You're as Cold as Ice

Whenever BBC Earth debuts a new miniseries it is definitely an event starting with Planet Earth in 2006 and continued with Life in 2009 (see my review: Life Is Sweet). The same team behind those two features is back with their coolest project yet, Frozen Planet. Not surprisingly the documentaries take us to the two extremes of the Earth from the Arctic Ocean to Antarctica to study the animals they live in the harsh conditions and the ever changing terrain.



The DVD package spreads the seven episodes across three disks with a couple of special features. There is a twenty minute featurette about the scientific exploration at the South Pole. Yes there is a fully insolated science station at the most Southern point of the planet, watching the feature makes me want to find a way to get to visit there. The producers of Frozen Planets are hosting a contest, though not to the South Pole but a six day, five night trip to Manitoba to visit the polar bears of Churchill. Head over to frozenplanetdvd.com to enter. Other special features include a set of forty-seven production video diaries from those that made Frozen Planet that range from one to four minutes. There is also a special episode of Frozen Planet entitled The Epic Journey that is basically a greatest hits version of the seven episodes.



The bulk of the miniseries is dedicated to the four seasons with spring, summer, autumn, and winter getting their own episode. The viewers will get a heavy dose of how polar bears and penguins adapt to the season during these episodes (yes, there is some overlap from the March of the Penguins documentary but Frozen Planet goes into much deeper detail into the year in the life of the animal than the movie) with cameos from other cold weather inhabitants including bison, wolves, whales, seals (there is very graphic love making scene which unfortunately I cannot un-see) and many other. We even meet a caterpillar that actually freezes every winter for over a decade before it transform into a moth.



It is rare to see any human beings in any of these series from BBC Earth, but mankind actually gets its own episode with the episode The Last Frontier that travels to the northern most points of humanity to see how people have adapted in such cold places as Siberia and Alaska as well following the steps of the first explorers they tried to be the first to either Pole. There is even a segment on just how far some Inuit will go to get food including scaling down the side of the mountain with nothing but a rope to collect eggs.



Fox New watchers may not want to put in the third disk because the only episode on it is the final one On Thin Ice which looks at how global warming is affecting both ends of the Earth. It show just how a couple degrees is affecting how much ice covers the poles and how the freshwater ice caps are falling into the ocean at a quicker rate (with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking a couple days ago, you will also get to see how icebergs are created). It is also show how the humans that live in the northern points of the Earth are dealing with the warming weather as well as animals at both ends are adapting.



As would expect based on previous series, Frozen Planet is a visual masterpiece with amazon shots that are even breathtaking in the DVD version (though if you do have a blu-ray player, I would recommend you spend the couple extra dollars to get the high definition version if the visuals are as stunning as they were on Life). This DVD set is based on the version of the series that aired BBC and is narrated by David Attenborough so fans of the version currently airing on Discovery with Adam Baldwin will probably have to wait a couple months for that to come out. But for those not a fan of anyone narrating and just want to take in the beautiful images without comment, you have the option to watch it with just the musical score. Personally I cannot wait to see what the team at BBC Earth has in store for us next, presumably in 2015.



Full Disclosure Notice: This series was given to me by BBC for the purpose of reviewing it.

There's No Need to Fear Underdog Is Here

Even though it ran for three short seasons during the sixties, Underdog was a mainstay of children’s television watching for decades. And now people who grew up with the cartoon can watch the series with their next generation without having to grimace through the live action film with the release of Underdog: The Complete Collector’s Edition. For the uninitiated, Underdog was a canine take on Superman with Underdog taking all the super powers of Superman but the clumsiness of Clark Kent. Oh yeah, and he speaks solely in prose.

The show is rounded out by Sweet Polly Purebred, the Lois Lane of the show, a reporter who finds herself captured by bad guys at a disturbingly high frequency. And what superhero would be without a rouge’s gallery and Underdog’s two main archenemies included Simon Bar Sinister, a mad scientist who would have a new diabolical machine he would create in hopes to rule the world with. Underdog would also have to butt heads with Rift Raft who more of an old time gangster who was content with doing evil the old fashion way, with a gun, and gang of thugs, and a cigar (I do not seeing Rift Raft making his way into a modern cartoon).



