Rack Focus

Comments (0) By Joshua Land Tuesday, Jul 12 2005

Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection
(MGM)

The Bush Sr. era may never be a tenable candidate for a nostalgia trip, but this three-disc box is a welcome blast from the days when our worst national fears were of the looming Japanese economic takeover and the prospect of a Dan Quayle presidency. The original Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) still holds up as one of the more enjoyable '80s time-travel movies, but the 1991 sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, a metaphysical missing link between The Seventh Seal and Little Nicky, may be the real keeper. The "Non-Bogus Disc" of special features kicks off with a conversation between "the original Bill & Ted," screenwriters Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon, but the 30-minute (sadly Keanu-less) making-of documentary is very much a tale of two directors: While Excellent Adventure helmer Stephen Herek fondly recalls exhorting his stars to crank up the "puppy factor," Bogus Journey auteur Peter Hewitt chatters enthusiastically about the influence of Michael Powell and Orson Welles on his vision. Also included: an air guitar tutorial, the premiere episode of the short-lived cartoon series and more.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man
(Tartan)

Tartan's Asia Extreme series has never lived up to its name more fully than with this 1988 art-shocker from Japanese director Shinya Tsukamoto. Man meets machine, cyberpunk futurism meets Cronenbergian body horror, and Freud meets the power-tool shed.