Chuck Season 1 (And Some Other Cool Stuff) Dirt Cheap!

There's some good bargains to be had over at Amazon's Father's Day DVD sale

If you don't have the first season on CHUCK on DVD (or Blu-Ray) now would be a good time to grab it. It's the cheapest I've ever seen it on Amazon. CHUCK season 1 on DVD is $23.49 and CHUCK season 1 on Blu-Ray is $26.49 (which is about $10 cheaper than when I bought it back in November.) Since I won't shut up about how much I like this show, as soon as I saw it was going at a good price, I figured I'd let everybody know. Grab it or you'll have this expression on your face later...

Also, the first six seasons of THE SHIELD for only $19.99 each. Another one of my favorites. I need to pick up season six myself, and now that it's finally hit that magical $19.99 price point, I'll have to make it mine.

The sale runs through until the 21st of June, but I'm not sure if these prices will remain throughout the entire sale or not. (It seems each week has a theme, like "Comedy Dad", "TV Dad", and "Drama Dad".)

An Attempt At Shilling DVDs And Blu-Rays (It's Been Awhile)

I haven't done a "weekly buy some DVDs or Blu-Rays through me" post in a long time. Since September if my memory serves me correctly. Still, this is a pretty big home video week, especially for Bond fans, so I figured I'd do one this week.

First up is the newest Bond movie, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, which is a sequel to CASINO ROYALE. Opinions were mixed on this one, but they were bound to be considering this movie had to follow a movie as strong as ROYALE.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (Blu-Ray) - the version that I'll be getting

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (Two-Disc Special Edition DVD) - what I'd be getting if either it wasn't out on BD or if I didn't have a BD player.

QUANTUM OF SOLACE (DVD) - the single disc version. Best for people who just want to watch the movie and rarely watch extras.

Since the three older Bond movies coming out this week are new to Blu-Ray, but have been out on DVD for a long time, I'm just linking to the Blu-Ray releases.

Widely considered to be the best and most beloved of the Connery-era Bond movies, GOLDFINGER hits Blu-Ray this week. In my opinion, it's definitely among the three best Connery Bond movies, (along with FROM RUSSISA WITH LOVE and THUNDERBALL), and I've been waiting for it to hit Blu. Pick up GOLDFINGER [Blu-ray] or if you're into the steelbook collecting thing, get the GOLDFINGER (Amazon.com Exclusive Steelbook Edition) [Blu-ray].

Next is considered to be one of the worst, if not *the* very worst Bond movies of all time, MOONRAKER. I plan on picking it up because I want the entire series, but this one is definitely at the bottom of my "to buy" pile. Anyway, pick up MOONRAKER [Blu-ray] if you want a Bond that you can mercilessly make fun of while watching. Or if you want to waste about a buck more, pick up MOONRAKER (Amazon.com Exclusive Steelbook Edition) [Blu-ray]

Finally, the last "new to Blu" Bond release is my second favorite from the Brosnan era. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH seems to take a bit of a beating from critics and fans, but along with GOLDENEYE, I think it's the best of the Bronan movies. Sure, Denise Richards can't act, but back in 1999 she was still nice enough to look at. If nothing else, this movie is far more worthy of being upgraded to Blu-Ray and purchased than MOONRAKER or DIE ANOTHER DAY (which I own). So grab yourself THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (Blu-Ray), or if you've got champagne taste, splurge for THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (Amazon.com Exclusive Steelbook Edition) [Blu-ray]

If you want all three older movies without their individual packaging then the James Bond Blu-ray Collection Three-Pack, Vol. 3 (MOONRAKER/ THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH / GOLDFINGEr) [Blu-ray] might be for you.

Also, not on Blu-Ray, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is finally getting an individual DVD release in it's remastered form. This one didn't get released individually the last time the movies were re-issued. (It was available remastered in the box sets.)

Finally, the non-canon "fake" Bond movie that Sean Connery did, NEVER SAY NEVER again is also coming out on Blu-Ray this week. Honestly, you'd be better off watching the original version of this story, THUNDERBALL, which had an in his prime Connery. I really think this is for completists only: NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN [Blu-ray] or the new version on DVD, NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN

WATCHMEN was a bit of a commercial flop theatrically. Still, I think it'll find its audience on DVD. Some of the material that had to be cut from the movie for time considerations is hitting home video before the actual movie. So if you can't wait for the super "everything including the kitchen sink" version of the movie to come out, you should pick up WATCHMEN: TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER & UNDER THE HOOD (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] or WATCHMEN: TALES OF THE BLACK FREIGHTER & UNDER THE HOOD.

My brother and I loved watching THE VENTURE BROS, and particularly enjoyed the third season. This time in addition to DVD, this season is coming out on Blu-Ray. Picking up THE VENTURE BROS.: Season Three (DVD) or THE VENTURE BROS.: Season Three [Blu-ray] would be a wise comedy investment.

Last, but not least... If you're like me, you really only liked the first MATRIX movie. The sequels were a big disappointment, and it sucks that if you wanted to buy the HD version of the first movie you also had to get the other two. Well now, the first movie is coming out by itself on Blu-Ray: THE MATRIX 10th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book [Blu-ray]. So, if you've been waiting to grab this movie in HD, now's the time. Me? I'll stick with my HD-DVD set of all three for now.

