DVD Review: Panic Room (C)

Panic Room (2002)
Directed By David Fincher
Starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart and Forest Whitaker
MPAA: R
Grade: C

Review by Scott Standish

With The Game, Se7en, and Fight Club under his belt, David Fincher is one of the hottest directors in the biz right now. Fight Club had such an over the top style and featured such chilling acting, that perhaps I was expecting a bit too much. Panic Room could never live up to Fight Club and its a completely different type of film. But even with all of that, I still came away from Panic Room a little disappointed.

Jodie Foster plays a newly divorced mom that has just moved into a huge brownstone on Manhattans upper west side with her young daughter. The house has a "panic room" hidden into one of the bedrooms. A panic room is an intruder proof room, an internal shelter that is supposed to keep the owner safe from any kind of attack. Once you are inside a panic room, no one else can get in and you can safely view the rest of the house with video monitors.

As luck would have it, on their first night in the house, the brownstone is invaded by a gang of burglars. Foster and her daughter need to use the panic room, but soon find out that the crooks have come for something that is inside of the panic room itself. An interesting plot device yes, but unfortunately there is not a lot more to this film. Its a basic hostage drama, but with the trendy twist of a high tech "panic room" attached for a little extra glitz.

Panic Room originally had Nicole Kidman in the lead role, but she was forced to leave the film after eighteen days, reportedly due to a knee injury she sustained during the filming of Moulin Rouge. Foster does a good job with this role, and Forest Whitaker is excellent as the lone crook with any sense of morals.

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DVD Review: Edge City (A-)

Edge City (1998)
Directed by Eugene Martin
Starring Charlie Hohheimer, Heather Gottlieb, Ryan Carmody and Jill Horner
MPAA: UR
Grade: A-

Review by Scott Standish

Edge City is a remarkable movie. Not since Larry Clark's controversial film Kids have I seen a movie that so accurately captures the intense pressures that young adults face today. A talented ensemble cast brings this modern day West Side Story saga to life and the results are fantastic.

The story takes place in a small suburb outside of Philadelphia. Two separate groups of teens face peer pressure on a variety of issues: sex, drugs, and most of all, just acting tough 24-7. Gangster hip hop culture dominates the young male's lives as they try to outdo each other as to who is the toughest. The girls compete as to who has the most sexual conquests and of course that lifestyle for young girls is a ticking time bomb.

All of the kids hang out in the parking lots of drive through burger stands as they smoke joints, drink champagne and gossip about each other. Stories gain exaggeration as they are retold, and before long a simple prank among one of the groups escalates into a misunderstanding that leads to violence.

Loosely based on a true story, Edge City is a passionate portrayal of young teens trying to live as adults in a very unhealthy environment. Their parents are not involved in their kids lives and at times, the parents seem even more childish than their kids. Director Eugene Martin weaves all of these characters together with a distinct editing style that adds flavor to the over-all package.

Edge City is one of the best films I have seen about the teenage experience in America today and it's highly recommended.

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DVD Review: Dr. Strangelove (A)

Dr. StrangeLove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Starring Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Slim Pickens
MPAA: PG
Grade: A

Review by Scott Standish

Its pretty amazing to think that this film was originally intended to be a dramatic thriller. Based on the tense nuclear war novel "Red Alert", Stanley Kubrick and co-screenwriter Terry Southern began this script true to the book but slowly transformed the tone into a satire as the evenings grew later and the authors got goofier. What resulted was truly one of the greatest comedies of all time, the classic that we now know as Dr. StrangeLove, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.

Set in the cold war 60's, Dr. Strangelove gets started when a Brigadeer General Jack Ripper (played amazingly by the legendary Sterling Hayden) snaps one day in a move to preserve "the purity of our nation's precious bodily fluids," decides to phone in a nuclear against the Soviet Union. He is the only one that knows the recall code. Peter Sellars plays three roles in this film, among them the role of British Captain Lionel Mandrake, the first soldier to realize that the General has lost his mind. Wacky General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott in what is rumored have been his own personal favorite role) has to notify the stuffy President Merkin Muffley (also played by Sellars). And of course, Sellars also plays the title character as well, the bizarre Dr. Strangelove.

