Man, Eddie Murphy used to do some brillant shit. Behold the genius that is James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party.

Circuitry Man

The early 90’s, what an age—many a child was feeding at cable’s teat and for those of us with no life, Momma was good company. Weird semi-independent films would show up late at night on HBO and Joe Bob Briggs would be coming to The Movie Channel to bring us all a taste of the Drive In. It was in this golden time that Circuitry Man reared its shiny head. It’s a bizarre film and hard to categorize, but to be safe let’s call it Sci-Fi.

Starring Jim Metzler, who would later on be more happily remembered for L.A. Confidential, Circuitry Man tells the story of an Earth gone wrong. We’ve depleted our atmosphere to where the air is un-breathable and everyone has gone underground. Since we’ve got really nothing to do but stare at one another, people now “plug in” to a virtual experience through an outlet in the back of their necks. Sound familiar? (more…)

There’s the Spiderman 2’s, the Shrek 2’s and Pirates of the Caribbean 2’s and then there are those flicks that get lost in the depths of the two for $5 bin at Blockbuster—those movies that you may not have seen, or did and just can’t quite remember what they were called. That’s where this column comes in.

Here you’ll find a loving memorial to those films of yesteryear and maybe even last week. The flicks that were shown on late night cable and are only found in the deep, dark crevices of that one remaining shelf of VHS tapes at the video store. The ones that you might have skipped over in lieu of that last copy of You, Me, and Dupree or maybe it was that oh so tempting cover shot of Scarlett Johansson on the modern classic The Island.

In any event, you may have just missed something that, while not necessarily special, was probably far more entertaining. Here you will find a place for those less renowned gems, the forgotten children of Hollywood who Daddy just doesn’t seem to send a check to on a regular basis. Here they get that needed love and attention, if only for three or four paragraphs.

DVD Pick Of The Week - Shameless

Just when you thought Paul Abbott - arguably one of Britain’s best writers let alone all of television - couldn’t top his last effort, the master goes and hits one out of the park. This week finally sees the Region 1 release of the first installment of his blisteringly funny, achingly real and utterly brilliant Shameless (Now in its fifth series in the UK). Based in part on Abbott’s own upbringing in a broken home, it may be the crowning achievement on his already stunning CV.

Frank Gallagher (David Threllfall) is a fuck-up of the highest order. Ditched by his wife five years ago, he’s become the laughing stock of the Manchester council estate (that’s the projects to us Yanks) that he calls home - perpetually drunk, dragged home unconscious by the cops regularly, which might be fine, if it makes him happy. Except for one problem: he’s got six kids at home who, in light of being abandoned by their mother, might be a little better off if Dad stopped acting like the village idiot.

Shameless is remarkable in that the Gallaghers’ tale works on so many levels: family melodrama, with each child struggling in their own way with their parents’ failure. Teenaged Ian is in the closet, having an affair with his married boss, while sweet little Debbie seems to be handling it all quite well…until she steals a baby from down the street. It’s high comedy (Maxine Peake and Dean Lennox Kelly, as the oversexed neighbors, are a riot), a deft commentary on British class issues, and frequently quite tragic. And at its core, Shameless Series 1 is a love story: put-upon eldest sister Fiona (the extraordinary Anne-Marie Duff) stubbornly resists being swept off her feet by big-hearted, smooth-talking Steve (James McAvoy). As they inch closer to happiness, we feel a glimmer of hope for their motley crew…and perhaps, by extension, for ourselves. The Osbournes wish they were this dysfunctional.

Also recommended this week: Author! Author!; Criterion Eclipse: Series 2; James Cagney: Signature Series; Les Miserables (1952); The Odd Couple: Season 1; One Day at a Time: Season 1; Panic in Needle Park; Parenthood: Special Edition; The Queen; Tsunami: The Aftermath; WKRP in Cincinnati: Season 1

— Nicole Campos

La Haine

The Chocolate War: With great roles in Christine, Dressed to Kill and other films, Keith Gordon could have made a fine career simply as an actor. It’s as a director, however, where he’s really made a mark: only a handful of films, yet all of them outstanding, and The Chocolate War his excellent debut feature. Ilan Mitchell Smith – a loooong way from Weird Science – stars as a new student at a Catholic school who is pushed to the edge not only by the viciousness of his peers, but the rigid expectations of the administration. A slightly surreal, yet deeply heartfelt adaptation of Robert Cormier’s superb novel; the long-awaited disc features an interview and commentary track with Gordon.

The Last King of Scotland: It’s so nice when someone gets an Oscar for the right role, at the right time. This year, we had two of them: Helen Mirren for The Queen, and Forest Whitaker for his towering performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in this top-notch thriller. For years he’s turned in outstanding work, and Whitaker tops them all by embodying Amin as a terrifying man-child, eager to please on the world stage while at the same time exercising ruthless violence to maintain control. Meanwhile, the excellent James McAvoy shines as the young Scottish doctor who is welcomed into Amin’s inner circle, and through whom we see the nightmare unfold; the DVD features a commentary with director Kevin MacDonald and numerous featurettes.

Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, Volume 2: “Leeeet’s GIT IT AWN!” – after a hugely successful first volume, SpikeTV’s brilliant melding of Jackass and What’s Up Tiger Lily gets a second edition on disc, with even more English-dubbing hijinks layered over episodes of the wacko Japanese game show “Takeshi’s Castle.” Strap on that helmet and get ready for more gleeful pain in rounds of “Sinkers and Floaters” and “Brass Balls,” and an excellent array of extras featuring the supremely talented voice cast and behind the scenes mayhem. (I’ve been told, by the way, that yours truly will appear in the extras on the day of my visit to the MXC studio for a piece I wrote for the OC Weekly. Here’s hoping I don’t come off like a gibbering geek. Yeah, I know, unlikely…)

La Haine (Criterion): Another great acting director!: Matthieu Kassovitz has racked up an impressive CV on camera, with roles in films such as Amelie, Munich, even a hilarious cameo in The Fifth Element (“Gimme tha cashhh!!!” Heh.) He is equally adept, however, at his work as a director, and this week Criterion issues their package of his finest film, a thoughtful yet brutal study of three young men coming apart after their friend is nearly killed by police following a riot in a Paris ghetto. With a searing lead performance by the great Vincent Cassel, La Haine is a raw, stylish and superb look at race and culture clashes; the two disc set features a director’s commentary and loads of bonus features.

Other recommended titles for April 17th: Brute Force (Criterion); Happy Days: Season 2; The History Boys; Laverne & Shirley: Season 2; Not The Best of Larry Sanders; Notes on a Scandal; Overlord (Criterion); The Venture Bros: Season 2

—Nicole Campos

Mission to Mars vs The Red Planet

In the year 2000 (cue Conan O’Brien and his floating heads) there was suddenly an interest in being the first studio in a long while to head to our favorite land of little green men, Mars.

Mission To Mars

The first to hit the screens was what I consider the NASCAR of the duo, Mission To Mars. Why you ask? Because I’ve never seen a film shove soooo much advertising down your throat in such an obvious manner (Dr. Pepper actually saves the day at one point.) Mission To Mars was made by Buena Vista…you know, Disney. Yes, they also have a ride at their theme park called that too, surprised? Nah, me neither. Consider this the bigger budget brother to that Steve Guttenberg epic Tower of Terror that came out a while back.

PLOT SHOT: Astronauts go on a mission to save the lone survivor of the first Mars Mission. Things go wrong. Gary Sinise wears too much eye liner and Tim Robbins has one of the most unnecessary deaths on film.

MTM was directed by Brian De Palma of all people (Disney, I’m shocked) and has the dubious honor of being one of the first films I ever laughed out loud at the ending in the theater. If it wasn’t Jerry O’Connell playing with M&M’s in space it was the over acting by Don Cheadle (we’re a long way from that hotel in Rwanda here) and the ending just sort of happens. I’m not sure what Disney and De Palma were trying for in this flick. But with a budget of nearly 100 million dollars you’d think they could have come up with a more convincing alien (which funnily enough wasn’t green).

Red Planet

Released a few months after MTM was Red Planet starring Carrie-Anne Moss in one of her Matrix follow ups. Along with Trinity we had Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, and Benjamin Bratt.

PLOT SHOT: Astronauts go on a mission to see if we can colonize Mars since the Earth is dying. Thing’s go wrong, plus they have a homicidal robot to deal with.

The film is pretty messy in terms of plot. You’ve got a pseudo love story between Moss and Kilmer, in-fighting amongst the crew, and then you’ve got the added bonus of the crazy robot who becomes a stalker. It sort of becomes a mishmash of Armageddon with a dose of Saturn 3. Another fun fact about this is the director, Antony Hoffman, basically quit the film industry after making it. It was his first and only movie, coming from a career as a commercials director. With the budget being 75 million and the return not coming close, that might be a clue as to why.

Neither is a masterpiece, but if you want to spend a night exploring the big red, these two will get you there. And who could hate on seeing Tim Sizemore blowing himself up?

-Jessica Dwyer

Hollywood isn’t exactly original. And sometimes, a couple flicks are released months apart that are eerily similar. Good things come in two’s, if you go by what Hollywood thinks, so hence this column.

It’s happened more than once where studios will piggyback film releases to capitalize on each other. Or maybe it’s just a lack of imagination…who can really say. Be it where the film takes place, the vibe of the movie, and sometimes the entire plot itself…films who are connected enough to be considered siblings spring forth from Hollywood’s womb with astounding regularity.

Movie Pairs will spotlight those occurrences where the dream factory churned out a nearly matching set. We’ll compare their plots and we’ll critique their content. And we’ll most likely make fun of them just because we can. Let’s face it, most times they deserve it.