Media

Review > Media Mix

A roundup of this month’s hottest new releases.

words by > Scott Steinberg

>MUSIC

The Cardigans

Super Extra Gravity (Nettwerk)

You know the song (“Love me/Love me/Say that you love me…”), but has it really been a decade since “Lovefool” ruled the airwaves? While the Cardigans never repeated their chart-topping success in this country, the Swedish act’s upbeat, sensual tunes continue to enthrall international audiences. This is their sixth and best album, with frontwoman Nina Persson cooing her romantic desires over gently rocking beats. Only this time, there’s also a subtle helping of menace—listen closely to the lyrics for confirmation.

Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals Starvation League

The Longest Meow (Bloodshot)

This country legend’s son doesn’t let Nashville limit his sound. Here, Bobby Bare Jr.’s overachieving band whips through 11 new songs and one cover (the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind”) in one single whirlwind recording session. The result is both electric and eclectic, blending rock, bossa nova and good ol’ guitar slingin’. Yee-haw!

>DVDs

Gojira/Godzilla: King of the Monsters

(Classic Media) NR

Here’s something that’ll send trick-or-treaters sprinting back to the couch this month: The mother of all monster movies is fi nally shipping on DVD. Available in this country for the fi rst time as part of a two-pack, Japanese fi lmmaker Ishirô Honda’s Gojira: King of the Monsters—or Godzilla, as it’s known to Raymond Burr fans—remains strikingly poignant. Offering 40 minutes of footage stripped from the 1954 original and replaced with 20 minutes of new scenes in the 1956 American rerelease, the digitally HD remastered opus also reinstates its script’s initial antinuclear sentiments. Catch it if you’d care to revisit Burr as intrepid reporter Steve Martin. Otherwise, relax and watch Dr. Kyohei Yemane and Co. battle a 400-foot-tall mutant dinosaur (okay, actor in a cheap rubber suit) bent on crushing Tokyo. Gloriously subtitled, this black-and-white classic features some of the most groundbreaking cinematography ever to escape Asian shores. EXTRAS: Story development/making-of featurettes, commentary by Steve Ryfl e and Ed Godziszewski, 16-page booklet, original theatrical trailer.

A Prairie Home Companion

(New Line Home Entertainment) PG-13

St. Paul, Minnesota. Closing time for the Midwest’s longest-running live radio variety show draws near.
Performers—played by an all-star ensemble including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan and Tommy Lee Jones—ally to give director Robert Altman and writer Garrison Keillor’s fi ctional broadcast a gut-busting sendoff. Warning: This fi lm contains bawdy humor.

EXTRAS: Audio commentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurette, theatrical trailer.

>GAMES

LocoRoco

(Sony PSP) E

Mind-bending, refl ex-intensive fun for everyone, delivered with eye-catching fl air. You’re a pastel-colored planet inhabited by roly-poly, peace-loving orange blobs under siege by evil cloud-like organisms called the Moja Corps. Tilt animated backgrounds left or right to send the innocent critters careening along, dodging enemies while bouncing off bumpers and tumbling willy-nilly downhill. Guzzle fruit to grow and gain momentum, or dissolve into individual parts to trickle down chutes. If the catchy, sing-along soundtrack and psychedelic visuals don’t have you hooked, the title’s adorable heroes and user-friendly play mechanics will.