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The Sherlock Holmes Collection Product: The Sherlock Holmes Collection Sale-$17.49! List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $17.49 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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Only five episodes of the BBC s celebrated 1960s Sherlock Holmes series survive. Coincidentally, all five star the inimitable Peter Cushing (Star Wars) as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle s legendary detective, with Nigel Stock as Dr. Watson. And, fortunately for Holmes fans, they have finally been made available on DVD in North America, courtesy of A&E.

Having already starred as Holmes in the famous Hammer film Hound of the Baskervilles, Cushing was uniquely suited to craft the definitive portrayal for these five captivating televised mysteries. For his first outing as the BBC s Holmes, Cushing revisits the moors of Dartmoor for a feature-length version of Holmes most well-known case, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Subsequent adventures pit his vaunted intellect against murderers, cannibals and Australian bushwackers in faithful productions of The Sign of the Four, The Blue Carbuncle, A Study in Scarlet and The Boscombe Valley Mystery.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7282 in DVD
• Brand: A&E HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2009-12-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 296 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 0733961155280
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

A Great Showcase for Peter Cushing
“The Sherlock Holmes Collection” contains the only six surviving episodes of the BBC’s 1968 TV series “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes”. The great Peter Cushing stars as Holmes and Nigel Stock plays Dr. Watson. The six episodes feature five stories:

The Hound of the Baskervilles (a two-part episode)
The Sign of the Four
The Blue Carbuncle
A Study in Scarlet
The Boscombe Valley Mystery

The main reason to get this set is Peter Cushing. It’s great to see him playing one of his favorite characters at the prime of his career. Cushing had already played Holmes in Hammer Films’ THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES in 1959. Cushing’s TV Holmes is a bit calmer
than his Hammer Holmes. The mannerisms and behaviour of the literary Holmes are still present, though.
Unfortunately the episodes themselves do not live up to the star of the series. It’s obvious the BBC did not spend the money necessary to bring Doyle’s stories to life properly. Most of the scenes in the episodes are indoors and filled with dialogue. It’s sometimes like watching a play. The action and atmosphere of Doyle seem to be avoided due to budgetary reasons. A prime example is The Sign of Four. This is one of Doyle’s best works, but here it is condensed down to a Cliff Notes version. The Sign of Four should have been a two-parter as well.
Nigel Stock does a decent job as Watson, but the supporting players in the episodes tend to overact badly. In later interveiws, Peter Cushing would express his disappointment with how the series turned out. The BBC made a total of sixteen episodes, but only these six survive, because in those days the BBC would erase or re-use their tapes!
Overall, the picture and sound quality are fine (the episodes are in color). Even though these are not the best presentations of Doyle’s detective, this series is a must for Peter Cushing fans and for Sherlock Holmes lovers.

Perfectly Logical
Well done, atmospheric Holmes adventures with Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock. I’m sorry the rest of this 60’s series is lost, since I believe I read that Cushing actually did about 16 episodes for the series. The loss is ours, but it makes having this small collection of the survivors that more precious. If you are a Hammer Film fan then you are pretty sure of what you’re getting with Cushing’s performance as the master slueth. I enjoyed his big screen turn as Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles, but the performance at times seemed a bit too energetic, almost too frenetic at times, as though Cushing were trying hard to point out how unusual Holmes was. In these later years portrayals, Cushing’s Holmes seems to move with a slow intellectual grace that is more befitting the Detective. Nigel Stock is also a recognizable face from Hammer, and other British productions. He plays Watson very well here, using the right combination of patience and awe at Holmes’ quirks and genious insites.

Picture quality is very good, and sound is likewise better than expected, with five tales told in Victorian times, and with enough suspense and humor to please any Holmes fan.

A must for Holmes fans
The series is worth watching for the Holmes of Peter Cushing, as well as Nigel Stock’s take on Watson. The guests are unfamiliar aside from Gary Raymond and Frank Middlemass. The main flaws are the slow pace and low budget sets, as well as color, which never seems suited to the Victorian settings.
The biggest surprise here is a complete verison of “A Study in Scarlet”, which one book claimed only had a few scenes that still existed. The changes in the story were minor, a minus being in not keeping the first meeting of Holmes and Watson, a big plus being the deletion of the dull flashback from the book.
“The Hound of the Baskervilles” is a bit disappointing, it suffers from the two part telling and, being fairly faithful to the novel, has far too little Holmes. Two other flaws, a cave floor creaks badly and the story ends abruptly.
“The Boscombe Valley Mystery” wasn’t one of Doyle’s best and is probably the weakest in the collection here, due in part to the poor supporting cast.
“The Sign of Four” stuck fairly close to the novel, except for the end. Only the Arthur Wontner verison actually had the nerve to allow watson to marry.
“The Blue Carbuncle” has the most padding to fill the time, but does feature a good scene where Watson gets a laugh at Holmes’ expense after a faulty deduction.
Those who think Cushing was too short to play Holmes should reread “The Three Students” and “The Abbey Grange”, where Holmes gives himself gives his height at six feet, the same as Cushing. (Arthur Wontner was an inch shorter by the way.)
Even with the flaws this is easily the best television Holmes collection out there and is second only to the better Rathbone films.

Numb3rs - The Third Season Product: Numb3rs - The Third Season Lowest Price! List Price: $29.99 Amazon Price: $21.49 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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FBI Special Agent Don Eppes recruits his mathematical genius brother Charlie to help the Bureau solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles. The two brothers take on the most confounding criminal cases from a very distinctive perspective. Assisting Don at the FBI is behavioral specialist Megan Reeves and FBI agents David Sinclair and Colby Granger. Charlie’s colleagues at the University where he teaches include Dr. Larry Fleinhardt and former grad student Amita Ramanjuan, both of whom offer their math expertise to assist Charlie with the most perplexing cases. Don and Charlie’s father, Alan Eppes, is pleased to see his two sons working together, but fears their competitive nature will lead to trouble.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5864 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
• Released on: 2007-09-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 6
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 1029 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 0097361226842
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Still one of the best shows on TV!
Of course, I don’t own the third season on DVD so I cannot say what the special features include or how well they worked, but I did watch the entire 3rd Season when it was on television and, true to form, it remains one of the best shows on television. The characters all work really well together and the stellar “family” trio of David Krumholtz, Rob Morrow, and Judd Hirsch again work their magic in this well-written and well-acted third season. As much as this show is about the FBI or mathematics (and the great connection the two can have in common), it also is about family, in the literal sense but also in regards to people you work with. Ultimately, you care about these characters (especially if you have seen the other two seasons, but isn’t required) and the differences their jobs and their lives create between them. The subject matter is heavy at times (and not recommended for children) but some of the other “heavy” episodes aren’t anything they aren’t already exposed so could make this show fresh by its bringing mathematics away from just geeks and making it interesting for all kinds of people.

Still the Most Inventive Crime Series Out There
Numb3rs, now deep into its fourth season, is my favorite Friday night television show, and within the top three for the whole week. And, I have to admit, those three rotate pretty regularly based on individual episodes.

The series is produced by Tony Scott (Top Gun, True Romance) and Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner). It was created by husband and wife team Nicholas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, who still contribute many of the scripts. With this many families involved in the series, it’s no wonder relationships feature at the core of the show every week.

The general conceit of the series is that the FBI uses mathematicians and math to solve crimes and catch criminals. When I first saw the series advertised, I was interested in David Krumholtz (University professor Charlie Eppes) and Rob Morrow (FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Don Eppes). Krumholtz has been in movies and television since he was a kid, and Morrow was a centerpiece in the outstanding Northern Exposure.

I tuned in that first season not really knowing what to expect. Then I was completely blown away by the layered plots and introduction of mathematical concepts that made me wish I’d at least picked up a minor in math while cruising through college collecting the bits and pieces of my Bachelor of Arts in English.

But at the heart of this series are the relationships between the characters. As brothers, Charlie and Don are immediately and irrevocably as different as siblings can be. Charlie is a certified genius and Don is a hard-edged, no-nonsense FBI team leader. They fight and argue and strive to understand each other, and viewers are as gripped by the mysteries of their relationship as they are the cases the FBI works on.

Season 3’s episodes “Hardball,” “Finders Keepers,” “Takeout,” “One Hour,” and “Burn Rate” all focus - to a degree - on the brothers’ understanding of each other. “Hardball” deals with the possibility that Don could have been a professional baseball player, kind of a roads not taken episode. “Finders Keepers” reveals that Charlie has a higher security rating that Don does, which causes surprise and a little jealousy that gets in the way of things. “Burn Rate” pushes up the heat between Don and Charlie as their difference get in the way of developing the case for a time.

Judd Hirsch adds to that as Alan Eppes, their widowed father who tries to figure out the middle ground between his two sons. But, instead of merely being the Father Knows Best character that you would expect, Alan ends up learning as much as his sons do about life and relationships.

Again, “Hardball” comes immediately to mind as he counsels Don and Charlie about their relationship with each other. “Spree” winds up the tension between Alan and Charlie over the house they live in. Alan’s expertise as a city planner helps solve the cases in “Traffic,” “Blackout,” “Waste Not,” and “Under Pressure.” Alan has problems of his own in “End of Watch.”

The FBI team has changed a little over the four years that it’s been on television, but it has boiled down to three main characters. Megan Reeves (Diane Farr) is a behavioral specialist. David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard) and Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) are special agents. Sinclair was always law enforcement, but Granger was military - and something else which plays a big part in this season of escalating personal tension.

Megan’s kidnapping in the season’s two-part opener, “Spree” and “Two Daughters,” really pushes the team to the wall as they struggle to figure out what’s going on and to get her back alive. Her psychological profiling skills are prevalent in “Traffic,” “Brutus,” “Killer Chat,” and “Nine Wives.”

Sinclair’s background is featured in “Contenders.” Granger’s past explodes onto the team in “The Janus List.”

But Charlie’s college comrades bring a lot to the party as well. In this season, Charlie and Amita (Navi Rawat) get closer and she becomes a full-time professor at the college. Their relationship gets exposed more through the season. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNichol) hooks up with Megan, which has everyone dumbstruck - and, truthfully, maybe the fans as well, but Larry is such a nice guy and so nerdy you have to love him. Unfortunately, we only get him half the season this year. According to the episodes, he’s on a space station middle, but we know he was starring in 24 this year as well.

There are even part-time co-stars that change the whole tilt of an episode. Lou Diamond Phillips has won a spot in my heart as Agent Ian Edgerton, a tactical sniper who has been part of the show since its inception. You can always count on those episodes being pure rock and roll at some point, and he delivers in spaces in the two-part opener.

Will Patton is another of my favorites. He returns again in this season’s “End of Watch” and has starred in one episode so far in Season 4. He plays police lieutenant Gary Walker, a hard-nosed old school guy who faults Don for his team. However, Don and Gary find a deep friendship in each other.

