The Wrap Up ...
The Last King Of Scotland	Like Helen Mirren, Forest Whitaker swept the every Best Actor award worth mentioning for his work as a dysfunctional monarch in The Last King of Scotland. Idi Amin, who was tutored by Scottish officers while in the Queen's army, enjoyed ribbing Her Majesty whenever possible, and, by offering aid to independence movements in Scotland and Wales (and sex-enhancement tips), he did just that. The Brits had the last laugh, however, after Amin was deposed and stashed away in Saudi Arabia for the rest of his days. For evidence as to just how uncanny was Whitaker's interpretation of the Ugandan dictator, stay tuned for the archival footage included in the bonus material. The 6-foot-2 actor's mere presence on the Uganda location shoot might have been enough to give survivors of the regime nightmares, especially knowing that Amin's reputation has been given a shiny new luster by nationalistic hip-hoppers who weren't even born when the last dissident was thrown to the crocodiles. For my money, though, James McAvoy also deserved recognition for his take on the fictionalized Scottish doctor who became Amin's confidante, cheerleader and white monkey. While their performances alone are enough to recommend The Last King of Scotland, Kevin Macdonald's direction also deserves its due recognition. -- Gary Dretzka
Déjà Vu	Normally, it isn't a good idea to mix genres and put an audience's ability to suspend disbelief to too strenuous a test. In uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and action maestro Tony Scott's terrorist drama Déjà Vu, however, that's exactly what we're asked to do. In it, a car-ferry carrying hundreds of sailors and their families is blown up by a powerful explosive device stashed in a SUV. The death toll is horrendous, and analogies immediately are made to 9/11 and Oklahoma City. The forensic work promises to be extremely grueling, but the task is made somewhat easier by the addition of ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) to the investigative team. A series of clues leads him to the home of a local New Orleans resident whose car was used in the bombing and whose dead body washed up on shore moments before the explosion. During Carlin's search of the home of Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton), he develops an emotional attachment to the beautiful young woman that borders on the obsessive. After passing along evidence to FBI agent Andrew Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), Carlin is invited to join a team of operatives who are on the verge of conquering the space-time continuum and using wormholes to solve crimes and prevent tragedies. Carlin volunteers to give the concept a test drive, and, he hopes, prevent both the bombing and murder of Claire. This sci-fi element isn't supposed to make a lot of literal sense, and it doesn't. It does, however, add a tick-tock pacing to the proceedings that energizes the crime-fighting process and adds a deadline for disaster. Bruckheimer, Scott and Washington make a pretty good team, and Déjà Vu is far more coherent than it has any right to be. Box-office response was atypical for the trio, but the film should do just fine in DVD. The extras include deleted scenes and a making-of featurette, but I would expect to see a R-rated director's cut version emerge before too long. -- Gary Dretzka
The Queen	Helen Mirren already has been duly honored for her wonderfully reserved performance as Queen Elizabeth, at a time when the yoke of the monarchy was weighing particularly heavy on her. Princess Diana had just died and the masses were demanding she join them in public mourning over their perceived mutual loss. Elizabeth felt as if it were her historic duty and personal right to keep a stiff upper lip while less-suppressible emotions were running at a fever pitch. The "people's princess" had gone out of her way to embarrass the royal family, and the queen elected to keep whatever grieving was to be done within the walls of her palaces. So as to avoid a public uprising, Prime Minister Tony Blair privately lobbied the queen to break her silence, and, at least, appear to be saddened by her former daughter-in-law's untimely death. It is at the moment that Elizabeth comes face to face with the public outpouring of grief and the obvious need of her constituents for her to say something -- anything -- that Mirren demonstrates why she's so revered as an actress. Using only her eyes, one or two facial muscles and a few slight gestures, Mirren convinces viewers of her character's strength, vulnerability and submerged humanity. It comes when Elizabeth returns to London, and, instead, of passing directly through the gates to the palace, stops to survey the many floral displays and greet the mourners. In an instant, the monarchy is preserved and the nation