Synopsis: Minnesota native Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) moves upstate, gets a job co-producing the evening news for WJM-TV Minneapolis, and discovers that she might just make it after all. Why It Rocks: One of television's finest ensembles (of the seventies or any other decade) gelled immediately whilst ushering sardonic, rat-tat-tat workplace humour to the small screen; is it any wonder that James L. Brooks was on the creative staff? Ed Asner--imposing when you're a kid, a magnificent teddy bear by the time you've reached adulthood--and Moore are one of the great platonic comedy duos; when they're together and on fire (as in ep. 1.6, "Support Your Local Mother"), they lift a well-oiled sitcom into Howard Hawks territory. Snow-capped Ted Knight as Ted Baxter, a bronzed lampoon of anchorman ventriloquism, elicits pre-emptive giggles the second he materializes in a scene, as do numerous one-shot guest stars. The production designers admirably resist the impulse to give Mary a bigger apartment or more furnishings than she could afford--Moore's observation that, "We never went for the guaranteed laugh at the expense of the truth" seems to apply here. Overlook: Cloris Leachman's invasive Phyllis, a grody-to-the-max Steinem caricature cancelled out by Valerie Harper's Rhoda, anyway; the unyielding background flurries (does the entire season happen in a January?); the unabashed recycling of memorable bit players like Patte Finley; the unlikelihood that Rhoda, a big-city gal, would relocate to Minneapolis of her own free will; and an overuse of sentimental false alarms, such as Mary leaving the station, Mr. Grant getting fired (paving the way for a grotesque cameo by Chill Wills), and so on. The DVD: Edge-enhancement is overused, but the source material was in great shape; colours are terrific, and the mono soundtracks are resonant enough. Select half-hours feature nostalgic commentary sessions with the likes of Asner, writers Allan Burns and David Davis, and director Jay Sandrich. The four-disc, 24-episode set devotes its final platter to an unparalleled (though overscored) 87-minute retrospective on the making of Season One alone (boding well for future "MTM" collections); highlights include an interview with Reza Badiyi (creator of the unforgettable title sequence) and a harrowing account of the night the pilot was filmed, memories of which give all involved the shivers to this day. Arcane promos for the show that aired on CBS in the early '70s, a gallery of "classic" stills, Emmy Awards clips (dig those styles!--be forewarned, no award for Mary), and a trivia challenge that's all the more fun for the participation of cast and crew help to propel a guaranteed good time into the stratosphere. Among the year's best DVD buys. Perfect For: Comedy buffs. (Fox) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

Synopsis: Lily (Sela Ward), recently separated, meets-cute a long-time divorcee named Rick (Bill Campbell), and in each instance their relationship advances a step, children and exes from both sides intervene. Why It Rocks: TV Guide calls it "addictively emotional," and that pretty much sums it up. If Hallmark were to manufacture crack, it would turn out an awful lot like "Once and Again". The acting is uniformly excellent, and in insecure high-school junior Grace (Julia Whelan), co-creators Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz found a surrogate Angela Chase, the protagonist of their dazzling series "My So-Called Life", the ABC network's abortion of which we still mourn. (To some degree, Grace is the show's most complex character, having been all but prefabricated; Whelan even has Claire Danes' mannerisms down pat.) "thirtysomething"'s Miles Drentell (David Clennon) was ported over without the name/casting change to provide "Once and Again" a much-needed neutral antagonist; he's fabulous. Campbell is a seriously likable leading man. Overlook: The fact that self-centred Lily is despicable (once and) again and again--no wonder they hired an attractive woman like Ward to play her, otherwise she'd be absolutely intolerable. (Grace is a horror, too, but she has moments of redemption.) Lacking any sense of accountability, Lily allows the blame of her infidelity (among other things) to fall squarely on the shoulders of others; episodes without her (which number surprisingly high) tend to be the highlights of this first season. You'll also have to grin and bear it when the death of Lily's father (Paul Mazursky, somehow equally insufferable playing dead or alive) hijacks the proceedings. It's awfully smug of "Once and Again"'s behind-the-scenes team to treat Mazursky's Phil as though he were a TV staple after what amounts to a few cringe-worthy moments with the guy. The DVD: Yes, all you twelve-year-old readers of FILM FREAK CENTRAL, Shane West looks totally yum in these A-class full-frame transfers of "Once and Again"'s initial run of twenty-two individual hours. A slight frame delay gives the series an appropriate, European feel. The Dolby Surround soundtracks are clear but subdued. Bring on season two! Perfect For: People fond of such banal terms as "chick flicks." (Buena Vista) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

