R mpaa in Music & Musicals DVDs & Videos

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With the release of his career-defining THE BLACK ALBUM in 2003, Jay-Z shocked his fans and the industry by announcing he was quitting the business. Having honed his rhyming skills in the tough Marcy Projects of Brooklyn, Jay-Z's story is a classic rags-to-riches tale. Although best known for his multi-million-dollar selling albums, the rap impresario has also dipped his toe into corporate waters. His record label, Roc-a-Fella, has proved highly lucrative, as has his clothing line, and an excursion into movie production. So when he relinquished his position at the top of the rap game, the inimitable performer decided to stage a flamboyant farewell gesture in the form of a special guest-laden concert at New York's prestigious Madison Square Garden. Directors Michael John Warren and Paul Paulson were given the task of catching the festivities on camera, and also managed to capture some candid snippets of the star as he prepared for the show. But it's when he hits the stage that the astonishing breadths of his talents are revealed. Making the cavernous venue seem intimate via some touching interplay with the audience, Jay-Z beckons a breathtaking list of hip-hop and R&B glitterati onto the stage. Among them are Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, P. Diddy, R. Kelly, and Beyonce Knowles. The ecstatic crowd laps up the onstage action throughout, and are clearly delighted to be invited to one of the grandest parting shots in history. Since the film's completion, Jay-Z has reneged on his retirement, and the music world is a much better place for it.

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The vinyl toy market has proved extremely lucrative, with collectors willing to pay mind-boggling amounts for these tiny creations. This documentary takes a look at the evolution of vinyl toys.

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In GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON, director Alex Gibney (TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE) creates a portrait of one of journalism's most controversial and talented superstars. Famous in the 1960s for his wild, self-coined "gonzo" style of reporting, Thompson's most famous adventures include riding with the Hell's Angels, chasing the American dream in Las Vegas, and covering the volatile George McGovern political campaign. The fact that Thompson did most of his reporting while throwing back large quantities of Wild Turkey and illegal drugs led to some of the most bizarre and imaginative journalism the writing world had ever seen. Gibney pieces Thompson's life together using archival footage and recordings and interviews with those closest to him, including his former wives and son, and the artist Ralph Steadman. There are also appearances and commentary from the likes of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, as well as conservative heavyweight Pat Buchanan. Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in the film version of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS, provides the voice of Thompson, reading excerpts of his writings. The result is an engaging, lively biography that paints a life that was as tragic as it was passion-filled. Thompson's suicide in 2005 officially cemented his place in history as one of literature's wildest, most enigmatic hell-raisers.

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This feature-film biography of the legendary rock musician includes previously unseen footage from Lennon's private archives, as well as interviews with his first wife Cynthia, second wife Yoko Ono and sons Julian and Sean. Narrated in Lennon's own voice, IMAGINE was taken from the 240 hours of personal film and video from the star's private collection. Directed by Andrew Solt (who is also responsible for the rockumentary THIS IS ELVIS,) this unique film gives fan a look at the enigmatic, innovative, and often changing pop revolutionary that is unavailable anywhere else.

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THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is a magical phenomenon unlike anything ever before seen onscreen. Borrowing largely from cinema's horror conventions, the film begins as an innocent young couple is stranded at the home of a mad scientist who is building the perfect man. The castle is filled with a most bizarre group of characters who worship their master, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played magnificently by the fabulously sexy Tim Curry, in leather jacket, pearls, fishnet stockings, and heavy makeup. Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) are forced to examine their own sexuality as the voluptuous doctor releases the hidden desires in each of them. Based on the stage musical by Richard O'Brien (who also appears in the film as Riff Raff), the film comes alive with unforgettable song-and-dance numbers that have come to represent the sexual liberation of the 1970s. The outstanding costuming and makeup, the terrific acting by a group of relative unknowns (Curry, O'Brien, Bostwick, Sarandon, Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, Meat Loaf), and the memorable songs ("Time Warp," "Sweet Transvestite") help make THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW one of the most bizarrely entertaining and satisfying musicals ever made.

