If you're a fan of Japanese anime, you may want to clear your calendar next week. The live-action anime film "Death Note" is getting a special two-night debut on May 20 & May 21st in more than 300 theaters across the country.

Read more about it after the jump.

Based on the supernatural anime tv show and manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, it focuses on Light Yagami, a student who finds the Death Note. The Death Note is a notebook dropped by a rogue Shinigami death god. Any human whose name is written in the notebook dies and now Light has decided to use the power of the Death Note to rid the world of evil.

Got all that?

Besides the picture, the audience will get to see a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the movie and interviewers with the castmembers. These special theatrical events are becoming a specialty of National CineMedia’s (NCM) Fathom and VIZ Pictures, giving fans a chance to see import productions in a format other than DVD and also bringing back cult favorites such as "First Blood" back to theaters. And believe me, anime is a completely different experience when you see it in a theater with top-notch sound.

Click Here to find out if "Death Note" is playing in your area.

Everyone will be KUNG FU FIGHTING this Summer when "Kung Fu Panda" - with voice work by Jack Black and Angelina Jolie -- comes to theaters on June 6th!

Check out the trailer!

Looks like Mr. Michael Moore is going to follow up his indictment of the U.S. health care system "Sicko" with a follow-up to 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

That film, a scathing critique of the Bush Administration, is the only documentary to ever earn more than $100 million at the box office. Moore's new project plans to examine America's standing in the world nearly seven years after Sept. 11., and with President Bush winding down his second and final term in the Oval Office.

According to Nick Meyer, president of Paramount Vantage, which is co-financing the pic with Overture Films, the film will not be about bashing anyone in particular. But does anyone really believe Michael Moore -- the guy behind "Roger and Me" and "Bowling For Columbine" -- will do a movie about the Iraq War and NOT take shots at the current Administration?

Expect the sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11" in spring 2009, just after President Bush leaves office. Paramount Vantage and Overture will be marketing the movie to international buyers at Cannes this week.

In case you didn't get to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" or if you just need a little reminder as to the kind of documentary it is, here are some clips!

I had some spare time this week, so I took the opportunity to go downtown to my favorite New York City cinema: Film Forum. There is always something screening there that I want to see…either a documentary that I missed, or a new obscure work of art from an independent filmmaker and they often have great retrospectives.

This time, I went to catch a couple of Jean-Luc Godard’s works from the early 60s.

First was “Vivre Sa Vie” from 1962, which you can catch May 30th for a week. This stars Godard’s muse and wife Anna Karina as a record store clerk who descends into prostitution.
Then I saw “Une Femme Est Une Femme” (1961) also with Karina. Godard was one of the fathers of the french “Nouvelle Vague”…and it’s easy to understand how shocking and new his work must have seemed back in the sixties. To us in the year 2008…jump cuts, flashes forward and back, ellipses, voice over and words written on screen don’t seem very revolutionary. But it’s immensely enjoyable to watch Godard’s work and see the modern day filmmakers he has obviously inspired and influenced.

Would we ever have had “pulp fiction” without Godard? Surely Uma Thurman’s black bob owes a debt to Karina’s hair in “Vivre Sa Vie.” And when you watch the divinely sexy Karina dance around a pool table in a white shirt… again, I think of Thurman at Jack Rabbit Slims.

Sometimes I wish I could enjoy Godard’s work without being reminded of Tarantino!! But anyway you watch…Godard (who is still alive and working,) it is a must-see.

If you're one of those on the fence about seeing "Speed Racer" when it debuts in theaters this weekend, here's something that might help you make up your mind: the first seven minutes of the movie are now up on Yahoo!

Check it out below. You can hear what Jeffrey/Alison think of the movie, and check out Jeffrey's interview with Emile Hirsch , this weekend on RT.

Caught an early screening of "Noise" last night -- Tim Robbins' new film. It surprised me with its storyline and unpredictable arc. Henry Bean wrote and directed it, he did the forceful "The Believer" a few years back.