The episodes on Underdog: The Complete Collector’s Edition are based on the original NBC airing and featuring two Underdog segments along with a segment of Go Go Gophers and a Commander McBragg short for the first two seasons of Underdog while the third season features segments of Klondike Kat and either Tooter Turtle or The Hunter (for those that grew up with the syndicated version of Underdog and wonder where Tennessee Tuxedo And His Tales is, that show is getting its own release next month). The 62 episodes are spread across nine DVD’s with each all three seasons getting its own case. The full breakdown is the first season has 26 episodes on four DVD’s. The second season has 22 episodes on three DVD’s. While the third and final season just had 14 episodes on two DVD’s.

The Collector’s Edition comes with a twenty page booklet that tells the history of Underdog, for those not a big fan of reading, there is a featurette that goes over the same territory with people who helped create the show. Another extra feature included is an interview with Underdog co-creator Joe Harris who explains and narrates a never-before-seen storyboard he created for children he knew. There are also commentaries for ten segments featuring animation historian Mark Arnold talking about the show with co-creator Buck Biggers and Little House on the Prairie’s (and daughter of the voice of Sweet Polly Purebred) Alison Arngrim, while The Jay Leno Show announcer Wally Wingert chats with narrator of Underdog George S. Irving on a couple commentaries. The set also features alternative openings and closings.



Full Disclosure Notice: These DVD’s were given to me by Shout Factory for the purpose of review.

We’re Gonna Have the Hap-Hap-Happiest Christmas Since Bing Crosby Tap-danced with Danny Kaye

Christmas movies are the comfort food of the holidays, with multiple days off work or school and temperature too cold to actually go outside during the Christmas vacation, it is easy to sit in front of the television with a blanket on and watch some holiday fare, and since ‘tis the season any movie with snow will do. There are few Christmas movies that are legitimately good any time of year and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is one of the few and this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame.

Like the first two Vacation movies, Chevy Chase (Fletch) and Beverly D’Angelo (The House Bunny) reprise themselves as the married Griswolds. And like the previous two movies, their children are played by entirely different actors; this time inexplicably Audrey became older than Rusty for the first in the film and were played by the relatively unknown at the time Johnny Galecki (Suicide Kings) and Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers). There was also the returning Randy Quaid (who could not make it to Europe in the previous film) who torments the Griswolds in their own home this time around.

But like every Vacation movie, no matter how many people they try to bring in to steal his thunder, the star of the movie remains Chevy Chase as the bumbling father who thinks he has a chance with a younger woman and has one massive breakdown per movie because everything that could wrong does. And there were plenty of reasons for a break down this time around from unannounced guests to a light show that does not work right. But it is the lack of a Christmas bonus (or more specifically one that turns into jello) that sends him, and Cousin Eddie, who kidnaps his Scrooge of a boss and his wife, over the edge to high comedic results.

My fondest memory of the film happened in high school when my math teacher decided to show the movie before our Christmas vacation and “forgot” to bring the School Board edit version and instead watched the full unedited version instead (actually this was a common occurrence of my teacher as we also got the real version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in English one time). For those that do not have cool enough teachers, you can catch the movie playing on ABC Family this month on 12/7 and 12/12 both at 9:00.

Ephram, I am Going to Miss You and Your Sullen Ways

It only took five years, but starting today you can down own every season of Everwood (which came in at number 30 on my list of The 100 Greatest Television Shows of the 00’s) with the Complete Fourth Season out now, own it on DVD now. The groundbreaking family drama was one of the casualties when UPN and The WB merged to form The CW and not only can you now watch every episode ever aired whenever you want on DVD, for the first you can take a look at what might have been as Everwood: The Complete Fourth Season also includes an alternative ending of the show which would have aired if the last episode would have been the fourth season finale, not the series finale which includes a hundred percent more Madison (you will have to pick up the set to how and why she reappeared) and tweaked Hannah’s last scene which put her college plans up in question. Including the alternative ending, the DVD set features about an hour of deleted scenes.