But the episodes bring so much more to the viewer. A history of art and Nazi theft in “Provenance.” Steady Motion Algorithm, Partial Differential Equations, Data Mining, Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition, Euclid’s Orchard, Statistical Textual Analysis, and dozens of other mathematical processes and skills are unveiled in easy to understand demonstrations for the armchair mathematician.

If you haven’t seen the series, start watching. Within an episode or two, you’ll be hooked. But if you, like me, love the chance to sit down, watch the show, and reference the math on-line while you’ve got the episode paused, you’ll have to pick up this newest DVD set. The emotions of the relationships run high this season, and the stakes are raised all the way around. But the crime-solving, equation-writing, rapid-fire pace of the series totally shines in this collection.

Awesome tv series
I’m a crime drama junkie. This is an awesome series. Besides crime solving , I love the dynamics of Eppes family, as well as liberal viewpoints shared by the producers and writers.

The Golden Girls - The Complete Second Season-Retail $23.99! Sale Only $18.99! Compare & Purchase The Golden Girls - The Complete Second Season at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $23.99 Amazon Price: $18.99 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

The Golden Girls - The Complete Second Season Description:

Join Dorothy, the smart one, Sophia, the glib one, Rose, the naive one, and Blanche, the … well, you know … for the second season of one of television’s funniest shows ever, THE GOLDEN GIRLS. Loved by fans and critics alike, Season 2 garnered its second straight Emmy award for “Outstanding Comedy Series” and a Golden Globe for “Best TV Series Comedy/Musical.” It’s a star-filled season with special guests, including Burt Reynolds in a surprise cameo and a young George Clooney playing a Miami policeman who saves the day! Now you can “travel down the road and back again” with all 26 original episodes on one incredible 3-disc set. From the opening lines of the theme song to the end credits you’ll enjoy all the racy and hilarious moments you’ve come to expect from THE GOLDEN GIRLS.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2424 in DVD
• Brand: WHITE,BETTY
• Released on: 2005-05-17
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .45 pounds
• Running time: 644 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 9780788856426
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews:

Another great season
1. “End of the Curse” - Blanche thinks she is pregnant but is even more mortified after her doctor tells her that it is menopause. Meanwhile, Dorothy, Rose and Sophia go into the mink breeding business.

2. “Ladies of the Evening” - Blanche wins tickets to a Burt Reynolds movie premiere but the girls are mistaken for prostitutes and arrested when their hotel is raided. Reynolds makes a cameo appearance.

3. “Take Him, He’s Mine” - Blanche and Dorothy’s ex, Stan, become chummy which infuriates Dorothy. Rose and Sophia sell sandwiches on the Boardwalk but make enemies with another vendor, “Johnny No Thumbs.”

4. “It’s a Miserable Life” - The girls want to save a 200 year-old tree in the neighborhood but the owner, the most hated woman on the block, wants the tree cut down.

5. “Isn’t It Romantic” - Dorothy’s friend, Jean (Lois Nettleton) comes to visit and Dorothy decides not to tell Blanche and Rose that Jean is a lesbian. (One of the funniest episodes ever, this one won an Emmy Award).

6. “Big Daddy’s Little Lady” - Blanche’s father visits and brings his new finace. Blanche is upset when she discovers the woman he is about to marry is younger than herself. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Rose enter a song writing contest.

7. “Family Affair” - Dorothy’s son, Michael, and Rose’s daughter, Bridget, each come to visit and they become a little too friendly for Dorothy and Rose’s liking.

8. “Vacation” - The girl’s go on a Caribbean vacation but find that their hotel is far from what it was advertised to be. Sophia takes advantage of her time alone to get acquainted with the gardener.

9. “Just Between Friends” - Blanche gets Dorothy a part-time job at the museum where she works but gets jealous when her boss starts giving Dorothy all of the assignments.

10. “Love, Rose” - Rose places an ad in the personals column but becomes discouraged when she doesn’t get a repsonse. Blanche and Dorothy feel sorry for her and begin responding.

11. “‘Twas the Nightmare Before Christmas” - The girls each plan to spend Christmas with their families but a series of strange occurrences lead them to spend Christmas together in Miami.

12. “The Sisters” - Dorothy decides to surprise Sophia on her brithday by flying in her sister, Angela (Nancy Walker). But Dorothy gets the surprise when she learns that they hate each other.

13. “The Stan Who Came to Dinner” - Stan returns to tell Dorothy that he has to have open heart surgery.

14. “The Actor” - The girls fall head over heels over a handsome actor at their local community theater.

15. “Before and After” - Rose wants to live life to the fullest after she experiences near-death experience. When Dorothy and Blanche complain about her new lifestyle, she moves out.

16. “And Then There Was One” - Dorothy, Blanche and Rose babysit for participants in a walk-a-thon but when the event is over, a baby is left unclaimed.

17. “Long Days Journey into Marinara” - Sophia is none too pleased when her sister, Angela (Nancy Walker) comes back for a visit and decides that she wants to move to Miami.

18. “Whose Face is This, Anyway?” - Blanche is upset that her beauty is fading when she attends her high school reunion and sees that many of her classmates have had plastic surgery.

19. “Dorothy’s Prized Pupil” - Dorothy tutors a young man who is an illegal alien.

20. “Diamond in the Rough” - Blanche falls for a hunky caterer but soon becomes blind-sighted by his unsophisticated demeanor.

21. “Son-in-Law Dearest” - Dorothy’s daughter, Kate, has a surprising announcement. Blance and Dorothy watch an “I Love Lucy” marathon.

22. “To Catch a Neighbor” - Joseph Campanella and George Clooney play two detectives who use the girl’s house to spy on the neighbors, who are suspected of dealing in stolen gems.

23. “A Piece of Cake” - The girls reminisce about their memorable past birthdays.

Thank You for Being a Friend
The second season matures into a much better show than the first season with better writing and even better stories. This is another wonderful creation of comic genius Susan Harris, who also created sitcoms such as Soap, Benson, and Empty Nest. Golden Girls is a sitcom about four senior ladies living under one roof, and all the zany and fun things that goes in their lives. The show revolves around sex hungry Blanche (Rue McLanahan) with her southern charm, and Sophia (Estelle Getty) as a sharp talking Sicilian with wit, and her daughter Dorothy (Bea Arthur) as a wise member of the house hold, and then the sweet and innocent Rose (Betty White) make a wonderful team and an excellent recipe for a great comedy. There are 23 episodes (season 2) on this DVD; Isn’t It Romantic, Ladies of Evening, End of Curse, and Big Daddy’s Little Lady are some of the funniest episodes of the series. In the episode To Catch a Neighbor, veteran actor Joseph Campanella team up with young George Clooney to spy on the neighbors, who are suspected of dealing in stolen gems. In Family Affair Dorothy’s son, Michael, and Rose’s daughter, Bridget visit and they become a little too friendly to the discomfort of their mothers, which shows the generation gap in funnier way. The Sisters episode shows another veteran actress Nancy Walker visit as Sophia’s sister and get on each others nerves. The second season is much better than the first and if you liked 1980s sitcoms, I would highly recommend this DVD

This is the best show period.
Let’s face it THE GOLDEN GIRLS is the best sitcom ever, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. To me this is a dream come true, THE GOLDEN GIRLS finally being realeased on DVD, this season will be just as great as season one. I just wish it wasn’t so far away till it comes out. It’s just a really really great show that’s worth every cent. so if you haven’t yet bought season one, buy it, then buy season two when it comes out, you won’t be dissapointed!

Amazon.com
As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and the second season of The Golden Girls picks up where the first ended. The same classic quartet–Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia–is back, along with their snappy retorts, shoulder pads, and cheesecake. Well, there was one change. In the season premiere, “End of the Curse,” Blanche (Rue McClanahan) goes through menopause.

Highlights of the 26 episodes include “Ladies of the Evening,” featuring a cameo from Burt Reynolds, just a few years prior to his own network sitcom, Evening Shade. As Blanche exclaims, “Mr. Burt Reynolds is one of our finest living actors…I mean, you put Sir Laurence Olivier in Cannonball Run–see what he can do.” Then there’s “Isn’t It Romantic?” with Lois Nettleton (In the Heat of the Night) as Dorothy’s lesbian friend, Jean, who falls for an unsuspecting Rose (Betty White). As was often the case, a sensitive subject is handled with taste and humor and resulted in an Emmy nomination for Nettleton’s performance.

Further highlights include a white-wigged Nancy Walker (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda) as Sophia’s long-lost sister, Angela, in “The Sisters” and “Long Day’s Journey Into Marinara,” and a pompadoured George Clooney (ER) in “To Catch a Neighbor.” The final episode of The Golden Girls second season, “Empty Nest,” features David Leisure and Oscar winner-Rita Moreno (West Side Story) and sets the scene for creator Susan Harris’s 1988 spin-off, Empty Nest (although only Leisure would segue to the new show, while Soap’s Richard Mulligan would take over for Moreno). –Kathleen C. Fennessy

Faces of America Product: Faces of America Discount. List Price: $24.99 Amazon Price: $20.99 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series FACES OF AMERICA. Building on the success of his series AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES (called by The New York Times the most exciting and stirring documentary on any subject to appear on television in a long time ) and AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. turns again to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 renowned Americans. Looking to the wider immigrant experience, Professor Gates unravels the American tapestry, following the threads of his guests lives back to their origins around the globe. Along the way, the many stories he uncovers of displacement and homecoming, of material success and dispossession, of assimilation and discrimination illuminate the American experience. Professor Gates guests include poet Elizabeth Alexander, who composed and read the poem at President Barack Obama s inauguration, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Her Royal Highness Queen Noor, actress Eva Longoria, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3776 in DVD
• Released on: 2010-04-13
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 240 minutes

Fascinating and entertaining four-hour series on genealogy
This four-part, four-hour series aired on PBS earlier this year. Co-executive produced and superbly by Henry Louis Gates Jr. - the Harvard professor who is one of the leading historians on African American culture and history - this show will keep you engaged from beginning to end. No, it’s not a history of African Americans - though one of the 12 “well known” persons (I hate to call them celebrities) is back (poet Elizabeth Alexander).

What Gates and his team (note there is no “Director” listed on the main credits) did was find 12 folks you’ve probably heard of and traced their lineage back at least 4 generations - in some cases as far back as 15 generations. (One of them is a distant cousin of Charlemagne! I won’t tell you which one though.) The diverse group includes skater Kristi Yamaguchi, chef Mario Batalli, comedian Stephen Colbert (you learn how his name pronounced), cellist Yo-Yo Ma (you’ll learn where his name Yo-Yo came from), Director Mike Nichols, Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria (a true Tex-Mex woman as you’ll see), actress Meryl Streep and even a real Queen (Queen Noor of Jordan!).