Aboard the lead plane headed for Russia, you have Slim Pickens running the show as Maj. T.J. 'King' Kong. Pickens has some great dialogue in this film as he provides leadership to his crew (among them a young James Earl Jones). In a time where the US government advises its citizens to rush out and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting, you have to admire this dialogue, where Major Kong reads off the contents of the crews survival kit:

Major T.J. King Kong: "Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

A comedy about war (never an easy thing) that never seems to go out of style, Dr. Strangelove is, in my humble opinion one of the best comedies of all time. With all of the turbulence around the world right now one would be hard pressed to find a comedy that works so well to put things in proper perspective.

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DVD Review: Believer, The (A-)

The Believer (2001)
Directed by Henry Bean
Starring Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Billy Zane and Theresa Russell
MPAA: R
Grade: A-

Review by Scott Standish

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, The Believer is about as good as independent film gets.

Danny Balint (Gosling) is a young Jew that refuses to accept the teachings of his mentors. His rebelliousness grows and before long he has completely jumped to the opposite point of view, becoming a vicious anti-Semite. His well spoken manner makes him an attractive candidate to neo-nazi groups. Aligning himself with these hate groups, Danny angrily espouses his views to larger audiences as the movie progresses. This character is based on the true story of Daniel Burrows, a neo-nazi who killed himself when the public learned that he was in fact a Jew himself.

Who would have thought that a former child star of the Mickey Mouse Club (1989 cast) would turn into such a fantastic actor? Ryan Gosling is absolutely incredible in this lead role. One moment thoughtful, the other vicious, the range shown here is remarkable. Billy Zane and Theresa Russell also sparkle as the leaders of a fascist group intent on expanding into terrorism. Lastly, the lovely Summer Phoenix (the youngest of the Phoenix family actors) plays Danny's love interest and she is nothing short of brilliant here. We expect to see Summer become a star in her own right, she's that good.

The Believer is the first film directed by Henry Bean and hopefully its not his last. Bean wrote and produced the highly underrated film noir Deep Cover starring Jeff Goldblum and Laurence Fishburne. Bean shows a strong skill for bringing intense character studies to the screen, while allowing his actors to flourish without special effects trickery.

Well acted and perfectly directed, The Believer is highly recommended.

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DVD Review: Comedian (B+)

Comedian (2002)
Directed by Christian Charles
Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Orny Adams, Colin Quinn and Robert Klein
MPAA: R
Grade: B+

Review by Bobby Nashville

I'm a huge Seinfeld fan, so I had been looking forward to seeing this documentary for some time. Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. Comedian is a very funny film and it's highly recommended.

Comedian is a "fly on the wall" style documentary that shows two comedians on the comedy circuit. Jerry Seinfeld, the master of the TV sitcom, has returned to his stand up comedy roots to develop and try out all new material. Orny Adams, a cocky young comedian on the rise, travels to comedy festivals in an attempt to break into the bigtime. Along the way, they both gather insights and sympathies from other comedians, among them Bill Cosby, Chris Rock, Kevin Nealon, Ray Romano and George Wallace.

Although Comedian doesn't delve deeply into the homelife of Jerry Seinfeld, it does offer some sneak peeks into his insecurities and his comic genius of a mind at work. Its fascinating and of course hilarious at the same time. If you are a fan of Seinfeld (and who isn't?) then you will find this movie a big treat. If you aren't a fan of the show, you still might find this a fascinating look into what comedians go through in order to develop five minutes of good material.

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DVD Review: Training Day (B+)

Training Day
Directed By Antoine Fuqua
Starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke
Grade: B+

Review by Scott Standish

This is a stellar film. The raves poured in for Denzel Washington on this one, and its clear to see why. The acting is first rate all around (Ethan Hawke is excellent here) but Denzel goes above and beyond anything that I ever expected.

