Catching up with WAITING FOR SUPERMAN's Davis Guggenheim

Four months into the release of Waiting for Superman, glimmers of possible change in public education illuminate the horizon.

(A charter school lottery in Waiting for Superman.)

by Terry Keefe

(Note: I spoke to Davis Guggenheim, and wrote this article, a few weeks ago, when Waiting for Superman was considered by many a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination. It didn't receive that Oscar nomination but would have nonetheless been well-deserving of it. The article is currently appearing in Venice Magazine.)

Waiting for Superman director Davis Guggenheim might be wishing for a few super-powers of his own with the virtual non-stop schedule he's been keeping to promote his documentary about the crisis in American public schools, since its release at the end of September. A front runner for the Best Documentary Academy Award, Waiting for Superman has already scooped up the top feature doc prizes from the National Board of Review, the Critics Choice Awards, as well as those of numerous regional critics groups, and the last few months have required a whirlwind tour of screening appearances as part of the awards campaign. There's a weariness in Guggenheim's voice when we speak on the event-packed Golden Globes weekend, which he apologizes for, although his enthusiasm for both his film, and the issues it addresses, haven't dwindled at all. Undoubtedly keeping the director inspired is the fact that the end result of more awards for Superman will be realized not just in dollars and prestige, but also in a larger audience for the film that can potentially help make the changes in public education that the film reveals to be desperately needed. The awards stakes are a bit higher in a real-world sense for Superman, rather than for, say, Black Swan. Winning the Best Picture Oscar won't likely save many actual psychotic ballerinas, but winning top documentary for Superman might eventually make a big difference in the lives of many public school students.

(Director Davis Guggenheim, above. Promotional art for Waiting for Superman, below.)

The title of Waiting for Superman comes from a quote in the film from charismatic education reformer Geoffrey Canada, who says, “One of the saddest days of my life was when my mother told me ‘Superman’ did not exist. Cause even in the depths of the ghetto you just thought he was coming… She thought I was crying because it’s like Santa Claus is not real. I was crying because no one was coming with enough power to save us.” Canada is a former teacher who entered the profession as an idealistic young man who believed he could fix what was wrong with public education pretty quickly, but just as quickly became disillusioned with the rigid bureaucracy that worked against any significant changes being implemented. He has since founded Harlem Children's Zone, a group of charter schools which have proven remarkably successful in improving graduation rates and creating future college students in some of the most impoverished areas of New York.

(Geoffrey Canada, with students, above.)

Charter schools and the alternative they offer to traditional public education are at the heart of Waiting for Superman, partially as a prize which five young students hope to win admission to in a series of “school lotteries,” in which public school students compete for a limited number of spots in the top charter schools. However, they don't compete via merit, but instead via the random mercies of an actual bouncing lottery ball.

Guggenheim divides his film into two distinct segments, which he intercuts. On one side, he tells the stories of the young students from New York, California, and Washington: Daisy, Francisco, Anthony, Emily, and Bianca, as they head towards the lotteries which will literally decide their futures. On the other, he introduces us to the adults administrators, reformers, and teachers who are at odds over what types of changes in public education should take place, if any. Finding themselves in direct conflict are Michelle Rhee, the reform-minded Chancellor of Public Schools in Washington, D.C. since 2007, and Randi Weingarten, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers union. Rhee has pushed for numerous reforms, such as the right to fire poor teachers, including those with tenure, and a merit pay system, where better performing teachers receive higher salaries. Many of her ideas have faced entrenched opposition from Weingarten and other union leaders.

Davis Guggenheim first came to true prominence when he directed the Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, the landmark film which tackled another “large” problem, that of climate change. The son of the late documentarian Charles Guggenheim, Davis Guggenheim had planned to become primarily a director of narrative material, but decided to make his first documentary after being fired as the director of the studio feature Training Day. That 2001 documentary was The First Year, which also dealt with the topic of public education and followed five inner-city teachers in Los Angeles for the initial 12 months of their careers.

Since Waiting for Superman has been released, have you noticed any changes in public education that you can attribute to the film, at least in terms of attitude, if not in policy, so far?

Davis Guggenheim: Well, yes. The most exciting thing is that the tone and the content of the conversation has changed.And when I started out [on the film], I think the hardest task was... how do you get people to re-engage this issue? Because I think for a lot of people like myself, these problems were around when we were kids. And so there's this unspoken sense that this is just too complex, and that maybe the problem is just too complicated to ever be solved. And so how do you bring the audience back? How do you bring regular people back into that conversation? So, you know, in screenings, you see regular people, moms and dads, talking, just having light-bulb moments, going, “I didn't know that my kid's school is in the state that it is.” And the other part which is exciting is you're seeing people like Randi Weingarten, the head of the teachers union, saying that tenure is not... should not be, a lifetime status.

That's a significant change.

Yes, so there's these things that were not even discussed and off the table, which are now being discussed and are on the table. Which I think is really significant, the idea of reforming tenure, the idea of merit pay, the idea of really thoughtful evaluation. You're seeing people on both sides of the issue having real conversations about how do you evaluate teachers? As opposed to this sort of polemical thing. There's still the polemical thing, but you're seeing, you know, good people now part of the conversation.

Have there then been any changes in the attitudes of the teachers unions in regards to the concept of merit pay, which they refused to even vote on in the film?

Well, yeah, since the film, they did come up with a deal in D.C. And that's the good news, and it was about two-thirds of what our reformers wanted. The bad news is that Michelle Rhee's mayor (Mayor Adrian Fenty) got booted out of office... and that had a lot to do with, you know, the union putting a lot of money against him. And when I say this...I never thought of myself as a guy who would be criticizing unions. You know, I'm a leftie, I'm a Democrat, my father used to talk around the kitchen table about how it was a great day when workers organized. And I'm a member of the Directors Guild of America trade union. I believe in those principles. But when you go into these schools... these rules and these restrictions are not the only thing, but they are one of the big, big restrictions to change.

As you mentioned, the problem is immense and very complicated. And also from a storytelling point of view, it must have been very daunting to even start to think about narrowing this topic down to a two-hour documentary.

That's right. I think...this is by far the hardest movie I've ever attempted to make. The complexity of the issue...how do you make things simple enough for a wider audience to grasp, and then how do you get people to care, and to invest? So that finding these kids and showing what's at stake, you know: If they go to this school, this; and if they go to that school, that. And showing that it's a matter of luck whether you get a good education. That was a sort of breakthrough. The lottery piece was a huge breakthrough.