OVERLOOKED

Synopsis: Two outcast teenaged girls follow a weird middle-aged man around town. No, it's not a world of ghosts, but The World of Henry Orient, a film about Val (Tippy Walker) and Mirian (Merrie Spaeth), who both come, for all intents and purposes, from broken homes and both seem like a rite of passage for the other. Poor Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) is a dreadful concert pianist just trying to conduct extra-marital affairs in peace--everywhere he goes, there Val (smitten with Henry from afar) and Mirian are, stalking him to collect content for their scrapbook. Why It Rocks: You won't realize how well-placed a one-sheet for the film is in Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World until you've seen this fanciful precursor, which covers similar territory without taking the plunge of dissolving the line separating Henry's world and that of the young women. Walker, Sellers, and especially Tom Bosley as Val's sympathetic dad are terrific, and the happy ending works because it's a peculiarly empty gesture. Though director George Roy Hill's oeuvre runs hot and cold for me, he got The World of Henry Orient right. Overlook: The cavalier racism seemingly endemic to Sellers' pictures, to say nothing of the fact that for as good as he is here, he does little to flesh out the character sketch that is Henry Orient. The DVD: MGM presents the film in clean 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and abominably-framed pan-and-scan editions on opposite sides of a flipper disc. The image a little wanting for sharpness, the mono soundtrack on the shrill side, this DVD nonetheless outclasses every pre-existing home video version of the film. A trailer for The World of Henry Orient, the disc's only extra, sells a star vehicle instead of an ensemble piece. Perfect For: Ghost World admirers. (MGM) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

Synopsis: Agoraphobic Male Seeks Cybersex. Informed by his insurance company that they'll cover prostitutes as a medical expense, Thomas simultaneously ventures into the online red-light district and, on the advice of his shrink, the world of cyber-dating. Why It Rocks: If people had gone to see it, I doubt there would have been a more polarizing film last year. The first movie comprised entirely of point-of-view shots since 1947's Lady in the Lake, Thomas in Love ("Thomas est amoureux") quickly goes from subjective to constrictive--which marks the approach as a success, since Thomas is rather helplessly cornered. Far from the definitive portrait of compulsive behaviour, it at least delineates the boundaries of his affliction empathetically. (You judge him, but you also are him.) The more you contemplate the picture, the richer its themes of assimilation and its Cronenbergian treatise on technology's role in redefining intimacy become. If you just want to get stupid and stare at a rotating palette of psychedelic colours, Thomas in Love is good for that, too. Overlook: The sudden and unconvincing romantic subplot that drives act three; the ill-conceived futuristic fashion trends, many of which would embarrass even the makers of the Dune miniseries. The DVD: Séville of Canada releases Thomas in Love on DVD in a 1.78:1, 16x9-enhanced presentation with stereo French sound and optional English subtitles. The image is pristine, though the digital production appears to have been transferred to disc from a celluloid source--one can mount convincing cases for and against sanding down the artificial edges of the video master, but that's not the order of the day. Director Pierre-Paul Renders recalls a life insurance ad so impressionable it fuelled his desire to become a filmmaker (albeit of an opposite mind) in a half-hour subtitled making-of that describes the complexities of Thomas in Love's deceptively simple shoot. A shorter featurette explains the motion-capture technology that assisted the fabrication of Thomas' pixellated love doll, Clara. The trailer caps off this DVD, whose reversible cover art is in both French and English. Perfect For: Adventurous cineastes. (Séville) ~ Buy at Amazon Canada or Videoflicks