breathes a collective sigh of relief. As directed by the supremely talented Stephen Frears, The Queen also finds humor in the daily routines of the Royals, from walking the imperial dogs, to the obscenity of stalking stags in the vast acreage of their country estate. Also exceptional are Michael Sheen, as the perplexed prime minister; James Cromwell, as the unctuous Prince Phillip; and Alex Jennings, as the emotionally conflicted Prince Charles. Commentary is provided by Frears, writer Peter Morgan and historian Robert Lacey. -- Gary Dretzka MCN Review: It is time for Stephen Frears to be given his due as one of the very finest working filmmakers on this planet. Of course, he has had his misses in the 21 years since he burst into the American film lover's consciousness with My Beautiful Launderette. But how many filmmakers in history can offer a quality resume that has the variety of Launderette, Prick Up Your Ears, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters, High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things, Mrs Henderson Presents, and now, The Queen. Those are eight DVD library must-haves in 21 years. And there is great work, however flawed the final product, in projects like Sammy & Rosie Get Laid, The Snapper, Hero, The Van, the grossly underappreciated The Hi-Lo Country, Liam and even the TV version of Fail Safe. More >>
Notes On A Scandal	Also in the vanguard of the British dominance of the 2007 award season were Richard Eyre's Notes on a Scandal and Nicholas Hynter's adaptation of Alan Bennett's stage play, The History Boys. In Notes, Cate Blanchett plays an art teacher who makes the tragic mistake of allowing her iffy emotional state to trigger an over-amped libido, causing her to succumb to the insincere charms of a horny school boy. Depending on where one draws the line on statutory rape, however, her biggest mistake probably came in not shutting the blinds, thereby allowing a duplicitous fellow teacher (Dame Judi Dench) to insert herself into her affairs. Dench's portrayal of the pathetic old crone could have been torn from the Bette Davis playbook, but the she hardly needs any coaching when it comes to toying with the sympathies of willing audiences. Her cat-and-mouse game with the younger sinner makes for harrowing drama and wicked fun. The extras are generous and add to the enjoyment of watching great actors working at the top of their game. -- Gary Dretzka
The History Boys	The History Boys only recently closed on Broadway, but not before winning a half-dozen Tony awards. While the very entertaining and superbly acted movie adaptation didn't exactly set the box office on fire, it might have had something to do with the veritable avalanche of similarly classy imports during the holiday season. Or, the story might have seemed a bit too familiar as a vehicle for inspirational pedagogy. Set in 1980s Britain, The History Boys takes place at Cutlers' Grammar School where the esteem of the teachers, administrators and students is based on acceptance in the best colleges. Naturally, the personal lives of the students and teachers becomes entwined, adding to the humor and intrigue. Not much in the way of extras, though. -- Gary Dretzka
The Odd Couple Happy Days Mork & Mindy Laverne & Shirley	ABC's long-running sitcom, The Odd Couple, was adapted from Neil Simon's hit Broadway play and movie, adding only Jack Klugman and Tony Randall to the conceit of a forced marriage between a slob and a neat freak. It remains one of the most successful transfers from stage to TV. Paramount's five-disc package of 24 first-season episodes adds to a previous Time-Life collection a separate disc of Randall and Klugman's favorite episodes, talk- and game-show appearances, reunion footage and a gag reel. Several of the people responsible for the success of The Odd Couple also helped make Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Morky & Mindy enduring hits on ABC and syndication, as well. Series creator Garry Marshall, brother of Penny Marshall (Laverne DeFazio), provided a bridge between the three shows as a producer, writer, director and occasional actor. It's likely that these blue-collar sitcoms were the first to be set in Milwaukee, and, maybe, the last. The first season of Happy Days may have been the best, in that it reflected the edgy teen-angst tone evident in such movies as American Graffiti and The Lords of Flatbush, from which sprang Henry Winkler's lovable juvenile-delinquent, Fonzie. The second-season packages reflect the inevitable shift to mainstream acceptability. Don't look for Gavan O'Herlihy's lost son, Chuck Cunningham, in the second season as he was written off the show. Mork & Mindy was a spin-off of a Happy Days episode in which an alien attempted to kidnap Richie. The next year, Robin Williams was given his own sitcom to dominate.
