jordan

Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo-Little Black Book Edition (Touchstone) 3 ½ ribs-tube steak
When professional fish tank cleaner, Deuce, finds himself desperately in need of cash after destroying a client’s luxurious apartment, he decides the quickest way to raise funds is to sell his body as a male prostitute. While navigating the annals of the oldest known profession, he encounters a handful of bizarre new clients, each with their own quirks and preferences. With the Little Black Book Edition, there are new bonus features including never-before-seen footage. Will Jordan

Night Stalker (Buena Vista) 3 ½ ribs-blood and guts
Based on the original ‘70s suspense drama, Night Stalker returns with a stylishly modern, yet creepy twist on the classic story. Obsessed with his wife’s murderer, Carl Kolchak (Stuart Townsend) teams up with Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) to unravel a supernatural mystery that gets spookier with each twist. The 2-disk DVD features four episodes never seen on TV that complete the series. Will Jordan

The Toy Dolls: Our Last DVD? Salivating for less: 1rib.
In yet another quarter-century retrospective, it's not surprising this festering pile of punk junk was taped in a Danish bar: language barriers must do wonders for this dark-bespectacled pair of artless dodgers (could you play this crap and still look at your audience?) - or maybe they just get English humor. Making off like a really shallow Ween, ugly guitarist Olga and tubby bassist Tommy Goober (the drummer goes by Dave The Nut) often indulge in cheesy guitar-swinging synchronization on numbers ranging from the barely tolerable - first single "Tommy Kowey's Car" and the energetic "I Got Asthma" - to immensely god-awful - "Olga I Cannot," which is so beyond bad that you have to turn it down in hopes the neighbors won't hear it (speaking of God, accidently hitting the mute button at one point seemed like divine intervention), and "Back in '79," which makes you long for 1879 so that you'd never had to watch this! In addition to ridiculously cheap props like a giant blow-up champagne bottle and sparklers, not to mention the shades, viewers are "treated" to not one but two prolonged close-ups of spit dangling from Olga's chin, on "The Entertainer" and "Fiery Jack." Given, it does look like the Dolls are having fun here, but ignorance is bliss and this is nothing short of a three-chord(and -camera) bore. And as for the question posed by its title, the world can only hope. David Thornton

G.B.H.: Charged on Stage. This litle piggy should never go to market: 1/2 rib.
Though the cover was off-puttingly predictable, things seemed promising when - after finishing the first song - singer Colin uttered, "You mistake vodka for water then yer fucked." But all humor took an aside over the next 18 numbers as the Billy "she'll need a" (M)Idol wannabe fumbled through his indecipherable lyrics while backed by a band - last name-less to protect their identities - sounding like they're playing along to their own discordant songs that often end with no warning (even walking offstage midway through the final cut) and a drummer just plodding away through it all. This ain't punk, it's wretched puke - utter vile in the least threatening or offensive way (well, to those with any semblence of taste). The sad truth is that you'd likely see a better gig at a storage shed practice space in a tiny town, or by rearranging the last two letters of the band's name and taking some of that to get you through this terribly recorded mess! Sometimes you can judge a DVD by its cover, but thankfully this one only lasts about an hour. David Thornton

Poison: Seven Days Live. Safe for consumption: 3 ribs.
Recorded at London's packed Hammersmith Apollo way back in '93, this DVD sacrifices party anthems and power ballads like "I Want Action" and "I Won't Forget You" for several tracks off the failed Native Tongue album they were promoting at the time, closing strong, though, with four for the money after two of these turkeys. The most notable absence here, however, is
that of guitarist C.C. Deville (not to mention the lack of makeup and pyrotechnics), who's adequately replaced here by Richie Kotzen minus the oeuvre and any of the chutzpah. This set just goes to show that Poison never really was a bad band, just light years from anything great, but what you do get are priceless arena rock cliches like headbands tied around mike stands, David Lee Roth karate kicks, cheetah-print chaps, behind-the-back guitar playing and the requisite drum solo, which ain't half bad. David Thornton

