Out of the Inkwell

A rollercoaster selection of films is in this week's DVD column.

It's a Wonderful Life

The wonderful 1946 Christmas classic by director Frank Capra is now out on DVD with two viewing options either you can watch a sparkling transfer of the black and white original or a newly colorized version.

Thanks to its temporary public domain status, "Life" was one of the most ubiquitous films on video, but few of those tapes featured a decent looking print. With the film now under copyright, a definitive version is now on DVD.

I'm not partial to colorized versions of black and white films, but I have to say the colorized "Life" at least has been done with taste and subtlety.

There are two extras on the disc a 1990 feature on the making of the film and a 1991 "remembrance" featuring Frank Capra Jr. Both add trivia and insight that can make the film a more enjoyable experience.

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/

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Casshern

This 2004 Japanese science fiction film is dazzling to watch, but has a narrative that will leave many viewers scratching their heads.

At a time in the future, the countries of Earth will merge into two great powers that will engage in war for 50 years. At the conclusion there is a clear winner, which has now evolved into a corporate-controlled dictatorship. When a researcher discovers a medical advancement that allows him to grow new organs the government leaders fund his work, so they might live forever.

Their plans are altered when a lightning bolt from space strikes the research facility causing dead test subjects to come back to life with advanced strength and a determination to wipe out the lesser humans.

Only one person stands in their way the researcher's son who has been killed in the war and is brought back to life as well.

Shot on green-screen stages with a predominantly digitally created landscape and sets, "Casshern" is successful in creating a compelling vision of another world. The story, though, is another thing and the ending of the film is far from satisfying or even understandable.

For more information, log onto www.dreamworks.com.



The Best of the Colbert Report

Just in time for his aborted run for the White House comes a "best of" compilation of Stephen Colbert's witty and often very funny jab at the right wing talking head shows.

I admire Colbert for coming up with a persona that must irritate a large number of people who are in power today. His performance before President Bush last year at the White House Correspondents Dinner may go down as one of the most outrageous moments of political satire in the nation's history.

This two-hour collection has some very good bits in it, but my favorite is the appearance of Bill O' Reilly clearly the principal target of Colbert's satire. O'Reilly should be given credit for submitting to an interview with Colbert and actually seemed to get a little of the joke.

I like the show a great deal, but I wonder just how long Colbert can keep his act going. If the FOX "news" shows ever run aground, Colbert might find he needs a new direction for his comedy career.

For more information, log onto www.paramount.com/

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Endgame

In the realm of provocateurs, Michael Moore might be a superstar with his string of high profile books and movies, but Alex Jones is the underground favorite.

Jones is a Texas-based filmmaker who rose to relative fame with "Terrorstorm." Overall Jones has a simple explanation for event such as 9-11: there is an international conspiracy among the power elite to manipulate events to bring about a global corporate-based government.

According to Jones, we're living in The Matrix right now and he is the pill to wake us up.

His latest film is a 140-minute "documentary" on the one-worlders who Jones insists are using organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the World Wildlife Fund, among many others, to lower the population, relocate them to certain areas and control how they live.

Through the creation of war, the use of eugenics, and corporate business policies, Jones maintains a power elite is trying to take over our everyday lives.

If a quarter of what Jones reports is indeed true, then we are in deep, deep trouble. And with the manipulation of oil prices, the insane notion of starting a war with Iran and the subversion of the democratic process as seen in this year's overly long presidential primary battle, it's easy to see that Jones might be right on a few counts.

Jones wastes too much time in the film with man-on-the-street footage and some self-promotional scenes. He also makes substantiated claims that really should be backed up.

If you take the time to get this film and watch it, I'm sure you'll have plenty to think about and discuss. I know I did.

For more information, log onto www.infowars.com.
© 2007 by Gordon Michael Dobbs