“The Twilight Zone: Season One” (CBS Home Entertainment)
Air travel could induce a cold sweat back when William Shatner had his “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” but he didn’t have to face body scans and pat-downs on his way to the gate. The remake is a twisting story of conspiracy theories, malevolent podcasts and the connectivity of disconnection. It’s thoroughly in our moment, conjuring gremlins in human form worse than the critter Shatner saw on the plane’s wing.
Executive producer Jordan Peele (Get Out) delivers the pinch-lipped monologues in this inventive yet respectful 2019 reinvention of Rod Serling’s classic series. The Blu-ray and DVD sets include all 10 episodes plus making-of documentaries. According to Peele, “We feel like we’re living in a twilight zone” these last few years. Fear can be faced through genre storytelling, he adds hopefully, even as Faustian bargains continue to be struck. “The Twilight Zone’s” cinematography, editing, composition and screenwriting put most theatrical releases to shame.
Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
The Miami Herald broke the rumor about one-time Democratic presidential campaign frontrunner Gary Hart’s infidelity, but the National Enquirer nailed the story with incriminating photos. Hart’s once very promising presidential candidacy was permanently derailed, history was changed, journalism devolved into trash and politics became pop culture. That’s the conclusion of Carl Bernstein, one of many interviewees in Mark Landsman’s fascinating, snappily put-together documentary on America’s bestselling newspaper.
Mobbed-up from the get-go, the Enquirer’s founder established a formula of titillating silliness and celebrity culture melded with celebrity shame. The rag played favorites. The Enquirer killed stories about Bill Cosby’s behavior in the 1980s and, in the 2010s, killed similar stories about Donald Trump. Regarding the latter, his association with the Enquirer goes back decades. According to veteran reporters, Trump used to disguise his voice and call the paper to plant rumors about himself. Scandalous informatively chronicles the erosion of public confidence in truth and the slide into “alternative facts.”
