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[bryant]

So, the legions ask, what should I be looking out for on DVD this week?

Well, the Babe Family Double Feature DVD is out. I'd be a little leery of this, although I liked both the Babe movies -- it appears to be one DVD, so picture quality may suffer. Still, a cheap way to get two good movies.

DVD of the week is the Chariots of Fire Special Edition. It's about time; this was previously only available in a full-screen version. It comes with commentary, screen tests, making of documentaries, deleted scenes, and so on.

I'm not going to buy the Karate Kid Collection, but I'll sleep better at night knowing it's out there. This appears to be new pressings -- at least, the Karate Kid DVD has a bunch of extras, including a commentary by the director and the stars, which didn't exist on the old standalone DVD. The other DVDs don't have any such extras, though. I'd talk about how this set will ride on the coattails of Hillary Swank's Million Dollar Baby, but I'm laughing too hard. "Sweep the leg!"

Hm, Ray is out. There are a bunch of editions, so choose wisely.

Bill Murray's serious acting career probably started with Where the Buffalo Roam. Which was his third significant movie, so it's not like his recent stuff is really a change of pace. He's such a mensch. Anyhow, this DVD may or may not suffer from the same screwed up soundtrack as the Anchor Bay DVD release. (They didn't get the rights to the original music and substituted pablum.) We'll hope not.

Finally, there's the complete run of some TV series called Wonderfalls that they tell me was good. All I know is that you could go over to the Borders in the Cambridgeside Galleria and buy a copy right now, cause it's on display a day early.

Comments

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Wonderfalls _was_ pretty damned awesome. Sigh.

[rfrancis]

It was. It is probably the last promising new TV series that I can think of, at least on broadcasts. Pfeh.

-R

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

On the broadcasts, maybe, sure. I've been enjoying the holy hell out of Lost, though, on that note.

The new Battlestar Galactica has proven to be all that and the proverbial pouch of snackful goodness, as well.

Hoping both will last. :)

[rfrancis]

Yeah, I agree about Battlestar, which is one of the wrenches in my TV system planning. Before it came on, I could've easily given up on SCIFI.

-R

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Yeah. They're real bastards like that. I'd turned my back on them for the Farscape mishandling, but the miniseries brought me back and gave them a chance to advertize BSG at me... which I gave a shot, and, well.

Bastards.

[alex-victory.livejournal.com]

Totally agree... my roommate and I have been totally astonished by how good the new series is. We expected it to be mildly entertaining, nothing more. Hooray for low expectations!

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

It's not even lowered expectations at this point; it's just good on its own two feet (save, perhaps, for the Slutty McCylon moments, but even those have a context that's acceptable).

Olmos is really the driving heart of that for the show, I think. The gravitas he brings to Adama (just watch his face during the confession scene in this most recent ep) is potent. And the rest of the cast rises to meet that, I think.

Very, very happy.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I've been proselytizing the new Battlestar Galactica everywhere I can. Such a good show.

[rfrancis]

While we're on the topic, let's hear it for Starbuck. Not anorexic, not dykey, just kickass through and through -- but when the emotions are there, her struggle not to bawl helplessly at Adama, well, wow. She's the real deal. (She's the first thing that grabbed us when we watched the pilot. "Hey, this soldier chick has, like, muscles and stuff!") She's up there with Zoe from Andromeda for Best Soldier Chick EVAR.

Okay, that was fannish of me, but seriously, she rocks.

-R

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

What freaks me out about her, what freaks me right the hell out, though, is how much she's able to conjure up Dirk Benedict's facial expressions. I mean, jeez.

[thebitterguy]

You mean Zoe from Firefly, right?

[rfrancis]

Er, yeah. Here's my excuse for the slip -- Zoe's actress played Nebula against Hercules, in turn played by Kevin Sorbo, later of Andromeda. Yeah, that's it!

No, I was just tired.

-R

[thebitterguy]

Not watching Lost? It's been quite enjoyable.

[rfrancis]

Nope. Hopefully I'll catch it on DVD someday.

-R

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to like Wonderfalls, but I couldn't do it. Magical Realism or whatever you'd want to call it on TV is a delicate thing, and none of the Wonderfalls episodes quite made it for me, though it had moments here and there. Plus I really hated the lead woman. Good supporting cast though. Season 2 or 3 of Wonderfalls might have been awesome, but for once I could really understand why Fox pulled the plug.

[chadu.livejournal.com]

The Brak Show, vol.1, and Sealab 2021, vol.2, are coming out this week.

CU