Basically, it's about a man who rebels against all the street noise of NYC and becomes a crusader for a quieter city. William Hurt costars as a pompous mayor with a bad dye job.

As someone who lives on a very loud block -- with a very low tolerance for car alarms and sirens and beeping trucks, I related to Robbins' character enormously. (Although I deny ever taking a hammer to a windshield.)

But what I most liked about the film was its originality. I really had no idea where the character or the plot were heading. And today, when films such as the formulaic "Made of Honor" are churned out and sold to us as escapist fantasy that's a real treat!

Jeffrey and I will review this film in detail next week on Reel Talk.

Jon Favreau, director of this weekend's big new movie "Iron Man" (and a knowledgeable comics fan himself), dropped by this week and talked to Jeffrey about tons of things, including how he juggled the film's incredible special effects and the quieter, character moments that really make the film stand out from most summer extravaganzas. Take our word for it, "Iron Man" will be HUGE and deservedly so. Take a listen this part of the interview, and remember to check out more of their conversation this weekend on RT.

Adaptations of comics, sorry, graphic novels, have never really been my thing. But I saw Robert Downey Jr. As “Iron Man” last week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was great in fact. But there are four other superhero films to come this season, which comes close to overload for me. After giving it some thought, I realized that I am looking forward to the summer’s superhero movies in the following order... check them out after the jump.

1. “The Dark Knight”
2. “Hancock”
3. “Hellboy 2”
4. “The Incredible Hulk”

What it comes down to, I’ve realized, for me, as a woman, is the aesthetic appeal of the outfit. I just can’t get excited about a large, green, sinewy, bulging, steroided-out, hair-on-his-back muscle freak. I’m equally not into a sunburned chump with two Oscar Meyer bologna packs on his forehead. (Although “Hellboy” gets points for its director, Guillermo del Toro.) Give me Will Smith whatever he’s wearing, or a sleek, rippling Batsuit -- even if it does have pointy ears and a cape.

Come to think of it, Spiderman and Superman look pretty darn good in those tights too. Maybe the success of a superhero franchise depends on the coolness of the costume? If that’s the case though. Shouldn’t “Catwoman” have been a huge hit?

We’re at a great time of the year vis a vi movies. The horses are approaching the starting gate, so to speak, and all the big summer blockbusters will soon open, week after week after week, all the way through to September.

Unlike the December movie avalanche, when studios' "quality" films arrive, looking for Oscars -- this is the time the big studios roll out their blockbusters. Most won't win nominations beyond technical achievements. But they sure will attract millions.

First up, of course, are movies like "Iron Man," "Speed Racer" and "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." Even bigger is likely to be "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." The movie version of "Sex and the City" will surely appeal to a different audience but for a romantic comedy sort of film, with no special effects, it's likely to be a blockbuster as well.

"The Incredible Hulk," "Get Smart" (taken from the TV comedy co-created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry) "The Love Guru" with Mike Myers, and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" with Adam Sandler will be among June's biggest opening.

The Fourth of July falls on a Friday this year; perfect for a huge weekend at the movies. The month will bring, among others, "Hancock" with Will Smith, who only makes big movies, Heath Ledger and Christian Bale in "The Dark Knight," and another "X Files" movie subtitled: "I Want to Believe."

August brings another "Mummy" movie and a Seth Rogen comedy called "Pineapple Express". Those are just a few of the many movies we'll be covering in "REEL TALK." Let the movie avalanche begin!

The documentary “A Powerful Noise” by Tom Cappello had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. It follows three women in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mali and Vietnam as they try to effect change in their communities.

In Vietnam, Bui My Hanh founds a support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. She herself is HIV positive and has lost a husband and young daughter to the disease. When she plans a lecture at a coal mine she is turned down at the last minute. In the aftermath of war, Nada Markovic tries to unite Bosnian and Serb women through agricultural cooperatives and Madame Urbain Dembele preaches the importance of education for girls in her African country.

