History of the World Part I

History of the World Part I Review

History of the World Part I Overview

Mel Brooks' uproarious version of history proves nothing is sacred as he takes us on a laugh-filled look at what really happened throughout time. His delirious romp features everything from a wild send-up of "2001" to the real stories behind the Roman Empire (Brooks portrays a stand-up philosopher at Caesar's Palace), the French Revolution (Brooks reigns as King Louis XVI) and the Spanish Inquisition (a splashy song-and-dance number with monks and swimming nuns.) It's Mel and company at their hilarious best.

History of the World Part I Specifications

Mel Brooks's 1981, three-part comedy--set in the Stone Age, the Roman Empire, and the French Revolution--is pure guilty pleasure. Narrated by Orson Welles and featuring a lot of famous faces in guest appearances (beyond the official cast), the film opens well with Sid Caesar playing a caveman, then moves along to the unlikely but somehow hilarious juxtaposition of Caesar's soldiers (the other Caesar, not Sid) with pot humor, and ends on a dumb-funny note in the French bloodbath. This is a take-it-or-leave-it movie, and it works best if you're in a take-it-or-leave-it mood. --Tom Keogh

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The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter)

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Review

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Feature

• Honesty. Integrity. Family. Stories of a family's - and a nation's - yesteryear continue in six Reunion Movies. Set in the 1940s are A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (will Erin have a change of heart?), Mothers' Day on Walton's Mountain (honoring the person everyone turns to when crises arise) and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (with Robert Wightman as John-Boy). Taking place in the 1960s and

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Overview

Honesty. Integrity. Family. Stories of a family's - and a nation's - yesteryear continue in six Reunion Movies. Set in the 1940s are A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (will Erin have a change of heart?), Mothers' Day on Walton's Mountain (honoring the person everyone turns to when crises arise) and A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain (with Robert Wightman as John-Boy). Taking place in the 1960s and featuring Richard Thomas as John-Boy are A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (as a nation mourns the death of JFK), A Walton Wedding (no big-city Manhattan nuptials for John-Boy) and A Walton Easter (Happy 40th, John and Olivia!). Six warm Walton memories are yours to share. For fans of the family-friendly classic TV series, this 3-disc set features six made for television holiday-themed movies.

The Waltons Movie Collection (A Wedding on Walton's Mountain / Mother's Day / A Day for Thanks / A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion / Wedding / Easter) Specifications

Who says you can't go home again? Throughout six post-series reunion movies, the Walton home still stands, "generous in its love, filled with memories, and always ready to welcome us." From the first gathering of the far-flung mountain clan in A Wedding on Walton's Mountain (1982) to the final goodnights in A Walton Easter (1997), these uplifting and heartwarming films are quality time spent with one of America's favorite TV families. Each film amounts to a Very Special Episode of the top-rated, Emmy-winning TV series, rich with family milestones (weddings and births), and crises that will test and reaffirm the family credos of hard work, common sense, and faith. Most of the original cast is back. The late Will Geer, as Grandpa Walton, is sadly absent, and Ellen Corby, who suffered a stroke in 1977, plays a diminished role as Grandma Walton. The character of John-Boy, the aspiring writer whose reminiscences of life on Walton's Mountain were the heart of the series, is absent in the first two films and is portrayed by Richard Wrightman in A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain. With all due respect, we know John-Boy, we consider John-Boy to be a friend, and you, Mr. Wrightman, are no John-Boy. No, that would be Richard Thomas, who won an Emmy for his iconic role, and makes a welcome return in A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993), which jumps ahead nearly two decades to 1963, the same time frame as the third season of Mad Men. Suffice to say, different worlds, as witness the charming scene in A Walton Wedding (1995) in which the wedding party sings "Bicycle Built for Two" while seeing off John-Boy and his bride. There is a circle-of-life satisfaction to the final film in the set, A Walton Easter, in which John (Ralph Waite) and Olivia (the ageless Michael Learned) celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, and John-Boy contemplates returning to Walton's Mountain for good. "There's so much more out there beyond Walton's Mountain," a no-good former boyfriend cajoles the now-betrothed Erin in A Wedding on Walton's Mountain. But as these six films, celebrations of home and hearth brimming with life and unconditional love, remind us, why would you ever want to leave? --Donald Liebenson