The stories are not told linearly and Gates - who not only meets with the subjects in their own home or workplace, but also travels the world - jumps back and forth. Batalli and Nichols show up in Episode One but don’t come back until Episode Four. Streep seems to be in every one, as does Colbert. For much of the fourth episode the discussion turns to genealogy through DNA testing. Fascinating, but a bit more complicated than the physical research covered until that point.

Each of the subjects gets a unique surprise finding and I’ll not spoil the fun for you by revealing any of them here. I found the Ma family history and Mike Nichols to be the most surprising.

The music - by Michael Bacon (Kevin’s brother and half of The Bacon Brothers band) - sometimes gets in the way, but that’s minor issue. The show is fascinating and I highly recommend it.

There are no bonus features - just scene selection.

Watching this may send you off to find your own family history. Unlike the dozen covered here, you won’t have Gates and his huge team to help you though.

Steve Ramm
“Anything Phonographic”

Mike Nichols and Meryl Streep have the same mouth
This was an entertaining documentary but extra fun because I noticed as soon as Meryl Streep was interviewed in the second episode that her mouth makes her strongly resemble Mike Nichols from the first episode.

The Adventures of Ma And Pa Kettle, Vol. 2 At the Fair / On Vacation / At Home / At Waikiki Lowest Price! Compare & Purchase The Adventures of Ma And Pa Kettle, Vol. 2 At the Fair / On Vacation / At Home / At Waikiki at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $19.98 Amazon Price: $15.99 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

The Adventures of Ma And Pa Kettle, Vol. 2 At the Fair / On Vacation / At Home / At Waikiki Description:

America’s favorite country couple are back together again in a brand new collection featuring four of their all-time favorite films. Ma & Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) continue to charm audiences with their down-home humor and hilarious antics, inspiring in The Adventures of Ma & Pa Kettle: Volume 2, featuring Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair, Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation, Ma and Pa Kettle at Home, Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki. Join the Kettles this time as they travel the globe, getting involved in everything from international spies and pineapple plantations to harness racing and hurricanes in this delightful special collector’s set.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2414 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2004-05-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .30 pounds
• Running time: 326 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 9780783287010
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Customer Reviews:

The travels of Ma and Pa Kettle.
How wonderful it is to have Ma & Pa Kettle movies on one DVD.
The first Ma & Pa Kettle films were: The Egg and I (1947), Ma and Pa Kettle (1949), Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950), Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951).
This volume contains the next four films in the series:

MA AND PA KETTLE AT THE FAIR (1952)
The Kettles try to figure out a way to send Rosie (Lori Nelson) to college. Ma (Marjorie Main) is going to enter the Bread & Jam event again at the County Fair. She also enters a horse race. Pa (Percy Kilbride) gets his chance to speak in church. That’s James best as “Marvin Johnson”.

MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION (1953)
Ma and Pa Kettle receive a special letter. Elizabeth (Barbara Brown) and John (Ray Collins) have sent them tickets to New York and Paris, France. The hometown Indians, Geoduck (Oliver Blake) and Crowbar (Teddy Hart) will take care of the 13 children. So off they fly to Paris. Unfortunatly, Ma and Pa get mixed-up in a kettle of trouble. They must deliver a letter to someone. There are two bad people that are after that envelope too before it gets to the police station. Ma and Pa will do the right thing and now they can help catch the spies, with surveilance provided.

MA AND PA KETTLE AT HOME (1954)
Judges are a comin’ to town to award a child a scholarship. Whoever has the nicest looking farm and raises their kids in a good enviroment has the chance of winning. So the Kettles move back to the old farm for some quick fixin’ up. The Kettles also have Christmas on the farm. Mary Wickes plays “Miss Wetter”.

Ma and Pa Kettle At Waikiki (1955)
The temperature outside is arising and the clothes on the line are curling. Ma (Marjorie Main) prefers to use the washboard inside the washing machine to scrub the clothes. Some things in the modern home are just too new to her. The Kettles get an offer from Bob Baxter (Byron Palmer) to help cousin Rodney Kettle (Loring Smith) in Honolulu, Hawaii. And so they do with there adult daughter, Rosie (Lori Nelson), but without the other 13 kids.
Russel Johnson (Gilligan’s Island 1964-67, 78,79,81) plays “Eddie Nelson”. Fay Roope (Bewitched tv seires as “Mrs. Stevens”) plays “Mrs. Andrews”. This was Percy Kilbride’s last film as “Pa Kettle”. He died in a road accident on December 11, 1964.

Ma and Pa Kettle Volume 3 will contain the last two films, The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) and The Kettles on Old MacDonald’s Farm (1957).

Part 2 of a classic comedy series
The Kettle’s adventures continue in another four films. The DVD is double sided with two films on each side.

Side One:
*** Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair: Rosie needs money to go to college. Ma Kettle decides to enter her jam at the fair to win money to send her but Birdie Hicks is determined to win the prize.

*** Ma and Pa Kettle on Vacation - Ma and Pa go to Paris with the Parkers. Of course, Pa gets involved with international spies.

Side Two:
**** Ma and Pa Kettle at Home: Son Elwin applies for a scholarship at the agricultural college. But the college wants to see the farm that he described in his application. So the clan work together to do up the farm. Unfortunately, a rainstorm comes through and ruins most of the face lift.

***** Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki: Cousin Rodney calls for help from his big business tycoon cousin Pa Kettle. So Ma, Pa and Rosie set off for Hawaii. While there Pa meets the Hawaiian equivalents of the Kettles. Actually they make the Kettles look like amateurs! This is the best travel Kettle film.

With Volume Two that makes eight of the eleven films on DVD. When will Volume 3 come out? Let’s have the complete set!

There will never be another Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride!

Great fun, Good Memories
This is a collection that took me back to the viewing of the TV edits of these films. Totally great if you love the Kettles. Very nice fare on a new 33 inch TV.
I must admit it is a little annoying that the 1:85:1 ratio is not retained for one film. It would be nice to see the original ratios.
The only problem I had with the double sided DVD is that the discs of this nature are not compatible with all DVD players. Worked best with the Philips DVP642 I bought recently. Great image, excellent transfer.
If you get this volume 2, make sure you get volume 1 ; great fun for fans of this series.

Buy Dinosaurs - The Complete First and Second Seasons At Amazon! Compare & Purchase Dinosaurs - The Complete First and Second Seasons at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $39.99 Amazon Price: $35.49 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

Dinosaurs - The Complete First and Second Seasons Description:

Movie DVD

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2058 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2006-05-02
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: .50 pounds
• Running time: 672 minutes

Features

• Meet the Sinclairs — the funniest family in 60 million years! They’re just your average family with one BIG difference. They’re dinosaurs, living the good life in sixty million and three B.C.! Daddy Earl, his wife Fran, their kids, Robbie, Charlene, and the Baby, and feisty Grandma Ethyl, bring a hilarious Jurassic twist to daily life as they eat, drink, make merry, and get their kicks wa

Customer Reviews:

It’s the dinosaurs, got to love them.
Finally, after all the years of tortuous waiting Dinosaurs has been released to DVD! This is truly an excellent and hilarious show that has won numerous awards over the years. For those of you who are interested, this is a list of the episodes included in this four disc set of DVD’s which includes both season one and two.

Season 1 (1991)

1. The Mighty Megalosaurus (original air date 4/26/91)

This is the first, and one of the all time best episodes of Dinosaurs. Earl has a talk with his newborn son and tells him about the days preceding his hatching. As his tale progresses, he relates his hilarious attempt to attain a raise from his vindictive boss, B.P. Richfield, and the subsequent results. [Overall episode rating : 5 stars.]

2. The Mating Dance (original air date 5/3/91)

Fran, Earl’s ever complaining wife, is becoming depressed due to all the work involved with caring for the new baby. As time progresses, Earl eventually becomes aware of her dour expression and decides that it is time to cheer her up. However, he misinterprets her problems and decides that the only way to please her is to re-learn the mating dance from a nighttime school. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars]

3. Hurling Day (original air date 5/10/91)

Earl is elated to learn that his vicious mother in law, Ethel, is hurtling toward her seventy second birthday. On the day of a dinosaur’s seventy second birthday, they are hurled by a relative into a deep tar pit. According to the law Earl has been selected for the job, which he willingly accepts. As the day for her hurling draws nigh, Earl becomes ever more delighted and begins to brag to his co-workers and boss about the upcoming hurling. However, to Earl’s extreme horror, his fourteen year old son, Robbie, decides that hurling is outdated and should no longer be implemented. Soon, Robbie starts to convince others of his new theory.
[Overall episode rating : 5 stars]

4. High Noon (original air date 5/17/91)

An enormous male dinosaur takes an interest in Fran when he sees her in the supermarket. Soon afterwards, he challenges Earl with a fight to the death for Fran. Earl accepts the challenge and begins his training. However, it soon becomes obvious that he can never win. The day for the fight arrives unbidden and he bids farewell to his family, since he expects to be killed in the fight. When the other dinosaur appears and the fight begins, Fran intervenes and tells the other dinosaur about her deep love for Earl and her hatred for him. [Overall episode rating 4 stars.]

5. The Howling (original air date 5/24/91)

As Robbie approaches adulthood he is expect to ascend to the top of a mountain and howl, as all other dinosaurs are expected to do when they reach adulthood. Robbie, however, sees the tradition as outdated and meaningless and refuses to acquiesce to it. His family warns him that there will be dire consequences if he does not fulfill this rite. He continues to ignore them and everyone eventually comes to their own conclusions about the rite of howling. Also, Earl and his best friend, Roy, start an enormous fight that threatens their friendship.

Season Two (1991-1992)

6. The Golden Child (originally aired 9/18/91)

When Fran becomes exhausted with caring for the baby, she leaves Robbie and Charlene to feed the baby his breakfast while she continues her housework upstairs. However, they soon decided that there are numerous things that they would rather be doing, and they leave the baby alone to feed himself. As can be expected, the baby eats all the wrong foods, especially copious piles of sugar. After this strange meal he grows a golden horn. When this growth becomes widely publicized, the elders from the Cave of Destiny order Earl to bring this strange child to them. Upon his arrival at the cave the elders inform him that the child is the response of an ancient prophesy. According to them the Child is to be the king of all Pangaea. Earl is forced to leave the baby at the Cave of Destiny. As time passes, the entire family begins to miss the baby, and they try to enact a scheme to return the baby home. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars]

7. Family Challenge (originally aired 9/25/91)

When a meteor falls through space and lands on the Sinclair’s television, Earl is heartbroken and Fran is elated. Earl proceeds to drag them onto a game show in hopes of winning another television.

8. I Never Ate For My Father (originally aired 10/2/91)

Earl enlists Robbie into a Carnivore celebration festival. However, Earl is unaware that Robbie is an herbivore at heart. After they both get eaten by a swamp monster they have a discussion while residing in the monster’s stomach and come to an understanding.

