Falling Down While Standing Up. From his hometown of Atlanta Georgia, filmed at the 4,600-capacity Fox Theater in November 2014, Chris Tucker regales us with the type of comedy that would be heckled unforgivingly in smaller clubs. It’s CHRIS TUCKER LIVE. I think. Knowing that comics like Carlin and Hicks and Pryor existed, and knowing current voices like observational powerhouse … Read More
REEL INJUN
Red Film over White Eyes. …and they weren’t even Indians. We called them that by accident – and we still call them that! Like, we knew in a month that it wasn’t “Indians” – but we just don’t give a shit. We never correct it!… — Louie C.K., LIVE AT THE BEACON THEATER, 2011. Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond dismounts the … Read More
POWER AND TERROR: NOAM CHOMSKY IN OUR TIMES
The times they are a-changing, with the crimes they are a-staging. Everyone’s worried about stopping terrorism. There’s a really easy way: stop participating in it. — Noam Chomsky. Not so much a documentary as a dialogue, POWER AND TERROR: NOAM CHOMSKY IN OUR TIMES is a companion piece to Chomsky’s 2002 book titled 9-11, which offers an alternate/political-insider view to … Read More
THE RUTLES 2: CAN’T BUY ME LUNCH
I’m looking through you, You’re not the same. A fun retelling/revisiting the legend of The Rutles and their trousers. THE RUTLES 2: CAN’T BUY ME LUNCH is pieced together from outtakes of THE RUTLES (1978) and new talking head footage compiled by Eric Idle. And it shows. Playing his same Interviewer character from the previous film 26 years ago, a … Read More
JACKASS PRESENTS: BAD GRANDPA .5
Peeking in Grandpa’s Back Door. A “Making Of” reel for BAD GRANDPA, BAD GRANDPA .5 is quite an interesting companion piece, filled with outtakes, interviews, behind the scenes footage and deleted scenes of Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville in oldguy makeup) creating socially-impure havoc. In a package more professionally presented than any of the previous JACKASS straight-to-video “extras” movies, BAD GRANDPA … Read More
QUEEN: GREATEST FLIX III
Emotional, Unique, Majestic… like the band itself. Compiled by The Torpedo Twins (Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher – DoRo Productions – who seem to have had their hands on the whole Queen video vault since the late ’80s), QUEEN: GREATEST FLIX III, is another excellent offering of various video clips from the diverse Queen library. (Suprisingly in 2015, it is … Read More
QUEEN: CLASSIC QUEEN
The Show Does Go On… Classic Queen? Isn’t everything that Queen release automatically classic? How do you differentiate? Seems Hollywood Records don’t really care, as CLASSIC QUEEN, a 1992 VHS release, is a jumble of videos from many Queen eras, focusing heavily on their later period material. Like the venality of a record company is any surprise. Godhead, icon and … Read More
KISS MY ASS
Kicking Kissed Ass. KISS MY ASS is the 1994 home video release in conjunction with the 1994 album of the same name (Kiss My Ass: Classic Kiss Regrooved), but is a totally different rock animal. Unlike the album, it ain’t a bunch of popular bands doing KISS covers. It’s the Real Thing. On their 20th anniversary, KISS release another collection … Read More
KISS: X-TREME CLOSE-UP
Hardcore hard rock. Shit’s about ta get RAYL! Twenty years after their inception, and a mere five years after their comical “documentary” EXPOSED, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS at last shed their 13-17 demo façade, grow a little facial hair, swear like they mean it, and tell it like it really is. Or at least how Gene Simmons … Read More
2016: OBAMA’S AMERICA
Fooling the Fools again. Who we foolin’ here? All one needs to glean a perspective on this documentary’s Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS) is to read the opening lines of any of its “sensible” “unbiased” “objective” reviews; all the waterheads who feel the need to proclaim, “First off I want to say that I based my commentary on the content rather … Read More
MITT
On Planet Mitt, no one can hear you fake-laugh… Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is. They are addicts, and they are guilty and they do lie and cheat and steal – like all junkies. And when they get in a frenzy, they will sacrifice anything and everybody to feed their … Read More
KISS ROCK THE NATION – LIVE!
The new War Machine is now Dressed To Kill. For a KISS fan, KISS: ROCK THE NATION – LIVE! is the same great product we’ve come to expect from the Hottest Band In The World, their 11th video/DVD release; for a new fan or a non-fan who would like to sample KISS before diving in, this DVD is as good … Read More
CHRIS ROCK: NEVER SCARED
Fearless and Peerless. A touch of Cosby, a sprinkle of Pryor – and a slam of Rock. CHRIS ROCK: NEVER SCARED is the comedian’s fourth HBO Special, recorded in March 2004 at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. And I almost feel guilty making the inevitable comparisons to his predecessors. Because he’s better than both of them. Yeah, I said … Read More
EYES OF THE MOTHMAN
Sleepy sleepy creepy creepy. Wake me when the Wamsley’s over. Jeff Wamsley – Mothman aficionado and Night Ranger enthusiast. Is it possible to make a more pointless and boring documentary about something which is pretty eerie even to skeptics? In EYES OF THE MOTHMAN, writer-director Matthew J. Pellowski delves into the legends behind the infamous, mysterious Mothman – an undefined … Read More
DEEP PURPLE: MACHINE HEAD
In Rock Gods We Trust. Machine Head was basically built on six or seven indestructible guitar riffs. — Brad Tolinski, Guitar World. The Classic Albums series showcases the seminal 1972 Deep Purple juggernaut, Machine Head. “Classic Albums,” produced by Isis Productions and Eagle Vision, is an excellent series to begin with, as the artists who forged the albums that changed … Read More
THE OFFICE
Office Spaced. Genius Ricky Gervais forges one of the greatest comedy series in history, co-writing, co-directing and starring in THE OFFICE. No punchline required. Before we proceed with this joyous excursion into comedic venality, let us clarify the world in which we live in (thank you, Paul!): there is only *one* THE OFFICE. That is: Ricky Gervais’s and Stephen Merchant’s … Read More
IRON MAIDEN FLIGHT 666
Maiden Voyage. An incredible Iron Maiden backstage pass! For fans, non-fans and devil-worshippers alike. IRON MAIDEN FLIGHT 666 is not just onstage footage coupled with staged interviews. It is backstage, onstage, offstage and everything in between, settling in comfortably with heavy metal band Iron Maiden on their 2008 “Somewhere Back In Time” World Tour, which includes shows in Third World … Read More
FIREFLY
Gorram good – once you get past the rutting cheapness. Am I that shallow? Do I only dig Nathan Fillion because he looks exactly like the great and powerful Gale Harold from QUEER AS FOLK? Yes, I am that shallow. Fillion is Captain Malcolm Reynolds, helming a “Firefly class” spaceship named Serenity, five hundred years in the future. And it … Read More
JACKASS 2.5
See what idiots with movie contracts are capable of – not much. Okay, at this stage, someone really needs to stop me beating the shit out of Johnny Knoxville for this lame excuse of a polished turd he calls a “movie.” Trouble is, he’d enjoy it. Knoxville (the “brains” behind JACKASS) and director Jeff Tremaine (JACKASS: THE MOVIE, JACKASS NUMBER … Read More
IT MIGHT GET LOUD
Whole Lotta Bruv. Three innovative guitarists three generations apart are brought together to talk guitar, live guitar and play guitar: Jack White, dynamo revolutionary red meat raw talent; Jimmy Page, who, along with Ritchie Blackmore, carved from caged lightning every riff that rock has ever known, and The Edge, who wears a nice wool cap. Written and directed by Davis … Read More