(Paramount)

It all changed here. “Survivor”, and its “voted off the island” gimmick spawned endless reality shows from “Fear Factor” to “The Apprentice”. So how did the original rank in retrospect? It’s brilliant, genuinely outstanding television – expertly produced, manipulated and genius in casting. Love the earthy theme song, too. All the first season episodes are here, the reunion show, plus extras like a look back with Richard, Rudy and Gervase, a David Letterman bit, a look at the players’ journey to Borneo, and a previously released “Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments” disc. The DVD cases include handy rundowns of each episode, but newbies avert thine eyes: they also list which members get voted off. By the same token, knowing that gay ol’ Richard eventually wins (and loses a ton of weight before our eyes, like all of the malnourished cast) doesn’t take away from any of the tense dramas playing out – just how he manages to survive even when doom closes in is almost magical.

(New Yorker)

Producer/director Rob Epstein’s The Times of Harvey Milk, 1984 Best Documentary Oscar winner, is a must-see. If not for its powerful emotional content, than for its importance in gay history: Milk, openly gay elected San Francisco official, was gunned down by heterosexual Dan White, who, in court, successfully attributed his actions to a Twinkie-induced sugar rush. The features-packed two-disc set includes a commentary with much discussion about filmmaking decisions, the people involved and creepy details like how Dan White also planned to gun down Willie Brown; the Oscar acceptance; film critic Vito Russo’s introduction of the film in San Francisco; and much more, both new and archival. Co-produced/directed with Jeffrey Friedman, Epstein’s second Oscar-winner, Common Threads, explores the NAMES Project AIDS memorial quilt and a handful of the people memorialized on it. The DVD includes a commentary, Vito Russo’s moving ACT-UP speech and a new, nearly hour-long film in which health officials Marcus Conant and Selma Dritz (portrayed by Lily Tomlin in HBO’s And The Band Played On) relay the first mysterious days of AIDS from a medical standpoint, and NAMES Project founder Cleve Jones traces the project’s origins. A departure from this pair of somber, tearjerking works is Epstein/Friedman’s Where Are We, a celebratory road trip through eccentric America. A brief outtakes section includes their commentary on how this unusual project came to be – six people in a minivan driving for 18 days – and how, “it’s OK to enjoy people’s wackiness if you can get beyond that.” Digging deep is certainly Epstein/Friedman’s talent.

(TLA)

Richard Glatzer, co-director of The Fluffer, wrote and directed this delightfully funny, soap-operatic 1994 indie queer film. Craig Chester (New Queer Cinema’s “It” boy), Ileana Douglas, Alexis Arquette and Jackie Beat portray the harried staff of a tawdry daytime TV show, “The Love Judge”. Closet queens, affairs, hot fixit boys and all varieties of personal dramas play out in the office, resulting in as many sexual and emotional fireworks as on the show (clips of which feature zany cameos by performance artist John Fleck, Mary Woronov and Mickey Cottrell). Complementing Grief’s DVD debut are a pair of humorous, chatty commentary tracks. Glatzer reveals the significant degrees of autobiography within the film (Chester’s character is Glatzer’s thinly veiled alter-ego), Chester reflects on his bad wardrobe and hair – “talk about grief!” – and how he passed up a role in The Wedding Banquet to be in Glatzer’s film, while wisecracking. Beat and Douglas belittle the entire cast and crew, dishing extensively. Some grief is great.

(Picture This!)

The family that skinny-dips and cuddles together stays together, at least in director Christopher Honore’s sophisticated, touching French film, which was originally made for French television. Leo, 21, is eldest of four close male siblings. Openly gay, his family accepts and loves him, but they feel youngest sibling Marcel, 11, is too young to know of Leo’s newfound HIV-positive status. Aware he’s being left out of the loop, aggravated Marcel eventually finds out. Initial tensions and conflict give way to sharing, understanding and bonding when Marcel and Leo visit Paris together. Although unsentimental and complex compared to how an American film/TV movie might handle this subject, there’s an intense intimacy saturating Close to Leo in its direction, content (everyone gets naked or near-naked) and the physical affections and intense homoerotic closeness these brothers share (hugging, cuddling at night, etc). To boot, Leo isn’t portrayed as a passive, sexless victim: he’s conflicted, angry and even a little whorish. An indie-pop soundtrack (including queer French musician Etienne Daho) adds an upbeat edge to this ultimately melancholy gem. There’s a 5.1 French surround mix but alas, only trailers for extras.