The four season of Everwood saw both the Brown boys pine over not so attainable girls; Andy professed his love for Nina only for her to choose Scott Wolf while Ephram did the same to Amy only for her to chose no one over him. The youngest Brown, Delia spent the season turning into a mean girl. But not all love was lost, Hannah and Bright found love at the end of last season which went strong for most of the final season. It was the same for Edna and Irv who got back together at the end of season four and stayed strong to the end even with Irv on a book tour. Dr. and Rose Abbott continued to be a rock on the show while Rose beat cancer and decided to adopt.

The final season also saw a couple recognizable faces pass through the small Colorado town including Justin Kirk (Weeds), Keith David (Barbershop), Leslie Hope (24), Nia Long (Friday), Simon Rex (MTV VJ), Margo Harshman (Even Stevens), Charles Dunning (Tommy’s dad on Rescue Me), and Kelly Carlson (who returned an episode after Scott Wolf decried how Nip/Tuck was an insult to plastic surgeons). And it is known that Everwood launched the career Emily Van Camp (the upcoming Revenge), Chris Pratt (Parks and Recreations), Gregory Smith (Rookie Blue), and Sarah Drew (Grey’s Anatomy), the final season of Everwood also featured early acting credits from Brooke Nevin (Breakout Kings), Victoria Justice (Victorious), Christopher Egan (Kings), and Steven R McQueen (Piranha 3D) had a recurring role as Ephram’s moody piano prodigy he helped try to get into Julliard. And yes, he got his name from his grandfather.

If you already own the first three season of Everwood on DVD, the fourth season is a must, and even if you do not own the rest, fans of the show may want to pick up this set just to see what might have been with the alternate season ending. While for those that missed the show the first time around, it is worth starting from the beginning because it is one of the best small town family dramas ever to hit the small screen (it was in the discussion for best ever until the Taylor family moved to Dillon Texas, putting that category out of reach of any other small town family dramas). Check out a synopsis of the DVD set below:

The final season of the series set in a welcoming town in the Rockies is all about finding oneself… and finding each other. Here, in the 5-Disc, 22-Episode Season Four, the unforgettable people of Everwood test the ties that bind them together in joy and tears, friendship and love. Drawn by his feelings for Amy, Ephram returns home and mentors a troubled piano prodigy. When Nina chooses Jake over him, Andy struggles to remain friends with the woman he loves. Bright and Hannah make their unlikely romance work. The Abbotts open their arms to a new child. Intriguing characters arrive and beloved characters depart. Say goodbye to the place and the people that won your heart - and discover how everything turned out!

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the season.

Show Me That Smile Again

Watching Growing Pains: The Complete Second Season on DVD, out today, it is hard not wonder where did all family sitcoms go? I grew up with a heavy dose of The Seavers, The Huxtables, The Arnolds, The Winslows, The Tanners and way too many more to list. Of course sadly the answer is they all seem to have migrated to the Disney Channel after the Bundys came around and flipped the family sitcom on its head. With Friday considered the Death Slot in television, I do not understand why networks try to resurrect the success of ABC’s TGIF aimed at the families that stay home on the weekends. Luckily studios have been slowly releasing the classic sitcoms from my childhood on DVD.

For those born in the nineties and are only know of Growing Pains from the I Love the 80’s segment, the show follows a nuclear family on Long Island featuring a physiatrist dad Alan Thicke (you may be familiar with his son Robin) who runs his practice out of the home, because who would not want crazy people hanging around the place where your kids live. His wife Joanna Kerns (who played Katherine Heigl’s mom in Knocked Up) is a writer for the local newspaper. The eldest Kirk Cameron (the Justin Beiber type heartthrob of his day and current television evangelist), is the slacker ladies man. Tracy Gold (if you watch any Lifetime movies, you have seen her latest works) is the brainy one. And Jersey Miller (who showed up for the two reunion movies) is the precocious youngest child.

As with any great sitcom from the eighties, the second season of Growing Pains was filled with plenty of “very special episodes” including when Ben learns why he shouldn’t call a sex phone line. Or when Ben brings home a homeless girl for Christmas who would grow up to become (this is not to be confused with the time five seasons later when Mike brought home a homeless Leonardo DiCaprio ton stay with the Seavers). Or when Maggie learns she cannot ground Mike for lying then turn around and tell a little white lie herself. Or the time Carol contemplates getting a nose job. But there was no more special episode this season than when Mike and Boner (R.I.P.) get offered cocaine by Kristy Swanson of all people. Which leads to the great eighties tradition of a character breaking character and the fourth wall in the middle of a scenes to talk to the audience to make sure the moral of the story gets through.

