On the surface, the concept behind HBO’s drama In Treatment doesn’t seem to elicit the same excitement as say a show about Jersey mobsters or Hollywood hangers on, but given a chance the series is remarkably addictive. Adapted from a popular Israeli TV series, Gabriel Byrne plays Paul, a psychologist with his own emotional and family problems.
Paramount has taken the rug out from a number of the shady fly by night video distributors and eBay markup-artists with their Centennial Collection. The collection itself captures a number of old films (Sunset Boulevard, Sabrina, Breakfast at Tiffany’s) that may have been originally placed on DVD with little or no extras, poor audio or video transfers, or had their limited DVD runs sell out and places a number of…
While I understand that there are thousands of movies that came out before The Kite Runner that should make it onto Blu-Ray (even some that never made the jump from VHS to DVD), The Kite Runner is one of the few films that I would have cut in line. The store, regarding the different paths taken by two children (which ultimately converge in some of the most emotional cinematography I’ve…
When I was still in elementary school, the Goosebumps books were originally released. The overwhelming popularity of the R.L. Stine titles made it a forgone conclusion that it would be transformed into a television show, and Nickelodeon brought it on board in the middle-to-late nineties. Fox recalls well the popularity of Goosebumps and has decided to release episode packs, two of which hit stores this March. Both “Return of the…
When it first aired in 2002-2003, it was pretty obvious the sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe was never going to make it. It was original, there was no laugh track and it was on Fox, the temporary home to shows like Arrested Development and The Tick (a network gifted with spotting hilarious sitcoms, putting them on the air just long enough to hook people and then giving them the…
Five minutes into Ricky Gervais’ latest stand-up special he launches into a series of jokes about cancer. It’s at that point you realize that the heir to the late George Carlin’s brilliantly frank comedy has been found. Over the course of just over an hour, Gervais tackles everything from obesity (which is decidedly funny coming from the portly British comic) to the top 10 alternatives to risky gay sex (compliments…
Twelve years into it, South Park still manages to be surprisingly fresh. Any argument against that statement is squelched with the third episode into this collection, “Major Boobage,†an homage to the classic stoner cartoon Heavy Metal thanks to cat urine. Sure the cartoons are still crudely drawn and the jokes even cruder, but let’s be honest you either think fourth graders saying “fuck†is funny or you don’t.
I’ve never really understood the fascination with concert DVDs. They always seemed to be a bit like dry humping to me – not even close to the real thing. The whole point of a going to a show is the experience: sweating your ass off, getting beer spilled on you, leaving the club with ringing ears and your voice shot. Thankfully, NOFX’s latest video tour diary – originally aired on…
Secrets of the Furious Five is a short-form sequel of sorts to Kung Fu Panda. Originally presented as an additional feature present on the Kung Fu Panda release, it was broken out to its own DVD release with the inclusion of a number of additional features. The movie starts out with Po being tapped by Master Shifu to head up a class teaching karate to younger (rabbit) individuals; through telling…
It’s a little surprising that the religious right, usually front and center, picket signs and bull horns in hand at any movie even vaguely touching on Christianity, never bothered to turn out in force to picket Bill Maher’s wickedly funny, and powerful documentary on religion. Judging by the early rumblings against the soon-to-be-released sequel to the Da Vinci Code, it can’t be that they have finally learned that this is…
Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan has somehow stumbled on that rare combination of a fantastically gripping story, the perfect cast and excellent writing. Not since The Sopranos have all of the elements for a truly great TV drama series come together so quickly. The series centers around Walter (played by Bryan Cranston), a brilliant scientist, now stuck teaching chemistry to apathetic high schoolers in Albuquerque and worrying about day-to-day bills.
Much like the first season of Arrested Development, HBO’s cult comedy Summer Heights High is wildly cherished by those few lucky enough to have somehow stumbled across it, meanwhile try and describe the premise to anyone unaware of the show and chances are the blank stare will remind of just how small that cult surrounding the show actually is right now.
Judging from the news coverage, you’d think Slumdog Millionaire and Benjamin Buttons were the only two movies nominated for Oscars this year. While those two movies have been sharing all the ink, thanks to genre hybrids and amazing special effects, the subtly stellar and so far grossly underrated Frozen River manages to get by solely on fantastic acting and a strong character driven storyline.
You’d think making a comedy about rock would be easy, but Spinal Tap pretty much used up most of the good jokes. The video store shelves are lined with decent attempts to mine laughs from the world of rock music that never really manage to elicit more than a few chuckles (viewed sober, of course).
This DVD set captured the first half of the second season, which ran through 1978. It also provides the perfect marathon fodder, as taken all together the episodes will keep individuals busy for nearly 12 hours (11 hours, 52 minutes if you want specificity). The only bonus feature that is present is promos (as in promotional videos shown during other commercials) for each of the different episodes; this will provide…
Fox is one of the few companies that is currently producing Blu-Ray discs that really know how to push the disc to its limits. Take for example, the recently-released unrated version of Max Payne. Aside from having both the theatrical and unrated versions of the films present, Fox has filled this Blu-Ray release to the brim with additional features. This two-disc special edition is the end-all, be-all for anyone that…
I remember when Oliver and Company was first released; I was 6, and recalled wanting to see the film when it was first released. However, in the years that passed, the film has fallen out of my memory, until Disney announced plans that they were going to release an updated DVD for the film’s twentieth anniversary celebration. This DVD is what we hold in our hands, and it features a…
Cheers is one of a few shows that stayed strong, even as the show wound down in the 1992 – 1993 season. Cheers: The Final Season captures this and showcases another interesting thing. This is the fact that a typical show’s runtime was much longer season-wise then (23 episodes are present on this DVD set, where most shows sputter out in the 15-20 episode range). This 4-disc set ensures that…
This DVD set has a high value for fans of ambient or new takes on classical music. This is due to the fact that Brian Eno’s (and Bang on a Can All-Stars) “Music for Airports†is present, while Frank Scheffer’s “In the Ocean†operates as the B-side to “Music for Airportsâ€. Together, these pieces hover at about 105 minutes, allowing viewers to get deep into the heads of everyone associated…
Just barely missing the twenty-five year anniversary of the show, MPI has captured the 1983 mini-series Kennedy and released it this year. I was not aware of this series before receiving this title from MPI themselves: after investing six hours of my time, I soon realized that not familiarizing myself with the show before then was a folly. Martin Sheen captures all the mannerisms and idiosyncrasies of John F. Kennedy;…