The story revolves around young rookie cop Ethan Hawke starting his first day as an undercover narcotics officer. He reports to Denzel, who takes him under his wing on the first day (aka training day). Denzel takes him through a serious "Wake up and see the crime all around you" schooling, dragging him through the ganglands of LA. As the day wears on however, it becomes clear that Denzel's character is not only pushing the limits of accepted police work, he's going way over the line.

What makes this film stand out is the remarkable performance of Denzel as Detective Alonzo Harris, an intense, brutally honest cop that has seriously gone bad. I mean Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant bad. Lawrence Fishburne in Deep Cover bad. Ice T in.. well, everything bad. Detective Harris can almost be compared to Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now, as they both went out to fight a war, and then found themselves out of control, with methods that are unsound.

The ending of this turns out disappointing as the plot degrades into a rather unoriginal Hollywood style ending. I would have liked to see this movie go in another direction at the end. But, with the solid performances of Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke making this film so mesmerizing, this film is still a must see.

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DVD Review: Live Nude Girls Unite (C)

Live Nude Girls Unite (2000)
Directed by Vicky Funari and Julia Query
MPAA: UR
Grade: C

Review by Bobby Nashville

Any documentary about strippers is bound to be interesting in one way or another. But while this one certainly had its moments, it ultimately couldn't take things to a higher level, despite some great intentions by the directors.

In 1996, the strippers at the Lusty Lady, a famous San Francisco strip club became fed up with their working conditions. None of them were fed up with the fact that they had to strip, in fact the beginning of the movie focuses on explaining why the girls like working there. The make decent money, most of them feel a certain bit of power from the sexual nature of their gig, and they enjoy the job that they do.

However, working conditions at the Lusty Lady are not the best. They keep allowing people to bring cameras into the booths, and there is definitely some racial discrimination going on. So, they decide to organize into the U.S. First stripper's union. The documentary follows their meetings with union specialists, their bargaining representatives, and their subsequent picketing. What started off as a pretty decent look into the life of some fairly well adjusted sex workers in San Francisco turns into a kind of medium grade "we're on strike" labor documentary. Its great that they organized into a union and fought for their rights, but the battle to unionize in itself is actually a lot less interesting than the people that are doing the unionizing.

Thankfully, the movie is only 75 minutes long. With some of the scenes showing the director doing stand up comedy, and weird animations tossed in for some reason, the documentary starts to lose steam after the first 45 minutes.

If Live Nude Girls Unite was redone simply as a look at the people who work at the Lusty Lady, why they do, and how this affects their lives, this film might have been a bit more entertaining. I know that the film focuses alot on how stripping has affected the director (stripper Julia Query) and that was definitely a good start. Expanding this to include in-depth portraits of the other employees would make for a more effective film.

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DVD Review: In The Bedroom (2001)

In The Bedroom (2001)
Directed by Todd Field
Starring Sissy Spacek, Tom Wilkinson, Nick Stahl and Marisa Tomei
MPAA: R
Grade: B-

Review by Bobby Nashville

By now, everybody knows the storyline to this movie: a young man gets involved with a recently separated married woman. The young man's parents disapprove but allow the romance to continue, in hopes that it will break up on it's own accord. The married woman's ex-husband is an insanely jealous creep who begins to harass the couple. Things get out of hand and before you know it everyone's lives are torn apart.

Sissy Spacek is decent in the role of the mother of the smitten young man and Tom Wilkinson is even better as the father. Oscar winner Marisa Tomei is also quite good as Natalie, the young woman having a tough time getting her ex-husband completely out of her life. Karen Allen, one of our favorite actresses, makes a brief appearance and William Wise does an excellent job portraying Matt Fowler's friend Willis Grinnel.

The acting of the story carries everything forward and that's saying a lot in this case. In The Bedroom is one of those heavy movies with lots of emotional turbulence brewing under the surface for far too long. Halfway through the movie, one wonders if everything is in fact grinding to a halt. Lucky for us the story takes an interesting left turn for the third act.

Directed by Todd Field (Nick Nightingale from Eyes Wide Shut) In The Bedroom is a good hand wringer about a family in crisis. Obviously Mr. Field has talent as an actor and this helped him bring about the fine performances you see in this film.

Nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, In The Bedroom does have its faults. Set in Maine, the story has some nice scenery yet it definitely has a "tv movie of the week" look to it. A more compelling visual style would have helped this film. But the acting is good, the story is interesting, and let's face it: that's half the battle for movies nowadays. You could do much worse than In The Bedroom, an excellent drama with several fine acting performances.

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DVD Review: He Loves Me He Loves Me Not (A-)

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (2002)
Directed By Laetitia Colombani
Starring Audrey Tautou, Samuel Le Bihan, Isabelle Carre, Clement Sibony, Sophie Guillemin, Eric Savin
MPAA: PG-13
Grade: A-

Review by Scott Standish

This romantic thriller was not what I was expecting at all. The marketing of this film plays upon the memories everyone has of Audrey Tautou, and her role in the brilliant film Amelie. An expertly crafted romantic drama that builds slowly and has a great payoff, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is highly recommended.

One can't help but have preconceived opinions about Tatou's character, the young and impressionable Angelique. She's smart, sweet and perky. You can't help but like her. Director Laetitia Colombani makes sure that these ideas are firmly in place and then uses them to maximum effect to really kick start the story as these impressions start to change.

Angelique (Audrey Tautou) is house sitting for a friend and has started a relationship with a successful doctor. Unfortunately he is married and likes to string her along. Her friends try to get her to dump him, but she is so deeply in love that she can't seem to break away from him. In fact, she seems a bit obsessed over the doctor and it is here that He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not starts to shift into second gear.

The script is very well constructed and the acting is first rate. A tight thriller based around an obsessive romance, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is one not to miss.

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DVD Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (D-)

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
Directed By Chris Columbus
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Richard Harris and Maggie Smith
MPAA: PG
Grade: D-

Review By Scott Standish

On the back of the DVD release for Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, film critic Richard Roeper calls the film "The Wizard Of Oz of its time. A complete triumph". Now I know that movie reviews are often truncated and distorted by the studios for their own marketing efforts. Perhaps this was taken out of context. But trust me on this one, folks: Harry Potter is no Wizard Of Oz.

The Wizard Of Oz is a sensational story with a clear purpose (Dorothy needs to get back home), great acting (Judy Garland even outshines the incredible set decorations), and timeless music (Somewhere Over The Rainbow, anyone?). Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a convoluted, meandering story with laughable acting and an insanely annoying soundtrack (John Williams needs to lay off the caffeine). Okay, I know that comparing Harry Potter to a film that is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all times is a bit harsh (hey, they started it). So let's bring this back down to reality.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone is of course, the much anticipated film version of the popular book (which is in turn, a part of the incredibly successful series of novels). Harry Potter is a young boy with remarkable powers. Raised by cruel adoptive parents in London, Harry gets his freedom when a giant named Hagrid bursts in and tells him that he's a wizard. Hagrid tells Harry of his legacy (he's the son of a wizard that was killed by the evil Voldemort) and takes him to Hogwarts, a school for young wizards. Its here that the story really turns into a mess: he makes friends, learns that the potions master at the school is up to no good, and enters a competitive match of sorcery athletics.

The main problem with this story is that it does not focus on one thing long enough to get the audience to care about the outcome. At over 150 minutes long, what starts off as an interesting fairy tale slowly bogs into a badly acted stew of cliché wizards and inconsistent special effects work (some look great, others are poor). Harry's evil adoptive parents are booted from the story at the beginning, so there are no major antagonists to battle for most of the film. There are small antagonists at Hogwarts, but they seem feeble and not for one minute does one think that Potter will not conquer them.

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone is directed by Chris Columbus, a Steven Spielberg wanna-be with a penchant for incredibly stupid scripts (Mrs. Doubtfire, Bicentennial Man) and violent slapstick comedy (Home Alone, Home Alone 2). This guy's filmography is a wasteland of shallow Hollywood crap. With the success of Harry Potter (and yes, there are already two sequels in the works) Columbus is really riding high in Hollywood, so unless Dennis Hopper or Christopher Walken takes him hostage, we can expect a lot more bad movies ahead. Oh yes, that reminds me, Columbus is set to helm a watered down, sugary take of the Fantastic Four. I like the Fantastic Four comic book, but with Columbus directing, I bet that will suck too.