The film moves easily between each story, letting the quiet power of these women speak for itself. They confront years of cultural and traditional opposition in their painstaking battles, yet represent the future of their countries. It’s a somber, but inspirational first film.

Anyone remember "Midnight Run", the insanely funny Robert De Niro & Charles Grodin chase movie from 1988? This was the film that showed everyone De Niro could actually pull off a comedy. One of the many memorable characters in that film was the no-nonsense FBI agent chasing 'the Duke,' a witness on the run (Grodin) and the bounty hunter who had him (De Niro). The agent's name was Alonzo Mosely, and he was played by Yaphet Kotto.

It turns out Kotto plays another G-Man with no sense of humor named Alonzo Mosely in Lionsgate's recent dud "Witless Protection" starring Larry the Cable Guy. Clever in-joke, right? Well, Universal -- which like REEL TALK is part of NBC Universal -- has filed a lawsuit against Lionsgate claiming character theft, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Universal wants all copies of the "Witless Protection" DVD as well as all profits, which probably isn't much since the film tanked at the box office. According to THR's legal blogger, Lionsgate may claim fair use, since their movie is clearly a parody, whereas "Midnight Run" was a comedy -- and a MUCH BETTER MOVIE. Do yourself a favor and go rent it, it's a classic.

Two films open this weekend about women who are trying to conceive. The first, “Baby Mama,” is probably the one you’ve heard most about. The ads are everywhere and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are all over the place promoting it. The other is “And Then She Found Me” starring and directed by Helen Hunt -- a much smaller project. Both Fey and Hunt play women who are in their late thirties, struggling to get pregnant.

We are supposed to believe Fey’s character is a woman who has put her career first and is now being punished by having a defective uterus. She contemplates adoption but as she is single, she finds this is not a viable option. So she hires a surrogate to carry her inseminated eggs for her. That’s Amy Poehler’s character, a slobby, unsophisticated slacker. The two women are thrust together and the comedy ensues.

Hunt is a teacher who has just been left by her husband. She is loath to adopt, as she herself was adopted and has mixed feelings about it.

While neither film is hilarious -- “Baby Mama” is the more overtly funny. It’s also much more like an extended sitcom. Both films have exactly the same plot twist, but one plays out to a tragic conclusion. I didn’t love “And Then She Found Me,” it was a weird blend of over-the-top comedy and depressing drama, but it did feel much more real. “Baby Mama” reminded me of 1970’s “The Babymaker” starring a very young and beautiful Barbara Hershey. She plays a Dylan-loving, free spirit who is hired by an uptight couple to bear their child. It may be a bit dated, but that’s the film about baby-making I would recommend this week!

Helen Hunt is not lacking for awards. She's won four Emmys, a Golden Globe, a Blockbuster, even a Gracie Award in her career. Oh, yeah, almost forgot about that little Academy Award she won for lead actress in "As Good As It Gets."

During a recent visit to our studios to discuss her new movie "Then She Found Me" -- she stars, directs and co-wrote the script -- hunt told Jeffrey where she keeps her Oscar...

You can watch more of the interview this weekend on REEL TALK.

I caught an early screening of “Iron Man” last night and came away thrilled and excited about the franchise. I’m already looking forward to the next installment.

Chief among the pluses is Robert Downey Jr. Who is just excellent in this role. He plays a cocky, arrogant, wildly irresponsible weapons manufacturer who kids himself that his arms are helping the good guys win wars. After three months in captivity, tortured by Islamic fundamentalists (I assume, the film is carefully apolitical) he finds a conscience and builds the ultimate weapon: an indestructible suit that can fly, shoot rockets and throw fire that he will use to destroy all his weapons that have been sold into the wrong hands.

Downey is of course Hollywood’s ultimate reformed bad boy, so the character’s change of heart seems like a comfortable fit. He is also wildly sexy as Tony Stark -- all ripped muscle and big doe eyes. It’s no wonder that Pepper Potts flirts with abandon. She’s played by a red-headed Gwyneth Paltrow who has never seemed so soft and sensual.

