By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

“Tongues Untied” (Frameline/Strand Releasing)—Bookended by a “brother to brother” chant, the acclaimed and, according to Jesse Helms and other right wing fanatics, controversial and unapologetic 1990 documentary “Tongues Untied” by the late gay filmmaker Marlon Riggs serves to move black gay men from silence and invisibility to being vocal and visible. Riggs achieves this through artful use of poetry (primarily by the late gay writer Essex Hemphill) and monologues, acknowledging and celebrating that “black men loving black men is the revolutionary act.”

Mute and tongue-tied no more, the men in “Tongues Untied” set out to break the silence through a series of monologues and group scenes that touch on political activism, racism, a basic lesson in “snapping,” rage, the anti-gay rhetoric of both the church and a high profile entertainer such as Eddie Murphy, ball culture in New York, eroticism and the scourge of AIDS. One extended scene focuses on the painful journey from “punk” to “homo” to “faggot” to “freak,” all the while being “cornered by identities” that one speaker never wanted to claim. In San Francisco, the same speaker becomes “immersed in vanilla” while also becoming keenly aware of his invisibility in the “great gay Mecca.”

Almost 20 years after it was made, “Tongues Untied” has lost none of its impact and is required viewing by all members of the LGBT community. DVD special features include a 1991 interview with Riggs, extra scenes and interviews with AIDS activist Phill Wilson, cultural critic Herman Gray, filmmaker Isaac Julien and hip-hop artist Juba Kalamka.

“Sydney White” (Universal)—In this modern re-telling of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” the titular character Sydney (Amanda Bynes, still mugging for the camera) is heading for her freshman year of college at Southern Atlantic University. Sydney was raised by her widower/plumber dad Paul (John Schneider) and his construction worker pals because her mom died when Sydney was nine.

Sydney is pledging the Kappa sorority because she is a legacy, but a lot has changed in the Kappa house since her mom Deb was a sorority sister. The evil queen on campus, Rachel (Sara Paxton), checks the online hot/not hot poll daily to make sure that she is still the fairest of them all. However, the arrival of Sydney and the attention being paid to her by the aptly named frat stud Tyler Prince (Matt Long) throws Rachel into a wicked tizzy. After publicly humiliating her during her attempt to pledge Kappa, Rachel sends Sydney packing, and she ends up on the doorstep of the rundown house known as The Vortex, the overflow student housing site which serves as home to the seven dorks.

Sydney moves in with sneezy Lenny (Jack Carpenter),  sleepy Embele (Donté Bonner), bashful Jeremy (Adam Hendershott), dopey George (Arnie Pantoja), grumpy Gurkin (Danny Strong), happy Sparky (Samm Levine) and Doc-like Terence (Jeremy Howard) and sets about making changes in their lives and in the lives of the underrepresented student majority on campus. Naturally, Rachel isn’t having it when Tyler shows more than the least bit of interest in Syndey and she sets out to destroy her rival. The Greeks versus the geeks tale is essentially Mean Girls goes to college, minus the sharp social commentary. In fact, the unfortunate overuse of student stereotypes (goth, GLBT, ROTC, religious and ethnic) threatens to take a bite out of the often-witty material. The bounty of bonus features includes a gag reel, deleted scenes and more than seven featurettes.