The orginal Buffy the Vampire Slayer wasn’t the only familiar face to show up this season. Of course future spin off subject Bill Kirchenbauer managed to teach two different subjects this season (here’s hoping Just the Ten of Us makes it to DVD soon) but two of his future daughters, Brooke Theiss and Jamie Luner, pop up under different names. Actually Mike Seaver even dated Luner and Heather Graham (in her first credited acting role) at the same time. Future The Wonder Years stars Olivia d’Abo and Dan Lauria show up in different episode. Kirk brought in his sister Candace in for another episode. And Dawn Wells, better known as Mary Ann, shows up for an episode.

The season 2 DVD features all twenty-two episodes on three disks, but for fans of bonus content, sadly there is none to be found. Here is a synopsis:

Congratulations…you’re fired. Mike (Kirk Cameron) receives a car from his pleased parents after he’s named Employee of the Month. (So how’s he going to tell them he’s been canned?) Mike’s not the only one with secrets. Brainy Carol (Tracey Gold) wants everyone to think she has a romantic extracurricular life with a hunky football hero. And what’s up with 10-year-old Ben (Jeremy Miller) and those 67 calls to a sex line? (No, it’s not what you might think.) These events don’t all happen at the same time, but they do all happen at the same place: the Season 2 home-sweet-ho-ho-home of the Seavers – dad Jason (Alan Thicke), mom Maggie (Joanna Kerns), three on-the-grow kids. Jason works as a psychiatrist. You think maybe it’s time to add some family appointments to his calendar

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the season.

You’re Moving with Your Auntie and Uncle in Bel Air

Back in middle school there was a trifecta of shows that were required watching or there would be nothing for you to talk about the next day in class: The Simpsons, In Living Color and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. We all started watching the latter because D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince imparted the greatest one-two pearls of wisdom you can bestow on a pre-teen: 1) Parents just don’t understand and 2) Girls ain’t nothing but trouble. Now we can all reminiscent about those days with all six season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
now available, own it on DVD starting today.

As the Fresh Prince of Bel Air entered its final season just as Will Smith the comic rapper was transitioning into Will Smith the action hero as the season started just months after Bad Boys became a worldwide smash, and ended just weeks before he became the king of the July 4th weekend with the release of Independence Day. And transition was the theme of the sixth season: Carlton spends the season trying to get into his father’s alter mater Princeton, Hilary has her new talk show, the appropriately titled Hilary, Ashley is trying to get into the New York School of Performing Arts, Uncle Phil thinks about transition his work on a Hollywood Madam trial into a political career, and even Geoffrey transitions into being a dad after learning of a grown son. All this leaves Will in flux to figure out his own life.

What is always great about watching (or re-watching) old television shows is spotting stars that were not as famous as they are today like the post Saturday Night Live, pre-Bring the Pain Chris Rock who shows up in a dress. And who remembers that Cousin Ashley once dated Steve Urkel? Michael Clarke Duncan shows up in one of his first acting roles. Will and Carlton went on a double date with Castle’s Tamala Jones and The Jamie Foxx Show’s Garcelle Beauvais. Zachery Ty Bryan stopped pestering Tim Allen long enough to harass Carlton. Duane Martin, currently palling around with Paul Riser, was delivering babies on the set of Hilary. And there were plenty of big names stopping by the final season too including Jay Leno, Joan Van Ark, William Shatner, Wayne Newton, B.B. King, Richard Roundtree (in his second appearance on the show with a different character), and of course D.J. Jazzy Jeff shows up a few times as Jazz. Dick Clark also shows up for a bloopers episode (remember when sitcom had these, now there are reserved for DVD sets). And if you didn’t see, or just forget, telling you the sitcom luminaries that show up, in their best known characters, for the series finale would be too spoilery.