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Trigun: The Complete Series Box Set

Trigun: The Complete Series Box Set Review

Trigun: The Complete Series Box Set Feature

• TRIGUN - COMPLETE BOX SET (DVD)

Trigun: The Complete Series Box Set Overview

Vash the Stampede is a wanted man with the habit of turning entire towns into rubble. The price on his head is a fortune, and his path of destruction reaches across the arid wastelands of a desert planet. Unfortunately, most encounters with the spiky-haired gunslinger don't end well for the bounty hunters who catch up with him; someone always gets hurt - and it's never Vash. Oddly enough, for such an infamous fugitive, there's no proof that he's ever taken a life. In fact, he's a pacifist with a doughnut obsession who's more doofus than desperado. There's a whole lot more to him than his reputation lets on - Vash the Stampede definitely ain't your typical outlaw.

Trigun: The Complete Series Box Set Specifications

One of the best-loved series of the '90s, Trigun has lost none of its appeal in the years since its debut. Exactly who and what is Vash the Stampede, a.k.a. "The Humanoid Typhoon"? To bounty hunters, he's the galaxy's most notorious gunslinger with 60 billion Double Dollars on his head. To people in trouble, he's a friend in need. To pretty women, he's a well-intentioned but inept flirt. And to Meryl Stryfe and Millie Thompson of the Bernardelli Insurance Society, he's a walking disaster who's cost the company a fortune. Vash wanders from town to town on a desert planet that looks like the American Old West, unsuccessfully pursuing peace, doughnuts, and "the elusive mayfly known as love." Meryl and Millie follow him, trying to minimize the devastation (and the bills), but Vash's only real friend is gun-totin' preacher Nicholas Wolfwood. Despite their grudging affection, Wolfwood sums up the other characters' thoughts when he tells Vash, "When you're around, things always seem to get a whole lot worse!" Sometimes comic and kooky, sometimes gentle and earnest, Vash reveres life and agonizes over the bloodshed he inadvertently causes. He'd rather eat than demonstrate his amazing marksmanship, yet he's powerful enough to blast a new crater into the Moon. Younger otaku who missed the initial release will enjoy discovering this anime classic. (Rated 13 and older: violence, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

(1. The $,000,000,000 Man, 2. Truth or Mistake, 3. Peacemaker, 4. Love & Peace, 5. Hard Puncher, 6. Lost July, 7. B.D.N., 8. And Between the Wasteland and Sky, 9. Murder Machine, 10. Quick Draw, 11. Escape from Pain, 12. Diablo, 13. Vash the Stampede, 14. Little Arcadia 15. Demon's Eye, 16. Fifth Moon, 17. Rem Saverem, 18. Goodbye for Now, 19. Hang Fire, 20. Flying Ship, 21. Out of Time, 22. Alternative, 23. Paradise, 24. Sin, 25. Live Through, 26. Under the Sky So Blue)

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Mcmillan & Wife: Season Two

Mcmillan & Wife: Season Two Review

Mcmillan & Wife: Season Two Overview

San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart Mac McMillan and Sally - Mac s zany, but discerning wife - form a one-of-a-kind crime-fighting duo that solves some of the city s most baffling and peculiar cases. Now you can take a nostalgic trip back to 70 s California-cool with the highly-anticipated DVD release of the riveting sophomore season of this timeless "whodunit series featuring one of prime-time TV s most loved on-screen couples! Written by TV legend Steven Bochco (Hill Street Blues, LA Law, NYPD Blue).

