BOOKS ON FILM, MUSIC DOCS AND NEW DVDs - Back in August I dropped close to $100 on a membership to Cinema/Chicago because it promised discounts to the Chicago International Film Fest and free passes to special screenings -- and because you can really never have enough forms of ID. Well, the discounts at the Film Fest were good for all the movies except the ones I most wanted to see, and I've received zero invitations to special screenings... until yesterday, that is. Next Tuesday (1/7), I'll be attending a free viewing of 'The Hours', the Nicole Kidman/Meryl Streep/Julianne Moore battle for best actress based on Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel. Cunningham will be present for a post-screening discussion of the film, which should be interesting. I actually purchased the book over the holidays along with David Benioff's 'The 25th Hour,' which was the basis for Spike Lee's latest minus the "The." I'm torn right now because I'm 40 pages into 'The 25th Hour' and enjoying it, but debating whether I should commit to finishing the book before I see the movie, or just stopping now and finishing it after the film. As a general rule, if I'm going to read a book that has been made into a film, I like to read the book first since it was created first. The film is an interpretation of the book, so why not see exactly how it was interpreted -- it's a cause-and-effect sort of thing, if any of this makes any sense at all. At the same time, reading the book first can bias you toward the film if it leaves out favorite scenes, characters or subplots, in addition to ruining surprises and/or defusing suspense. I finished Chuck Pahlaniuk's 'Fight Club' about a week before seeing the movie, which meant Ed Norton's identity revelation near the end wasn't a revelation to me at all. It did shock the hell out of me reading the book, though, so I suppose I didn't really have anything spoiled for me. Coincidentally, of course, Ed Norton is also the star of '25th Hour.' * Speaking of artist appearances and the Chicago Film Fest, I never followed through on my promise to write about two music documentaries that I viewed back in September -- 'Only The Strong Survive' and 'Tribute' -- so I'll say something briefly about both now. The best part about seeing 'Survive,' a film about the great R&B and soul stars such as Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, and various Staxx recording artists who were big in the '50s through the '70s, is that director and documentary legend D.A. Pennebaker ('Don't Look Back') was at the screening and stuck around afterward for an audience Q&A. Pennebaker was joined by his partner/wife and co-director Chris Hegedus, one of the co-directors of last year's great 'Startup.com', and entertainment writer Roger Friedman who "stars" in the movie as he embarks on a journey to seek out his favorite performers. I enjoyed the film because I know very little about these artists and their music is great, but I think it actually would have been better served had the filmmakers stuck with the personal journey conceit. Friedman more or less disappears about 30 minutes in and the film basically becomes your grandfather's documentary. In addition, neither Pennebaker nor Friedman really probe into the lives of their subjects, settling instead for extended performance scenes comprised of copious closeups. Pennebaker addressed this concern in the post-Q&A when he said that he didn't realize he was using so many closeups until he saw the footage; while he was shooting, he was just so caught up in the revelrie of being close to these performers and their music that he kept creeping in. No documentarian is ever truly objective about their subjects, but Pennebaker and co. were maybe just a little too adoring. In contrast, the documentary 'Tribute,' about bands who devote themselves to copying their idols to sometimes ridiculous lengths, was occasionally too patronizing of its subjects -- not that these people don't deserve a little prodding. You simply can't beat watching a 40-year-old guy with a gut being forcibly put into his leather Gene Simmons garb. Or what about the 20-something dork from L.A. who is so delusional about the band Queen that while sitting outside Freddie Mercury's old L.A. home he notices a skywriter paying tribute to Princess Diana and without hesitation makes the connection that Freddie Mercury is sending him a sign -- Freddie is talking to him, showing his love for all humanity, through this skywriter? He's so emotional he almost breaks down in tears. I'm not kidding. The unintentional comedy is off the charts, which is also the movie's downfall. The movie focuses on bands paying tribute to Kiss, Queen, Judas Priest and the Monkees, and at times seems to be enjoying a little too much just how fanatical these people are in trying to emulate their heroes. It's the kind of situation where all of the people in the doc probably thought it was great to have the filmmakers around and then when they saw the final product felt betrayed because they were made to look like fools. * Hopefully you got some gift certificates for X-mas or have some extra holiday cash laying around because January is a great month for us DVD collectors. M. Night Shyamalan's 'Signs,' comes out next Tuesday (1/7) with director's commentary and deleted scenes. Not a fashionable movie to like, at least in film snob circles, but I've yet to be disappointed by Shyamalan's work. Also on the 7th is Migual Arteta's 'The Good Girl,' a film Sam and I were both ultimately disappointed with -- read our remarks from 8/27 here -- but found a number of parts to contain arguably the funniest dialogue of the year. Plus, the disc is loaded with a commentary by screenwriter and co-star Mike White, an alternate ending, director and cast commentary and deleted scenes. 'About a Boy' comes out on Jan. 14 with deleted scenes and commentary by the Weitz brothers. Then on Jan. 21 we get the collector's edition of 'The Bourne Identity' complete with cast commentary, Doug Liman commentary, deleted scenes and an alternate ending with Liman's commentary.

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