The season 6 DVD features all twenty-four episodes on three disks, but for fans of bonus content, sadly there is none to be found. Here is a synopsis:

It’s a rap: the final season! The Fresh Prince’s reign is over. Will Smith and the rest of the hilarious cast take their final bows with all 24 Season 6 Episodes on 3 Discs. A lot’s happened since Will’s life got flipped, turned upside down and he showed up at the Banks’s Bel-Air doorstep. And the final season keeps the fun rollin’ to the very end with hip comedy style, phat one-liners, a not-to-be-missed blooper episode, and guest stars that include William Shatner, B.B. King, Dick Clark, Richard Roundtree, Wayne Newton and – in a standout turn – Chris Rock as an on-the-rise comic and his butt-ugly sister. Any guess who ends up as Will’s date for a night for dancin’ and (ugh) romancin’? You go, Will!

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the season.

What Came First, the Music or the Misery?

If you are lucky, about once a decade a movie comes out that as if the filmmakers are saying, “Hey Scooter McGavin, this one is for you.” That was the case for High Fidelity, a borderlined obsessive compulsive who cases a little too much about music who seems to mess it up with every girlfriend. High Fidelity, this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame, was a romantic comedy where you were not quite sure if the romance was with the women of the film or the music.

High Fidelity follows John Cusack as he tries to convince himself that his latest failed relationship does not crack his top five most memorable break ups which leads him back to these ex girlfriends to see why exactly things went wrong. (Fun Fact: Justified’s Ava Crowder cracked the top five.) It also does not help that his latest, and possibly greatest, break up it currently shacked up with the hippie version of Tim Robbins.

High Fidelity also marked the breakout role for Jack Black who catapulted from bit player to headliner after the movie. This was well deserved because he stole every scene he was in through the movie as the bombastic employ of Cusack and was the perfect yin to Todd Louiso soft spoken yang. Black even got to show off his singing chops much to everyone’s surprise after every spent the whole movie blowing of his musical ambitions.

But the real scene stealers were the music. You knew from the trailer when Black broke out Walking On Sunshine, this was going to be a special movie and even includes a cameo from Bruce Springsteen. One segment that hit close to home was when a reporter asks Cusack his top five favorite song and he spend the rest of the movie (and a few bonus scenes) editing his choices. This went all the way to the end of the music where I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever) remains one of the greatest credit choices of all time. High Fidelity showed, it does not matter how simple a song is, it is how you interpret it.

Batman's Rich History Allows Him to Be Interpreted in a Multitude of Ways

With Batman hitting a critical peak with the Christopher Nolan trilogy, you would think a cartoony version, both in visual and execution, may bring down the bat brand. But Cartoon Network’s Batman: The Brave and the Bold is entertaining in its own right even though it conjures up more parallels to the Adam West version than Christian Bale. And unlike recent 3-D cartoons like Star Wars: The Clone Wars, or stylized animation of the recent Young Justice, The Brave and the Bold is animation at out your eighties Saturday morning cartoon memories.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold, own it on DVD now, features the caped crusader teaming up with a different superhero (or two) from the DC Universe battling different bad guys from the same pages. Most episodes are divided into two segments, opening usually with Batman and a Super Friend already in mid mission before launching into a longer full mission after the title sequence. Oddly, the two other biggest members of The Justice League, Superman and Wonder Woman are not featured in the first season. And many of Batman’s famous rouge gallery members like The Joker, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, Scarecrow, Two-Face, and Mr. Freeze have blink and you’ll miss it cameos.

But the more famous DC Superhero/villains are not missed because the cartoony style is a great way to highlight some of the company’s lesser characters like Booster Gold, the Outsiders, even Sherlock Holmes to take on the likes of Gentlemen’s Ghost, Psycho-Pirate, Gorilla Grodd, and to prove not all villains are equal: Calendar Man.

Some of the standout episodes in this set include the very meta Legends of the Dark Mite! where Bat-Mite attends a Batman fan convention (where he defends a lighter incarnation of Batman) and features Biker Santa’s. And really whenever the over the top gregarious Aquaman shows up. But the episode the stands above all other is when Neil Patrick Harris shows up as the Music Meister and gets the heroes and villain alike to break out into a song and dance for his own amusement. Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a perfect Batman primer for young kids that the parents can still enjoy. Though it should be pointed out aside a trailer, there is nothing in the way of bonus material included.

