Oct 20, 2004
Control Room
Ed Wood
Eden
SCTV: Vol 2
Tom & Jerry
Van Helsing
Waiting For Fidel

Oct 13, 2004
Ken Burns'
America Collection
The Day After Tomorrow
The Five Obstructions
I'm Not Scared
That's Entertainment
Shawshank Redemption
Valentin

Oct 6, 2004
Aladdin
Fahrenheit 9/11
Jesus of Montreal
Untouchables
Get Ready of Halloween

Sept 28, 2004
The Alamo
American Pimp
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fly Jefferson Airplane
The Hunting of a President
Maxim Presents:
The Real Swimsuit
Super Size Me

Sept 21, 2004
Coffee & Cigarettes
How To Draw A Bunny
La Dolce Vita
MADtv First Season
Mean Girls
Rounders

Sept 14, 2004
Angels In America
Home On The Range
Man On Fire
THX-1138
50 Years Of Playmates
Young Adam

Sept 7 , 2004
American Dreams
Bullwinkle & Rocky Show
Clerks
Darby O'Gill & The Little People
Dogville
Jesus Christ Superstar
The Ladykillers
Magnum P.I.
The Passion of the Christ
The Punisher
Shaolin Soccer
Wattstax

August 23, 2004
Dallas
Duel
Ella Enchanted
Goodfellas
Grafitti Bridge
Happy Days
Laverne & Shirley
Laws of Attraction
Martin Scorsese Collection
The Munsters
New York Minute
Show Boy
Sugarland Express

August 10, 2004
Freaks
Kill Bill Volume 2
The Lost Boys
The Real Olympics
Sada

August 3 , 2004
Hidalgo
13 Going on 30
Darby O'Gill
Sliders
Knight Rider
The Elvis Collection Gidget
Beaches

July 27, 2004
Hellboy
The Whole Ten Yards
Showgirls
Ned Kelly
Pennies From Heaven
V - The Complete Series
Sledge Hammer
Hells Angels 69
Greendale
You Bet Your Life
Hells Angels 69
Salaam Bombay Dreams
Greendale

July 21, 2004
Bus 174
The Big Bounce
Broken Wings
Confidence
Crimson Gold
The Human Stain
Outfoxed
Starsky & Hutch
Thunderbirds Are Go

Control Room | Dawn of the Dead | Mulan | America's Heart & Soul |
Joey Bishop Show | Bikini Bandits | H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer

