With so many Blu-Ray and DVD releases coming out these days - I'm serious when I say about twenty a day turn up at the moment, to both my office here and abroad; some come in handy when I've got an itch I can't reach with my index finger - it makes sense to relaunch this mini-review assemblage. This way, we'll be able to cover more stuff (stuff we mightn't necessarily cover - due to time constraints), whilst having that little bit of extra time to spend on some of the reviews that deserve more than 100 words - like special edition's, criterion releases, and so on.
Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum : Flipper-Discs (Blu-Ray)
Was never truly convinced Blu-Ray ‘flipper discs' (Blu-Ray on one side, DVD on the other) had a place in the market. Think I've changed my mind though - not only do they look and sound just as great as any other high-def disc, but they save a lot of storage space! Now having a copy of the DVD on the other side of the Blu-Ray, you can afford to throw away the DVD copy of the film... or give it to your Grandma, who may ‘nearly' be ready to invest in one of those ‘DVD Contraptions'.
As for the films themselves? Just brilliant - the "Bourne" trilogy has been one of the finest series of films in recent years (hoping the upcoming ‘prequel' starring someone else in the role of Jason Bourne doesn't tarnish the franchise), and they're films you can watch over and over again.
Southland : The Complete First Season (DVD)
What a terrific show this is - hopefully people start to tune in (after poor ratings on NBC, it was cancelled, only to be picked up by TNT). The brainchild of E.R frontman John Wells, Southland is a gritty cop drama fixing on the crimes and so forth of some of L.A's more seedier districts. It's essentially C.O.P.S with a narrative, as we plonk ourselves in the backseat of one of the cruisers and head along to the domestics, murder scenes, or robberies along with the officers. Great cast accompanying the fabulous writing & directing too - including Benjamin McKenzie (who most will remain as Ryan ‘Wife-Beater Spruiker' Atwood on "The OC"), Michael Cudlitz (who I just saw in a very small appearance in the rather so-so "The Surrogates"), C.Thomas Howell (in one the best roles he's had in years!), Shawn Hatosy (who you'll all remember from 90s flicks like "The Faculty" and "Down to You"),Kevin Alejandro (from the short-lived "Drive" and "Weeds") Regina King ("Ray"), and Tom Everett Scott ("Dead Man on Campus"!!). The final ten minutes of this first season's last episode left my gasping for breath - its one power-packed cliff-hanger! Extras, unfortunately, include only a brief featurette.
Looking for Eric (DVD)
Ken Loach never makes a bad film -"Carla's Song", "My Name is Joe", "Sweet Sixteen", "Riff-Raff", "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" - it's just that sometimes he operates a bit like a run off-his-feet baker, and pulls his goods out of the oven before they're ready. "The Wind that Shakes the Barley", I thought, could've been left to cook a little longer. And a couple of his other recent films have also been unable to sustain themselves for the long haul. But "Looking for Eric" is different - in fact, it's more than sustainable, it's quite possibly one of Loach's best pictures. A sweet comedy featuring bravura performances, not to mention rich and lovable dialogue, it's the tale of a down-on-his-luck postman who ends up being life coached by one of his favourite football players. It's only a matter of time before Hollywood remakes it - with Adam Sandler. There's a commentary track by Loach on the DVD.
Hi-5 : Fun with Friends (DVD)
Having watched every ‘'Hi-5'' release over-and-over-and-over again (no, not by choice!), I have to admit, I don't like the new line-up nearly as much as I did Charli, Nathan, Tim, Kelly, or Kathleen. They just don't have... it. They can sing, sure, but the original crew bought so much more to their performances (heck, at times Nathan seemed to think he was auditioning for a large-scale Broadway show!). These guys seem half-asleep. Though she's only 2, and has a limited vocabulary (though yesterday, while watching "Shrek the Third", she yelled out ‘I said... I'm pregnant!'), my daughter Charisma also gives the new troupe the thumbs down. Before the unenthused new credits have even finished, Char is asking for ‘Charli'. And she'll keep asking for her until the disc is back in the sleeve. Alas, we're back to those original DVDs again. Maybe Channel9 will do a ‘Leno' and come crawling back to Charli, Kelly and company if more and more kids complain?
