December 21, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I, II, III & IV • Page 23 Latest DVD releases (continued from page 22) He obsesses about rising on the career ladder. He gains women, prestige, and wealth but has yet to achieve his ultimate goal: to be the best known and most feared. There are some wonderfully cinematic scenes, such as one in which he uses a hotair balloon to sail up the side of a building so he can reach the right window, and another in which he unscrews a sink pipe from the basement and shoots the victim when he leans over. The problem with “Branded to Kill” is that it is tough to follow. In fact, it got Suzuki fired. The studio couldn’t make heads or tails of the movie and assumed the public would be thoroughly perplexed. What makes the film worth a look is its unusual treatment. Far more than a routine gangster flick, it shows a director unafraid to push the artistic envelope. Blu-ray extras include a new high-definition digital restoration, new interviews with Suzuki and Shishido, a 1997 Suzuki interview, and a booklet featuring a critical essay. “Branded to Kill” is in Japanese, with English subtitles. “Colin Quinn: Long Story Short” (Video Service Corp.) is Quinn’s oneman show, taped before a live audience at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theater. Quinn began his career in New York as a regular on the comedy show circuit and later was a cast member of “Saturday Night Live” for five seasons. This performance is not traditional stand-up, with one joke after another. Rather, it is a carefully constructed observation on human follies foibles, and frustrations. Quinn’s insights on how people interact with one another relate to contemporary life, but he also provides a historical overview of human nature going back to ancient Greece and Rome, and continuing through the height of the British Empire all the way up to the Jersey Shore with several stops along the way. For such an audacious attempt -- presenting a 75-minute humorous rant on the history of the world -- Quinn manages to pull off a thoughtful, funny look at the most advanced species on the planet. There are no extras.