Best of the Beatles: Pete Best - mean, moody and magnificent. Grade A but not quite great: 4 ribs.
Dubbed "the greatest rock 'n' roll story never told" may be a bit of a stretch, but this DVD does provide some information many more-than-casual fans might not know: how the Beatles owe at least part of their start to a racing bet and the strange name associations of the winning horse and the farm it was raised on; why the group almost changed its name; where you can still see ceiling and wall paintings by John Lennon from the post-skiffle, pre-Cavern days; and Paul McCartney's sacreligious pissing episode during their leather-clad days in Hamburg, Germany. Other interesting tidbits include: the trivial speculations as to why Best was passed over in favor of then-session player Ringo Starr by producer George Martin and manager Brian Epstein; how Best, as the best-looking Beatle (ironically he's 64, as Paul once so famously sang, but the pictures prove it), could have been the biggest teen idol of the '60s; and he's still married to the girl who danced the Peppermint Twist with him on stage. The drawback of this could-have-been "schlockumentary" is that Best is hard to understand throughout his interviews, through a combination of both accent and poor recording, but it's interesting to know how the boy who sounded the first shot of the Mersey beat has coped - like the Decca representative who failed to sign them - since missing out on what would quickly become the biggest band in rock history. David Thornton

Andrew W.K.: Who Knows? Check for salmonella: 2-1/2 ribs.
Looking at the cover will bring G.G. Allin to mind (and the booklet insert does show W.K. bloodied after getting so worked up on stage that he kicked himself in the nose and broke it), but where Allin was deliberately shocking, this DVD is unbelievable in its sheer pomposity of stupidity. Culled from more than 600 shows over the first four years of this Alice Cooper-throated ivory tickler's career are 16 fist-pumping inane odes (three have "party" in their title) bludgeoned by no less than 10 Mothers of Unmention, all the while with W.K. donning a white T-shirt drenched grey with sweat. In between the live numbers are pointlessly psychotic video and sound snippets, and brilliant acid-burned insights like "they're not fans, just friends," you only live once" and "this music is much bigger than me" in a most Jim Morrison voice. Speaking of Morrison, W.K. - like Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain and a few lesser names - is at that most precarious age, 27, for rock musicians, and judging from the fact that he performs three songs here from a wheelchair after breaking his foot after tripping on a cord (another time he alomsot broke his legs as a result of falling off a stage), you have to wonder if his days are numbered. Like the title implies, who knows? And ultimately, who cares? David Thornton

Refused: Are Fucking Dead. Dry as a bone: 1-1/2 ribs.
Have 45 minutes to kill? Does a chronicle of yet another European punk band falling apart on a U.S. tour (i.e. Sex Pistols) intrigue you? If so, then pop this baby in to see the buildup to how four exhausted Swedes' seven-year career came crashing down in the basement of a Harrisonburg, Va., house, and the relief they all felt when the cops cut things short and they were finally able to leave their bizarre brand of hardcore and increasingly indifferent audiences behind. Also includes nine live songs and two videos. Yawn. David Thornton

Sham 69: Hersham Boys. Charred and scarred: 1-1/2 ribs.
Called one of the worst groups of Britain's first wave of punk, the only reasoning behind this DVD - recorded in a Brighton, England, beach bar - is to use their 25th anniversary to milk that genre's recent revival for all it's worth (they did the same thing in '86, which, ironically, is a term they should have adhered to at the dawn of that decade). Fittingly named after a soccer graffiti slogan, since the band's fans were notorious for their hooliganism, Sham 69 stumbles through 21 tales of adolescent alienation - well, 20, since Cro-Magnon opus "Borstal Boys" has to be endured twice. Other "highlights" include the short but definitely not sweet "(No) I Don't Wanna" and other lost "classics" like first hit "Angels With Dirty Faces," the rah-rah pub chant "Hurry Up Harry" and "If the Kids Are United," when the DVD should have ended before the truly un-Darryl Worley tribute "September the Eleventh" - which singer/lyricist Jimmy Pursey rhymes with "I needa medic" over and over (OK, he did put his Indiana Hoosiers T-shirt back on as a show of respect). Basically, one of the DVD's few redeeming qualities is the interspersed interviews giving some background behind the madness, and the fact that British snarls just look more authentic. David Thornton