Freedom Writers	Just when you think this based--on-real-life story about the heroism of one determined inner-city teacher is about to collapse into a pile of used cliches, it becomes something quite different. Like Stand and Deliver, Freedom Writers relies on the inherent drama of the actual teacher-student dynamic, and resists inventing tired subplots and psychodramas simply to please the note-givers at the studio. Hilary Swank portrays Erin Gruwell, a SoCal English teacher who beat the odds by using journals to unlock her students' creativity and self-esteem. She meets resistance from both the kids and a hide-bound administrator, of course, but the movie isn't about Gruwell's trials and tribulations. It's all about the marathon journey taken by the students, and it's one worth tagging along to see how it ends. April L. Hernandez is very good as the girl caught between honoring her extended family's distorted values and relying on the truth to set herself and a falsely accused classmate free. Excellent in supporting roles are Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Scott Glenn. -- Gary Dretzka
Smokin' Aces	I suppose we have Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino to thank for such blood-soaked roller-coaster rides as Smokin' Aces. One supposes it's a story about how every professional assassin in the world goes about collecting a $1 million bounty on a mob informer, who's hiding in plain sight atop a casino in Lake Tahoe. More than any other thing, however, it's a contest to see how much dummy ammunition and pyrotechnics can be expended over the course of 109 minutes, a record previously held by Domino, I believe. Jeremy Piven proves none-too-adept at portraying the oily Las Vegas illusionist, Buddy Aces Israel, who wants one more orgiastic fling before making himself disappear into witness protection. The feds want to keep Israel alive, as much as the mob wants to see him dead. Joe Carnahan has a talent for choreographing mayhem, and Smokin' Aces offers plenty of fiery action. About halfway through, however, the good guys and bad guys morph into one another and you literally need a scorecard to tell them apart. Worse, Israel is so unlikable a character, it's impossible to care whether he lives or dies. I imagine Smokin' Aces will appeal very much to meth heads and aspiring sociopaths. Is that a bad thing? -- Gary Dretzka
Overlord	Does the man dream the machine or the machine dream the man? American-born director Stuart Cooper’s epic, stoic, willfully peculiar Overlord (1975) is a hybrid of fiction and fact, of the Futurist and the post-modern, tracking the preparations of one supremely ordinary 20-year-old soldier, Tom Beddow (Brian Stirner), one Tom among tummies, as he trains to become part of Operation Overlord, or D-Day. What’s most striking about Cooper’s film is the extensive use of archival footage (from 3,000 hours viewed by Cooper from UK's Imperial War Museum) in a jagged yet forceful admixture, such as a montage of sustained aerial views of steam trains being strafed. Is the movie about young Tom or about the entire war effort hurtling toward that assault on the beach? Cooper makes dozens of brilliant juxtapositions that do not jar but awaken the senses, but the movie is elusive, neither Zelig nor Saving Private Ryan, but with worthy parallels to movies like Kevin Brownlow’s It Happened Here and Pontecorvo's Battle of Algiers. Philosophically, it’s more like film essayist Patrick Keiller (London) meeting Stanley Kubrick (and the fictional portions were shot by Kubrick’s favored cinematographer John Alcott). One standout among so many: there's a beautiful shot of Tom writing a letter in a wood, the camera moving back from stands of skinny trees, brightly backlit, the letter being read aloud: “It’s like a part of a machine that grows larger and larger while we get smaller and smaller until there’s nothing left.” Radically, Overlord is a narrative that sees forest and trees. -- Ray Pride
The Lost Tomb of Jesus The jury is still out on whether exec-producer James Cameron and filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici's team of forensic scientists have discovered the most controversial archaeological discovery of all time, as promised, or a 2,000-year-old version of Al Capone's safe. The Lost Tomb of Jesus describes what was revealed when scientists re-visited the remains of a first-century tomb, ripped open accidentally by a bulldozer in 1980. It revealed ossuaries bearing the names of Jesus, son of Joseph; Maria, Mariamene (Mary Magdalene); Joseph; Matthew; and Judah, son of Jesus. This discovery was pretty much ignored for a quarter-century, until Jacobovici decided to take a closer look. The resulting film uses re-creations and documentary footage to make a case for this being an event of great importance to the world. Who knows? Almost immediately after the initial flurry of excitement and media hype, the archeology community started back-pedaling on the discovery. Maybe that's because the potential significance of the find would be so monumental. The expanded DVD edition adds 80 minutes of interviews with Cameron and Jacobovici; detailed analysis of the evidence; a photo gallery; and an epilogue. -- Gary Dretzka
Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1935-1977 Pink Floyd: Meddle: A Classic Album Under Review Live at Ground Zero Blues Club/Buddy Guy The Crooners The latest entries in MVD's provocative Under Review series analyze the work of singer-songwriter-poet Leonard Cohen and psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd at early, yet pivotal points in their formidable careers. In the mid-'60s, Cohen had just returned to North America from a long sojourn in Greece and would begin adding music to words previously reserved for poetry and novels. The Montreal native had been living on the island of Hydra for most of the folk era back home, and, by the time he caught up with it in New York, he was older than most of emerging troubadours and far more worldly. The darkly shaded romanticism of Songs of Leonard Cohen -- and his irresistible portrait of a personal muse, Suzanne, in particular -- stood in direct contrast to the cynicism and protestations of most other singer-songwriters of the period, including Bob Dylan, whose abstract poetics defied easy interpretation. Several well known music critics put Cohen's first five albums under the microscope, adding context and analysis to the recollections of fellow musicians, engineers and cronies. The discussion occasionally borders on the scholarly, but is saved by archival clips and interviews, as well as snippets of music. The bonus material adds a featurette about Cohen's band, Army; a trivia quiz; and short bios of the commentators. For Pink Floyd, the 1971 album Meddle represented a turning away from the psychedelic rave-ups and avant-garde experimentation of the band's formative years. The music was about to evolve into something far more focused and accessible. In addition to the 23-minute prog-rock sonic poem, Echoes, the album also would introduce One of These Days, which would go on to become a concert staple for decades to come. Critics and friends of the band are on hand to help deconstruct Meddle, and the package also includes footage from vintage live and studio performances and photographs. One of the sad truths revealed in the PBS series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues was the fact that blues artists are disappearing faster than they can be produced. This distinctly modern art form is still practiced in nightclubs in nightclubs, large and small, funky and urbane, in the rural South and capitals of the world. Bobby Rush was featured in the series' Road to Memphis segment, as a R&B musician who's toiled for 50 years on the Chitlin' Circuit and is still going strong. The DVD was recorded in the heart of the Delta, at the Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Miss. Other music-related DVDs new to the marketplace include The Crooners, which features such leading stylists as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Perry Como, in performances from the heyday of the saloon singer. The ultra-smooth vocals displayed a respect for lyrics, orchestration and audiences almost non-existent in 2007. Also appearing in the DVD are Louis Armstrong, who most certainly wasn't a crooner, but could hang with the best of 'em, and guests Ann-Margret, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis and Jack Benny. -- Gary Dretzka
World's Young Ballet: Moscow International Competition Tangos Among Friends: Daniel Barenboim, Carlos Gardel Admirers of the 2005 documentary Ballet Russes will find an unexpected treat awaiting them in Kultur's delightful showcase of international ballet competitions. The event here is the 1969 Moscow International Competition of Ballet Artists, at the Bolshoi Theater. Among the participants were the very young Mikhail Baryshnikov and Ludmila Semenyaka. There also is rare footage of Anna Pavlova in performance, and excerpts from Swan Lake, War and Peace, Spartacus and Le Corsaire. From Kultur also comes Tango Among Friends, in which the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim returns to his native Buenos Aires and reconnects with the tango and the legendary Carlos Gardel. Archival material and interviews carry us back to the early 20th Century to discover the earthy, working-class roots of the tango. Barenboim also introduces us to the music of Gardel, Salgán, Píazzolla and Ginastera, in performances by Rodolfo Mederos and Hector Console, and in a collaboration with Placido Domingo. -- Gary Dretzka