Some Movie About Bats And Clowns Came Out On Home Video

I figure most of you will be buying THE DARK KNIGHT on DVD or Blu-Ray since it comes out today. Maybe you're getting it for yourself, or for somebody else for Christmas. You might as well pick it up through me!

The Dark Knight (+ Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray]

The Dark Knight: Limited Edition with Batpod (+Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray] (For those of you who are just a little bit nerdier than everybody else!)

The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy)

The Dark Knight (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition)

I'll probably go with the regular Blu-Ray if/when I get the movie. I'm not as nuts about it as everybody else, but I do love Batman. Plus, the commercials for the Blu-Ray in HD make it look really good in HD. So I can only assume the BD will look even better.

24: Redemption

Since there wasn't a new season of 24 in January of 2008 because of the writer's strike, Fox decided to crank out a prequel movie to the upcoming season. Unlike previous 24 season prequels, this wasn't a thinly-disguised ten minute car commercial. It was essentially two episodes of the show, right down to taking place in real time.

While most of the movie feels like somebody dropped Jack Bauer in the middle of the movie BLOOD DIAMOND, there were a few scenes set in Washington DC. Those scenes mostly seem to be to setup the new status quo, since that's where the majority of season seven will be taking place. I figured out the fate of the young guy at the finance company and that John Voight's character (who's supposed to be the bad guy this time out) was going to have people inside the secret service.

Honestly, while it was nice to get some new 24, the movie felt a bit like filler and I just found myself wishing the new season would start already. that having been said, I'll probably get the DVD since I've got the other six seasons of the show on DVD. I guess that's the completist in me.

Pick up 24 REDEMPTION on DVD from Amazon.

A Reminder For My Fellow Nerds

The new series of THE IT CROWD starts on Friday. So make sure to watch (or "illegally" download) it this week.

If you're in the UK you might want to pick show's earlier series on DVD. If you're in the US you can import it, you'll just need an all-region player that can convert the PAL signal on the discs to NTSC. (Check your player over at VideoHelp to see if it can do those things.) Importing is probably the best bet because I've been waiting for a US release of this show for a few years now, and even though it was announced a few years back, it still hasn't come out.

THE IT CROWD series 1 on DVD
THE IT CROWD series 2 on DVD
THE IT CROWD series 1 and 2 box set on DVD

I've got the two separate series 1 and 2 discs, so I'm not sure if it's just the two separate discs in a box or if it's got different packaging.

The extras and even the menus really make these discs worth picking up.

If you're importing and not sure about the exchange rate between pounds and dollars (or other currency) check out XE exchange rate calculator, which is really handy.

Dead Space

DEAD SPACE is a helluva game.

The basic premise revolves around your character, who's an engineer, dispatched along with a team to answer a distress call from a mining space ship. Once you get there you realize that the crew have all been killed off or turned into horrible monsters. Mayhem ensues. Some people have described it as RESIDENT EVIL and SILENT HILL in space. Honestly, I don't want to describe the plot in detail, because I think it's better to just let the game unfold as you play for the first time.

I should note that the story isn't just limited to the game. There are two prequels in the form of a comic book (from Image, illustrated by Ben Templesmith) and an animated movie. I've read the entire comic series, but haven't gotten to the movie yet.

I got my copy on Friday, but didn't get around to trying it out until Saturday. I didn't get to play very far on my initial tryout, because I had to go out for a bit. I took my first trip to the cemetery since my brother died and then went out to dinner with my parents. Once I got home, around 8 PM, it was time to really bite into the game. I changed into some comfy clothes, grabbed a drink, and clicked the icon. Next thing I knew it was about 3 AM. So it's safe to say that I enjoyed the game. (In fact, it's was an incredible distraction, which is exactly what I needed.)

I finished off my first run through late Sunday night. I'll probably do another play through, since you get to keep all of your armor and weapon upgrades from the previous game.

I have the PC version, and it ran pretty nice on my system even with my ancient 7600GT video card. I did nudge the resolution down a bit from my monitor's native 1680x1050 to 1440x900. Still the game looked great in it's widescreen glory. I also had the volume cranked up because the audio on the game really adds to the atmosphere. I didn't try it with speakers, but it sounded great through my Sennheiser headphones.

Gameplay is fairly reminiscent of RESIDENT EVIL 4 or GEARS OF WAR with the third person over the shoulder perspective. It's a pretty seamless blend of the creeping dread of horror and shooter action. In some ways, it could very well be this year's BIOSHOCK, which is a statement that I definitely consider to be a compliment.

Don't just take my word for it, try the game out for yourself.

DEAD SPACE for WIndows (PC)

DEAD SPACE for the Xbox 360

DEAD SPACE for the Playstation 3

If you want to check out the prequel movie you can get it at Amazon. DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL on DVD or DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL on Blu-Ray.

TV Stuff For Oct 20-21 Plus A Shameless Amazon Plug

CHUCK: I'm not sure exactly why, but CHUCK has become one of my favorite shows on TV right now. Sure, it's a bit formulaic, with the whole, "Chuck accidentally flashes on some spy and they have to go undercover to stop him while whacky hijinks ensure at the Buy More" thing. But that doesn't bother me yet. Of course, I do find myself watching each episode and wondering if Chuck ever actually spends more than ten minutes a week at his day job? Seriously, the other 4-5 characters that work in that store seem to live there, yet Chuck is constantly disappearing to go to the yogurt store or go on missions. But hey, if you're going to go after plot holes, well there's a far better target out there...