Synopsis: A feud begins between two soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars; Feraud (Harvey Keitel) is determined to end it with one of them dead. His opponent, d'Hubert (Keith Carradine), is a bit of a pacifist, but always obsessed with the next duel when the time comes. Why It Rocks: As concise a portrait of the male ego as there's ever been, Ridley Scott's directorial debut is close to being his best-looking picture--and that's saying something. The movie reflects the sketchiness of the brief Conrad tale on which it is based (part of a historical novel that never materialized) in a most satisfying way, with a streamlined approach that makes the central conflict the narrative as opposed to part of a larger tapestry, à la Kubrick's bloated though proportionately gorgeous Barry Lyndon. Scott/Conrad/Sigmund Freud enthusiasts, you owe it to yourself to see The Duellists--if nothing else, to find out who wins! Overlook: No sense raining on the twenty-five year old film's parade now that it's on parole. The DVD: Paramount treats this overlooked gem to a Special Collector's Edition, kicking things off with a lush, unblemished 1.77:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The original Dolby Stereo soundtrack gets a 5.1 upgrade, but the result is less spectacular than inoffensive, with percussion profiting the most noticeably from the discrete soundstage. A pair of commentary tracks feature Scott remembering with stunning clarity the weeks leading up to the shoot while composer Howard Blake recalls the motivations for his musical choices between isolated passages of his score. Scott pops up again in the 26-minute "Duelling Directors: A Conversation with Ridley Scott and Kevin Reynolds," which incorporates vintage interview footage with a third party, screenwriter Gerald Vaughan-Hughes. Reynolds--a huge fan of the film at hand (he seems to inadvertently insult Ridley when stressing its obscurity) who's still living down the financially ruinous yet thoroughly enjoyable Waterworld--sits with The Duellists auteur in some kind of shack armed with a copy of the film and a remote control. The tech-speak gets admirably thick ("Is that a grad?" "No, it's a Tiffan filter") but fear not alienation: their Q&A balances itself out with delectable actor gossip. A bonus flick in the form of Scott's noteworthy but tedious avant garde short Boy and Bicycle (starring a teenaged Tony Scott as "the boy"), a storyboard montage (viewable in a splitscreen comparison with finished shots) that essentially compresses The Duellists to four minutes, galleries of production stills, promotional portraits, and international posters all for The Duellists, and the film's rarely-seen original theatrical trailer wind down this DVD, which exceeds every expectation one had for it. Perfect For: Gentlemen. (Paramount) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

Synopsis: Jimmy Fingers (Harvey Keitel) is of two poles: classical and street. He studies to be a concert pianist like his institutionalized mother, but he makes a living working for his dad (the famously hoarse Michael V. Gazzo) as a debt collector. Jimmy also has an insatiatable sexual appetite and pipes Motown through a portable tape-deck everywhere he goes, even in restaurants. (The film predates the ghetto blaster fad, and one wonders to what degree it may have influenced it.) Why It Rocks: James Toback's accomplished directorial debut, the picture moves deliberately and substitutes (wonderful) songs for platitudes. Tanya Roberts has a scene so ineffably sexy that one understands why Jeffrey Katzenberg and Don Simpson, according to Toback's DVD commentary, used to project it over and over again in Paramount's screening room. The film's utility dialogue ("Double suck!") is as memorable as a commercial jingle, Keitel's ferocious performance gets under your skin, and football star Jim Brown--essentially quantum-leaping into the pimp role that Keitel had in Taxi Driver--officially leaves his mark on cinema as the timebomb "Dreems." God, I miss the Euro-sensibility of the seventies. Overlook: The Oedipal drum that Toback beats in every one of his films, Fingers unexcepted. The DVD: The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a crystal-clear revelation--only the colour schemes and a hollow mono soundtrack date Fingers on disc. Toback is somewhat less boastful and more insightful in his solo yakker than he was with the stars of Two Girls and a Guy on that film's DVD release. Inspirational is the five-minute interview with Keitel and Toback (side-by-side) that climaxes with Keitel lighting a verbal fire under the collective ass of those wannabe filmmakers sitting around waiting for doors to magically open. Fingers' original theatrical trailer rounds out the presentation. Perfect For: Purebred film lovers. (Warner) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