Tears of the Black Tiger Harlem Double Feature: Harlem Rides the Range/Murder in Harlem The elasticity of the Western undergoes the supreme test in Tears of the Black Tiger, a period Thai hybrid that practically defies description. Wisit Sasanatieng's exceedingly bizarre film pays homage as much to classic Thai melodramas as it does to Sergio Leone, John Ford, the American singing cowboy, Sam Peckinpah, Clint Eastwood and, who knows, maybe even Mel Brooks. Black Tiger is a freakishly gifted gun slinger who finds himself in the middle of a range war between government police and a veritable brigade of cowboys in Howdy Doody drag. The handsome, harmonica-playing Black Tiger long has been fixated on the lovely daughter of a local government official, but his lower-caste upbringing denies both of the young lovers the approval of her father. Tears plays by the same rules of early chop-socky movies, allowing large numbers of combatants to be wiped out in an extremely short period of time, as well as uncanny demonstrations of marksmanship and fisticuffs. Even more surprising is Sasanatieng's the color palette, which resembles nothing short of Technicolor on digital steroids. Stick around for panel discussion, in which members of the cast and crew describe their motivations and techniques. Released in 1939, Harlem Rides the Range is one of several Westerns comprised of an all-black cast and specifically intended for exhibition before segregated audiences in both the North and South. Produced between 1915 and 1945, these and other race movies were extremely popular and profitable, even though they were produced on a shoestring budget and distributed under the radar of white audiences. Despite the all-black cast, there's really very little difference between Harlem Rides the Range and dozens of other B-movies of the period. The only real nod to ethnicity comes in the one or two archetypal -- not to be confused with racially insensitive -- characters whose wisecracks and observations reflect a more urban sensibility than one would expect from Gabby Hayes. Harlem Rides the Range was written by Flournoy E. Miller and Spencer Williams, who also played key roles, alongside Lucius Brooks, Herb "The Sepia Singing Cowboy" Jeffries and Clarence Brooks. (Some folks will recognize Williams from his stint playing Andy, in the television version of Amos & Andy.) Also included in the Harlem Double Feature is the more racially informed crime thriller Murder in Harlem. It was directed by Oscar Micheaux, who, between 1919 and 1948, wrote, produced and directed three dozen such features from his Chicago base. Alpha Home Entertainment (www.oldies.com) offers several other Harlem Double Features, as well as dozens of other vintage B-movie and genre titles. -- Gary Dretzka
Al Franken: God Spoke Larry King Live The Fabulous 60s Like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura before him, Al Franken is attempting to move from the world of show business to the political arena. Best known, perhaps, for his tenure as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live during the glory years, Franken has since become a highly visible spokesman for liberal causes and candidates, a successful essayist and centerpiece attraction on the financially troubled Air America radio network. It's my contention that the only compelling challenge to the venom being spewed by right-wing radio hosts now comes from standup comedians -- and a few who spend most of their time sitting down, behind a desk -- who can trade trash talk with anyone, and make sense at the same time. In politics, a little humor goes a long way. The events following the untimely death of Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, while on the campaign trail, led Franken to seriously consider doing something he'd previously only treated as a joke: return to his home state and run for political office. Al Franken: God Spoke documents both the launch of Air America and Franken's evolution from observer to participant in the political process. It also captures incidents in the public feuds between Franken and Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly. Politics junkies tend to put dogma above logic, and not all of the discourse