9. Charlene’s Tale (originally aired 10/9/91)

As Charlene grows older her tale grows in and causes Earl to realize that his little girl is growing up. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars.]

10. Endangered Species (originally aired 10/16/91)

With their anniversary looming in the imminent future, Earl buys Fran a surprise pair of graptolites, a rare gourmet delicacy. When Earl leaves them in Robbie’s supervision, he soon learns that they are the last of their kind. Once he attains this knowledge, he decides that he must fight for their rights to survive as a species, much to Earl’s despair. [Overall episode rating : 3 stars]

11. Employee of the Month (originally aired 10/23/91)

Earl eagerly awaits his dinner with his boss, expecting that this means he is moving up in the company. Meanwhile Robbie brings a pet human home. Trouble is brewing.

12. When Food Goes Bad (originally aired 10/30/91)

Unfortunately, this is the worst episode in the series. The Baby is conned into opening the refrigerator by the malevolent food that dwells within it. After the food escapes havoc is reeked on the house and Charlene and Robbie must devise a cleaver plan to return the food to its rightful home before Earl and Fran return from their romantic dinner, which also goes very badly. [Overall episode rating : 1 star]

13. Career Opportunities (originally aired 11/6/91)

After a trip to “the Job-Wizard” Robbie’s destined job is selected; he is to be a tree-pusher like his father. Earl is elated to share his work with his son and is proud of his profession. Robbie, however, is devastated to realize that his future holds nothing more than felling trees. Thus, he begins to question their system of acquiring jobs.

14. Unmarried . . .With Children (originally aired 11/13/91)

After having a discussion with her best friend Fran begins to question her marriage to Earl and considers not renewing their marriage license.

15. How to Pick up Girls

Robbie decides to take his friends advice concerning a girl that he likes. However, his friends advice soon gets him into massive trouble.

16. Switched At Birth (originally aired 11/27/91)

As Fran goes through the baby’s old things, she encounters the nest that she lovingly constructed for her egg. However, upon turning it over and reading the label on the bottom she discovers that the nest is not hers! She remembers that the switched nest must have occurred during an earthquake at her Lamase class. As they begin to discuss the events that shroud the incorrect nest, they begin to suspect that more than the nests got switched. [Overall episode rating : 3 stars]

17. Refrigerator Day (originally aired 12/11/91)

In this episode the Sinclair’s celebrate their form of “Christmas” which exalts cold storage. However, their beloved refrigerator is repossessed, leaving them with nothing to celebrate over the holiday. Earl despairs and refuses to enjoy the holiday without the material joys that used to follow it. Fran, however, shows him that there is more to holidays than greed. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars.]

18. What “Sexual Harris” Meant (originally aired 12/18/91)

Earl helps Monica, Fran’s best friend, to get a job as a tree pusher. Monica soon becomes the subject of harassment, and she attempts to stand up for herself in the court of law.

19. Fran Live (1/8/92)

Fran decides that she should have her own career and proceeds to get a job on a television show where she advises other dinosaurs about their problems. However, her wonderful news comes with its own set of problems. The house no longer functions, the laundry is really piling up, and Earl’s colleagues tease him mercilessly about having a wife who works. Also, Fran begins to talk about Earl on her television show, using him as an example. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars.]

20. Power Erupts (original air date 1/15/92)

Robbie’s science project involving “power eruptions” becomes an immediate success. However, Earl’s diabolical boss foresees that it will cause problems for his company. He decides that to save his company he will have to destroy Robbie`s reputation. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars]

21. The Clip Show (original air date 1/22/92)

An archeologist describes the events in a dinosaur’s life. [Overall Episode rating : 2 stars]

22. A New Leaf (2/5/92)

Robbie and his friend Spike stumble across some unusual plants in the forest that cause them to become very happy. Robbie brings the plants home and everyone enjoys them (even Earls boss!), except Fran and the Baby who disapprove of the use of substances to make dinosaurs happy. Eventually everyone comes to the same conclusion and the episodes ends with a sermon against the use of drugs. [Overall episode rating : 5 stars]

23. The Last Temptation Of Ethel (original air date 2/12/92)

Earl is overjoyed when he believes Ethel has died and he wastes no time in burying her in the backyard. However, to his dismay, she is sent back from the jaws of death and decides that she should televise her experiences. After she becomes a success she is recalled to the afterlife temporarily where she is warned to stop profiting from the afterlife. [Overall episode rating : 5 stars]

24. Nuts to War (original air date 2/26/92)

Part 1 : Robbie is drafted into the war. Fran sends Earl, Roy, and Charlene, to the front to make sure that he is all right.

Part 2 : Earl, Charlene, and Roy enter the war disguised as entertainers and beg Robbie to return home, which he refuses to do.

25. And The Winner Is . . . (originally aired 3/27/92)

It is time to elect another chief elder and B.P. Richfield decides that the post is to be his. However, he must be sure he can overcome his opposition. To ensure this he decides that his opponent must be a bumbling idiot. Who better to fill this post than Earl? [Overall episode rating : 5 stars]

26. Slave to Fashion (original air date 3/30/92)

Charlene decides that the way to become popular is to buy an expensive coat. She soon realizes that being popular is not what she really wants after her talking coat leads her into serious trouble and then selects a new owner. [Overall episode rating : 4 stars.]

27. Leader of the Pack (original air date 4/24/92)

Robbie joins a gang that has been tormenting him, after they have presumed that he has killed the old pack leader. Everything is going wonderfully, until the old leader returns. [Overall episode rating : 5 stars]

28. WESAYSO Knows Best (original air date 5/8/92)

Earl’s company, the WESAYSO corporation, decides that his family would be an excellent campaign slogan, as long as Earl was replaced by Roy. Will Earl allow his company to remove him from his own family? [Overall episode rating : 4 stars.]

The bonus features included on these excellent discs are a making of featurette and a documentary detailing the original designs for Dinosaurs.

To conclude, I highly recommend this show. It is delightfully funny. The characters were wonderful, especially Earl’s crabby mother in law and most of the episode plot lines were ingenious, particularly Hurling Day and The Last Temptation of Ethel. I hope that the producers will come out with the other two seasons on DVD!

A Show Before Its Time
Dinosaurs was a cutting edge comedy that was definitely before its time.

This cannot truly be considered animation nor a puppet show. Each character had two performers. The first was an actor in a dinosaur costume that did the visual. The second was a voice actor. This created a unique hybrid.

Add to this a writing team that was not afraid to make fun of itself. (Great scene - The family is watching Unsolved Mysteries when Robert Stack says, the next episode we will investigate why people watch this show when a much better show is on another network. –At that time Unsolved Mysteries was Dinosaur’s competition.)

The show of course takes place during the Jurassic period and the dinosaurs rule the place like humans, while the humans are cavemen who are wild.

The first season was a summer show with five episodes. The second season was a full season with 24 episodes.

Let’s hope that they release the last three seasons together!

This is a great show that adults will watch at one level, teenagers at another and kids at their own. What ever age, it will be enjoyed.

Earl’s Family
The 1990’s really brought some of the most entertaining family shows that ABC had actually had showcased from Family Matters to The Drew Carey Show. Nevertheless, there is always one that has definitely delivered well. With the success of the Henson family, and Jim Henson Productions, the Muppets had a hugely successful franchise base that still has delivered today, but innovations of the prehistoric past have also brought in very well too. With Dinosaurs, the show became a outrageous and cult classic about Earl Sinclair and his family Robbie, Charlene, Baby, and his wife Fran through the comical prehistoric times. Now, it finally has a home on home video.

Dinosaurs: The Complete First & Second Seasons really became the prime of the ABC series. The DVD compilation includes some of the funniest primetime episodes ever, that still introduce comical and delightful family fun. The episodes that are highlighted here definitely still remain as pure delights like Family Challenge, where Earl & company go on this television game show just to have a chance to play for a television set, and Nuts To War Parts I & II where the dinosaur population goes to war over pistachio nuts and Robbie gets himself into the conflict, and Golden Horn, where Baby Sinclair is declared The Golden Child from a horn coming out on his head, and becomes a popular favorite among the populace that also is the most powerful leader in the realm of Pangia. The episodes here were definitely remastered well, and still deliver within each moment of delight and fun.

For those who haven’t seen Dinosaurs during its era on ABC, this is a absolute delight for all to watch and enjoy. I loved this show when it was on television years ago, and everytime I get the chance to see these classic shows, they still are just as funny and exciting as they were years ago. I absolutely recommend Dinosaurs: The Complete First & Second Seasons. Gotta Love Them.

Episodes: B+

Price: A-

Remastering: B 1/2+

Overall: B+

Amazon.com
Created before the days of computer animation, Dinosaurs is an early 1990s television comedy series featuring impressive anthropomorphic, animatronic creatures created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. The story lines challenge some of society’s most basic assumptions and explore some of the most universally troublesome aspects of “civilized” life. Set in six million three BC, the Sinclairs are your “typical” blue-collar dinosaur family attempting to adjust to the relatively new concept of communal living. The adjustments of moving from a nomadic lifestyle to one of domestication and social interaction are many, and challenging issues like the concepts of right and wrong, faith, and the intricacies of family relationships are forever besieging this every-man’s family. Naturally, the Sinclair family approach is to address each obstacle with an abundance of slapstick comedy. The Dinosaurs episodes regularly function on dual levels: the puppetry and silly antics like Baby Sinclair’s penchant for hitting her father over the head with a pan while hollering “Not the Mama” appeal to even the youngest children, but the often pointed social commentary and sometimes mature themes are squarely aimed at an adult audience. As a result, parental discretion and guidance are key in determining whether this series is appropriate for children under 9 or 10 years old. –Tami Horiuchi

Alice in Wonderland Discount. Compare & Purchase Alice in Wonderland at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $29.99 Amazon Price: $16.99 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

Alice in Wonderland Description:

Tumble down the rabbit hole with Alice for a fantastical new adventure from Walt Disney Pictures and Tim Burton. Inviting and magical, Alice In Wonderland is an imaginative new twist on one of the most beloved stories of all time. Alice (Mia Wasikowska), now 19 years old, returns to the whimsical world she first entered as a child and embarks on a journey to discover her true destiny. This Wonderland is a world beyond your imagination and unlike anything you’ve seen before. The extraordinary characters you’ve loved come to life richer and more colorful than ever. There’s the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), the White Queen (Anne Hathaway), the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), the White Rabbit (Michael Sheen) and more. A triumphant cinematic experience – Alice In Wonderland is an incredible feast for your eyes, ears and heart that will captivate audiences of all sizes.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2010-06-01
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 108 minutes

Customer Reviews:

Alice–Is it really you???
I really enjoyed it! There were all ages at the theater. It was a very nicely put together combination of people and creatures. (I think you call it animatronics?) While I remember the basic Alice story from years ago, I don’t necessarily remember all the fine details to compare it to the original.

