What It’s About: Although it faced some seriously stiff competition from Lost and Desperate Housewives this season, House still managed to emerge as one of the season’s best shows. And all you have to do is watch one episode to realize why.
Starring British actor Hugh Laurie as the sarcastic and always ready with a one-liner Dr. House, the show is a sort of medical CSI, where patients have mysterious diseases and it’s up to the brilliant House and his very attractive team to figure out what it is and fix it. This is a show that makes you laugh out loud as well as learn something new and sucks you in with the patient stories. Laurie is fantastic as House and we are rooting for his to win the Emmy for his perfect performance.
How Does It Look? Why isn’t it presented in Anamorphic widescreen? How disappointing. The pilot episode looks terrible and although things improve over time, it’s never as good as it should be. On occasion the picture gets blurry and there are some minor compression issues.
How Does It Sound? Thankfully, much better than it looks. The Dolby Digital 5.1 is good and the dialogue (which makes the show) comes through crystal clear.
Extras? Some boring ones and “House-isms” a look at some of House’s best lines. There is some great stuff here; feel free to jot down notes just in case you ever need a good insult.
· Dr. House: a look into House’s disturbed psyche
· Medical cases: four minute feature on the stories the team faces each week
· The concept
· Set Tour
· HOUSE-isms
· Casting session with Hugh Laurie
Final Verdict: Tied with Lost, it’s our favourite show on television right now and despite the lack of anamorphic widescreen, we loved watching every minute of it! We eagerly anticipate the new season.

What It’s About: The original Lilo & Stitch was great—an original, funny and sweet movie with something for kids and adults. Disney has had some pretty bad straight-to-dvd releases but recently seemed to up the ante with Tarzan 2. They don’t disappoint with this one either. Let’s get something straight: it’s not terrific. If it was, it would have been released in theatres first. But for a sequel, it ain’t half bad. What made us laugh was the blurb on the front of the dvd case: “An artistically stunning continuation of the original.” good praise, huh? Yeah—it’s from the Creators of Lilo & Stitch. Thanks guys. Couldn’t get a real critic to say something good? Still, the animation is pretty good; all the characters are back and in fine form. The plot is a little weak this time around but it only fills 68 minutes of movie. Unfortunately, the sequel is really only going to appeal to the young set; nothing for the old folks this time around.
How Does It Look? As usual with Disney, it’s stunning. The colours are bright and crisp and almost seem to glow. There isn’t a speck of anything anywhere. It’s perfect.
How Does It Sound? You can watch Lilo & Stitch: Stitch Has a Glitch in both 5.1 and DTS. Why you would need to is beyond us but it’s there for your enjoyment.
Extras? There are plenty to keep the wee ones happy:
o Bonus Animated Short: "The Origin Of Stitch"
o "Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride" music video by Jump 5
o Where's Pleakley? Set-Top Game
o JuBonus Animated Shortmba's Experiment Profiler
Final Verdict: No where close to as good as the original, but the picture and sound are fabulous and your seven-year-old niece will love it to bits!

What It’s About: We read a review for this movie when it came out in theatres asking “How many times can you watch the same dead girl crawl around and be scared?” To that, we say—uh, plenty. Granted, we’re real weenies when it comes to scary movies and we did watch most of this with our head buried in our friend’s shoulder but still—this movie is scary! Yes, it’s not as good as the original and sure, there are some clichéd moments and predictable parts. But that dead girl is freaky and if the movie’s purpose was to startle and frighten—it succeeds.
Technical stuff: Unfortunately, what should have been a beautiful 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is quite poor. Where the new scenes have been added is in is incredibly obvious and there are shimmering lines and edge enhancement throughout. The colours vary and the black is inconsistent. All that is very distracting. The sound makes up for the picture a wee bit, and is offered in DD 2.0 and 5.1. The scary moments have the right pitch and the sub gets some work as well. The dialogue remains clear and the surround is used well to enhance the creepiness of several scenes.
Extras? Well, DreamWorks certainly does deliver with these:
· Rings: a fascinating seventeen minute short film that explains the origins of the teenage boy who was killed in the opening scene.
· Four Featurettes: Faces of Fear: The Cast, Fear on Film: Special Effects, Samara: From Eye to Icon, and The Power of Symbols, an interesting look at the symbolism included in the film.
· HBO: First Look-The Making of The Ring 2
· 18 Minutes of Deleted Scenes.
· Some biographies, some production notes and some trailers.
Final Verdict: If you’re easily scared, this movie will do the job. Many people were disappointed in this movie and we’re sure they have a valid point. But heck, we watch these to get a scare and The Ring 2 sure did just that.

