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DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Certified Copy

    Criterion’s releasing one of Kiarostami’s most mysterious, confounding, and riveting films. It will vex and frustrate some viewers; others will find themselves revisiting it over and over and over again.

  2. Racing Dreams

    Marshall Curry’s exciting, poignant tale of growing up fast in a world of adult ambitions centers on three speed-obsessed youngsters competing in the national go-kart circuit, hoping to one day become NASCAR racers.

  3. Carol Channing: Larger than Life

    The Broadway legend, now in her nineties, makes for an unusually lively presence in this entertaining and informative look at her life and career. A must for theater buffs.

  4. Lethal Weapon Collection

    This five-disc boxed set contains all four theatrical releases from the action franchise, as well as making-of featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes, and more.

  5. The Secret World of Arrietty

    The great visionaries at Studio Ghibli (home of legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki, who scripted) deliver a tale that delves into serious issues like loneliness, need, and abandonment while also presenting a magical, family-friendly tale.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch a Short Film in Which Comedian Mike Birbiglia Doesn’t Leave NPR’s Terry Gross Alone

    Because why shouldn't 2 Fresh 2 Furious be real?

  2. Watch a Cool Profile of John Baldessari (by the Guys Who Made Catfish)

    And Tom Waits narrates!

  3. Watch "Epic Tea Time With Alan Rickman"

    Remind us to always front the bill with this guy.

  4. Watch One Guy Turn LMFAO Into the Blues

    And, suddenly, LMFAO sounds like real MUSIC. Wow. Or should we say, WOW.

  5. Hear Gilbert Gottfried Read 50 Shades of Grey

    Eager to abstain? Here you go.

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Rampart

    Woody Harrelson is in perfect Cro-Magnon mode as a brazenly racist L.A. cop who once killed a serial date rapist and now likens himself to a glorious soldier — the last in a world gone soft and politically correct.

  2. Albert Nobbs

    Glenn Close reprises her 1982 stage role as a woman impersonating a man in late-nineteenth-century Dublin — and her performance is extraordinary, at once tight and tremulous.

  3. My Perestroika

    This lovely, intimate doc, which follows five classmates from the U.S.S.R. who came of age right before the Iron Curtain fell, is a touching, playful, and mesmerizing meditation on social upheaval. Thoroughly absorbing, artfully understated, and hard to shake.

  4. The Simpsons: The Complete First Season

    Remember back in 1989 when the show's aesthetic hadn't really congealed yet and the Simpsons looked all wonky? Revisit this auspicious era with, as Matt Groening explains it, “thirteen crudely animated episodes, all spiffed up, cleaned off, and augmented with bells and whistles, bonus materials, and self-pitying audio commentaries.”

  5. Being John Malkovich

    Criterion is releasing Spike Jonze’s surreal and unsettling 1999 comedy with a slew of extras: audio commentary tracks (featuring Jonze’s pal and adversary Michel Gondry, who was not involved in the actual creation of the film), behind-the-scenes docs, and more.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch the Video for Lil B’s "3 Stacks," Featuring an Instrumental Celine Dion Sample

    Whatever this is, we're onboard. Keep 'em coming, B.

  2. Watch Jon Hamm Answer Reader Questions From Girls

    Jon Hamm speaks to the tween-girls-who-fart crowd.

  3. See What Lisa Turtle From Saved By the Bell Looks Like Today

    She looks like ... she does magic tricks! Yeah, magic tricks.

  4. Meet Jeremy Sisto’s Alter Ego, Escape Tailor, Some Sort of Homeless, Albino Clown, Maybe?

    The Suburgatory star could apparently be a knockout on RuPaul's Drag Race, as it turns out.

  5. Watch Two 6-Year-Olds Reenact Gotye’s "Somebody That I Used to Know"

    Heartbreak never looked so cute!

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Underworld Awakening

    The latest installment in the ass-kicking vampire franchise has opted to go in a more Resident Evil direction: less heavy-handed mythology, more heads exploding. Which is perfect, because that’s always been the fundamental appeal of these movies. (That, and Kate Beckinsale’s tight, catsuited bod, which looks even better on Blu-ray.)

  2. Dirty Dancing Collection

    Diehards were not pleased to learn that a post-Swayze Dirty Dancing remake is slated for release later this year; to placate them, Lionsgate is releasing the original as well as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

  3. Gremlins 2: The New Batch

    Speaking of remakes of iconic films from the eighties, a new Gremlins movie — in 3-D, of course — is supposedly on the horizon.

  4. La haine

    Mathieu Kassovitz’s gritty 1995 drama about three immigrants in the banlieues of Paris gets the deluxe Criterion treatment.

  5. Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie

    The cult heroes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show bring their brand of utterly random and crude humor to feature-length form in this occasionally very, very funny free-form comedy, which has them botching their attempt to make a megabudget film.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch Delicious-Looking Food Perform Iconic Rap Songs

    We could really go for some cake right now. And Ready to Die on repeat.

  2. Watch a Really Cute Video of a Bunch of Newsies Cast Members Reacting (in Real Time) to the TONY Award Nominations

    So that's what theater actors look like in the morning.

  3. Watch Lil B and Some Amazing Break-dancers Dance to Bach, As Choreographed by Benjamin Millepied

    Buck and Ben do Bach, and it's breathtaking.

  4. Watch a Really Cool "iPhone Video Puzzle" Set to fun.’s "We Are Young"

    Oh, so that's what an iPhone Video Puzzle is. Got it. We're in.

  5. Discover "Instagram Snap," a New Instagram Tool

    You won't believe what you can do with this "camera."