It works as a great storytelling device, but were you as horrified as I was when you realized it was an actual, physical Lotto-type lottery?

Yeah. Tom Friedman [of The New York Times] wrote a piece about witnessing a lottery in Baltimore. And that piece sort of gave me the idea for the structure of the film for the kids [segments]...you know, not every kid in America goes through a lottery with a bingo ball, but it's a great metaphor...there is kind of a lottery for all of us: you know, what zip code you're born in, what district you're in, what teacher you have.

In terms of the structure, is it accurate that the two storylines of the film, that of the kids and that of the adult teachers and administrators, were not actually intercut, as they are in the finished film, during much of the post-production?

Yeah. The structure was very experimental. I built two separate films, one about the kids, and one about the system, and I had this feeling that if I kept them apart, if I cut them and finished them, beginning-middle-and-end, made them work separately...then when I cut them together it would have this sort of magnifying effect.

Many times Lesley Chilcott, my producing partner, would say, 'You know, it's a month before the Sundance deadline. Don't you think you should start cutting them together?' And I'm like, 'No, they're not ready, they're not ready.' But I just had this instinct that there really is this tension between the dysfunctional system the adults have created, and that's its own story. But first is the reality of these kids...who just expect a lot from us and who just want a chance, you know? And if I put those two things in opposition to each other, [I knew] there'd be some powerful drama.

The two stories are great counterpoints to each other. Did you know generally what the film was going to look like early on in terms of overall content, or did you take the tack of: 'I'm going to do a lot of interviews, and then possibly discover it as we go along?'

A process of 'discovery' sounds so productive. My process was far from productive. It was really banging my head against the wall. And pursuing many different storylines, interviewing a lot of different people, and building six or seven scenes...storylines, that I would just throw out.

And you were cutting as you went along in the shooting process?

That's the exciting thing about where my process has changed since An Inconvenient Truth, or because of An Inconvenient Truth. If you look at a traditional documentary, they usually go like this: You pitch an idea, you raise the money, you go shoot, you come back, you edit it, you find your stock footage, you finish. So, shooting and editing are separate steps. But with Inconvenient Truth we were shooting so fast...we were shooting as we were editing.

It's a great way to do it because editing is really as close to writing, as anything. You know, the process of putting images together is editing, but what you're really doing is you're saying, 'Where's this going? What leads to it next?' And it's as much writing as anything. So, you know, we're shooting up until the last day of editing. It's really wonderful...it is a way in which technology has really changed the way you can do documentaries.

I can only imagine trying to do the same thing on a flatbed with 16mm film.

That's the way my father made documentaries. And it was exactly the way they would do it. You say, well, let's restructure the first third of the movie. Well, that might take a week.

If you're lucky.

If you're lucky, just physically unsplicing and splicing things back together, and then you look at it and say, 'Oh, that didn't work.' And in that amount of time, we can go shoot for two days, re-cut things, try three different ways and go back, it's really...the technology is so incredible right now. And the fact that you can get a fairly inexpensive high-quality camera that anybody can put on their shoulder, that's pretty exciting.

I imagine after An Inconvenient Truth you were presented with every possible cause to make another documentary for, and what struck me when I went to your Waiting for Superman website was that, unlike a lot of filmmakers who finish their film and then can just promote it, you have a whole additional step with a film like this where you have a responsibility on your shoulders, to answer the audience question 'What can I do about this problem as a citizen?' Was that daunting in taking this on?

Well, yeah, it's not just making a movie. It's part of a movement. This is awards season, and awards in general are very confusing, and can often be a huge distraction. But for something like this, they're essential, because they just bring more attention to the issue. We finished the film in May, and I've been working on it full-time, up to now. That's all about the social action campaign

Because unless you get a wide audience to see it, you're basically preaching to the choir.

That's right.

Do you plan to revisit the kids with a camera anytime in the next few years, to see how they're doing and how they've changed?

Well, in September I took them to the White House [Editor's Note: Where they met President Obama.] So I interviewed them the morning of that, and I got to reconnect with them. I've seen them all at different screenings and stuff. But yeah, I think it might be interesting to see what happens with them. I think you need enough time to pass. Like five years, maybe. You know, when they start going to high school. But the biggest thing is...you just fall in love with them. When I hear a piece of good news, like Anthony's grandmother called me and said that he's on the dean's list...

Oh, is he? That's great.

Anthony's a kid that's really at risk, you know? He never knew his father. His father died of a drug overdose. And the fact that he's on the dean's list, it's the most exciting thing you could hear.

In the film, Anthony says, 'I want my kids to have better than I had,' I couldn't help but wonder, 'What kid at that age thinks that way?' It's very remarkable.

Well, certainly not kids in my world, because kids in my world, they're sort of given everything, and so they don't ask those really tough questions. But a kid like Anthony, who sees all sorts of trouble and chaos around him, really does think about those things. That's what he'd say, because he hears those conversations, and he sees friends and neighbors, you know, fall.

Did you get any feedback from President Obama on the film?

He said that he found the movie very powerful. He was very moved by the kids, by their stories.

Do you think that his philosophy toward public education would be similar to that of Michelle Rhee?

I would say they're in the same family of reform. I think he's in a really careful political position.I think he wants all these reforms, but it's a very tricky position, because, you know, the teachers unions have been one of the biggest givers to the Democratic party, it's in the movie. And so what I think he's doing is exactly right. He's pushing for these things, but he can't be as overtly critical. But what's very exciting is Arne Duncan, his Secretary of Education...he's been the most effective member of his Cabinet. And actually pushing a lot further than most people give him credit for.

(Michelle Rhee, above, and Randi Weingarten, below.)

Have you spoken to Randi Weingarten much since the film was released?

A lot. You know, I knew that this was going be politically uncomfortable. But immediately before the movie came out, I said, 'Let me screen this for you. I know we're not going to agree on everything, but I I would just love it if you stayed part of the conversation.' So she's been, I think she's served on three panels with me. She's very openly critical of the film. At the same time, she's been an essential voice in the conversation.

That's good to hear.