HEROES: It's better than season two. Of course, that doesn't excuse the plots that you can float an aircraft carrier through or how incredibly stupid the characters are written depending on what the circumstances the writers need them to be in. Still, the strength of the last two episodes have moved HEROES from my "I'm about to stop watching this crap" list to the "I'll keep watching this crap a little longer" list.

HOUSE: Somebody at the Fox network must love Olivia Wilde making out with chicks, since this is the second show on that network in the last few years where they had her character do just that. Other than that it was an average episode.

In between HOUSE and THE SHIELD I watched a bit of SHOOT 'EM UP in HD on cable. Love that flick.

THE SHIELD: Wow. Seriously, three huge things happened in this episode, and I can honestly say that I didn't see any of them coming. I can't believe that in five more episodes this show is over and done. I'm actually nervous about how this show will end.

I was also semi-psyched to realize that Comcast added FX HD to my cable lineup. Of course, the two shows that I watch on there (THE SHIELD and IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA) aren't 16:9 HD shows.

Wednesday is a "nothing I normally watch" night. Tonight I'll probably watch GHOST HUNTERS, which I sometimes used to watch with my brother, because this week's new episode was filmed in my city. I can't recall if I've ever been to the bar that they're investigating though. If I miss it, they usually put the episodes on OnDemand the next day anyway. Like I said, I'll probably watch the show live, especially since I don't have any DVD that I want to watch.

For obvious reasons, I've been skipping out on my normal Tuesday DVD/Blu-Ray new releases shilling. Anyway, over at my Amazon store, which is still very much a work in progress, I did link to this week's huge load of Bond movies that are new on Blu-Ray and re-issues on DVD, not to mention a few other flicks as well.

DVD Tuesday For 9-30-2008 - Ridiculous Sized Edition

It's that time of the week where I hijack my own website in the name of commercialism and link to a bunch of DVDs and Blu-Rays that I think are worth your time and money. It's probably one step away from internet panhandling, but hey, I don't have the government dropping billions of dollars in my lap to bail me out.

Shockingly, this week is all movies and no TV show box sets. If you break it down, there's only three DVDs I'm recommending this week, the rest is all things that are finally hitting Blu-Ray.

IRON MAN was a surprise hit at the box office this summer. I haven't seen it yet, but I plan on watching it soon. Supposedly this is a really good movie and adaptation, which is a rarity. I've never like IRON MAN as a character or really bought any of his own comics series. I'd be exposed to him through other titles and guest-appearances. That having been said, even *I* want to see this movie. IRON MAN comes in three flavors:

IRON MAN (Two-Disc Special Collectors' Edition) DVD for those of us who still haven't sunk the money into sweet hi-def disc goodness.

IRON MAN (Single-Disc Edition) DVD, for those of you like me, who know you'll only watch a few of the special features once and never watch them again or at all.

IRON MAN (Ultimate Two-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray] for those of you who splurged and have gone Blu.

If a well-adapted comic book movie isn't your cup of tea, maybe you'd prefer a bad adaption?

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL: This movie was a bit hard to watch because I cringed most of the time I spent watching it. That's not a comment on the quality of the movie. You see, having been through a horrible, at least it was horrible on my side, break up back at the end of 2000, I spent most of 2001 wallowing in utter despair and misery. Then I got over it. (Time + distance + perspective = shoulder shrug.) So years later watching a movie character behave that way for two hours is like having some sort of mirror strapped to a time machine for me. But hey, it has Kristen Bell and the guy who plays Marshall on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. So of course I had to watch it, and for the most part I enjoyed it. I figure it's one to pop in anytime I want to torture myself in an amusing way. Sort of like popping in a video of me playing in my band from when I was in high school and had gigantic heavy metal hair.

Like IRON MAN, there are three versions of this movie...

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (Three-Disc Unrated Collector's Edition) DVD with all of the extras that you'll probably watch once and then find yourself asking why you didn't just get the single disc release?

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (Widescreen) DVD is that single disc release for the cheapskate in all of us.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL [Blu-ray] for you hi-def snobs. Oh, how I want to be one of you.

That's not all. Universal is using Judd Apatow producing this movie as an excuse to re-release two of his hits on Blu-Ray. I'm being just as clever (read: greedy) and plugging them here.

THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN [Blu-ray]: In my opinion, the best of the Judd Apatow movies finally hits Blu-Ray (after multiple DVD releases and an HD-DVD release). This movie was lightning in a bottle, and if you ask me, all the other movies with Apatow's name on it that have come out after VIRGIN have been coasting on how good this movie is. They're pretty good movies, but this is the peak.

KNOCKED UP [Blu-ray]: I like this movie. Just not as much as VIRGIN. It's a little more serious, and probably a bit too long, even more overly long in the extended edition. I have a hard time watching things with Katherine Heigl considering how often I read about how unpleasant she is off-screen, which shouldn't really matter but for some reason I can almost see her bitchiness on the screen.

OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES is a French movie that's a dead-on parody of the Connery-era Bond flicks. The lead actor's mannerisms, even the way he fights are perfectly aped from Connery in the first five Bond movies. The sets, the action sequences, everything looks like an early 60s Bond movie. Squint and you might think you're watching an unreleased movie from that era. Of course, then you'd have a really hard time reading the subtitles. I've been waiting for a good region 1 release of this for awhile now.