Description:

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW is a magical phenomenon unlike anything ever before seen onscreen. Borrowing largely from cinema's horror conventions, the film begins as an innocent young couple is stranded at the home of a mad scientist who is building the perfect man. The castle is filled with a most bizarre group of characters who worship their master, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, played magnificently by the fabulously sexy Tim Curry, in leather jacket, pearls, fishnet stockings, and heavy makeup. Brad (Barry Bostwick) and Janet (Susan Sarandon) are forced to examine their own sexuality as the voluptuous doctor releases the hidden desires in each of them. Based on the stage musical by Richard O'Brien (who also appears in the film as Riff Raff), the film comes alive with unforgettable song-and-dance numbers that have come to represent the sexual liberation of the 1970s. The outstanding costuming and makeup, the terrific acting by a group of relative unknowns (Curry, O'Brien, Bostwick, Sarandon, Nell Campbell, Patricia Quinn, Meat Loaf), and the memorable songs ("Time Warp," "Sweet Transvestite") help make THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW one of the most bizarrely entertaining and satisfying musicals ever made.

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Filmmaker Jessica Yu explores human obsession and extremism in this riveting and provocative documentary. Yu interviews four men with seemingly disparate backgrounds, and then mirrors their experiences to what happens in a Greek tragedy by Euripides, THE BACCHAE. One of the men is Mark Pierpont, who tried to quash his homosexuality by becoming an evangelist and preaching about curing oneself of being gay. Pierpont travelled the world as a missionary and preached to audiences of thousands. Then there is Joe Loya, who as a child, was brutally abused by his father. When Loya came of age, he quickly funnelled his rage into robbing banks, until he was caught and sent to prison. Hans-Joachim Klein also suffered abuse at the hands of his father, after his mother--a Holocaust survivor--committed suicide. Klein went on to join a German terrorist organization, and was involved in the 1976 Entebbe hijacking and several arson attacks. Lastly there is Yu's own husband, Mark Salzman, who was constantly tormented and beaten by high school bullies. In order to gain back some control, he became obsessed with martial arts, and religiously attended the classes of an extremely off-kilter and sadistic karate instructor. While each man's story is vastly different, they each travel the same path, wherein they find that their extreme methods ultimately lead them straight into a new kind of madness and pain. Yu manages to deftly weave together the narrative by using short scenes featuring some very striking wooden puppets, which function as a Greek chorus to really bring home Yu's theme: that at the end of the day, it is ultimately character that makes the man. Yu won the Oscar in 1997 for her documentary short, BREATHING LESSONS: THE LIFE AND WORK OF MARK O'BRIEN.

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Hip-hop impresario Master P takes the titular role in this rap-riddled gangster film in the tradition of TOUGHER THAN LEATHER and BLACK CAESAR. The rap entrepreneur stars as a man who must follow the gangsta creed when his father, Son Corleone, is shot to death on the street. Master P is writer, producer, and co-director in this hip-hop crime film which features the likes of Snoop Dogg, C-Murder, and Mia X.

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RAINBOW BRIDGE is a loose "mystical voyage" story built around Jimi Hendrix's final concert performance at Rainbow Bridge, Hawaii. Not merely a concert film, however, the fictional drama spends most of its time following actress Pat Hartley, who travels to Hawaii and absorbs the local counter-cultural community firsthand. The film culminates in Hendrix's performance atop the enormous Haleakala Volcano, where fans are treated to yet another dazzling display of guitar virtuosity. Tragically, Hendrix died only months after shooting this concert, adding to the film's historical allure. Including such hits as "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," "The Star Spangled Banner," and more, RAINBOW BRIDGE is yet another testament to the genius of Jimi Hendrix.

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An eastern gal heads west and goes to work in an elegant railroad station restaurant. Johnny Mercer/Harry Warren score. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Academy Awards: Best Song ("On The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe").

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Filmmaker Barry W. Blaustein takes a look at the professional wrestling game at every level, from the hopeful, perhaps deluded beginners who spend their money on wrestling schools, to the lower levels of the profession, to the pinnacle of wrestling success: national fame in the WWF. Particularly fascinating are Blaustein's examinations of Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Mick "Mankind" Foley. Roberts was once a superstar in the WWF, but evidently drugs and alcohol destroyed his career, and left him a broken and bitter man, wrestling on the outer reaches of the pro circuit. In a poignant scene, Blaustein captures a painful reunion between Roberts and his adult daughter. Foley, on the other hand, is a tremendous success in the WWF and a devoted husband and father. But the violence of his profession still threatens to tear his family apart. Blaustein makes no bones about his perspective in making his film. He's a wrestling fan. That said, the film offers an honest view of the outrageous and controversial world of professional wrestling. Though the outcomes of matches are usually predetermined making it a different kind of sport, pro wrestling is certainly a demanding and brutal way of life.