There’s not really a lot of that stupid humor in “Iron Man,” no silly one-liners and throw-away gags that so often pop up in comic book adaptations. It really seems to be playing to a grown-up audience.

The suits (for there are several different incarnations) look great. My only beef was that the ultimate battle between Iron Man and his enemy smacks of “Transformers” a bit. But that’s a small quibble. Jeff Bridges (looking like Governor Jesse Ventura) makes a great villain but it is Downey’s film and he totally rocks it! Hats off to director Jon Favreau.

Wednesday night, Reel Talk celebrated with all of Manhattan the opening night premiere of “Baby Mama.” This much anticipated comedy, starring Amy Poehler and Tina Fey was the kickoff event for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.

Plenty of celebrities graced Tribeca’s bright pink catwalk – including festival founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, Jane Curtis, Christine Lahti, Danica Patrick and more! Catch a raw glimpse of action, including Holland Taylor’s message on her own bouts about becoming a 'baby mama' and Tina Fey’s height issue with co-star Amy Poehler, after the jump!

Watching “Deception” the other night, I realized that so many films these days couldn’t exist without the technology of cell phones. Obviously they are a part of life, but when the plot hinges on phone calls, it becomes rather tiresome.

In “Deception” Ewan McGregor’s phone is secretly switched for Hugh Jackman’s. He then becomes party to a secret ‘list’ of callers who arrange to meet for anonymous sex. The plot quickly becomes preposterous, involving murder and blackmail yet McGregor’s character never thinks to go to the police with his phone to trace the culprit.

“One Missed Call” was a horror film about ‘haunted’ cell phones, which would mysteriously ring and herald the owner’s own horrific death. Nicely spoofed in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” this type of ‘technology-metaphor’ had previously been exploited in “The Ring,” where VHS tapes were used much more effectively.

By far the worst offender is “88 Minutes”, where Al Pacino might as well have had a phone surgically attached to his ear. But that might have ruined his hair style I suppose. In this laughably bad ‘thriller’ Pacino answers the phone at every turn of the plot. He even manages to survive most of the film using someone’s else’s phone, yet never seems to struggle to find the right number or find the correct function key. And no one ever called looking for the actual owner of the phone! Even at the climactic scene, with a person’s life in the balance, he stops to make a call.

When phones are so present in films, I always find myself wondering whether the actor is actually talking to someone at the other end of the line, perhaps the first A.D. feeding him dialogue? Or whether they are truly acting, having a one-way conversation. Either way, I’m distracted from the story and it often seems like a lazy way to further the plot.

In just three years, the NY Comic Con has become a major player in the Pop Culture universe. Besides all the comic publishers, toy and video game makers who come to build buzz for their upcoming works, Hollywood's also making the Con a mandatory stop on their movie publicity tour. Saturday, Lionsgate had a crazy-packed panel at the Javits Center with "The Spirit" director/writer Frank Miller and co-star Eva Mendes. The big news: they unveiled the first trailer for the eagerly-anticipated adaptation of Will Eisner's classic strip, due out in 2009.

Click here to view "The Spirit" teaser trailer here.

The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off next week, and I just watched one of the documentaries that will be showcased. It’s called “Man On Wire” and tells of the daring exploits of Philippe Petit, the funambulist who in 1974 walked on a cable strung between the two towers of the newly built World Trade Center.

Petit himself is on hand to tell the tale (which puts one’s mind at ease about the outcome of the feat) and he’s a seductive subject. His passion engulfed him for over six years and he planned the coup to the last detail. Over a ton of equipment had to be smuggled up to the roof of the still unfinished towers. Then a bow and arrow were used to shoot a thin fishing wire across, which in turn pulled string, then rope, then the thick heavy cable. Petit walked for 45 minutes, even lying down at one point. It’s all captured in photos, but with Michael Nyman’s score and masterful recreations by director James Marsh, I felt I had witnessed the whole thing.