Movies Kyle Buchanan's Top Five Earlier Exploits of the Avengers Cast

  1. Less Than Zero

    In the comic, Iron Man had a notable addiction arc, but that plot was a big-screen casualty of Marvel's franchise ambitions. Consider Robert Downey Jr.'s Less Than Zero the secret scene you'll never get in the closing credits.

  2. You Can Count On Me

    Before he Hulked out in The Avengers, Mark Ruffalo came to fame as a sweet-souled fuck-up in this sensitive Kenneth Lonergan drama.

  3. Sunshine

    Captain America doesn't get to cut loose very often, but in this Danny Boyle sci-fi opera, Chris Evans plays against those all-American good looks as a spaceman who goes unhinged.

  4. Ghost World

    Is Black Widow's measly pistol really more fearsome than Scarlett Johansson's withering deadpan in Ghost World?

  5. Dahmer

    It's the little-seen cornerstone of his career: As serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Jeremy Renner delivered a performance that eventually convinced Kathryn Bigelow to cast him as the lead in The Hurt Locker, a role that reinvented this character actor as Hollywood's new action hope.

Music Nitsuh Abebe's Five Slow and Doleful Songs From the Nineties

  1. Richard Youngs’s “Soon It Will Be Fire”

    The renowned experimentalist plays a heartbreaking ten-minute meditation for classical guitar and voice. On a record about a dead dog. It’s pristine and almost painfully beautiful; it also makes Nick Drake sound like Rod Stewart in comparison.

  2. Black Heart Procession’s “A Heart the Size of a Horse”

    Something about this recording practically makes time stop: The fog of sound spreading around its edges makes the song feel like it’s melting, and might do the same to the listener.

  3. Graham Coxon’s “In a Salty Sea”

    From the former Blur guitarist’s first solo release — which seems, at first, like a collection of moody, Syd Barrett–inspired mumbling, then gradually reveals itself as far richer and trickier than its disheveled costume suggests.

  4. Julie Doiron’s “Will You Still Love Me in December”

    A cozy, simple song from the Canadian singer-songwriter. Something about it conjures a small, empty, swept-bare apartment someone doesn’t want to leave.

  5. Red House Painters’ “Things Mean a Lot”

    “Things mean a lot at the time, don’t mean nothing later.” One could spin that observation in a positive direction. This song does not: It offers it with the most pained little smile imaginable.

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. The Tim Burton Collection

    Pee Wee! Beetlejuice! Prime yourself for the May 11 theatrical release of Dark Shadows, Burton’s goofy, gothy new vampire flick, with this seven-film set.

  2. Men in Black and Men in Black II

    And since Men in Black III comes out on May 25, refresh your memory with the first two films in the sci-fi action franchise. The second comes out on Blu-ray this week.

  3. Haywire

    Soderbergh continues his occasional practice of using actors as found objects in his perfectly enjoyable formula action-thriller, which could have been titled The Vindictive Ex-Girlfriend Experience.

  4. Joyful Noise

    Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton play two bounteous, battling members of a church choir in this rollicking rock-gospel music. You may roll your eyes, but it’s too transparently corny to resent.

  5. George Harrison: Living in the Material World

    Scorsese’s comprehensive three-and-a-half-hour portrait of the late Beatle is fairly straightforward and by-the-numbers — but it’s also full of excellent tunes and never-before-seen footage.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch the Guys From Mad Men Bowl Against Weird Al

    Your favorite Mad Men (what, Slattery was busy?) put on their bowling shoes, and Weird Al was there.

  2. Watch Two Radio Hosts Razz Rihanna

    Well, she broke her promise. Fair is fair.

  3. Watch Ellen Degeneres Read From 50 Shades of Grey

    We'd buy the audiobook.

  4. Watch an Awesome Dad Lead His Kids in a "Bohemian Rhapsody" Sing-along on the Way to School

    BREAKING NEWS: Dad awesome.

  5. Watch Brian McKnight Preview His Mixtape For Adults (NSFW)

    You'll do what now, Brian McKnight?

TV Josef Adalian's Five Old School Cable Promos

  1. Showtime

    "What's Up America?" might sound like a segment on The Daily Show, but back in the Reagan days, it was a Showtime original that the network claimed was "more entertaining that 60 Minutes!" We loved Showtime's awesome television-set logo, but "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"? That was the best they could do for a slogan?

  2. HBO

    This ten-minute clip starts with a visual that was the soundtrack to many a Gen-X Saturday night: the HBO Feature Film animated opening. After previews for Weird Science and Fright Night, stay tuned: Around the four-minute mark, we get a peek at a new Billy Crystal special, the HBO landmark series First & Ten (starring Delta Burke and O.J. Simpson!), and the spiritual predecessor to The Daily Show, Not Necessarily the News.

  3. Z Channel

    HBO is technically older, but this Los Angeles–based pay network, launched in 1974, was far cooler. It aired indie films and letterboxed movies, and offered director's cuts before anyone even knew what that was. Here's a look at the channel's on-air "magazine," really just a more detailed series of promos. Make sure to watch for the trailer to The Double McGuffin, starring George Kennedy and Blair from The Facts of Life.

  4. The Movie Channel

    Showtime's cousin has never garnered much respect, but how could you not love a channel that served up exactly what its title promised—and nothing else? The best part was the wild mix of features, no doubt dictated by licensing deals: Prime time could feature an Oscar-winner such as Ordinary People followed by the corny thrills of Massacre at Central High.

  5. ON TV

    We don't know exactly how it worked, but there were some early pay cable channels—such as ON—that basically took broadcast stations and then scrambled their signals at night when they began airing uncut feature films and special events. This clip features the ON logo, lots of explanations and content warnings, and the start of ON's Adults Only service (familiar to many young adult males at the time as "the wavy line" part of the schedule).

