Best Buy Deals
DVD’s
DVD Review: Cougar Town – The Complete First Season
Buena Vista | 552 Minutes | 2009 | NR
When Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence announced he had a new series in development, I couldn’t help but be intrigued. When he said, “The show came from not only hearing stories from single friends about what it means to be single and 40, but just the process of aging for a woman that is just so complicated and funny to me,” it was clear he and co-creator Kevin Biegel, ( also a Scrubs alumnus), weren’t looking to create a Scrubs clone. No matter, when I heard Friends star Courtney Cox was involved, I remained intrigued.
Cox plays 40-year-old Jules Cobb, a recently divorced single mom and real estate agent in the fictional coastal town of Gulfhaven, Florida. Her attempts to rejoin the dating game form the plot for the first few episodes and explain the title: “One time!” she exclaims after bedding a much younger man in the Pilot episode. “I did it one time and I’m already one of them?!” Thankfully, if you stick with it, Cougar Town morphs into a show about people trying to navigate their way through the often rocky world of dating. Aside from the dating issues, Cougar Town is also a show about the age old issues of family dynamics and friendship.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Monarchy – The Complete Series
Acorn Media | 2004 | 776 mins. | NR
Hosted by Dr. David Starkey, noted historian, author and British TV host Monarchy: The Complete Series examines the lineage of the British kings and queens through the 1,500 year-long tradition of monarchy in England, providing a surprisingly entertaining history lesson that looks at the most stable continuation of governance in European history, an evolved form of government that led to the first truly modern nation-state. Granted, eagle-eyed viewers will notice the missing 2007 episode, The Windsors, which brought the series up to the modern day.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: One Tree Hill – The Complete Seventh Season
Warner Bros | 2009 | 924 mins. | NR
The seventh season is set one year into the future after the sixth season, without former co-stars Chad Michael Murray and Hilarie Burton. The season introduces two new regular characters: Haley’s free spirited sister Quinn; and Nathan’s agent Clayton. Also, Danneel Harris who portrayed Rachel Gatina appears in a ten-episode arc, starting with the second episode. Always a troubling girl, Rachel returns to town as the wife of Dan Scott (Paul Johansson) who is now a wealthy author and motivational speaker. Austin Nichols, who portrays Julian Baker, and Jana Kramer, who portrays Alex Dupree, were promoted to full series regulars.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: TCM Classics – Errol Flynn Adventures
Warner Bros | 542 mins. | 1942-45 | Unrated
Warner Brothers consistently does a great job paying tribute to classic Hollywood. Whether it be there Signature Series, TCM Classics or something else, the WB seems to be the place to go for some of the best in ‘Star” box sets. The recent Errol Flynn Adventures set is similar to the studio’s Film Noir Collection: Volume 5, in that they provide an opportunity to check out movies that die-hard fans of classic cinema may have heard of but never seen. As such, any student of film should be happy to finally have these available on DVD.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Ugly Betty – The Complete Fourth and Final Season
Disney / Buena Vista | 2009 | 860 mins. | NR
While Ugly Betty had been a fairly popular series, with star America Ferrera nabbing both a Golden Globe and an Emmy award, by the third season ratings were on the decline. By the fourth season, ABC clearly had little faith in the longevity of the show. The network moved the show from its Thursday night timeslot and shifted it to Fridays, one hour later. Its audience virtually halved overnight, and at midseason after an ABC series on Wednesday night quickly flopped, Betty was shifted into its time slot: 10 p.m., a decision that sealed its fate. ABC confirmed in January of 2010, that the last original episode of Ugly Betty would air in April of that same year.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Kansas City Royals – 1985 World Series Collector’s Edition
A&E | 1985 | 1075 mins. | Unrated
In the 21st century, the Kansas City Royals can’t be considered much more than flat out bad. They’ve had a revolving door of managers, draft pick flameouts and free agency flops. However, when the 1969 expansion team first came on the scene, they were very good out of the gate. The team challenged for their first division title in 1971, notching their first flag in 1976. Naturally, there was little concern when then the young squad got bounced out of the playoffs in their first appearance—they took the Yankees to five games—but tensions increased when they lost to the Bronx Bombers each of the next two seasons. 1980 saw the Royals finally sweep the Yankees, only to lose to the underdog Phillies in the World Series.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Black Orpheus
Criterion | 1959 | 107 mins. | Not Rated
One of my music appreciation teachers in college, a man in his sixties, would often regal us with tales of his adventures as a youth going to the local art house cinema to see Black Orpheus. “The theater would come alive with the sound of Bossa Nova music and I just knew I had to visit Brazil someday.” I’ll always remember that professor, because it was in his class that I first saw Black Orpheus, and was introduced to the genius that is composer Antônio Carlos Jobim.
In 1959, the art house movie populace was transfixed by director Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus, a French movie made in Brazil that features wall-to-wall Bossa Nova music by the creators of Bossa Nova, Luis Bonfá, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. The constant rhythm fill out the background of a musical fantasy set in the slums of Rio de Janiero. The movie is not a documentary of slum conditions and not realistic; it’s written as a fantasy adaptation of the Orpheus legend.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Max Headroom – The Complete Series
Shout Factory | 1987 | 660 mins. | Not Rated
Created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton and portrayed by Matt Frewer, Max Headroom was a product of British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. Anyone over thirty years old will likely recall the ubiquitous New Coke commercials in the 80′s featuring the faux-computer generated wise-cracking pitchman. Max Headroom, the television series, was based on the Channel 4 British TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. When the movie aired in 1985, MTV was all the rage and the Max Headroom character fit right into that craze.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: L’enfance Nue
Criterion | 1968 | 83 mins. | Not Rated
Though he didn’t make his directorial debut until age 43, and his resume consists of only ten features in thirty five years, Maurice Pialat nonetheless staked out a place for himself in the illustrious annals of French Cinema. With the 1968 release of L’enfance Nue, it was immediately clear that Pialat wasn’t in the business of making crowd pleasers; in fact audiences were likely to find themselves uncomfortable with every frame.
With L’enfance Nue, Pialat takes an unflinching look at wayward youth. Fans of French Cinema will find it difficult not to make comparisons with Truffaut’s groundbreaking 400 Blows made almost a decade earlier. (Consequently, Truffaut was one of the producers of Nue.) Looking very similar to Jean-Pierre Léaud, Michael Terrazon’s 10 year old François could in some ways be seen as an extension of Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel. However, almost from the start, Pialat makes his young man much less of an outwardly sympathetic character.
Read the full post »
DVD Review: Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5
Warner Bros. | 683 Mins. | 1945-1956 | Unrated
Three years after the last release, Warner Bros. has returned with the fifth volume of their Film Noir Classics Collection. While there may not be any immediately recognizable films in this eight movie, four disc set, there are definitely a few gems to be found for fans of the noir genre. The titles here clearly come from deep in the vault. A few are directed by well respected talents in the industry and feature recognizable character actors in lead roles. So, while casual fans of noir may give this one a pass, for those that want to dig a little deeper into the genre this set is perfect.
Read the full post »
