I love Jason Statham’s movies for the most part, and no one else could have pulled off the role of Handsome Rob in The Italian Job with the flair that he did. Statham has a swagger like no other, and the bull-necked stride he uses to catch up to his prey in his Transporter movies is awesome.

However, Crank just didn’t deliver. Like its protagonist, it had an erratic heart rhythm. At times the movie sailed for short bursts, then it collapsed under its own weight.

Statham stars as Chev Chelios, a hitman who’s been injected with a Chinese poison that will kill him if his heart rate drops to a resting beat. He has to find ways to stay amped up throughout the movie or die (as if having a death threat hanging over his head wouldn’t automatically do that).

With that premise, Statham kills, crashes, attacks, and confronts everything and everyone that gets in his way as he struggles to keep his girlfriend Eve (Amy Smart) out of harm’s way and get his pound of flesh in revenge. The action lags a little from time to time despite the pressure and push of the situation, and it’s far too easy to get confused over who’s who and what’s going on.

The movie was written and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, both of whom have a mass of credits in the film business in stunts, photography, acting, and special effects. They definitely knew the audience they were going for, and they went for the throat.

I just didn’t buy into Statham’s character, even though I was predisposed to like him. The character was too thin, and there wasn’t anything to root for. I didn’t feel like I ever got to know him. Everyone else around him were cardboard cutouts.

Stunt-heavy, the movie didn’t quite come together in that area either. I missed Statham’s martial arts. Not that he does them in every movie, but we were left with endless gunfights and violent action that was more brutal than choreographed.

Even when the plot came together at the end, impossibilities stack on each other to the breaking point. There was no way everything could have gone down the way the movie showed it. The final confrontation at the end would have been impossible to pull off without some of Chelios’s enemies knowing what was coming.

In the end, Crank is a decent watch for a guy’s night out. It comes with a “family-friendly” version on the disc, but the overall story isn’t family friendly by any stretch of the imagination, and it’s too watered down for action fans.

Ghidorah is an odd outing for the Godzilla series. It’s widely regarded as the turning point for the series in which Toho’s monster icon switched his role from city destroyer to city helper. That’s not entirely correct, though it is definitely on the lighter side of Toho’s monster output of the decade.

What the film does so well in terms of the monster canon is balance both the goofy fun and serious tone so well. Godzilla’s initial appearance here is spectacular, providing decent city destruction and some memorable shots of the beast emerging from the water. His early battle with Rodan carries this over with great back and forth action.

Of course, in a movie featuring a whopping four monsters, all heading into battle at once, something has to give. Mothra’s appearance here hardly carries the weight of the monster’s prior appearance against Godzilla. There has to be some reason Godzilla and Rodan stop their rumbling to combine their forces to combat the outer space invader Ghidorah (who appears quite late in the film given the title credit, and it’s an even longer wait in the Japanese version).

Constant Godzilla movie contributor Shinichi Sekizawa decided on letting the monster’s talk to each other, leading to a classic dubbed line “Do you think I understand monster talk?” This is easily taken as the point where the series would follow a different path, yet King Kong vs. Godzilla would be pure comedy at the sake of monstrous creations two years prior.

The human drama is actually the centerpiece however, and as odd as it can be, it carries quite a bit of weight in terms of meshing with the monster action. Akiko Wakabayashi, a future Bond girl, plays the role of a princess who somehow escapes from an exploding plane only to become a prophet who accurately predicts the coming of the giant monster disaster. This is a storyline only fitting of a Toho kaiju effort in this sense.

On the other side, there’s a kidnapping drama, some detective work, multiple fast action shootouts, and a mountain excursion investigating what eventually becomes Ghidorah’s egg. While purely incidental, the finale between human and monster interjects multiple times, both killing and saving the humans. It gives some purpose to the build up, and a way to clear up the human saga of the story without moving away from the monster melee everyone came to see.

The special effects are in grand Toho style, loaded with excellent miniature work that would be used for stock footage as budgets were cut later in the series. Ghidorah’s initial appearance, flying over a heavily populated business district raining yellow beams of death, is amongst the most impressive destruction you’ll find in the genre, whether western or eastern in origin. The amount of pupeteering required to operate Mothra, Ghidorah’s three heads, and a flying Rodan, and more is truly a feat of dedication to the craft.