Movies David Edelstein's Films to See Now

  1. Headhunters

    The Norwegian Headhunters is a droll bloodbath. It centers, as so many good thrillers do, on an orderly man whose system is both precise and precarious. His name is Roger Brown (Aksel Hennie), and he’s a top-level corporate recruiter who moonlights as an art thief. Director Morten Tyldum’s technique is so spring-heeled that for a long while it seems as if Headhunters is going to be a caper comedy with little in the way of violence — until the first, crazy bullets fly and Roger is suddenly, vertiginously, in over his head in blood and shit.

  2. Damsels in Distress

    Set on the campus of a former women's college now overrun with lunkhead Roman-frat boys, Whit Stillman's comeback comedy is wobbly and borderline twee, but it deepens as it goes along and becomes rich. The initial conceit is a beaut: to upend Heathers and Mean Girls by turning the central trio of insouciant alpha-hotties into do-gooders who march into dorms, pull students off their suicidal ledges, and put them in tap shoes to sing and dance. Pretending to be people they aren't, these youngish characters are hurt, exposed. But Stillman, the most charitable of satirists, allows these poseurs to pick themselves up and find a better pose.

  3. Bully

    Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen's painfully earnest plea on behalf of persecuted children should be seen by kids above all. The directors accompany a Sioux City boy, Alex, dubbed "Fish Face," on an agonizing bus ride; interview an Oklahoma girl, Kelby, who's ostracized after coming out as gay; and tell the frightening story of Ja'Meya, an accomplished student driven to wave a gun at her persecutors on a school bus and facing 45 felony charges. Bully is not especially artful, but children who allow themselves to see the world through the eyes of the film's victims will never be the same.

  4. 21 Jump Street

    The new big-screen 21 Jump Street is not half-bad. The film — which stars tubby Jonah Hill and hunky Channing Tatum as rookie cops who'd once been in the same high-school class, but in polar-opposite social classes — isn't a straight, serious remake of the eighties Fox TV series but it’s also not a spoof, despite some broad jabs at the old settings and characters. It has a bad, slapstick first act but by midpoint becomes strangely compelling, tapping into the fantasy of reliving one’s high-school years (which did a number on us all) and getting it right.

  5. The Kid With a Bike

    The Dardenne brothers of Belgium, Jean-Pierre and Luc, have moved away from the somewhat formless quality of their early work into the realm of melodrama, which would be worrisome if their new films weren't as good or better — heightened and purified by stronger narratives. Their new film centers on 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), whose father has deposited him in a state-run school and decamped, leaving no address. Despite the simplicity of the brothers' technique, The Kid With a Bike has deep religious underpinnings, a relentless drive toward the mythos of death and resurrection.

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Pariah

    One of the rare coming-out films centered around a female, Dee Rees’s compelling, partially autobiographical drama follows Alike (Adepero Oduye), a young, middle-class black lesbian discovering her sexuality in Fort Greene. Kim Wayans turns in a heartbreaking performance as her frazzled, conflicted mother.

  2. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

    See how the original six episodes of the critically acclaimed 1979 BBC miniseries, adapted from a Cold War—era spy novel, stack up against Tomas Alfredson’s acclaimed feature film, which came out late last year.

  3. A Hollis Frampton Odyssey

    Criterion brings us a collection of 16mm works—dating from 1966 through 1979—by the late American avant-garde luminary, including selections from Hapax Legomena and the epic, unfinished Magellan cycle.

  4. Let the Bullets Fly

    Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen’s epic-historical-action-comedy has breakneck pacing and go-for-broke humor, not to mention generous heapings of ghastly violence. Insane, and insanely entertaining.

  5. The Innkeepers

    This blood-freezing throwback to the gothic horror films of the seventies features a de-glammed Sara Paxton who’s so wonderfully gawky and funny that we’d follow her anywhere.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Meet David Rees, Artisanal Pencil Sharpener

    This is real.

  2. Watch an Adorable, Unofficial Video for Kanye West’s ‘Way Too Cold’ (Formerly ‘Theraflu’)

    Kanye goes uptown ... in disguise! Tiny disguise!

  3. See a Star Wars–Tupac Mash-Up

    R2-D2 embraces his inner Thug Life.

  4. Learn About the Art of Film and TV Title Design

    Would you care as much about Mad Men without the opening title sequence? Well, would you?

  5. Watch Darren Criss Cover Bob Dylan’s ‘New Morning’ With His Brother

    Your boyfriend (and his brother, Chuck Criss, of Freelance Whales) covered Bob Dylan for Amnesty International (of course he did). The bad news is that we're getting married to your boyfriend. Sorry!

TV Margaret Lyons's Five Outdoorsy Reality Shows

  1. Duck Dynasty, A&E

    Just because the Robertsons made a ton of money creating the best darn duck calls (please don't call them fancy kazoos) anyone's ever used doesn't mean they're too fancy now for some good old hunting. Quite the opposite! A large chunk of this show takes place in various woodsy haunts.

  2. Top Shot, History Channel

    If you can rip your eyes away from the weaponry porn that is the backbone of this reality contest show, behold the staggeringly vast landscape where the competitions are set up: the great outdoors. That much greater when there's a bizarre series of exploding targets set up all around it.

  3. Sand Masters, Travel Channel

    Professional sand-castle building! It's a show about professional sand-castle construction.

  4. Turbine Cowboys, Weather Channel

    Cowboys combines the allure of gigantic machines with a Dirty Jobs-style "how do they do that" set-up, adding up to what is almost certainly the most compelling show about wind turbines ever created.

