Films or collections worth giving this year:
“Laurel &Hardy: The Essential Collection.” ($99.98): A 10-disc set of every short and feature Stan and Ollie made for Hal Roach Studios from 1929 to 1940: “Way Out West,” “Hog Wild,” “The Music Box” and, yes, “Another Fine Mess” are just a few of the gems in this treasure chest of classic comedy. Special features include interviews with Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke and other comedy stars oohing and ahhing over the genius of Messrs. Laurel and Hardy. But it’s the genius of Laurel and Harvey that makes this set so worthwhile.
Oscilloscope’s “Circle of Trust.” ($99): Launched three years ago by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, Oscilloscope Laboratories has consistently released cutting-edge and provocative indie fare, and here’s a chance to subscribe, or give a gift subscription, that’ll get you the next 10 Oscilloscope releases on DVD or Blu-ray. Just think, if you had already signed on, you would have the Oscar-nominated “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” Kelly Reichardt’s lovely Western “Meek’s Cutoff,” and James Franco doing Allen Ginsberg in “Howl” on your video shelf right now.
“Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark” ($27.95); “The Age of Movies: Pauline Kael” ($40): Influential, inspiring, infuriating, Kael was a deft writer with an amazing eye and a wonderful voice — her criticism, whether or not you agreed with it, was always a thrill to read.
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.” ($49.99): The buzz on the new screen adaptation of John le Carre’s espionage masterwork (coming next month, with Gary Oldman as George Smiley) is good — and a good reason to revisit the 1979 BBC miniseries, starring Alec Guinness as Smiley, just released on DVD.
“The Trip.” ($24.98): Need a laugh, or more like close to two hours of laughs? Then climb into the Range Rover of British funnymen Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they roam the Lake District, sampling fine wines and food and letting fly with some of the greatest improvisatory riffing and movie icon mimicry imaginable. Impossibly funny, but more than mere shtick, “The Trip” is an instant classic of a road pic.
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