Howl’s Moving Castle (Disney) 5 ribs.
Howl’s Moving Castle is really cool. Hayao Miyazaki made the movie and he also made Spirited Away. I like when he changes into a demon. I think the characters are cool. I liked the fire guy when he said, “this isn’t a good idea because the chimney is going to drip and put me out. Then I will die and Howl will die.” I liked the castle too because it moves and the door changes and goes to different places. Max Jordan

Boot Camp Click Video Surveillance DVD (Duck Down) 5 ribs-tastes like chicken
Boot Camp Click came out strong like the WU when they pounced on the world in the ‘90s with their militantly refreshing jams from the East. Their members were many from Black Moon to Smif N Wessun, Fab 5, Heltah Skeltah and OGC and each artist/ crew had their own flavor. After years of having to watch BCC videos on Rap City when they bust old school vids, Duck Down and Nervous Records finally reunited to release 120 minutes (37 videos) of BCC visuals. This long awaited release precedes the upcoming BCC release The Last Stand. Will Jordan

Chicken Little (Disney) 4 ribs.
Chicken Little was scared of the sky falling because it was only one piece of an acorn. I liked the little dude because he goes “eep, eep boop” and I liked the big pig too. I liked the part when Chicken Littler was playing baseball and the part when he saves the day. His dad is really funny too. The porcupine was funny because he said, “Woow.” I think little kids would like to watch this movie. Max Jordan

The Best Coup DVD Ever (MVD) 5 ribs-Eating Forever
Depending on how you look at it, The Coup were either ahead of their time or behind their time. Despite incredibly profound lyrics, catchy beats and a revolutionary philosophy, The Coup never fully rose above underground status. Based in Oakland, CA, the Coup formed as a three-member group in 1992 as a politically motivated outfit bent on exploiting capitalism, American politics and police brutality, among other things. Rumor has it that the FBI even had a file on the group. At the helm of the Coup was Boots Riley, an activist with a trademark ‘60s-style afro and an axe to grind. DJ Pam the Funkstress and E-Roc backed him up. With the release of The Best Coup DVD Ever, fans finally get the chance to hear interviews with Boots, see many of the Coup’s best videos and witness “Eating Forever: A South African Hip Hop Travelog.” While much of the mainstream never even heard of the Coup, the group was right on time for a handful of us who were waiting for someone to speak out. Will Jordan

The Best of Youth (Miramax)
"There is, nevertheless, a certain respect and a general duty of humanity that ties us, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants." Montaigne

Rarely does a new film find a place on a longstanding short list of best ever. The Italian import Best of Youth recently entered my all time best ten, a singular honor considering I had to sit still for six hours of viewing, and I rarely sit still anytime, even if my name is DeSando and it's a family saga. Director Francis Ford Coppola created a movie empire with his Godfather series and ended up with what some consider the best American movie ever made. It is unforgettable for its emphasis on family values mafia style and its stunning photography. The Best of Youth is decidedly not mafia related; rather it is a romantic and historical rendering of Italy from the 1960's as seen through the lives of the Carati family and their friends and lovers. The two brothers, Nicola and Matteo, represent the Janus-like conflict of liberal and conservative in the volatile last half-century of Italian social and cultural change. This is humanistic history at its best as director Marco Tullio Giordana takes us through the sexy seventies, a devastating Florence flood, the emergence of Red Brigades, assassinations and business downturns including the Fiat layoffs. Despite deaths, suicide, and disappointment, the last line of the film, spoken in the new century, repeats the sentiment of the youthful days in the last century that everything is truly beautiful. How can you miss that theme when the cinematography emphasizes the antique charm of Italy and the close up beauty of actors who look their parts, albeit rarely ugly? The film, often tightly framed, accentuates character over plot and a certain imprisonment in character and destiny. The choice of actors is nothing short of inspired. The genius of Best of Youth is that like Italy itself, this family is a stew of ideologies that offers up dignity of the individual as the highest value and respect (remember The Godfather) for humanity the only arbiter of peace. This film stands with Brokeback Mountain and The New World as a testimony to the transcending power of art to make us look at ourselves as vulnerable and beautiful. John DeSando

