Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - (Page 36) REVIEWS I EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED Prebook 9/23; Street 10/21 Vivendi, Documentary, B.O. $7.7 million, $26.99 DVD, $34.99 Blu-ray, ‘PG’ for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking. www.homemediamagazine.com gent design in the context of presenting theories of evolution. He frames the issue within the larger context of free speech and open debate. Many reviews referred to Expelled as propaganda in support of intelligent design, though it doesn’t really earn that label. While it does present a point of view, it is no more skewed to its presupposed notions than Michael Moore’s films are to his. It’s an entertaining and effective presentation, so it’s no surprise Expelled plays well to its target audience while riling detractors (some of whom are interview subjects in the film). The narrative raises some valid points about the relationship between science and religion, but doesn’t go far enough in connecting the dots. The film posits scientists have disagreements with the theory of evolution, but doesn’t explore them. One speaker says that there are arguments for intelligent design that aren’t religious, but doesn’t state them. Expelled’s main fallacy is that, in blurring the lines between philosophy and science, it fails to recognize the key distinction between them. The real question at the heart of this issue boils down to a definition of God. And that’s just not a question science, or this film, is equipped to answer. – John Latchem E I LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE Street 9/30 Liberation, Documentary, $19.97 DVD, NR. xpelled begins with host Ben Stein explaining that some biology professors have been dismissed from institutions of learning for broaching the topic of intelli- I t’d be easy to do a salacious tell-all documentary about Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. After all, he did pioneer the gratuitous beaver shot in skin mags. But that’s not all he pioneered, and the lessobvious aspects of his career are the focus of this documentary. To paraphrase one of the Founding Fathers, you may not like what Flynt publishes, but you should be glad he’s defending to near-death the right to publish it. Besides, the political cartoons and articles that have drawn so much fire over the years almost make it true when someone says they read it for the articles. Who else puts up money to hold politicians to the standards they like to impose on others? Pornography has been at the leading edge of the publishing industry since French postcards, and this film makes it clear why. People will spend money on it, and that puts folks such as Flynt in a financial position to defend it, when necessary. About two-thirds of the way into the film, we start to hear Flynt’s biting criticism of the Bush administration, but that is tempered with accounts of what it takes for reporters 50 years after Vietnam to get actual battlefield footage. It’s been locked down, tightly controlled, embedded. It took years just to get the right to print photos of flag-draped coffins coming back from Iraq. We have Larry Flynt and his ilk to thank for that in an era of corporate media. The video industry has long understood how it has benefited from Flynt’s First Amendment battles. He was a panelist at the Home Entertainment Expo in 2002 as well as on the leadoff panel at the 2004 AVN show. But this retrospective of Flynt’s court battles may establish his redeeming social value with people who aren’t familiar with his continuing struggle to keep the press free. It’s about so much more than porn. – Holly J. Wagner I WATER Street 9/23 Victory Multimedia, Documentary, $29.98 DVD, NR. T his new age documentary, from the makers of 2004’s What the Bleep Do We Know?!, features the findings of an international cast of scientists and researchers to reveal the healing power of water. The basic premise is that water has a memory and that human intention and behavior affect how molecules arrange themselves in a liquid state. One of the film’s experts soaked rice in three containers of water. Each day, he said “thank you” to the first water, ignored the second and told the third, “You disgust me.” The expert claims that the rice rotted in the “you disgust me” water while the rice in the “thank you” water had begun to ferment into saké. Throughout the film, Russian filmmaker Saida Medvedeva presents similar claims from representatives of other fields, such as biology, religion, science, parenting, conservation efforts, behavior and even politics. This leads to discussions of the benefits of drinking “structured water,” and serves somewhat as a commercial. The film warns audiences to distrust their drinking water that has not been structured by good intention. The company that funded the film sells “Water With Intention.” The documentary won four first-place distinctions in Russia’s television awards, including best documentary film, best camerawork and best producer. – Amanda McCorquodale I TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME Prebook 9/24; Street 10/28 PorchLight, Comedy, $24.98 DVD, NR. Stars Julia Duffy, David Ogden Stiers, Joseph Lawrence, Kirby Heyborne. T ogether Again for the First Time is a new entry into the dysfunctional-family-does-Christmas category. The grown and mostly grown children of an extremely neurotic blended family assemble for a holiday celebration full of emotional landmines, booby traps and bombshells. And, not surprisingly, no one escapes unscathed. Audrey, the very-high-strung matriarch, has decided to use the family holiday celebration to try to take her career as a kind of Martha Stewartlike radio talk show host to the next level. Even though she is acutely aware of the tenuous peace that exists between the family’s step-, halfand full-siblings, she agrees to put them all on display for a local news story about making family holidays special. The results, although disastrous, are hardly unexpected. And the botched TV spot is the impetus for the unraveling of what very few threads bind the family together. Although Together Again doesn’t cover new ground, several performances set this direct-to-video feature apart from similarly themed pictures. Stiers is affecting as a man who loves his family but doesn’t always understand them. Heyborne, who resembles Owen Wilson both physically and in his manner, is very good as a man who knows he is walking into the lion’s den by agreeing to come home for the holidays, but who does it anyway. And Lawrence, who is no longer heartthrob Joey but now serious actor Joseph, is almost unrecognizable with his baldpate and his understated acting. The film takes a bit of the treacle out of the typical family-crisis-brings-everyone-closer-during-the-holidays plot, although there is still plenty left over. But anyone who believes that he or she will lapse into a diabetic coma if forced to watch It’s a Wonderful Life one more time could do much worse than Together Again for the First Time. – Anne Sherber 36 Home Media Magazine September 21–27, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Contents News High-Def News Electronic Delivery News Women in Home Entertainment Reviews Research Top 20 DVD Sellers Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts Just Announced Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page Cover1) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page Cover2) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 1) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 2) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 3) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 (Page 4) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Contents (Page 5) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - News (Page 6) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - News (Page 7) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 8) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 9) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 10) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - High-Def News (Page 11) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Electronic Delivery News (Page 12) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Electronic Delivery News (Page 13) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 14) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 15) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 16) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 17) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 18) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 19) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 20) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 21) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 22) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 23) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 24) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 25) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 26) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 27) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 28) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 29) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 30) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 31) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 32) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Women in Home Entertainment (Page 33) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 34) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 35) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 36) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Reviews (Page 37) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 DVD Sellers (Page 38) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 39) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 40) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Top 20 Rentals and Top 10 Charts (Page 41) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 42) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 43) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page 44) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover3) Home Media Magazine - September 21, 2008 - Just Announced (Page Cover4)
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