Akira Ifukube’s soundtrack adds weight to the battle, regardless of how oddball it can be at times. The unforgettable “Godzilla March” is used in full force, though sadly altered for reasons unknown when the US cut was released. It also manages to make the campy “monster talk” sequence tolerable and logical, when without it, it would simply be a low point.

Alterations to the film were mostly made to quicken pacing when the film arrived in the US a year after its Japanese release. The shifting of scenes is generally beneficial, and gives the movie a better flow. Instead of splitting scenes such as the government conference up, it’s one sequence and allows the later battle between Godzilla and Rodan to stay on screen for an extended period.

If anything, Ghidorah is memorable for the introduction of a Godzilla foe that would follow the Japanese icon through his entire career all the way up to 2004’s Godzilla – Final Wars. It started here, and whether or not you’re a fan of the film, obviously something was right if the creature continued to reappear to rake in box office dollars. While a step down from Godzilla vs. Mothra, this is a wildly fun follow up.

Both versions of the film are contained on one side of this single disc DVD release. The US cut is of a lesser quality, somewhat faded and softer. That said, both versions are in remarkable condition. Damage is limited to multiple pass special effects shots, which it’s to be expected. Compression is well controlled, and the clarity of the Japanese print is deserving of high praise. This is the best presentation of the film to date, and it’s a proper way to bring the film to these shores on DVD for the first time.

Audio is par for the course. While clean and crisp, nothing has been done to bring this up to date as Toho did for the Japanese DVD release. It’s a mono presentation that delivers all the needed sound and nothing else.

Classic Media handles the release of their Godzilla line in the same cardboard packaging. While it feels fragile, it’s a gorgeous presentation in a slim case in-line with the other DVDs they’ve produced.

Extras include a short yet informative feature on the special effects master behind these films, Eiji Tsuburaya. This could have been included on any Godzilla DVD, and there’s nothing to tie it to the actual film on the disc. Still, it’s nicely put together relevant information. A nice photo gallery is also included.

The commentary by David Kalat, author of A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, is definitely unique. To say he’s a true Godzilla fanatic would be understating things. The commentary is all over the place though, discussing other movies, constantly defending the US re-cut, and even heading into the history of other films in the series while ignoring the film he’s supposed to commentating on. It’s informative, just not what you might expect.

Ghidorah would prove a popular enough monster to bring him back for a second battle a year later in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero or Invasion of the Astro Monster. This would take place on an entirely different planet before heading to Earth. It would contain a piece of camp that would haunt the series forever, Godzilla’s dancing victory jig that is impossible to defend even for fans.

Matt Paprocki is the reviews editor for Digital Press, a classic video game website which he called home after his fanzine (Gaming Source) published its final issue. The deep game collection which spans nearly 30 systems and 2,000 games line his walls for reasearch purposes. Really. He has also begun writing freelance for the Toledo Free Press.

This week’s episode (Sundance Channel, 9pm Tuesday) shows that you do not have to be grown up, nor have a PhD to care about the environment. Even kids can help. In fact it likely is the kids that will drive the Eco-scene forward. The average parent is going to get pretty upset, and worn down by the ‘But why are there no (insert animal or plant name) left?’ questions from the little ones.

When you come up against eleven year old Evan Green, you know you are in trouble! This head of frizzy hair, and ‘Tasmanian Devil; go get em attitude’ should scare most people. He is happy to be behind the microphone and explain “You want to get money out of adults? Well you have to talk serious to them”. He goes on to explain that if your message is clear, they will cave in. This is a kid that cares about the rain forest, and his ‘Red Dragon’ organization is going to be a force to be reasoned with. It is great to see young people caring about the environment. Oh, and if Evan knocks on your door, I recommend that you just hand over everything in your wallet, because he is not going to leave until you do!

Toy-maker Barbera Aimes, founder of ImagiPLAY, has a more ‘low key’ approach, she creates non-toxic toys made from renewable rubberwood and recycled cardboard. This may not sound earth breaking, but it is. Regular plastics contain a veritable ingredient list of bad things. The toxin list alone would make your head spin. When you apply this ingredient list to small children, you have a problem. The favorite activity is to put stuff in their mouths, the tactile experience is part of the growing up process. Barbera has created a whole line of toys for young learners that are free from these toxins, yet still have the fun tactile aspects that toddlers like.