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A brilliant, talented young musician struggles for success even as a rival musician threatens to supplant him, both professionally and romantically. "Purple Rain" features Prince, in his own inimitable style, performing many of his latest hits, including "Purple Rain," "When Doves Cry," and "Let's Go Crazy." Academy Awards: Best Original Song Score.

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True hardcore fans may balk at the fact that this vibrant document of a scene that prided itself on some staunchly anti-corporate ethics is being distributed by business behemoth Sony, but they needn't worry--AMERICAN HARDCORE was in the can long before the men in suits picked it up for distribution. Paul Rachman's film is bookended by two clips of Ronald Reagan being sworn in for each of his tenures as president, and the director is quick to draw parallels between Reagan's leadership and the explosion of angry young men who picked up guitars, drums, and microphones and exploded onto an unsuspecting ?80s music scene. Rachman draws on amazing footage of scene leaders such as Bad Brains, Minor Threat, and Black Flag to tell the story, and splices them with interview clips from band members, scenesters, fanzine writers, label bosses, and plenty of the freaks and misfits who were drawn to the pummeling sounds of hardcore. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Rachman's film is the fact that that many of the figures who populated it, such as Minor Threat's Ian Mackye and Black Flag's Henry Rollins, still staunchly stick to the stringent personal and work ethics their younger selves developed back in the day. And what a day it was! As the various talking heads tell of dust-ups with cops, violent scenes at shows, and the development of a supportive musical community across the country, it will be difficult for younger viewers not to feel pangs of jealousy. However, Rachman does briefly cover some of the downsides of hardcore, such as the lack of female performers and the jock-like mentality of those who just showed up at shows looking for a punch-up, but on the whole the film is an upbeat testimony to a movement that was so underground that it simply passed by a lot of the high-haired and colorfully clothed pop fans of the era.

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John Cameron Mitchell is the creator of the off-Broadway hit HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which he and composer-lyricist Stephen Trask have transformed into a funny, dramatic, and curiously poignant self-described "post-punk neo-glam musical" film, with extra songs and a new instrumental score. Hedwig (played by Mitchell) was born as Hansel in East Berlin. In his twenties, Hansel agrees to undergo a sex change in order to marry a U.S. soldier (Maurice Dean Wint) and escape to America. Unfortunately, the procedure fails, and Hedwig is left with nothing but a sexless "angry inch" between her legs. After being abandoned in a Kansas trailer park by her husband, Hedwig decides to make the most of her situation: She develops a taste for outrageous wigs and costumes, forms a band, and becomes a singer. Hedwig soon meets and falls in love with 17-year-old Tommy (Michael Pitt), who also harbors rock star aspirations, and makes him her musical protégé. But Tommy is the one who ends up stealing the superstardom that Hedwig worked for, after stealing Hedwig's songs and claiming them as his own. In order to expose him as a fraud, she embarks on a tour of strip mall restaurants, telling her story to the audience while trailing Tommy on his own tour across America.

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Despite its title, CSNY DÉJÀ VU is no baby-boomer nostalgia exercise. Chronicling Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's 2006 tour, the film is a not just a concert movie but an engrossing exegesis on the myriad ways that entertainers, fans, soldiers, their families, right-wing radio hosts, and red- and blue-staters alike can feel about the Iraq War. Neil Young, who had just released the scathingly anti-war album LIVING WITH WAR, asked his sometime bandmates to join him for a set combining these new songs with the quartet's topical classics. As captured here, the band not only successfully reclaims its former protest mantle but tests the viability of such music in the 2000s. One of the film's dramatic highlights is a show in Atlanta where an encore featuring Young's blunt anthem, "Let's Impeach the President," sends a large swath of the crowd to the door in disgust. The footage brings to mind Dylan in 1966, except this time the issues concern blood and oil and not electricity and folk music. To his credit, Young--whom David Crosby calls "a benevolent dictator"--probes a truly raw nerve in mainstream American entertainment. The documentary was produced and directed by Bernard Shakey--aka Young himself--but the presence of ABC News' Michael Cerre lends a credibility that pushes the film beyond the realm of self-promotion. Cerre is an admitted fan of CSNY, but as a journalist several times embedded with American G.I.s in Iraq he provides a needed insider's perspective. Politics aside, the film captures the aging quartet, warts and all. Riveting musical moments such as ripping guitar duels between Young and Stephen Stills or the ever-stellar harmonizing of Crosby and Graham Nash are humorously undercut by the image of Stills tripping over a monitor onstage. Intimate backstage footage reveals a charming camaraderie that has clearly kept this band ticking for so many years--even when the fans are walking out.