Flightplan (Touchstone)

“Flight is intolerable contradiction.” Muriel Rukeyser

The age of kick-butt women in film is alive and maturing, as Jody Foster in Flightplan extricates herself from an apparent kidnapping of her daughter aboard a flight to the states from Berlin. Red Eye with Rachel McAdams has a similar situation with a female exec freeing herself from a fellow passenger who demands her involvement in an assassination long before the flight. Both women are attractive and successful. Both women are vulnerable because of a loved one, who is threatened if she does not cooperate. Both women use wit and brawn to combat the bad guys. Wes Craven’s Red Eye is much more layered in characterization and plot—in Flightplan Kyle Pratt (Jody Foster) is an engineer who has helped design the very plane she is riding on, but there is little more to her than the recent loss of her husband and maybe her daughter. Her engineer’s knowledge of the plane’s innards is a creatively useful element; the suspicion that Arab passengers may have fomented a plot to highjack the plane is not. The boisterous passenger, the furtive looks among the flight crew who don’t believe her story, and the annoying children in the next seat are among the staples of the genre. The writers don’t go beyond the expected in plot structure either: First Pratt is considered a nut case because her child is not listed on the manifest nor did anyone see her; next, a small clue begins the final determination of her lunacy or sanity; finally the truth is confronted, and the chase ensues with the woman showing serious craftiness and physical stamina. The obligatory twist occurs on time, that is, many minutes after the audience figured it out. Why Pratt is thrust into this situation is not clearly shown either, making this film a disappointment in almost every corner of cliched genre. Thematically the film deserves some praise: Personal privacy has been breached once again, a subject dear to Ted Kennedy and Dick Cheney’s hearts; single mothers are abundant in society and prey to outside forces often male; airline security, even with its beefed up sensing equipment and traveling air marshals, still has holes that filmmakers and terrorists exploit much to our chagrin. Just another fly-by-night thriller. John DeSando

Dark Water (Touchstone)

“Don’t let the rain come down” goes the old song. Not since Mike Nichols liberally used water as an ambivalent motif in The Graduate has water had such a psychological impact as it does in Dark Water, a thriller that abundantly uses horror story techniques but goes further to expose the tender nerve endings of a separated mom, Dahlia, caught in a cheap Roosevelt Island apartment that drenches her and her young daughter, Ceci, incessantly both inside and out with leaking ceilings and flooding floors that promise drowning both real and figurative.

Outside the obligatory ghost, incompetent apartment super, and conflicted dad lies the awful reality of vulnerable women being forced to live in substandard housing, dangerous to health because separation leaves wife and husband with no means to do better. Jennifer Connelly as Dahlia has the right blend of intelligence and helplessness to bring off what might have been just another distraught 30-year old mom with seriously disturbing images of her own mother abandoning her early in life. The parallel legend of an abandoned little girl turned ghost and befriending Ceci emphasizes the universal problems faced by single mothers everywhere.

Director Walter Salles knows how to make Roosevelt Island look bleaker than an abandoned Riker’s Island, more foreboding than Manhattan at dusk in a dirty winter, and yet as desirable as the nearest suburb given the astronomical rents on Manhattan Island in any year. The socially conscious Salles also hints at the secret lives of other Roosevelt detainees: a lawyer who lies about his domestic life and an apartment manager whose blather about the advantages of the decrepit apartment hides the horrors of leaking ceilings are just a few of the menaces the lonely mother faces.