Los Angeles based ‘Plastics are Forever’ are concerned about plastics, and the effect that they have on the ecosystem. That Styrofoam cup that get tossed when the coffee is all gone is a bio-disaster. Come back 100 years in the future and it is ready for more coffee, in fact come back in 500 years, and it will still be ready and willing. Durability is good, but when it is used as a ‘one shot’ item it obviously does not work well. The ‘Plastics are Forever’ group may have fun in their quest, but their message is very clear, they care!

If you cannot pick up The Sundance Channel on your local cable system, all is not lost, check out their web page.

Gela Babluani's first film is a stark, neo-noir thriller. Just kidding, but that's what every other review has said in a nutshell. I guess the noir tag isn't too far off. There are detectives (though they aren't that instrumental to the plot), it is in black and white, and it is extremely tense. I guess the stark tag comes from the black and white film, which is the cliche way to describe such a film with serious themes.

13 was written and directed by Gela Babluani and stars his younger brother George. They are the sons of famed Georgian (that would be the country) director Temur Babluani (I don't know who that is either).

The story starts with Sebastien (Babluani the younger) working as a laborer in a small coastal city of France. We see that his family is living in near poverty and that they depend heavily on Sebastien's wages. Apparently, they are Georgian immigrants, but I would never have known if I hadn't read up on it. Sebastien is working for a morphine addicted criminal who is quickly running out of money.

While working on the hole in his roof, Sebastien hears his employer talking about going to Paris to get in on another score where he is hoping to bring home a substantial sum of money. Days later, the employer overdoses leaving his mistress penniless and unable to pay Sebastien for any of his work. By fortuitous chance Sebastien finds the letter containing the ticket to Paris with instructions. Down on his luck and unable to bring himself to tell his family that he wouldn't be paid, he takes the ticket and goes to find his fortune in Paris (think Antioni's The Passenger).

Little to his knowledge, Sebastien has a determined detective on his trail, as his former employer was under surveillance. Through clever means unbeknownst to Sebastien, he avoids the police and makes it to his destination none the wiser.

Sebastien's youthful naivety and innocence is abounding. He has had a fresh hair cut and wearing his best (and probably only) pair of dress shoes. Once he meets his sponsors though, things go beyond his control. Circumstances dictate that Sebastien now has no choice but to take the dead man's place as his sponsors stand to lose money and credibility if not. He is only referred to by his number for the game, 13.

The game to be played is similar to Russian Roulette, except that it involves several guns at once. The players stand in a circle, put a bullet in their pistol, spin the cylinder, and fire (think The Deerhunter). They all stand to make a lot of money or lose their lives. Black and white. Sebastien wants to run, but he is trapped and surely dead if he refuses to play.

What follows is an extremely intense film, unrecommended for those with high blood pressure or pussies in general. Some say it is a commentary on the free market economy, supposedly showing what people will do to earn a quick buck or make ends meet.

However, the protagonist actually tries to back out once he discovers what he must do. The other players are either junkies addicted to the adrenaline or have some sick fixation with the game and money. The free market economy comparison is tenuous at best, and at worst, stupid.

Babluani himself said it was a movie about violence. He relates to the violence that he saw in revolutionary Georgia and puts it into a different context. Much as Sebastien is an unwilling participant to this game, Babluani was probably in a similar dilemma growing up in war-torn Georgia. Their is also speculation that this type of twisted gambling actually takes place, as evidenced by interviews and film commentary. Babluani simply took the idea and ran with it, expanding the concept of a taut and depraved 'game' into a look at the effect of violence on the pysche, intertwined with his own experiences as a Georgian immigrant in France.

The result is one of the best freshman film efforts this renowned critic has ever seen. Tzameti has its flaws, sure, but it more than makes up for them in other aspects. The most common complaint was that the premise couldn't support a feature length film.

It is true that not much really happens in this movie in terms of actions and time. Their are a few events and a few consequences. However, each act has so much weight behind it that the consequences of it are rarely anything but dire. Sebastien's original choice leads sets off a domino effect that snowballs until he is no longer in control, much like how Babluani purposefully directs the action. The viewer may want to turn away or take a breather, but we are forced to join Sebastien's terrible journey. Perhaps even harder to imagine are the few minutes between each round where the thinning group of players are calming their nerves through drug and drink, trying not to think that their life could end in the next half-hour.

