With his shock of white hair and broad, friendly face,
master guitarist Larry Coryell looks a bit like Harry Caray by way of Saturday Night Live’s master
impressionist Darrell Hammond. A pioneer of rock-jazz fusion, Coryell has, over
the course of a long and lucrative career, recorded as a bandleader, soloist
and featured player, while also cultivating a reputation as one heck of a nice
guy — a virtuoso craftsman with the disposition of an amiable and knowledgeable
guitar shop veteran.

Recorded at The Avalon Club in Hollywood,
on October 13, 2005, the
two-disc, simply titled A Retrospective
provides an alluring overview of his canon. Given Coryell’s ample output — more
than 70 albums over the past three-plus decades, from his groundbreaking work
with The 11th House to a string of solo albums for Arista Records in the late 1970s
— any sort of whittling down is bound to produce debate centered as much around
the exclusions as the songs that made the final cut. Believe it or not, I’d
never heard of Coryell until his fine interpretations of Ravel and Gershwin in
the 1990s — music not included here. Based on the alternately electrifying and
evocative nature of what is here,
though, it’s hard to argue too much with the final track listing.

Influenced in equal measure by Chet Atkins and the note-bending
work of Jimi Hendrix, Coryell is a monster on guitar throughout the show, and frequent
collaborator Bernard “Pretty” Purdie sits in on drums, to nice effect. Several
special guests, including Maroon 5’s James Valentine and Los Lobos’ David
Hidalgo, also drop by and lend their talents in homage to Coryell. A fairly simple
introduction gives way to “After Later,” and the two-fer of “Souls Meeting” and
“Souls Dirge” is surely something in which modern-day Arcade Fire fans could find
purchase. The rest of the track listing is as follows: “Hidalgo Rehearsal,”
“Slow Blues,” “Half a Heart,” “Valentine Rehearsal,” “Beautiful Woman,” “Stiff
Neck,” “Morning Sickness,” “Beyond This Chilling Wind,” “Spaces (Infinite)” and
“Dragon Gate.”

Presented on region-free discs in a widescreen aspect ratio
enhanced for 16×9 televisions, A
Retrospective comes anchored by a somewhat desultory stereo PCM audio track, and
packaged in a standard Amray case with snap-tray insert. While a straightforward
biography would have been a nice inclusion for neophyte jazz fans, special
features consist of additional rehearsal footage of tunes not featured in
concert, as well as an interview with the humble Coryell, who hints at a bout
with drug addiction that cost him some of his best years. B (Concert) B (Disc)

Though part of me can’t believe in its actual existence, I heard a rumor that Rush Hour 3 is actually coming out later this summer, so to “swoll” the archives, as the kids (probably don’t) say, comes this re-posting of Rush Hour 2 on DVD, originally published upon its release… what was that, six years ago? Wow. To wit:

In a way, I may be colored by my friend’s prior
interpretation of the film, but watching Rush
Hour 2 I did indeed feel like it was a throwback to those old ’80s buddy
movies, when fleeing villains scaled bamboo latticework (just ’cuz) and heroes
kicked their way through elaborately choreographed fight sequences while
wearing nothing more than a towel wrapped around their waist. Rush Hour 2’s plot is utterly ridiculous
(a smuggling ring, some counterfeit money, revenge for a father’s death and
Zhang Ziyi kicking ass), but it’s hard to take seriously or bear much animosity
toward a movie in which one of the main characters moves the story along by
elucidating his theory of investigation thusly: “Follow the rich white man.” So
Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and his mouthy Western counterpart, Detective James
Carter (Chris Tucker), bop from Hong Kong to Los
Angeles, chasing people, having fun, yadda, yadda. Devoted fans
of the principals will be suitably entertained, others by degrees less so.

New Line’s Infinifilm DVD release, though, really decks out
the title with a slew of extras. For those unfamiliar with this line, pop-up
menus allow access to content specifically relating to given scenes on the
screen, interstitial micro-docs on everything from the fashion of the film to
the rehearsals for its action sequences. There are also a bunch of other supplemental features, including animated scene selection, an audio commentary track with director Brett Ratner and writer
Jeff Nathanson, Ratner’s student film Lady
Luck, a script-to-screen function, deleted scenes and five minutes of
outtakes. Graphically, the layout for the special features is a bit cramped,
but the menu does include running times for each option, which is a helpful
bonus. C (Movie) B+ (Disc)