BREASTS: A DOCUMENTARY
1996; DVD $19.95, UR
Just what the title says: Twenty-two women, most of them topless, stare into the camera and yammer about how their “breasts have shaped their lives.” We dintgittit, but boobs are always fun to watch and there are some terrific bits scattered around including a “naughty” cartoon from the ’20s and a look at bra commercials of the ’70s.
BUKOWSKI: BORN INTO THIS
2002; DVD $26.95, R
Charles Bukowski was an underground poet from the late ’50s whose work attained special significance in the ’70s, writing of his eccentric life amid flophouses and bars, and the often vacant-eyed women he spent time with. Uncompromising and brutally honest, his writing remains singular in American literature. This doc looks at the oft-abusive man behind the myth and the legacy he left behind.
CAPOTE
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $26.95, R
We’re not much on Important Oscar Movies, being kinda shallow and simpleminded, but Philip Seymour Hoffman’s extraordinary turn as the fey, child-voiced Truman Capote is brilliant. This bio-drama traces his investigation, for The New Yorker magazine, into a Kansas murder case, along with Harper “To Kill a Mockingbird” Lee (Catherine Keener), which led to the first true American non-fiction novel, “In Cold Blood.” It’s still one of the most chilling books you’ll ever read.
CHICKEN LITTLE
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $29.95, G
A too-hip-for-its-own-good Disney CGI sequel to the “sky is falling” tale we all loved as kids. Lots of hyper-action, in-jokes, squeaky, scurrying little voices and clever over-merchandized characters, but it just never comes together as anything that Uncle Walt would have liked. You’ll buy it anyway.
DERAILED
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $28.95, R
A good, old-fashioned infidelity-thriller with Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston as the comely married-but-not-to-each-other couple whose attraction is undeniable. By the time they shed their inhibitions and make hot sweaty monkey-love in a hotel, they have attracted the attention of unstable mobster Vincent Cassel, who threatens to reveal their secret. Builds up real nice, though the ending is not perfect. Still, we enjoyed it.
DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY
2005; VHS $29.95/DVD $29.95, PG
Kurt Russell, and our vote for the next Meryl Streep, brilliant little Dakota Fanning, enliven this gushy tale of a broken horse and a broken man who are made whole again by love and the impossible dream of running in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $27.95, PG-13
Elijah “Frodo” Wood is a young American Jew on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather during WWII, with said grandfather and other misfits in tow in this quirky adventure/comedy/drama directed by first-timer Liev Schreiber.
HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2: DEAD AIM
2006; DVD $26.95, R
These made-for-the-SciFi-Channel movies are never any good, but this sequel is better than its predecessor, if only because “House of the Dead” was such a complete piece of crap. Lots and lots and lots and lots of man-eating zombies, oceans of blood (most of which SciFi didn’t air) and the delectable cleavage of Emmanuelle Vaugier come together to make a nice 90 minutes on the couch.
IN THE MIX
2005; DVD $27.95, PG-13
Love-story/mob-movie vehicle for R&B star Usher. Not great.
MIND OF MENCIA WITH CARLOS MENCIA: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON — UNCENSORED
2005; DVD $27.95, UR
Our favorite new show on Comedy Central seems surprisingly frank and free of their customary hatchet-job censorship — though this uncensored release certainly takes it much farther! A truly disturbed individual who knows what makes people laugh. What more could you want?
PARADISE NOW
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $27.95, PG-13
A stunning subtitled tale of two Palestinian friends, recruited as suicide bombers and sent to Tel Aviv. Intercepted at the Israeli border, they meet a young woman who struggles to get them to reconsider their actions. But is it too late? Great stuff.
THE BUSBY BERKELEY COLLECTION
2006; DVD $59.95, UR
This well-chosen set of five classic movies should be on every movie-lovers shelf! A six-disc set, all digitally remastered for sight and sound, it includes “Footlight Parade,” “Gold Diggers of 1933,” “Dames,” “Gold Diggers of 1935” and the iconic “42nd Street.” “Street,” possibly the most famous story in Hollywood, finds a Broadway understudy heading for the big time when the star gets hurt. Or, as you may have heard it said, “Sawyer, you’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”
THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
2005; VHS Rental/DVD $26.95, R
A major event on the art-house circuit, this intimate look at a dissolving family in 1986 Brooklyn is one of those films you’ll either love or hate. Jeff Daniels is the patriarch, Laura Linney the estranged wife; both of them have literary careers going either up or down while their sons, ages 12 and 16, cope with the separation and misadvised couplings of their parents.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
2006; DVD $24.95, G
An amazing three-disc set that includes Cecil B. DeMille’s 1923 silent version, his 1956 remake with Charlton Heston and a huge disc of bonus material.
OTHER DVDS OF INTEREST
BATMAN BEYOND: SEASON 1
1999; DVD $26.95, UR
DAVID BOWIE: SERIOUS MOONLIGHT
1984; DVD $24.95, UR
LOGGERHEADS
2005; DVD $24.95, PG-13
SOUTH PARK: THE COMPLETE SEVENTH SEASON
2006; DVD $39.95, UR
A more complete listing and free vids at www.videotapeworm.com!