  5. Whale Wars: Viking Shores, Animal Planet

    All the environmental activism of Whale Wars, now with an even lusher backdrop. Viking Shores is set in the Faroe Islands between Iceland and Scotland, and everything (except, you know, the whaling) looks like it's made of ancient nature magic.

Music Nitsuh Abebe's Songs on Repeat (Catch Up Edition)

  1. Evans the Death’s “I’m So Unclean”

    This London quintet’s debut is one great big exuberant puppy of an album, full of fuzzy old-school indie-pop made extremely lovable by singer Katherine Whitaker. She’s got a droll voice that clearly spent time at the Morrissey School of Pop, and lyrics — “when I’m watching the shopping channel,” announces this one, “I will think of you”—good enough to match.

  2. Death Grips’ “Get Got”

    I know, I know: When pretending to categorize an act requires a lot of slashes (with Sacramento’s Death Grips, I think it’d be something like noise/rap/punk/experimental), it usually means they’re mortifyingly awkward sonic Frankenstein’s monsters. Or else it means they’re really on to something, which Death Grips and their upcoming LP The Money Store definitely are — just listen to the gorgeous drizzle of electronics on this one.

  3. Chromatics’ “These Streets Will Never Look the Same

    I’m probably obligated to make a reference to the movie Drive, whose soundtracks drew heavily on the bleary-eyed synth-disco scene Chromatics come from. This track, though — from the newish album Kill for Love — isn’t just stylish; it’s a real gut-level portrait of isolation, painted in the sickly orange of streetlights and the sickly green of an old computer monitor in a dark room.

  4. Kwes’s “Bashful”

    This Londoner produces smooth, precise electronic pop, the sort of thing he could easily make sound grand and ambitious — and yet he always chooses to screen it back into a heady patter, and sing over it in an up-close, unadorned voice, as if he’s just crooning softly to you from across the breakfast table. It leaves “Bashful” sounding friendly and intimate, playful and confident, and really good for repeat plays.

  5. Jennifer Hudson & Ne-Yo’s “Think Like a Man,” featuring Rick Ross

    Wait, have we not talked about the Steve Harvey Industrial Complex’s incursion into the world of music? Yeah, this is from Think Like a Man, the film based on Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, and I recommend it mostly so you can hear a really good high-budget R&B number with some gorgeously triumphant chord changes in the chorus try to fight its way through being forced to use a sad, retrograde Steve Harvey catchphrase as a hook. It almost wins!

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol

    Brad Bird’s sensational contribution to the action franchise looks almost as good on Blu-ray as it did on the big screen, which is saying a lot. Plus, the three-disc set’s loaded with superb extras, like in-depth making-of featurettes — and this is the rare instance where you actually care how the movie was made.

  2. Frozen Planet

    Is there any voice more suited to narrating a gentoo penguin’s trajectory as he glides through the ocean than David Attenborough's? No, there is not.

  3. Tremé: The Complete Second Season

    HBO’s four-disc release of David Simon's acclaimed TV series is like New Orleans in a box.

  4. The Last Rights of Joe May

    Dennis Farina gives the performance of a lifetime in this gritty indie about a down-on-his luck small-time hustler who finds redemption through his friendship with a hospital worker and her daughter.

  5. Shame

    Michael Fassbender got a lot of attention for his portrayal of a sex addict in this NC-17 drama, but the movie surrounding him was at times grim to the point of silliness; check it out on disc and decide for yourself.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch the Alabama Shakes Kill It on Letterman

    Letterman calls their performance "his birthday present." Not too shabby

  2. Watch Writer-Comedian Julie Klausner in a Deleted Scene From It’s Complicated

    Apparently, comedian, writer, and Vulture's own Real Housewife specialist was cut from that scene where Meryl Streep, Mary Kay Place, Rita Wilson, and Ali Wentworth sat on the sofas? With the wine? And pie? Remember the pie?

  3. Watch RuPaul’s New Celebrity-Packed Video for ‘Glamazon’

    It's basically a retrospective featuring everyone who appeared on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race, which is why Wynonna Judd gets blasted to smithereens. (And, for the record, GO TEAM SHARON!)

  4. Watch ‘Downton Sixbey,’ Jimmy Fallon’s Stellar Downton Abbey Send-Up

    Can this get an Emmy? Please?

  5. Meet ‘Jedi Grandma’

    Adopt us? Please?

Movies Claude Brodesser-Akner's Favorite Scenes From Horror Comedies

  1. Zombieland

    “This Twinkie thing…it ain’t over yet.”

  2. Slither

    “Goddamn Brenda exploding like a water balloon, worms driving my friends around like they're goddamn skin-cars, people are spitting acid at me, turning you into cottage cheese, and now there's no fucking goddamn Mr. Pibb?!?”

  3. Ghostbusters

    “Mr. Stay Puft.” (Oddly, there is no actual Stay-Puft, but there is a Camp Lokanda.)

  4. The Stuff

    “Are you prepared to say on-air that you’ve seen people devoured by The Stuff?”

  5. Cabin Fever

    “Pancakes! Pancakes!”

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Into the Abyss

    Werner Herzog’s phenomenal new Death Row TV series recently premiered on Investigation Discovery. But before he shot that epic four-part portrait, he released this sober, surprising look at two young convicted murderers, exploring both the individual’s homicidal impulse and society’s desire to exact revenge. Especially chilling: One of the subjects was executed only eight days after Herzog interviewed him.

  2. The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch

    This shrill action flick, an adaptation of a popular Belgian comic-book series about a rich man’s son who leaps into the world of international espionage, won’t put James Bond out of business — but it’s an interesting Euro-curio nevertheless.