The idea of circularity plays a large theme in this film. The barrel of the gun. The circle they stand in while playing the game. It could be taken to mean any number of things, but the circularity of violence is a clear thematic expression made in this film. The Russian Roulette circle expresses it on a topical level, but the deeper circle of depravity and wont of care for human life is evident.

Higher stakes, more money, more bullets, everything spirals downward until one man is standing and it begins again. The camera swivels around the inside of the circle. We see a frame with a player's arm extended, cut off at the wrist, another arm is coming from the other side of the frame holding a gun pointed right at the player's head. It gives the impression that he is killing himself, which, he essentially is by taking part in this game. But, what happens when the player is there by mere circumstance?

These and other questions are all at play in 13 (Tzameti). While the film examines deeper issues, it remains at heart a thriller. Anyone who said it was predictable is a really bad liar. Babluani builds tension so effectively that the release isn't even important. It is one of the best thrillers in recent memory, original and daring, yet also stands out as example of directorial brilliance. Babluani made a remarkable first film and I will eagerly await to see what he comes up with next.

DVD features include interviews with cast and crew, an interview with a man who claims to have taken part in the games depicted in the film and a hilarious short film (that is, if you enjoy watching old ladies shoot themselves in the face).

Some thoughts on the remarkable ending of The Sopranos:

I’ve seen many responses to the ambiguous ending, ranging from disappointment and outrage to satisfaction and joy.

Much like the response to Frank R. Stockton’s “The Lady, or the Tiger,” when it first was published in 1882. The short story of course went on to become a classic.

A suitor for the princess of a kingdom is put on trial by the king. He is put in an arena and asked to pick one of two doors. Behind one is a lady, behind the other is a tiger. If he picks the door with the lady, he will be set free, and would live, but would be obliged to marry the lady. If he goes for the door with the tiger, he’ll be ripped to shreds. He of course does not know which is behind each of the doors. He loves the princess, so choosing the door with the lady may leave him heartbroken, but at least alive.

The princess knows what is behind each door. She loves the suitor. She gives him a signal – indicating which door the suitor should choose. If he chooses the lady, the princess will see the man she loves spend his life with another woman. If he chooses the tiger, the princess will see him die.

He opens the door, and… the story ends right there. Much like The Sopranos‘s cut to black last night.

Let us assume, for the moment, as many viewers have argued, that the blackness plus the conversation with Bobby on the lake about what happens when you get whacked (you never see it coming) mean that Tony is shot in the head by the guy who walked into the bathroom. But… did he kill just Tony, or Tony and Carmela, Tony and A.J., Tony and Meadow, maybe everyone at the table? And, if we allow that perhaps the darkness is not Tony’s, then maybe someone else at the table, or everyone else other than Tony, is killed.

Then, of course, if we allow the possibility that no one was killed, then the guy just went to the bathroom not to take care of business but to do his own business. So David Chase has given us a Sopranos, or the Tiger ending.

He’s the princess — he knows what’s behind the door of darkness. And we’re all the suitors in the arena. But unlike the princess, Chase is not clearly pointing to any door. And unlike the suitor, we have many more choices than two. But like the suitor, our choice of door depends upon what we think Chase wants us to see beyond it, and, even more importantly, what we in our hearts most want to see.

PS — One other thing, Frank R. Stockton published a sequel to “The Lady, or The Tiger”: “The Discourager of Hesitancy: A Continuation of ‘The Lady, or the Tiger?'” — three years later, in 1885.

And, in the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that my own novels — such as The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates — have been criticized here and there for not providing more definitive endings. So I may be naturally disposed to liking ambiguity.

Set in Boston and serving as a precursor to the wildly popular Boston Legal, The Practice debuted in 1997 and enjoyed its own success. Following attorney Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) as he struggles to keep his private practice afloat, the show is a fast-paced courtroom drama that uses every trick that creator David E. Kelley (Picket Fences, Ally McBeal) ever had up his sleeves.

It’s been ten years, and fans have been waiting and begging for a DVD release of the show. As of June 12, they will have to wait not longer. Called The Practice – Volume 1 (instead of Season 1) for a reason, the 4-disc set hold 13 episodes which did not actually air in the order you’ll find them in here. Originally written as a complete season, only six episodes aired before summer hiatus. The remaining seven episodes were interspersed throughout the second season. Here you’ll find them back to back, which is far more effective.