ANIMATION

Synopsis: Goofy's evolution from hick to sports instructor to suburban patriarch is retraced in 46 shorts spanning twenty-two years. Why It Rocks: "What the hell is Goofy?" the kids asked in Stand By Me. Well, he's a dog, but that doesn't begin to scratch the surface of such an existential quandary. Above all, this collection teaches you that he was a star--and responsible for some of the most subversive (not to mention underrated) cartoons of animation's golden age, when Tex Avery and Chuck Jones were almost household names. A personal fave is "Two-Gun Goofy," wherein a bandit parallel parks his horse, dismounts, and kills everybody in sight (and then shoots the word "wanted" underneath the "sheriff" sign), only to find himself outwitted by a lovestruck, cigarette-smoking Goofy. (Goofy tries to quit smoking elsewhere in "No Smoking.") The fifties era of Goofy yields more surprises and social insights (if less violence) than the previous decade's worth; seeing this luckless yet optimistic daydreamer in his cubicle in "Two Weeks Vacation" or "How to Sleep," one is reminded of the Wilder hero. Moreover, the running gag that every deliveryman who comes to Goofy's door pulls him into a sloppy kiss (mistaking him for the missus) is as good as anything Billy Wilder ever concocted. Overlook: The absence of any cartoons in which Goofy co-starred with fellow icons Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, always a hoot. The former Dippy Dog shares billing solely in the first cartoon of the set, "Goofy and Wilbur." (Wilbur is a grasshopper that helps lure fish into Goofy's nets. Yep, a fish-eating dog.) The DVD: Two platters packaged in a numbered tin, this Walt Disney Treasure, like the others in the blossoming series (now seven titles strong), is a handsome gewgaw in and of itself. Transfer quality is astonishing and consistent across the board, and the mono sound is immaculate. Leonard Maltin hosts a spotty introduction to each disc (for instance, he addresses the departure of "Pinto" Colvig (the original voice of Goofy) for Max Fleischer Studios but not Colvig's return to Disney and Goofy a few years later); interviews lovable Bill Farmer, the Dallas native responsible for the Goofster's vocals (and, unlike Colvig, his distinctive yodel-yell as well) since 1986; hosts a brief though far more thorough biography of Colvig proper; and provides edifying commentary snippets in a section dedicated to Goofy memorabilia. Disney animator Art Babbitt gets philosophical about Goofy ("he's gangly, not rubbery") in a guide to the folksy character written for his colleagues' benefit, while galleries containing poster art and sketches of "Goofy Through the Years" round out this unique, endlessly amusing DVD. Perfect For: Smart idiots. (Disney) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

Synopsis: The members of ZOWIE enter all of the qualities they desire in a secret agent into a computer and it spits out the name "Derek Flint." Flint (James Coburn), renaissance man to the extreme, has to stop a band of villains who've gained control of the world's weather. Why It Rocks: The late, great Coburn relishes the chance to play super-spy, and his comic timing is impeccable. ("An anti-American eagle," he says in a moment of admiration for the evil genius he's up against. "That's diabolical!") The film has a fascinating, semi-feminist subtext that subverts James Bondian misogyny, with Flint deprogramming women who've been persuaded through hypnosis to bed the henchmen. ("You are not a pleasure unit," he whispers in their ears.) Visually, Our Man Flint detonates fireworks of primary colours and films the debris. Overlook: The sluggish pacing; a funny telephone ring that wears out its welcome. The DVD: Fox does the CinemaScope production Our Man Flint a great deal of justice in a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer of a digitally cleansed print. The 2.0 mono sound is nothing special, though, and neither are the trailers for the other films of Our Man Flint's ilk: In Like Flint (the first and only sequel); Modesty Blaise; and Fathom. The groovy red keepcase is compromised by a banal cover quote from DVD FILE. Perfect For: Coburn fans; those for whom Bond (or Austin Powers, for that matter) is a bit too British. (Fox) ~ Buy at Amazon USA/Canada or Compare Prices

• Blade II
• Ghost World
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Extended Edition
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller
• Mr. Show: The Complete First and Second Seasons
• Near Dark
• Reservoir Dogs - Ten Years: Special Edition
• Seconds
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The Director's Edition
• Sunset Blvd.