What adds to it all, of course, is the fact that the World Trade Center is no longer there and the film is a loving memorial of those beautiful buildings. I had never seen some of the footage of the towers going up.

Seven years after 9/11, one wonders if an exploit of this nature could ever be pulled off again, with all the security that now exists. It was exhilarating to see a film that celebrates the towers and shows them so proud and tall.

One of the most polarizing films so far in 2008, J.J. Abrams' monster-piece "Cloverfield" lands on DVD Tuesday, April 22nd. Jeffrey & Alison tore the film up in their review about as bad as the monster in the movie ripped through Manhattan, but it did earn an impressive $80M at the box office. Did it deliver or was it just do to the brilliant marketing plan?

You decide. The DVD comes armed with the usual behind-the-scenes stuff, deleted scenes, etc. Here are a couple:

“Son of Rambow” is a bit like the British schoolboy version of “Be Kind, Rewind,” but a hell of a lot more funny and entertaining. Two young boys attempt to make their own Rambo film, using a huge video camera and the most basic of props. Eric Sykes, a British comedian from my childhood, makes a small cameo appearance, playing the Vietnam vet himself.

It’s all set in the early ‘80s, and the clips of “First Blood” that are shown seem wonderfully dated now. There’s a droll tone to the film and an underlying sadness as both boys are lacking fathers and struggling to fit in, a bus load of French exchange students show up and are the source of exotic fascination -- this film’s many details took me right back to my childhood in England. I had a great time at this movie!

Watch our review of 'Son of Rambow' May 3 on REEL TALK.

The Oscar-nominated "Persepolis" is being re-released in an English-language version this weekend in about 100 markets. The movie, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's animated adaptation of Satrapi's beloved graphic novel, is a recounting of Satrapi's life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

I know Sony Pictures Classics hopes to reach audiences who usually stay away from anything with subtitles, but a good movie is a good movie IN ANY LANGUAGE. I'm just not crazy about this move. But if it helps more people discover this fine gem, then I guess its OK.
Here's Jeffrey & Alison's review of the original subtitled version:

The Oscar-nominated "Persepolis" is being re-released in an English-language version this weekend in about 100 markets. The movie, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's animated adaptation of Satrapi's beloved graphic novel, is a recounting of Satrapi's life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution.

I know Sony Pictures Classics hopes to reach audiences who usually stay away from anything with subtitles, but a good movie is a good movie IN ANY LANGUAGE. I'm just not crazy about this move. But if it helps more people discover this fine gem, then I guess its OK.
Here's Jeffrey & Alison's review of the original subtitled version:

If you didn't see it in the theater, then you really owe it to yourself to get the dvd of "There Will Be Blood" which is in stores now. Daniel Day-Lewis gives a monumental performance as the maniacally corrupt oilman Daniel Plainview. Watch the film and you'll see why he was a no-brainer Best Actor Oscar winner for the part. He was so good he spawned a catchphrase from a movie with no special effects or pregnant teenagers.

And if you're wondering why the guy in the cubicle on your right has been shouting "I drink your milkshake!" to his fantasy baseball buddies on the phone the past few months, then check this clip from the movie out:

For my money, one of the funniest films of last year was "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." John C. Reilly is hysterical spoofing musical biopics like "Walk the Line" as he blended Johnny Cash sprinkled in with some Dylan and even some Glen Campbell. "Saturday Night Live" vet Tim Meadows has some great lines as Dewey's drugged-out bandmate but the real star -- besides Reilly -- is the soundtrack. The songs are hilarious, especially "Let's Duet" and "Let Me Hold You (Little Man)."

Check out some scenes from the dvd here:

There's a new movie in the works about Benito Mussolini costarring Giovanna Mezzogiorno. She'll portray Il Duce's mistress in "Vincere" dealing with an illegitimate child fathered by the Fascist dictator.

