New in Home Entertainment
September 4, 2012
The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
When I had heard that the second season of AMC’s breakout horror drama The Walking Dead would be losing its creator Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), and that it would also be slashing its budget, I was skeptical about the show continuing the momentum left off from the first season. But with its very talented cast and equally talented writing team, Dead proved that it is still one of the best shows on television. After leaving Atlanta, the group of survivors find a farm in the country where they take temporary shelter from the zombie incursion. Just as you would expect, the internal drama is as effective as the external horrors when it comes to keeping a sense of tension floating throughout each episode. And talk about a barn-burner of a finale. We are all left with a dreadful sense of impatience as we have to wait for season three to hit on October 14. A-
The Five-Year Engagement
Rated R for sexual content, and language throughout
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt play a couple whose engagement keeps getting pushed off again and again in order to make room for life’s inconvenient challenges that keep getting thrown in their way. If you go into this movie thinking you’ll get an hysterical raunch com, then you will be sadly mistaken. Very sadly. There is a lot of good humor to be found here, but most of it is soaked in gravity and much of the film comes off as more real than funny. Unfortunately, while some of the jokes work, much of it seems random and incoherent. The worst part of this is Blunt’s group of grad students she works with. While I’m sure they are meant to lighten the load, they come off as silly and unnecessary and a complete distraction from the film, rather than a nice bonus. And when you see a more than two-hour running time on a rom com, you start to come up with stuff that should have been left out and I really wish these characters would have all been cut. B-
Hung: The Complete Third Season
Rated TV-MA
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
In this third season of HBO’s comedy about a down-on-his-luck school teacher in Detroit who moonlights as a male prostitute, Thomas Jane finds himself having to compete against a younger male-ho who begins to steal his business. Unfortunately, the show seems to be delivering more of the same and the nuance has completely worn off. It’s still funny and equally quirky, and the performances are solid, but just like the lead character, I’m beginning to think the series might be running on a bit too long. C+
The Office: Season Eight
Available on DVD and Blu-ray
You gotta give props to the original British Office which quit early and left the audience craving more. Wouldn’t it be nice if the American version could do the same? When Steve Carrell bid adieu to the show in season seven, he left behind a talented group of actors, but no where to go with them. The story lines are all dried up and the show is now a train wreck. I’m not sure what’s more embarrassing – that they won’t put this show to pasture or that I keep watching it. Either way, if you don’t want to experience the complete mess, just do what I wish I did and pretend that the show ended back in 2011. C-