Jirí Menzel Zivot a Neobycejna Dobrodruzstvi Vojaka Ivana Conkina (1994)

Stories about neighboring in Lisbon are told by a homeless blind man who's only means of support is his elm box.

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers hit their artistic peak with the powerful A Night in Tunisia. This incarnation of the group included Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Bobby Timmons, and Jymie Merritt along with their leader, Blakey. As the Messengers entered their most fruitful period for Blue Note, Blakey drove his men relentlessly with powerful grooves, heavy swinging, and shouts of encouragement. This session documents the full power of his assertive leadership and the masterful playing of his sidemen, each rising to legendary status under his tutelage. Long known for their creative arrangements within the context of small-group jazz, the Messengers push the definition of hard bop and blues to the limit here…

Since Marc Bolan's own label issued its first greatest-hits package back in 1973, there has been no shortage of collections rounding up the peerless sequence of 18 singles (some with multiple B-sides) released between January 1972 and Bolan's death in September 1977. Indeed, this set was itself just a few months old when its contents were redistributed across two box sets' worth of CD singles, each one replicating the original U.K. 45. As a simple one-stop chronological gathering of the Bolan jukebox at its born-to-boogie best, however, this two-disc package is hard to beat. In common with the two single-disc collections that it supersedes, the discs are divided neatly between A-sides (disc one) and B-sides…

In 1993, Sam Fuller takes Jim Jarmusch on a trip into Brazil's Mato Grosso, up the River Araguaia to the village of Santa Isabel Do Morro, where 40 years before, Zanuck had sent Fuller to scout a location and write a script for a movie based on a tigrero, a jaguar hunter. Sam hopes to find people who remember him, and he takes film he shot in 1954. He's Rip Van Winkle, and, indeed, a great deal changed in the village. There are televisions, watches, and brick houses. But, the same Karajá culture awaits as well. He gathers the villagers to show his old film footage, and people recognize friends and relatives, thanking Fuller for momentarily bringing them back to life.

Excellent, Henry Cow-influenced RIO band from Neuchatel, Switzerland who recorded two worthwhile albums and then disbanded. The first ("Emile Au Jardin Patrologique", 1981) is the more jazzy and "out" of the two, and the large size (nine members) and diverse instrumentation (saxes, clarinets, violin, keyboards, bass, guitars, drums, percussions, and voice) add to the spontaneity and flexibilty of the music. Vocals are more prominent and the horns are de-emphasized for a less-jazzy sound on "Battre Campagne" (1984). Both albums are 'must-haves' for fans of the RIO/Canterbury style. Several members of Debile Menthol went on to play with other interesting bands. Guitarist Jean M. Rossel formed the more folk-influenced Nimal with 'cellist Tom Cora (Skeleton Crew, Curlew, et al.), drummer Pippin Barnett (Orthotonics, Curlew), and others. Other members of Debile Menthol went on to form a group called L'Ensemble Raye.

Una pura formalità / A Pure Formality - by Giuseppe Tornatore (1994)

Onoff is a famous writer who hasn't published any new books for quite some time and has become a recluse. When he is picked up by the police one stormy night, without any identification, out of breath and running madly, without clear memory of recent events, the Inspector is suspicious. Through interrogatory dialectic, the head of this lonely, isolated, broken-down police station tries to establish what has happened, by delving into the mind of his writer-hero, and clearing up a mysterious killing.