Now, since Halloween is coming, the studios are digging into their back-catalog and hitting the Blu-Ray market with some older titles.

THE THING [Blu-ray]: One of my favorite movies of all time. Isolation (especially in cold temperatures), freaky shape changing alien monster, Kurt Russell in a Carpenter flick, bleak ending. What more can you ask for?

THE SIXTH SENSE [Blu-ray]: I only enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it, upon subsequent viewings I've found it gloomy and boring. But my mom seems to love this movie, and so did a lot of people before we all got bored with M Night.

THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE [Blu-ray]: The original from 1973, not the big budget studio remake from a few years ago. I'm curious how this looks transferred to hi-def, since I'd imagine bad picture quality is one of this movie's selling points. A cleaned up TCSM just doesn't seem like it would look "right" to me. On the other hand I was shocked by how great the original DAWN OF THE DEAD looked on Blu-Ray when my brother showed it to me.

DAWN OF THE DEAD (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]: I really liked this remake. I went into it watching to hate it, and was surprised that it was a good movie. Some people, like my brother, refuse to give this one a chance because of their love for the original. This is an entirely different movie and not a remake. Only the name, and idea of zombie surrounding the outside of a mall where survivors are holed up, are the the common factors between the two. Had the producers called it something else, people would've said they were ripping off the original DAWN. So it was a can't win situation. I've got this on DVD and it's a definite future upgrade for me.

LAND OF THE DEAD (Unrated Director's Cut) [Blu-ray]: For those of you who only want your zombies from Romero. I saw this back when it came out in theaters, and a few times since, and it's my least favorite of the Romero zombie movies. There's just some missing factor that I can't put my finger on. Still, given enough viewings it might wear me down. It took a long time for me to warm to DAY OF THE DEAD, which surprised me considering how much I enjoyed it's two predecessors.

One last DVD, one to avoid...

PULSE 2: AFTERLIFE (DVD). The first PULSE movie, the one with Kristen Bell, wasn't all that great. This direct to video sequel isn't worth the time unless you're some sort of completist. Not even the presence of Jamie Bamber (Apollo on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) could get me to like this movie.

Want to get your Amazon orders faster? Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I've had it for years and I love it. I also get a small commission if you do that. Do it! I command you!

DVD Tuesday For 9-16-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things then I can afford to buy some of them too.

This week there's only one DVD on my "to get" list...

CHUCK - The Complete First Season. CHUCK was a nice surprise in the last (brief) fall season. I didn't think I would like this show, but I did. The basic premise is that Chuck works as a computer technician at Buy More (essentially a fictionalized version of the Geek Squad from Best Buy). Chuck receives an email from his old college roommate that somehow transfers a top secret database into his head. He's then drafted by the government to work as a spy and is overseen by two agents, one played by a hot blond and the other by the guy who played Jayne on FIREFLY. Whacky adventures ensure while Chuck keeps his day job and secret from his family and friends. It could've been a terrible show, but I really like it.

For those of you with Blu-Ray, one of the better movies from last year is hitting that format (a few months after the DVD). THE MIST is now available on Blu-Ray.

Want to get your Amazon orders faster? Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I've had it for years and I love it. I also get a small commision if you do that.

DVD Tuesday For 9-9-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things it'll go towards the cost of my purchasing a private island.

It's a tiny week.

IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA: Season 3 is pretty much the only DVD release this week that I'm interested in getting. It's one of the funniest shows on TV, and there were a few standout episodes in season 3. (The "Nightman/Dayman" one always makes me laugh when I think about it.)

There's also...

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - 10th Anniversary Limited Edition. How many times are they going to re-release this movie on DVD? I think I've got at least two versions of this on DVD.

I don't have a Blu-Ray player, but when I eventually get one I'll definitely pick up KILL BILL Volume One and KILL BILL Volume Two on Blu-Ray.

Want to get your Amazon orders faster? Sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. I've had it for years and I love it. I also get a small commision if you do that.

DVD Tuesday For 9-2-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things it'll help me fund the gigantic robot I want to build so that I can conquer the world.

Another soft week for movies, big for TV in terms of new releases.

I love THE OFFICE. I can't say that it's my absolute favorite show, or even pick and absolute favorite show. However, I got both my dad and my brother into THE OFFICE and both of them proclaim that it's their favorite show. That really surprised me, because unlike myself, neither of them has ever worked in an office, so I didn't think they'd like or relate to the show like I do. There really isn't a way to make a show about a bunch of people working at the office of a paper company sound interesting. You just have to simply make them watch a few episodes.

Grab THE OFFICE: Season Four on DVD, or there're now a box set of THE OFFICE: Seasons 1 - 4 Collection.

I was surprised last fall by how much I liked THE BIG BANG theory. Especially after having seen the leaked pilot last summer and thinking the show would be a flop. After a few episodes though, the show about a bunch of nerds and their pretty neighbor who inexplicably hangs out with them, won me over. It's a pretty funny show. THE BIG BANG THEORY - The Complete First Season is definitely on my "I'm buying that" list.

Other TV sets of interest...