Salles suggests the sacrifices a mother might have to make for her child are never gone, about as bleak as the island itself on its rainy days. Find a similar sense of abandonment and horror in The Others (2001). Any film that makes Manhattan warm by contrast is scary itself. The marginalized life of a distressed young mother has never been so well expressed as in this film, where islands are metaphors for people. John DeSando

Proof (Miramax)

Knowing that Proof won Tony and Pulitzer awards, I approach the film with reverence and skepticism, given the stage production had a single set and the film uses several other locations, as films are wont to do. I am here to report the play is well-adapted to film, with an Oscar-worthy performance by Gwyneth Paltrow, no such honor for Anthony Hopkins, and a miscasting for a much too hunky Jake Gyllenhall as a mathematician. The themes of parental influence, truth and doubt, trust, and appearance and reality are nicely woven into a deceptively lean script (Just think of the play Copenhagen, peopled by physics types, and its runaway verbosity).

David Auburn’s script allows Paltrow to muse about her intellectual and emotional inheritance from her genius dad, whose funeral is imminent. At the same time a question of plagiarism offers a conflict that is both vexing and irresolvable. Jake Gyllenhaal’s young professor Hal, not as dorky as he should be, provides romance and refereeing between sisters about the authorship of research discovered in the prof’s drawer.

But mostly this is a story of a family and the deep ties between a father and his daughter. Her debt to him genetically and academically, is palpable; his influence on her, even in his dementia and finally his death, is always present. John DeSando

Daltry Calhoun (Miramax). 3 ½ ribs - homecookin’.
Every cliché about Tennessee is portrayed in this strange saga about down-on-his-luck grass salesman and local hero Daltry Calhoun. The story takes place in the impossibly rural Ducktown, and for someone who grew up in small town Tennessee, the movie has wafts of nostalgia, though expectedly has some unrealistic elements. Starring Johnny Knoxville (Dukes of Hazzard, Jackass: The Movie) Juliette Lewis (Starsky & Hutch, Natural Born Killers) and Sophie Traub (The Interpreter), Daltry Calhoun stars Knoxville as a sod company owner who struggles to raise his precocious teenage daughter and save his failing business at the same time. The film was shot entirely in Columbia, Tenn. (about 15 miles down the road from the Rib offices) and even has a few familiar local faces as well. Bonus features include commentary with executive producer Quentin Tarantino, producer Danielle Renfrew and writer/director Katrina Holden Bronson; deleted scenes (with optional commentary); blooper reel, “Hollywood comes to Tennessee” The Making of Daltry Calhoun;” “The B Team;” original theatrical trailer; blooper reel and Blue Mother Tupelo’s “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” music video.” Will Jordan

Rockers 25th Anniversary Edition (MVD/Blue Sun Film). 5 ribs-Carribean Cuisine.
The Harder They Come has always been the movie mentioned when recalling Jamaican film. Anyone who says that has never seen Rockers. Rockers is the real deal. Chronicalling Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace as he hustles records on the back streets of Jamaica, Rockers is a Robin Hood style story of oppressed Jamaican musicians getting even with the “mafia types” in the business. The soundtrack is truly I rey featuring music by Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Third World, Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs, Kiddus I, Junior Murvin, Inner Circle, the Heptones, & Abyssinians. Rockers includes acting roles and appearances by Jacob Miller, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Kiddus I, Leroy Smart Richard “DirtyHarry” Hall and more. The 25th Anniversary of the film has been re-released in 5.1/DTS sound and is loaded with extra features. It also comes with a color booklet. Will Jordan