With studios releasing "Director's Cuts" all over the place with extra scenes and dialogue, perhaps someone should come out with an "Audience Cut" of Harry Potter, cutting this meandering mess into a movie that is more to the point. Until that happens, I am boycotting all films directed by Chris Columbus.

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DVD Review: Cries and Whispers (A)

Cries and Whispers (1972)
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
Starring Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin, Liv Ullman
MPAA: R
Grade: A

Movie Review By Ellyn Elm

Cries and Whispers is an intense study of love and death. Director, Ingmar Bergman, creates striking contrasts between claustrophobic interior scenes and carefree exterior scenes, protracted silences and superficial conversations, the empty and stagnating lives of two sisters versus the quiet and graceful life of one sister, Agnes, who is dying of cancer.

Agnes (Harriet Andersson) receives little comfort from her sisters, Karin (Ingrid Thulin) and Marie (Liv Ullman) as neither is capable of the empathy. Only Agnes’s servant, Anna (Kari Sylwan), is able to offer solace to the dying woman. This idea is reinforced several times with images of Anna cradling Agnes to her breast in a pose mirroring Michaelangelo’s Pieta.

The film uses flashbacks to create a composite view of each woman’s life. Marie is selfish and childlike, reveling in hedonistic pleasures of flirtation and seduction. Karin is cold and distant, afraid of human contact even reviling it. Agnes, in the throws of a long and painful death, is yet able to see the inherent beauty of life in her recollections of past times strolling in the gardens with her sisters.

As Agnes's suffering becomes more horrific, Karin and Marie are forced to examine their relationships, despite the painful truths they must uncover. But in the end the sisters are no better off after the funeral than they were before. Cries and Whispers is often uncomfortable to watch as Bergman forces the viewer to confront the terrifying specter of death head-on. Religion is meaningless as even after her death, Agnes does not find peace. It is only through Anna’s love that Agnes is able to shuffle off this mortal coil. True connection is what matters in life and in death - everything else is irrelevant.

This film is beautiful in its stark simplicity. The pace is dream-like, and Bergman is able to create an ethereal mood without resorting to grotesque morbidity. Visually, Cries and Whispers is stunning. Anyone who appreciates a well crafted film will surely enjoy this one despite its rather heavy subject matter.

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DVD Review: CQ (B)

CQ (2001)
Directed by Roman Coppola
Starring Jeremy Davies, Angela Lindvall, Gerard Depardieu and Elodie Bouchez
MPAA: R
Grade: B

Review by Scott Standish

CQ is a charming tale of one man's search for honesty (within relationships and art), but most of all, it is a tale of one man's reverance for film. In CQ, Roman Coppola (son of Francis Ford Coppola) has directed a smart, sexy, funny tribute to 8 1/2, Barbarella and David Holtzman's Diary. Full of references to 8 1/2, this film is a must see for all Fellini fans and for those budding film directors out there. CQ is a film about film, but it also quite accessable to those that have not yet seen the films referenced. In other words, you will enjoy this movie whether you get all of the "in jokes" or not.

CQ tells the story of Paul Ballard, a young American film editor that has moved to Paris to work on a sci-fi film. The year is 1969. In his spare time, he is also directing a black and white documentary on his life. This documentary is his attempt to find the "truth" that can only be found in real life.

The documentary that Ballard is shooting is similar in style to Jim McBrides incredible David Holtzman's Diary. Like David Holtzman, Paul Ballard finds that in attempting to document his life, the film-making process causes disruptions of its own. Paul's obsession with all things cinematic simply becomes too much for his beautiful but shallow girlfriend Marlene (played by rising star Elodie Bouchez, recently of The Dreamlife of Angels).