The story begins with several businessmen discussing possible ventures when little Alice comes downstairs. Daddy says, “Another nightmare?” Alice affirms and daddy takes her back upstairs and tucks her back into bed after another dream of strange creatures with funny names.

Fast forward 13 years. Alice and Mom are traveling through the English Countryside. Daddy has passed on to “the other side”. They are going to visit one of the business partners who also bought Daddy’s share of the business. Arriving at the partner’s beautiful English country estate, Alice is paired up with their son Hamish and soon finds out that Hamish will ask for her hand. Now, let me side step here for a minute. Alice doesn’t exactly seem all that thrilled with Hamish but he is breathing without assistance and the family has money. Well-meaning relatives quickly point out, “Your face won’t last forever,” which translates to “you had better grab some guy before you get ugly and nuts like Aunt xxxx.”

While all this dialog business is going on, Alice keeps seeing a white rabbit in a topcoat with a stop watch. Hmmmm. Finally, Hamish asks for Alice’s hand in front of the whole gathering but she hesitates. Thinking, “Do I REALLY wanna do this?” she spots the white rabbit again. He is pointing to his stopwatch, indicating there is not much time left. Alice excuses herself and runs off to follow the rabbit that no one sees but her.

Alice soon falls down a hole. Down, down, down - landing in a locked circular room. The key on the table isn’t helping because it only unlocks a small doggie-sized door. She finds some potion to drink that makes her small, and a cake to eat that makes her big. You hear a male and female voice talking in the background saying, “You’d think she’d remember all this from the first time.” She gets through the door and finds herself in a strange garden where a blue caterpillar is smoking a hooka pipe. He is the “wisdom” guy. As Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and other characters, there is discussion as to whether or not she is the RIGHT Alice. A mean-looking polar bear type creature chases her and her friends, as does a mean buzzard. The mean creatures all belong to the Red Queen, as does the “Jabberberrywalkie” (a dragon). The Queen likes to behead anything and anyone who displeases her. She has a frog beheaded for eating her fruit tart. Every other word out of her mouth is “off with his/her head!” (Fortunately, you don’t see them beheaded.)

Once upon a time, the land was beautiful, but the Red Queen, her warriors, and the mean creatures raged war and the dragon fried what was left of the land. The “prophecy” was that Alice would return and slay the dragon, but this Alice is a peace-nic.

We also meet the White Queen, who is the nice one. Alice is actually supposed to steal this special sword, return it to the White Queen, become her Champion in the battle against the Red Queen, and then slay the dragon. Oh, BTW, the Queens are sisters.

I found the movie quite enjoyable. Johnny Depp was absolutely wonderful, as always. It amazes me how he made his character come alive! He is very talented and was the real star of the movie.

This is a nice story about facing fears, transformation, friendship, and about a young woman who is stronger than she thought she was.

END OF REVIEW
_______________________________________________________________________

Do not read my last paragraph below unless you want to know if your children should see the show.
______________________________________________________________________________

Is it for young children? I think it’s iffy. This is not really a children’s movie anyway. It is an adaptation of one for adults. It’s not bad, but you do have the concept of beheading people/charachters and the dragon shooting out fire. You also have the 2 monsters, one getting his eye plucked out with a sword. You see an almost beheading of a person and a monster gets his head chopped off. It might give your children nightmares, so, be careful. They may not be as unaffected as you think. I say this because I made the same mistake with my son. He told me about how it affected him many years later. That was when I found out I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was.

More like Return To Wonderland…
19 year old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to the magical Wonderland from when she was young and meets some old friends, and learns of her destiny.. to overthrow the evil Red Queen, sister to the good White Queen (Anne Hathaway).

I rather enjoyed it. Dark and weird, but it’s really a sequel in feel, so why call it Alice in Wonderland? Return to Wonderland would have been an more apt title. Although that is probably too similar to Return to Oz…

Whereas the Disney Wonderland felt bright, surreal and colourful, this film had a very muted colour pallette even in the “real” world and Tim Burton’s Wonderland had a kind of run-down, almost post apocolyptic feel. I pictured Alice being about 10 years old in the novel and 1951 Disney adaptation.

In that sense, by making this film a kind of sequel with Alice now in her late teens, maybe the broken, dark Wonderland becomes a metaphor for lost innocence and childhood itself, and how one’s perception of childhood changes as you get older, which I think is actually quite clever.

I felt the 2 bookending parts of the film were boring (in the opening, we learn Alice is getting married to a slimy suitor) and I didnt feel for those characters.

Mia Wasikowska gave a good performance playing Alice as she was more independent and resourceful than I remember, surely ahead of her time!

I did like Helena Bonham Carter’s turn as the Red Queen a lot - even though, talking with a high pitched, childish lisp, she reminded me of Miranda Richardson’s Queenie in Blackadder II! In fact, she ripped off that interpretation wholesale. But still very funny.

Stephen Fry was excellent and probably gave the best “performance” of the cast as the Cheshire Cat but he was criminally underused I felt. Alan Rickman had just the right kind of stately voice of the Cattepillar.

In order to bring peace to Wonderland, Alice must slay the monster known as the Jabberwocky (I don’t remember this Harry Potter type battle from the novel), which seemed shoehorned in to give the film some more structure and narrative and give the older, supposedly more resourceful Alice a mission, which The Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) helps her with. His performance is a strange one - wearing lots of make up and adopting an occasional Scottish accent, there may be some sadness as well as madness in his air because he and the other characters have been waiting up to 13 years for Alice to come back.
However, in one scene the Hatter does a Michael Jackson inspired dance for no apparent reason, which I found cringeworthy.

The suggestion through the film that Wonderland may actually be real (with Alice often questioning her surroundings) reminded me of themes explored in Pan’s Labyrinth and The Chronicles of Narnia. In my opinion this gave the film a darker edge and made it more appealing to adults and older children.

Burton Doesn’t Lose His “Muchness” with His Darkly Fanciful Take on the Lewis Carroll Classic
Mad as a hatter and wildly audacious, this fantastical 2010 adventure turns Lewis Carroll’s classic tale of surreal logic displacement on its ear. Who better to translate this story into a female empowerment parable than the master of quirky darkness, director Tim Burton, and his favorite muse Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter? The excesses of Burton’s imagination, guided by Linda Woolverton’s (The Lion King) sharp-tongued screenplay, result in a particularly idiosyncratic adaptation. Yet, as dazzling and sometimes scarifying as the computer-generated images are, the film is not overwhelmed by the visual elements and retains the basic themes of the original stories.

Combining elements of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, the movie begins when a young Alice awakens from a nightmare in which she has visited Wonderland. The obviously precocious child questions her sanity to which her father assures her that it’s fine to be “bonkers”, all the best people are. Flash forward several years later, and Alice has become a rebellious nineteen-year-old on her way to a garden party where all the guests are to witness her being engaged to a patronizing fop named Hamish. She hesitates and asks for a moment at which point she chases a rabbit from her earlier dream into a hole. Perpetually shrinking and enlarging, she finds herself in not Wonderland but Underland where she sees all the talking creatures from her dream, but this time, they all question whether she is the real Alice. They all need the Alice of their collective memory, the one who would have no trouble defeating the monstrous Jabberwocky and ending the reign of the evil Red Queen.

Once Alice joins the Mad Hatter’s party, it becomes clear she is not in a dream of her making, that she is being signaled to make her own way in life and within Underland, ensure that the virtuous White Queen be restored to the throne, even donning Joan of Arc-like armor for the climactic battle scene. Australian actress Mia Wasikowska (Amelia) makes a terrifically wary Alice whose sense of wonder is tempered by her palpable search for self-confidence. As you would expect, Depp has the showiest role as the Mad Hatter, all leering smiles and electro-shock orange hair, and he makes the most of it despite an incongruous dance solo toward the end. With her head blown up three times its normal size, Helena Bonham Carter has a field day as the decapitation-crazed Red Queen as she barks orders at her lackeys and demands to be pampered with pigs being used as footrests.

The rest of the cast make the impressions needed within the dimensions of the story - Stephen Fry as the dapper but cowardly Cheshire Cat; Crispin Glover as the villainous Knave of Hearts tending to the Red Queen’s absurd orders; Alan Rickman as the surly, hookah-smoking Caterpillar; and English comedian Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, perhaps the most Disneyesque of the characters conceived here. Only Anne Hathaway disappoints in an arch turn as the White Queen, appearing to channel her The Princess Diaries co-star, Julie Andrews, in accentuated Mary Poppins mode. All the production values are first-class from Robert Stromberg’s wildly varied production design to Dariusz Wolski’s rich cinematography and Danny Elfman’s bombastic music score. The movie does meander at various points, primarily to establish the next story turn, but fans of Burton’s and Depp’s work shouldn’t be too disappointed.

Amazon.com
Tim Burton was born to bring Alice in Wonderland to the big screen. Ironically, his version of the Victorian text plays more like The Wizard of Oz than a Lewis Carroll adaptation. On the day of her engagement party, the 19-year-old Alice (a nicely understated Mia Wasikowska) is lead by a white-gloved rabbit to an alternate reality that looks strangely familiar–she’s been dreaming about it since she was 6 years old. Stranded in a hall of doors, she sips from a potion that makes her shrink and nibbles on a cake that makes her grow. Once she gets the balance right, she walks through the door that leads her to Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Matt Lucas), the Dormouse (Barbara Windsor), the Blue Caterpillar (Alan Rickman), and the Cheshire Cat (a delightful Stephen Fry), who inform her that only she can free them from the wrath of the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter channeling Bette Davis) by slaying the Jabberwocky. To pull off the feat, she teams up with the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp in glam-rock garb), rebel bloodhound Bayard (Timothy Spall), and Red’s sweet sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway in goth-rock makeup). While Red welcomes Alice with open arms, she plans an execution for the hat-maker when he displeases her (”Off with his head!”). Drawing from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, Burton creates a candy-colored action-adventure tale with a feminist twist. If it drags towards the end, his 3-D extravaganza still offers a trippy good time with a poignant aftertaste. –Kathleen C. Fennessy

Fast And Furious Product: Fast And Furious Lowest Price! List Price: —- Amazon Price: $19.98 Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

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Vin Diesel and Paul Walker reteam with Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster for the ultimate chapter of the franchise built on speed! When fugitive Dominic Toretto (Diesel) returns to Los Angeles to avenge a loved one’s death, it reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Conner (Walker). But, as they race through crowded city streets and across international lines, they must test their loyalties by joining together to bring down a shared enemy. From big rig heists to precision tunnel crawls, Fast & Furious takes you back into the high-octane world, which lives for speed, drives for the rush and breaks all the rules!