Ms. Mezzogiorno was recently in the endless, weepy melodrama "Love in the Time of Cholera," and here she portrays a beautician who was the future dictator's lover before he rose to power. The child, named Benito, was kept hidden away in asylums with his mother where they died before Mussolin's execution, along with his subsequent mistress in 1945.

“Vincere” looks to be a profound drama filling in some gaps in history and begins shooting next month in Venice and elsewhere in northern Italy for a modest $13 million.

Tom Cruise fans - those who still admit that fact - will have to wait a little longer to see the slumping superstar's next big project. It was announced Tuesday that Bryan Singer's WWII drama "Valkyrie" is being pushed back, from October 3rd until Feb. 13, 2009. Usually, this is a bad sign, and the fact that the film is now being removed from the eligibility period for Oscar consideration certainly reinforces that.

But Singer's a top-notch director and the story, based on a real-life plot to assassinate Hitler, sounds interesting enough. And the fact is, the Presidents Day weekend offers more box-office potential than October so maybe this turns out to be a brilliant move. Plus, it keeps Cruise out of the public eye awhile longer, which could help the general public forget the Scientology flag-waving guy and remember the actor who's made tons of great movies.

In the meantime, go see "Tropic Thunder" Aug. 15th to get your Cruise fix.

During my interview with George Clooney the other day on the set of REEL TALK, I asked him why a football movie is being released in April. After all, gridiron fans' off season is in full swing, and the only thing football in the news is the upcoming NFL draft and news from minicamps.

Watch the interview after the jump to see how he skillfully skirted the issue. It's possible that last minute rewrites--which caused Clooney to get into a dispute with the Writers' Guild and resulted in a refusal to give him a co-writing screen credit--may have delayed the release. Other factors may have come into play as well; distribution -- strategy to market the film overseas where, with the demise of NFL Europe, the game no longer has a presence on the other side of the Atlantic. They can play all the NFL games they want in London, but it just hasn't caught on there.

Alison made a good point in one of our many discussions in between taping REEL TALK; (hard to believe we don't just sit and tape the show nonstop). She remembered some baseball movie which opened in the winter and recalled how baseball nuts like me loved even a taste of the game when the real thing was dormant.

Bottom line -- if a film is good, it really shouldn't matter when it's released.

If you've checked the weekend box office receipts, you'll have noted that "Leatherheads" tanked in its first week, pulling in only about $13.5 million.

I think several factors were in play. First, it was a movie released in the football off-season. Baseball is back, and college basketball was careening towards the NCAA finals. Much of the target audience was probably watching those games or attending them.

There had been a publicized dispute between George Clooney and the Writers' Guild about giving him a credit for substantial rewrites he did, and that might've led to a postponement of the release of the film. But I'm still a bit shocked at the low receipts. I liked the film. So did my co-host Alison, much to my surprise. She liked it as a romantic comedy, while I liked its depiction of the early days of pro football.

I hope you'll support this film in its second week. You'll be entertained, even if it's in the off-season.

The Rolling Stones have been the subject of at least eight official documentaries (not counting bootlegs and recent concert films like 'Forty Licks' and 'The Bigger Bang'), including the newest, "Shine A Light" by director Martin Scorsese. Check out the RT review of their latest and then read more about the previous cinematic offerings after the jump.

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (1968): Word is director Jean-Luc Godard and Mick Jagger, already fine-tuning his micro-managing bandleader skills, clashed bigtime during the making of this movie. The film followed the creation and transformation of the title song -- one of rock's alltime best tunes -- mixed in with vignettes that didn't really work.. As a Stones buff, I loved seeing the band hard at work in the studio crafting what would be a classic song. But I think it’s a bit too ‘inside baseball’ for anyone but fanatics of the band. Guess that’s what happens when you pair up a pretentious French filmmaker with a British rock band.