  3. Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous

    All you rabid fanboys out there who are already lining up for The Cabin in the Woods — and are counting down the days till The Avengers opens — can get your Joss Whedon fix with this animated version of his comic book series.

  4. Cook County

    This rural drama about small-time meth heads features a vivid backwoods atmosphere and a host of fine performances.

  5. A Streetcar Named Desire: The Original Restored Version, 60th Anniversary Edition

    Hey, Stellaaaaa! Warner Brothers is releasing the classic Elia Kazan adaptation on Blu-ray for the very first time. The disc includes scenes that were censored from the original theatrical release, commentary tracks, and a 40-page book.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Watch a Dance Moms Parody, ‘Dance School’

    "You tell me what little girl wants to grow up and be a doctor." Exactly.

  2. Watch ‘Bone Pugz N Harmony’

    Lucky for you, it's exactly what you think it is.

  3. Watch the Dad From Fresh Prince Speak Very Seriously About Voicing Shredder From Ninja Turtles

    It's always fun to hear a "serious ac-tor" say "Krang."

  4. Watch Will Arnett and Jason Bateman Talk About Hairy Ladies in Morgan Spurlock’s New Doc, Mansome

    And they produced the movie, too! Bluth Power

  5. Watch the Rejected Pitch for Look Who’s Talking

    Now you know how Amy Heckerling feels.

DVDs Miranda Siegel's Noteworthy DVD Releases

  1. Madonna: Truth or Dare

    Just as Madonna starts to turn up the buzz on her new "Truth or Dare" brand — complete with a frisky new perfume ad that's too hot for ABC — Lionsgate is dropping a Blu-ray incarnation of this 1991 doc, which chronicles her infamous, game-changing Blond Ambition World Tour.

  2. NoBody’s Perfect

    This charismatic and intimate German doc about adults whose malformed limbs resulted from their mothers' use of Thalidomide is well thought out and adroitly edited, avoiding the usual pitfalls that can often accompany both discussions and documentation of disfigurement. It’s a brilliant work without a single false note.

  3. Chinatown

    Polanski’s neo-noir classic is finally getting a hi-def Blu-ray release, complete with heaps of bonus material — including commentary from David Fincher, who cites the film as one of his biggest influences.

  4. War Horse

    Spielberg's WWI epic is occasionally cornball and often too self-consciously mythic, but in the end his complex humanism shines through. The four-disc Blu-ray combo pack is padded with several in-depth "making-of" featurettes.

  5. We Bought a Zoo

    Cameron Crowe's family values are in full force in this formulaic but enchanting little drama, which stars Matt Damon and two movie kids as the "We" who, after the sudden death of their wife/mother, do exactly what the title says.

Videos Eliot Glazer's Most Viral Videos

  1. Meet Some High-School Students Building a Real-Life Viper From Battlestar Galactica

    And they have a Kickstarter, too, so open your frakkin' wallet.

  2. Watch an Excellent Short About Famed Photographer Flo Fox (NSFW)

    If you don't remember Flo Fox's scene thievery in the Joan Rivers documentary, take ten minutes out to get reacquainted.

  3. Watch an Extended Trailer for Under African Skies, a Documentary About Paul Simon’s Graceland

    Finally, Oprah, David Byrne, and Vampire Weekend, together in one place!

  4. Watch James Van Der Beek Sell BJs (Not What You Think It Is)

    Wait, when did James Van Der Beek become sexy? How'd we miss it?

  5. Watch Tim and Eric Wax Nostalgic About Their College Years

    Well, Temple University certainly sounds fun.

TV Margaret Lyons's Five Best Places to Find the Revenge Cast on Off Weeks

  1. Emily VanCamp on Everwood

    It's one of the most underrated family dramas ever, and VanCamp was terrific (and tragic) as the small-town sweetheart.

  2. Joshua Bowman on Make It or Break It

    ABC Family's absurdly enjoyable teen gymnastics drama isn't high art, but it has its charms. Bowman played Max, the beefcake who surprised everyone when he came out as bisexual. Scandal!

  3. James Tupper on Men in Trees

    Trees fits somewhere along the Northern Exposure–Ally McBeal continuum of quirky dramedies, and Tupper fit the scruffy-love-interest bill perfectly.

  4. Nick Wechsler on Roswell

    Come for the fun of a well-executed supernatural teen series, stay for the fact that it launched Jason Katims's career, too, not just Katherine Heigl's.

  5. Gabriel Mann on Mad Men

    Mann is hilariously droll as Nolan on Revenge, but wet-comb his hair and put him on a horse and bam! He's Betty's adulterous equestrian crush in season two.

Music Amanda Dobbins's Five Most Uplifting Pop Music Key Changes

  1. Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know"

    Among her many musical gifts, Whitney Houston was a master of the key change, milking that special moment when the backing track shifts and everything gets real. Her most memorable key change will of course always be "I Will Always Love You," but that goes without saying, so we'd like to honor another of her contributions: the sax solo special from "How Will I Know."

  2. Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"

    Michael Jackson also knew his way around a key change. The beauty of this one is that it actually happens on the word "chaaaaange."

  3. Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way"

    Nick Carter's greatest vocal accomplishment. (Let's not spend too much time trying to list the others.)

  4. Genesis's "Invisible Touch"

    If you attempt to sing this song at karaoke, make sure you can handle the higher key. Just a tip from a friend.

  5. Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"

    She sang it from the bow of a boat. Come on.