The Brothers Grimm (Dimension). 3 ribs-not much meat on the bone.
I’m still not sure how I feel about this one. Questions still linger about Terry Gilliam’s (12 Monkeys, Brazil, Monty Python And The Holy Grail) motivation with The Brothers Grimm. The acting in the film is atrocious, with fake British and French accents, that would offend even the most naïve, but it could only be justified by Gilliam’s traditionally dark humor (possibly he did it on purpose to further distort). The special effects are pretty weak, but further illustrate the children’s storybook feel (though the movie is not for kids). Will and Jake Grimm (Matt Damon and Heath Ledger) are scam artists, making their money by playing out elaborate hoaxes on small villages. When they are recruited to investigate a “real” enchanted forest, they dig deep and recreate themselves (with the help of a few friends) to eradicate an evil witch’s curse that plagues the children of a small village. Will Jordan

Dickey Betts & Great Southern Back Where It Begins (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
The old saying, “It only gets better with age,” rings true for Dickey Betts, who can still stroke that guitar like he means business. The man is a monster with the git fiddle and showcases his talent on Back Where It Begins. The DVD features a full-length performance recorded at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum in Cleveland Sept. 29, 2004. Presented in 5.1 surround, the DVD also features bonus rehearsal footage and an interview with Betts discussing selected tracks. The package also includes a CD of some of Betts’ more popular songs. Alongside Duane and Greg Allman, Richard “Dickey” Betts was integral in founding the Allman Brothers’ sound. During the late ‘70s and early ‘80s The Allmans took a hiatus and Betts formed Great Southern, recording and touring on his own. He rejoined the Allmans, but finally left for good in 2000. He reformed Great Southern (Dan Toler on guitar, Frankie Lombardi on drums, percussion and vocals, Michael Kach on Hammond organ, piano and vocals, Pedro Arevalo on bass guitar) and has been on the road ever since. Will Jordan

Rock ‘N’ Roll High School (Buena Vista). 3 ½ ribs- cafeteria food never tasted so good.
Vince Lombardi High School has garnered a reputation as the rockingest high school in the country. When a Nazi of a principal, Miss Toger, tries to conform the student body with her totalitarian ways, the students rebel. With the help of The Ramones, the students win the battle and take the power back. Revisit this age old rock story, which originally ran in 1979, on the recently released DVD. The release also has bonus features, including audio commentary, interviews and outtakes. Will Jordan

Scrubs Season 2 (Buena Vista/ Touchstone Television). 3 ½ ribs hospital food.
Scrubs returns to the ER with the same cast of silly characters and their antics with their second season. The Emmy -winning and Golden Globe nominated television show starring Zach Braff (Garden State) is now available in a collectible DVD box set Scrubs received four Emmy nominations in 2005, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Zach Braff for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. It also won the 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Multi-Camera Editing. Watch the series commercial-free, the only way to experience the show. Let’s just hope real docs aren’t this incompetent. Will Jordan

Michael Franti & Spearhead Live In Sydney (MVD). 3 ½ ribs-straight up soul food.
Michael Franti has always been a conscious, political rapper. These days Franti concentrates more on unifying people than combating institutions. On the recent DVD release of Live In Sydney, the rapper displays his global appeal as he plays to a packed crowd at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, Australia. Pouring on the positivity, Franti and Spearhead coast through 10 songs on the DVD. Bonus materials include: a slamming music video of a recording session of “Ganja Baby,” an acoustic version of “Bomb The World” and a Beatbox session from Radio Active. Will Jordan

Buzzcocks Live At The Shepherds Bush Empire (Secret Films/ MVD). 4 ribs-served with cracklins’.
Don’t believe the hype, punk rock still lives and breathes in London and the Buzzcocks remain the lungs. For Buzzcocks’ fans, Live At The Shepherds Bush Empire is a must have. With an unprecedented 32 tracks played live at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England on April 27, 2003, the Buzzcocks rip through their entire repertoire with nostalgic ferocity. Bonus features include Australian tour footage, an interview with Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, sound check footage and a tour memorabilia photo gallery. Will Jordan

God Save The Queen A Punk Rock Anthology (MVD). 3 ½ ribs-raw meat.
Ahh….good old-fashioned youth angst.
From the “Fuck The USA” belching The Exploited to the slam-dance evoking Subhumans, the Clockwork Orange-inspired-The Addicts and the hideous charm of Iggy Pop and The Stooges, God Save The Queen paints a pretty good picture of punk rock rebellion in the ‘70s. This 75-minute DVD includes 21 live and studio performances from some of the best old school bands. It also includes interviews and backstage antics. Will Jordan

Sin City-Recut-Extended-Unrated (Dimension Home Video). 5 ribs-a full slab.

