What It’s About: I don’t care how shallow it is, or how little we’re supposed to care about the whole Brad/Angelina thing—I care. And so it was with great anticipation that I caught Mr. and Mrs. Smith in theatres this summer. I sure wasn’t disappointed. Talk about your on-screen chemistry. Seriously, these are probably two of the hottest people on the planet, can you blame them for hooking up? I sure don’t . I was Team Jolie all the way. But enough about that, on to the movie.
Basically, it’s about a boring suburban couple who both turn out to be deadly assassins and neither knows about the other. When they’re both sent on the same job, they realize they’re working against each other and need to kill the other. It’s pretty light and breezy throughout most of the movie as the two trade barbs, although their darker moments come through as well. There’s something here for everyone—action for the boys, romance for the ladies and well, who doesn’t want to stare at these two for about 2 hours?
Technical Stuff: The picture is a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and it’s fairly good for the most part, although some moments are soft and there is a tiny bit of edge enhancement.
It’s pretty much made up for with the sound though, as the DTS and 5.1 are both spectacular and the action scenes are dynamic and crystal clear. The mix is well spread out and balanced perfectly.
Extras? Nothing earth-shattering here, but the three commentaries are nice:
· Commentary by: director Doug Liman and screenwriter Simon Kinberg
· Commentary by: crew
· Commentary by: producer Lucas Foster and producer Akiva Goldsman
· 3 deleted scenes
· Making a scene
· Trailers
Final Verdict: Pitt and Jolie make the movie, with their on-screen chemistry and great back-and-forth banter. I loved it. It’s no Oscar-worthy masterpiece but it’s darn entertaining.

What It’s About: We’re reviewing these together since their technical aspects are the same and they both star Brad Pitt…coincidence that these are coming out on the same week? I think not.
Legends of the Fall stars Pitt, Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Henry Thomas and Julia Ormond playing the most unlikeable character ever. In it, Pitt and Quinn are brothers who, after their brother’s death, fight over the fiancé he left behind (Ormond). It’s a solid movie, with Pitt really showing off his acting chops here.
A River Runs Through It also stars Pitt, along with Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt and was directed by Robert Redford. The movie is basically about two brothers growing up in rural Montana along with their minister father. It kind of sounds boring, and it dies have some very slow moments, but on the whole, it does remain a compelling drama that uses fly-fishing as poetry and the scenery is beautiful.
Technical Stuff: Both movies got a great re-mastering treatment and are super-sharp and are presented in a lovely 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture is clean and the colours of the beautiful scenery of both movies are lush and rich. They’re really stunning films to look at and the picture does them justice.
The sound is also quite good in Dolby Digital 5.1 although strangely there are fewer subtitles than on the original release.
Extras? A little bit of a beef here. These are Deluxe Editions so you can’t help but expect some major special features here. Unfortunately, you get the same stuff as the original releases with a prettier package and a Movie Scrapbook that has pictures and some bios and stuff. Still, here are the features for each:
Legends of the Fall
Commentaries – The DVD has two separate commentary tracks, director Edward Zwick and star Brad Pitt and Cinematographer John Toll and Production Designer Lilly Kilvert.
Deleted Scenes
Production Design Featurette
Original Featurette
Filmographies
Isolated Score Highlights

A River Runs Through it seems to have gotten the shaft here since it has no special features, just the pretty packaging and the movie scrapbook. Boo.
Final Verdict: Two very pretty movies that were just begging for the brilliant DVD transfer. Despite the fact that there aren’t any new features, they’re still great additions to your collection. If you like Brad Pitt, it’s your week!

