His partner in beloved Mr. Show mayhem, Bob Odenkirk, has gone on to steal scenes in Breaking Bad, but David Cross hasn’t exactly disappeared into anonymity. He played identity-confused Tobias Funke on the wildly funny Arrested Development, while plenty of the adolescent set will recognize him as the smarmy record executive from the two hugely successful Alvin and the Chipmunks movies. Stand-up comedy is still in his heart and blood, however, which explains Bigger and Blackerer, his third comedy concert album and second DVD on Sub Pop Records.

Its title a riff on Chris Rock‘s Emmy-winning 1999 comedy concert special Bigger & Blacker, Cross’ DVD arrives with a crushed-velvet-Elvis-style cover that would make any kitsch collector beam with pride. Recorded over two separate, back-to-back sets on the same night at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre, and directed by Lance Bangs, the show opens with a kiddie emcee, “Lil’ Davey Cross,” doing a brief foul-mouthed bit, before Cross himself arrives to much fanfare.

It’s a bit surprising, given his veteran status, how much nervousness Cross still conveys on stage, but he incorporates some of that into his set here with a meta routine, in which he twice gets into it with audience members — one of whom is signing in ASL but misrepresenting his material, and the other of whom (the same guy, actually) is live-blogging the show and slagging Cross. These bits are amusing, but do drag on a bit. Cross is at his best when he’s just in warped observant storyteller mode, riffing on the supernatural powers of balance of heroin junkies and other things that get his goat, so to speak. He gets five or six minutes of pure gold out of a British “date rape awareness” postcard he stumbled across while visiting the United Kingdom.

A lot of Cross’ material is also politically-inflected. He cops to following the health care debate with great interest, since he’s “a fan of misspelled, grammatically incorrect hyperbole.” He also uses the Bible and Armageddon as windows into a scabrous examination of fundamentalism and the American religious right
(which, not surprisingly, he has issues with). And, amusingly, Bigger and Blackerer also provides insight into why Orthodox Jews are the true victims of global warming.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, David Cross: Bigger and Blackerer comes to DVD presented in a fold-out cardboard case with a clear plastic snap-in tray. A nice fold-out poster of the DVD and album cover (above) is tucked away in the sleeve, and bonus features include a small slice of excised material, much of it as funny if not even more so than the rest of the concert. In these deleted scenes, Cross assays Coors Light drinkers (and their need for cans that affirm their beer’s coldness), yogurt, and the inanity of certain Sky Mall products, like a “time mug.” There’s also seven minutes’ worth of material from a 2004 Seattle performance, in which Cross expresses outrage at the notion of electric scissors. Anyone familiar with Mr. Show‘s “Coupon: The Movie” sketch will smile in tangential reminiscence. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. B+ (Movie) B (Disc)

Neil deGrasse Tyson, as habitual viewers of The Daily Show and/or The Colbert Report know from his many appearances on those respective programs, is entertaining as all get-out, an engaging, chatty fellow who makes science cool. And ever since Pluto was downgraded from planet status, he’s been at the center of a swirling, out-of-this-world controversy.

Profiling this scientific contretemps in compressed but not slapdash fashion, the hour-long The Pluto Files, based on deGrasse Tyson’s book of the same name, details the efforts of its crusading astronomer, who is at the head of the team behind the recent uproar over Pluto’s status. Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has held a warm place in the public imagination. So, when the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium stopped calling Pluto a planet, director deGrasse Tyson found himself at the center of a firestorm — a firestorm led by angry, Pluto-loving elementary school students.

So what is it about this cold, distant rock that captures so many hearts? Oscar-nominated writer-director Terri Randall keeps this NOVA production smooth and streamlined, and
wisely gives the personable deGrasse Tyson plenty of room to operate. Her subject doesn’t disappoint, as he details the amazing story of Pluto’s initial discovery as well as the captivating science that surrounds this former planet, including the possibility of finding more Pluto-like objects in the mysterious Kuiper belt — an area of icy rocks at the edge of the solar system. From the scientists trying to classify Pluto to die-hard “Pluto-philes,” deGrasse Tyson takes viewers along on a fascinating journey through an engaging cast of characters with just one thing in common: strong opinions about Pluto.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, The Pluto Files comes to DVD presented in widescreen, with an English stereo audio track that more than adequately handles the meager aural demands of this title. Supplemental extras include a clutch of featurettes examining the formation of the universe, a smattering of outtakes, and an audio commentary track with the always entertaining deGrasse Tyson. To order a copy of The Pluto Files, Extreme Cave Diving or other PBS
titles, phone (800) PLAY-PBS or click here; or, if Amazon is totally your thing, click here. B (Movie) B+ (Disc)

Knuckle-duster cinema is a healthy straight-to-video sub-genre, for sure, but it’s usually rooted in stories of guys making their way up in the world, and not necessarily cross-pollinated with the DNA of mama bear protectionism. Trading in feminine-fringe fisticuffs in passably similar fashion to last year’s Fight Night, though, Bare Knuckles peddles an inspired-by-a-true-story tale of a cocktail waitress and single mom who steels her nerves to do “whatever it takes to provide for her daughter,” a cinematic sales phrase that usually involves the baring of much more skin than in this PG-13 flick.

For boxers and cagers, sometimes the lines blur between professionally sanctioned bouts and vicious backyard brawls tied to illegal gambling. When waitress Samantha Rogers (Jeanette Roxborough), trapped in a job she hates but willing to stay for the daughter she loves (Teya Roxborough), ends a bar fight between two drunk women, she catches the eye of a down-and-out fight promoter, Sonny Cool (Martin Kove). Sensing a lucrative partnership, he introduces her to “the show” — a highly lucrative, extremely dangerous and of course completely illegal underground world of high-stakes, all-female, bare-knuckle fighting. Blood-letting and deception ensue, against enough of an estrogenized backdrop of parental courage and love to hold the attention of at least a portion of the typical Lifetime set.

The chief appeal of Bare Knuckles centers around showing, in
puffed-chest fashion, how far a woman will go to provide for the ones
she loves — even in arenas maybe not conducive to her most immediate strengths. So while the world of mixed martial arts is increasingly popular and mainstream, hardcore fans of such head-clubbing mayhem may find their patience tested by all the feelings on display. Still, Roxborough’s performance is steely and committed (she picked up a Best
Actress prize at at the Downbeach Film Festival), even if she’s frequently not given the best dialogue with which to work. It helps, too, that the movie features a real-life female brawler like Bridget “Baby Doll” Riley,
a Black Belt Hall of Famer and the owner of five World Kickboxing titles and one
World Boxing title; she helps give Bare Knuckles a musky scent of authenticity. This isn’t the reinvention of the wheel, it’s true, but a rental won’t bruise your wallet if you’re so inclined.

Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, Bare Knuckles comes to DVD presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, enhanced for 16×9 televisions, with a Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound audio track and optional Spanish and English SDH subtitles. Its bonus features consist of a music video for the song “American Girl,” performed by Mylin, and a fairly cursory behind-the-scenes featurette. To purchase the disc via Amazon, click here. C+ (Movie) C- (Disc)