DVD, Blu-ray and TV

Various Artists

Mega-rock festival staged in Toronto in July 2003, where a bizarre line-up included The Isley Brothers, AC/DC, Justin Timberlake and The Rolling Stones. A voiceover drones on about how Toronto needed a "big idea" to restore its confidence after the city's SARS crisis, but this event is pretty average, and Timberlake's duet with Jagger on "Miss You" is, weirdly, the highlight.

Fear X

The ingredients are there: Nicolas Winding Refn (Pusher) directs John Turturro and James Remar in a (minimal) script by the late Hubert Selby Jr, with Eno scoring. Yet somehow this just doesn't gel as it wades through its slow pretensions. Turturro's a recently widowed security guard, obsessive over photos and CCTV as he seeks his wife's killer. Intelligent, but rather drab.

Train Of Thought

Wong Kar-Wai's quirky, impressionistic Hong Kong masterpiece reissued

Peggy Lee

This frustrating compilation trawls the archives from the early '40s to the late '80s to assemble 20 of the divine Miss Lee's greatest film and TV performances. While some clips are understandably washed-out, Lee's wide-ranging voice is black-coffee-and-honey throughout. What lets the set down is the decision to cut gushing tributes from celebrity fans into the performances. That aside, fine stuff.

Basque Ball

The issue of Basque separatism simmers unresolved in Spain, where Julio Medem's documentary has aroused controversy for its alleged one-sidedness. The director's technique is unsubtle. He's rounded up countless talking heads, sat them in chairs in front of attractive Basque scenery, and got them to talk to camera about the complicated political, historical and social issues involved. The result is somewhat tedious and confusing.

Pépé Le Moko

A landmark in the development of the doomed anti-hero, Julien Duvivier's timeless 1936 proto-noir made an icon of Jean Gabin, playing Pépé, the legendary French gangster exiled to the baroque, shadow-strewn purgatory of the Algerian casbah. Falling for a female tourist, he decides the time's come to break for home, but the cops are waiting. Still surprising, tough and casual, it sashays the line between cynicism and romance like few others.

Billy Childish

Childish may well be a "genius" (just ask Jack White), but this DVD doesn't really do the Bard Of Chatham justice since it contains just two old gigs filmed on video. Admittedly, Thee Milkshakes twang up an impressive storm in 1984, but watching Thee Headcoats rock a crowd of about 10 in 1989 is much less gripping, even with cameos from Holly Golightly's Headcoatees. Shame.

Naked Lunch

William Burroughs' novel was long considered to be unfilmable, a theory that David Cronenberg proved with this '91 adaptation. Riffing through the book, sampling scenes from the author's life, with a generous helping of sci-fi horror and psycho-sexual neurosis, Naked Lunch plunges Peter Weller and Judy Davis into a beatnik junkie netherworld. Flawed Kafka on ketamine and arguably Cronenberg's most ambitious work to date.

XX – XY

Excellent, thought-provoking love triangle drama, with Mark Ruffalo for once living up to his overcooked reputation. He's entwined in a threesome at college, but years down the line all the participants have evolved... except him. About to marry, he craves a rekindling of the flame. Not wise. Writer/director Austin Chick keeps it sparky and twisting like a fish, always a jump ahead of you.

Cher

A video compilation that's light on the '60s stuff but heavy on her years dressed as a member of Mötley Crüe: "If I Could Turn Back Time" is particularly fine. "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" guest stars the young Winona Ryder (it was from 1990's Mermaids), "Love Can Build A Bridge" ropes in Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton, and "Believe" is that irritating gay anthem with the Vocoder hook.
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