What It’s About: Who doesn’t love the Muppets? Try as you may to fight it, you can’t help but smile in the face of Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal and friends. In honour of their 50th Anniversary (would you believe it?) Disney has released four of their biggest hits on special DVDs.
The Muppet Christmas Carol comes out just in time for the season and it really is one of the holiday classics. Michael Caine is the perfect Ebenezer Scrooge and Kermit is just loveable as Bob Cratchit and all the other Muppets throw in some seriously funny performances. The true spirit of the story is there despite minor changes and the songs are very enjoyable. A keeper.
The Great Muppet Caper has the Muppets going to Britain to solve a mystery. When famous fashion designer Lady Holiday reports her priceless diamond necklace stolen, reporters Kermit and Fozzie are on the case! Starved for a story, the two new journalists head for London, without the foggiest idea where to begin. Directed by Jim Henson, this truly is a Muppet classic and a must-have for fans.
Muppet Treasure Island isn’t as good as the other three releases here, but it’s still fairly entertaining. The muppets are back into action in another movie based on a novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson. Kermit the Frog and his colleagues go on a warfare against ruthless pirates. They also share their problem-solving journey on sea to rescue a treasure.
The last release is the uber-classic The Muppet Movie, our personal favourite, and the one where Kermit sings The Rainbow Connection. They're irreverent, irrepressible, and downright irresistible. They're the Muppets! -- starring in their first full-length movie. See how their meteoric rise to fame and fortune began: with a rainbow, a song . . . and a Frog. After a fateful meeting with a big-time talent agent, Kermit the Frog heads for Hollywood dreaming of showbiz. Along the way, Fozzie Bear, the Great Gonzo, and the dazzling Miss Piggy join him in hopes of becoming film stars too. But all bets are off when Kermit falls into the clutches of Doc Hopper (Charles Durning), a fast-food mogul seeking to promote his French-fried frog-leg franchise! Featuring Oscar(R)-nominated music* and side-splitting appearances by some of the biggest names on the silver screen -- including Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Orson Welles, and more! -this fully restored and remastered 50th Anniversary Edition of THE MUPPET MOVIE is a critically acclaimed comedy classic your family will treasure for all time.
Technical Stuff: The DVDs are all presented with two versions on the same disc: a widescreen in its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1 (here measuring about 1.77:1) and a pan-and-scan rendering that crops about 25% of the image from the left and right sides of each frame. Thanks to a new high-bit transfer, the picture is quite good and clear, with some minor grain now and then, especially on the earlier movies but nothing too concerning.
The sound is a Dolby 5.1 mix that does the job quite nicely but remains pretty unexciting. Still, it’s not like you’re looking for a huge dynamic sound here so it works. French in 2.0.
Extras?
The Muppet Christmas Carol:
o Audio commentary by director Brian Henson
o Pepe Profiles Presents - Gonzo: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Weirdo
o Christmas around the world
o On-the-set gag reel
The Great Muppet Caper:
o Pepe Profiles Presents: Miss Piggy - The Diva Who Would Not Be Denied
Muppet Treasure Island:
o Pepe Profiles Presents - Fozzie Bear: A Long Day's Journey Into Night Clubs
The Muppet Movie
o Pepe Profiles Presents: Kermit: A Frog's Life

Final Verdict: If you don’t own any of these, the new transfer makes these anniversary editions a solid buy, although we can’t help but wish that there were more extras here. Still, Muppets are awesome and we highly recommend these.

What It’s About: Who even remembers this movie being out? We sure didn’t, and fully expected it to be a stinker when we popped it in the DVD player. Boy, were we ever surprised! Sky High is another superhero flick for kids, not breaking any new ground in terms of originality, but it really holds its own in the genre. Will Stronghold is the son of The Commander and Josie Jetstream, the big-shots of the superhero world. He’s entering his first year at Sky High, a floating high-tech school known for creating the superheroes of tomorrow. Here, students are rated as “hero” or “sidekick” according to their powers. But poor Will doesn’t even know what powers he has yet. You can pretty much guess the rest—will Will find his powers in time, or be relegated to “sidekick” status forever. The best part of the movie are the characters dreamed up as a reflection of modern high school. There are jokes not meant for the kiddies and the acting is great. Sky High is a guilty little pleasure that you’re bound to have fun with—even if you won’t admit it.
Technical Stuff: It’s a new Disney title so we can expect a brilliant transfer which we get here in a widescreen (anamorphic, 2.35:1) format that absolutely leaps off the screen with bright, bold colour.
The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 in your choice of English, Spanish, or French. Optional subtitles are available in English and Spanish. It sounds clear and balanced. And all the superhero action scenes are larger than life.
Extras? Your basics:
Alternate opening
· Super bloopers
· Breaking down the walls: The stunts of Sky High
· Welcome to Sky High: Behind-the-scenes at making the movie with cast and crew
· Bowling for Soup music video: "I Melt With You"
Final Verdict: Who would have thought it? This tiny little movie that all but disappeared off the radar is actually great. It’s a load of fun and both you and the kiddies will enjoy it.