Diedrich Bader may not be the first name to come to mind when casting the Dark Knight, but his deep gravely voice works well in the role (just as long as you don’t conjure up visions of his work on The Drew Carey Show or his current gig on Outsourced) and his comic background work does help in the show’s lighter moments. Other vocal talents are provided by the likes of Will Friedle as the Jamie Reyes version of Blue Beetle, Oded Fehr as Equinox, R. Lee Ermey (from History’s Mail Call) as Wildcat, Carl Lumbly as Tornado Tyrant, Phil Morris (who plays the live action Marian Manhunter on Smallville) as Jonah Hex, Paul Reubens as Bat-Mite, Tom Everett Scott as Booster Gold, , Armin Shimerman as Psycho-Pirate, Jeffrey Tambor as Crazy Quilt, Tony Todd as Astaroth, Kevin Michael Richardson as Black Manta and B’wana Beast, and Wil Wheaton as the Ted Kord version of Blue Beetle. Check out a synopsis from Warner Brothers below:

Batman wings into an exciting new era, teaming with a mighty honor roll of DC Comics Super Heroes in this action-packed series. Through the show’s final 13 Animated Adventures in this 2-Disc Collection, the Dark Knight allies with Aquaman, Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Red Tornado, Green Arrow, Wildcat, Deadman, Bronze Tiger and Atom to take on an array of evildoers ranging from mad scientists to intergalactic crooks, from power-mad dictators to out-of-control teenagers. He even travels to a parallel world, becoming the villainous Owlman! (Scooter’s Note: The Owlman episode is actually part of Season Zone, Part One and not part of this set) In this cool, cutting-edge and often funny series bringing back old-school comic-book styling and dry wit to crimefighting, Batman faces any peril – including other heroes stealing the show – in his relentless pursuit of justice.

Full Disclosure Notice: This DVD was given to me on behalf of Warner Bros. for the purpose of reviewing the series.

Memories Can Be Distorted, They're Just an Interpretation

There are plenty of good films that you want to watch again and again but very few movies that once they end, you hit play again because you have to see what you just saw was in fact what you thought you saw. Memento is one of those films. Under most directors, the telling a story in reverse would be a gimmick at best, but in the hands of Christopher Nolan it is a masterful art of storytelling.


Guy Peirce (Bedtime Stories) stars as a guy with no short term memory after a blow to the head in an attack that left his wife dead. Trying to hunt down the person responsible is hampered by Guy’s ability to only remember the past fifteen minutes which has led him to tattoo everything that has to do with the case all over his body coupled with various Polaroids of the key players. These include a creepyly moustached Joe Pantoliano (The Fugitive) and mysterious waitress Carrie-Anne Moss (Red Planet).

Then after all the twist and turns as we go backwards three day, we get on major5 shocker of an ender that demands that you rewatch the movie right then and there one more time. For that Memento landed in at number two on my list of The 100 Greatest Movies of the 00's and is this month’s induction into the Scooter Hall of Fame. And look out for the 10th Anniversary edition on Blu-Ray coming out later this month.

They've All Gone to Look for America

It is a wonder how it took History so long to get around to making an anthology of the history of the United States of America. If the wait was to make sure they got it done right, the twelve part series America: The Story of Us that premiered back in April shows it was worth the wait and now it is available to own on three disk blu-ray. Sure there are gripes that can be made about what did not make the cut (apparently Americans had no leisure time as there are very few mentions of sports or entertainment), but they did do a good cliff-notes version cramming three hundred years of history into just over nine hours.

One complaint that is warranted is the reliance on commentary throughout the series. Sure newsmen like Tom Brokaw, national heroes like Buzz Aldrin, military men like Collin Powell, academic like Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. (yes the Beer Summit guy) usually add to the subjects being discussed. But vinaigrettes from random celebrities like Donald Trump, Sean Combs, Tim Gunn and Vera Wang just stick out like a sore thumb most of the time and these commentators make the show just too reminiscent of the less serious I Love the… series on VH1.