TV Phil Rosenthal's Five Favorite TV Character Actors

  1. Art Carney

    Here's a moment: Ralph is worried he has a fever and Norton takes his temperature (orally), but he can't quite see the reading. So he takes out his lighter to see the little numbers. And when it's illuminated by the flame, Norton starts to cry. Ralph is worried: "What's my temperature, Norton? What is it?!" Norton, choking back his emotion, finally sobs, "A hundred and eleven!" 60 Minutes once asked Jackie Gleason what percentage of The Honeymooners success he would attribute to Art Carney. Without hesitation, Gleason said, "90."

  2. Ted Knight

    Every scene of every episode of the perfect Mary Tyler Moore Show that this man entered rapidly ascended to hilarious. He had the ability to seem incidental to the story of a scene, until it was over and you realized he was the reason for the scene. Always, always funny.

  3. Carroll O'Connor ...

    Archie and Edith: the Bigot and the Dingbat. Together here because on All in the Family, they were two perfect halves of a classic comedy team ...

  4. ... and Jean Stapleton

    ... The show endures 40 years later—not so much for its revolutionary political content, but because of the family relationships and the extraordinary talent of these two beautiful actors.

  5. Stephen Colbert

    I know he doesn't seem like an actor, but that's only because he's a genius at it. Night after night, his commitment to and execution of the material, his physicality, his verbal dexterity, is mesmerizing and hysterical. He even fooled the opposition into thinking he was one of them. Watch his performance at George W. Bush's White House Correspondents' Dinner: Not just brilliant, the bravest act of comedy in our lifetime.

TV Josef Adalian's Five TV Insiders to Follow on Twitter

  1. Adam Pally (@adampally)

    The Happy Endings star's feed is sort of like the briefly popular Jack FM radio format, those stations that played a wide and often random mix of music from various decades. One minute, Pally is offering up a left-field take on rock stardom ("Billy Corgan is one reason to think maybe it wasn't so bad we only got to know Kurt as long as we did"); the next, he's soliciting advice from readers about whether to marathon a TV show ("Thinking about starting Justified, but I kind of want to see the quality of person that responds to this tweet telling me it's a good show").

  2. Bill Lawrence (@VDOOZER)

    The Cougar Town and Scrubs showrunner was an infrequent Twitter-er when he first joined the service. But his feed has truly become a must in recent weeks, following ABC's decision to postpone the show's expected January return. No, Lawrence is not the type to go biker on his network bosses (like, say, the amazing @Sutterink, who I'm just assuming you already follow). Instead, he's more likely to poke the beast by retweeting a fan angered by his show's forced hiatus ("Tonight, ABC will air #WorkIt, one of the worst reviewed shows in years. Meanwhile, where is #CougarTown on the schedule?!").

  3. Masked Scheduler (@maskedscheduler)

    Most everyone in Hollywood, including his bosses, knows the real identity of this veteran TV executive, currently employed by Fox. But most have agreed to simply not mention his name, in part because it gives the exec the comfort level needed to speak his mind about the TV business (and life in general). Some samples: "Looking at the rating for FEAR FACTOR reminds me that most TV critics sit in a perpetual state of shivah. I say: AMERICA FUCK YEAH!!!!!" And, "One can only imagine what the box office for Breaking Dawn would be if Jack and Jill wasn't still in theaters."

  4. Emily Kapnek (@emilykapnek)

    She's only been on Twitter for a few months, which may explain why the creator of Suburgatory has a criminally small following of barely 1100 fans. What are you missing by not following her? Sharp observations on random stuff ("Lotus Slit would be a good name for a girl band from Silver Lake"); insight from behind the scene ("#SUBURGATORY fun fact: Dallas' dog "Yakult" also guests on #AmericanHorrorStory & #UpAllNight yet remains surprisingly down to earth on set"); and smackdowns of beloved children's characters ("Caillou is such a phony little kiss-ass").

  5. Todd VanDerWerff (@tvoti)

    Since we're assuming you already follow @vulture (and yours truly, @tvmojoe), we feel secure suggesting you check out the fine feed of another small-screen journalist. The AV Club's television editor is a prolific tweet-er, musing often about current TV shows ("Everybody in Work It is trying so gosh-darn hard. It's uncomfortable") and shows no longer on the air ("Say what you will about it, but I still say the BSG finale has the best effects work I've ever seen on television"). Bonus features: Spirited conversations with other TV critics (such as HitFix's Alan Sepinwall) and Honeymooners-esque verbal banter with his wife, and fellow TV fan, Libby Hill (@midwestspitfire)

Movies Kyle Buchanan's Top Five Oscar Contenders You Can Already Watch at Home

  1. Margin Call

    Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, this tight, cool chronicle of economic collapse (as witnessed by a cast of all-stars over the course of 24 hours) loses none of its chilly impact on the small screen. Among the standouts: a swanning Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey, Penn Badgley's magnificent hair, and a marvelously clenched Demi Moore.

  2. Beginners

    This charming little tale made a pittance at the box office, but let's hope that Christopher Plummer's inevitable win for Best Supporting Actor will ensure that it's discovered plenty in the years to come. Delicate, emotional, and utterly winning.

  3. The Help

    If you've already seen it, give it a rematch just to appreciate everything Viola Davis does with her performance: In a cast of showy actresses making hay with that Southern-fried dialogue, she instead seems to think her dialogue instead of speaking it.

  4. A Better Life

    Don't you want to be the one at your Oscar party who actually knows who Demián Bichir is? Summit blanketed the Academy voters with DVDs of A Better Life early on, and it clearly plays well at home, to judge from Bichir's surprise Best Actor nomination.

  5. Moneyball

    Jean Dujardin appears to be edging out George Clooney in the Best Actor race, but if we had our way, this would be a no-brainer call for Brad Pitt. It's a deceptively easy-looking performance that makes great use of Pitt's commanding star wattage and his underrated ability to listen—really listen—and genuinely respond to his scene partners.

