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DVD: Going Down In La-La Land, Flirting With Disaster, Kevin Richardson Swings, And More!

By July 3, 2012 at 11:44am · Updated on July 4, 2012
If you’re browsing Amazon or Netflix this week, you’ll find an unusual but highly entertaining assortment of new releases: The Casserole Club delves into the spicier side of 1960s suburbia, while Violet Tendencies director Casper Andreas is back with more half-naked beauties in the sorted Tinseltown drama Going Down in La-La Land (above). Meanwhile comedian Bobcat Goldthwait delivers the wild comedy God Bless America, and cult filmmaker David DeCoteau offers more musclebound boys in 1313: Hercules Unbound. And if you’re feeling nostalgic? Lions Gate has just reissued 1990s classic Flirting with Disaster, with Ben Stiller as a man searching for his roots and Josh Brolin as the bisexual lothario who puts the moves on Stiller’s wife (Patricia Arquette). Photo: Embrem Entertainment  
http://youtu.be/QyLw2QABtqw Going Down in La-La Land ($29.99 Bluray, $24.99 DVD, Embrem Entertainment) With his latest release, director Casper Andreas (Violet Tendencies, Slutty Summer) plumbs the depths to which some descend to make it in show biz: Adam (Matthew Ludwinski)  moves to Los Angeles to become the next big thing but when acting jobs don’t come as easily as he hoped, he heeds the call of gay pornand starts turning tricks for a closeted Hollywood star. DVD extras include outtakes, commentary and deletes scenes.  
The Casserole Club ($19.99 DVD, Breaking Glass Pictures) This scandalous late-’60s suburban drama seems somewhat dated in our post-Mad Men world but director Steve Balderson beefs it up with interesting twists and solid performances. Written by Frankie Krainz and starring former Backstreet Boy Kevin Scott Richardson, Club peels back the facade of backyard BBQs and casserole parties to reveal the ravenous sexual appetites of five childless couples—including a steamy encounter between a closeted husband and a younger slice of beefcake.  DVD extras include a making-off featurette.  
Flirting with Disaster ($9.99 DVD, Lions Gate) Before Zoolander and Meet the Fockers, Ben Stiller starred in this 1996 gem as a married New Yorker who decides to find his birth parents. With his wife (Patricia Arquette) and adoption agent (Tea Leoni) along for the ride, he embarks on a cross-country trip and encounters a menagerie of oddball characters including married gay cops (Richard Jenkins and Josh Brolin) and a couple of ex-hippie stoners (Alan Alda and Lily Tomlin). Written and directed by David O. Russell (The Fighter),  Disaster is a smart and wickedly funny comedy that has improved with age.
1313: Hercules Unbound ($14.99 DVD, Rapid Heart) If you’re a fan of softcore master David DeCocteau’s 1313 series—or just like watching chiseled boys running around in loincloths—this mythological installment will satisfy your cravings. Here, the mighty demi-god (Geoff Ward) is sent to a gladiator retreat where his arrogance turns off all of his fellow warriors, including Capaneous (Brandon Lamb), who plans on poisoning Hercules before the big wrestling match. TheDVD includes an audio commentary and an abundance of flesh, though more of the Southern California type than Mediterranean variety.  

God Bless America
($29.98 Blu-ray, $26.98 DVD, Magnet)

After receiving critical praise for World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwait continues to devlop as a filmmaker with this brutal comedy about a terminally ill man (Joel Murray), who’s had enough reality TV and spoiled brats and decides to take our nation’s culturally undesirable with him on the way to the afterlife.  The Blu-ray edition features a slew of extras, including deleted scenes, outtakes, several making-of featurettes and a commentary track by Goldthwait, Murray and co-star Tara Lynne Barr..

ALSO OUT ON DVD

The Crying Game (reissue)

Joe + Belle

The Hunter (2011)

Henry Jesus Christ

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6 Comments*

  • Daez

    Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!

    Seriously, a new 1313, like our brain cells were not dead from the last ones. Since these movies must cost nothing to make it makes it easier for them to be made, but seriously!

    Is this in the same house as all the others with the same concept of mostly unattractive guys and one unattractive woman?

  • MikeE

    “in the sorted Tinseltown drama Going Down in La-La Land” ????

    I presume you meant “sordid”?

  • James M. Martin

    “Flirting With Disaster” just cracks me up. Yes, the odd scene of Josh Brolin as a gay armpit fetishist coming out bisexual is a highlight, but this one harks back to the legendary “screwball comedies” of the 30s that were so delightful and now beloved of lgbt people and anyone who misses the days when characters had great gag lines and the
    producers didn’t rely on so many CGI’s and gimmicks like 3-D.

  • Andy

    I watched La La Land on pay per view. Quite good.

  • D P

    @MikeE: — I haven’t seen it yet, but my tastes go pretty extreme, so I doubt if I’d find anything sordid about it. And @Andy: — I say again that I haven’t seen it, but will soon. That Matthew Ludwinski is *such* a pretty boy that I’m superficial enough to see the movie just for the sake of seeing him. I’ve never seen anything else of his. Incidentally, on his message board I made the comment that I happen to *love* those nipples of his! Don’t they almost shout at you that they need to be tongued and nibbled?

  • Christopher

    The 1313 thing HAS to be a spoof on guys who want to be good looking (or mistakenly think they are), or WANT to have nice bodies (but don’t). Right?? PLEASE tell me it’s supposed to be a spoof……

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