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Toy Story Trilogy (10-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Toy Story Trilogy (10-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Review

Toy Story Trilogy (10-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Feature

• For the first time ever, experience the entire TOY STORY trilogy in one 10-disc Blu-ray Combo Package! Relive the magic of all three films -- from the moment Woody met Buzz to the warm and wonderful conclusion of their adventure with Andy.Bonus Features:Includes the following titles:TOY STORY Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy (3 Discs). , TOY STORY 2 Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy (3 Discs). , TOY STORY 3 Blu-ra

Toy Story Trilogy (10-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Overview

TOY STORY 3 MOVIE COLLECTION - Blu-Ray Movie

Toy Story Trilogy (10-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) Specifications

Toy Story
There is greatness in film that can be discussed, dissected, and talked about late into the night. Then there is genius that is right in front of our faces--we smile at the spell it puts us into and are refreshed, and nary a word needs to be spoken. This kind of entertainment is what they used to call "movie magic," and there is loads of it in this irresistible computer animation feature. Just a picture of these bright toys reawaken the kid in us. Filmmaker John Lasseter thinks of himself as a storyteller first and an animator second, much like another film innovator, Walt Disney.

Lasseter's story is universal and magical: what do toys do when they're not played with? Cowboy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Andy's favorite bedroom toy, tries to calm the other toys (some original, some classic) during a wrenching time of year--the birthday party, when newer toys may replace them. Sure enough, Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is the new toy that takes over the throne. Buzz has a crucial flaw, though--he believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, not a toy. Lasseter further scores with perfect voice casting, including Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head and Wallace Shawn as a meek dinosaur. The director-animator won a special Oscar for "the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." In other words, the movie is great. --Doug Thomas

Toy Story 2
John Lasseter and his gang of high-tech creators at Pixar create another entertainment for the ages. Like the few great movie sequels, Toy Story 2 comments on why the first one was so wonderful while finding a fresh angle worthy of a new film. The craze of toy collecting becomes the focus here, as we find out Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) is not only a beloved toy to Andy but also a rare doll from a popular '60s children's show. When a greedy collector takes Woody, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) launches a rescue mission with Andy's other toys. To say more would be a crime because this is one of the most creative and smile-inducing films since, well, the first Toy Story.
Although the toys look the same as in the 1994 feature, Pixar shows how much technology has advanced: the human characters look more human, backgrounds are superior, and two action sequences that book-end the film are dazzling. And it's a hoot for kids and adults. The film is packed with spoofs, easily accessible in-jokes, and inspired voice casting (with newcomer Joan Cusack especially a delight as Cowgirl Jessie). But as the Pixar canon of films illustrates, the filmmakers are storytellers first. Woody's heart-tugging predicament can easily be translated into the eternal debate of living a good life versus living forever. Toy Story 2 also achieved something in the U.S. two other outstanding 1999 animated features (The Iron Giant, Princess Mononoke) could not: it became a huge box-office hit. --Doug Thomas

Toy Story 3
What made the original Toy Story so great, besides its significant achievement as the first-ever feature-length computer animated film, was its ability to instantly transport viewers into a magical world where it seemed completely plausible that toys were living, thinking beings who sprang to life the minute they were alone and wanted nothing more than to be loved and played with by their children. Toy Story 3 absolutely succeeds in the very same thing--adults and children alike, whether they've seen the original film or not, find themselves immediately immersed in a world in which Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (Don Rickles and Estelle Harris), Ham (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn), the aliens, and the rest of Andy's toys remain completely devoted to Andy (John Morris) even as he's getting ready to pack up and leave for college. Woody scoffs at the other toys' worries that they'll end up in the garbage, assuring them that they've earned a spot of honor in the attic, but when the toys are mistakenly donated to Sunnyside Daycare, Woody is the only toy whose devotion to Andy outweighs the promise of getting played with each and every day. Woody sets off toward home alone while the other toys settle in for some daycare fun, but things don't turn out quite as expected at the daycare thanks to the scheming, strawberry-scented old-timer bear Lots-o'-Huggin' (Ned Beatty). Eventually, Woody rejoins his friends and they all attempt a daring escape from the daycare, which could destroy them all. The pacing of the film is impeccable at this point, although the sense of peril may prove almost too intense for a few young viewers. Pixar's 3-D computer animation is top-notch as always and the voice talent in this film is tremendous, but in the end, it's Pixar's uncanny ability to combine drama, action, and humor in a way that irresistibly draws viewers into the world of the film that makes Toy Story 3 such great family entertainment. (Ages 7 and older) --Tami Horiuchi

