Whaddya know, even highfalutin video outlets like Boite Noire offer potentially choice bits of trash. I use the word potentially because I rented a copy of Deep Blue Sea last weekend, and despite its promising elements (big sharks, explosions, sexy people in wet outfits), this film sucks sea shells by the sea shore. The film tries desperately to steal the very best bits from Jaws and Aliens, but to absolutely no avail. Worse still, there's the entirely cynical inclusion of a wise-cracking black character, a one-dimensional cut-out who's clearly there for no other reason but to appeal to a black moviegoing demographic. I'm all for more minority-status characters in movies, but this has nothing to do with honest efforts to create onscreen diversity. Paddle clear of this wreckage on the high seas!

A film that never made the big screen in Montreal has arrived on video: Get Bruce is a truly funny look at the creative process behind the comedy wuenderkind Bruce Vilanch, a gag writer for virtually everyone who's ever done stand-up (he's also a columnist at The Advocate). Vilanch is joined by Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Roseanne (among many others), all of who shed some light on what drives Vilanch and how he comes up with seemingly neverending one-liners.

--Matthew Hays