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‘Bottle Shock’ a Can’t Miss film worth savoring

“Bottle Shock” tells the true story of how a trip to Paris for an international wine competition in 1976 helped launch the Napa Valley into the elite company of the world’s vino-sipping snobs, plus Johnny Cash on PBS and Conor Oberst's solo album.
/ Source: msnbc.com contributor

Movies

Back in the ‘70s, well before the Napa Valley became known as a mecca for wine lovers around the world, and way before “Sideways” brought even more customers to the California wine business, Jim Barrett struggled to come up with the perfect chardonnay. While puttering around with his casks and his vineyards, he was also knocking heads with his son Bo, who wasn’t as excited about the wine biz as his dad. “Bottle Shock” tells the true story of how a trip to Paris for an international wine competition in 1976 helped launch the Napa Valley into the elite company of the world’s vino-sipping snobs. Bill Pullman’s performance as the passionate bottle baron is fragrant and complex without being oft-putting, and it’s great with fish and chicken. (Freestyle Releasing, opens Wednesday)

Television

**FILE** Country singer Johnny Cash poses outside the Folsom Prison in California in this January 13, 1968 file photo, the day he recorded his live album \"Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.\"   Producers of an upcoming movie on the life of country music singer Johnny Cash say they may start shooting in June 2004. (AP Photo/Dan Poush, File)
**FILE** Country singer Johnny Cash poses outside the Folsom Prison in California in this January 13, 1968 file photo, the day he recorded his live album \"Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison.\" Producers of an upcoming movie on the life of country music singer Johnny Cash say they may start shooting in June 2004. (AP Photo/Dan Poush, File)Dan Poush / JOHNNY CASH COLLECTION

If you’re a Johnny Cash fan and you watched “Walk The Line,” you probably came away thinking your hero had some mighty big flaws. That biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix showed The Man In Black warts and all. But the documentary “Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music” contains almost no warts, because it was filmed in 1968 and ’69 by director Robert Elfstrom at the height of Cash’s popularity, and his music was so prominent in his life that it succeeded in obscuring everything else. The film was shown on public television shortly after it was made, but it has not screened much since. This is a chance to catch Cash in his pure form, singing favorites like “Ring of Fire” and “Folsom Prison Blues” and mingling with celebrities like Bob Dylan. Sometimes the whole truth is welcome. And sometimes it’s nice to just pick out the fond memories and toss the rest in the trash. (PBS, Tuesday, 10 p.m.)

Music

It’s almost impossible to separate Conor Oberst from Bright Eyes. The singer-songwriter and the Omaha-based loose collection of collaborators for which he serves as heart and soul have been together in some form since the late ‘90s. Yet Oberst has succeeded in making the split himself, albeit temporarily. “Conor Oberst” is a solo effort, his first in 13 years, with help from something called the Mystic Valley Band. Recorded in Mexico, it’s more of the penetrating alternative folk-rock he’s known for, with highlights that include “Milk Thistle,” “Get-Well-Cards” and “I Don’t Want To Die in the Hospital.” Oberst likes to show up surrounded by fresh new musicians, but occupying center stage is always one of the best songwriters working today. This is just more of the same with a new name. (Merge Records)

DVD

Tyrone Power is one of those iconic American actors who, for whatever reason, gets the “Oh yes, I forgot about him” reaction from present-day film buffs whenever Hollywood heartthrobs of yesteryear are mentioned. But there was a time when his image made the ladies swoon, and he had enough in the way of acting chops to satisfy the critics as well. After releasing an earlier DVD set and getting a favorable response, Fox has put together a new “Tyrone Power Matinee Idol Collection” featuring 10 of his films, mostly from early in his career. Among the better ones are the gangster drama “Johnny Apollo” and the light comedy, “Café Metropole.” November 15 will mark the 50th anniversary of his death, and tributes will be plentiful. This will get you started. (20th Century Fox)

Books

George Pelecanos knows crime. He’s not a cop. He’s not a criminal. He’s just a guy with an imagination and a feel for the darker elements of the human soul. He’s back with a new novel called “The Turnaround,” which takes place in and around Washington, D.C., beginning in 1972. Three white teenagers and three black teenagers are involved in an incident that changes their lives forever, and the story jumps to the present day to chronicle the fallout of that fateful event after many years. Pelecanos isn’t just interested in the procedural. He creates flesh-and-blood characters and then immerses them in tangled webs of human interaction that often span decades. He could probably walk down to the local precinct, dust off some cold case files and solve them on the spot, because he’s already written lots of stuff just like them. (Little, Brown and Company)