What It’s About: The Truman Show just can’t get no respect. When it came out in theatres, people we loving the slap-happy Jim Carrey and were not ready for anything serious. They wanted Ace Ventura. Instead, they got an incredibly poignant and profound film about a man who discovers his entire life isn’t real; it was a scripted and set-up television show the entire world watched. Watching the movie again in today’s world of reality television gives it even more layers of meaning. Why wasn’t this movie more popular? Well, if you missed it for whatever reason, or didn’t enjoy it that much, you need to give it another chance. It’s great.
How Does It Look? Beautiful, but with a few tiny exceptions. The picture is clear and the colours are stunning but it does suffer from overscan a wee bit. Nothing too noticeable and the richness of the transfer makes up for it.
How Does It Sound? The sound is nice and clean and the speakers get their fair share of work. The Dolby Digital 5.1 isn’t used too much in the rear speakers, but with a dialogue driven movie, that’s not too surprising.
Extras? There is a fascinating documentary (in anamorphic widescreen, no less!) and some other neat little extras:
o Two-Part Documentary: The Making of The Truman Show
o Four Deleted/Extended Scenes
o Photo Gallery
o Two Theatrical Trailers
o Two TV Spots
Final Verdict: A completely underrated movie, The Truman Show surprised us with its depth this time around. Do yourself a favour and watch it again.

What It’s About: Barbershop was hilarious. Barbershop 2: also a great time. What happens when you go to the Beauty Shop? You laugh. A lot. And then feel a little guilty. It’s complete fluff and in no way should ever be taken seriously but we really enjoyed ourselves watching this chick flick. Queen Latifah is great but we loved Alicia Silverstone for her geeky white girl role (it’s her week, check out our review of the new edition of Clueless).
How Does It Look? Fantastic. There is no reason for new movies to come out onto DVD looking badly and this is a great example of a clean anamorphic transfer with no real blurs. You get both the wide and pan and scan versions on here.
How Does It Sound? This is a dialogue driven movie so most of the action happens in the front channels but it’s clear and the Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds great.
Extras? The basics:
Audio Commentary
Gag Reel
14- Minute Behind the Scenes Featurette
Final Verdict: Surprisingly entertaining but save this one for a night with the girls.

What It’s About: Clueless is one of our favourite movies of all time. Now that we have that bias out of the way we can safely tell you that if you like the movie in any way shape or form, this new edition is a must-have. This silly valley-girl retelling of Austen’s Emma is a classic and pure fun. It was also a huge hit and spawned new lingo and fashion trends. Yes, it does make us feel a tad old watching it but we laugh so hard we don’t care anymore. Alicia Silverstone is dead on as the spoiled princess with a heart of gold and Brittany Murphy is amusing to watch before her huge Hollywood makeover and major weight loss.
How Does It Look? It’s a big improvement on the original DVD release. The transfer is a little softer looking which we have no issues with and it’s also much brighter, bringing out the vivid colours used in the film. It’s a clean picture with no noticeable grain. Paramount deserves some kudos here.
How Does It Sound? You have a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0. We watched the 5.1 and it’s very similar to the original DVD, which is fine. The dialogue is clear, the background noise is even and the mix is great. No issues here.
Extras? Lots of fun stuff:
o The Class of '95 - A look at the cast, then and now
o Creative Writing - Director Amy Heckerling talkes about creating the world of Clueless
o Fasion 101 - How the filmmakers invented the trend-setting fashions
o How To Play the "Suck 'n Blow" Game - A Tutorial
o Driver's Ed - Get behind the wheel with the cast and crew
o We're History - Stories from the cast and crew
o 2 Theatrical Trailers
Final Verdict: Although it seems a bit dated at times, Clueless remains a classic. This new DVD set is a huge improvement on presentation. Buy it.