GIMME SHELTER (1970)
I recently saw the Criterion Collection version of the Maysles brothers' doc and its lost none of its disturbing power 38 years later. The incident at the heart of this film -- the disastrous free concert the Stones put on at the Altamont Speedway -- has been indelibly marked as the symbolic end of the Flower Power 1960's. I'm not so sure it's anything more than one of the great rock and roll tragedies. A great band trying to make a historic statement with a huge free concert, but instead helplessly watches it all fall apart.
It's amazing how well-prepared Albert and David Maysles were. They had cameras in all the right places, and their cameramen (which included a young George Lucas) captured unbelievable footage like the film's signature moment, the stabbing death of a young black man named Meredith Hunter by one of the Hell's Angels. The moment in the film when Jagger asks to have the footage rewound in the editing room and we see the gun in Hunter's hand, is truly chilling.
We also see the Hell's Angels clubbing stagefront fans with pool cues, and then we hear the Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner announce on the mic to the crowd of 300,000 that they can't continue playing because one of the Hell's Angels had knocked Marty Balin unconscious.

Later you see Mick Jagger, looking and sounding, pleading for the crowd to 'sit down.’ Who's ever attended a concert where the lead singer begs the crowd to sit down????

It occurred to me as I was watching "Gimme Shelter" that the creation of those imposing 15-foot-high stages that are now standard at every stadium rock concert can probably be traced back to Altamont. Check out the lack of security and the stage -- it's barely three feet off the ground!

The Maysles brothers don't set out to provide answers here. That may bother people. But the images they captured and the 'present-day' storytelling method they use is far more effective than a string of talking heads analyzing and deconstructing Altamont in hindsight.

"Gimme Shelter" is more than just a brilliant documentary. It's a video journal of a seminal moment in pop culture history.

THE ROLLING STONES: ROCK AND ROLL CIRCUS (1968):
A dated piece of 60’s rock memorabilia and a timeless pop culture oddity at the same time, this project sat on the shelf, unreleased, for nearly 30 years before the Stones allowed it to be released. Longstanding rumors suggest Jagger and the boys prevented its release because they felt The Who had outperformed them during the taping.

Originally taped for a TV special, this ‘under the big top’ carnival-type production featured an incredible lineup: The Who, John Lennon in a jam band with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and Yoko Ono, Jethro Tull (with a pre-Black Sabbath Tony Iommi on guitar!), Marianne Faithful and Taj Mahal.

I don’t think there’s a single sober person to be found anywhere. It’s one big acid trip. And the jam onstage between Lennon, Clapton and Richards was one of those great rock moments – a truly historic, one-of-a-kind onstage gathering – until Yoko got onstage and started screeching incoherently.

Taj Mahal, one of the forgotten hitmakers of the late 1960s, absolutely rocked the big top with “Aint That A Lot of Love.”

The Rolling Stones had nothing to worry about. Yes, The Who put on a customarily brilliant and bombastic effort, ripping through “A Quick One While He’s Away." But the Stones nailed their show-closing set, which featured nuggets like “Salt of the Earth” and the best live performance of “Sympathy for the Devil” I have ever heard.

That’s worth the price of the dvd itself, but so is the interview with Who founder Pete Townsend in the ‘special features’ section. He talks in detail how ‘Rock and Roll Circus’ was a plan by Jagger, Townsend and the late Ronnie Lane to have a perpetual rock tour featuring the Stones, The Who and the Small Faces (Lane’s band with Rod Stewart) that would tour by train across America. Once it was deemed logistically impossible, Jagger reformatted it for a TV special.

Anyone who likes the Stones and the rock music era of the late 60s should check this out. Also, the film transfer on the dvd is sharp and the sound is better than you would expect from a 40-year-old film. The film also captures Brian Jones' final performance with the band before his tragic death.