And that's what the movie's about. A documentary can say things that people can't say. When you read the L.A. Times, which is a great newspaper, The New York Times...that sort of journalism kind of follows the puck: 'Well, this official said that, and this official said that...' and it sort of describes the conflict. But this documentary can really say, 'Look, these rules are really holding things back.' The movie has this great effect of being a way in which people come together around this, and it brings more people into the conversation and heightens the conversation. This is what I've observed, with this movie in particular: It's accelerated this sort of sense of 'Let's get this done.'

You chose to narrate the film. Was the narration something that you knew you'd be doing from the beginning?

You know, originally when Diane Weyermann, she's the head of documentaries for Participant Media, asked, 'Would you be interested [in directing the film]?' I originally said no. I had done a movie about public education ten years ago [The First Year] and I felt like, well, I'd done that. And I also felt like it was too complicated. And then I sort of had a breakthrough, which was that maybe the only way you could make a documentary about this is if you had a really strong, pointed voice in the movie. In the same sense that Al Gore did for Inconvenient Truth: He wasn't trying to say, 'Well, some people say this, some people say that.' He was saying, 'This is what I believe, and let me show you why,' you know? And I would not equate myself with Al Gore -- he's much more knowledgeable about global warming than I am about public education -- but I felt like what the great 'bingo' on the film was, was a personal point of view, like: I have children. I want them to have a good education. And I made the film, and I had this anxiety, because I believe in this thing, that America is grounded in great schools for everyone, and yet every morning I go and do something different -

Your kids go to private school? Was that it?

Yeah, exactly, so I didn't have the strong desire to narrate it. I probably will never do it again. It just felt like an effective storytelling device.

It feels a little bit more daring to do because you lose a layer of remove between yourself and the subject matter of the film.

Yeah, and I grew up thinking that narration was old-school at best, and, what you learn in college is that it's this authoritative voice-of-god thing. But I think there's been a sort of a shift of more of a personal voice to these films and it allows...there's some lines in the movie that you just couldn't do, things like: 'Now that we know, that it's possible to give every kid a great education, what is our obligation?' [which is said in the narration at the end of the film.] That's sort of the one time the movie stares the viewer in the eye and says, 'What are you going to do about this?'

Charter schools are regarded by many as an alternative to the public schools, but what are some of the problems that charter schools have?

Well, there are a lot of terrible charters that should be shut down. Charters are public schools, but they can be run outside the rules and restrictions of the district, and outside the union contracts, so they have much more freedom to do what they want. But they can still suffer from what other schools suffer from... bad leadership, poor quality teachers, often they get crippled by these huge start-up costs, because charters don't get as much money, per student, as the district does.

But it's interesting, how I think the enemies of the film would say the film is pro-charter. I think even the reformers would not say it's pro-charter. The exciting thing about charters, and why I like them in the film, is that the successful ones are so successful, so remarkably successful. They've disproven the long-held and sometimes unspoken belief that you can't do it. 'You just can't go into Harlem and teach those kids. You can't go to East L.A. and teach those kids. Those kids can't learn.' And that's a powerful breakthrough. That has happened since I made the first film [about education].

The charters that hold, they're like incubators for new ideas. It's kind of like if you look at the post office, and how the post office is run all the way up to now, but in the '70s, there was one way you could send a package. And walking into the post office was like going into any kind of Soviet-era government building, where the time stands still, and then FedEx came along. And Fed Ex was free from all those restrictions, and they found a way to revolutionize the way you send packages. That doesn't mean that every new company that sends packages is going to succeed. It just means that they had the freedom to do it, and the exciting part about it is, that FedEx really kicked the postal service in the butt, and made them evolve. You know, since FedEx, you can send something overnight. There are more flexible ways to send a package.

Do you know what you're working on next?

No. I think I'm gonna take a breather from a big issue film like this. Partly from exhaustion, partly just because an equally-satisfying film [for me] was this movie It Might Get Loud, which is an electric guitar film (featuring the Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page) which was really one of the most exciting projects to work on. And so I kind of want to do something like that to, you know, work another muscle.

Thank you for talking with me. It's a great film, and I hope everybody sees it.

Well, me too. I mean, it's so funny: I moved out here twenty-three years ago, and I had a plan to sort of become a director, but I had one thing I was certain of, which was that I would never make documentaries. And so to suddenly find myself making documentaries is pretty extraordinary.

Was your dad based somewhere other than L.A.?

Washington. And he was just so good at what he did, and I felt like, you know, I could never do that.

Did you grow up with a flatbed in the house?

Yeah. Even, actually before that, a Moviola.

I've worked on both and had to master both horrible devices...the flatbed being a lot easier.

The flatbed being the total revolution. That Moviola is grinding [imitates Moviola sound], and: 'Oh, Dad's up at six!'

Waiting for Superman is currently in release. Information on the film, the crisis facing public education, and what can be done about it, at www.WaitingforSuperman.com

BARON OF HAVANA, about Errol Flynn's Wartime Adventures with Fidel Castro, to be table-read at Sundance.

by Terry Keefe

Although Alex and I are both filmmakers, we rarely mention our own material on the site. This time is a noted exception, because Alex has had his terrific screenplay, BARON OF HAVANA, selected to be table-read at the Sundance Film Festival. Noted news.

The script tells the true story of the later years of the legendary Errol Flynn, when he took a much-needed job as a celebrity journalist that landed him in the middle of the Cuban Revolution, where he was embedded for a time with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. The leads are very strong roles and I'm going to throw in my dream casting of Hugh Jackman or Pierce Brosnan for Flynn, Javier Bardem as Castro, and Benjamin Bratt as Che.

BARON OF HAVANA has previously won Best Screenplay at the Cinequest Film Festival, and has been a finalist in this year's Creative World Awards, and just placed in the top three features of the Creative Screenwriting Magazine's AAA Screenplay Contest, in addition to winning a total of six awards in the past year.

Here are the deets: The reading will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria, in Parley's Boardroom, in Park City, on Sunday, January 23rd, between 1-4 PM. Alex Simon can be contacted at HlywoodInterview@aol.com.