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2290 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2009-07-28
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

Features

• ISBN13: 0025195038416
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

New Movie, Original Parts…
After three high-octane rides on the street racing scene, the fourth film in the “The Fast and the Furious” series features a departure from the flashy, overblown colors, obvious CGI-enhancement, and at times over-the-top stunts of the previous two films. With “Fast & Furious” the series returns to its roots with a grittier, more realistic leaning tone and reunites the primary players from the original film’s cast of gearheads for more high speed mayhem.

“Fast & Furious” finds Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) continuing his lawless ways in the Dominican Republic alongside his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and a new crew of velocity addicted miscreants. When the law begins to close in on Dom and his crew, difficult choices are made, plans are put into motion, and a life is lost. All of this forces Dom to return to his native Los Angeles on a quest for answers and to ultimately deal with those responsible. While back in town, Dom is reunited, albeit begrudgingly, with his former friend Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), who once again finds he is torn between doing what he desires most or following the letter of the law he’s sworn to uphold.

With the slightly weaker feel of the previous two films in the series, I was kind of unsure of how good this fourth attempt would prove to be, regardless of the fact that many of the original film’s cast members were reprising their roles eight years later. After seeing “Fast & Furious” over the weekend, I can honestly say that any misgivings I had regarding the film were easily blown away by the sheer entertainment value and superiority exuded by this film over anything included in the previous two films.

Besides the original film’s primary cast returning to the series that made them stars, the writer and director duo of Chris Morgan and Justin Lin (”The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”) make their return to the series with a much more polished final product than what had been featured in their previous effort. The screenplay is a much more complex work than one may expect from this type of movie. Screenwriter Chris Morgan ups the stakes for all the players, delivering several twists along the way, and some very sharply written dialogue, all of which makes for a thoroughly entertaining ride from start to finish. The story really seems to focus on resolving storylines begun in the first movie, and creating a stronger link between all of the other movies in the series, especially “Tokyo Drift” (which has always felt a little bit like an outcast in the franchise). As a fan of the series, I believe that this film’s more mature storyline and well-written dialogue showcases the time and effort that Chris Morgan put into this film, and the work definitely pays off by rewarding longtime fans of the franchise by interconnecting each of the films, while not alienating any newcomers.

Director Justin Lin shows an even steadier hand when it came to helming his second effort in the series. Even though Justin proved quite capable in capturing the high speeds and general fast-paced nature of the series with “Tokyo Drift”, his work here is stronger even if it is with a little less flashiness. By approaching the film more in the vein of the original’s look and tone, Lin imbues “Fast & Furious” with a grittier nature that cements its close ties to the aforementioned, along with having the slight feel of an urban crime drama (albeit without the same level of intensity inherent in most of those films). If there are to be any more films in this series, then I believe that the powers-that-be may have found a valuable asset in this director, and one that they should use whenever possible to maintain consistency between the installments (something this series has previously lacked).

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times already, the cast for this film features many returning members from the original film. Let’s begin with one of the biggest breakout stars of the original, Vin Diesel (”A Man Apart”). In his reprisal as Dom Toretto, Vin gives one of the best performances of his career, if not his best yet (easily rivaling his work in “A Man Apart” or “Find Me Guilty”). In this film, Diesel is given more opportunity to explore Dom, whether it is his passion for the various facets of his life, personal loss, the issue of trust, or merely the unbridled fury that we had only heard mention of in the first film. Here we are presented with a much more layered and developed anti-hero than had been previously established, and one who is more weathered and world-weary from all of the experiences he has endured whether good or bad. If there are still some detractors of Vin’s work out there, then the combination of his movies mentioned above should help convince them to the contrary, so long as they ignore his misfire with the dismal “Babylon A.D.”.

Alongside Vin is Paul Walker as the other main lead for this installment. This film also marks Walker’s second reprisal as the lead in this series, as Paul was the only main cast member to return for the initial sequel “2 Fast 2 Furious”. To be fair, Vin has also appeared in the series three times, although his second appearance was just a cameo in the final moments of “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”. But I digress, now back to Paul Walker’s performance as one-time ex-law man turned outlaw turned active FBI agent Brian O’Connor. It’s a rather convoluted series of events that comprise O’Connor’s storyline through the series, but it works. In the first film, Paul gave a fairly solid, if not flawed performance, which he proceeded to follow-up with a decidedly more surfer-esque, flat and stilted performance, replete with more “Yo’s”, “Bro’s”, and “Check it’s” than one would care to count. Paul’s third stint in the series, much like Vin’s return, makes for his best performance of the series, not to mention his entire career. I used to think that he was one of those actors that merely skated by on his looks and onscreen charm, with very little acting talent holding it all together. With his performance here he is much more reserved and believable, even intense at times, to the point that one wonders if there may be hope for Paul’s career as a serious actor yet. Gone are the various surfer boy idioms, replaced by a much more mature character who is still trying desperately to atone for past mistakes.

The final two returning characters are the two important female roles of Mia and Letty (Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez respectively). Both of these characters suffered from very little development in their first outing, a problem that has now been rectified by this film. The character of Mia is given a very emotional arc to go through over the course of the film as she is forced to deal with the return of her former lover and betrayer of her family, Brian O’Connor. Jordana proves with her more developed role and character arc that she has the acting chops necessary to handle more of the story should the occasion call for it, something that future writers of the series may want to take note of should her character make any more return appearances. Michelle Rodriguez has proven in numerous movies and on TV’s “Lost” that she is a very capable actress, but in this series she has yet to really be all that important or necessary for that matter. In the first film she was merely Dom’s girlfriend and not all that interesting beyond that; however, in this story her character is central to the film’s main plotline. I have to admit that while I wasn’t all that enthralled by Michelle’s character in the original film, she definitely proved more interesting in this one, and was much more enjoyable to watch as she really seemed to be having a good time in the role.

Lastly, we have one key newcomer to the franchise. Actor John Ortiz (”Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem”) plays a man named Campos whose job is to find and recruit drivers to smuggle drugs for a very powerful Mexican cartel. I haven’t seen John in any kind of tough guy roles, mostly because I haven’t seen too many movies he’s appeared in, but I have to say he was very convincing in the role. He portrayed the character with a subtle hint of menace, never really overdoing it just keeping an obvious air about him that this guy is not one to be trifled with. While he wasn’t given an incredible amount of screen time, what he is given John makes the most of. John delivers a strong antagonist that could have ended up being just another stock character, but became something a little more developed thanks to his work in the role.

“Fast & Furious” is by far the best of the sequels in the series, and easily rivals the original film, possibly even surpasses it. This is all due to a much tighter and more developed story, the best acting in the entire series, and a much more grounded sense of reality than the previous two films boasted. If you’ve been a fan of the series or have simply become disappointed by the direction it’s taken in the previous sequels, then this is the movie to see as it undoubtedly kicks the franchise back into high gear.

As a side note, it’s important to know that “Fast & Furious” occurs prior to the events shown in the third film, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”.

“Fast & Furious” is rated PG-13 for violence, language, and sexuality.

Fun!
If you enjoy the series, you will continue to enjoy fast and furious! It pretty much feels like a real sequel of the original with the cast back! Alot of action, cars, american muscle, you name it! Decent storyline, but it’s all about action and fast cars! The video quality is great as well and sound on a nice system!

Fast and Furious blu-ray looks and sounds AMAZING!
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker team up again for some more heart pounding adrenaline action. Also returning are Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. It’s been almost eight years since The Fast and The Furious first debuted in the summer of 2001. This movie takes place five years after the original. After hijacking fuel tanks in the Dominican Republic Dom (Vin Diesel) leaves his girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and becomes a criminal on the run. When Dom gets a devastating phone call from his sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dom decides to return to LA to get revenge. Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) who is now an FBI agent gets assigned to hunt down a drug lord named Braga. This new enemy ultimately unites Brian and Don who want to get revenge for the tragedy that happened to Dom. I will not give away anymore as I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who has not seen this movie. I will say as a huge fan of the first 2 movies in the franchise (especially the first one), I knew this movie had a lot to live up to. I’m happy to say Fast and Furious does not disappoint. This Movie will have your heart beating FAST and FURIOUS. Just like the original film that started it all, this new movie will also have you on the edge of your seat. Don’t listen to bitter critics, if you like a fun entertaining movie to take you away from your life for a few hours check this movie out! With an weekend opening of $72+ million in ticket sales FAST AND FURIOUS was the all-time biggest debut for the month of April. The blu-ray looks absolutely stunning in full 1080p and the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound will give your home theatre a great workout. The blu-ray comes with a ton of bonus material including limited time digital copy and an iphone app that lets you access your compatible blu-ray player and control the virtual garage on your TV with your iphone.

Extras:

* Audio commentary by Justin Lin
* Gag Reel
* “Los Bandoleros” short film
* “Under the Hood - Muscle Cars”
* Under the Hood - Imports”
* “Getting the Gang Back Together”
* “Driving School with Vin Diesel”
* “Shooting the Big Rig Heist”
* Races and Chases”
* “High Octane Action: The Stunts”
* “South of the Border: Filming in Mexico”
* “Virtual Car Garage”
* “Fast & Furious Video Mash-Up”
* “Blanco” Music Video by Pitbull featuring Pharrell
* U-Control:
* “Take Control”
* “Virtual Car Garage and Tech Specs”
* My Movie Commentary
* My Chat
* D-BOX Motion Code
* Digital Copy
* BD-Live

Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season-Retail $39.98! Sale Only $28.49! Compare & Purchase Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $39.98 Amazon Price: $28.49 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

Dallas: The Complete Eleventh Season Description:

J.R. may be down, but he’s never out. After Ewing Oil collapsed in disgrace at the end of Season 10, some folks might expect Season 11 to feature a J.R. who’s learned his lesson. But not Dallas fans - they know the only lesson J.R. ever learned was do unto others before they do unto you. So hang on to your Stetsons for 30 irresistible episodes of cheatin, lyin and tomcattin as J.R. claws his way back to the top. More drama: Bobby loses Pam but finds new romance. Cliff meets a broken-down wildcatter with dreams of gusher glory. Sue Ellen discovers that revenge is sweet. Two murder cases grab headlines. And a new crop of drop-dead gorgeous vamps with big schemes and bigger hair make life even more interesting for J.R.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3136 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-04-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .55 pounds
• Running time: 1417 minutes

Features

• J.R. may be down, but he’s never out. After Ewing Oil collapsed in disgrace at the end of Season 10, some folks might expect Season 11 to feature a J.R. who’s learned his lesson. But not Dallas fans - they know the only lesson J.R. ever learned was do unto others before they do unto you. So hang on to your Stetsons for 30 irresistible episodes of cheatin, lyin and tomcattin as J.R. claws his way b

Customer Reviews:

Review of ‘Dallas’ Season 11 [MINOR SPOILERS]
‘Dallas’ Season 11 brings forth a lot of what defined the series’ success; J.R.’s battle this season is to reclaim the now fallen Ewing Oil empire; Sue Ellen continues to find her way and make sense of her relationship with J.R.; Clayton and Miss Ellie have their own relationship issues to work out. For me though, the eleventh season was just average. It lacked the drama and emotional intensity of the ‘dream’ season but it was definitely less awkward that season 10 which attempted to make-up for the dream season. Still, the eleventh season felt a bit sedate and tame compared to season’s past. Even with 30 episodes, this season felt rather anti-climatic.

