The perfect film to watch with friends and family, Beaches is a sure bet to make you laugh and cry. This Bette Midler classic now gets the Special Edition treatment from Buena Vista and comes with extras like commentary by director Gary Marshall, "Wind Beneath My Wings" video, Segment from "AFI's 1000 Years...100 Songs" with Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey screen test, Blooper Reel, and a featurette: "Mayim Blalik Remembers." Grab your girls or your mom and settle in for a true classic chick flick (and follow it up with Steel Magnolias).

Survivor: The Australian Outback—The Complete Season (4 out of 5 stars)
Paramount/ April 26, 2005

What many say is Survivor’s best season to date, The Autralian Outback had something for everyone: conflicts, injuries, attractive people, romance and more conflict. This is the season that brought about Elizabeth Filarski (now Hasselbeck of The View), Amber Brkich (now on Amazing Race with fiancé Rob whom she met on the All-Star show) Jerry Manthey (now Playboy model and all-time biggest b*#& of the show) and Colby Donaldson (wanna-be actor).
Although we’re sure you already know who wins, we won’t mention it here for fear of angry spoiler letters. We’ll just say that it was the most deserving person by far. This season alo had some fabulous moments like Jerri accusing Kel of eating a hidden beef jerky, Kimmi and Alicia’s fight over the chickens, the flood, Michael falling in a fire and Colby’s dumb move of voting off Keith instead of Tina.
This DVD set features an astounding six discs including a special bonus one of “The Greatest and Most Outrageous Moments.” There are also 6 episode commentaries, four featurettes: “Surviving the Australian Outback", "The Luxury Items", "Dining: Survivor Style" and "Keith Famie's Paella.”
Despite the fact that Survivor shows no signs of slowing down, for many fans this is the best season ever. That will be reason enough to grab it on DVD to enjoy when Survivor 11 comes out and bores us to tears.

We tend to forget how incredible the world around us really is. Most of us go rushing through our days without stopping to admire a sunset or a flower blooming in our yard. Disney's Sacred Planet takes us on a trip around the world to some absolutely incredible places and reminds us that it's not all bad. Intended for an Imax screen, this movie does lose something getting watched on a small screen but the sentiments remain the same: the world is a spectacular place, stop and enjoy it some time, and do your best to preserve what's left.

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (3 out of 5 stars)
Paramount Pictures/ April 26, 2005

Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events seemed to have everything going for it: it is based on a series of popular children’s books, it features Jim Carrey in a role outwardly made for him, it has Meryl Streep (always a good thing) and it got compared to the king of children’s book adaptations, Harry Potter. While the movie does succeed on a superficial level and remains quite enjoyable, it does lack a little bit of heart.
Daniel Handler is the man behind Lemony Snicket, the author/chronicler of the woes of the Baudelaire children. Since 1999, Handler, under the guise of Snicket published eleven books (and counting) in his series. Children loved them because they were fun to read and showed kids triumphing over scheming adults. Moreover, Snicket warned them not to read it, which of course encouraged them all the more. Adults appreciated the novels for their sly references to literature. And of course, film studios, eager for the next Harry Potter appreciated the huge young fan base of the novels. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is an adaptation of Snicket's (Handler's) first three novels, The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window.
The parents of the Baudelaire children died in a fire, leaving Violet (Emily Browning), Klaus (Liam Aiken), and Sunny (Kara and Shelby Hoffman) orphans. In Snicket's world, the children are smarter than the adults. People like Mr. Poe (Timothy Spall) never listen, and others like the villainous Count Olaf (Jim Carrey) are after the Baudelaire fortune. Poe passes the children around to various weird relatives beginning with Olaf. The children quickly realize that Olaf is evil, and do the best they can to escape him. Violet is an inventor, Klaus likes to read, and Sunny bites. Other, kinder relatives include herpetologist Uncle Monty (Billy Connolly) and the clean freak Aunt Josephine (a great Meryl Streep). It's up to Violet, Klaus, and Sunny to think their way out of each of Olaf's diabolical schemes.
Unfortuately, this film seems to be missing that certain something. It lacks the magic of the Harry Potter films. Instead, it feels like a watered-down Jim Carrey film. Lemony Snicket suffers because of the repetitive nature of the screenplay. There are three novel's worth of stories here, so there is a certain amount of repetition. And while 'unfortunate' events keep happening, they really don't seem all that bad. The arcs with Olaf, Monty, and Josephine feel worn by the time all three have run their course. The one good thing about doing this is that the screenplay is able to play up the subplot about the mysterious nature of the Baudelaire fire. Violet and Klaus suspect it was not accidental, and they believe there are larger forces at work. So what's going on? Well, read the novels or wait for the (inevitable) sequel. The DVD features commentary by director Brad Silberling, commentary by Lemony Snicket and Brad Silberling, Bad Beginnings (3 Featurettes) and Orphaned Scenes (11 Deleted Scenes and 5 Outtakes).

