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I recently caught up with Steven Soderbergh’s 2003 10-episode HBO series K Street. Released to unenthusiastic reviews, this verite mixture of fact and fiction set in the backrooms of Washington acquires new resonance as the Plame investigation heats up. Real-life political operatives and improbable spouses James Carville and Mary Matalin play ( Read more... )

I’ve been watching Steve Coogan’s 1994 BBC series, Knowing Me Knowing You With Alan Partridge, which is just now available on DVD in North America. Sure, the premise of the hilariously botched talk show has been a comedy staple since Fernwood 2Nite, SCTV, and the early days of SNL. Still, this is very funny, mostly because the Alan Partridge ( Read more... )

Ab-Normal Beauty [HK, 2004, Oxide Pang] High school senior who feels abandoned by her mother becomes obsessed with photographing death, with horrific results. Atmospheric mix of gauzy romanticism and gory scares seems to be setting up a Polanskian descent into madness, then veers elsewhere. Gotta give props to a horror flick where a victim can say ( Read more... )

DVDs from Hong Kong have finally improved their image quality, with anamorphic widescreen and decent transfers that look good on a home theater-sized screen. Older titles are being remastered, though you’re likely to get an acceptable master of a worn, unrestored print. A couple of recent films look suitably snappy.

Leave Me Alone (2004) is from ( Read more... )

As revealed in a previous installment, I, through an extraordinary stroke of luck, am now the owner of a very large television. I hate to tempt fate by celebrating my good fortune, but, man, it is a wondrous object to behold ( Read more... )