New on DVD
Lost: The Complete Sixth and Final Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
While there were a few folks out there that didn’t like the direction taken for the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815, most, like myself, found the journey to be breathtaking and the end to be everything hoped for. The parallel story lines were a bit confusing at first, but watching them a second time on this set along with some great special features including “The New Men In Charge,” a documentary that answers even more questions about the island including my biggest one about the polar bears, you can see the real genius in the writing and the beautiful ending of a truly special television event. Very few shows have been able to leave like this and none so eloquently. Noticeably missing is a commentary on the last episode, which I was really looking forward to listening to. A
Pawn Stars: Season Two
Available on DVD
Back for another season are the family of pawnbrokers from Las Vegas trying to figure out the good deals from the bad as folks dream of big cash that they’ll later be losing in the casinos down the street. Regardless of the clientele though, it’s always interesting to see what’s valuable and what’s not and how these guys try to pay bottom dollar for what they want. In thirty-minute increments, the show is just fast-paced enough to make for a nice little guilty pleasure TV snack. B-
The Backup Plan
Rated PG-13 for sexual content including references, some crude material and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
J-Lo wants a baby so bad and doesn’t want to have to wait for the man to give it to her so she decides to have an artificial insemination. Unfortunately she meets the man of her dreams on the same day. He doesn’t mind that she’s having a baby, or in this case two, so they start off on a relationship doing things slightly out of order. While the premise here is not bad, everything else is. The jokes bomb due to being horribly written and terribly acted. J-lo is pretty and all, but just not a movie star and while her love interest carries his weight pretty well, he just can’t make it work. Then there is the Jerry McGuire wannabe women’s support group that just plain stinks up the place. Maybe if they hadn’t tried to make this a comedy and left it at a romance with complications it might have had a chance, but J-lo and most of the rest of the cast lack the timing to pull it off. D
City Island
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, smoking and language
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Andy Garcia and Julianna Margulies head up an extremely dysfunctional family in the New York City area that could very easily be functional if they’d only communicate a little better with one another. In this comedy of errors, the mistakes the characters make build upon one another, some organically and some not, until the hilarious finale when things come to a head and have no choice but to pop. The film has a small, indie feel to it, but it does deliver big laughs and has a nice quirkiness that many will appreciate. B
The Simpsons: The Thirteenth Season
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
While not the best of the Simpson’s Seasons, this 2001-2002 airing still had the show pulling off some pretty funny material that gave South Park and Family Guy tons of ideas to steal from. Still considered on the cutting edge at this time, the Simpsons covered a number of hot topics including medicinal marijuana, spirituality, reality television executions and obesity. Among the best this season were “The Blunder Years” where Homer takes a flashback to his younger days with young Moe, Lenny, and Carl, as well as the episode “Sweets and Sour Marge” where Springfield is named World’s fattest town and Homer becomes a sugar smuggler when sweets are banned. B+
The Instant Expert Series from The History Channel
Available on DVD
The History Channel has taken some of its most popular titles on some of its most interesting subjects and added a school-like approach with a small booklet in the case and quiz on the disc. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about subjects such as Benjamin Franklin, Oil, Egypt, The Mayflower, The French Revolution or Beowulf, these discs are a great resource and very affordable.