Music Nitsuh Abebe's Five (of Many) Great Soul Train Moments

  1. Stevie Wonder, 1971

    TMZ reported this morning that Don Cornelius, the legendary host and creator of Soul Train, is dead at 75. Feel free to take an hour to re-appreciate some of the beautiful things that happened on the show he built. One of the warmest moments I've ever seen on television comes around the nine-minute mark of this clip, where a young Stevie Wonder improvises a tune about the show, Don Cornelius, and the place "where all the brothers and sisters get together"—it'd make as beautiful a eulogy as anyone could ask for.

  2. Marvin Gaye, 1974

    In the interview that precedes Gaye's rendition of "Let's Get It On"—in his watchman's cap, down on the dance floor, surrounded by people—he does two amazing things. One: He openly teases Cornelius about the fact that Soul Train's performances are mostly mime and lip-synch. Two: When someone asks him about his hobbies, he makes women visibly swoon by more or less answering that his hobby is fucking.

  3. James Brown, 1971

    The Soul Train archives are pretty much an audio-visual Smithsonian of American dance moves. That happens mostly on the dance floor—but hey, try not to fall in love with the dancer who takes the stage during this James Brown performance.

  4. Yellow Magic Orchestra, 1980

    In which the Japanese electronic-music innovators play a cover of Archie Bell & the Drells' soul classic "Tighten Up," Cornelius conducts a rather awkward interview across a slight language barrier, and it's revealed that one thing the whole world has in common is Kraftwerk.

  5. The Soul Train Dance Line, 1971–2006

    And of course the day-brightening Smithsonian of dance and fashion comes alive with the single most wonderful thing about Soul Train—the televised strutting of the dance line. I'll leave it to you to sit rapt in front of YouTube for hours watching them, except to suggest that some truly historic things are happening in this clip for "Mighty Mighty."

Movies David Edelstein's Films to See Now

  1. Damsels in Distress

    Set on the campus of a former women's college now overrun with lunkhead Roman-frat boys, Whit Stillman's comeback comedy is wobbly and borderline twee, but it deepens as it goes along and becomes rich. The initial conceit is a beaut: to upend Heathers and Mean Girls by turning the central trio of insouciant alpha-hotties into do-gooders who march into dorms, pull students off their suicidal ledges, and put them in tap shoes to sing and dance. Pretending to be people they aren't, these youngish characters are hurt, exposed. But Stillman, the most charitable of satirists, allows these poseurs to pick themselves up and find a better pose.

  2. Bully

    Lee Hirsch and Cynthia Lowen's painfully earnest plea on behalf of persecuted children should be seen by kids above all. The directors accompany a Sioux City boy, Alex, dubbed "Fish Face," on an agonizing bus ride; interview an Oklahoma girl, Kelby, who's ostracized after coming out as gay; and tell the frightening story of Ja'Meya, an accomplished student driven to wave a gun at her persecutors on a school bus and facing 45 felony charges. Bully is not especially artful, but children who allow themselves to see the world through the eyes of the film's victims will never be the same.

  3. 21 Jump Street

    The new big-screen 21 Jump Street is not half-bad. The film [EM] which stars tubby Jonah Hill and hunky Channing Tatum as rookie cops who'd once been in the same high-school class, but in polar-opposite social classes [EM] isn't a straight, serious remake of the eighties Fox TV series but it’s also not a spoof, despite some broad jabs at the old settings and characters. It has a bad, slapstick first act but by midpoint becomes strangely compelling, tapping into the fantasy of reliving one’s high-school years (which did a number on us all) and getting it right.

  4. The Kid With a Bike

    The Dardenne brothers of Belgium, Jean-Pierre and Luc, have moved away from the somewhat formless quality of their early work into the realm of melodrama, which would be worrisome if their new films weren't as good or better — heightened and purified by stronger narratives. Their new film centers on 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), whose father has deposited him in a state-run school and decamped, leaving no address. Despite the simplicity of the brothers' technique, The Kid With a Bike has deep religious underpinnings, a relentless drive toward the mythos of death and resurrection.

  5. Friends with Kids

    Jennifer Westfeldt's ensemble comedy has a nervous, high-strung rhythm and terrific tension, as if the characters' backs are against the wall and the clock is ticking down. It’s an unusual pitch for a film with a rom-com premise and a plot that turns on child care — the stuff of sitcoms and middlebrow "dramedies" that give you a few big laughs, a little cry, and a sporadic shiver of recognition.

Movies Claude Brodesser-Akner's Favorite Popcorn Movies

  1. The "movie popcorn" scene in Diner

    "It just pushed the flap open?” “It just pushed the flap right open."

    Popcorn as palliative for priapism? No wonder Orville Redenbacher could boast, "Mine is blowing the top right off of the popper."

  2. The "stove-top" popcorn scene in Scream

    "What's the noise?" "Popcorn." "Popcorn?" "Uh-huh." "I only eat popcorn at the movies." "I'm getting ready to watch a video."

    Um, no you're not, Drew: You're getting ready to meet a fate far worse than even that soon-to-be-smoldering pan of Jiffy-Pop.

  3. The "laser attack" scene in Real Genius

    "I think you used too much."

    You think?

  4. The "circus" scene in Big Fish

    "They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops—and that's true."

    So, apparently, does kettle corn, even in mid-flight.

  5. The "witch seduction" scene in Troll 2

    "Actually, I like popcorn." "Well, no problem. All we have to do is heat it up."

    This might be one of the greatest non sequiturs ever filmed, but then again, Troll 2 is a movie about a family who discovers that the entire population of their vacation getaway is made up of goblins, who, disguised as humans, are planning to eat them. As such, having a goblin sorceress perform mock fellatio on an ear of cereal grain is corny, but hardly the strangest bit in the movie.