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Two rock superstars play out their lives against the high pressure background of big-time rock and roll. Streisand's singing adds luster to a familiar script. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Song Score. Academy Awards: Best Song ("Evergreen").

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A brilliant, talented young musician struggles for success even as a rival musician threatens to supplant him, both professionally and romantically. "Purple Rain" features Prince, in his own inimitable style, performing many of his latest hits, including "Purple Rain," "When Doves Cry," and "Let's Go Crazy." Academy Awards: Best Original Song Score.

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In the summer of 1970, a rock festival travelled across Canada by luxury train, stopping in Toronto, Calgary, and Winnipeg. Lured by the promise of a mobile party, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, The Band, Buddy Guy, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Ian & Sylvia signed on to the tour for a fraction of their usual fees. The performances and the stars' antics on the train were both filmed, only to be locked away for 25 years. The colorful and thrilling results, seen here for the first time, capture these artists at their loosest and most natural. Fans of Joplin and the Dead will find reason to rejoice in the playful footage of these icons enjoying each other's company on the train, as well as their blistering stage performances. The events are also put into context through new interviews with the surviving musicians, including Buddy Guy, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir, and Mickey Hart, who speak frankly and humorously about the tour. Once buried in reputation by the era's other historic concert events such as Woodstock, or the Rolling Stones at Altamont--FESTIVAL EXPRESS is proof that a monumental live event in '60s rock has been long overlooked.

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With its rivers of blood, this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical isn't for the faint of heart--or stomach. But thanks to the black humor, impeccable production design, and gorgeous music, Tim Burton fans will want to sing after seeing SWEENEY TODD. For his sixth collaboration with the director, Johnny Depp stars as Benjamin Barker aka Sweeney Todd, a barber falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). After leaving prison, he comes back to Victorian London to find his wife poisoned and his daughter held captive. As he plots his revenge, Sweeney joins forces with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and while he preys on clients asking for a shave, his new partner turns the bodies into baked goods. But the judge still lives, and the razor-wielding madman wants his vengeance. Though it's a musical, SWEENEY TODD has more in common with Italian horror films such as SUSPIRIA than it does with CHICAGO. Even the horror-musical hybrid LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS pales in comparison to the darkness found here. Previous Burton-Depp pairings have veered toward the macabre, but this reaches a glorious new level. Though they've made excellent films apart, their partnership has produced some of their best work, including EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, and now SWEENEY TODD. Depp demonstrates his rock-band roots as the antihero of the title with another amazing performance, while Bonham Carter is both hilarious and heartbreaking as the eager Mrs. Lovett. But credit also belongs to production designer Dante Ferretti, director of photography Dariusz Wolski, and, of course, Burton, for showing a sooty London that is just as dark as the film's subject matter. Source composer Sondheim should also be recognized for the haunting songs that threaten to stick in viewers' heads, but the film as a whole also deserves to be remembered for its beauty and brutality.

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Producer Don Boyd brought together 10 of the world's most revered directors in order to pay homage to the opera with this episodic feature. Each director was asked to choose an aria from an operatic work and create a short film inspired by the emotions and intensity of the music rather than merely re-creating the opera itself. True to form, the result is a bizarre, moving, and broad work of entertainment. Standouts include Charles Sturridge's haunting LA VIRGINE DEGLI ANGELI, which follows a group of adolescents who steal a car and meet an early demise; Jean-Luc Godard's ARMIDE, an abstract visual tour de force that incorporates nude females floating around bodybuilders in midworkout; Franc Roddam's somber LIEBESTOD, which watches a young couple spending one last night in a Las Vegas hotel room; Derek Jarman's nostalgic DEPUIS LE JOUR, a moving ode to a life well lived; and Ken Russell's stimulating NESSUN DORMA, which breathes fresh life into the moment just before one dies. The directors use the works of their chosen composer--including Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Erich Korngold, Jean Philippe Rameau, Giacomo Puccini, Gustave Charpentier, and Ruggiero Leoncavallo--to tell stories about life, love, and loss as they feel it on a personal level, making ARIA more than just a sheer exercise in style.