With some great characters (look for Rushmore's Jason Schwartzman as director Felix De Marco), spectacular pop art design, and a charming script, CQ is a real treat. CQ is reverential to the aforementioned classic films, but does not attempt to place itself in the same league. It is a love poem to a brand of cinema that seems to have been forgotten in today's "Let's Make Our Movies From Old TV Series" mentality. Hollywood films today are also so afraid to wear their artistic influences on their sleeve that is refreshing to encounter a film like CQ. In this movie, the love of classic cinema is not only on the screen, but obviously in the director's heart.

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DVD Review: Communion (C-)

Communion (1989)
Directed By Phillipe Mora
Starring Christopher Walken, Lindsey Crouse
MPAA: R
Grade: C-

Review by Scott Standish

Anything with Christopher Walken in it proves interesting. No where else is this more obvious than in the 1989 cult sci-fi film Communion, a "we were abducted by aliens" movie.

This is supposedly based on a true story (and a popular book) about alien abduction, and yes its exactly what you think: weird guy (Walken) gets abducted by aliens, no one believes him, but pretty soon he meets others that have had the same experience.

While the viewer might not be surprised by the storyline, they might be surprised at how bad the aliens look. I mean they really look like midgets in silly halloween monster costumes. Who knows what the producers were thinking here, because it actually is kind of funny how dumb they look. They kind of look like a cross between baby godzilla (from the incredible Godzilla's Revenge) and the Oompa Loompas (from Willy Wonka).

Communion doesn't really merit a huge detailed review simply because it has idiotic looking special effects (sorry that's just the rule). However, watching Christopher Walken deal with weird alien monsters is almost worth the cost of the rental alone, so we bumped this movie's grade up a bit to C-.

We usually don't get into the "extras" on DVDs but this has an unusual one worth noting: the Communion DVD comes with a clip of a surgeon removing "alien implants" from a person who was abducted by an alien. This guy does all this with a straight face, and yes, he is totally serious. If you are into that kind of thing (and who isn't?) then Communion is for you. If that's not your bag, then you might want to skip Communion, a run of the mill sci-fi flick that is only saved from absolute disaster by the always interesting Christopher Walken.

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DVD Review: Scratch (A-)

Scratch (2001)
Directed by Doug Pray
Starring DJ Qbert, Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Shadow and MixMaster Mike
MPAA: R
Grade: A-

Review by Scott Standish

Its great to see a filmmaker document the ascension of the "dj as artist" in popular culture. It is an amazing phenomenon and the artists and fans of the dj art form take it quite seriously. So its refreshing to see director Doug Pray approach this subject with a respect for the past as well as open ears towards the future. At the very least, it is fantastic to see the legendary old school djs finally get their stories documented for future artists to remember.

The art of the dj has changed radically in the last twenty years, from radio djs simply playing records back to back, to club dj's mixing, manipulating and extending records via "cross-fading", to what we see today: djs agressively using the turntable to scratch a record, effectively turning it into its own instrument with its own unique sound. Scratch picks up the history of the dj at the point where hip hop culture really exploded - in the streets of New York, where djs such as Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and others first started playing block parties. From these beginnings, djs became backing musicians for rap artists, and eventually (as dj's began to perfect scratch techniques) they would become their own recording artists.

For those that have no clue what the whole fuss is about, watching these scratch djs or "turntablists" as they sometimes called should prove to be a revelation. All the legendary djs are featured here (Grandmaster DXT from Herbie Hancock's band, Bambaataa and many more) and they get to tell their stories in their own words. The future of turntablism is left up in the air, as many of the artists admit that the San Francisco school of djs, led by DJ Qbert and the Invisible Skratch Pickles, has taken the scratching sound almost as far as it can go. Several artists predict that the turntable needs to return to the age where it co-existed with the rapper, without competing for attention within each song.

I would have liked to have heard from some djs of other styles of music (house, disco, etc.) to put it in context of the industry itself. Also, Grandmaster Flash is shown at work, but he is not interviewed in the film itself, a glaring omission. But, other than that, this is about as perfect as you can get.

Produced by the Hughes Brothers, directors of Dead Presidents and From Hell, this is a documentary with both its heart and soul in the right place. Its respect for the genre is honorable, making Scratch an excellent documentary.

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