A lot has happened in the 25 years since Jane’s Addiction last released their fantastic, one-time swan song Ritual De Lo Habitual: The band split up and got back together several times; Front man Perry Farrell invented the modern-day touring rock festival with Lollapalooza (an unfortunate side effect, we also had decades of marketing folks tacking the suffix -palooza onto any event in an attempt to make it hip) and…
The Refreshments may be seen by many as a 1990s one-hit wonder, but the band is almost a religion to a smaller, but much more rabid group of music fans. And can you blame them? Roger Clyne and his crew churned out two LPs crammed with a slew of fantastic songs that vacillated between roots rock, Americana and dessert boogie.
Tackling racism in America via documentary is certainly not a new thing, however directing Raoul Peck manages to put forth one of the most fascinating examples in recent memory.
X Japan may be the biggest band in the world you’ve never heard of. But this brilliant documentary does a fantastic job of making you care about them regardless.
Kane Liostro – Feel Again Talented songwriter and producer Kane Liostro has released a new single called “Feel Again”, the song is poppy and fun. Kane voice blends well with the music and the performance is highlighted by the masterful production. The video itself is funny and sexy, really summery as well. I think that fans of performers like Ed Sheeran or John Mayer would enjoy Kane’s music, due to the…
Rush has always been a polarizing band: you either hate ‘em or you love ‘em (and I’m talking fanatical love here). Nowhere is that more apparent than on this documentary about the legendary Canadian band and their fans. Filmed in 2015 when the band was in the middle of their 40th anniversary tour, one many assumed would be the band’s last.
Long before shows like Black Mirror, there was The Twilight Zone. Arguably the greatest intellectual Sci-Fi series ever created for TV. CBS/DVD has finally put out all 156 episodes of this groundbreaking show, across 24 discs.
Grinder was proof that network television channels are capable of creating original, smart comedies; That witty sitcoms were no longer just meant for cable stations. Then again, Grinder was also proof that network channels are also clueless enough to kill a great thing after just one season.
The 1983 TV special Motown 25 was a defining moment in TV for many. Michael Jackson was at one of the highest peaks in his career and he slayed the crowd with hit after hit. It was also the moment when the world first discovered what Moonwalking was, as Jackson demonstrated it for the first time publicly on “Billie Jean.” Despite that pop cultural moment, the show was crammed with…
Frank Rizzo may not be as infamous nationally as Huey Long or Rod Blagojevich, but in Philly, depending on what neighborhood you visit, he was either the city’s savior or the most corrupt politician ever to serve as mayor of Philadelphia. Amateur Night At City Hall, originally released in 1978 does a decent job of trying to remain objective while still managing to accurately cover the rise of Rizzo from…
The British export Traders is as fun as it is dark. The movie focuses on two friends who recently lost their jobs and are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly dire economy.
Legendary Reggae/Dub pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry has always been an odd cat, so it’s appropriate that any documentary about him be just as quirky. Lee Scratch Perry’s Vision of Paradise is far from ordinary, but a fun, peculiar look at the godfather’s of Jamaican music.
XLrator Media will release Guns N’ Roses founding member and bass player Duff McKagan’s autobiographical music documentary IT’S SO EASY AND OTHER LIES: LIVE AT THE MOORE, based on his New York Times best-selling memoir, in 50 cities beginning May 26, prior to its LA theatrical release on June 3. Fans can go to itssoeasymovie.com for theater information and to purchase tickets.
There is a new Peppa Pig release, The Golden Boots, out on the market and it stands apart from other children’s releases in that it contains about double the amount of episodes that one would typically receive on a kids-themed DVD. The release has the ability for individuals to go and play the entirety of the DVD while an episode list (aside from the feature, this DVD includes episodes including…
The Duplass Brothers have turned in some of the most impressive dark indie comedies of the past decade (The Skelton Twins, Safety Not Guaranteed), but it wasn’t a given that their thoughtful, subtle humor would translate to TV. Turns out it does. With Togetherness, the writer/director/producer/actor sibling team has turned in a remarkably fresh half-hour comedy for Generation X and beyond.
Robert Rodriguez has made a career out of gory, DIY movie fun, taking B-Grade camera tricks and actors and creating hard-to-look-away stories. He’s managed to do the same thing on TV with the adaption of his From Dusk Till Dawn movie. In the second season, the morally-questionable bank robbing brothers Seth and Richie have split up, but are each still dealing with vampires south of the border.
Sesame Street: Elmo’s Wonders, released earlier this month, is a collection of a variety of activities that will get your toddler or young child up and active with one of their favorite child’s creations, Elmo. The DVD has a number of different activities that will keep things fresh for those frazzled parents that have to watch the DVD on repeat for months. This means that there is Elmo Says, Red…
Satire has rarely hit so close to the truth as it does with the TV series Unreal.
There are some groups that despite universal appeal still seem very much like they belong solely to England and the rest of the world is just borrowing them for a while. The Rolling Stones felt like they belonged to everyone; same with the Beatles. The Who, though they sold well across the globe, seemed very much like a UK-centric band. The same goes for groups like Blur, Suede and The…
While it’s true that the second season of the Nic Pizzolatto-helmed crime noir True Detective never came close to living up to the expectations of the first season, it’s a tad unfair to compare the two. The first season was groundbreaking TV and a pop culture moment (the pairing of Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson was simply inspired), but the follow up was a pretty decent effort as well.