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Chicken Run

Chicken Run Review

Chicken Run Overview

CHICKEN RUN - DVD Movie

Chicken Run Specifications

There were a lot of disappointments in the 2000 summer movie season, but Chicken Run wasn't one of them. Made by Aardman Animations, which produced the Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit shorts, this is a dazzling stop-motion animation film that is both deftly funny and surprisingly touching. The concept is simple: The Great Escape--with chickens. But directors Peter Lord and Nick Park take it much further than that (and remember: there's a whole generation out there that has no idea who Steve McQueen is). Julia Sawalha voices Ginger, a plucky English hen who has been trying to escape from Tweedy's chicken farm, where the vicious Mrs. Tweedy (Miranda Richardson) fries up any chicken who doesn't produce enough eggs. When egg profits slump, Mrs. Tweedy decides to turn her farm into a chicken-pie factory, giving new urgency to Ginger's plan. Enter Rocky the Flying Rooster (Mel Gibson), a brash American who has escaped from a circus and promises to teach the chickens to fly to safety. The film is filled with innumerable visual touches and the animation has a tactile quality that makes you want to reach out and touch these funny fowl. Above all, it's played with intelligence, wit, and heart--a rare combination in any film. While Chicken Run is being marketed to a youth audience, it truly is a family film that operates on both a child and an adult level. It would be a shame if grownups skipped it because they thought it was strictly for kids. --Marshall Fine

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Will & Grace: Season Eight

Will & Grace: Season Eight Review

Will & Grace: Season Eight Overview

The eighth and final season of "Will& Grace" on DVD is loaded with special features, including all new Themed Featurettes, a seson 8 Outtake Reel, newly recorded audio commentaries, and cast interviews.

Will & Grace: Season Eight Specifications

The eighth and final season of Will & Grace begins with a live episode and ends with a bittersweet finale that gives the disgruntled characters some hard-earned closure. At its heart, the sitcom isn't about a gay man and his best friend. It's about two friends who need each other as much as they think they do, who are unable to break away from each other--even if that means putting their relationships with others at risk. As selfish as the characters on Seinfeld and as chatty as the ones on Friends, Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Jack (Sean Hayes), and Karen (Megan Mullaly) are as obnoxious as they are lovable. And the actors who play them share warm chemistry, which makes even the meanest digs come across as acceptable. This final season ends with each of the main characters partnered up with their true loves; and it feels right, even if it's not what viewers may be expecting. Two of the 23 episodes--which originally aired during the 2005-2006 season on NBC--are live. While it's fun to watch the actors occasionally flub their lines or laugh at each other's antics, the episodes are not the strongest of the bunch.

The final season actually gets off to an uneven start before picking up steam about a third of the way in. Featured guest stars include a hilarious Alec Baldwin reprising his role as secret agent Malcolm, who has fallen in love with Karen. He utters sweet nothings to her such as, "When I kill myself, it's going to be for real. And I'm taking you with me." Other high-profile guest stars includes Taye Diggs as a hot romantic interest for Will, Britney Spears as Jack's on-air nemesis, Wanda Sykes as a cosmetic counter girl who Karen convinces to be her baby mama, and Daryl Hall & John Oates as, well, Oates & Hall (as they've renamed themselves). There is a wedding, an annulment, at least two children born to the primary four and the possibility of a happily ever after scenario. The show ended at a good time: not quite at its peak but at least a season or two before you just wouldn't care anymore. But here, there are many moments that tug at your heart or make you laugh out loud. In one vignette, Karen looks on incredulously as Grace allows herself to be bullied into hiring an inept Iranian woman who uses her ethnicity to intimidate all around her. She's also as useless as Karen in getting anything done to help her boss. Tsk-tsking Grace's hiring decision after the new hiree destroys some of Grace's interior designs, Karen says, "I was just sitting there cleaning my gun thinking, 'This is an office!'" It's not the line she says that makes it so funny, but Mullaly's perfect delivery. Like the other cast members, she knows her character so well that she breathes life into even the simplest lines. --Jae-Ha Kim

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