I watched the first two seasons of SUPERNATURAL, and enjoyed it. I didn't watch season three, mostly because it airs on Thursday nights. Thursdays, along with Mondays, are the most densely programmed nights in television. Which, this past year, put it up against LOST, SCRUBS, and THE OFFICE. (I can only watch one thing live and PVR one other.) At some point I should pick up SUPERNATURAL - The Complete Third Season, so that I can catch up on what I missed.

One Thursday night show that I did watch last year was ELI STONE. It had a few things going for it, a good timeslot (right after LOST, no real 10pm competition), one of the cretors works in comics, two pretty female actresses, and an interesting concept. That concept being, due to a brain anyeurism a lawyer envisions or hallucinates things that make him help people. It's all fairly episodic, and while not "appointment TV", definitely a fairly enjoyable way to kill some time. So, if that sounds like your thing you might want to pick up ELI STONE: The Complete First Season on DVD.

The only real movie this week has already been released. It's TRANSFORMERS (Two-Disc Special Edition) on Blu-ray. To me, picking this one up would be more about having a nice hi-definition reference disc to show people exactly how nice HD can look. The movie itself is pretty mediocre, and as a TRANSFORMERS movie, it actually sucks since they're more like guest-stars in their own movie. So really, it's more about the visuals.

Get Games Faster With Amazon Now! (Or Just Get Prime)

I've seen this story in a few places, so I figured I'd mention it...

Amazon offering release date delivery for big-name games. (via Joystiq) Basically, it costs a few bucks extra, and you get the game on release day instead of a few days later. If you have Prime, which is awesome, you don't even pay the extra fee.

I've had Prime for about two years or so now. The extra fee once the trial period ends is worth it to get your stuff faster. Without Prime, I'd never know when my stuff would arrive. With Prime, it's two business days. In my case with Prime my things usually arrive via UPS (occasionally FedEx), which is better than my terrible mail carrier.

With Amazon Prime you get...

1. Unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of Amazon.com Items
2. Overnight Shipping upgrades for only $3.99 per item
3. Shopping with no minimum order size
4. Ability to share benefits with up to 4 household members
5. 1 Month Free Trial

Try Amazon Prime for free for a month now!

DVD Tuesday For 8-26-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things it brings me one step closer to getting the money that I need to buy a monkey that I can train as a butler, tuxedo and all.

Another week with zero movies coming out on DVD that I'm interested in. This is a fairly big TV box set week though.

THE SHIELD: The Complete Sixth Season is out, after what seems like a lengthy delay. Most TV shows have a really good first season or two and then slide into mediocrity or, more often, just plain awfulness. THE SHIELD isn't one of those shows. It's maintained it's stellar quality for six seasons. Season six is the penultimate season, and the final season starts airing in a few weeks. The tension, which is usually already high, really ramps up in season six. Vic hunts for Lem's killer, without knowing that it's one of his own men. Once the truth comes out, it only gets more intense. If I had to pick one DVD set to get this week, I'd absolutely go with this one.

HEROES: Season 2 also comes out on DVD this week. Like pretty much every show from last season, this is a short season due to the writer's strike. It's a shame too, because after a lackluster start, season two started to pull things together a bit towards the end. I mean, you know a show has taken a dip in quality when the show runner was giving interviews apologizing for the show. The DVD set is supposed to include the bits that were filmed before production halted for the strike, so we get to find out what George Takei's power was, and where the show would've gone had season two gone on. (After changing the ending to season two, season three will be going in a different direction than originally planned.)

For those of you with a Blu-Ray player, not only is Heroes: Season 2 on Blu-Ray available, but Heroes: Season 1 is finallly out on Blu-Ray as well. (Previously it was only out on DVD and HD-DVD.)

ENTOURAGE: The Complete Fourth Season: Let's face it, ENTOURAGE is essentially male wish fulfillment on TV for a half hour a week. Being (mostly) idly rich, banging hot chicks, and shooting the shit with your buddies. No real over-reaching plot or anything like that. It's just light entertainment, where you can turn your brain off a bit. It's one of my "guilty pleasure" shows.

"What were they thinking?" Dept:Was there really anybody clamoring to get Dude Where's My Car on Blu-Ray? When I think of movies that need to make that leap over to HD, because of the stunning visuals or being important classics, this isn't anywhere near that list.

DVD Tuesday For 8-19-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things it enables me to super-size my meals and, as a result, super-size my ass.

Another week that's pretty light on anything worth talking about or buying. Nothing of interest in movies. The only "big" release in that category is the lame remake of PROM NIGHT. I think I'd rather watch myself get run over by a lawnmower than watch that movie ever again.

So, it's down to TV seasons on DVD for new stuff this week.

Probably the best TV season box set of the week would be HOUSE, M.D. - Season Four. HOUSE is one of those shows that gets by more on the personality of the main character, and the skillful acting of the actor, than the plots. In fact, HOUSE is one of those shows, that if you fall asleep watching one episode on DVD and wake up in the middle of another, you can't always be sure that you're not watching the episode that you fell asleep during, it can be that formulaic. And I'm saying that as somebody who really likes the show. It's a really episodic show, so unlike LOST, for instance, you can miss an episode or two and not feel like you missed anything. Sure, you get more benefit out of watching all of the episodes and watching them in order, but it's not as serialized as most hour-long dramas these days.