What It’s About: Despite Tom Cruise’s insanity and the fact that I despise him beyond belief, and despite the fact that the ending bugged me to no end, and despite the fact that Dakota Fanning seems to be in every single movie this year—I quite enjoyed War of the Worlds.
This adaptation of the original H.G. Wells classic by Steven Spielberg is dark, fairly realistic, and has some of the coolest special effects out there. The story is shown through the perspective of a deadbeat dad (Cruise) trying to escape the invasion with his daughter (Fanning) and son (Justin Chatwin.)
Like I stated before, the ending does leave something to be desired. There are far too many miraculous escapes for my liking. In general, the movie is good, solid entertainment. I wouldn’t call it a classic but it’s great work by Spielberg.
Technical Stuff: War of the Worlds was released in theatres in a 1.85:1 screen ratio. Spielberg has indicated his rationale for not going wider is because the 1.85 allows a better rendering of the full screen cutting job without losing much at the sides, and the 1.85 dimensions provide a good transition to 16x9 widescreen televisions. The DVD transfer is 1.75:1 and preserves most of the aspect ratio. The colours he used are very dark and this shows up well on the DVD if you liked his vision. I didn’t really care for it, but that’s just me.
The sound can be enjoyed in DTS or Dolby 5.1 and is absolutely flawless. The scene with Tim Robbins in the cellar particularly comes across well with creepy sounds surrounding you.
Extras? The regular edition of the film (the screener we received) doesn’t really have much in terms of extras. To get the fancy stuff you have to shell out for the two-disc Limited Edition. The only extra on the single disc one is a featurette called "Designing the Enemy: Tripods and Aliens," and it’s really cool. It’s 14 minutes about the special effects and really gives you some good insight into why the director did things the way he did.
Final Verdict: A very entertaining movie with several loose ends and a so-so ending but amazing special effects and a truly engrossing story. It’s good Spielberg, which is usually miles better than great anyone else.

What It’s About: We’ll admit that we never really got Seinfeld. To us, it just wasn’t all that funny. But apparently millions of people disagreed with us and it became a massive hit and cultural phenomenon. So we’re reviewing these sets based on what Seinfeld fans will think.
The fifth and sixth seasons come out together this week and these do have some classic Seinfeld episodes. There’s "The Mango," "The Puffy Shirt," "The Bris," "The Hamptons," and "The Cigar Store Indian" on the fifth season and the only episode I ever found funny. “The Holdout,” on the sixth season. These are two spectacular seasons that Seinfeld fanatics will scoop up quickly and watch over and over.
Technical Stuff: Even though it sometimes looked washed out and blurry on television, the picture has been remastered in High Definition and the 1.33:1 video really looks sharp, even stretched to fit a 16x9 widescreen television screen.
The sound is good in Dolby Digital 2.0. It’s nothing to write home about but since Seinfeld is all talk, it works just fine.
Extras? Plenty to keep fans busy.
Season Five:
· Featurette: Jason + Larry = George
· Deleted Scenes: In the Vault
· Inside Looks
· Commentaries: Yada, Yada, Yada
· Notes About Nothing
· NBC Promos and TV Spots: Sponsored by Vandelay Industries
· Exclusive Stand-Up Material: Master of His Domain
· Bloopers: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
Season Six:
· Featurette: Running With the Egg Part 1 & 2
· Deleted Scenes: In the Vault
· Inside Looks
· Commentaries: Yada, Yada, Yada
· Notes About Nothing
· Bloopers: Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
· Sein-Imation Scene "The Big Race"
· Sein-Imation Scene "Seinfeld Nior"
· Sein-Imation Scene "Kramer vs. The Monkey"
· Exclusive Stand-Up Material: Master of His Domain

Final Verdict: If you’re a Seinfeld fan, we don’t even have to tell you to snap these up. Otherwise, some great episodes coupled with great picture and good sound make these a smart buy. Great gift idea, too.

