1 "The Homesman" is a 19th-century feminist western epic, a morbidly amusing prairie farce and a strange action-adventure yarn. That's exactly what director Tommy Lee Jones wanted in this odd and irresistible frontier saga featuring the all-star cast of Hilary Swank (pictured), John Lithgow, Meryl Streep, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, William Fichtner and Jones. Absurdity and calamity collide without warning, yet the story delights from its charming lead performances to the remarkably fine climax.
4 America's current racial tension lends an all-too-fresh relevance to the lyrical themes, but the real revelation in the new reissues of Public Enemy's two greatest albums —1988's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" and 1990's "Fear of a Black Planet" — is how timeless the music sounds. That's something that can't be said of a lot of other pioneering hip-hop. "Fear," in particular, even out-blasts most of today's hardest-edged rap albums with such classics as "Fight the Power" and "Welcome to the Terrordome." The expanded editions include remixes and instrumental versions of the original tracks, proof there's a lot more to hip-hop than pressing a button. These songs still press so many buttons.
5 Vimeo's web series "High Maintenance" — about a guy who delivers weed on his bike to a variety of customers around New York City — is the brainchild of a former "30 Rock" casting director and her husband. Less about getting stoned than a string of amusing character sketches, the show is so good that they're actually charging eight bucks to stream the second season. But you can still watch the first for free here: http://vimeo.com/channels/highmaintenance
3 "Oooooooo!" A new six-disc collection of "The Merv Griffin Show" may come across as dated with its second-rate furniture and overenthusiastic host, but that's sort of the point. The retrospective takes you back in time when TV was more seat-of-your pants and, in a sense, even naughtier. Griffin baiting Richard Pryor and Eartha Kitt into a fight with a cranky Phil Spector may be the best clip you've never seen.
2 Despite the title "Twerking Around the Christmas Tree," there's not an abundance of pelvic thrusting and shaking at the Brave New Workshop's annual holiday show. As usual, local-reference jokes are sprinkled throughout — snow emergencies, passive aggression, having an extremely white, white Christmas — with a special cameo this time that feasts on the travails of Vikings star Adrian Peterson. Pop-culture topics du jour also are milked, and once again for the finale they roast their old chestnut, a rapid-fire "Twelve Days of Christmas" that has nothing whatever to do with partridges or turtle doves. www.bravenewworkshop.com