Part of my issue with this season is that it definitely felt as if the producers were either running out of ideas or trying to shift the focus from the core group of characters we’ve come to know and care about to a slew of new characters. Some of them, such as Sue Ellen’s new interest Nicholas Pearce, were interesting and just as strong as the long-running characters. Others, such as the femme fatale of the season Kimberly, or J.R.’s new lackey, Casey Denault, simply felt flat and cookie-cutter. The character of Bobby was also rather underwhelming during the season, coming off as rather detached for the most part. The characters of Ray and Jenna simply lost steam and were left to a rather lame rip-off plot of ‘Fatal Attraction’. To me, the only characters that really shined this season were Sue Ellen, who has the ultimate plot to get back at J.R. for years of wrong-doing, and Miss Ellie who finds herself in a role often held and played out by Sue Ellen.

There really was no real, threatening, big conflict this season. For part of the season, the focus seemed to be on the children and episodes felt a bit like an ABC After School Special rather than the ‘Dallas’ we all know and are obsessed with. John Ross, Christopher, and Charlie play a big role in this season and for me as a viewer, I’d prefer the focus have been more so on the adults. The character of Pam is completely demolished and her actions simply seemed to go against all of her seasons of development. Even J.R.’s fight to reclaim Ewing Oil isn’t as gripping because most of the plot feels old at this point; it feels exactly like the fight he puts up for the company each season. The season is filled with rehashed plots; Sue Ellen realizing J.R. will never be faithful to her, J.R. playing different family members against one another to get what he wants, a fight over John Ross, a murder/court trial.

With these complaints, there were still good moments in the season, including the emerging character of April Stevens and how she definitely plays well with so many characters. Seeing Sue Ellen spend an entire season sober and in control, plotting and playing her cards just as well as J.R. probably saved this season from being a total bore. I also enjoyed most scenes that involved Miss Ellie and watching as she found herself in the odd position of finally being able to relate to Sue Ellen and see what it’s been like for her in her relationship with J.R. The surprise return of Lucy toward the end of the season even provided for some great moments and perhaps a great interlude to more to come in the next season.

In all, ‘Dallas’ is still better than most shows on t.v. now and is worth the viewing. It’s definitely more soap opera-ish this season than previous; you have a mob plot, abduction, scheming, plotting, hook-ups, politics and many more elements that make this a guilty pleasure and must-see-tv. Check it out, you probably won’t be let down, especially with the season finale that definitely leaves Sue Ellen Ewing in the spotlight and makes this more so her season than any other before.

Dallas: Eleventh Season
I have all of the Dallas DVDs that have been released thus far, but have been unhappy that several of them have had scratches or something to cause the disc to stop in mid-scene and I would have to stop, eject, find my place and fast forward through it to get to the next part and past the problem. I had one season of Dallas that I returned to Amazon for this reason, they sent me another and it did exactly the same thing. I have had this problem with other seasons as well. Don’t get me wrong - I LOVE Dallas, but the quality of these DVDs leave something to be desired.

Surprisingly satisfying season
I just finished watching this season and have to say I was impressed - easily the best of the later seasons and it makes up for the atrocity that was the “dream” season and its unsatisfying follow-up season. What makes this year fun is solid plotting and unpredictability - that’s what keeps you watching all the way through to the satisfying climax.

It’s worth noting that April really comes into her own this season, and the “new cast of the season” - Jack Scalia as a hot headed investment banker with a secret, Leigh Taylor Young as the conniving Kimberly Cryder and Andrew Stevens as a cheeky hustler - are much more successful than the supporting cast members were introduced in previous seasons, such as the lacklustre Jack and Jamie Ewing. Plus we get Sue Ellen in a meaty story that does not involve drinking, JR at his conniving best, a surprisingly promiscuous Bobby getting over Pam, and quite a nice story for Ray and Jenna.

One thing I did find jolting was the sudden AIDS awareness that manifests in this season: JR’s long-time call girl Serena frets about AIDS, JR tells his protogee Casey to stop by the drugstore before seducing Marilee Stone, who in any event tells him to relax because she has taken “all precautions”, and the ripped-off ‘Fatal Attraction’ storyline with Ray and inexplicably obsessive Connie. It’s all a bit of a surprise to hear this safe sex talk on ‘Dallas’ of all shows, but I guess that was the sign of the times.

Buy 300: The Complete Experience Blu-ray Book and BD-Live At Amazon! Compare & Purchase 300: The Complete Experience Blu-ray Book and BD-Live at Amazon by clicking here! List Price: $39.99 Amazon Price: $21.49 Click Here To Purchase At Amazon!

300: The Complete Experience Blu-ray Book and BD-Live Description:

2 HOURS OF EXCLUSIVE EXTRA CONTENT - Prepare for Blu-ray glory and immerse yourself in the 300 experience as never before possible.

THE COMPLETE 300: A COMPREHENSIVE IMMERSION - This NEW interactive picture-in-picture experience provides 3 unique perspectives to explore while you watch the film: * CREATING A LEGEND: Frank Miller and Zack Snyder Interpret a Classic Tale - Holding true to Frank Miller’s love of history and the importance of bringing a pure adaptation to screen in this tale-based account. * BRINGING THE LEGEND TO LIFE: Building a World From a Comic - Blending the most talented and creative minds together to bring Frank Miller’s art to life in cinematic form. * THE HISTORY BEHIND THE MYTH: The Real Story of The Hot Gates - A rich and historical perspective on the Spartans and this legendary landmark.

PLUS A SPECIAL FEATURES ARMY: * WARNER BROS. BD-LIVE - Media Center; Live Community Screening; My WB Commentary. * Bluescreen Picture-In-Picture - Join Director Zack Snyder on a personal and fascinating commentary as he compares the Bluescreen composite to the feature. * Audio Commentary by Director Zack Snyder, Writer Kurt Johnstad and Director of Photography Larry Fong. * The 300- Fact or Fiction? - Historians, authors and filmmakers reveal how much of the movie is based on fact. (RT: 24:12) {HD} * Who Were The Spartans: The Warriors of 300 - The customs and ways of life of the Spartan used by the actors and filmmakers to build their characters. (RT: 6:00) {HD} * Preparing for Battle: The Original Test Footage - See how Frank Miller’s images were used in an video montage that evolved into the fight scene test and ultimately convinced the studio to make the movie. (RT: 6:10) {HD} * Frank Miller Tapes - We’ll show how the outspoken Miller continued to push his limits to realize his epic graphic novel, 300, in the world of theatrical film. (RT: 13:00) {HD} * Making of 300 - A look at how the movie was made. (RT: 5:40) * Making 300 in Images - Rapid fire stills from the first day of production to the last. (RT 3:00) * Webisodes - Behind the scenes peeks on the set of 300. (RT: 20:00) - Production Design; Wardrobe; Stunt Work; Lena Headey; Adapting The Graphic Novel; Gerard Butler; Rodrigo Santoro; Training The Actors; Culture of The Sparta City/State; A Glimpse from the Set - Making 300 the Movie; Scene Studies from 300; Fantastic Characters of 300. * Additional Footage - Deleted Scenes with Introduction by Zack Snyder (RT: 5:31) {HD}

40-Page collectible book packaging includes a comprehensive walk-through of the new cutting-edge Blu-ray features, behind the scenes and production photos AND never-before-seen sketches from creator Frank Miller.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1829 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2009-07-21
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 117 minutes

Features

• 2 HOURS OF EXCLUSIVE EXTRA CONTENT - Prepare for Blu-ray glory and immerse yourself in the 300 experience as never before possible.THE COMPLETE 300: A COMPREHENSIVE IMMERSION - This NEW interactive picture-in-picture experience provides 3 unique perspectives to explore while you watch the film: * CREATING A LEGEND: Frank Miller and Zack Snyder Interpret a Classic Tale - Holding true to Frank Mill

Customer Reviews:

I Am Spartan! Hear Me Roar!
Ah, to be male in Ancient Greece: “300″ is a testosterone-driven fantasy in which all men are fearless warriors, driven by the need for battle and bloodshed. War is depicted as gloriously as any geek loner-type could hope for, with every soldier being the epitome of strength, courage, and physical brute force. Emotional bonding, sensitivity, and compassion don’t even come into play; these men were trained to be ruthless killing machines, all in the name of preserving the glory of Sparta. This would no doubt be a ridiculous film if the story were presented in a straightforward, mainstream way. But straightforward and mainstream, “300″ is not; this is pure, hard-driving escapism, from the frenetic battle sequences to the elaborate special effects to the over the top performances. In this sense, it’s absolutely brilliant.

And it gets even better. Every shot, every setting, and every event is accentuated by a look so stylized that it’s practically a living duplicate of Frank Miller’s original graphic novel. This was achieved through computer-generated imagery, which was responsible for creating most of the film’s locations. Bluescreen technology–also utilized for another incredible Miller adaptation, 2005’s “Sin City”–made for a majority of the sets, leaving very little for the actors to actually work with. I can only imagine the effort that went into post-production, the endless hours of crafting landscapes, characters, and special effects all with the click of a mouse. The work paid off; the end product is an effectively heightened reinterpretation of reality, a kind of living illustration that transcends any sense of time or place. It’s the perfect look for war story of this caliber, something so grandiose and overplayed that you can’t get enough.

The plot is fairly simple: it’s a retelling of the 480 BC Battle of Thermopylae, in which the Spartans fought against the Persians. King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and his army of a mere 300 soldiers are ready to defend their land against the evil King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro). This is despite the fact that 1) they don’t have the blessing of the gods to go to war, and 2) they will fight against an army of over one million. But this matters not; Spartan males are trained to be warriors at a very early age, essentially the day that they’re born (only the largest, strongest newborns are spared; the small, sickly ones are unceremoniously thrown off of a cliff). They are taught the fine art of combat. They are made to take all kinds of physical pain, including lashings. They are conditioned to never retreat, even when facing insurmountable odds. Leonidas successfully survived such rigorous training (his first major battle was against a monstrous wolf with glowing eyes), as did the rest of his men. Now, they are ready for battle.

And after taking position near a beachfront cliff, the Spartans engage in ferocious battle with the Persians. Never on film has war been so much fun to watch. This is probably because each sequence was beautifully photographed; even graphic shots of stabbings, amputations, and decapitations are so artfully constructed that it’s hard to accept them as deplorable. The bodies of Persian soldiers are used to construct a blockade of surprising strength. Blood spatters from gaping wounds in dark, unrealistic globules, effectively looking more like spots of ink. There’s a moment when arrows fly through the air in numbers so vast, they block the light of the sun. Nearly every shot is drawn out, often going in slow motion to show how carefully choreographed the gratuitous violence is.