The Twilight Zone: Season 2 (The Definitive Edition) (5 out of 5 stars)
Image Entertainment/ April 5, 2005

We tend to forget how incredible the world around us really is. Most of us go rushing through our days without stopping to admire a sunset or a flower blooming in our yard. Disney's Sacred Planet takes us on a trip around the world to some absolutely incredible places and reminds us that it's not all bad. Intended for an Imax screen, this movie does lose something getting watched on a small screen but the sentiments remain the same: the world is a spectacular place, stop and enjoy it some time, and do your best to preserve what's left.

Meet the Fockers (3 out of 5 stars)
Universal/ April 19, 2005

Some say that there are no original ideas in Hollywood. When there's a successful movie, other movies copy it. Often, the filmmakers get together to make a sequel, not because the original merits one, but because it's great for their pocketbooks. Meet the Parents is a great example. The first was genuinely funny.
It left the door wide open for a sequel, but works just as fine without one. Yet, here it is. And just as expected, it is not as funny. It takes everything that worked in the original and beats it to death. Again, everybody makes fun of the name Gaylord Focker, and again, Ben Stiller is the butt of every humiliating joke possible. It's getting old.
Meet the Fockers picks up shortly after Meet the Parents. As its name implies, the now audiences can meet Greg "Gaylord" Focker's (Stiller) parents, Bernie (Dustin Hoffman) and Roz (Barbara Streisand). The addition of Hoffman and Streisand, especially the latter, is amusing. It gives the film a powerful cast, but unfortunately gives them nothing to do. Bernie is a touchy-feely stay-at-home dad, and Roz is a sex therapist who specializes in senior citizens. In other words, they are the exact opposite of Jack (Robert De Niro) and Dina (Blythe Danner).
The Byrnes' make their way down to the Fockers to get to know each other and plan the wedding. Tagging along with Greg and Pam (Teri Polo) is Jack's grandson Little Jack (Spencer and Bradley Pickerin) and their cat. All of the same jokes pop up. The cat still flushes the toilet, and Jack is still paranoid that Greg is lying to him and Pam. All sorts of misunderstandings will occur that make Greg look worse than he actually is, and Bernie and Roz will embarrass Greg in as many ways as humanly possible.
Stiller plays the same character he does in every film, and Polo and Danner have nothing to do. Streisand is great because she blows away any stereotype of her being a prissy actress and really lets loose. This isn't a bad movie, it's just the same movie.
The DVD comes with 65 Hilarious Bloopers and over 20 Deleted Scenes, Feature commentary with director Jay Roach and Editor/Co-Producer Jon Poll, Fockers' Family Portrait, Inside the Litter Box - Behind-the-scenes with Jinx the cat, The Manary Gland- Behind-the-scenes with the propmaster, The Adventures of a Baby Wrangler - An exclusive look at what it takes to direct children on the set.

If your parents ever complain to you that you don't treat them well, sit them down and have them watch this series. Viva La Bam: The Complete Second and Third Seasons set is out on DVD and the episodes are as funny as ever. Bam Margera and his posse put April, Phil and Don Vito through another slew of pranks that don't fail to tickle the funny bone and make you wonder how he hasn't been disowned. Watch for the Slayer concert in his backyard, it's side-splitting funny.