C********ER BLUES (1972):
Robert Frank’s controversial backstage look at the debauched lifestyle of the Stones on the road during the early 70's has never been officially released (the profane title probably wouldn't have helped the marketing anyway). That’s probably because as the band got older, the horndogging, drug-abusing, groupie-sharing antics depicted here are an embarrassment. Especially the scene where Keith Richards is getting shot up full of heroin by a groupie.
Still, this has been a staple on the bootleg circuit for years, so if you scour eBay I’m sure you’ll find a decent copy. Funny part is, most of the stuff in the film is rather tame by today’s modern movie standards. This one's best left for the Stones completists who still listen to "Exile on Main Street" every day.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE ROLLING STONES (1974):
The band’s 1972 tour is the subject of this concert film, which has been out of circulation for nearly three decades. I’ve never seen it but a couple Stones diehards that I know say it’s a must-see. Not surprising, since the band was at its peak artistically around this time. I wish someone would convince Mick to finally put this sucker out on DVD. Until then, you can find clips all over YouTube.

LET’S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER (1982):
I love this film because not only is it the first Stones concert film I ever saw, it also documents the time when I first discovered the band – as an 11-year-old when ‘Tattoo You’ was a mainstay on FM Radio. My mom was a child of the 60s who loved the Stones and after I heard ‘Start Me Up’ for the first time, I started digging through her old RS albums (yes, even “Emotional Rescue”) and was blown away.
By this point in their career, the band had become larger than life, but even playing massive stadiums like they did on this tour, you could see how comfortable they were playing the part of Rock Gods. Especially Mick. No one – NO ONE – has ever been a better stadium show performer than Mick Jagger. If you have any doubt about that, watching this great movie will put them to bed.

One of the most influential shows in TV history has finally become available on DVD. "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show: The Complete Series" is now available. What, you say, is this guy smoking while writing this?

Read more after the jump.

How can a one-season Saturday morning cartoon spinoff of "The Flinstones" be influential in any positive manner? Funny you should ask.

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show" was basically "Bedrock: 90210." A pre-historic "The O.C." if you will, only with fewer fights and no stylish footwear. You had the leaders of the group Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm (Marisa and Ryan, or Brenda and Dylan, depending on what scheme Pebbles was cooking up) … you had the eclectic supporting cast Wiggy (who's crazy hair was the precursor to Steve's white-guy 'fro on "90210), Penny and Moonrock.

You even had the parents - Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty - make the occasional appearance ala The Walshes on "BH 90210."

Without "The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show," not only would we probably not have those iconic teen shows, but the entire WB network would likely have never happened. No "Dawson's Creek," no "Buffy."

Let's see. Group of bored suburban teens get in over the heads thanks to an ambitious but not well thought-out scheme? Sound Familiar? How about a group of teens who get in trouble with some shady types thanks to another wacky idea, hmm??? Anyone??

Without this cartoon, we also wouldn't have the now-standard daytime TV soap practice of accelerated-aging - where the kid of an older star on the show suddenly walks through the door as an 18-24 year-old (usually just in time for the younger-skewing summer episodes). Remember, when last we saw Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, they were still crawling around on the concrete floor of their parents' home in the original series, which ended in the late 60s. A couple years later, Bamm! They're in high school A genius concept that was decades ahead of its time.

If all that doesn't convince you to rush out to get this DVD set, then do it just so you can try to decipher the lyrics of the inane (but catchy) theme song. You can also rejoice in one of the great cartoon characters EVER - Schleprock. 'Wowzy,Wowzy, Wowzy.'

The 2-disc set features all 16 episodes of the show, along with 4 bonus episodes. That's it, no other extras. I don't know if it's not financially feasible for studios to go the extra mile to beef up bonus content on classic cartoon dvds, but I for one would like to hear from the voice actors from shows like this. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm were voiced by a pre-'All in the Family' Sally Struthers and a grown up 'Dennis the Menace,' Jay North. How cool would it have been to hear from them about the show?

And what about cartoon historians discussing the show. I know. That's really geeky. But isn't that who these titles are geared for? I'm just sayin'.