I have always been a fan of this show, and as such Volume 1 does not disappoint. Even after ten years, nothing feels dated or irrelevant. While it still borders on the massively over-dramatic and sensational, the show is still at its core a crime drama that draws you into the lives of the many characters present.

Camryn Manheim is completely identifiable as the character that made her famous, Ellenor Frutt, and Kelli Williams makes her Lindsey Dole the girl next door who will decimate you on the witness stand while blinking her doe-like eyes in your direction.

McDermott is actually hard to peg throughout the first few episodes and it is quite clear that he took some time in narrowing down exactly how to play the often conflicted Bobby Donnell. He is at different turns compassionate, caring, ruthless, and money-grubbing. The problem is that at first you can see him thinking out how to achieve these things and none of them are particularly effective. By episode five, though, he hits his stride and begins to own the show.

Keep an eye out for masterful guest-starring roles from John C. McGinley and Jane Kaczmarek. They steal the show in the several episodes they grace.

One big disappointment is the lack of extras. The only one is a paltry featurette that doesn’t feature much of anything.

The Practice also stars Michael Badalucco, Steve Harris, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Lara Flynn Boyle.

The next time you decide to spend the night at one of those locally owned motels situated suspiciously in the middle of nowhere, be sure to check your room for the following items: poisonous snakes, flesh-eating rats, and an elaborate tunnel system created by the psychotic old lady who runs the joint. If your room contains one or more of the aforementioned items, run frantically through the surrounding woods until you stumble across someone who can help you locate the nearest redneck township. Heed my words, weary travelers!

The obscure 1986 genre travelogue Mountaintop Motel Massacre is yet another putrid blemish on the mom & pop lodging industry, portraying these unfortunate business people as impossibly disturbed individuals with an insatiable lust for murder, madness, and mayhem. Using Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Psycho as a guideline, director Jim McCullough spreads his own unique hillbilly butter all over this painfully familiar slice of generic white bread. It's not the finest slab of cinema you'll ever pay money to witness, mind you, but it does manage to provide a rainy evening's worth of entertainment if you can overlook a set of wonky hand-crafted flaws.

After accidentally filleting her daughter for stupidly experimenting with the dark arts, Mountaintop Motel manager Evelyn Chambers slowly begins to lose what's left of her deranged little mind. To help soothe the voices rattling around inside her skull, she torments the paying customers with a nasty selection of bugs, critters, and reptiles. These diabolical activities soon become an insufferable bore, forcing this grandmotherly nut job to exponentially increase her psychotic tendencies. Using a dusty series of underground passages to accomplish her lofty goals, Evelyn effectively slices and dices her way through the odd collection of guests who have made the questionable decision to spend the night at the motel. Can they band together and stop this crazy old woman before she kills again?

Drenched in eerie atmosphere and scored with the noise scooped directly from a schizophrenic musician's nonsensical nightmare, Mountaintop Motel Massacre is a lot more interesting than it has any right to be. What passes for a story is basically an inbred redneck redux of Psycho, with a demented old lady in place of the immortal Anthony Perkins. Though the groundwork itself may seem very familiar to those who spend way too much time indoors, McCullough's execution of the material couldn't be more different. If you enjoy watching elderly people stumbling through narrow passageways, this flick was tailor-made just for you. Congratulations, loser!

Since this film was released by the notoriously bland New World Pictures, one shouldn't expect earth-shattering performances from its cast of pasty white unknowns. Anna Chappel, Major Brock, and Bill Thurman are probably the best of the bunch, turning in respectable if somewhat limp performances in their respective roles. The rest of the cast, sadly, is either wooden, forgettable, or just plain awful. To be fair, this is a low-budget slasher from the 1980's — expecting anything more is just silly. You know better than that, boy.

A friendly word of advice to horror buffs searching for buckets of blood and guts: don't bother. The violence found scattered throughout Mountaintop Motel Massacre is decent, yes, but it's certainly not what you'd expect from this kind of brainless genre release. That said, some of the murders are surprisingly gruesome, powered by some competent special effects work from somebody named Drew Edward Hunter. Kudos to you, kind sir, for giving this otherwise mediocre flick a shred of valuable street cred.

