DVD/VHS

Will & Grace: Season 2
This four-DVD box set includes all 23 episodes from the NBC hit series' second season, featuring the Emmy Award-winning cast of Debra Messing, Eric McCormack, Megan Mullally, and Sean Hayes. This is the season in which Shelley Morrison as Rosario makes her first appearance. • In addition to the 23 episodes, Will & Grace: Season 2 includes 12 exclusive and themed featurettes that highlight the second season's funniest moments set to music. The featurettes include "Hugs and Kisses," "Out and About," "Fashion Quips," and more. • From NBC Enterprises and Lions Gate Home Entertainment. —Suzie Lynde

The Kids in the Hall: Complete Season 1, 1989–1990
Are extraterrestrials dull? Who’s gay in Hollywood? And how about that salty ham? • From romantically challenged cabbage heads to serial head crushing, five men from Canada—who were occasionally five women—turned sketch comedy into a bizarre, irreverent, and always hilarious weekly showcase of side-splitting unpredictability. The fab five are Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and openly gay Scott Thompson. • With a brilliant knack for turning the mundane into the surreal, and a dangerous willingness to explore the darker sides of comedy, all 20 episodes from the debut season of the Kids in the Hall are collected here on DVD and for the first time ever. • Bonus features include 45 minutes of new interviews with the Kids and Lorne Michaels, audio commentary by the Kids, two best-of compilations, and more. • From Broadway Video. More info: A&E Home Video (www.aetv.com) or www.kidsinthehall.com. —Troy Carrington

Absolutely Fabulous: Series 5
“The greatest female comedy buddies since Lucy Ricardo and Ethel Mertz” raved the New York Times, and it’s no surprise that the internationally acclaimed Ab Fab series has garnered over 14 awards. • Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley star as Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, two worn-out fashionistas who endlessly indulge in cosmetic surgery, alcohol, drugs, sex, shopping sprees, and trips abroad. In the eight all-new episodes of Absolutely Fabulous: Series 5, Edina and Patsy’s agenda consists of book clubs with London’s top glitterati, weekends in the country a la Madonna and Guy, and intimate gatherings with Elton on the piano. But when Saffy (Julia Sawalha) returns from a few months as an aid worker, Edina’s heady world is turned upside down by the startling news that Saffy is pregnant! Babies and Bollinger don’t mix, after all . . . or do they? • And if that isn’t enough, there’s 15 minutes of outtakes! • From BBC Video (www.bbcamerica.com). —TC

Absolut Warhola
Described by Variety as “the film equivalent of a pleasant white wine with a kicker to it,” Absolut Warhola (2001) examines the surprising heritage of one of the most famous artists of the century, Andy Warhol. The film tracks his ancestry back to the small town of Miková in Eastern Europe and visits the only pop-art museum in Europe, located in nearby Medzilborce. • After traveling the countryside, director Stanislaw Mucha interviews the peasant relatives of Warhol about the art he created. Though aware of his success, these distant cousins have no understanding of his work. In fact, when he would send them his art, they would turn it into everyday items, such as toys and clothing. No one knows the man that left them so many years ago, but each is proud to call him their own and bear his old-world name Warhola. However, when it is suggested that he might have been homosexual, the consensus is that he was not “you know what.” One cousin is so sure that Warhol wasn’t gay that he proclaims that he knows for sure that there are no homosexuals in Miková! • Slovak and Ruthenian with English subtitles. From TLA Releasing (www.tlareleasing.com). —TC

Love Forbidden
After being emotionally damaged by his ex-girlfriend, Bruce (Rodolphe Marconi, who is also the film’s writer and director), a quiet and withdrawn filmmaker, becomes fixated on Matteo (Andrea Necci), a savvy local office intern, who becomes increasingly involved in Bruce’s life. He shows up at Bruce’s house without being invited, and takes Bruce on a tour of Rome, showing him the churches, the paintings, and the fountains. Bruce, who feels both moved and disturbed by his sudden, odd attraction to another man, falls under Matteo’s influence and into an ambiguous relationship with him. Then a newcomer, the punkish American girl Aston (Echo Danon), separately becomes a part of their lives. What begins as an idyllic work retreat soon evolves into a love triangle of confusion, aggression, and insanity. • Love Forbidden (Défense d’amier) is a 2002 film in French and Italian with English subtitles. From Strand Releasing (www.strandreleasing.com). —SL

Waiting for the Messiah
Set in Buenos Aires, Waiting for the Messiah (2000) explores the lives of two men and how they are affected by an economic collapse. Ariel (Daniel Hendler) dreads his predetermined future of living in the city’s Jewish section, working in his father’s restaurant, and marrying the nice Jewish “girl next door.” He gets a job working the nightshift at a video production company where he meets Catholic and bisexual Laura (Chiara Caselli), with whom he develops a passionate relationship. • In a parallel story line, Santamaría (Enrique Pineyro) is robbed of work, home, and wife by the collapse and is forced to the streets. • Directed by Daniel Burman. Spanish with English subtitles. From TLA Releasing (www.tlareleasing.com). —SL

Cock & Bull Story
Cock & Bull Story (2003) is the gritty tale of a gifted young boxer, Travis Coleman (Bret Roberts) and his deranged best pal Jack O’Malley (Brian Austin Green). • Travis’s budding career is quickly gaining momentum as he prepares for the biggest fight of his life. When Jack begins to question his friend’s masculinity, he sets off a series of violent confrontations, putting their friendship to the ultimate test that will change their lives forever. Between men like this, a touch can be more deadly than a punch. Variety: “Solid performances . . . a potent treatment of homophobic machismo.” • Cock & Bull Story (also known as Southside) is the debut feature from Billy Hayes, the man who lived to write about his experience in a Turkish prison, which became the book and Oscar-winning film Midnight Express. • Available May 18 from Wolfe Video (www.wolfevideo.com). —TC

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