Easily one of this year’s best films, Sin City shocked audiences with its stylish noir flavor and gritty, horrifically graphic images. Ripped from the pages of Frank Miller’s famed comic book, director Robert Rodriguez recreated the characters with unbelievable intensity keeping intact a cartoonish vibe. While the entire cast is stellar and includes Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Clive Owen, Benicio Del Toro, Brittany Murphy and Elijah Wood, Mickey Rourke’s Marv takes the cake. His romanticized, badass demeanor and seemingly indestructible anti-heroism is both tragic and unforgettably entertaining to witness. With this release, fans can take a deeper journey into Old Town. The complete, expanded and unrated version of the film has never-before-seen footage integrated directly into the feature by Rodriguez. This essential two-disc DVD includes hours of all-new bonus materials supervised directly by Rodriguez showing how the film was brought to life. The complete reprinted first issue of Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novel The Hard Goodbye is also included. Will Jordan

Two Hands (Miramax). 3 ½ ribs-the other white meat.

This DVD was actually better than expected. The 1999 B-rated Australian film stars Heath Ledger (The Brothers Grimm, The Patriot). This is one of Ledger’s more honest and less fluff roles. In Two Hands, Jimmy (Ledger) is caught on the wrong side of a deal gone bad, and gets dangerously involved with a vicious mobster (Bryan Brown). The film is in the gritty tradition of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, and takes place on the streets of Australia. Jimmy owes money to the mob, but the money starts to get spent by others, while Jimmy’s debt deadline comes up fast. The cast for Two Hands also features David Field, Susie Porter, Rose Byrne, Mariel McClory, Steve Le Marquand, Tom Long and Steve Vidler. Will Jordan

Gargoyles Season 2 Volume 1 (Walt Disney). 3 ½ ribs-leaves a strange taste in yer mouth.

Gargoyles have always been a symbol of a gothic age. These stone creatures that loom on ledges of castles and other ancient buildings have both a menacing and protective look that have a timeless quality to them. In the animated Gargoyle series, one Scottish clan of the monsters made an alliance with humans to help protect a castle by night if the humans would protect their stone forms by day. The uneasy alliance was shattered when human prejudice provoked a betrayal that allowed the castle to be sacked and most of the resident clan destroyed, leaving only six adult survivors and a rookery of unhatched eggs. A further misunderstanding during the clan's retaliation on the invaders and rescue of their hostages left the clan frozen in stone by a magic spell that would only be broken when the “Castle rises above the Clouds.” For a thousand years, the castle laid abandoned and the clan condemned by this curse. In 1994, a wealthy multibillionare named David Xanatos, bought the castle and transported the whole structure to Manhattan where he placed it on top of the Eyrie building which he owned. It is high enough to be above the clouds, thus the conditions of the spell were met and the Gargoyles were revived. Now, this clan must adjust to this new age and gain friends like Detective Elisa Masa who reveals that Xanatos revived them to exploit them for his unscrupulous ends. This is coupled by the fact that another Gargoyle comrade, Demona, is alive from their age, and is now a insane renegade bent on the extermination of humanity. Rebelling against them, the clan abandon the castle and pledge to protect New York like they protected the castle in the past. This DVD set features 26 second season episodes of the show. Will Jordan

Death Race 2000 (Buena Vista). 2 ribs-send it back to the kitchen.