More information can be found at www.TableReadMyScreenplay.com

DVD Playhouse--January 2011

DVD PLAYHOUSE: JANUARY 2011
By
Allen Gardner

WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia LaBeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. LaBeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen, who locks horns with Douglas good-naturedly at a party, brings a bit of the old magic back. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Stone; Interview with cast and crew; Featurettes; Deleted and extended scenes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (Sony) When a Chinese noodle shop owner plans to do away with his cheating wife and her lover, things become more complicated than he could possibly imagine. Spirited remake of the Coen Brothers’ debut film, Blood Simple, set in feudal China, works surprisingly well, with master filmmaker Zhang Yimou pulling out all the cinematic stops. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Over 100 minutes of featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
EASY A (Sony) Funny, biting high school satire with echoes of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Olive (Emma Stone, adorable) is a high schooler who has grown tired of her invisible status on campus, and decides to spice up her image by starting a rumor of her suddenly (fictional) promiscuous behavior. Soon Olive finds herself the toast of her school, but in all the wrong ways. Nice support from Thomas Haden Church, Malcolm McDowell, Amanda Bynes, Aly Michalka, Penn Badgley and especially Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as Olive’s very understanding parents. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Gag reel; Audition footage; Commentary by Stone and director Will Gluck. Featurettes; Trivia track. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
PIRANHA 3D (Sony) Ravenous flesh-eating fish from prehistoric times are released into the flesh-infested waters of Lake Victoria during Spring Break. Did we happen to mention that most of this flesh is of the young, nubile, topless kind? Well…you get the idea. Second remake of the Roger Corman 1978 camp classic certainly doesn’t take itself seriously, but that doesn’t make it very good, either. Elizabeth Shue, Jerry O’Connell and Ving Rhames lead a surprisingly good cast in this gore-soaked horror/comedy. Highlight: opening scene with Richard Dreyfuss, cleverly hearkening back to a much better movie. Available on Blu-ray, unrated and R-rated editions. Bonuses: Commentary by filmmaker Alexander Aja; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
TAKERS (Sony) Matt Dillon heads the cast of this solid, if unremarkable caper picture, as the leader of a gang that has pulled off one daring, high-stakes robbery after the other. When they decide to chase one final, life-altering score (don’t they always seem to make this mistake?) worth $25 million, things get messy. Game cast also features Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Jay Hernandez, Michael Ealy, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Chris Brown and Hayden Christensen. Some great chase scenes and a few unexpected twists raise this up a notch or two from the middle. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Filmmaker and cast commentary. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
INSPECTOR BELLAMY (IFC Films) Final film of the great Claude Chabrol, aka “The French Hitchcock,” stars Gerard Depardieu as a legendary police detective who finds that dark deeds seem to follow him, even when he’s on vacation. As he tries to solve the most brutal and puzzling crime of his career, Bellamy must also deal with the unexpected return of his nefarious brother, and hope that the crime and his sibling are not somehow connected. Dynamite blend of suspense, wit and emotion is a fitting coda to Chabrol’s stellar career. Bonuses: Featurette; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SECRETARIAT (Disney) True story of the legendary Triple Crown derby winner in 1973 stars Diane Lane as the horse’s owner, Penny Chenery, and details the uphill battle she faced getting her “big red” racehorse to the big leagues. John Malkovich offers colorful support as Secretariat’s trainer, with additional solid work from James Cromwell, Fred Dalton Thompson, Kevin Connolly and Scott Glenn, but director Randall Wallace (Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Braveheart) delivers a film so lifeless and flat, it’s hard to root for anyone, even the greatest racehorse in history! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Deleted scenes; Commentary by Wallace. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
EICHMANN (eOne) Thomas Kretschmann stars as Nazi powerbroker Adolph Eichmann, the architect of Hitler’s Final Solution who reviews the events of his life during interrogation by an Israeli police officer (Troy Garity) before his execution for war crimes. Excellent biographical drama from the underrated Robert Young, whose eye for detail lends itself well here. Fine support from Franka Pontente and Stephen Fry. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
NOWHERE BOY (Sony) Teenaged John Lennon (Aaron Johnson) comes of age in 1957 Liverpool when he meets his estranged mother (Anne-Marie Duff), as well as future bandmates Paul McCartney (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) and George Harrison (Sam Bell). Fine “kitchen sink” drama from director Sam Taylor-Wood aptly details an artist as angry young man, with Johnson giving a very convincing turn as the young Lennon. Only gripe: was Liverpool ever this clean and green? Nice turn from Kristin Scott Thomas as John’s patient Aunt Mimi. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL (eOne) Powerful adaptation of Lt. Romeo Dallaire’s best-seller about his experiences as a Untied Nations peace-keeper during the Rwandan genocide. Roy Dupuis gives a fine turn in the lead as Dallaire, who finds himself torn between his duty to remain neutral and his conscience as millions of innocent people are threatened with slaughter. Excellent direction by the underrated Roger Spottiswoode. Bonuses: Commentary by Spottiswoode and Lt. General Dallaire; Additional commentary track with the filmmakers; Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LOVE HURTS (eOne) Likable comedy about a middle-aged average Joe (Richard E. Grant) who finds his life turned upside down when his wife (Carrie-Ann Moss) of 20 years leaves him. When his hip teenage son (Johnny Pacar) gives him a makeover, however, Grant suddenly finds himself the most eligible bachelor in town. Nice support from Jenna Elfman, Janeane Garofalo and Camryn Manheim. Bonuses: Interviews with cast and crew; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
BASIL DEARDEN’S LONDON UNDERGROUND (Criterion/Eclipse) Basil Dearden was a groundbreaking British filmmaker whose work in the late ‘50s/early ‘60s helped launch the social realist movement in British cinema. This terrific set contains four of his best works: SAPPHIRE (1959), shot in color, is a powerful procedural police drama about the investigation of a music student’s brutal murder, with the shocking revelation that she was a black girl, passing for white. Considered quite daring in its day, and still packs a wallop today. THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN (1960) has a disillusioned ex-military officer (Jack Hawkins) assembling a crew of his old war buddies (including Richard Attenborough and Roger Livesey) to pull off an elaborate heist. Full of suspense and humor, as only the Brits can do. VICTIM (1961) stars Dirk Bogarde as a closeted, married lawyer from the upper class who risks everything to expose a blackmail ring preying on prominent homosexuals. Landmark film helped overturn the laws in England which made homosexuality a crime. Still strong stuff, fifty years later. ALL NIGHT LONG (1962) is a clever updating of Othello, with an interracial relationship in a jazz club being given the old Iago by a jealous drummer (the great Patrick McGoohan). Features cameos from jazz legends Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus. All are widescreen, Dolby 1.0 mono. THE VIRGINITY HIT (Sony) Raunchy “mockumentary” about a nerdy teen (Matt Bennett) desperately trying to lose his virginity while his stepbrother (Zack Perlman) records every minute of it on HD video. Quite amusing for the first 30-40 minutes, then wears out its welcome quickly. Might play better to the age group it’s about, however. Bonuses: Featurettes; Audition footage; Commentary by cast and filmmakers. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
ENTER THE VOID (IFC Films) Gaspar Noe’s self-described “head trip” starring newcomers Nathaniel Brown and Paz de la Huerta as a brother and sister leading desperate lives in nighttime Tokyo: he as a drug dealer and she as a stripper. The siblings’ descent into hell is something to behold that, like Noe’s previous controversial film Irreversible, will either leave your head spinning from its cinematic virtuosity, or leaning over a washbasin sick from what you’ve just witnessed. Judge for yourself. Nothing if not audacious and wholly original. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Teasers and trailers; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
HEARTBREAKER (IFC Films) Romain Duris stars as Alex, a cad who makes his living breaking unhappy couples up by seducing the woman, then leaving them and breaking their hearts. When he finds himself having feelings for his latest “assignment” (Vanessa Paradis), Alex suddenly finds to his shock and horror that his heart, and karma, might be turning on him at last. Crowd-pleasing comedy in Europe is great fun, and ripe for an inferior American remake. Stay tuned…Bonuses: TV spot, trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
ANIMAL KINGDOM (Sony) Dynamite Australian film about a family of criminals, led by a disarmingly sweet, but extremely dangerous matriarch (Aussie legend Jacki Weaver), who take in their orphaned nephew/grandson (James Frecheville) and indoctrinate him into a life of crime. Guy Pearce co-stars as the tough cop who will do anything to bring the family down. Shattering film is one of 2010’s best, and builds to a stunning climax. Not to be missed! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by director David Michod; Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
MACHETE (20th Century Fox) Co-writer/co-director Robert Rodriguez gives his trailer from the Grindhouse films life as a feature, with Danny Trejo starring as a badass, ex-Federale who vows revenge on those who betrayed him, hacking up anyone or anything in his path, grindhouse-style. Fun re-hash of ‘70s drive-in fare, with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and some great laughs to go along with some great gasps. Where else will you find a film with Steven Seagal, Cheech Marin, Lindsay Lohan, Don Johnson and Robert De Niro in the same cast? Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Audience reaction track; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
EL SUPERSTAR: THE UNLIKELY RISE OF JUAN FRANCES (Cine Libre) Funny “mockumentary” about a white guy (Spencer John French) raised by a Mexican family (Danny Trejo and Lupe Ontiveros), who becomes an overnight superstar singing popular Latin music. When he finds himself losing his identity in the whirlwind of fame, then learns the truth about his past, he must ask himself if he’s the Mexican man in his heart, or the white guy in the mirror. Sweet-natured film was exec produced by Norman Lear and George Lopez. Bonuses: Deleted scenes; Outtakes; Filmmakers’ commentary; Music video. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.
THE LAST EXORCISM (Lions Gate) A charlatan preacher who has conducted fake exorcisms for years decides to come clean and has a film crew follow him to his final “act,” only to discover a blood-covered farmhouse and a young woman in the throes of something…evil. Quasi-documentary is a clever idea, but never gets past the “idea” part of its cleverness, relying instead on shocks that try way too hard. And what’s with a PG-13 rating on a horror movie, anyway? We call “bullshit!” on that point, and also say dial up William Friedkin’s The Exorcist if you want to see a realistic-seeming movie with some balls about demonic possession. Bonuses: Commentary by cast and crew; Featurettes; Teaser trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
LEBANON (Sony) Powerful film set in 1982, during the First Lebanon War, focusing on a tank crew made up of green Israeli soldiers who are led into the middle of a horrific firefight. Claustrophobic, intense, and bloody, but also one of the most honest war pictures since Saving Private Ryan. Winner of the Golden Lion at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurette. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.
SISTER SMILE: THE TRAGIC TALE OF THE SINGING NUN (MVD) Powerful, tragic dramatization of the life of Jeanine Deckers, or “The Singing Nun,” a Belgian nun whose chart-topping folk/pop hit “Dominique” at the end of 1963 was a million-selling single. The song’s cheeriness masked a woman who led a tragic life, dramatized here with (admittedly) much speculation, but great skill. Ginerva Colonna knocks it out of the park as Deckers, whose post-convent life after her brief fame ended in suicide in 1985. Beautifully directed by Roger Deutsch. Bonuses: Two shorts by Deutsch. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
SKIN (eOne) Startling true story about a black girl (Sophie Okonedo) born to white Afrikaner parents (Alice Krige and Sam Neill) who is forced to deal with the institutionalized racism of South Africa in the 1960s. Fascinating look at the hypocrisy inherent in Apartheid (in addition to its moral repugnance), as most South Africans are of mixed black and white ethnicity. Fine performances across the board in a film that never wallows in sentimentality or polemic message-bringing. Bonuses: Featurette; Deleted scenes; Outtakes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround.
SANTA SANGRE (Severin Films) Alejandro Jodorowsky’s 1989 follow-up to his two counterculture classics El Topo and The Holy Mountain, offers more surreal madness, eroticism and visionary brilliance. A young circus performer, who acts as the “arms” for his armless mother, engages in a crime of passion that shatters his soul. Like most of Jodorowsky’s films, Santa is almost impossible to describe in print, suffice to say it is a phantasmagorical feast for the senses that no viewer will soon forget. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Feature-length retrospective documentary: Forget Everything You Have Seen: The World of Santa Sangre; Commentary by Jodorowsky and journalist Alan Jones; Deleted scenes with commentary; Featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew; Short films and music videos; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono.




