Every week, we list our recommendations of new music, books, comics, movies and TV to check out. This is Recs in Effect:

New Movie

Tabloid

I know people are going to all go see Harry Potter this weekend. But personally, I hate most of those movies. I like the books (well, all but the first 2) and I like Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix as well as elements of some of the other movies, but mostly I just find them so boring and poorly made. So, in a bit of counterprogramming - I'm asking you to go see Errol Morris's latest film: Tabloid, which concerns former Miss Wyoming Joyce McKinney who may or may not have chained up a mormon missionary in the 70s. It appears to be Morris's meditation on fame and a similar look at how diverse the multiple chapters in our lives can be. Errol Morris is, to me, the best documentary filmmaker of all time (his attempts at subverting the truth are more apparent to me than Werner Herzog's, and so I appreciate Morris more) who has done much to not only shape the visual language of modern documentary filmmaking but also to fundamentally alter the way we think about documentary films. Read a review (and explore more about Errol Morris) here.

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Double Dip Demands is a column in which I propose films that deserve a re-release on DVD/Blu-Ray with more special features, better transfers and other nerdy bits. Some of the films have no DVDs out there for Region 1 viewers, and some of them have a really crappy version that's bare bones or poorly put together. Who speaks for these films? I do.

The Film: They Live (1988)

Cast & Crew: John Carpenter (writer/director); Ray Nelson (based on his short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning"); "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

Plot Synopsis (from IMDB): A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth.

Is It Out on DVD Currently?: Yes - but in a bare bones release with no extras.

Why Does it Deserve Special Features?: Discarded and derided at the time of its release, They Live is a clever and profoundly prescient movie that arrived in theaters wearing the trappings of a dumb B-Movie. They Live has since gone on to influence many other films and filmmakers, as well as graffiti artists, video game designers with its stylish simplicity and biting social commentary. A forerunner to 21st century cultural memes, They Live lambastes consumer culture and the vapid selfishness that defined Reagan-era America and is just as relevant in today's world of Weapons of Mass Distraction.

What Should be on the Disc?

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