Screaming Masterpiece
Ari Magnusson
Milan Records
Street: 03.06
Wow, what an interesting concept for a music documentary! I thought to myself as I sat down to watch Screamin Masterpiece. Unfortunately, interesting concept is as far as the critical acclaim train goes. What is supposed to be an overview of the Icelandic music scene is B.B. and A.B. (Before Bjork and After Bjork) ends up being a muddled look at Bjork and her hot new contemporaries, Sigur Ros. It is as if the directors had an idea, but their eyes were bigger than their stomach. What the viewer is treated to are too many clips of live bands, not enough interviews talking about contemporary Icelandic music (except from Bjork, go figure) and a whole lot of interviews with people like a guy from an important music rag and some douche bag from Billboard. Who cares? The only thing that was interesting was a segment on a documentary about Icelandic punk rock from the 80s. I want to see that instead. A little more focus and a lot more planning would make this interesting concept leave the critical acclaim station, and head to bigger and brighter destinations besides that bargin bin. –Erik Lopez

Secret Agent AKA Danger Man: The Complete Collection
Stuart Burge and Charles Crichton
A&E
Street: 02.27
For those that love James Bond and can't get enough of him, this megaset is for you. Patrick McGoohan aka John Drake is a secret agent for "Her Majesty." Foreseeing other great television shows such as Magnum PI and McGuyver, John Drake uses nifty gadgets and gets himself into fanciful situations, all while keeping that amazing British cool a la 007. While Drake might not have all the intrigue that McGuyver had or any of the moustache of Miami Vice, he definitely precipitated the sexual dynamo of both. A&E has done a great job of gathering all of Drakes adventures and suspense in a great package. –Erik Lopez

Wendy O William & The Plasmatics
10 Years of Revolutionary Rock & Roll
MVD
Street: 11.21.06
Wendy O Williams was unorthodox in the best way possible. She pushed the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable at every corner. The Plasmatics were one of the first groups to bridge the gap between punk and metal, Wendy pushed fashion boarders with her mohawk and skin bearing outfits, was an environmental advocate long before anyone else gave a fuck about greenhouse gasses and was the first female in a band with an unbridled aggression that scared the shit out of people. The woman was way before her time and this DVD does an excellent job of capturing that. The documentary includes over two hours of footage spanning their decade long career—including live shows, court appearances and interviews with band and crew members. The film is lacking due to their choice of narrator. She speaks without inflection, and way to fast. The Plasmatics were harder to swallow than any other punk band that came before them, and choosing a narrator with such a monotone voice just didn't fit with the content of the film. Old articles written about the band would flash on the screen and disappear before I had a chance to read them. It would have been nice to read those blurbs for myself, instead of straining my ears to make out what the narrator was saying. I wish this was one of those DVD's that you could turn the sound off on, and still understand what was going on. –Jeanette Moses