BLU BAYOU MGM/Fox releases a duo of classic films to Blu this month, starting with Martin Scorsese’s RAGING BULL, the 1980 classic now regarded by most critics and scholars as the seminal film of that decade. Robert De Niro took home Oscar for his turn as troubled middleweight boxing champ Jake La Motta, who was nearly destroyed by the same demons that helped make him one of the ring’s great fighters. Joe Pesci became a star with his turn as Jake’s younger brother, and Cathy Moriarity is the sexiest teenager this side of Lolita as Jake’s young wife. Tour de force filmmaking from the first frame to the final fade-out. Bonuses: 3 commentary tracks—one from Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, one from cast and crew, one from the storytellers; Featurettes; Feature-length documentary; Vintage newsreel and TV footage; Shot-by-shot comparison of De Niro vs. La Motta. Widescreen. DTS-HD 5.1 surround. DANCES WITH WOLVES 20th ANNIVERSARY EDITION features star/director Kevin Costner’s extended cut, with nearly an hour of additional footage not seen in theaters. Costner stars as a Civil War hero who befriends a tribe of Sioux Indians while stationed at a desolate outpost in the American frontier of the 19th century. True epic storytelling, with a fine script by Michael Blake and a terrific supporting cast, including Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, and Rodney A. Grant. Bonuses: Commentary by Costner and producer Jim Wilson, director of photography Dean Semler and editor Neil Travis; Feature-in-feature tracks; Featurettes; Retrospective documentary; Trailers and TV spots. Widescreen. DTS-HD 7.1 surround. Criterion releases its usual array of meticulously-restored classic and cult films, starting with the 1964 classic ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, helmed by special effects pioneer Bryon Haskin in this updating of the Defoe story, following a marooned space traveler (Paul Mantee) who has a pet monkey as his only companion on the red planet. Beautifully shot in and around Death Valley in Techniscope and vivid color. Bonuses: Commentary by screenwriter Ib Melchior, actors Mantee and Victor Lundin, production designer Al Nuzaki, historian and special effects designer Robert Skotak; Excerpts from 1979 interview with Haskin; Featurettes; Music video; Photo gallery; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono. Two classics from gonzo director Samuel Fuller arrive on Blu: THE NAKED KISS is Fuller’s sordid tale from 1964 about a former prostitute (Constance Towers) who relocates to a conservative suburb, determined to fit in and stay on the straight and narrow, until dark shadows start to reveal themselves in paradise. Full of bold visuals and one of the most shocking openings in film history. Bonuses: Interview with Towers; Episode of “The South Bank Show” on Fuller; Archival interviews with Fuller from 1967 and 1987; Trailer. SHOCK CORRIDOR, from 1963, is about a reporter (Peter Breck) who masquerades as a mental patient undercover in an asylum where a mysterious murder has taken place. As he closes in on the killer’s identity, the reporter finds himself slowly losing his mind among the other madmen. Hardly subtle, but quite provocative and exciting in its own way. Bonuses: Interview with co-star Constance Towers; The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera, a documentary on Fuller; Trailer. Both are widescreen, Dolby 1.0 mono. ARMY OF SHADOWS is Jean-Pierre Melville’s brilliant story of the French resistance during WW II, and remains one of his greatest works. Lino Ventura, Jean-Pierre Cassel and Simone Signoret star as brave men and women who tackled the Third Reich head-on, and helped win Europe back for the Allies. Bonuses: Commentary featuring film historian Ginette Vincendeau; Interview with cinematographer Pierre Lhomme; Featurettes; Behind-the-scenes footage; Archival interviews with cast and crew, and real-life resistance fighters; 1944 short documentary about the resistance. Trailers. Widescreen. DTS-HD mono. Blue Underground releases QUIET DAYS IN CLICHY, a faithfully erotic (and explicit) adaptation of Henry Miller’s long-banned novel about two roommates in Paris who laugh, love and fornicate their days away. Seized by the U.S. Customs in 1970 on charges of obscenity, the film was ultimately cleared for exhibition, then disappeared shortly after its release. 40 years later, the film was re-released on DVD, with its hit soundtrack by Country Joe McDonald intact. For “adults only,” to be sure! Bonuses: Featurettes; Interviews with cast and crew. Widescreen. DTS-HD mono. 20th Century Fox releases THE HOME ALONE COLLECTION, featuring HOME ALONE and HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK, starring Macaulay Culkin as mischievous Kevin McCallister who tangles with the so-called “wet bandits” (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) not only in his suburban Chicago home in part 1, but in the Big Apple in part 2. Great fun for the whole family! Widescreen. DTS-HD 5.1 surround. THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION features HOME ALONE 2 (see above), A CHRISTMAS CAROL, starring George C. Scott as Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly, nasty sort who finds his outlook on life, and Christmas, changed when visited by three very different ghosts. MIRACLE ON 34th STREET is director John Hughes’ update of the 1947 classic about a little girl who finds the spirit of Christmas alive and well in a department store Santa Claus. JINGLE ALL THE WAY stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a father who will go to any lengths to buy his son a must-have, sold-out toy during a last minute holiday shopping spree. All are widescreen, DTS-HD 5.1 surround.