Jim McCullough's Mountaintop Motel Massacre is an oddity, and it should be approached as such. Expecting anything else would be an exercise in serious delusion. However, if you're someone who appreciates bizarre horror flicks from an era that seems to have an endless supply of them, perhaps this obscure outing is worth a look-see when there's nothing else to do with your spare time. Keep your expectations as low to the ground as possible, prepare yourself for some slower moments, and keep an eye on your tattered bathroom rug.

Who knows what kind of elderly freaks are lurking just beneath your soiled linoleum?

It doesn’t matter, you see? Tony got whacked/Tony went on as before — it doesn’t matter. That’s not what The Sopranos was about. Ever.

David Chase has said time and time again that The Sopranos is about family. Now you add that to the recurring theme of the show — criminal-level self-delusion — and you have your answer. It doesn’t matter.

The ultimate scene of the entire series actually happened the week before in Dr. Mefli’s office. She finally realizes what an abyss Tony is, that she has made no progress, that she has been used in the service of Tony’s dysfunction. She kicks Tony out acknowledging her failure, he turns to her declaring, without a hint of irony, that what she is doing is “immoral.” (Note how he instinctively starts the charade again with A.J.’s therapist.)

Tony is hopeless. Whether it was referring to himself as a “soldier” or a “captain of industry” he could always build a fortress of justification around himself. But what about the family? Carmella, whose conscience once tortured her and sent her to therapy and to her priest desperate for redemption doesn’t even think about it anymore; she just focuses on her real estate career. A.J., who for a brief moment seemed to gather up the courage to act in some way, is bought off with a BMW and two-bit job in the film business. Meadow is headed for a career in civil rights law, convinced that the horrendous criminality all around her is really just a reflection of society’s prejudices.

Their apparent happiness is just more self-delusion. Tony’s criminality and the need to live with it everyday has claimed its ultimate victims, the ones he most wanted to save. Whoever came through Holsten’s door didn’t matter. As Carmella from Season One might have said, they are all going to Hell. The moment of potential salvation is gone. One minute everything is fine, but once the moment for salvation is past, there is nothing but blackness. As Bobby Baccala says, “When it comes, you don’t even hear it.”

Three more things:

First, this marks the end of the Mafia as an American movie paradigm. How can it not? Even if you’re another Scorsese or Coppola, there is no way you top The Sopranos with a two-hour film, even if you add in four hours of sequels. The genre is done. Everything that could have been said has been said. (Except for the inevitable "courageous" film about a pair of gay wiseguys.)

Second, Gandolfini has pulled off what is almost certainly the greatest extended acting tour de force in history. Not an episode went by where I was not amazed by the pitch perfect emotions, manners, and delivery. Even in the episodes when the script was weak, Gandolfini sold me. Just flawless. His performance should be watched closely by every student of acting from now on.

Lastly, on a personal level I am very sad to have seen the last of these characters we shared for the last eight years, but all good things… And of course, I am already totally intrigued by John from Cincinnati. If anyone can top David Chase, it’s David Milch.

Written by Fumo Verde

What is globalization? We have all heard it mentioned in media sound bites, but do we really know what it’s all about? Joseph Stiglitz does and he’s here to explain it in 380 minutes across two DVDs. Stiglitz, who was Chairman of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, and winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics explains to us what the visions of globalization looked like and how it has measured up to those who had envisioned it from conception. This is a crash course in World Economics with a professor who has taught at the universities, such as Columbia, Oxford, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about a final exam.

Stiglitz discusses the subject of globalization in a way even a clownshoe such as myself could understand. For those of us who hate math and recoil at the thought of economics, this DVD makes it palatable. Stiglitz isn’t an actor so don’t get ready for a charismatically charged discussion. I have to be honest and admit I fell asleep five times while watching it. This was like sitting in traffic court; if you can pay attention, you can actually learn something. What is being said in this two-disc set is the truth about globalization from one of its architects, and unfortunately he’s not telling us everything is coming up roses.

So why did globalization fail, Mr. Stiglitz? There were many reasons, two of which stuck with me. These were in the areas of subsidies and trade barriers or tariffs. The IMF and the World Bank come to developing countries and offer them loans for different reasons depending on each country’s problems. If that country accepts the loan, it has to follow certain rules, such as to cease subsidizing its agricultural industry. This happened to most of the underdeveloped countries and is still happening today.

