GLENN TILBROOK: ONE FOR THE ROAD

2005, Unrated

Glenn Tilbrook: One for the Road documents the Squeeze frontman's efforts to make his way across the States in an RV. It was an intimate run of shows in bars and unconventional spots featuring just Tilbrook, his guitars and a back catalogue of songs that formed the soundtrack for a generation back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While producer/ director Amy Pickard, a Dayton, Ohio, native who once hosted a cable access show, lacks the chops of a serious documentarian, her subject ably redeems most of the technical miscues and narrative lapses with stunningly enthusiastic renditions of favorites like "Goodbye Girl," "Black Coffee in Bed" and "Tempted." Tilbrook travels with one eye on the road and a heart big enough for the music and the devoted fans he encounters at every step along the way. The bonus interview with Squeeze co-founder and lyricist Chris Difford openly addresses the pair's emotional wounds despite Pickard's occasional attempts to stitch them up and stage the band's reunion tour. This separate Road for Tilbrook and his fans is sweet enough. (tt clinkscales) Grade: A

THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY

THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY (SHOUT! FACTORY)

1971-85, Not Rated

One show that runs counter to the criticism over children's television is The Electric Company, the less famous offshoot of its Children's Television Workshop peer, Sesame Street, but a show that's every bit as beloved. Premiering in 1971, one year after Sesame Street's debut, The Electric Company ran for six years, offering sassy, street-smart, slang-friendly, pro-reading skits featuring Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno and the show's shining star, Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader. Jim Henson's popular Muppets stayed away from The Electric Company, and they were not missed. In their place were songs, comedy routines, animation and a team of energetic youngsters, all dedicated to improving literacy in the coolest way possible. Four discs bring back 20 episodes, spanning from the debut show to the final broadcast. While in-sync with its '70s backdrop, The Electric Company still feels fresh and vibrant today. There is talk of PBS bringing the show back, and this set confirms the intelligence behind the discussion. A family series as artistic, inspirational and educational as The Electric Company deserves lightning to strike twice. (Steve Ramos) Grade: A

A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MAN

A SLIGHTLY PREGNANT MAN (KOCH LORBER)

1977, PG

A slight premise becomes a mildly entertaining diversion in the hands of French director Jacques Demy and his two leading actors, Marcello Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve. A Slightly Pregnant Man winks at its audience as Marco (Mastroianni) and Irene (Deneuve) enjoy a thoroughly modern life (in 1973) as an unmarried working couple raising a son together. When Marco discovers his unusual situation, he and Irene find themselves at the forefront of social and cultural upheaval as roles shift and blur in the face of this changing dynamic. Through a canny use of farce, Demy holds a mirror up to society, but never bludgeons viewers with the humor or the message. In the hands of one of today's genial hacks, A Slightly Pregnant Man would pointlessly feature an over-the-top performance by a rubber-limbed funnyman under layers of latex. To be fair, the micro-budget indie version would be overly burdened by a matrix of gender and sexual orientation fixations in search of a grand prize. Demy offers a slightly better return on the creative investment here. (ttc) Grade: C+

MAKING LOVE

MAKING LOVE (20TH CENTURY FOX)

1982, Rated R

The first metrosexual to appear on-screen goes back some 23 years before the creation of the term to veteran director Arthur Hiller's couple-in-crisis drama, Making Love. Zack (Michael Ontkean), a successful doctor and sensitive husband to his wife Claire (Kate Jackson), wears neatly pressed khakis and a sweater vest (fashionable at the time), drives a vintage MG and listens to Gilbert & Sullivan records. Claire is betrayed after Zach falls for Bart (Harry Hamlin), a writer, but screenwriter Barry Sandler makes his fling feel inevitable. The unbelievable surprise is that Claire, a TV producer, didn't catch on to her husband's infidelity earlier. Making Love was billed as a "love story for the '80s" and stood out as one of the rare studio dramas willing to tell gay love stories. Its DVD release is well timed to the current acclaim over Ang Lee's gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain. But Making Love is one DVD release that would have benefited from bonus commentary. The fashions have changed, and Hamlin no longer possesses his boyish looks. What's worth debating is whether Hollywood's treatment of gay love has progressed in the two decades since the release of Making Love. (SR) Grade: C

THUMBSUCKER

THUMBSUCKER (SONY PICTURES)

2005, Rated R

THE END OF AUGUST AT HOTEL OZONE

Seventeen-year-old Justin Cobb (Lou Pucci) still sucks his thumb. He also has trouble concentrating, stumbling through his days in a haze of anxiety and sexual frustration. His parents, Audrey (Tilda Swinton) and Mike (Vincent D'Onofrio), want to help, but they're just as emotionally stunted as their sensitive son. Thumbsucker, based on Walter Kirn's novel and lovingly brought to the screen by graphic artist-turned writer/director Mike Mills, explores broad themes -- family, community, school, sex, prescription drugs -- yet never ceases to be a uniquely specific story, one Mills imbues with his light yet incisive touch. His main weapon is Pucci, a young actor with rare vulnerability and a keen physical presence; his scenes with school crush Rebecca (Kelli Garner) burn with awkward longing. In Mills' earnest and oddly intimate DVD audio commentary track, he often mentions that Pucci was going through the same issues as his character during filming, making Thumbsucker more than just a richly textured coming-of-age melodrama -- it's also a document of an actor's growth as both a person and an artist. That goes for Mills, too. (Jason Gargano) Grade: B+

THE END OF AUGUST AT HOTEL OZONE (FACETS)

1967, Not Rated

The end of the world has rarely looked as bleak as in The End of August at Hotel Ozone by Czech New Wave filmmaker Pavel Juracek. Today, the science fiction genre struggles for legitimacy in the film industry, even going so far as to adopt the label "speculative" fiction to distance itself from stories bogged down in techno-babble and geek fantasies. But Hotel Ozone dispenses with expensive production values and elaborate alien nations, focusing instead on a small band of women wandering a post-nuclear landscape in search of men to help repopulate the planet. Juracek uses minimalist cinematography captured in black and white to reduce the story to its primal roots. It would be easy to compare Hotel Ozone to Mad Max, but, oddly enough, it feels more like the day-to-day existence hinted at in The Terminator future world minus the man-hunting machines. The End of August at Hotel Ozone is more chilling than the hard science fictions we accept because it speculates that, in the end, man is nothing more than a freak of nature. (ttc) Grade: A