DON’T TOUCH THAT DIAL! A&E releases ZORRO: THE COMPLETE SERIES, a 15-disc set featuring all 88 episodes of the hit 1990-93 Family Channel series starring Duncan Regehr as a 19th century California playboy, whose alter ego, the masked swordsman Zorro, defends the oppressed settlers of the fledgling state. Shot on location in Madrid, the series has terrific production values, period flavor, and pulse-pounding adventure. Also fun to see early turns by future stars such as Daniel Craig, and veterans such as Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Jesse Ventura and Adam West. Bonuses: Featurettes; The Mark of Zorro, the original silent classic starring Douglas Fairbanks; Chapter 1 of Zorro’s Fighting Legion 1939 serial; Trailers for classic serials; Never-released pilot episode of “Zorro”; Photo gallery. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. CRISS ANGEL MINDFREAK 6 offers up the sixth series of the master illusionist’s unique blend of reality and sleight of hand, as Angel offers more death-defying escapes and demonstrations including a 4200 foot leap across the Grand Canyon on a hybrid motorcycle, and a recreation of Houdini’s most famous escape: feet embedded in cement, hands and feet shackled, lowered 90 feet from the side of London Bridge! Great fun. Bonuses: Featurette. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. MACBETH stars Patrick Stewart in the eponymous role of Shakespeare’s bloody “Scottish play,” reimagined in a contemporary setting. Powerful production first bowed on the London stage in 2007, and in the U.S. in 2008. Fine support from Kate Fleetwood as Lady MacBeth, direction by Rupert Goold. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. FRAMED stars Trevor Eve and Eve Myles in this quirky comedy about an art curator who finds himself confronting his own painful shyness in a Welsh mining town where the National Gallery has temporarily moved its collection after a flood, with Myles charming as the local school teacher who catches his eye. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. GENE SIMMONS FAMILY JEWELS: THE COMPLETE SEASON 4 offers more reality highjinks from the Kiss frontman and his highly unconventional family, co-helmed by his wife, former Playmate of the Year Shannon Tweed. 3-disc set contains 18 episodes. Bonuses: Additional footage. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Paramount releases MATLOCK: THE SIXTH SEASON, with Andy Griffith starring as the venerable Southern lawyer who tackles everything from murder, serial killers and down-home cooking. Nice support from Nancy Stafford, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., and Julie Sommers. 18 episodes on 6 discs. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround. JERSEY SHORE UNCENSORED: SEASON TWO, finds the tanned, buffed-out denizens of the Shore moving their act to Miami Beach, with The Situation, Vinny and Pauly D giving MVP a whole new meaning. Not for every taste, to be sure, but sure to please fans of the hit series. Bonuses: Featurettes; Interviews with cast; Sneak peak of season 3. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. HBO releases BIG LOVE: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON, starring Bill Paxton as Mormon Polygamist patriarch Bill Henderson, finding in season four that his ongoing feud with “prophet” Roman Grant seems to be over, but the drama with his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin) and their nine children is just beginning. Great mix of drama and deadpan humor, with a fine cast. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. FUNNY OR DIE PRESENTS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON, offers all first season episodes of the hit sketch series created by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Andrew Steele and Chris Henchy. Loaded with huge, raunchy laughs that constantly push the creative envelope, a sort of bastard son of “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” Great, uninhibited fun. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. 20th Century Fox releases BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 MOTION COMIC, an eye-popping animated “Buffy” which takes up where the live-action series left off, with Buffy Summers returning to kick undead butt against a group of Japanese vamps and the vigilant baddie Twilight, who is still determined to destroy every Slayer on Earth. Contains 19 episodes. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Trivia track; Test pilot; Comic book; Covers gallery. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. FAMILY GUY: IT’S A TRAP! features another Star Wars-inspired adventure, here with Han Solo (Peter), Chewbacca (Brian), and Princess Leia (Lois) battle against the evil empire while Darth Vader (Stewie) and the Emperor (Carter) try to recruit Luke Skywalker (Chris) to the Dark Side. Sound familiar? Yes, it IS The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s also really, really funny! Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurettes; Outtakes; Audio commentary by cast and crew. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. ARCHER: THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE, is the hilarious, deadpan animated send-up of ‘60s spy flicks and TV shows, with secret agent Sterling Archer as the dim-witted. Imagine “Mad Men” played for laughs with the James Bond theme in the background, and you get the idea…sort of. Great fun. Bonuses: Unaired “Archer” pilot; Featurettes; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA: SEASON FOUR, VOL. 2 is a 3-disc set that showcases the hit series’ final 1967-68 season. Producer Irwin Allen brought his flair for spectacle to the small screen with this tale of underwater adventurers who travel to the ocean’s greatest depths in the high-tech Seaview marine vessel. 13 episodes. Bonuses: Original, unaired pilot and broadcast pilot, with vintage TV commercials. Full screen. Dolby 1.0 mono. FUTURAMA: VOLUME 5 is a two-disc set that features 13 episodes of more animated fun from the mind of “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, setting his twisted sense of humor on the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Highly original, funny stuff. Bonuses: Featurettes; Audio commentary from cast and crew; Deleted scenes. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. Acorn Media releases WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SEASON 1, a two-disc set of the series which profiles seven celebrities (here Sarah Jessica Parker, Emmitt Smith, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Broderick, Brooke Shields, and Spike Lee) who look into their family trees with the help of genealogists, historians and researchers. Fascinating, and highly entertaining. Seven episodes on two discs. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Warner Bros. releases ER: THE COMPLETE FOURTEENTH SEASON finds more drama in Chicago’s busiest hospital, including who will be the new Chief of the ER itself. Goran Visnjic, Maura Tierney, Mekhi Phfer, John Stamos, Linda Cardellini and Scott Grimes round out the cast. Bonuses: Featurettes; Gag reel. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. NITE TALES: THE SERIES, is a horror anthology series in the vein of Rod Serling's “The Twilight Zone,” featuring five horror tales with an urban flavor, and introduced by rapper Flavor Flav. Gary Busey, Tommy “Tiny” Lister, and Rodney Perry star. Bonuses: Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.