What It’s About: When people try to redo British sitcoms into American, it usually doesn’t end well. There’s something about odd, sarcastic British humour that we just can’t get. So when NBC announced a new version of The Office, no one was really expecting much. Then they brought on Steve Carrell (currently starring in The 40-Year-Old-Virgin) and things started to look up. Carrell had what it takes to make the show funny. Add in a great cast and all of a sudden you have the makings of a genuinely hilarious sitcom. The ratings have been dismal and Universal hopes to generate some excitement with the first season on DVD. There are only six episodes but they’re enough to hook you in and make you pray they don’t cancel it.
How Does It Look? Vivid and clear, in a stunning anamorphic transfer. The episodes look better than they did on television.
How Does It Sound? Just fine. While there is nothing spectacular about the Dolby 2.0 sound, there is nothing really wrong with it either. The show has a documentary feel to it and the dialogue comes across crystal clear.
Extras? It doesn’t seem like much but when you try and see it all, you realize how much there is. There are five commentary tracks as well as over an hour of deleted scenes – scenes that could have actually stayed in the show. With most deleted scenes on DVDs you can understand why they were cut. Here it seems like it was simply time constraints.
Final Verdict: If you avoided The Office like the plague on television (and we don’t blame you, we were scared too) give the show a chance on DVD. It really is funny.

What It’s About: If you love Lucy stomping grapes with Ethel, this is the season for you. It features that classic episode plus tons more as Lucy makes her way across Europe. This season has some of our all-time favourite episodes including The Great Train Robbery, Lucy Meets the Queen, Lucy Gets a Paris Gown, and Lucy Goes to Monte Carlo. Who can resist Lucille Ball? You can’t help but giggle. Although all seasons of I Love Lucy had some good episodes, if we had to pick just one to own, this would be it.
How Does It Look? The black and white transfer looks great considering how old it is. There are some small scratches and it is a wee bit grainy at times but overall Paramount is doing a fabulous job with these oldies.
How Does It Sound? It’s the original mono soundtrack which, although of course we could love to hear it in 5.1, works for the show. It’s mostly front channel and the dialogue is clear. The laugh track sounds a little fuzzy sometimes, but you’re usually laughing over it anyhow.
Extras? Similar to what’s been offered on previous seasons. They are spaced out over the seven discs so it can be tough to find exactly what you’re looking for:
Flubs
Restored Music
“Behind-the-Scenes” Audio Featurette
Original Series Openings
Original Animated Sequences
Script Excerpts
Production Notes
Song Selections
Guest Cast Information
Promotional Spots
Five Complete Episodes of Lucy’s Radio Show: My Favorite Husband
Final Verdict: We say it’s Lucy’s best season ever.

What It’s About: All three of the Universal shows were featured on The NBC Mystery Movie lineup and had something to do with crime-fightin’. Columbo is the best-known of the three and starred Peter Falk as a police lieutenant. He won four Emmy’s for this role and this set features two discs and all 15 episodes of the third season which featured some great guest appearances like Martin Sheen, Vincent Price and Deirdre Hall. McMillan & Wife was a mystery series that premiered in 1971 and was a big deal because of its star: Rock Hudson. Hudson played a Police Commissioner who partners with his wife (Susan Saint James) to solve mysteries in San Francisco. The show was basic TV fare with nothing all that exciting going on, and its success can probably be attributed to its two stars and their great on-screen chemistry. McLoud has Dennis Weaver a Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud, super-tough cowboy on the street s of New York City. The show has some entertaining moments and the set features all 11 episodes from the first two seasons.
How Does It Look? All three shows are presented in their original full frame format with decent picture transfer for their age. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad either.
How Does It Sound? The Dolby Digital Mono is nothing to write home about but we suppose it gives the shows that old-fashioned feel. It does the shows justice.
Extras? None. Nada. Zip. Each set features a bonus episode from another, tempting you to purchase it.
Final Verdict: Any fans of these shows will enjoy the dvd sets, although Columbo is sure to be the runaway winner here as it was the most popular.