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DVD

Aqua Teen Hunger Force

BY Adam Nayman   January 30, 2008 14:01

AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, VOL. 5 (Warner) Adult Swim’s crown jewel — a non sequitur generator nonpareil about sentient, moody fast-food products and their various predicaments — has never been warm and fuzzy, exactly. But the fifth season — which introduced the incredible edibles to, among others, a shrieking baby milkshake, a cloned dog with a thing for initiating involuntary sex and several cases of severe eye rash — took things to a new level of misanthropy. Whether it’s a high or a low depends on your taste for tastelessness, but once you’ve been converted, there’s simply no going back. ATHF is far too specific in its weirdness to be ghettoized as stoner humour but it’s still positively addictive. EXTRAS: Favourite episode promos, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force Responds to the Critics,” “I Like Your Booty But I’m Not Gay” music video, “ATHF Movie Premiere with Space Ghost,” deleted scenes, “Learn to Shred Like the Master,” “Tera Patrick Eats a Hot Dog,” “Granny Takes Her Top Off,” “Space Ghost Coast to Coast ‘Chambraigne,’” “ATHF Zombie Ninja Pro-Am Trailer,” “The Worst Game Ever.”

THE KING OF KONG: A FISTFUL OF QUARTERS (Alliance) Truth is better structured and more dramatically satisfying than fiction in Seth Gordon’s modest but compelling documentary about a semi-secret society of arcade-game aficionados. Real life isn’t supposed to unfold along a flatly Manichean divide, but Gordon’s two main subjects — a sweetly dorky Donkey Kong padawan and the cocky joystick Jedi looking to duck him — wear their hero/villain hats with real flair. EXTRAS: “The Saga Continues” featurette, audio commentaries, interviews, game play commentaries, bonus footage.

Also out this week
GROUNDHOG DAY: 15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (Sony) Those who complain that this 1993 hit reps a sinister agenda — the defanging of a never-more-­venomous Bill Murray — are more or less correct, but there’s great stuff here leading up to the Capra-corny ending. EXTRAS: director commentary, “The Study of Groundhogs” and “Weight of Time” documentaries, deleted scenes.

THE INVASION (Warner) Miscasting Alert: if Nicole Kidman were to be replaced by a pod person, who could tell? EXTRAS: making-of featurettes.

KING OF CALIFORNIA (Maple) Michael Douglas goes spelunking for gold and a third Oscar as an adorable life-force madman; Evan Rachel Wood rolls her eyes as his long-suffering daughter. As good as it sounds. EXTRAS: none.

Out Feb 5
Across the Universe, The Brave One, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Jane Austen Book Club and, moseying by at roughly two miles an hour, The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford.

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