DOCUMENTARY DAYS This month’s reality-based discs are kicked off by a host of PBS titles: EYES ON THE PRIZE: AMERICA’S CIVIL RIGHTS YEARS, is a multi-award winning, six-hour documentary series, originally-broadcast in 1986, that brilliantly illuminates the struggle for racial equality and social justice. Excellent combination of archival film clips and contemporary interviews with the participants. 3-disc set bonuses include: an interview with Henry Hampton. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE CONFESSIONS examines the case of four Navy sailors convicted for the 1997 rape and murder of a Norfolk, VA. woman, and the mountain of evidence that surfaced after their conviction of their innocence. A powerful indictment of the American justice system’s weak spots. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. FACING DEATH: CONFRONTING LIFE AND DEATH CHOICES follows the agonizing decisions families must make in sustaining lives of loved ones through artificial means, or “pulling the plug,” with a look at one of NYC’s busiest ICUs. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. A MURDER OF CROWS takes a look at the false perceptions of the seemingly-sinister fowl, and the fact that, due to recent research, they have proven to be among the most intelligent animals in the world. Superbly shot, which really comes out in the discs Blu-ray version. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. BRAVING IRAQ takes a look at the heroic efforts of a scientist who is attempting to resuscitate the Mesopotamian Marshes, once viewed as the Middle East’s Garden of Eden, destroyed by Saddam Hussein in the early 1990s in retaliation for its inhabitants’ rebellion against him. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. REVELAING THE LEOPARD is an eye-popping look at one of the world’s most graceful wild felines, not to mention most efficient and populous, with leopard packs inhabiting Africa, Siberia, Arabia and China. Amazing wildlife photography and footage make this a treat for animal-lovers. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. WOLVERINE: CHASING THE PHANTOM, takes a look at a creature that proves to be far more complex than that of the compact, but powerful predator that can take down prey more than three times its size. Again, bolstered by some truly amazing wildlife footage. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. THE SPILL takes a hard look at British Petroleum (BP) and its role in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent massive oil spill that rocked the Summer of 2010. Could BP have prevented the accident, and if so, exactly how culpable are they for all the damage that ensued? Fascinating interviews with former employees, executives, government regulators and safety experts. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. FINDING OPRAH’S ROOTS is hosted by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and takes a look at how a person can trace their ancestry back, based on the experiences of media maven Oprah Winfrey. Fascinating stuff. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. AMERICAN BEYOND THE COLOR LINE is again hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., this time traveling to four disparate regions of the U.S.: the East Coast, the deep South, inner city Chicago and Hollywood to see how minorities, and African-Americans in particular, are redefining the cultural landscape. Interviews with high-achievers such as Quincy Jones, Colin Powell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Russell Simmons, Alicia Keys, Maya Angelou and Morgan Freeman highlight this fascinating look at the melting pot of America. Bonuses: Interview with Gates. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. TOP SECRET ROSIES takes a look at a 1942 military program that was launched to recruit women to the war effort, targeting female mathematicians who would become human “computers” for the U.S. Army and its Intelligence division. Fascinating overlooked chapter of history. Bonuses: Featurette. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. DEATH BY FIRE takes a look at a controversial case in Texas: the 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham who was convicted of, and executed for triple murder, only to have the case reopened after his death, with major doubts being cast upon his guilt. Sobering look at the death penalty and its many ramifications. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. FIXING THE FUTURE is hosted by David Brancaccio, who talks to working Americans from Washington state, Texas, Ohio who are re-engineering the future following the economic meltdown of 2008, as well as chatting with economists David Korten and Jane D’Arista as well as The Economist Editor Matthew Bishop to explore new pathways being charted by economic reformers. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. eOne releases THE NARNIA CODE takes a look at The Chronicles of Narnia series by author C.S. Lewis and the mysteries about the author and the series’ seven stories that have fascinated scholars and fans for nearly half a century. Bonuses: Featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 mono. ANDREW DICE CLAY: ONE NIGHT WITH DICE is a 1986 taping of the outrageous comic’s nightclub routine when he was still on the cusp of stardom. Fascinating look at the evolution of a comic talent, at the excess of the ‘80s and its pop culture and at Clay himself. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Image releases KATHLEEN MADIGAN: GONE MADIGAN features the veteran comic’s show at the Gramercy Theater in New York city, where she takes potshots at contemporary politics, culture, and her own family. Winner of the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comic, Madigan displays all her comedic gifts here. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Featurette; Interview with Madigan. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. MVD releases THE JESUS GUY, a straight-faced look at self-proclaimed “barefoot evangelist” James Joseph, who dresses like Jesus and preaches the gospel of St. Francis of Assisi. Interesting, but a little bit goes a long way! Bonuses: Commentary by Joseph and director Sean Tracey; Trailers. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. A&E releases BASEBALL’S GREATEST GAMES: 1960 WORLD SERIES GAME 7, the October 13, 1960 match-up between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees, with game 7 bringing one of the most storied upsets in Major League Baseball history, led by the Pirates’ Bill “Maz” Maseroski game-ending home run. 2-disc set. Bonuses: Featurettes; Radio play-by-play; Interviews with Pirates and Yankees players. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. TOP SHOT: SEASON ONE takes a look at some of the greatest feats of marksmanship throughout history. Bonuses: Featurettes and additional footage. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE UNIVERSE: THE COMPLETE SEASON FIVE features all eight episodes of the History Channel series on two discs, taking a look at disparate subjects such as time travel, asteroids, magnetic storms and the 7 wonders of the solar system. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS 2010 WORLD SERIES COLLECTOR’S EDITION features all five games of the 2010 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers, plus the Giants’ NLCS playoff games against the Philadelphia Phillies. A must-have box set for all SF fans! Bonuses: Featurettes; News footage; Multiple audio tracks featuring World Series announcers; Interviews with players. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo. Finally, Sony releases THE TILLMAN STORY, one of the most important films of 2010, helmed by acclaimed documentarian Amir Bar-Lev, detailing the death by friendly fire of NFL superstar Pat Tillman while serving in the Army Rangers in Afghanistan. No-holds-barred look at the coverup attempted by the Army brass into Tillman's "inconvenient" death, as well as the polarization of our country, post 9/11. Most importantly, the film redefines what it truly means to be a "hero" in these confusing times, where definitions seem to be hopelessly blurred. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Bar-Lev. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround.