Hotel Rwanda (5 out of 5 stars)
MGM/ April 12, 2005

One of the most unbelievable things about Hotel Rwanda is that it is based on a true story. How could something so atrocious occur in our world, and hardly anyone knew about it before this film? It’s one of the great moral failures of the industrialized West in the last decade: its indifference towards the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
Over the course of a little over three months, nearly 1 million people were slaughtered as a result of ethnic tensions between the Tutsi minority, which held power, and the Hutu majority. The West did not learn their lesson, as tensions flared again between Hutus and Tutsis last summer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a different genocide ran amok in the Darfur region of Sudan. The West again, for the most part, ignored the horrible acts of violence, especially in Sudan. Yet, amidst all of the brutality, there existed pockets of humanity. In World War II, there was Oskar Schindler in Germany and John Rabe in Nanjing. In 1994 Rwanda, there was Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), hotel manager of the Milles Collines.
As innocent civilians died violently around Kigali, Rusesabagina did what he did best - he ran the hotel. Now, his guests were not rich European tourists but Tutsi refugees. Rusesabagina was in a unique position. He was ethnically Hutu, and his wife Tatiana (a powerful Sophie Okonedo) was Tutsi. When rumours of violence began, Rusesabagina reassured everybody that these were just rumours, and that things would be okay shortly. As a hotel manager, it was Rusesabagina's job to put out fires. He was the person everybody went to when they needed something, and Rusesabagina made sure that his guests always had everything they needed. This put him in another unique position - by currying favour with important people, he acquired a number of useful friends and contacts.
When the massacres began, Rusesabagina wanted to ensure that the Milles Collines was an "oasis" of tranquility amidst the chaos outside. People could come to him for safety, and because he had contacts in the military, he could ensure their safety. There, they patiently waited for international intervention, which, as most people know, never came. Director Terry George, who co-wrote the story with Keir Parson, presents a startling portrait of a country at war. They do not hold back on the violent images, damning other countries for their inaction. The viewer sees everything through the eyes of Rusesabagina, and understands his changing emotions, as they move from patience to a sense of futility.
George portrays the West through two characters, UN Colonel Oliver (Nick Nolte) and cameraman Jack (Joaquin Phoenix). Oliver wants to help, but cannot due to his orders to protect his soldiers. He cannot fire his weapons. Jack is a cameraman extremely disturbed by the massacres around him, but realizes that the international community will not care, and this breaks his heart. As conditions worsen, the international community does come to the aid of its citizens, evacuating them all out of the hotel, but leaves the Rwandans to fend for themselves. Rusesabagina now has a hotel overflowing with Rwandan refugees, and his efforts to protect them prove increasingly difficult.
This movie belongs to Cheadle, in his best role to date. This is saying a lot, as Cheadle has amassed an impressive resume, sometimes in lesser films. As Rusesabagina, he knows that people are depending on him for their lives. Although he is falling apart on the inside, he strives to maintain an outward appearance of leadership and calmness. His desire to protect his family eventually conflicts with his desire to protect everybody, forcing him into very uncomfortable situations. It gets to the point where he can save his family at the expense of hundreds of other people. The inner turmoil is tremendous, and ably conveyed by Cheadle. Hotel Rwanda comes very close to becoming preachy and overdone, but George never crosses it. It's a great story, and also serves as a reminder on the consequences of inaction.

Magnum P.I., The A-Team and Knight Rider: The Complete Second Seasons (5 out of 5 stars)
Universal/ April 12, 2005

Oh, yeah—ladies get ready. Have we got the stellar male lineup for you! You can start your DVD watching marathon with the super hunky David Hasselhoff in the second season of Knight Rider. That’s 21 episodes of the German stud and his rocking car, K.I.T.T..
Then you can move on to the hunky goodness of Tom Selleck and that sexy mustache in Magnum P.I.: Season Two. Here you get 22 episodes of the charming and funny Thomas Magnum on a whirlwind of adventures including catching an international assassin, and a reunion with a woman he thought was dead after marrying her in Vietnam. Unfortunately, there are no extras with the exception of episodes of Knight Rider and The A-Team.
Once you’ve had your fill of Selleck-goodness, you can move on to The A-Team: Season Two where you can drool over Mr. T as B.A.Baracus. I pity the fool that doesn’t grab this DVD set. We couldn’t resist that one. Here are another 22 episodes of 80’s goodness that will have you whipping out the gold chains.
In case our sarcasm wasn’t clear, we are only joking about the hotness of the aforementioned male stars. But these DVD sets are definite must-haves for any fan of these shows and hard-core 80’s buff. Now if only they would release Baywatch…

We had some hopes when Bad Girls from Valley High arrived at our door that this might be a cheesy, campy and fun horror flick. The cover gives this illusion, as does the title. But the sad truth is that Bad Girls is simply a Bad Movie. Three popular girls get mad when a hot exchange student arrives and lands the sensitive hunk one has been pining for. They decide they must do away with her, and strange things start to happen to them. This poor teen thriller is not funny, not scary and not entertaining. Rent Buffy the Vampire Slayer insread.