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André Benjamin and Antoine A. Patton--aka Andre 3000 and Big Boi of the hip-hop duo Outkast--star in this uproarious period piece, a comedy-drama-musical-action film set in Prohibition-era Virginia. Patton plays Rooster, the lead singer at a raucous, high-class all-black club called Church. Benjamin plays Percival, his best friend, who is the piano player at the club and the shy son of a funeral parlor owner (played by Ben Vereen). Terence Howard (HUSTLE AND FLOW) provides the menace as Trumpy, a vicious underling of Rooster's bootlegger father (Ving Rhames). Meanwhile, a beautiful singer (Paula Patton) comes to town and Percival finds himself falling in love--much to his terror, as he's afraid to leave the small community of Idlewild for the big city: Chicago, her next stop. As Rooster prepares for a showdown with Trumpy, Percival faces his fears, the band heats up, and the guns and songs come out for a big final night at the Church. This is clearly a labor of love for writer/director Brian Barber and the Outkast crew: a color-saturated adrenalin rush of witty dialogue, loving attention to period detail, boisterous and athletic dancing, and lots of eye-popping digital animation (such as Rooster's talking/singing whiskey flask). Appearing in a bevy of diamond-studded cameos and bit parts are Cicely Tyson, Macy Gray, Cedric the Entertainer, Patti LaBelle, Jackie Long, Faizon Love, Malinda Williams, and child rapper Bobb'e J. Thompson, who is hilarious--and demonstrates some very fancy footwork--as the young Rooster.

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Two average guys who are mistaken for World Trade Organization representatives accept invitations to attend international meetings and make TV appearances on behalf of the U.S. They are the Yes Men, part of a group of comedians and activists who organize harmless pranks to spark political debate. Here, two members of the group, Andy and Mike, embark on several adventures, all of which are caught on film with utter hilarity, and which show viewers some disturbing realities. The film starts when one of the Yes Men's projects, a fake web site called GATT.org that imitates the WTO site, is taken to be real thing. Though the Yes Men's site parodies the concepts of the WTO in an attempt to voice their opposition to its policies, this detail goes overlooked by certain unscrupulous international organizers. For example, the Yes Men respond with glee to an invitation to attend a textile conference in Finland. They quickly go to work designing a costume for their presentation--a skintight gold bodysuit equipped with an inflatable phallus on which is mounted a TV screen. Hilarious footage of the faked presentation and its content--comparing current third-world labor practices to the slave trade--is simply unbelievable. However, the Yes Men's point is made loud and clear when nobody reacts: if you're the WTO, you can get away with anything. Further hijinks ensue, making THE YES MEN a fabulous, funny, and surprising film.

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Julien Temple's second documentary profiling punk rock pioneers the Sex Pistols is an enlightening, entertaining trip back to a time when the punk movement was just discovering itself. Featuring archival footage, never-before-seen performances, rehearsals, and recording sessions as well as interviews with group members who lived to tell the tale--including the one and only John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten)-- THE FILTH AND THE FURY is a relevant viewing experience for those unfamiliar with the band; for fans, it's mandatory viewing.

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Directed by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, LOST IN LA MANCHA documents Terry Gilliam's disaster-prone attempt to make THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, a film largely based on the classic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. The movie first encounters difficulties in its preproduction stage, starting with an uncomfortably small European-funded budget. Then Gilliam must wait for the lead actors, Johnny Depp and French actor Jean Rochefort, to show up on location in Spain. When Depp and Rochefort finally arrive, shooting commences, but within the first few days a torrential rainstorm hits the set, washing away much of the equipment and significantly altering the dry desert landscape. And to make matters much worse, Rochefort, who plays the central role of Don Quixote, falls ill and returns to Paris for medical treatment. As the days of the Quixote-less production go by, tensions among the crew members increase and Gilliam faces the frustratingly real prospect of scrapping the film. LOST IN LA MANCHA provides a fascinating look into both the mind and the method of maverick director Terry Gilliam. No stranger to film production problems (most notably with BRAZIL and THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN), Gilliam sets out to make DON QUIXOTE with imagination and determination that echoes the noble delusions of its title character. As in the story, however, fantasy finds a fierce opponent in the form of reality, and Gilliam and his crew must decide what to do with a production that seemed jinxed from the start. The fly-on-the-wall footage, candidly captured by Fulton and Pepe, makes for an intriguing film within a film that combines behind-the-scenes frustration and heartbreak with genuinely funny moments.

