DVD Releases: September 21, 2005


	Inside Deep Throat: Theatrical NC-17 Edition Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when adult movies actually had storylines, 35mm was the film stock of choice, breasts could never be mistaken for bocce balls and porn stars of both genders didn't feel it necessary to eradicate every follicle of hair from their bodies. Inside Deep Throat documents how federal law-enforcement officials inadvertently turned an otherwise unremarkable porno flick into a blockbuster sensation, helped steer XXX entertainment directly into the mainstream of American pop culture and made several Mafia thugs unthinkably wealthy. It's a fascinating tale, well told, and the DVD's bonus material adds even more depth -- and irony -- to the legend. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's documentary may be a tad earnest in its retelling of the saga, in that it allows too many '70s-era blowhards a forum for their dopey reminiscences, while ignoring some of the seedier aspects of Linda Lovelace's background. As good as it is, Inside Deep Throat works best as a companion to The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry, which asks a few more questions of the period's key players. -- Gary Dretzka Gross Behavior: Prior to the theatrical diminution and eventual demise of the X, I would periodically be called upon as an expert witness at pornography trials. While some might have viewed this as a stain on their reputation, it was no more than a day's work for a working film critic at the local daily newspaper. It in no way related to having had fleeting social intercourse with either Linda Lovelace or Marilyn Chambers.

	The Outsiders: The Complete Novel Rumble Fish: Special Edition By the time Francis Ford Coppola turned to the novels of S.E. Hinton for source material, audiences and critics had set the bar so high for his work that Manute Bol could have walked under it without dipping his head. What looked uninspired in 1983, looks pretty good now, however. The Outsiders was seen mostly as an attempt to re-invigorate the same juvenile-delinquent genre that had given James Dean, Vic Morrow, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo and Sidney Poitier their first big breaks. Arriving on the heels of the critically thrashed musical, One From the Heart -- which also looks better, today -- the Tulsa-set teen drama felt like another eccentric exercise in style and atmosphere. The DVD package adds 22 minutes of footage that restores the narrative flow of the novel, substitutes a less formal soundtrack (by Coppola's dad) and throws in some commentary and casting sessions. Coppola's second visit that year to Hinton turf, Rumble Fish, proved even more vexing. The newly released Special Edition likewise deserves a second look, if only to appreciate the maestro's wonderful gift for casting stars of the future. In these two pictures alone, the acting credits included Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Penn, Vincent Spano and Laurence Fishburne. -- Gary Dretzka

	The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3D Hot on the heels of Robert Rodriguez' adults-oriented Sin City comes his more family-friendly The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D. Inspired by characters created by his then-7-year-old son, Racer, the digital fantasy involves Max, a boy who can't catch a break at home or at school, and the superheroes who have leapt from his imagination into reality. Although not in the same league as Rodriguez' Spy Kids films, the film should appeal roughly to the same audience, especially those who've yet to experience 3-D. Unlike the DVD incarnations of some films shot in 3-D, Shark Boy and Lave Girl, comes with a full set of 3-D glasses. A 2-D version also is available, but why bother? Besides Cayden Boyd, as Max, and a couple kids named Taylor, the film also stars David Arquette, Kristin Davis and George Lopez. -- Gary Dretzka

	Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures With the theatrical release of Nick Parks and Steve Box's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit just around the corner, there's no better time for the uninitiated to familiarize themselves with its stars, Wallace, the eccentric inventor, and his trusted canine companion, Gromit. This DVD set combines the Oscar-nominated A Grand Day, with Academy Award-winning Claymation gems The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, and the 10 mini-shorts of Wallace & Gromit in Cracking Contraptions. These are the films that eventually led to the green-lighting of Aardman Animations' wonderful Chicken Run. Next week, the first season of Park and Aardman's madcap TV series, Creature Comforts, also arrives on DVD. In it, wild and domesticated animals adopt a mockumentary approach to the telling their life stories. Like everything else from the studio, it's a hoot. -- Gary Dretzka

	The Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl in 3D Hot on the heels of Robert Rodriguez' adults-oriented Sin City comes his more family-friendly The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D. Inspired by characters created by his then-7-year-old son, Racer, the digital fantasy involves Max, a boy who can't catch a break at home or at school, and the superheroes who have leapt from his imagination into reality. Although not in the same league as Rodriguez' Spy Kids films, the film should appeal roughly to the same audience, especially those who've yet to experience 3-D. Unlike the DVD incarnations of some films shot in 3-D, Shark Boy and Lave Girl, comes with a full set of 3-D glasses. A 2-D version also is available, but why bother? Besides Cayden Boyd, as Max, and a couple kids named Taylor, the film also stars David Arquette, Kristin Davis and George Lopez. -- Gary Dretzka

