I Am...Sasha Fierce

• Beyoncé - I Am...sasha Fierce (deluxe Version On 1 Disc

OBSESSED - DVD MovieObsessed is one of those movies best described as “a stylish thriller”: the characters are mostly young and gorgeous, with their white-collar gigs, designer duds, and fancy cars, and if there’s not much of substance to be found beneath those sleek, polished surfaces, well, who says a story must have a message to be entertaining? The comparisons to Fatal Attraction (with its jilted would-be lover going all psycho on the object of her, uh, affections) and Disclosure (with its reverse sexual harassment) are apt enough, but Obsessed is a little different. For starters, unlike the character played by Michael Douglas in Attraction, this film’s Derek Charles (Idris Elba) does little to encourage Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter), the temp worker at his asset-management firm wh! o gloms onto him like a lamprey sucking on its unwilling host; for another, Derek’s wife, Sharon (Beyonce Knowles), is no wallflower who stands idly and ignorantly by while her life is shredded by her hubby’s evasions and the increasingly crazed tactics of the woman who’s stalking him (it’s to the credit of director Steve Shill and screenwriter David Loughery that nothing whatsoever is made of the fact that Derek is black and Lisa is white). Still, the holes in the plot are big enough to drive several Mercedes sedans through. For one thing, Lisa’s fixation on Derek seems to come out of nowhere (if she has a past, we’re not told about it); what's more, even if Derek has broken his deal with Sharon not to have any female assistants (she was once one herself), it seems mighty extreme for her to kick him out of the house for three months simply for not coming completely clean about his mostly-innocent dealings with Lisa. Still, the film manages to make the ! viewer feel Derek’s helpless desperation at being targeted b! y this m anipulative nut job, and when Sharon finally confronts her family’s tormentor at the end (“You think you’re crazy? I’ll show you crazy!”), the result is silly but somehow satisfying. --Sam Graham I AM...SASHA FIERCE DELUXE - Includes five #1 hits "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)," "If I Were A Boy," "Halo," "Ego," and "Sweet Dreams." Also includes bonus tracks "Video Phone" featuring Lady GaGa and "Poison."(Amazon.co.uk Review) The latest outing from former Destiny's Child starlet Beyoncé is an intentionally schizophrenic affair. Splitting herself into two separate characters--herself and alter ego Sasha Fierce--is the artist's way of presenting what she obviously sees as an artistic duality. The first set, I Am..., is intended give a glimpse beneath the surface of her usual R&B-pop persona. Featuring recent single “If I Was a Boy", the soaring “Halo", and ballads like “Disappear", and “Ave Maria", it seems her “real" self is way mor! e saccharine than the lady that brought us sassy pop moments like “Crazy in Love" and “Baby Boy". That side of her personality comes rushing back out on Sasha Fierce, a more rousing collection that kicks off with the infectious handclaps of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", ventures into Euro-dance territory with “Radio", and gets surprisingly risque with the voyeuristic “Video Phone". Which part of the album you enjoy most will depend on your musical proclivities, but the new, bifurcated Beyoncé ensures there's enough diversity to satisfy the most demanding pop aficionado. --Danny McKenna