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  • SF Weekly

    Identity Plagiarism

    A blogger steals someone else's life story and calls it her own.

    By Ashley Harrell

  • Westword

    Fuel's Gold

    How William Orr's quest for better, cheaper gas became a crime.

    By Alan Prendergast

  • Miami New Times

    Mold Over Miami

    The family of a dead judge blames a creeping fungus in the federal courthouse.

    By Tim Elfrink

Legs to Spare

By Jordan Harper, Robert Wilonsky

Published on September 13, 2007

 The Graduate: 40th Anniversary Edition

(MGM) Fifteen years after its last home-video commemorative edition (extras from which appear here), The Graduate once more gets the bonus-laden makeover -- and if ever a movie deserved its kudos, it's Mike Nichols' masterwork. That said, the movie is its own bonus; not since its release has an American film approached its beauty and wisdom, its style and its substance, its perfect melding of cinema's visual possibilities and the stage's visceral ramifications -- it's the most beautiful film to look at and listen to, despite the ugliness of its emotions not so deep down. The commentaries -- one with Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross; another with Nichols and Steven Soderbergh -- are essential, and if ever one needed reminding of the movie's influence, the Students of the Graduate doc is happy to oblige. Among its guests are filmmakers Harold Ramis, Marc Forster, Jonathan Dayton, and Valerie Faris. But where is Wes Anderson, who owes his whole career to this one film? -- Robert Wilonsky

American Cannibal

(Lifesize Entertainment) At the outset of this doc, two TV writers are asked whether they've perhaps sold out. They respond with a series of hems and haws, but the film that follows supplies a resounding yep. The story: After their desperately unfunny sitcom pilot isn't picked up, the pair foray into reality television and succeed in selling their loathsome concept: Survivor plus fake cannibalism. American Cannibal fires some easy shots at the vapidness of TV and the phenomenon of reality stardom, but it hardly even touches on the bullshit show it revolves around. By the time the series has fallen to pieces, the movie's in tatters too. -- Jordan Harper

A Few Days in September

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