What It’s About: American Idol wasn’t just a show—it was a phenomenon. Everyone watched it, everyone had an opinion and everyone had a favourite. From the beginning, when star-struck wanna-bes lined up all over the country to make fools of themselves on national television, we, the audience, were hooked.
This set includes three dvds, one that has highlights another has the scary AI moments. The third includes the extras. All are entertaining but unless you’re a true Idol fan, you’ll probably run to the “Worst Of” disc. Still, here’s what you can find on both:
Disc One: The Best of American Idol

Audition footage from seasons one through three:
--Justin Guarini, "Who's Loving You"
--Kelly Clarkson, "At Last"
--Clay Aiken, "Always and Forever"
--Ruben Studdard, "Ribbon in the Sky"
--Diane DeGarmo, "Chain of Fools"
--Fantasia Barrino, "Proud Mary"

Performances from seasons one through three:
--Kelly Clarkson, "Respect"
--Justin Guarini, "Get Here"
--Tamyra Gray, "Feel The Fire"
--Kelly Clarkson, "A Moment Like This"
--Ruben Studdard, "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do"
--Ruben Studdard/Clay Aiken/Kimberly Locke, "Medley (Solid As A Rock/Reunited)"
--Clay Aiken, "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
--Ruben Studdard, "Flying Without Wings"
--Fantasia Barrino, "Summertime"
--La Toya London, "Don't Rain On My Parade"
--Diane DeGarmo, "Enough Is Enough"
--Fantasia Barrino, "I Believe"

Bonus audition footage from season four:
--Bo Bice, "In a Dream" and "Whipping Post"
--Carrie Underwood, "I Can't Make You Love Me"

Bonus performances from season four:
--Bo Bice, "Whipping Post"
--Carrie Underwood, "Alone"
--Constantine Maroulis, "My Funny Valentine"
--Bo Bice, "Vehicle"
--Vonzell Solomon, "On The Radio"
--Bo Bice, "In A Dream"
--Carrie Underwood, "Inside Your Heaven"

Disc Two: The Worst of American Idol
Extended audition footage:
--Tamika Bush, "Audition argument"
--Mary Lacarelli, "Unchained Melody"
--Jacquiline Roman, "Route 66"
--Keith Beukelaer, "Like A Virgin/I Wanna Dance With Somebody"
--Tara Daddona, "Against All Odds/Chain of Fools"
--Patsy Charles, "Unchained Melody"
--Karmen Varjabedian, "Strong Enough/Unbreak My Heart"
--William Hung, "She Bangs"
--Leandra Jackson, "Star Spangled Banner"
--Daniel Blue-Anderson, "If I Ever Fall In Love/Star Spangled Banner"
--Jason Smith, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
--Christopher Noll, "Original rap"
--Fookling Lee, "I Can't Stand The Rain"
--Daron Beck, "Delilah/I Put A Spell On You"
--Leroy Wells, "I Get You (I Feel Good)"
--Aven Moore, "Tomorrow"
--Danny Parker, "God Must Have Spent A Little More Time On You"
--Stephanie Sugarman, "Audition argument"
--Adam and Dirk, "Current of Love (Baywatch Theme)/This I Promise You"

