From Errol Morris (who brought us the documentaries A Brief History of Time and The Fog of War), we have his unabashed, tell it like it he sees it documentary of the Abu Ghraib scandal, Standard Operating Procedure. Morris pulls no punches with his fairly objective interviews with the who’s who of Abu Ghraib. He carefully constructs a timeline of the goings-on with the effective use of a jumble of photos that have become burned into our hearts and minds. more ›

When I saw in the theater, there were about 60 people in the audience.  Virtually all of them maintained the appropriate funereal silence as the film was slowly excreted through the projector.One guy, though, was apparently watching the funniest movie he had ever seen.  I imagine he’s one of the few that will be lining up to buy today.For the rest of us, it’s probably a couple of good docs, some excellent TV, a Jason Alexander boob-heavy curio and a long overdue (for me, at least) Wack Pack biography.

One dark note this week…the emergence of a new, sinister and completely unnecessary form of DVD.Actually, I should say a new form of packaging a DVD since there is not really any fresh material on these so-called “steelbook” and “lenticular” editions.They just look really shiny.Because I am sick and tired of studios repackaging crap in new boxes, these releases are consigned to “after the jump”.

Norbit
Maxed Out
The Messengers
Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Fired!
Seinfeld: Season 8
CHiPs: The Complete First Season
Rescue Me: The Complete Third Season
Kenneth Keith Kallenbach: American Icon
Senior Trip
Fantastic Voyage (Collector’s Edition)
Twelve O’Clock High (Special Edition)
Hogan’s Heroes: The Complete Series
Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band: Live in Dublin
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
The Henry Rollins Show: Season One
SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Adventures
The Best of Chappelle’s Show (Uncensored)
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly: 2-Disc Collector’s Edition
Unholy Matrimony/My Third Wife George (Kinky Couples Double Feature)
French Quarter
Seizure!
The Sand Pebbles more ›

Tonight - Friday "NBA Basketball" (PRIME, 5:00 p.m.) Clippers @ Spurs "NBA Basketball" (Fox Sports, 7:30 p.m.) Hawks @ Lakers "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) Yup, the original, with Burl Ives -- come on misfits, tune in! "Primetime" (ABC, 9:00 p.m.) Diane Sawyer visits North Korea "Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi, 9:00 p.m.) New episode! "Charlie Rose" (PBS, 11:30 p.m.): journalist John F. Burns, Stephen Colbert(!!), billionaire Anthony O'Reilly "The Tonight Show With... more ›

- "It turns out Silly String is a great way to find the micro-thin tripwires that set off improvised explosive devices, a constant killer in Iraq." - NJ.com more ›

Salon.com has posted photos from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command's complete Abu Ghraib media file. The Army has been trying to keep it under wraps, but it hit the news in Australia this week. Salon's post includes more chilling photos of prisoner abuse by Americans. The Geneva Convention states, in part "the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place...: violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; ... outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment." If you can stand it, check out your tax dollars at work. more ›

Cyrus Kar, the Los Angeles documentary filmmaker who was imprisoned in Iraq for 55 days while the US government determined that he was not a threat, has been telling his story in press conferences and on . more ›