here is admirable … from the right or left. Still, liberals will find much in God Spoke to like, especially in Franken's willingness to put his money where his mouth was. Whatever one thinks of Larry King's interview style, he clearly has enjoyed access to more elusive media prey than any other mainstream journalist, if only because of his propensity for not asking questions that would register on any journalistic Richter scale. Indeed, he prides himself more in catching the big celebrity fish of the moment than in getting anything out of them worth hearing. King's also among those responsible for exaggerating the importance of scandals surrounding the likes of Anna Nicole Smith. But, he's managed to survive for a half-century, and it's tough to begrudge his iconic status on cable TV. Included on the three-disc, 550-minute collection Larry King Live: The Greatest Interviews are portions of interviews with such luminaries as Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, John F. Kennedy Jr., Al Pacino, Audrey Hepburn, Sammy Davis Jr., Bob Hope, Paul McCartney, Bette Davis, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Jerry Seinfeld and several presidents and first ladies. When little Babs and Junior ask grandma and grandpa how they spent their college years -- and their pot-addled memories fail them -- they can simply pop MPI's The Fabulous 60s on the DVD player and it will all come flooding back to them. Narrated by the late ABC anchor Peter Jennings, the documentary uses archival news footage and other audio-visual memorabilia to take viewers from the inauguration of JFK to the heights of the anti-war and Black Power movements. -- Gary Dretzka
George Lopez: The Complete First and Second Seasons Drew Carey: The Complete First Season Dogfights: The Complete Season One Foxworthy's Big Night Out: The Complete Series MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge Season 2 NCIS/JAG: The Complete Third Season The Good Soldier/Tom Brown's Schooldays Final Shot: The Hank Gathers Story Set in Cleveland, The Drew Carey Show actually featured characters who might have grown up there and never left, instead of moving to Hollywood and getting expensive haircuts for auditions. This set is the first to encapsulate the show's entire first season, which previously was sub-divided for expensive a la carte purchases. The thing that made Drew Carey special, I think, was that the ensemble worked in the service of the show, not to set up gags for the star. The George Lopez Show was built on a more traditional foundation, in that Lopez played a beleaguered husband/dad/son whose judgment and wisdom are challenged on a weekly basis at home and the plant, but ultimately perseveres. Think of it as a Hispanic version of Father Knows Best. The History Channel's Dogfights gave war junkies an opportunity to experience the thrills of aerial combat from the perspective of the cockpit. Using interviews with actual pilots and CGI technology, the show added a contemporary feel to ancient newsreel footage shot at ground level. Among the fighters engaged here are F8 Crusaders, F6F Hellcats and P40 Tomahawks, in various theaters of war. You might be a redneck … if you knew which network carried Jeff Foxworthy's sketch-comedy show, Big Night Out. On the CMT variety/improv series, Foxworthy enlisted such performers as Kenny Rogers, Trace Adkins, Billy Currington, Sara Evans, Pat Green, Jack Ingram, Montgomery Gentry, Joe Nichols, Blake Shelton, the Warren Brothers and Hank Williams Jr. to join him on tour and test their comedy chops, as well as providing some good music along the way. A pretty good argument could be made for compiling the most bizarre of Japanese game shows and building a cable network around them. If it were on premium cable, some of the even stranger R-rated shows could be presented, as well … farting contests, breaking bindles of chopsticks and forks with a contestant's butt cheeks, ripping the tops off unsuspecting women pedestrians and other classy stuff. Spike TV has given MXC a home here for its celebration of extreme outdoors competition, sans any protective covering. It also adds dubbed commentary of a mostly humorous nature. (Some of the material has been edited from the original airings.) Like you, I find it difficult to distinguish between NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service and JAG: Judge Advocate General, both of which were/are on CBS and have recently had their third seasons compiled on DVD. NCIS is a uniformed version of CSI, with Mark Harmon as the resident hunk. It was spun off JAG, which more closely resembled Law & Order