Season four starts where season three left off, House has either fired or had each member of his team quit. At first he seems happy to work alone, but then he's forced to hire a new team. A good chunk of the season is spent weeding down the candidates of the new team until he narrows it down to three. (I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that two of the people that wind up on the new team are played by Kal Penn, who's Kumar in the HAROLD AND KUMAR movies, and Olivia Wilde, who's really hot. She's essentially Cameron 2.0. I go back and forth on whether or not I consider Wilde or Jennifer Morrison more attractive. Guess it depends when you ask me.) Oddly enough, the rest of the old team are still employed at the hospital, but two thirds of them take a drastically reduced role. That makes the fact that they're the ones in the box art instead of the new crew seem odd to me.

Oh, you can also pick up all four seasons of HOUSE in one collection. Unless they re-did them, unlike seasons two through four, the first season isn't widescreen.

The only other somewhat noteworthy release this week is TERMINATOR - THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES: The Complete First Season on DVD and Blu-Ray. I found myself watching this show season, and I'll probably watch it this year too. That having been said, for me, it was more like filler television. Just something to watch. On the other hand, the DVD seems on the inexpensive side. So if you dug the movies but didn't watch the show, it won't cost you much to check this out.

One Of Those My Mundane Life Posts

I was sitting at my computer listening to music and writing a post when I noticed the monitor that shows the core temps on my processor was hitting around 40C. Considering that I'm sitting in an air-conditioned room, that's awfully high. (Normally, that's just about the max temperature it hits when I've been playing games for awhile. I wasn't doing anything like that, so seeing the temperature that high worried me a bit.) So I opened up the side of my case and noticed that the fans and vents were a little dusty. I didn't have any compressed air handy, and it's the middle of the night, so I just turned the computer off and cleaned the vents with a rag and the fans with some Q-Tips. Then I pulled the front of my case off and the vent beneath the front facade was the most clogged. Cleaned that off, put all of the case covering bits back on, and I'm back to idling between 26-29C.

So now I don't have to worry about my computer exploding.

After that I straightened up the computer desk a bit. I kept the essentials handy though. A sharpie, one of my USB thumb drives, a screwdriver, my iPod, 2 DVD-R spindles (one of blanks and one for recently burned discs), and of course, a big bottle of aspirin.

I also took the 3 foot tall tower of DVDs from the top of my computer case and put them in my bedroom. I've got enough DVDs piled up in there to build a fortress or castle out of the cases. One day I'll go back to organizing them all instead of stacking them on shelves or putting them in cardboard boxes.

I've been listening to the new Extreme album (Amazon link). Nuno Bettencourt is one of my all-time favorite guitarists. He has been since I discovered the band back when I was 13 or 14. I even went to his first ever guitar clinic back in 1990, right before the second album came out. One of the guitars that I own was autographed by him, which is why I bought it. So I was obviously interested to see what sort of album and band that hasn't put an album out in nearly 14 years would come out with. I'm not sure how much I like or dislike the new album. It'll probably take awhile to grow on me (if it ever does) like "Waiting For The Punchline" did. Still, they're a great live band, if you can get past the singer doing all of the goofy Freddie Mercury wannabe shit.

Next on my agenda is trying to get through some of this week's comics and catch up on TV shows that I've missed (two weeks of VENTURE BROS and this week's MAD MEN).

DVD Tuesday For 8-12-2008

It's that time of the week where I look at what's coming out on DVD (and Blu-Ray) and talk about the ones that are of interest to me. It's also the part of the week where I shamelessly plug those same DVDs via my Amazon Associates links. After all, if you buy these things it contributes to the cost of the fountain and bronze statue of myself that I want to put in my front yard.

This is a pretty crappy week for new DVD releases. There's no movies that I have any interest in. Just two TV shows. The only new thing that I'd consider buying is PRISON BREAK season 3. TV shows generally are more enjoyable on DVD than regular TV because there's no commercials. Plus, and this is just my opinion, they're a better bargain than movies because you get more for your money. Extras aside, you get way more hours of content from a TV series DVD set than a movie DVD, considering that most movies clock in anywhere from 90-140 minutes on average.


PRISON BREAK season three was a shortened season, consisting of thirteen episodes. This is because of the writer's strike. (I'm a lousy salesman for pointing this out, but they're charging nearly as much for this season as they would for a full 20+ episode season.) This is the season where they decided that for the show's name to make sense, they had to throw as many of the guys who escaped from prison in season one into another prison, this time in a foreign country. If this show is anything to go by, Panama prison is worse than American prison. In some ways, and you'll probably agree if you're a viewer of the show, this show is terrible. The plots and situations are ludicrous. Yet, despite that, whenever a new episode is on, I'm glued to my seat watching it. I think part of the appeal is that unlike most shows, which only have a really good cliffhanger at the end of each episode, this show manages to have an "episode ending worthy" cliffhanger at each commercial break. Anyway, I plan on picking this up at some point to join the previous two seasons in my collection.

Pick up: PRISON BREAK: Season 3 DVD or PRISON BREAK: Season 3 Blu-Ray.

The only other thing coming out this week that's any good is HUSTLE: Seasons 1-4 on DVD. I bought all of the seasons on DVD individually, so I won't be picking this one up. There would be no point to that aside from getting a nice box with all of the seasons. I can't see myself re-buying the show just to get a box, no matter how much I love it. However, if you're into the show and never got around to picking it up on DVD, this is probably the best way to get it.

