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Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete First Season
By Noel Dix
Larry David is not an actor, nor does he look like one. When the brilliant Curb Your Enthusiasm hit the airwaves, not many people knew who he was, but they knew he co-created one of the largest sit-coms in television history. His association with Seinfeld was almost impossible to shake in the early days, as seen in the hour-long special that accompanies this collection. In a mock documentary involving David’s comeback to stand-up, he’s subjected to a potential set design of the Seinfeld set that would swing to show the back of the familiar living room, thus making David the "man behind Seinfeld." Somewhat disgusted, David decides that regardless of all the time and effort spent in preparing this design it isn’t going to work and opts for a simplistic curtain instead. The scene is incredibly uncomfortable to watch and you’re left cringing at his insincerity, but this is how Larry David operates. He’s not exactly a loveable character and at times you want to bury your face in your hands rather than watch his surroundings crumble, but at the same time he’s the voice that’s speaking up on your behalf. As discussed in a 30-minute interview with Bob Costas, David explains that he’s not out to make everyone happy and is letting his inside voice and feelings come out. These are the things that everyone is thinking but no one would have the guts to actually speak-up. What makes Curb Your Enthusiasm such a fantastic show is the method of improvisation between the cast of talented characters who are genuinely funny, and how they capitalise on the lack of script proves this. With no laugh track, a loose plot and equally loose censors, we’re given a quality of comedy that you won’t see on network television anytime soon. Along with the ten great episodes that make up the debut season, Curb Your Enthusiasm contains a feature that should become standard in television series DVDs: the episode preview. Each show comes with the preview commercial that originally ran to promote next week’s episode, making episode selection easier, as well as allowing you to just enjoy the art that was put into advertising the show. This DVD is essential comedy viewing. Plus: selected episode commentary. (HBO/Warner)
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Once Upon A Time In Mexico - Dir. by Robert Rodriguez
Upon initial viewing on a big screen, with all its flaws exposed, Once Upon A Time In Mexico’s plot seemed as riddled with bullet holes as any of the baddies El (Antonio Banderas) brazenly guns down. There was the appearance of Salma Hayek in flashback-only scenes that didn’t jive with Desperado whatsoever. There was an almost total absence of charisma for mariachi turned kill-crazy gunman El, having given it all to Johnny Depp’s awesome rogue C.I.A. agent Sands.
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The Work of Director: Chris Cunningham / Michel Gondry / Spike Jonze
Here is a fantastic idea, beautifully executed. Take a handful of innovative video, short film and commercial directors, gather their work and throw it all onto DVDs loaded with extras, interviews and info. And coincidentally, The Directors Label was actually founded by its first three subjects.
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Buffalo Soldiers - Dir. by Gregor Jordan
Set at the cusp of the Cold War’s end, Buffalo Soldiers fell victim to the start of the new terror era. This dark-as-night military satire debuted at the Toronto Film Festival on September 7, 2001. Needless to say, by the time it was to be screened at a theatre near you, there was no freakin’ way an anti-army flick was gonna fly. Unfairly buried during the Afghan war, the film got postponed again when Iraq got bum-rushed.
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Spellbound - Dir. by Jeffrey Blitz
Hollywood hacks should take note of it; film professors should teach it; and any fan of gripping, intense, white-knuckle drama has to see it. Forget Michael Bay, to hell with special effects, the most thrilling viewing of the year comes from watching eight kids, aged ten to 13, spell. Before you can say “B-O-R-I-N-G,” just check the variety, the intensity and the diversity of the eight young people — some disciplined, some naturally gifted, some enjoying the advantages of wealth, others merely living their parents’ dreams — that make up Spellbound.
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The Shield: Season Two
It would be no surprise for jaded TV viewers to reject a new cop show — even or perhaps particularly if that show bills itself as "gritty" or "edgy" — since that beat has been so trodden it's become the end of the road for dramatic clichés. But The Shield, currently filming its third season while it offers its second up for DVD treatment, is not that cop show.
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Angel: Season Three
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Blackula / Scream Blackula Scream / Hammer / The Monkey Hustle - Dir. by William Crain, Bob Kelljan, Bruce D. Clark, Arthur Marks
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Blowup - Dir. by Michelangelo Antonioni
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Cabin Fever - Dir. by Eli Roth
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Comic Book: the Movie - Dir. by Mark Hamill
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Decasia: The State of Decay - Dir. by Bill Morrison
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Freddy vs. Jason - Dir. by Ronny Yu
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Intolerable Cruelty - Dir. by Joel Coen
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Lost in Space: The Complete First Season
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Lucia Lucia - Dir. by Antonio Serrano
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Mambo Italiano - Dir. by Émile Gaudreault
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - Dir. by Gore Verbinski
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Planet of the Apes - Dir. by Franklin J. Schaffner
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Rain Man - Dir. by Barry Levinson
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Runaway Jury - Dir. by Gary Fleder
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South Park: The Complete Third Season
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Super Fly - Dir. by Gordon Parks Jr.
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The Ben Stiller Show
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The Best of Soul Cinema
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The Cola Conquest - Dir. by Irene Lilienheim Angelico
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The Critic: The Complete Series
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The Missing - Dir. by Ron Howard
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The Sidney Poitier Collection
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Thirteen - Dir. by Catherine Hardwicke
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Under the Tuscan Sun - Dir. by Audrey Wells
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Wonderland - Dir. by James Cox
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"I've got a fever and the only cure is dead angels."
-Bayonetta
Ever since the Christmastime gaming deluge ended, I've been killing a lot of angels. Though God's messengers have been bad guys in other pop-cultural products ― His Dark Materials book trilogy, the pas...
Full Review
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