ANIMATION NATION Disney releases ALICE IN WONDERLAND 60th ANNIVERSARY EDITION, a gorgeously-restored disc of the 1951 Walt Disney classic, featured for the first time in a Blu-ray edition, bringing out all the brilliance and detail of the film’s original color palate, as well as a DTS-HD 5.1 surround Disney Enhanced Home Theater sound mix. Loaded with featurettes, arhival footage, games and even a deleted scene, which hasn’t been seen in sixty years. Also features a regular DVD edition of Alice. A true timeless classic, for all ages. Lionsgate releases ALPHA AND OMEGA, a charming animated tale about two wolves: one a type-A “Alpha,” and the other a laid-back “Omega,” who get snatched by park rangers and relocated halfway across the country, prompting the two to take a lupine road trip home. Great fun for the whole family. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Interactive game; Featurettes; Deleted scene; Animal facts trivia. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS-HD 5.1 surround. MGM/Fox releases CHRISTMAS CAROL: THE MOVIE, an animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic with fine voice work from Nicolas Cage, Kate Winslet, Simon Callow, Jane Horrocks and Rhys Ifans. Sure to please kids young and old! Bonuses: Featurettes; Music video; Video previews; Original theatrical opening and closing; Trailers. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 surround. Warner Bros. releases HOT WHEELS BATTLE FORCE 5: SEASON ONE PART TWO, featuring more high-tech adventures from Vert, Agura, Stanford, Zoom, Sherman and Spinner searching for the elusive Battle Keys that unlock portals to Earth. Fun, imaginative adventures for the wee ones. Two-disc set. Widescreen. Dolby 5.1 surround. SESAME STREET SILLY STORYTIME features Kermit, Elmo and your other Sesame faves taking on fairy tales from the likes of Aesop and Grimm. Fun and educational, with a lot of very clever humor thrown in for parents who’d like to keep their little ones company. Bonuses: Grover animated storybook. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 mono. Paramount releases MAX & RUBY: BUNNYTALES, featuring the Nickelodeon network’s favorite animated bunnies in twelve tales that combine creative storytelling with life lessons. Great fun for pre-school to early grade schoolers. Full screen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.