The Spartans also fight against the Immortals, an army of ghastly yet fantastical creatures with an appetite for destruction. They were appropriately crafted as one-dimensional barbarians, made more effective because of their appearances; they wear long black robes, and their pale, monstrous faces are hidden behind Tragedy-style silver masks. Where they came from is anyone’s guess. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, especially since they pave the way for a number of other ghoulish creatures that would give the creations of Clive Barker a run for their money. They–and every aspect of the film, for that matter–make it obvious that the real emphasis is on style instead of story, which under different circumstances would make for a miserable experience. But in this case, it works quite well; while a definite story is being told, it would be of little significance were it not for the special effects.

This isn’t to say that the story of “300″ is bad. Quite the opposite: despite being simplistic, the story is quite strong, especially when a couple of subplots are factored in. Back in Sparta, Leonidas’ wife, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), is up against a corrupt Senate, already bought out by the Persians in order to ensure Sparta’s stability. The arrogant and treacherous Theron (Dominic West) is clearly not ready to handle a woman of such strength, especially since she fully supports Leonidas and Sparta’s involvement in the war. Because she intends to plead to the Council for the deployment of more soldiers, Theron challenges her authority by exclaiming that her words will fall on deaf ears.

Another subplot involves Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan), a hunchbacked, hideously deformed Spartan who begs to join with Leonidas and fight against the Persians. Leonidas appreciates his passion, but refuses to let him fight; he’s unable to lift his shield, and this would only create a weak spot in their defense system. Feeling rejected, Ephialtes personally appeals to Xerxes, who promises a wealth of power, money, and pleasure in exchange for loyalty. This scene takes place in Xerxes’ den, in which a throng of misshapen creatures engages in an orgy. Before “300,” I never would have believed that any film could include such a scene, or at least a scene that would work in any way, shape, or form. I was wrong; it was a fascinating scene, forcing the viewer to reassess what is beautiful and what is ugly.

The film is narrated by Dilios (David Wenham), a Spartan soldier with a hard-edged masculinity that shines through despite a deceptively soft voice. He recalls Leonidas, Sparta, and the Battle of Thermopylae with eloquence; when considering the heavy-handedness of war, this is no small task. Yet he always gives a perfect delivery, and that only strengthens the appeal of “300.” This is in a world all its own, a world dominated by battle cries, sword fights, and bare-chested men that are ripped like bodybuilders. It’s all thanks to Frank Miller, whose creative vision has allowed for a truly unique theatrical experience. If he creates another graphic novel, I can’t wait for it to be adapted for the big screen.

300: Inspiring Tale Magnificently Told
A more intense shot of testosterone you will not find in any film. Equal parts bravado, guts and glory, “300″ is simply the most exciting film to come out this year - or in several. Criticized for its violence and gore, fans of Miller’s graphic novels will find that violence and gore to be as beautifully depicted on the screen as in the print version. A highly hyped CGI affair the cast could easily have been overcome by the sheer impressiveness of the physical production. To his credit director Zack Snyder is blessed with and uses a cast every bit equal to the challenge of competing with Miller’s dark fantastic take of the Spartan’s greatest story.

Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera, Dear Frankie, etc.) adds yet another impressive and wildly different character to his arsenal of screen roles. As Leonidas, King of Sparta, Butler is, from his pigtail to his muscled, sandled feet, every inch a king; a true leader of men. His passion and intensity is matched by a splendid performance by Lena Headey as his wife, Queen Gorgo. Though a dutiful wife and a woman in an age when being such was near equal to slave status, she is, in her way, as bold and fearless as her husband/King. Dominic West is properly evil and oily as the traitor Theron and he’s as nasty and duplicitous a villain as one can hope for. Rodrigo Santoro as a larger-than-life Xerxes is both comical and fearfully creepy equal parts drag queen and wanna be god. Behind all the glitzy piercings and bling, he is little more than self-inflated egotistical child.

While there is blood and gore aplenty, the film also happens to be emotionally satisfying and I found myself with tears welling up in my eyes more than a few times, as well as wanting to raise my fist in the air along with the jacked-up Spartans! While a macho stoicism pervades their attitudes, there are, to be sure, signs of a greater humanity beneath those ripped abs of Sparta’s army - and plenty of heart.

Parallels and allegories are already being drawn between today’s warring world climate, super power dominations and the world of ancient Greece and the Middle East. While this provides an interesting commentary, I heartily recommend leaving that baggage at home and appreciating “300″ on its own and embracing its escapism.

Larry Fong’s cinematography ensures that “300″ is eye-poppingly glorious from start to finish - a magnificent feast for the eyes while Tyler Bates’s score is guaranteed to keep your adrenaline pumping as it matches - frame-for-frame the visual intensity presented on the screen. While critics are divided on this one, audiences are flocking to it and cheering. For good reason, too: “300″ is magnificent old-fashioned story telling wed to the very best 21st century filmmaking has to offer. See it!

Frank Miller’s take on the first great last stand finally arrives on the big screen
Before going to see “300″ this afternoon I watched the 1962 film “The 300 Spartans.” I have a strong affection for the marching music in the film and the shot of Leonidas leading the Spartan phalanx for the last time, plus an enduring sense of injustice at the Persians dispatching the last Spartans by wave after wave of cartoon arrows. I had read Frank Miller’s “300″ when it was first published in five issues so I knew what to expect. This film is not history: it is art. Granted, we are talking post-modern art, but that still counts as art in a world where computers are as important as cameras when making a movie.

The Battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 B.C. The Persian army of Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is invading Greece with the largest army the world has ever seen. With the Spartan army prohibited from marching north because of a religious festival, King Leonidas (Gerald Butler in fine form) heads for the natural bottleneck on the main road between Locris and Thessaly with the 300 men of his bodyguard. After three days of battle the Spartans were betrayed by a man named Ephialtes who showed the Persians a mountain path that led behind the Greek lines. While the rest of the Greek soldiers retreated, the 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians were slaughtered to the last man. Simonides composed a famous epigram that was engraved as an epitaph on a commemorative stone placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Thermopylae: “Go, stranger, and tell the Spartans, That we lie here in obedience to their laws.”

Miller was inspired by historical events but was not constrained by it in telling his story. In his version Ephialtes (Andrew Tiernan) is no longer a poor shepherd but a deformed figure who was born to parents who fled Sparta rather than leave their infant on a rock to die, adding elements of pathos and irony hitherto unseen with regards to the character. Nor is this movie the attempt to faithfully bring Miller’s art to life that we saw with “Sin City,” which is perfectly fine with me. Besides, director Zack Snyder’s film reminded me more of lots of other films, from “Gladiator” to “Hero,” more than it did “Sin City.” I want to say that what we saw of this type of modern filmmaking in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” has been refined, but that would be quite an ironic comment to make about such a gory and gritty film. Ultimately, the movie is rather impressionistic in nature, emphasizing graphic images over everything else, which brings us back around again to the idea that “300″ is art and not history.

I was quite pleased the overall “300″ met my expectations. During the first part of the battle Snyder (”Dawn of the Dead”) resorts to the rapid series of cuts that I have come to deplore in contemporary action films because I can never tell what is happening. I understand that a battle is a sea of chaos, but if I cannot tell what is going on I become distracted. I want to see what is happening in order for the scenes to become memorable to me. Fortunately the rest of the movie takes full advantage of slow motion technique we see in the trailers and television spots for the film. In fact, “300″ makes better use of slow motion than any film I can remember, mainly because the point is not to prolong the suspense (e.g., the end of the fight in “Rocky II”), but to let you see what is happening (e.g., River’s fight scenes in “Serenity”). Think of watching big hits in football in slow motion replay and you get a sense of how Snyder is able to strategically slow down the action to see not only the power but also the grace of the violence.

Looks are everything in this film, so the Spartans fight bare-chested, the better for their muscles to ripple, while the Persians might be the most overdressed warriors in cinematic history (although I admit that I have to wonder where the Spartans were hiding their helmets on the long trip from Sparta to the Hot Gates). “300″ is a film that glories in visual excess as the army of Xerxes becomes a computer generated million man march and the pass at Thermopylae exists between towering pillars of rock. This may or may not be the most computer generated figures on the screen at one time in the history of the world, but I have to believe “300″ offers the biggest piles of corpses we have ever seen. As if quantity was not enough to overwhelm the Spartans, Leonidas and his men are confronted by a towering Xerxes and a host of monstrous men and animals. The net result may well be the best comic book movie to date, despite the fact the hero is a historical figure and not a superhero.

This adaptation plays up a subplot regarding what is happening back at Sparta while Leonidas and his body guard face annihilation as Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) attempts to play politics with Theron (Dominic West), who complains about the legitimacy of the king’s actions rather than deal with the reality of a Persian army coming to crush Greece. But it is hard to care about such machinations in the face of the historical record and the fact that the drama is happening at Thermopylae and not back in Sparta. There are notes sounded about saving Greece from the Persians and civilization from the evils of Asian mysticism, but the legacy of the Spartans has nothing to do with their role in the development of democracy. Almost two millennium before the Alamo there was this story of a group of warriors that sacrifice their lives in a battle so that their people could win the war. The story of the 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae is that of the first great last stand.

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Like Sin City before it, 300 brings Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel vividly to life. Gerard Butler (Beowulf and Grendel, The Phantom of the Opera) radiates pure power and charisma as Leonidas, the Grecian king who leads 300 of his fellow Spartans (including David Wenham of The Lord of the Rings, Michael Fassbender, and Andrew Pleavin) into a battle against the overwhelming force of Persian invaders. Their only hope is to neutralize the numerical advantage by confronting the Persians, led by King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), at the narrow strait of Thermopylae.

More engaging than Troy, the tepid and somewhat similar epic of ancient Greece, 300 is also comparable to Sin City in that the actors were shot on green screen, then added to digitally created backgrounds. The effort pays off in a strikingly stylized look and huge, sweeping battle scenes. However, it’s not as to-the-letter faithful to Miller’s source material as Sin City was. The plot is the same, and many of the book’s images are represented just about perfectly. But some extra material has been added, including new villains (who would be considered “bosses” if this were a video game, and it often feels like one) and a political subplot involving new characters and a significantly expanded role for the Queen of Sparta (Lena Headey). While this subplot by director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) and his fellow co-writers does break up the violence, most fans would probably dismiss it as filler if it didn’t involve the sexy Headey. Other viewers, of course, will be turned off by the waves of spurting blood, flying body parts, and surging testosterone. (The six-pack abs are also relentless, and the movie has more and less nudity–more female, less male–than the graphic novel.) Still, as a representation of Miller’s work and as an ancient-themed action flick with a modern edge, 300 delivers. –David Horiuchi