Where's that clown fish?

This week I found in my mailbox a new issue of Alternative Cinema, the house organ of the EI Cinema label that covers independent low-budget filmmaking (highlighted by articles on their own releases). The issue reminds me that EI has been around for ten years bringing us all kinds of underground horror, sexy spoofs, and vintage psychotronica, and though they don't have any new releases this week, they deserve a hearty congratulations for their efforts over the past decade.

With a summer crowded with big budget action, who'd have thought that the box office winner would be the story of a little lost cartoon fish?

FINDING NEMO (Buena Vista) Two-disc THX-certified edition with Making-Of, galleries, a Cousteau documentary, special virtual aquarium, Pixar short "Knick Knack", games, studio tour, etc. Includes both widescreen and fullscreen formats.

AGENT 15 Volume 1 (Sub Rosa) In an effort to help independent filmmakers and distributors gain wider distribution, Sub Rosa has begun a coalition project called Global Independent Media Force. Among the first releases under this program is this spy comedy starring Paget Brewster, which includes 6 episodes and "96 minutes of extras".

THE ANNA NICOLE SHOW Season 1 (Lions Gate) Reality TV was never so unreal. Includes exclusive unaired episodes and deleted scenes.
BEGGAR OF NO EQUAL / WARRIOR OF FIRE (VideoAsia) 1980 kung fu action with Doris Lung, Chan Sing and Chi Kuan-chun plus an unidentified martial arts film.

CHALLENGE OF THE MASTER KILLER / INVINCIBLE SUPER GUY (VideoAsia) Possibly a retitle of Lau Kar-Leung's 1976 CHALLENGE OF THE MASTERS with Gordon Lau as Wong Fei-hung / Chang Yi is the title Super Guy in kung fu action with Lung Fei, Pai Ying and Polly Shang Kwan[IMG3R].
DEATH BED: The Bed That Eats (Cult Epics) Rare uncut weird horror film from 1977 about a bed that eats people! Pleasant dreams...
DESERT PHANTOM (Alpha) Johnny Mack Brown goes undercover in this 1936 western.
DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (Alpha) The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
FLESH MERCHANT (Alpha) 1956 exploitation about aspiring models tricked into the prostitution racket.

FRIENDS: Complete Seasons 1-5 (Warner Bros.) The one with the first five sets all collected together with extras.
GUNS OF THE MASTER KILLER / RAIDERS OF BUDDHIST KUNG FU (VideoAsia) Two vintage martial arts pictures starring Gordon Lau (KILL BILL).
HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE (Alpha) Wheeler & Woolsey play two soldiers who go AWOL in Paris.

HIGH SIERRA (Warner Bros.) [IMG4L]Classic Humphrey Bogart crime thriller.
THE HONEYMOONERS Classic 39 Episodes (Paramount) That's right, all 39 episodes of Jackie Gleason's classic sitcom on DVD, plus the Anniversary Special, star interviews, and the original program opening and closing footage.
HOOK, LINE & SINKER (Alpha) Fast-moving 1930 comedy from the forgotten classic comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey.

IRON FIST ADVENTURE / THUNDERING NINJA (VideoAsia) Double feature martial arts action from director Joseph Kuo.
JADE DAGGER NINJA (Crash) Doris Lung and Tin Peng in 1982 kung fu action, aka SHAOLIN FOX CONSPIRACY.
JAR JAR BINKS F! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY (Sub Rosa/Film Threat) Showbiz cable type short profile of the most popular character in the Star Wars Universe. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, alternate and deleted scenes, filmmaker commentrak, "Fake George Lucas" commentrak, and tons of Easter Eggs.