The Starship Troopers Trilogy

Back when it first came out in 1997, I really enjoyed the first STARSHIP TROOPERS. I even saw it in theaters twice. The first time I saw it, I said that I had to buy it on laserdisc when it came out. I don't think it ever came out on LD, but by the time it was out on home video I remember getting it as one of my earliest DVDs.

The first movie is set at some unspecified time in the future, when mankind is invovled in a space war with big, intelligent bugs. The movie is mainly about some meathead named Johnny Rico, played by Casper Van Dien, who joins the military to impress Denise Richards. Not a smart idea, since she isn't anywhere near as interested in him as he is her. Instead he hooks up with a girl he's less interested in (probably because her boobs are smaller), makes buddies with Gary Busey's son, and winds up taking the place of his former high school teacher/Lieutenant (played by the always excellent, Michael Ironside). Oh, and his best friend is the psychic Carl, played by Neil Patrick Harris. In one of the most subtly disturbing scenes that climax the movie, NPH places his hand on a gigantic bug that resembles some sort of Lovecraftian nighmare of a vagina and proclaims that, "It's afraid!" Oh, and there's also the not-so-subtle hints that the humans are facists and might not necessarily be the good guys. For crying out loud, the "good guys" are all dressed up like Nazis. It's all pretty dumb, but the spaceships and bugs looked pretty good on the big screen and hell, that alone made it worthy of a home video collection purchase to me.

In 2004 a straight-to-video sequel, called STARSHIP TROOPERS 2: HERO OF THE FEDERATION, came out. It was supposed to feature one of the more memorable characters from the first movie, the drill sargent, Zim (Clancy Brown). "MEEEDIIIC!!!" Anyway, Clancy didn't do the movie for whatever reason. So instead, they changed it to another character and honestly, nobody noticed that this movie existed. Unlike the first one, this one was done on the cheap. The guns didn't even have muzzle flashes. I can't remembered and definitely can't be bothered to dig the DVD out and see if the bug CGI looked decent or not. Overall, this was a movie that can be (and was) ignored.

Now, eleven years after the first one hit theaters, STARSHIP TROOPERS 3: MARAUDER, is coming out. Again, like it's predecessor, it's straight to home video. This time though, they managed to lure one of the cast from the first movie back. Casper Van Dien returns as Johnny Rico. There's no mention of any of the other characters from the first movie. I guess that given the likely mortality rate of the characters in these movies (look at all of the deaths in the first one), we can assume most of those characters have died in the last 11 years. I'm sure that at least some of those actors like Jake Busey aren't doing much and would've taken the gig. Anyway, I'm sure they figured by getting the lead character back from the original movie, that would boost DVD sales. I'm sure he wasn't hard to get since, unlike most of his castmates from the original, Van Dien's career pretty much fizzled out after the first ST. I will say, that I can only recall seeing him in these two movies, and the decade that has passed certainly hasn't improved his already wooden acting skills.

The only other notable actor in this one is Jolene Blalock, who's best known for starring on one of the numerous STAR TREK TV spin-offs. (Anything beyond the original series holds zero interest for me, so I can't say I've seen the TREK show she was on.) Other nerds seem to think she's the hottest thing ever, but I don't see what the big deal is about her. Anyway, if you squint she pretty much looks like Denise Richards, and plays mostly the same role as Richards in the first movie, just minus any of the love interest stuff with the Rico character.

The plot of the film, such as it is, is that Rico is running an outpost. The head of the military, the Sky Marshall, is coming to visit, and along with him are two of Rico's old friends, General Dix Houser, and pilot Lola Beck. There's a disagreement, resulting in Rico being arrested, but before he can be taken into custody, the bugs attack and kill a bunch of the soldiers. The Sky Marshall escapes with Beck to her ship. The ship winds up crashing on a planet infested with bugs. Rico is sent, in new armored suits, to rescue the Sky Marshall and others. There's more, but I don't want to give the whole thing away.

Any subtly about the humans in the Federation being facists is quickly dispensed with in this flick. The only way it could have been more overt would've been gigantic flashing letters saying so on screen throughout the movie. This time though, the theme of the movie is religion. I'm still not certain if the movie was endorsing it or mocking it. Probably a little bit of both.

The CGI effects on the bugs in this one vary from scene to scene. In some instances, they look pretty much as good as the first movie. However, in more than a few scenes they look like something out of a Nintendo 64 or Playstation 1 game. Terrible. At least they could afford to do muzzle flashes on the gun this time out. So that right there puts it leagues about the second movie.

The fact that they used the armored suits in this movie should please the book purists, who complained about the lack of the suits in the original movie. The CGI on these isn't that hot in my opinion.

Overall, MARAUDER is a better movie than the second movie, but nowhere near as good as the first. It's certainly closer in feel to the first movie, newscasts and all, than the second one was. If you're a fan of the series, it's worth checking out.

Shameless, 'you can get this stuff at Amazon' plug time...

Pick up STARSHIP TROOPERS 3: MARAUDER on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Also, the first, and best movie in the series is finally available in HD on Blu-Ray: STARSHIP TROOPERS Blu-Ray. Or, if you're still in the video stone age like myself, grab the latest version of it on DVD.

Or get the entire trilogy on DVD and/or Blu-Ray. (It's the only way to get the second movie in HD.)

2 Guns Headed To The Big Screen

Universal options 2 GUNS. I was surprised to see that one of the cooler crime comics that I've read in the last year is getting a movie adaptation. Reading it, I thought that it would make a good movie, and an even better regular comics series.