What America: The Story of Us is good at is find the root of what made America what it is today. The series does not start with Columbus or even the pilgrims but with the guy who brought Tobacco to Jamestown, turning the failing settlement into a prosperous farmland that made the new land a place where someone could successfully live. We get to see the start of such things that seems so innocuous today like the first mug shots to how the first mail order catalogue came to be.

Even in high definition, the visuals are not as eye popping as other television events like Life, but the dark grittiness does set the tone of America’s past from the Revolutionary war to blasting holes in mountains to put in a transcontinental railway. And the attention to detail to each era depicted is impeccable and you can tell History didn’t cut any corners in their reenactments, from the sets to the wardrobe. There is something here for everyone to discover, from grade school students to arm chair historians. The Blu-Ray does have little in the way of extras, just seven bonus scenes, most under four minutes in lenth.

It is also jarring how the series ends. After eleven hours of invention and triumph of the American spirit, the last episode is downright depressing: Nixon resigning, hippies, the Vietnam War, the Challenger explosion, the dot-com bust, 9/11 and the two wars that followed. Gave its blood and sweat into connecting the country with vast railroads and highways, we, as a country really haven’t done much lately. Once a war brought us out of a Great Depression but now war has sunk us into a Great Recession. Hopefully some people watch America: The Story of Us and are inspired to help create the next big American invention, the same American ingenuity that took the initial trip from New York City to Los Angeles six months to transverse to today when that can be done in a six hour flight.



Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me on behalf of A&E Home Entertainment for the purpose of reviewing the series.

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!

As much as I hate the laziness in Hollywood, I resigned that they won’t stop cranking out remakes because they have run out of original ideas long ago (though I still which I had a Hot Tube Time Machine so I could un-see The A-Team trailer). I even occasionally try to help them out with some casting ideas for remakes. Like isn’t it time for a Victory for a new generation? Instead of Allied soccer players betting their freedom against their German, a group of female soldiers get ambushed by the Taliban and have to show that woman are just as capable as them to secure their release. Get Mia Hamm to replace Pele, Queen Latifah to sub info Sylvester Stallone and Angelina Jolie take over for Michael Caine.

Maybe because of the sport depicted, Victory has gotten lost in the discussion of great sports movies of all time. But how can you not love a movie where the allied forces beat those darn dirty Nazis at a sport they love. Sure having a midget like Stallone as a goalie is one of the biggest stretches in sports movie history (it’s like having Carlton Banks starring in the Patrick Ewing story), but the eighties cheese of it more than makes up for it.

Though one of the scenes still makes me squeamish just think about it, where they break the current goalie’s arm just so they could have Sly play in the big game, probably not a scene anyone who is still in single digits in age should watch like I was when I first saw the movie in my youth. But the movie is still worth of being inducted into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Now can we have Victory in Afghanistan ready for the next World Cup in four years?

Life Is Sweet

There is really no better advertising for Life, the BBC Earth miniseries which recently aired on Discovery, then “From the Makers of Planet Earth” which is one of the things on top of the list of reasons you should upgrade to an HD television set. Where Planet Earth focused on ecosystems around the worst, Life, out today on DVD and Blu-Ray, takes a look at the species that inhabit them from the jungles of Africa to under the arctic shelf.

© Barrie Britton

The first episode of Life is a primer for the series with the closing one takes a look behind the scenes of the humans (who show up only once in the other episodes) that were given the tasks to film in such remote locations. In-between each episode is dedicated to Classes such as Reptiles and Amphibians, Mammals, Fish, Birds, Insects, Plants as well as some subsections including Hunters and Hunted, Creatures of the Deep, and Primates.

© Stefano Unterthiner

If there is one complaint I have heard about Life it has been the narration from Oprah Winfrey, which could get bland at time and lacks the emotion that corresponds with the beauty that is presented on screen. If you were one of those that thought that during the Discovery telecast are in luck because both the DVD and Blu-Ray feature a music only viewing option. Both sets are also available with original British narration from David Attenborough; in fact the DVD is actually two dollars less than the Oprah version.