(MGM)

Being a naturally inquisitive person, there’s a handful of pressing questions I yearn to ask a handful of people, from Madonna to Bill Clinton, before I die. Every time I luck into an opportunity to get my answer to one of these, I’m a step closer to enlightenment and a peaceful, contented shuffling-off of my mortal coil. So at the Sundance Film Festival, in conversation with Kyle MacLachlan, I’m about to cross one of the most urgent queries off my list: what was up with the Hitler hair?

Of all the beautifully cockamamie elements that make up Showgirls, it’s MacLachlan’s Hitler-esque hairdo that stands out the most. Above and beyond all the ridiculousness, all the impossibly asinine touches, it seems the most random, the most transcendently retarded. What the hell is up with his character’s Führer-coiffure?

I got my answer, but first let me reflect upon the other delicious tidbits that make Showgirls magically important to me: The classic mispronunciation of Versace (“ver-sase”). A “sentimental” exchange between upcoming showgirl Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) and Henrietta and Al, her abrasive pseudo-surrogate parents from the strip club where she used to lap dance. It’s a moving reunion scene – Nomi finally receiving acknowledgement of her talent as a dancer (ha!) from these two hardnoses and then, turning to leave, Al adds, with thoughtful poignancy, “Must be weird not having anybody come on ya.”

“Rape” and “campy” rarely share the same sentence, but here we’ve got one of – actually, the only – campiest rapes on film as Nomi’s best friend Molly gets gangbanged and beaten by a rocker (bearing a possibly on-purpose semblance to screenwriter Joel Eszterhas) who “pecks” her face with his tongue like a crazed chicken. Incidentally, the DVD’s commentary track, by Seattle comedy writer/performer David Schmader, is filled with facetiousness and near sexual moans of ecstasy during such profound and sublime camp moments. He also keenly observes that Nomi’s a sociopath, “but nobody can resist her.” Sorta like Dubya, perhaps?

So back to me, MacLachlan and that Hitler hair query.

“Yes!” MacLachlan laughed. “The Hitler hair was all my choice. I thought it would be a boyish camouflage kind of thing to cover up the real bad guy underneath that. I don’t know if it was successful or not but that’s what we went with! You’re the first one [to give me crap for that], actually! I got a lot of other crap for the movie but funny enough people recognize that the movie is not a good movie but they appreciate it because it has tremendous camp and entertainment quality, which I don’t think was anticipated by the filmmakers but emerged unexpectedly. So I praise that and it’s fine. It works in an unexpected way!”

Indeed it does. And I’m one step closer to a peaceful retirement in the afterworld thanks to it.

(Warner Brothers)

Forget guilty pleasure – “Nip/Tuck”, created by openly gay Ryan Murphy, is prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated for life pleasure. Set in the thriving practice and lives of a pair of Miami plastic surgeons – humanistic family guy Sean (Dylan Walsh), ruthless ladies man Christian (Julian McMahon), Sean’s wife Julia (Joely Richardson) and lesbian nurse Liz (Roma Maffia) – sordid dramas involving pedophiles, drug dealers, crackpots, gender-benders, vanity cases, domestic pets, and of course, sex, are played out, complemented by gruesomely convincing surgical procedures. How sordid? Heck, in the pilot alone someone’s tortured with Botox injections, a pedophile wreaks havoc and a corpse is fed to alligators. It’s deliciously wicked, exploiting so much societal sickness, and really well done and acted. The addictive first season DVD package includes an interviews-filled behind-the-scenes, a somewhat cursory look at the makeup effects, a discussion with actual plastic surgeons, a gag reel and, accompanying almost every episode, deleted scenes. The only element of Nip/Tuck that probably shouldn’t have made it out of the operating room is John Hensley, who plays Sean’s “teen” son, Matt, yet resembles a five-o’-clock-shadow-plagued, 30-something Michael Jackson (he’s in fact 27). Aside from that, take these discs and call me when season 2 is released!

(Warner Brothers)

Twirl, twirl, twirl away as you play the theme song and all 13 episodes from the campy “Wonder Woman” TV show’s first season. Lynda Carter reunites with executive producer Douglas S. Cramer for a commentary over the pilot episode: Cramer offers mostly sycophantic gushes, but a giggling, pithy Carter is keen to the camp and comments on her breasts and (oh yes!) concocting the first Wonder Woman “spin.” There’s plenty more on the spin, her bullet-deflecting bracelets and most of what’s discussed in the commentary in a new documentary. It sadly lacks behind the scenes footage/outtakes, but priceless is a young, shit-eating, grinning Debra Winger spinning into Wonder Girl. As for the episodes themselves: Which boast “Laugh-In” regulars as Nazis? Call up your buddies, because you’ve got a long-assed, 13-episode drinking game ahead of you.