Technical Stuff: The clean and clear picture is presented in a 1.33:1 fullscreen and is great! The sound comes in Dolby 2.0 and every haunting off-key rendition of “Fallin’” by Alicia Keys comes through clearly—sigh.
Extras? These are distributed throughout the three discs. You can find:
o Complete Best of disc includes:
o Season 1-4 reviews
o The Search for an Idol
o Top 2 finalists audition footage
o Unforgettable performances
o Kelly Clarkson 2002 interview
o Here Come the Judges
o Paula Abdul in San Jose with the Idols
o Carrie Underwood sings the National Anthem
o Changes- how the Top 2 have changed
o Finalist Photo Gallery
o Complete Worst of disc includes:
o Funnies moments from all 4 seasons
o Never-before-seen audition footage
o America The Beautiful as you’ve never heard it before
o Proud Mary a popular contestant choice
o Fashion Faux Pas
o Christmas Carols
o Bonus disc includes:
o Never-before-seen home town footage from season 4
o Extensive footage with Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice
o Exclusive interview with Paula Abdul
Final Verdict: This is a really fun set and if you’ve been a fan for all four seasons it’s nice to relive many of the moments. If you’re just looking for laughs though, all you need is the Worst Of American Idol disc. A great gift for the reality show fan on your list.

What It’s About: Oh, my. What a disaster. Stealth is takes place in the near future and focuses on an elite team of pilots. Of 400 applicants for the program, three were chosen. They are Kara Wade (Jessica Biel), Ben Gannon (Josh Lucas), and Henry Purcell (Jamie Foxx). They have been teamed up with a completely AI-drive plane called EDI who gets zapped in a lightning storm and starts to choose his own targets.
All this is fine and good and still could have pulled off a decent movie but the dialogue in this one stinks to high heaven. It’s full of clichés, no character development (especially Jamie Foxx, which is odd considering something in the film I don’t want to ruin for you).
What Stealth does have plenty of is action scenes. And they’re awesome. The explosions are ridiculous as are the in-air sequences. If you’re looking for special-effects, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Does that make up for the lack of any quality in the film? Nope, but at least it’s pretty to look at.
Technical Stuff: Here’s another place the movie excels. The picture is 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, very sharp and clear with great colour. No problems at all.The sound comes in either DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1, both of which are perfect. If you’re looking for a new DVD on which to show off your sound—this is the one.
Extras? A fairly good selection:
Three part filmmaker's diary featurette "Harnessing Speed"
· Interactive scene deconstructions of two action scenes
· Multi-angle scene breakdowns of 2 scenes
· Short featurette "The Music of Stealth"
· A music video

Final Verdict: It’s not great. If you enjoyed it, then Sony has created a fabulous DVD package for you. If you haven’t seen it—rent it first.

What It’s About: Oprah fans, rejoice! If you’re sick of re-watching all your favourite episodes that you taped on your VCR, this is the DVD set for you. As much as people mock Oprah and scoff at her devious money-grubbing ways, the woman does have an entertaining show and has done a lot of good with it. You’ll laugh and cry—even if you hate her. The set is split into several discs:
Disc One starts with The Beginning which shows us how Oprah became who she is, then there is a segment called Heartstrings which features some of the saddest and emotional stories featured on the show. The disc also has the first part of the celebrity interviews which include John Travolta (her love), Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson, Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, and many others.
Disc Two has Aha! which shows us the many lessons learned on the show (and some of these really are awesome), Surprise! where Oprah shows the many people that have been surprised on her show, Home, which is a series of home-related clips including house tours and décor stuff and then another batch of celebs including Tom Cruise (indeed, jumping on the couch, we all need that one for posterity) Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, Denzel Washington, Steven Spielberg and Will Smith.
Disc Three has The Interviews which hilights some of the most notable people to have been on her show including Nelson Mandela and John F. Kennedy Jr. That’s followed by Firsts where Oprah tried her hand at new things including working at McDonalds and dancing with Tina Turner and has another batch of celebs including Johnny Depp, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman and Brad Pitt.
Disc Four had our favourite section called The Headlines which features stories about such occurrences as 9/11, Columbine and the OJ Trial. You also get a section on makeovers and more celebs like Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Britney Spears and Meg Ryan.
Disc Five has a large (no pun intended) section on Weight featuring Oprah’s struggle with weight and other related shows. There is also her book club memories as well as more celebs like Paul McCartney, Adam Sandler, Richard Gere.
The last disc, Disc Six has the episode of Oprah’s 50th Birthday Bash, the episode where she visited South Africa, a look at backstage and a section titled Laughs! with some really funny moments from the show.
Technical Stuff: The show is presented in full frame format and 2.0 Dolby Digital sound. The newer episodes look great while the older are, well, older. Still, they did a pretty great job here.
Extras? No real official extras but the whole DVD set is kind of an extra in itself.
Final Verdict: Oprah fans will want to marry this DVD set and those who mildly like her will be quite entertained. The set is a great capsule of the last 20 years, culture-wise, and it should be noted that every penny of Oprah’s cut of these goes to her Angel Network. Feel good buying this for several people on your Christmas list this year.