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Dennis Potter's offbeat tale comes to life in this inventive film adaptation. PENNIES FROM HEAVEN is a warm and joltingly bizarre musical fantasy about a drifter who sells sheet music (Steve Martin) and the naive schoolteacher (Bernadette Peters) he seduces. In depression-era Chicago, the lovers sing and dance their way through the bleak city streets. Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters give stunning musical performances.

Description:

With its rivers of blood, this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical isn't for the faint of heart--or stomach. But thanks to the black humor, impeccable production design, and gorgeous music, Tim Burton fans will want to sing after seeing SWEENEY TODD. For his sixth collaboration with the director, Johnny Depp stars as Benjamin Barker aka Sweeney Todd, a barber falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). After leaving prison, he comes back to Victorian London to find his wife poisoned and his daughter held captive. As he plots his revenge, Sweeney joins forces with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and while he preys on clients asking for a shave, his new partner turns the bodies into baked goods. But the judge still lives, and the razor-wielding madman wants his vengeance. Though it's a musical, SWEENEY TODD has more in common with Italian horror films such as SUSPIRIA than it does with CHICAGO. Even the horror-musical hybrid LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS pales in comparison to the darkness found here. Previous Burton-Depp pairings have veered toward the macabre, but this reaches a glorious new level. Though they've made excellent films apart, their partnership has produced some of their best work, including EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, and now SWEENEY TODD. Depp demonstrates his rock-band roots as the antihero of the title with another amazing performance, while Bonham Carter is both hilarious and heartbreaking as the eager Mrs. Lovett. But credit also belongs to production designer Dante Ferretti, director of photography Dariusz Wolski, and, of course, Burton, for showing a sooty London that is just as dark as the film's subject matter. Source composer Sondheim should also be recognized for the haunting songs that threaten to stick in viewers' heads, but the film as a whole also deserves to be remembered for its beauty and brutality.

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This sweeping epic of Americana follows four generations of angry young men and their music via the animation of director Ralph Bakshi. As the story begins, Russian immigrant song-and-dance man Louis fathers Benny, a jazz pianist who gets killed in WWII but not before fathering Tony, a sullen Brooklyn youth who runs off to San Francisco to write lyrics for a Jefferson Airplane-style acid rock band. Crippled by low self-esteem, Tony blows his chance at the big time and winds up a New York junkie in the 1970s, along with his illegitimate son, who later becomes a cocaine-dealing cartoon composite of Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Idol. Featuring music by everyone from Scott Joplin to Jimi Hendrix to Pat Benatar, this rambling feature is a powerfully moving experience thanks to its sheer bravado and endless supply of great music. Bakshi integrates his animation style of rotoscoping (tracing the animation from live film) with historical photos and film footage to tell the story of American popular music in a unique way that sets this ambitious picture into a class all its own.

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16 hits performed live in Sydney, Australia by the provocative pop diva herself.

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Professional anthropologist and rabid heavy-metal fan Sam Dunn devoted himself to making the most complete portrait of the heavy metal scene every created; the result, METAL, A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY, is a resounding success. Mixing his academic eye with his personal love for the genre, Dunn travels from the clubs of Sunset Boulevard to the dark forests of Norway in an attempt to understand the ongoing phenomenon of metal music. He tackles subjects of sexuality, religion, violence, and death, and talks to some of the superstars of the metal world, including Tony Iomii of Black Sabbath, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Lemmy of Motorhead, Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and the members of Slipknot and Cannibal Corpse (whose albums have been banned in Australia). The highly engaging film provides fascinating history and insight for viewers unfamiliar with metal music while simultaneously offering up essential viewing for metalhead fanatics.

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Shot over an entire year in 2004, THE BRIDGE is a startling documentary about San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the people who go there to end their lives. Director Eric Steel and his crew managed to dissuade some of the tortured souls who peered into the abyss during filming, but also saw plenty of people who did end their lives; they also talk to some of the family members who lost people that year.