Portlandia, Season One DVD

By Danny R. Phillips

It seems that in some circle, including my own, cracking on hipsters has become somewhat of a sport. With their tragic coolness, bland color scheme in housing and clothes, poor music choices (does anyone REALLY like Bon Iver?), black eyeglasses, and Zach Galifianakis facial hair, the genus Hipsteris toocoolius has become a prime target for sarcasm and satire. And no show does it better than IFC’s Portlandia.
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So They Were Stars: The Razzle Dazzle Rockin’ Reign of the Hudson Brothers

By Cait Brennan

The Bible says music tore down the mighty walls of Jericho. In the 1960s and ’70s, rock and roll did the same for a generation of girls and young women. The rise of pop culture brought women and girls an unprecedented level of freedom, power, and influence. Perhaps it can’t quite be called “feminist,” and it may seem like a small thing, but before the mid-’60s, before the Beatles and Monkees, who could have imagined whole magazines devoted to pin-up boys?
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The Jesus Lizard, CLUB DVD

By Ann Clarke

Filmed in Nashville in July of 2009, this DVD is a one-night glimpse into what was a reunion-ish tour that I really wish I’d had a chance at seeing (no shows came anywhere near me). But luckily someone had the sense to capture it (and capture it well, I might add!)

I had seen Jesus Lizard live footage before, but regrettably I have never seen them live. I had a good idea of what to expect, and what is captured on this DVD lives up to my expectations.
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The Killing Floor: What Happened At Rue Morgue Festival Of Fear 2011

By Less Lee Moore

Every August, Rue Morgue hosts its annual horror convention Festival Of Fear as part of FanExpo Canada (which also includes Gaming, Comics, Sci Fi, and Anime). Every year, I await their list of guests and schedule of events. This year they presented a Near Dark screening with Lance Henriksen (read more here), a Q&A with Tom Savini (read more here), a 30th Anniversary cast and crew reunion for My Bloody Valentine (read more here), and much more, like events and panels with Malcolm McDowell, Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Elvira, and John Waters. There are literally too many things for one person to do. If ever there were a compelling reason to clone myself, it would be for Festival of Fear.
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Neil Young’s Music Box, Here We Are In The Years

By Danny R. Phillips

Doing an unauthorized DVD of any artist, let alone on someone as historically cantankerous as Neil Young, can be a real bitch. Little to no music or performance footage from the artist can be used, forcing the filmmakers to turn the film into a history lesson instead of a flat-out celebration. And sadly, that’s exactly what’s happened with Neil Young’s Music Box, Here We Are in the Years.
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Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . . (Season Two DVD)

By Danny R. Phillips

Elvis Costello has been good at many things throughout his career as a musician. From the snot-nosed, pissed off, former IBM employee who gave us “Accidents Will Happen,” “Alison,” “New Lace Sleeves,” and “Radio, Radio” to the still-much-loved, still-bitchy-at-times entertainer that he is today, his career has run the gamut. But it seems that some of his most curious work has been as host of the love fest known as Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . .
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Alien 2: On Earth

By Ann Clarke

Midnight Legacy films, for some fucked-up reason only known to them, felt the need to re-release the Italian film known as Alien 2 Sulla Terra. That translates to Alien 2: On Earth. After wasting 84.25 minutes of my life watching this . . . I have to wonder why they even went through the trouble.
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Bob Dylan Revealed

By John Lane

One can expect the usual onslaught of products and merchandise to cash in on Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday on May 1. Just as we have become used to more Beatles product every time Ringo coughs or Paul sneezes, so too must we be inundated with Bob Dylan product when he reaches a significant birthday mark.
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Bob Dylan: The Never Ending Narrative 1990 – 2006

By Paul Casey

Despite my trepidation that The Never Ending Narrative, which documents Dylan’s commercial and critical comeback, would be another super cheap cash-in akin to Bob Dylan World Tour 1966: The Home Movies, I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it is still pretty cheap—the most direct interview subjects are a pair of engineers—but unlike that earlier movie, it actually has Dylan music! Although it is not exactly overflowing with it, there is just enough to hold things together. The majority of the film is taken up by a series of music journalists, most of who specialize in discussing Bob Dylan. Most of these are entertaining, clearly know their subject, and help disguise the film’s shortcomings.
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A Little Bowie, A Little Bardot: The Runaways

By Less Lee Moore

The Runaways, Floria Sigismondi’s 2010 film about the seminal all-girl rock band, is not a documentary. That role, to some extent, has already been filled: Former Runaway Vicki Tischler-Blue made Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways in 2004, even though Joan Jett declined to participate and refused to allow any original music from the band to be used.

Despite the fact that Joan Jett was an executive producer on The Runaways, do not watch it expecting a history lesson. Because the movie, although based on member Cherie Currie’s bio Neon Angel, is partly fact and partly fiction, but all fantasy: sex, drugs, more drugs, rock & roll, heartbreak, and dreaming.
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