What It’s About: Madagascar was the animated hit of the year spawning marketing galore and is now poised to be the biggest stocking-stuffer of the season. The best parts of the movie, hands-down, are the Penguins and the Lemurs. Which is better you ask? My, we could have a full-on debate about this for days but I’ll just say they are equally hilarious and much funnier than the actual main characters of the movie.
Allow me to explain. Madagascar is about a group of animals that live in the Central Park Zoo who find themselves cast into the wild of, well, Madagascar. There, they encounter a group of Lemurs who have a king and like to party. The Lion of the group (Ben Stiller) starts to miss his daily steaks and finds himself chewing of his Zebra pal’s (Chris Rock) bum. We also have a Hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith) and a hypochondriac Giraffe (David Schimmer). The penguins, in the meantime, hijack a boat to go to Antarctica. If you haven’t seen this move, please do so to check out the penguins and the lemurs—they’re worth it alone.
Technical Stuff: Holy colour batman! This DVD release is beyond beautiful and the three-dimensional characters LEAP off the screen in rich, bold and gorgeous colour. The picture is crisp and clear with absolutely no grain or distortion whatsoever.
The sound is Dolby 5.1 and is good, but a little too centre-channel focused. It would have been nice to feel a little more in the jungle. Still, the lemur dance aprty does make you feel like you’re right in the middle of the action.
Extras? My goodness, where to start? Ah, with the Penguins again. They are featured in the eleven minute A Christmas Caper which has only been seen with the Wallace and Grommit movie so far. They also get their own commentary on the film. There is pretty much every other DVD extra you can think of here from commentaries to a boat-load of games. DreamWorks did a great job with this DVD presentation and, like the movie itself, the extras have something for people of all ages:
Penguin Commentary
Filmmaker’s Commentary: The filmmakers talk about the design influences that helped bring Madagascar to life.
Mad Mishaps: This is a montage of technical and animation goofs that occurred during production.
Crack The Code: The penguins leave clues all over the DVD menu.
Meet The Wild Cast: The four main characters and the voice actors that brought them to life.
Enchanted Island: This feature is a location look at the exotic island of Madagascar.
Behind The Crates: Led by writer/directors Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, animation teams reveal how they used state of the art computer animation too bring Madagascar to the screen.
The Tech of Madagascar: This is a behind the scenes look at all of the technical elements that are needed to bring a film the scale of Madagascar to the big screen.
I Like To Move It, Move It Video
Dreamworks Kids: This Way to Play: Would you believe there are over 100 games to play on this DVD?
DVD-ROM Activities: Viewers can make iron on prints of their favourite characters they can wear on shirts. You can also design custom magnets, party invitations, and a room can be transformed with posters from the film.
Final Verdict: This DVD set will keep the kiddies busy for all of Christmas day and through to New Years—need any more reason to buy it? The penguins and the lemurs!!!

What It’s About: Yes, this is a big deal ladies and gents—Season Three of Charmed was Shannen Doherty’s last season on the show. So sad. This is also the season where Charmed started to get quite good. The storylines became more creative and the silliness got bigger. First, we have a new character, Julian McMahon, who starts out as a lawyer and then turns out to be a half-human half-demon out to get rid of the Charmed ones. Next is the love story between Piper and Leo which becomes more permanent. Lastly are the bad guys who are more present and more sinister than in the previous two seasons. If you’re a fan of the show you’ve enjoyed it all along. But most of us really tuned in on this season.
Technical Stuff: This DVD set is being released in 1.33:1 ratio full frame colour. It’s not great, but it’s watchable. There is some grain and the dark scenes get very dark.
The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 and while it’s pretty flat, we’ve mostly got dialogue in this show so it’s manageable. We would have liked a little better sound for the occasional action scenes and explosions but what can ya do?
Extras? None.
Final Verdict: Poor Shannen got the boots after this season and we haven’t seen any of the ones with Rose McGowan so we can’t say if that’s good or bad. But we can say we really enjoyed this season and look forward to the next one.