Trailer	Dawn of the Dead US/Canada Gross: $58.9 million It was art-school-grad Zack Snyder's intention to employ modern digital technology in the service of his exceedingly gory and completely unnecessary remake of George A. Romero's 26-year-old Dawn of the Dead. In doing so, he would spend an estimated $28 million to re-create something that initially topped out at $1.5 million. The original made back something like $40 million -- before going into video -- while the remake probably brought back twice as much at the box office. Veteran Troma writer James Gunn kept the ghouls coming back to the shopping mall, but resurrect much else in the way of irony or humor. Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer give it their best, but left the question unanswered: why bother? The bonus features explain how to blow up heads and other things real good. -- Gary Dretzka Title designer Kyle Cooper used actual human blood when designing the film's opening and closing credit sequences.
Trailer	Control Room US/Canada Gross: $2.5 million Even without Michael Moore’s surprise blockbuster, Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004 would go down as the year documentaries came of age as a weapon in political campaigns. From now on, no presidential race will be conducted without the deployment of documentarians on either side of the rhetorical divide. Jehane Noujaim’s Control Room, which examines how Al-Jazeera covered the early stages of the war in Iraq, was among the first of the lot to make an imprint on Americans fed up with our media’s hopelessly simplistic and inarguably partisan coverage. One viewing of Control Room will provide viewers with more insight about the Arab world than that gleaned from a year’s worth of network reports. Also newly arrived in video stores are Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Bush’s Brain, Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War, The Hunting of the President, Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, Horns and Halos and Facets’ multi-title package, “The Road to the Presidency,” about President Clinton’s campaigns. From the GOP’s point of view come Stolen Honor, Celsius 41 11, FahrenHYPE 9/11, Buried in the Sand: The Deception of America and George W. Bush: Faith in the White House. After these, the deluge. -- Gary Dretzka There's a pre-election flood of politically-oriented DVDs, including Jehane Noujaim's Control Room (Lions Gate), the talented filmmaker's vivid, necessary verite eavesdropping behind the scenes on Al-Jazeera satellite television during the onset of the war in Iraq. Greg Palast's Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, collates his dogged, exceptional investigative reporting for the BBC on the shenanigans behind the 2000 election and the history of the Bush dynasty, marred, unfortunately, by Palast's "gumshoe" shtick with trenchcoat and floppy hats. - Ray Pride THB Review: Noujaim's film covers a surprising range of subjects, getting more complex as the American invasion of Iraq progresses. The film is being headlined as being about Al Jazeera, but it is more about the media and the mechanics of dealing with the smoke and mirrors and dangers of war. Pride, Unprejudiced: Where several colleagues and I found delicate balance, a handful of others have scorned Jehane Noujaim's verite stunner The Control Room, such as City Pages' Rob Nelson, who wrote in the Village Voice, "Some viewers would beg to differ with my reading of Control Room as a highly effective recruiting film for Al Jazeera. (Where do I send my resume?)" It seemed representative of the sort of weary, glib writing out of 2004 Sundance.
Trailer	America's Heart & Soul US/Canada Gross: $.314 million Louis Schwartzberg’s handsome feel-good documentary America's Heart and Soul, which chronicled the indefatigable spirit of salt-of-the-earth Americans, was caught in an extremely awkward position when it was released on July 2. Arriving in the copious wake of Fahrenheit 9/11 -- out of the same Disney studio that refused to distribute Michael Moore’s anti-Bush screed -- this harmless homage to freedom and scenery was alternately treated as if it were a glossy apologia for George Bush’s Evil Empire, or the antidote to Moore-mania. America's Heart and Soul was neither. Overflowing with postcard-perfect vistas -- the director’s forte is producing stock footage for other filmmakers -- it drew miniature portraits of dozens of Americans whose personal stories qualify as kooky, sappy, inspirational or heroic.-- Gary Dretzka
	Mulan US/Canada Gross: $120.6 million Disney based its delightful animated feature, Mulan, on a 4,000-year-old Chinese legend about a girl who joins the army, disguised as a man, to keep her ailing father from being drafted into a war he couldn’t possibly survive. Her bravery has been a source of inspiration for countless generations of children, and, as such, obvious grist for Disney’s mill. Wisely, the studio resisted its natural inclination to westernize the story, art and music, and neutralize the ethnicity of the characters. The one conceit to mass culture is Mulan’s dragon companion, Mushu, who is voiced by Eddie Murphy (Disney hadn’t forgotten Robin Williams’ contribution to Aladdin). Also noteworthy was the use of digital technology, at Disney’s Florida studio, which allowed animators to add palpable drama to re-creations an avalanche and Hun attack. This Special Edition includes new songs, deleted scenes, video games, music videos and a preview of Mulan II. -- Gary Dretzka This was the first full length movie animated only at the Florida animation studio. Spot the hidden Mickey? The spots on Shang's horse's neck and rump are shaped like Mickey Mouse.
	Joey Bishop Show: Complete Second Season The six-disc Joey Bishop Show: Complete Second Season is for those students of Rat Pack mannerisms who don’t understand what deadpan comedian Joey Bishop brought to the party. Charisma challenged, Bishop played "straight man" to his more celebrated cohorts, all the while writing much of the material performed on stage. In his sitcom, Bishop played talk-show host Joey Barnes, around whom lots of wacky stuff happened on a weekly basis … just like Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show. Also from Quester is Make Room for Daddy: The Complete Fifth Season, in which Danny Thomas -- the master of the “spit take” -- played “excitable” nightclub performer Danny Williams, around whom lots of wacky stuff happened on a weekly basis. Both are funny in an old-fashioned sort of way, but not uproariously so. For boys growing up in the ’50s and early ’60s, the best part of these sitcoms may have been the casting of Abby Dalton and Marjorie Lord, two of the sexiest TV wives in the history of the medium. (There are no compilations of previous seasons, as these were the ones deemed most representative by Bishop and the Thomas family.) Purists have found fault with the editing of individual episodes, mostly in the trimming of opening credits.-- Gary Dretzka
H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer Admirers of Erik Larson’s best-seller, “The Devil in the White City,” should enjoy H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer, a documentary by first-timer John Borowski. The infamous Chicago doctor, Holmes, enjoys the dubious distinction of being America’s first serial killer. Essential to his diabolic schemes was his “castle of horrors,” which contained torture chambers, acid vats, greased chutes and gassing rooms. Borowski has enlisted actor Tony Jay to narrate his story, which is further served by re-creations and archival material. Not a bad addition to a Halloween list of screening options. -- Gary Dretzka
Bikini Bandits The Internet may be a lot of things, but a predictably reliable source of ideas and revenue for Hollywood studios it’s never been. Steven Grasse’s series of shorts, Bikini Bandits, might be the Web’s most successful export, at least to a legion of computer geeks, for whom its an addiction. Grasse, co-owner of Philadelphia’s Gyro Worldwide ad agency, describes his creations thusly: “four well-endowed, scantily clad, high-heel-wearing bad girls, trapped in the cold hard city, their naked backs against the wall and the odds against them … think Quentin Tarantino crossed with Russ Meyer.” Maybe, but the series probably owes more to Andy Sidaris’ silicone-injected L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies than Grasse cares to admit. The arrival of Bikini Bandits: Briefs, Shorts & Panties coincides with the release of the full-length animated feature, Bikini Bandits Save Christmas. Besides the bosomy babes with guns, the ladder features “zombie strippers, muscle cars, voodoo magic and heavy artillery.” An instant holiday classic. -- Gary Dretzka