Sideways (4 out of 5)
Fox Searchlight/ April 5, 2005

Sideways is a huge hit and caused sales of Pinot Noir to go through the roof. You know a movie is influential when it affects the sale of booze, right? But some movie-goers have complained that the movie is not worth the fuss. While it isn’t one of the greatest movies of all time, Sideways really is almost as good as critics say. It is the perfect mixture of hilarity and depth.
Paul Giamatti is Miles, wine snob, unpublished author, and divorcee. He is taking his friend Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) on a one-week trip up to wine country in central California, for a weekend of fine wine, good food, and golf before Jack's impending marriage. Sideways is the latest film from Alexander Payne, and is his most accomplished. Payne has a knack for smartly conveying the foibles of ordinary people, and bringing out some fantastic dialogue. He also, especially here, ensures that his characters are smart and do not talk down to the audience.
The two seem like mismatched friends. Jack, an actor once semi-famous but now reduced to commercial work, wants company, specifically some no-strings-attached female company to cap off his life as a single man. Miles is content to just sit around and drink wine, and have the occasional good meal. He's perturbed by Jack's womanizing, but it seems like more of an idea than anything concrete until they meet Maya and Stephanie. Maya (Virginia Madsen) is a waitress at one of Miles' favourite hangouts. She is obviously interested in him, but he both fails to notice and is a little too inept to do anything about it. Jack meets Stephanie (Sandra Oh) at a wine tasting, where she is working, and it turns out she and Maya are friends. The four hit it off quickly, and soon Jack is knocking boots with Stephanie, while Miles begins tentatively coming out of his shell.
Sideways is less about the plot than it is about the characters. While the fact that Jack's impending wedding does eventually surface, the focus is squarely on the four people. Here are four damaged people, trying to piece their lives back together. Stephanie is a single mom, Maya is divorced, Jack is entering into a marriage he may not necessarily want, and Miles has all of the aforementioned problems. However, meeting Maya is the catalyst he needs to break out of his depression. All four of these characters feel real. They have a depth not usually seen in film, and Payne and Taylor mix the poignant with the humorous.
Jack is the best example. Church makes it look so easy. Jack is a likable guy, but essentially a jerk. He's an actor, and will play on people's emotions to get what he wants. He is basically a big spoiled baby, but he has so much charm, that people like Miles like him although the little voice in their head is screaming otherwise. Miles is reluctant about pretty much everything. Instead of moving forward with his life, he is idling in his present. He is shopping his novel around hoping for its publication, yet depressed it has been rejected so many times before. The only time Miles lights up is when he talks about wine, and Maya seems to share his love. Jack treats him like crap, but he rarely does anything about it. Jack also decided that in order for him to have fun, Miles needed to get laid. To do this, he tells Maya that Miles' novel will be published. Miles then judges everything that happens with Maya in light of this lie looming over the horizon.
They make a very strange pair, and Payne uses the road trip as a metaphor for bigger things happening in their lives. Yeah, it's been done to death, but Payne uses a light touch, letting the performances shine though. It shows how strong the characterizations are when the audiences feel empathy for both although they both aren't too likable. Giamatti in particular gives another wonderful performance, slowly disappearing into the Miles character. Why he didn’t get an Oscar nod, we’ll never know.
The DVD comes with deleted scenes, commentary and three Easter Eggs.

Elektra (2 out of 5)
Fox/ April 5, 2005

While Elektra is not a good movie by any means, it’s not quite as bad as people say. Thanks to Jennifer Garner’s appeal and charm, Elektra remains watchable and even, dare we say, mildly entertaining. Despite numerous ridiculous plot points and annoying characters, the movie manages to hold on by a thin string and remain alive.
Elektra takes place a few years after her 'death' in Daredevil. She is now alone, searching for her place in the world. She is again an assassin, taking jobs with ruthless precision. Her current job requires her to kill Mark Miller (Goran Visnjic) and his daughter Abby (Kristen Prout). However, their predicament reminds Elektra of her childhood, and her mother's violent death, so she decides not to take the job. The Hand, a group of ninjas, want the Millers dead, so Elektra must now protect them. Helping her is her blind mentor Stick (Terrence Stamp). Elektra discovers that the Hand is after Abby because she has a secret.
See, Elektra's got daddy issues, and sees a smaller version of herself in Abby. There is also a reason that Elektra is such a mopey grumpypants, but it takes most of the film for the reason to come out, and but it still doesn't feel realistic. There are some super baddies who do things like martial arts, have tattoos that come to life, and can kill with kisses. Most of the film is a jumble, with Garner trying to look angry, and a lot of bad fight scenes.
These are a big disappointment. We know Garner can hold her own, we’ve seen it in Alias. But each fight scene is a quick succession of cuts jumping from one view to another, usually shot extremely tightly with a mess of CGI mixed into the bag. By cutting so quickly from one move to another, Bowman effectively ruins the effect of watching the fight. It looks like a bunch of random disconnected punches and kicks rather than a complete fight. When he does back off to show the entire view, he overkills on slow motion and high wire stunts.
The DVD comes with deleted scenes, The Making of Elektra, Inside the Editing Room featurettes and some interesting trailers including Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and The Fantastic Four.