What It’s About: Created by J.J. Abrams, the genius behind Lost, Alias has never really seemed like a big huge hit. But season after season the show offers its fans plot twists and big cliff-hangers, making for a seriously addictive little television program.
The fourth season opens a little differently, with Sydney and the regular cast now assigned to work in a black-ops section of the CIA, able to accomplish missions using questionable methods. Basically what SD-6 was supposed to be until it turned out that it was really an evil organization. But I digress. Strangely enough, Sloane is the new head of this operation called APO (Authorized Personnel Only). Sydney is now joined by her half-sister Nadia (Mia Maestro) who is a full-time member of APO. If you’ve never watched the show, you really do need to watch the first three season to figure out what the heck is going on. There is a little too much crying in the start of the season by Sydney (to some dramatic music) but thankfully that subsides as we go on. Alias is still stellar.
Technical Stuff: Alias is presented in its original broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the anamorphic widescreen video is pretty close to perfect. There is an ever-so-slight grain visible at some points but all the colours are realistic and well-defined.
The audio comes on one track that is English Dolby Digital 5.1. The sound is great with a nice mix of speakers and both dialogue and action scenes are crisp and clear.
Extras? A nice selection for Alias fans:
o A Chat With Jennifer Garner
o Meet Mia: Syd's Little Sister
o Director's Diary
o Marshall's World
o Blooper Reel
o Deleted Scenes
o The Guest Stars Of Season 4
o Anatomy Of A Scene
o Agent Weiss' Spy Camera

Final Verdict: Not the best Alias season but still a solid one that fans of the show will enjoy immensely.

What It’s About: Both the Black and White as well as the Colorized versions are worthwhile here as the colour version was very well done and looks completely natural. Is the show some sort of intellectual giant? Nope, but it’s still just as charming now as it was then. It makes you laugh out loud and sometimes that’s all you really want out of your entertainment.

This classic 1960s sitcom had a premise based on fantasy, but its charm lay in its character-driven plotlines, intelligent humor, and the chemistry between its leading characters. Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) is a kind witch who has decided to renounce her powers and start a "normal" life with her new husband, Darrin Stephens (Dick York). Unfortunately this displeases Sam's mother, Endora (Agnes Moorehead), who disapproves of marriage between mortals and witches. Endora sets about making mischief in the newlyweds' marriage, engendering many humorous occasions that often put Darrin into embarrassing situations in front of his boss and clients, and force Sam to use her magic. Other family members, witches and warlocks all, turn up periodically to add to the chaos. These include Sam's beloved Aunt Clara (Marion Lorne), whose advanced age--she is over 1000 years old!--is causing her powers to fail. Meanwhile, the meddlesome neighbors know that something is strange over at the Stephens' house, but they can't quite figure it out. Season two sees the birth of the young couple's new daughter, Tabitha, and a visit from Sam's prankster Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde) inspires a reconciliation between him and Endora--but not without some intervention from Sam!
Technical Stuff: The black and white picture isn’t completely crystal clear but considering the age of the show, it looks petty darn good!
The sound comes in a 2.0 track and while the laugh track sometimes sounds really tinny, the voices themselves are strong and loud.
Extras? The only extra is a blooper reel in colour with a narrator discussing the mistakes made. It’s quite enjoyable but we wish there was more here.
Final Verdict: A magically funny show that stands the test of time and will still make you laugh out loud.