©Neil Lucas

If there was another complaint I could come up with it would be dedicating a whole episode to plants. Sure the Venus Fly Trap and other insect eating plants are entertaining, but watching a vine taking days to climb up a tree: not so much. Even more disappointing is the Behind the Scenes companion for the episode that shows much of what made it to screen was actually a blue screen with most of the plants actually were film inside.

©Rupert Barrington

Oprah haters may also want to pass on the Behind the Scenes episode because there are extend versions of each segment presented as bonus features, a ten minute behind the scenes look at each episode on how the filmmakers got the shots that ended up in the show. We also get to see cameramen struggle with gets great shots such as a komodo dragon hunting a water buffalo who takes a week from receiving a poisonous bite from the dragon until he is sick enough to eat. Or another that took three weeks of squatting to catch on film two birds mating which in total took less than a minute. One camerman even gets too close to a school of flying fish that choose to spawn on him. Also included in the set is eighteen minutes of deleted scenes, most of which were cut from creatures featured in the original series as well as a new segment on grass.

© Hugh Miller

As the above mention of the water buffalo, animal lovers be warned, the hunting scenes do get quite graphic and you may want to watch the series with a finger on the fast forward or next chapter button and skip the Hunters and Hunted episode altogether. But it is worth it to check out the rest of Life for its awe-inspiring shots from around the globe of 130 (54 of which have never been filmed before) different stories of species and the mate, find food (and avoid being that for others), and adapt to their environment. All presented in an entertaining package that you will not want to turn your eyes away from, especially when it is presented in HD.

Times Change, We Need to Change as Well

I tend to avoid bio-flicks. Why would I want to watch the Fresh Prince pretend to be Muhammad Ali when I can watch Ali as himself in When We Were Kings? The problem with most bio-flicks is they try to cram a whole life’s work into under two hours. When bio-flicks usually work is when they take a small segment of a person’s life, especially a little know, but important, aspect that an audience can learn about. That is such the case with the latest Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino) directed film, Invictus.

The film takes a look at the life of Nelson Mandela shortly after taking the office of president of South Africa and trying to unite the country after years of apartheid. His unlikely solution was to get the country behind its rugby team for the upcoming World Cup being held in the country after realizing all the white people in the stands were cheering for their Springboks while all the blacks were cheering against them as they came to represent apartheid. A story most of us Americans have never knew of because the sport is not big here and we were too busy following the O.J. Simpson murder case in 1995. Had this been a normal Mandela bio-flick, we would have gotten a large chunk of him during his nearly three decades spent in jail, and the rugby portion would most likely been boiled down to one scene if it even got mentioned at all.

In Invictus, Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby) plays the newly elected president who reaches out the captain of the national rugby team played by Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting). I’m am sure some people could give grief to Damon’s accent in the film, but it really didn’t bother me as there are plenty of actors in the film that have natural South African accents that were hard to understand what they are saying at times.

Politics aside, Invictus makes for a pretty decent sports movie. Being about a sport that is so unfamiliar with American movie goers, it isn’t bogged down with sports clichés that you see over and over with to the point you expect them in overdone sports over here like baseball movies (though it still has some of the universal sports clichés that populate most sports movies). There are some amazing camera shots like a ground view shot of a scrum and a game that was played in monsoon type rain. And of course when the Springboks plays the All-Blacks of New Zealand we get treated to the Haka which makes you wonder why this hasn’t been imported into other team sports. Maybe if LeBron had done the Haka before games instead of clowning around with silly bowling skits or his cheesy WWE-style chalk throw, maybe he would still be playing.

For the special features on the blu-ray (in stores now as a combo pack and also separately available in DVD, On Demand and digital download forms) you get an in-depth picture-in-picture commentary with insight from the cast, crew and Clint himself. Two behind the scenes featurettes, a standard making of which includes Freeman and Damon meeting their real life counterparts and a separate one about turning the Hollywood star into a rugby play, along with the Invictus music trailer as well as access to BD Live. There is also a twenty minute excerpt from The Eastwood Factor which will be available June 1 individually or part of the blu-ray box set Clint Eastwood Collection which features 10 of his classics.

Invictus gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.



Full Disclosure Notice: This Blu-Ray was given to me on behalf of Warner Brothers Entertainment for the purpose of reviewing the movie.