DVD Tuesday Theres dumb theres dumber and then theres Idiocracy Mike Judge has seen the future and it really doesnt workI mentioned Idiocracy in an earlier column but now I think its time to give it its due Mike Judges dystopian-future comedy is flawed but I find myself quoting it all the time Worried that its a waste to let Americas best soldiers idle when theres no war for them to wage the military initiates a top-secret program to put them on ice literally until theyre needed Naturally the top brass isnt about to try out an experimental technology on the cream of the fighting crop so they choose low-level GI Joe Luke Wilson and smart-mouthed hooker Rita Maya Rudolph as guinea pigs The plan is to freeze them for a year but things happen regimes change and next thing you know no-one who knew about the hush-hush experiment is around to keep tabs on it500 years later Rita and Joe wake up in an America in which everyone with the brain
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DVD Tuesday Videodrome reality TV and the temple of the new flesh -- David Cronenberg saw it allAll hail Mike Judges Idiocracy 2006 Every time my mind is boggled by the depths to which some new reality TV show has sunk I cant help but remember the most popular show of Judges dystopian future Ow My Balls Really says it all doesnt it But much though Im amused by Idiocracy David Cronenbergs Videodrome 1983 really blows my mind pace Roxy Musics In Every Dream Home a Heartache The first time I saw it I was in college the product of a world in which there were no PCs no cell phones no IM no PDAs no social networking sites no games more sophisticated than Space Invaders and Pong and yet I knew that Videodrome wasnt just a freaky kick Id been following Cronenberg since his experimental shorts Stereo 1969 and Crimes of the Future 1970 and it was clear to me that he was on to something In some visceral way he got both the seductiveness and
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Monday, Feb. 4, at 2:45 pm/ETGimme Shelter | SUND It's been said that the '60s came to a crashing halt at California's Altamont Speedway where, in 1969, the Rolling Stones at their most satanic played "Sympathy for the Devil" while the Hell's Angels rampaged and a young man died. You'll get no argument from me: This classic concert film from the Maysles brothers captures the dark twilight of the Age of Aquarius.Tuesday, Feb. 5, 8 and 9:45 pmEnter the Dragon | AMC Bruce Lee is a legend for a reason, and even if you don't think you like "chop-socky" flicks, you need to check this one out. Lee stars as a martial-arts expert who enters a contest held in a remote island fortress, a setup that's been copied endless times ever since. This was Lee's last completed film before his untimely death in 1973, and he's spectacular.Wednesday, Feb. 6, 8 pmVertigo | TCMI still personally prefer Notorious and Shadow of a Doubt, but I certainly won't throw down with anyone who contends that this dark a...
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