What It’s About: We had never seen it before and it’s hilarious! Anyone who has even worked in an office will relate to the environment and the absurdity of it all.
This geeky 1999 office comedy starring Ron Livingston as a corporate Everyman instantly gained cult status for its unabashed caricatures of office personalities, and its theme of corporate sabotage. Peter Gibbons (Livingston) is a typical middle manager living a mundane life amid a grey maze of cubicles. Everything in his life reeks of mediocrity, from the mid-size car he drives to the chain restaurant, Chotchky's (read: TGI Friday's), where he eats lunch every day. Even his apartment, a cookie-cutter duplex with walls so thin that he can chat with his next-door neighbourhood through the plaster, is totally lacking in personality. The company where he works is peppered with ambitionless drones who blindly comply with the condescending requests made of them by their Porsche-driving CEO (Gary Cole). Then one day, Gibbons snaps. As a team of experts is brought in to enact large-scale layoffs, Gibbons simply stops trying and adopts an attitude of total disinterest. That is, he's only interested in dating the blond waitress (Jennifer Anniston) at the local restaurant, and putting in place a devilish scheme for some corporate payback.

Technical Stuff: It looks pretty good for an older flick. The colours are a bit dull and it almost seems like there is a haze over the entire thing but it’s not hugely noticeable.
The sound is fine and the Dolby Digital 5.1 track does the job. There isn’t a huge amount for the rear speakers to do but the dialogue is clear.
Extras? Not a huge amount but some fun stuff including:
o Out of the Office: An Office Space retrospective with Mike Judge
o Deleted scenes: Peter Lies to Lumbergh, Happy Hour and Chotchkies, Peter Goes off on Nina, & Tom's Mixed Heritage Called into Question
o Theatrical trailer
o DVD-ROM audio
Final Verdict: If you’ve ever worked in a cubicle in the corporate world you will get a big kick out of Office Space.

What It’s About: If you don’t like zombies, or scary movies, stay far far away from Land of the Dead. We will admit our bias immediately and let you know that we are completely freaked out by this genre and Land of the Dead gave us nightmares for days. Even as we type this we close our eyes and zombies appear. So while this may appeal to some of you, those who are chicken like us, consider yourselves warned.

Zombie movies slip in and out of fashion, but it's always a special occasion when the man who helped turn the undead into a worldwide phenomenon decides to add an installment to his ongoing saga of flesh-eating films. George A. Romero's zombie movies have all appeared in different decades, beginning with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1968, DAWN OF THE DEAD in '78, and DAY OF THE DEAD in '85. Romero skipped the '90s, but a zombie renaissance in the early 21st century (28 DAYS LATER, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) finds him back in the directors chair. Often seen as allegories for their times, Romero's films have been connected to societal events such as the consumerism of the '70s (DAWN OF THE DEAD) and the spread of the AIDS virus in the '80s (DAY OF THE DEAD). With 2005's LAND OF THE DEAD, Romero positions the bulk of his story in a giant skyscraper which houses the last humans left on the planet; although his intentions are foggy this time, LAND appears to be Romero's commentary on the post-9/11 political landscape. The zombies only bother crews who venture outside the makeshift city for supplies, but the people are kept sedated by their leader, the irascible Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who exaggerates their threat. What Kaufman doesn't realize is that the zombies are learning skills they half-remember from their old selves, leading to some impressively blood-soaked scenes of tumult. In an unusual move for Romero, Hopper is joined by name actors such as John Leguizamo and Asia Argento. The film greatly benefits as a result, successfully portraying an atrophied civilization that has regressed to a primitive state, allowing its undead tormentors to sense that a free lunch may be just around the corner.
Technical Stuff: While some scenes are meant to be very dark, others in the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer seem way too dark. While we were somewhat okay with this as it meant less zombies to see, those who aren’t frightened might want it to be lighter in many parts.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 is very good and you will hear all the zombie noises and screams very well and through all of your speakers. Super.
Extras? Universal did a great job with the extras here, piling them onto the disc:
o Commentary by: Director George Romero, Producer Peter Grunwald and Editor Michael DohertyUnknown Format
o Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead
o A Day with the Living Dead
o Bringing the Dead to Life
o The Remaining Bits
o When Shaun Met George
o Scenes of Carnage
o Zombie Effects: From Green Screen to Finished Scene
o Bringing the Storyboards to Life
o Scream Tests: Zombie Casting Call
Final Verdict: Did we mention it scared the bejeebus out of us?