DVD - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (A+)

Starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, and Thomas Mitchell
Screenplay by Sidney Buchman based on a story by Lewis Foster
Directed by Frank Capra

This is my favorite film of all time. I watch it every election eve.

It paints a surprisingly frank picture of the ugly nature of politics and begs for just one honest man to make a difference. James Stewart is flawless and absolutely irreplacable as that man - Jeff Smith. The stellar Capra stable of players from Jean Arthur to Edward Arnold to H. B. Warner are pitch perfect. But my special favorite may in fact be Claude Rains, who plays an honest man gone bad with such conflict and realism that he makes a potentially cartoon "villain" feel all the more palpably plausible. This is why "Mr. Smith" may be the ne plus ultra of idealistic films but it is not unrealistic. And I have yet to see any film sustain a half hour that matches this film's third act - the filibuster - in intensity and exaltation.

It's interesting to see how many amateur reviews reveal the film as a Rorschach test for viewers' political leanings. One sees it as taking a stand against the liberal Democrats in power at the time, another as raising an alarm against Republican business interests controlling corrupt politicians. That's funny, because I always thought the film was FOR something, that it was a monument to the American ideals of truth, justice, equality, and the common good - regardless of party.

One more thing: It disheartens me to hear comments about how "cheesy" this film is and how all the manners and idioms of 1939 make it unwatchable. I think these folks are incapable of appreciating any culture but their own. They would probably go to Spain and make fun of people that speak Spanish. Even though it's set in the US, this movie takes place in a different culture: Depression-era America. Back then, people knew when you were "full of hooey" and called you a "crackpot" to let you know it. That may sound funny to some today but our current slang will probably sound even worse in 70 years.

Final score: A+

Book - Robert E. Lee: A Biography (A-)

Author: Emory M. Thomas

Thomas is ambitious but ultimately correct in proclaiming his compelling Lee biography a post-revisionist portrait. He attempts (with admirable success) to balance his respect for Lee's character and ability (without Douglas Freeman's blatant worship and apocryphal stories) with honest accounts of his faults and contradictions (minus the carping of Connelly's 'The Marble Man' and Nolan's 'Lee Considered'). In the process, Thomas has captured as much as any writer is able the humanness of Lee.

I was struck throughout the book by events and words that mirror my own aspirations and failures. I think the highest praise I can offer Thomas's book is that this avid Lee fan and Civil War buff felt like he had met Robert E. Lee for the first time.

Final score: A-

Book - Blue Like Jazz (B+)

Author: Donald Miller

Though I don't see eye-to-eye with Don Miller on everything, I can't help but like the guy. He is so candid about his thought life, his doubts, his shortcomings, his vices, and his all-around goofiness that he's like a favorite cousin you find both cool and amusingly befuddling.

Miller's self-deprecating wit, his conversational style, and his arms-length relationship with his evangelical background are his trademarks. Most of the chapters in "Jazz" are about mini-epiphanies he's had along his spiritual journey. You feel like he's hanging out with you at dusk, sitting on the hood of a car, swapping life stories and wondering about why crap works the way it does. It's like he circles around things in life until it dawns on him that - even though its representatives are often lame and its concepts seem outdated - Christian spirirtuality actually had the answers he was looking for.

Even though he tries to maintain a fairly liberal and liberated life, deep down he's fairly orthodox in his beliefs. He just doesn't dress them up in 19th century traditions, rules and regulations, and both fear- and comfort-based judgmentalism.

Take it out for a spin.

Final score: B+

DVD - Little Miss Sunshine (B+)

Starring Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano, and Alan Arkin
Written by Michael Arndt
Directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
R for pervasive profanity, drug use, adult subject matter
Buy it

Up front: If you don't like quirky indie films, or if you believe the perfect family is even remotely attainable in this lifetime, you'll hate this.

The biggest strike against this movie is its hype. Nothing can live up to the expectations Fox Searchlight has set Little Miss Sunshine up with. It is not a crazy, non-stop laugh riot but rather a whimsical, persistent little movie that often charms its way into your heart and drops a huge lesson in your lap - before falling apart at the end.

The finale was a unusual idea (and turned the inappropriateness of the Jon Benet circuit on its head) but flirted with pervish-ness in itself. And it sort of devolved into an overlong, indulgent mess when everyone pitched in.

Still, it's a thinker. And I like thinkers.

Final score: B plus

DVD - The Best of Janet Paschal (A-)

I'm not a huge fan of the genre but I have a genuine appreciation for Southern Gospel, not least because of my childhood exposure to it. Well, in my limited experience, one of the greatest vocalists ever across any style is Janet Paschal. She has been a favorite of mine since the early 1980s when she toured with tenor John Starnes in Jimmy Swaggart's band. Within a few years she went entirely solo and soon became (and remains) a fixture in uberproducer Bill Gaither's series of video specials. This DVD is a collection of Paschal's most popular moments from those shows over the past two decades.

Paschal has always been a much better performer live than she is in the studio. The audience and the opportunity to physically embody the song for them energize her in ways that a sound-proofed room could never do. And at the half-century mark, she still has the broadest smile and her eyes still have the brightest sparkle I've ever seen onstage.

Between songs, Gaither and Pashcal discuss her feelings for each song and they share memories of the Homecoming tours. Gaither reiterates her reputation as a perpetually positive and thoughtful person and she giggles in response. In an understated moment, Janet also recounts her recent battle with breast cancer and her tortuous rounds of intensive chemotherapy. She has been cancer-free for a year or so and is now touring again.

Here, in a low-quality version of a highlight from the early '90s, Janet floors George Younce, Jessy Dixon, Vestal Goodman and a host of other Gospel legends with a gotta-shout, gotta-dance rendition of "Born Again". If this don't light your fire, your wood's wet!



In this clip, she acts as worship leader to the Homecoming team and ends in a moving duet with gospel pioneer Vestal Goodman.



If I have any complaint, it's that the second half of the disc contains virtually no uptempo numbers and this breaks up the rhythm of the package.

Final score: A minus