“In the year 2000, hit-and-run isn’t a crime. It’s the national sport.”
With all the cheesy violence and gore intact, Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000 has been re-released with new special features. This B-rated cult flick, originally made in 1975, features a brutal cross country car race, where people are run down for points. The film features David Carradine as Frankenstein Sylvester Stallone as Machine Gun Joe and Simmone Griffith as Annie Smith. The special effects are terrible, with bright red goo meant to look like blood. The acting is horrible and the plot is riddiculas. Will Jordan

Oil On Ice

How could anyone be so environmentally ignorant as to ignore the terrible repercussions due to drilling for oil in the Alaskan wild? Without pointing fingers, the answer is obvious. Oil companies have already drilled more than 1,000 miles of the northern coast, and the remaining miles protected by the Artic National Wildlife Refuge is under attack. The first Bush administration opened the state to drilling in 1989, which led to the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill. Considered one of the most controversial and powerful eco political films, Oil On Ice, gives insight into the pristine lands of the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge and the issues surrounding continuing drilling for oil. Ultimately, Oil On Ice reveals how the fate of the refuge is linked to decisions our nation makes about energy policy, transportation choices and other seemingly unrelated matters. The documentary film is filled with stunning images, candid interviews and shocking proof of blatant disregard of the preservation of one of the last true wildernesses left in the world. Will Jordan

Bob Marley Live! At The Rainbow (Island-Tuff Gong-UM). 4 1/2 ribs.

The only better way to enjoy Bob Marley’s music was to see him live. Those of us who never got the opportunity while he was alive have been given brief chances with DVD releases in the past. Now in a two-disk package, Island, Tuff Gong and UM give fans more of what they’ve longed for with Live! At The Rainbow, concert footage from the London venue taken back in 1986.
During that concert Marley performed uncontested versions of “Lively Up Yourself,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “Rebel Music” and many more classic tunes.
The DVD also features more than 20 minutes of exclusive interviews and footage shot in Kingston, Jamaica, of a visit to the Bob Marley Museum and Tuff Gong Studios as well as the award-winning 1988 documentary Caribbean Nights: The Bob Marley Story.
The video’s audio has been digitally enhanced in both 5.1 surround sound and stereo. Will Jordan

Keller Williams Sight (MX). 3½ ribs-remember “you are what you eat”

Anyone who’s seen Keller Williams live knows what the man can do. Others may hear a CD and enjoy it, but it’s just not the same thing. Keller is one of the most incredibly talented showmen of his time. Sight does a damn good job of illustrating Keller’s skills as a musician and a master at looping and conducting his own orchestra with him at the helm of every instrument. Recorded at Mr. Smalls’ state-of-the-art theatre facility in Pittsburgh, PA, Sight features over 100 minutes of concert footage, as well as funny b-roll footage from the goofy singer’s travels. Will Jordan

Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed (Cloudscape Productions)

By Will Jordan

Chronicling nearly 20 years of Mississippi groove, Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed steps back in time with the beginnings of southern jam band’s seminal outfits, Beanland. With interviews and archival video footage “from back porch Mississippi hippie-cover band to their hard earned arrival as a genuine musical force across the south” the documentary offers true insight into the life of the musicians who set off to conquer the jam band music scene. Interviews included are with some of the leading stars of the southern music including: JoJo Hermann and George McConnell of Widespread Panic; Cody and Luther Dickinson of The North Mississippi Allstars; Rev Jeff Mosier of the Aquarium Rescue Unit; Cedric Burnside of the Burnside Blues Family; Cary Hudson of Blue Mountain and legendary producer, Jim Dickinson. Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed is a two disc set and includes the film and a 12 track CD by various artists: Beanland, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Allgood, The Grapes, Cary Hudson of Blue Mountain, The Tangents, White Buffalo, Kudzu Kings, Daniel Karlish, Sweetbush Revival, Guelel Kumba, and the hidden track is Nichol and Cody Dickinson. There are also DVD bonus features with George and Bill acoustic, JoJo unplugged, Outtakes, and a moment with Jim Dickinson. This disk is a must have for anyone who made it out of the Delta region and have longed to look back. The era is painted as it was back then and those that lived it, now can put their memories on a shelf.

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