and had Catherine Bell as the resident hottie. Acorn Media keeps spinning out DVD editions of classic mini-series that were launched on Britain's Granada Television and ended up as a centerpiece attraction on PBS' Masterpiece Theater. The Good Soldier, which first aired in 1981, was adapted from a`novel by Ford Madox Ford in which a pair of well-heeled German and American couples meet regularly at a European spa in the years before World War I. In flashbacks and other non-linear devices, Ford's book used the relationships between the protagonists to comment on the war's impact on power, class, sex, lies and secrecy among the aristocratic class. Extras include a biography of Ford. Another terrific adaptation of a popular novel, Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays, has arrived on DVD. Set in the 1800's, it's the story of public-school boys who must find the gumption to stand up to upper-class bullies, as part of their training for life outside school. Repackaged as an edition of MPI Home Video's True Stories Collection, Final Shot revisits the true story of Loyola Marymount basketball star Hank Gathers, who collapsed and died during a nationally telecast game. Marymount was enjoying a Cinderella season, and seemed destined to find glory in the Final Four when thunderstruck by cruel fate. The team would suck it up and dedicate its late, short-handed run to Gathers, winning the hearts of basketball fans across the U.S. The made-for-TV movie also documents the unlikely friendship between Gathers and Bo Kimble, who lead the team in Gathers' absence. -- Gary Dretzka
Naked You Die Black Christmas: Unrated Version The Last Supper Masters of Horror: Family I've been going to the movies for a long time, but it wasn't until about a month ago that I was introduced to the term, giallo. My desk has been weighted down with '60s-vintage Italian crime/horror thrillers, and, finally, I decided to discover what it is. According to the occasionally reliable folks at Wikipedia, giallo films are characterized by extended murder sequences, featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. Like the pulpy films celebrated by Quentin Tarantino and other grind house aficionados, there is a crime to be solved and women to be seduced, but the Italian models are informed by opera and staged grand guignol drama. Antonio Margheriti and Mario Bava's 1968 specimen, Naked You Die, essentially describes the investigation into a series of murders at all all-girls school. The Weinstein brothers' gift to bad little boys and girls was a remake of the 1974 trash-slasher classic, Black Christmas (directed by Bob Clark, who was killed recently in a car crash). It was released in DVD just in time for Easter, in an unrated version. Like the original, the recent Black Christmas involves a group of sorority girls who are picked off one by one over the course of a Christmas break after receiving threatening phone calls from a psycho killer (gee, sounds like Naked You Die). Here, the sorority girls are represented by Katie Cassidy, Lacey Chabert, Crystal Lowe, Jessica Harmon, Leela Savasta, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Michelle Trachtenberg, with Andrea Martin making return appearance as the house mother. Next time, girls, please just say no. Osamu Fukutani's highly stylized and exquisitely shot ode to cannibalism describes a demi-monde populated by flesh eaters and willing providers of human meat. Dr. Yuji Kotorida is a well-respected plastic surgeon who develops a taste for attractive young Chinese and Japanese women, after sampling the leftovers of his cosmetic surgeries. In Hong Kong for meetings, the doctor is introduced to an underground club scene where posh cannibals can dine freely on freshly butchered humans, or purchase a victim on the stiletto-heeled hoof. Eventually, a detective tumbles to the doctor's villainy and the chase is on. As grisly as The Last Supper sounds, it isn't a graphic or obscene as it could have been … or, would have been in less skillful hands. It is not for the squeamish, however. I can only hope this is one Japanese horror flick that avoids being Americanized. John Landis directs Family, the latest entry in Showtime's inventive Masters of Horror anthology series. George Wendt plays a suburban serial killer in search of the perfect family … even if he has to stitch one together himself. There's a bit more macabre horror here than is typical in the series, but not at the sacrifice of chills and bloodletting. The DVD adds commentary by writer Brent Hanley, making-of featurettes and the original script in DVD-ROM format. -- Gary Dretzka