Seventy percent of the people from those countries depend on agriculture for their survival. Once the subsidies stop, the farmers can only depend on what they can get out of the land. That’s when the trade barriers and tariffs for that country must be removed, another rule to follow if the country wants the loan. As the trade barriers come tumbling down, in come the industrialized nations to “invest.” The farmers have to sell their corn for a certain amount, 50 cents a pound. When the investing nation comes in, it doesn’t have to deal with regulations, so it can sell its corn for 10 cents a pound.

If the main idea of globalization was to make the world richer by bringing the third world into the first, undercutting them at the dinner table isn’t going to do it. The example above isn’t one I made up; it was how Stiglitz told it because that is the way it happened. Investors are making money and the first-world nations are seeing better economies, but making someone less off to better myself leaves me with an even more bitter taste in my mouth about world politics and the banks that finance them than I already had.

The section on “Global Financial Institutions” was revealing. If Wall Street wants to invest in a developing country and it has its eye on a candidate that will enact laws and regulations, which would benefit Wall Street, they will blackmail, by way of pulling out investments, the country into electing the person they want. If their candidate doesn’t win, the investment money dries up. An investment firm certainly has the right to put its money where it wants to, but to interfere with the democratic process of another country should be beyond a company’s limits, and Stiglitz lets you know why.

If you want to understand what may happen in the next decade, Where is the World Going, Mr. Stiglitz? will help open your eyes and mind to what is really happening out there. From budget deficits to immigration woes, these discs cover the monetary ups and downs that have and may still occur in the not-so-far future. The information is awesome, sometimes overwhelming, but it is understandable. I wish the people who put this together with Mr. Stiglitz would put in some eye candy, pictures or scenes of other parts of the world, just to keep me awake. I understand the seriousness of the discussion, but if you are going to watch this, do it in segments and leave the herb alone. If you are looking for entertainment, this isn’t it.

We all keep saying politicians never answer the big questions, that’s because we as the people don’t ask those questions. This DVD set will get you motivated to ask those questions and it will give questions for you to ask. Stiglitz doesn’t have all the answers and he doesn’t imply it either, but he does cut through what we have all heard and gives honest assessments from what has happened, what is happening now, and what might happen if we don’t work out this ever-growing problem of a shrinking world. Globalization was supposed to help us all and it hasn’t.

Welcome Back, Kotter, arguably the defining sitcom of the mid- to late-1970s, starred popular stand-up comedian Gabe Kaplan as a teacher who returns to a tough Brooklyn high school to teach a class of delinquent remedial students. Kotter, it turns out, belonged to that class back in the day, and was part of the gang who gave it the deathless "sweathogs" nickname. After some initial reluctance, he wins over the class and becomes a friend and mentor to the students.

Specifically, Kotter becomes a friend and mentor to four students: Barbarino, Epstein, Washington, and the immortal Horshack, who inspired Skippy, Urkel, and several generations of sitcom nerds. Vinnie Barbarino was played by some guy named Travolta, and I find myself wondering whether he ever lived up to his potential. The four primary sweathogs were all great (who can forget Epstein's excuse notes from home?) but I wish they would have done something with the other students, who fade into the background in every episode.

Welcome Back, Kotter is probably most fondly remembered for the corny jokes with which Kotter tortured his wife (the adorable, and sadly underused, Marcia Strassman) at the beginning of each episode, and the stories about his fictional relatives with which he tortures her at the end. In contrast with another '70s show I reviewed the other day, The Ghost Busters, the moldy gags in Kotter were funny because the title character thought they were funny, not because they were amusing in themselves. Kaplan was no great actor, but he looked like he was enjoying himself.

So, the show was pretty good. Unfortunately, the first-season DVD set is a bit light on special features – pre-production screen tests, and a twenty-minute "making-of" documentary hosted by Strassman (who has aged very well) and featuring most of the non-Travolta cast members (who have not aged very well). But there are no audio commentaries, deleted scenes, vintage ads or outtakes. I even wish they'd included a feature about John Sebastian's classic theme song, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976.

Am I being a little picky, in demanding more special features? As Barbarino would have said, "get off my case, toilet face."