The plot summary, directly from the back of the book...

Trench is a deep-cover DEA agent. Steadman is an undercover Naval Intelligence office. Both think the other is a simple gun-for-hire, the perfect accomplice to help steal a bank vault full of mob money for the good guys. And neither realizes that their caper is a gigantic double-cross from the mob, who's just tricked both men into stealing $50 million from the CIA! Now Trench and Steadman race headlong across the Southwest, guns blazing, desperately outrunning Feds and mobsters alike while scrambling madly to find some way of clearing both their names before they're carved on tombstones! A lightning-paced, plot-rich crime thriller for fans of Elmore Leonard, Ocean's 11 and the Italian Job, from comics legend Steven Grant!

You can check out the entire first issue for free over at the publisher's site. If you like what you see, then I highly recommend picking up the trade paperback of the miniseries (Amazon affiliate link).

New On DVD - 7-29-2008

In my quest to do something besides have nearly every post I make consist of a list of links and brief comments on them, I like to try and find other things to write about. Since I watch a lot of movies, I figured I'd write about some movies that I've seen that are new on DVD this week. (And while I'm at it, post links to where you can buy them and I get a cut of the profits if you do it through my link. I'm on a quest for a little money too.) I don't know if I'll do this sort of thing every week. Mostly because I'm lazy and I seem to enjoy watching movies a lot more than I do writing about them these days.

DOOMSDAY: Based on the trailer and other people's reviews I was ready to write this one off as a ripoff of a bunch of other movies that most of us have seen before. Movies like ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, the MAD MAX movies, and even 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER. It's be an absolute lie to say that this flick doesn't borrow from those other movies. However, the commentary leads me to think that it's more of a form of homage rather than blatant lack of creativity. Plus, I'm willing to give writer/director, Neil Marshall some slack, because I dug his previous movie, DOG SOLDIERS.

The premise of DOOMSDAY is simple enough. There's a outbreak of a disease in Scotland, so the entire country is walled off and quarantined. Roughly twenty years pass, and one of the few people taken out of the country before it was cut off was a little girl who has grown up to become some sort of crazy SWAT cop. Her name is Eden Sinclair, played by Rhona Mitra. Eden is, essentially speaking, the Snake Plisskin of this story. Missing eye and everything. Anyway, Eden is recruited to take a team into Scotland to look for a scientist who was working on a cure for the disease before the walls went up. This is because the plague has started showing up in England. Naturally, things turn really bad once the team are behind the wall. Cannibal gangs and a crazed medieval society await to enact ridiculous violence on the team.

Personally, I enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. I'd say at the very least, DOOMSDAY is worth watching once. Definitely a try before you buy. So check it out somehow and if you dig it you can pick it up on DVD or in HD on Blu-Ray at Amazon.

Moving from post-apocalyptic to modern stoner satire...

HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY: I was surprised by how much I liked the first movie in this series. I was expecting the sequel to suck, as sequels usually do. So I was nicely surprised by HAROLD AND KUMAR 2. I found it to be just as funny as the first, and maybe even funnier. Of course, that's only after having seen it one time. I don't know if it'll stand up for me in multiple re-watchings like the previous flick in the series did.

The plot of this one is that it takes place immediately after the first movie. The boys get on a plane and due to an "only in the movies" sort of misunderstanding, they're arrested as terrorists and shipped off to Guantanamo Bay. Now, in a time where people are sent there for real, this doesn't sound very comedic. Luckily, the duo don't spend much time there, and they escape. They spend the rest of the movie on the run, trying to clear their names while having misadventures. Neil Patrick Harris, who was amazing in the first flick, is back again and possibly even more demented than he was the last time out. There's also Rob Corddry, who's playing an inept homeland security agent, who's chasing the boys down. People without a sense of humor might want to avoid this one. Anybody who dug the first one should definitely pick this up.

So, grab it on DVD or in HD on Blu-Ray at Amazon.

Also the first movie in the series HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE just came out on Blu-Ray. It's at a fairly reasonable price for a new Blu-Ray. Pick it up on Blu-Ray at Amazon.

LOST BOYS: THE TRIBE: Even though it's only coming out today, I saw this last week. I'll be blunt, I didn't like it. Seeing as this is a direct-to-video sequel of a movie from twenty years ago, my expectations were low. Low expectations were met. In a lot of ways, this is pretty much a remake of the first movie. They even cast Keifer Sutherland's younger brother in the lead vampire role. (Too bad he doesn't have the acting chops of his older brother and dad.) Honestly, I pretty much only watched this movie to see how much of a train wreck Corey Haim's performance would be. He doesn't even turn up until the end credits in a very brief sequence, about a minute long. The other half of the Corey screen duo, Feldman, gets more screen time. In fact, he's the only character from the original to return in any signifigant way in the movie. For me, the only real reason to watch this movie is because Autumn Reeser is hot.

I can't recommend the movie, but if you want to blow your cash on it, I'd be happy to take a percentage of your DVD or Blu-Ray sale. Honestly, you'd be better off just buying the first movie, which just came out on Blu-Ray.

Finally, WARGAMES also got a 25th anniversary edition DVD that came out this week, but I didn't feel like writing a review of a movie I watched about three hundred times in the 80's. But it is a classic and worth picking up on DVD if you haven't already.