LAW OF THE JUNGLE (Alpha) 1942 Monogram programmer mixes Nazis and jungle thrills.
LEGALLY BLONDE 2 (MGM) The audio commentrak by the cast is likely much more fun than this disappointing sequel. Also includes deleted scenes, outtakes, music video, featurettes and a quiz (so study hard).
THE LOST WORLD: Complete First Season (Navarre) TV series based on the Arthur Conan Doyle classic. Includes Doyle bio, galleries, and bloopers from the third season.
THE MAGIC SWORD (Alpha) Fun 1962 fantasy flick about knights trying to get to the top of an enchanted tower to destroy an evil wizard's heart.
MAMORU OSHII'S THE RED SPECTACLES (Pioneer) A future elite police unit known as the Kerberos Squad goes bad. One of a trio of live-action sci-fi features from the famed anime director that arrives this week, also available as a box set.
MAMORU OSHII'S STRAY DOG[IMG5R] (Pioneer) The Kerberos Squad refuses an order to disband, leading to a riot.
MAMORU OSHII'S TALKING HEAD (Pioneer) A famed director disappears before delivering his new anime movie, and the studio scrambles to complete it without him in time for the release date. But somebody is killing the crew.
THE MAN SHOW Season 1 Volume 2 (Red/Comedy Central) Bad taste in the best sense.
MARTIAL ARTS 10 PACK (VideoAsia) Bargain bin set includes SHAOLIN LADY, Wu Ma's 1971 DEAF MUTE HEROINE, BURGER COP, BLACK BELT FURY, TIGER OVER WALL, KNIGHT AND WARRIOR, NINJA CHALLENGE, HUNT FOR NINJA, NINJA AND DRAGON, and the rare 1978 SHOWDOWN AT THE COTTON MILL.
NUDES ON CREDIT (Media Blasters) 1960s cult rarity in which two con men find an attaché, and use the credit cards they find within to finance a spree through big city strip clubs, not knowing that spies are after the case.
PHANTOM RANCHER (Alpha) A masked hero takes on cattle rustlers in this 1940 western.
PILOT X (Alpha) 1936 thriller (aka DEATH IN THE AIR) about a serial killer in the sky, shooting down planes seemingly at random.
PLATINUM BLONDE (Columbia TriStar) Jean Harlow sparkles in this 1931 comedy.
ROBOCOP: PRIME DIRECTIVE: [IMG6L]Crash & Burn (Lions Gate) Part three of the made-for-cable miniseries.
ROBOCOP: PRIME DIRECTIVE: Resurrection (Lions Gate) Part four of the made-for-cable miniseries.
SANTO ON THE LAWLESS BORDER (Rise Above/VAS)
SANTO/BLUE DEMON Box Set (Rise Above/VAS) Collected team-ups of two masked wrestling superheroes.
SHAOLIN QUICK DRAW / WHITE LOTUS TRIO (VideoAsia) Two more vintage kung fu movies hidden behind new titles.
SILVER SPEAR (Crash) Totally bizarre 1979 swordplay fantasy with Tin Peng getting involved in a webwork of conspiracy in a mist-shrouded land before facing off against a giant vampire warrior.
SLAUGHTER STUDIOS (New Concorde) Ambitious young filmmakers break into an abandoned movie studio famous for their horror films to make a new one of their own, but are stalked by a phantom killer on the lot. Includes director's commentrak.
SLAVES OF THE REALM (MTI) Sword and sandal fantasy hokum about enslaved princesses starring wrestler Rena Mero.
STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE Complete [IMG7R]Sixth Season (Paramount) Seven-disc box set includes all 26 episodes in which Captain Sisko guards his wormhole. Includes featurettes and "hidden files".
THE TERROR / TALES OF FRANKENSTEIN (Alpha) Universal got together with Hammer Studios to make a Frankenstein TV series pilot in the 1950s which never went to series, and Hammer took the lessons they learned and applied them to their own horror movies. Frankly, if you want to see it there's a better package available from Allday that includes plenty of Frankenstein trailers and bloopers, and there's plenty of other sources for Roger Corman's THE TERROR. But not this one:
THE TERROR (Alpha) Actually a 1938 old dark house thriller based on an Edgar Wallace novel.
THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT (Warner Bros.) Raoul Walsh film noir great teams Gearge Raft and Humphrey Bogart as truck driving brothers that get involved with crime.
THREE BLIND MICE (First Look) Edward Furlong sees his online girlfriend murdered via webcam, but only has her URL to go on when he calls the police.
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (Warner Bros.) Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in Howard Hawks' semi-knock-off of CASABLANCA.
TOPPER (Alpha) Four episodes from the 1953 ghost sitcom.
VISITORS (First Look) Rhada Mitchell (PITCH BLACK) sails a boat around the world, but may have picked up some supernatural passengers.
THE WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON (Alpha) Watergate-era lycanthro-pic.
X-FILES Season 8 (Fox) Sci-fi TV classic with commentraks, deleted scenes, international clips and DVD-ROM game.
YOUNG HERO OF SHAOLIN (Crash) Fans of Jet Li's THE LEGEND may want to check out this earlier (1984) version of hero Fong Sai-yuk (Shi Po-hua).
YOUNG HERO OF SHAOLIN 2 (Crash) The sequel (aka IRON MAN) has Fong Sai-yuk and his kung fu mom tracking down the villainous Dragon Head gang.

And finally, we close off each weekly list with a rundown of the constant stream of anime imported from Japan:

BOYS OVER FLOWERS Volume 2: Cinderella for a Night (Viz) Anime romance.
EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS[IMG8L] (Columbia TriStar) Adam Sandler's Chanukah cartoon on a two-disc set. Includes 13 deleted scenes, shorts, music videos, two commentraks, featurettes etc., including a short film starring Sandler's dog Meatball.
.hack//SIGN Version 5: Uncovered (Pioneer) Limited edition.
INFINITE RYVIUS #2: Vital Guarder (Pioneer)
ORIGINAL DIRTY PAIR Volume 4: Flight 005 Conspiracy (ADV Films) Kei and Yuri cause more trouble.
PLEASE TEACHER! Volume 4: Hello Again (Pioneer)
THE REAL SHLEMIEL (Columbia TriStar) In this feature (which played in theaters under the title AARON'S MAGIC VILLAGE), a boy and his goat are called upon to defend a village of idiots from an evil wizard and his monsters.
S-CRY-ED Volume 3: The Other Side (Pioneer)
SIN THE MOVIE (ADV Films) Based on the hit video game. Includes galleries and bonus soundtrack CD.
WINNIE THE POOH: Seasons of Giving (Buena Vista) Thanksgiving turkey stuffed with Pooh.
WINNIE THE POOH: A Very Merry Pooh Year (Buena Vista) Silly old bear! It's November.
YU YU HAKUSHO: Deadly Toguro (Goldhil) Available in edited and uncut editions.