Music Dan Tepfer's Five Favorite Goldberg Variations

  1. Wanda Landowska, 1933

    It's so ominous. You look at the sound wave of a harpsichord and it's a perfect square—everything has exactly the same dynamics. But Landowska makes really intense use of the pedals and octaves, and then above all she plays with timing. She's able to make the music sound very somber. I don't really share her vision, but it's amazing how good her version is.

  2. Glenn Gould: Live in Salzburg, 1959

    I was kind of flabbergasted that I hadn't come across this until a few years ago. It's not a perfect performance, but in terms of expressivity, joy, and surprise, it's far beyond Gould's other two Goldberg recordings. If I didn't know that Gould was the least improvising person on Earth, I would have assumed that he'd made this all up on the spot—it's so free and has so much gumption.

  3. Robin Sutherland, 1996

    When I was working on the variations and I ran into problems where I felt like I was just playing from notes, not playing it in a personal way, I would listen to Sutherland. He would invariably have figured out some other solution that would inspire me. It's very Romantic and quite idiosyncratic. The tempi are different from Gould practically all of the time.

  4. ParnassiMusici, 2000

    Part of the challenge of playing the Goldbergs is to get each voice to resonate with you. When you hear Parnassi play it, all of a sudden all the internal voices in the piece are blindingly obvious because they're played by different instruments. You can see parts more clearly, it almost takes things back to first principles.

  5. Pierre Hantai, 2003

    In Baroque architecture, you've got the basic structure and then all of this decoration—leaves, the tops of the columns, and all that. It's the same thing in Baroque music. You have a melody, and then you ornament it with little turns and trills. It's an important part of playing this music, and Pierre Hantai’s ornamentation on this album is just unbelievable. It's such an incredibly alive performance—visceral and strong.

Movies Derek Haas's All-Time Greatest Hit-Men

  1. Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men

    Javier Bardem made this sinister killer scary as hell, just by flipping a coin. The captive bolt pistol helped, too.

  2. The Jackal, Day of the Jackal

    Edward Fox played him cool and menacing in 1973; Willis did it again in '97. I prefer the original, but it's the Jackal's character that makes him so compelling.

  3. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kid, Diamonds Are Forever

    These creepy Bond villains dispatch diamond smugglers while amusing themselves and finishing each other's sentences. They should have gone less complicated than stuffing Bond in a crematorium furnace.

  4. Kirill, The Bourne Supremacy

    Love the way Karl Urban floats in and out of scenes and shadows in the second Bourne movie. Plus, he killed Marie, forcing Bourne to channel some more inner demons.

  5. Fox, Wanted

    I have to name one of my own movies, right? Angelina Jolie's assassin in Wanted liked to chew on hamburgers and curve bullets. What's not to like?

Books Dan Kois's Five New Books That Surprised Me

  1. Denis Johnson's Train Dreams

    I thought long Denis Johnson (Tree of Smoke) was even better than short Denis Johnson (Jesus' Son), but then this novella about the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the last century is the best thing he's ever written.

  2. Miranda July's It Chooses You

    I thought I'd be annoyed by these whimsical interviews of PennySaver advertisers across Los Angeles, but instead found myself quite fond of these quirky Q&As, which helped to shape July's film The Future.

  3. John Berger's Bento's Sketchbook

    I thought I didn't care about drawing, but this slim volume from masterful critic Berger offers wisdom for anyone who's interested in images: How does the impulse to draw begin? When do a set of lines transform from an accumulation into an image? How do you enter an artwork?

  4. Will Hermes's Love Goes to Buildings on Fire

    I thought there was nothing left to say about the seventies NYC music scene, but Hermes puts it all together—punk, salsa, jazz, hip-hop, disco—into a portrait of a city in ferment, with new bubbles of innovation popping up all over.

  5. Héctor Tobar's The Barbarian Nurseries

    I thought it was impossible to write a good novel about Los Angeles, but I was wrong.

Music Jonny Pierce's Albums on Repeat

  1. The Embassy's Life in the Trenches

    If you have ever loved New Order or the Wake and wished there were bands around today making that same delicate but wiry guitar/synth pop, then meet the Embassy. These guys are sort of the godfathers of the current Swedish indie-pop scene.

  2. Ice Age's New Brigade

    When I met the lead singer of the band, he was not nice, which in hindsight I guess I prefer. Nice can be such a bore. Anyway, this album is usually categorized as "punk," but I can't help but be drawn to the incredible pop moments all over it.

  3. Part Time's What Would You Say

    This album was, in my opinion, completely overshadowed by the hype surrounding John Maus's latest release. It is also, in my opinion, much better than John Maus's latest release. It sounds like a guy in a bedroom recording cool songs to tape with synths and a guitar. Nothing tricky. Just how I like it.

  4. Johann Johannson's IBM 1401 A Users Manual

    This is an album dedicated to and inspired by the first computer ever brought to Iceland, an IBM 1401. There are five movements, and it features a full orchestra that plays along to the instructional maintenance/repair vinyl that came with the computer. The beginning of the future seems to be captured here in the most romantic of ways.

  5. Puro Instinct's Headbangers in Ecstasy

    These girls are from L.A. and have made a really nice album of chorus-y-guitar-dreamy-pop. The song "Lost at Sea" reminds me a lot of Bon Voyage and "Luv Goon" reminds me of Fleetwood Mac. I remember hearing "Luv Goon" quite a while ago, but it must have been a demo version because the new version is a little more glossed up, which I thought was a shame. Still, a big fan.