Cry-Baby
(Universal) Still thirsty for more John Waters after last month’s seven-film box set? Johnny Depp stars in this high school musical comedy, set during the Eisenhower era and first released in 1990.
Million Dollar Baby
(Warner Bros.) It would be nice to finally be able to discuss what this movie’s actually about, but in the interest of preserving the surprise for the two or three of you out there still unaware of the Big Twist, let’s just say that I’m not sure Clint Eastwood’s Academy Awards champ does justice to its politically charged subject, which has (hint, hint) continued to dominate the news in the months since M$B‘s theatrical release. The three-disc “deluxe edition” throws in a CD soundtrack of Eastwood’s original music, and both versions feature plenty of behind-the-scenes material, including—for the brave or the foolhardy—a 25-minute James Lipton–moderated roundtable with Eastwood and co-stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.
The 70s Dimension
(Other Cinema)
Divided into two parts, this conceptually intriguing disc repackages the cultural detritus of the Me Decade—commercials, PSAs, and other visual artifacts. Camp connoisseurs will certainly not be disappointed, but the video fragments compiled in the initial “What the 70s Really Looked Like” section are tinged with an undeniable pathos—even the military recruitment ads and law enforcement spots scan like fossils from a more humane era. The second half, entitled “70s Remix,” pulverizes similar material into six experimental collages—it’s curated by Noel Lawrence and mixmaster Craig Baldwin.