DVDs: March 2004 Archives

Uncovered is a documentary about the way the White House distorted the truth in an attempt sell the American public and the rest of the world on its pre-emptive war on Iraq. I already thought that Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, and the rest of that gang were being sneaky about it, but this DVD nailed it for for me. The reason Uncovered is so persuasive is that the director wisely chose to interview only "insiders" for the documentary -- CIA analysts, weapons investigators, Pentagon officials, and former White House counsels. Their comments on the administration's exagerations and spin are devastating. According to the director, even people who support the war in Iraq become angry after watching Uncovered, because it exposes the Bush administration as a pack of thoroughly corrupt liars. Link

This two DVD set of 31 Disney shorts (over five hour's worth of cartoons) is a cornucopia of wonderful storytelling and animation, from Ub Iwerk's "Skeleton Dance" (a black and white clasiic in which skeletons in a graveyard play on each other like xylophones and rearrange their bones in grotesque forms) to the Academy Award winning "The Old Mill."

These cartoons are the polar opposite of The Simpsons -- if you turned the sound off on The Simpsons, you wouldn't understand what was happening. But you could turn the sound off on a Silly Symphony short and have no problem figuring out what was going on, thanks to the activity, gags, and pantomime. We've watched these cartoons dozens of times and we're still not tired of them.

Includes some interesting supplemental material, such as commentary by Leonard Maltin and Disney animation documentaries.

Link