TV-to-DVD Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season Ned and Stacey: The Complete First Season One Tree Hill: The Complete Second Season Halloweentown High Saturday Morning With Sid & Marty Krofft Clearly, Emmy voters had a difficult time deciding whether ABC's hottest -- and best -- new show of the 2004-05 season was a comedy or drama, electing to punt by choosing the more easily defined Everybody Loves Raymond and Lost in those categories. No matter … Emmys are nice, but they don't pay the rent on Wisteria Lane. This DVD package is for fans who simply can't get enough of Desperate Housewives, as it offers six of the episodes in unrated, extended versions (which aren't any naughtier than the originals, really), commentary by the creator and stars, a blooper reel and featurettes on the characters' clothes and homes. Oprah Winfrey, never averse to hogging another diva's spotlight, also shows up in one eight-minute segment. Television has a funny way of proving that first instincts often are best, even if audiences don't reward their prescience with good ratings. In hindsight, who would have thought that an offbeat sitcom from the producers of The King of Queens, and starring Academy Award-nominee Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, 2004) and Emmy-winner Debra Messing (Will and Grace) could fail? But, it did. A few years ago, the memory of such one-year-wonder series would fade almost as quickly as the sitcom itself. There weren't even enough episodes to qualify for syndication. Now, however, these shows are given elaborate DVD packages of their own. For the record, Church plays Ned Dorsey, a pompous advertising executive who needs a wife to get promoted. Messing plays Stacey Colbert, a ditzy freelance writer desperate to move away from her parents. Somehow, viewers didn't buy it. Who knew? Having just entered its third season on the WB, One Tree Hill resembles Fox's The O.C. in several ways. The biggest difference, however, lies in its North Carolina setting. This means, of course, that not all of the teens suffer from the curse of being prematurely rich, snotty and insufferably trendy. Their romances and dysfunctional parents are almost interchangeable, though. The newly released DVD contains all 22 episodes from the second season, plus secrets and gossip that will be of interest to loyal fans. It's never too soon to begin celebrating Halloween, which has become something of a national holiday. The Disney Channel has hit the jackpot with a series of Halloweentown specials, starring Kimberly J. Brown and Debbie Reynolds as the most prominent members of a family of witches. Trouble ensues when teenage Marnie tries to adjust to high school life in the mortal coil. Also available in DVD are Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. Younger viewers likely will respond better to the less-spooky antics of the Pooh characters who made The Heffalump Movie a moderate theatrical success, before hitting the video aftermarket. Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie documents Roo and Lumpy's struggle to prevent the evil Gobloon from destroying Halloween. Rhino has provided post-Boomer/pre-Gen X parents the opportunity to share with their post-post-Boomer/Gen W children some of the wonderful shows they enjoyed, before ceaseless soccer practice, guitar and martial-arts lessons robbed today's kids of precious TV time. Back in the '70s, Saturday Morning With Sid & Marty Krofft easily distinguished itself as a live-action alternative to cartoon shows thinly disguised as infomercials for toys and breakfast cereal. Represented here are the debut episodes of Land of the Lost, H.R. Pufnstuf, The Lost Saucer, The Bugaloos, Far Out Space Nuts, Lidsville and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. Now, if someone would only produce a DVD of highlights from Andy's Gang (Pluck your magic twanger, Froggy …) -- Gary Dretzka

Scary Movie 3.5: Special Unrated Version Don't Be a Menace Lady in White Dead & Breakfast The Scary Movie franchise is likely to prosper as long as Hollywood continues to spin out highly profitable gore- and spook-fests aimed directly at the wallets of teenagers. This time around, the targets of the Wayans Brothers' scorn include such supernatural ditties as The Matrix trilogy, The Ring, The Sixth Sense, Signs and, the somewhat creepy, 8 Mile. This time around, David Zucker substitutes as director for Keenen Ivory Wayans, which adds a slightly more cerebral spin on the spoofs … although not so much as would make a great deal of difference to its audience. Even though the title of this DVD edition promises a naughtier experience than the original, it's nothing that would require a rating lower than a soft-R. Zucker's commentary explains the decisions that went into the editing process (the first two Scary Movie films went out R). There also are plenty of deleted scenes and alternate takes. After posting $110 million in domestic box-office receipts, I fear we haven't seen the end of this franchise, yet. The authors of the Scary Movie series, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, also are represented this week by a special Unrated Collector's Series edition the 1996 spoof of urban dramas, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. It follows by only nine months the DVD launch of a not-Special edition of the same movie, which was directed by Paris Barclay. The new disc includes a missing scene, making-of video and a featurette. If you already own the earlier release, it's safe to ignore this one. If anyone had actually gone to see writer-director Frank LaLoggia's very decent Lady in White upon its release in 1988, it might be exactly the kind movie the Wayons Brothers would add to their list of potential targets for a Scary Movie 4. Based on an urban legend repeated by residents of LaLoggia's upstate New York home, it combines a ghost story with a murder mystery. Lukas Haas plays Frankie, who after being locked in school cloakroom on Halloween night of 1962, witnesses the ghostly image of a little girl before being assaulted by an unknown assailant. Frankie becomes convinced that the incident is connected to the nocturnal wanderings of a local legend, the mysterious Lady in White. What could have been just another run-of-the-mill slasher flick actually is a respectable thriller. Line-dancing zombies, anyone? I suggest we declare a moratorium on all movies about the undead, whether they be serious, ironic or intentionally comic. Dead & Breakfast is being pitched as a companion to the exponentially better British export Sean of the Dead, Peter Jackson's nutso Dead Alive and the recent Aussie splatter-fest, Undead. If only. -- Gary Dretzka

Ethan Mao This critically reviled coming-out drama tells the story of 18-year-old Ethan Mao, a gay Chinese-American from southern California, who turns to hustling after being thrown out of his suburban home by disapproving parents. Feeling confused and abandoned, Ethan connects with another street hustler, Remigio, who provides him with shelter and friendship. A visit home to pick up clothes and other belongings turns to disaster when his family returns early from a Thanksgiving excursion. Things get ugly very soon, not only for Remigio and the re-assembled Maos, but also for viewers. -- Gary Dretzka

MCN's 2004 DVD Year In Review
Doug Pratt's Ten Best - Multiplatter And Single Platter
Digital Nation: Gary Dretzka's Best DVDs of the Year
Ray Pride's Five Best DVDs And Five Best Boxed Sets