Sales Rank:90 List Price: $59.98 Lowest New Price: $21.90 Lowest Used Price: $17.90 MPAA Rating:
Format:
AC-3
Box set
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Hugh Laurie
Omar Epps
Lisa Edelstein
Robert Sean Leonard
Jennifer Morrison
The cantankerous and brilliant Dr. House (Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie) is back for a third season of the hit drama House, which picks up with his being shot at the end of season two and ends with his staff dramatically refusing to put up with his oddball (and borderline abusive) demands. Each of the 24 episodes, which aired on FOX from 2006 to 2007, is included in this 5-disc set. Fans of the drama will be happy to hear that the formula remains the same: Each show begins with a medical dilemma that's so severe and life-threatening that only Dr. House can diagnose and fix the problem, even if it goes against conventional medical rules. His put-upon boss Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein) is back, as are his young charges Foreman (Omar Epps), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), and Chase (Jesse Spencer). Oncologist Wilson (Tony winner Robert Sean Leonard), who is House's best friend by default, also returns to support (and infuriate) the cranky doctor. Speaking of cranky, House's difficult nature proves to bite him in the rear. In a six-episode arc, the Vicodin-popping House meets his match after he antagonizes the wrong patient, police officer Michael Twitter (David Morse, who played a compassionate physician on St. Elsewhere). Hell hath no fury like a patient poked and prodded like a guinea pig, and Twitter makes it his business to make House's life miserable. But since the show is called House, viewers are safe in assuming that House will not be rotting his life away in a jail cell. After all, the excitement of the show is driven by his unorthodox treatment of patients. As Cuddy succinctly points out, "You just keep on going until you come up with something so insane it's usually right." Look for a slew of excellent guest stars (rocker Dave Matthews, Charles S. Dutton, Piper Perabo, John Larroquette) to help stir things up. The episodes are as compelling as ever, focusing on a morbidly obese patient in denial, an autistic child, and a comatose man that House insists on "waking" up. The bonus materials include Morrison and Edelstein doing scenes in Valley Girl-speak and a featurette on Laurie's all-star charity group called Band from TV (Laurie plays piano). --Jae-Ha Kim
Sales Rank:60 List Price: $59.98 Lowest New Price: $27.94 Lowest Used Price: $24.00 MPAA Rating:
Format:
AC-3
Box set
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
He pops pills, watches soaps, and always, always says what's on his mind. He's Dr. Gregory House (Emmy nominee Hugh Laurie, Blackadder). Producers David Shore, Bryan Singer, Katie Jacobs, and Paul Attanasio haven't rewritten the hospital drama--at heart, it's a cross between St. Elsewhere, ER, and C.S.I.--but they've infused a moribund genre with new life and created one of TV's most compelling characters. More than any previous medical procedural, it resembles Attanasio’s underrated Gideon's Crossing, but House is lighter on its feet. As fascinating as he is, the show wouldn't work as well if it were all House all the time (that would be like Sherlock Holmes without Watson or Moriarty). Fortunately, he's joined by an intriguing cast of characters, portrayed by a combination of experienced vets (Omar Epps, Lisa Edelstein, Tony winner Robert Sean Leonard) and new faces (Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer). Aside from the complicated cases they tackle each week, the sparks really fly when House's brilliant, if naïve charges are put to the test--and as the head of a teaching hospital, it's his job to test them (although his tough love approach is constantly landing him in hot water with Edelstein's administrator). From the first episode, House attracted a talented array of guests, including Robin Tunney ("Pilot"), Joe Morton ("Role Model"), and Patrick Bauchau ("Cursed") as Spencer’s father. In addition, Chi McBride and Sela Ward appear frequently (with Ward returning for the second season). Viewers who first watched these 22 episodes on Fox will be gratified to note that the music has survived the transition to disc, such as the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," as featured in both the pilot and season finale ("Honeymoon"). The only apparent omission is the credit theme (Massive Attack's "Teardrop") from the pilot. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Sales Rank:48 List Price: $19.98 Lowest New Price: $4.98 Lowest Used Price: $3.38 MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format:
AC-3
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Full Screen
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
James Garner
Gena Rowlands
Rachel McAdams
Ryan Gosling
Anthony-Michael Q. Thomas
When you consider that old-fashioned tearjerkers are an endangered species in Hollywood, a movie like The Notebook can be embraced without apology. Yes, it's syrupy sweet and clogged with clichés, and one can only marvel at the irony of Nick Cassavetes directing a weeper that his late father John--whose own films were devoid of saccharine sentiment--would have sneered at. Still, this touchingly impassioned and great-looking adaptation of the popular Nicholas Sparks novel has much to recommend, including appealing young costars (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) and appealing old costars (James Garner and Gena Rowlands, the director's mother) playing the same loving couple in (respectively) early 1940s and present-day North Carolina. He was poor, she was rich, and you can guess the rest; decades later, he's unabashedly devoted, and she's drifting into the memory-loss of senile dementia. How their love endured is the story preserved in the titular notebook that he reads to her in their twilight years. The movie's open to ridicule, but as a delicate tearjerker it works just fine. Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember were also based on Sparks novels, suggesting a triple-feature that hopeless romantics will cherish. --Jeff Shannon
Sales Rank:27 List Price: $14.99 Lowest New Price: $7.48 Lowest Used Price: $6.50 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format:
Color
Dolby
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Arguing With Myself, a recorded live performance of ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, portrays a comedian whose revival of an old-fashioned art has made ventriloquism more relevant to modern societal concerns. Starring his six main characters, from Bubba Jay, a Nascar-obsessed hick, to Peanut, a flamboyant gay monkey, Dunham’s puppets have dirty but relatively inoffensive senses of humor that mock the American Dream. One can easily see why Jay Leno champions Dunham, as his skits contain a similar sly sarcasm disguised as wholesome teasing aimed at men indebted to their ugly wives, for example, or people who live their lives working in cubicles. At times, though, Dunham’s humor seems to lose its ironic distance, especially as he interacts with puppets like Jose Jalapeño, a Cuban chile pepper, or Sweet Daddy D, a Black pimp, both reliant on the antiquated humor once popularized in cartoons by racial caricature. Since the entire audience in the film is white, it is difficult to assess whether or not African-Americans or Latinos would find Dunham funny. In other words, Dunham’s humor isn’t overtly offensive enough to make fun of ethnic heritage. However, his skills as a ventriloquist alone make him a fascinating entertainer, and anyone interested in how puppetry and ventriloquism has progressed over the decades would benefit from watching Dunham bring life to his wooden friends. --Trinie Dalton
Sales Rank:16 List Price: $34.98 Lowest New Price: $22.99 Lowest Used Price: MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format:
AC-3
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Special Edition
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Meryl Streep
Colin Firth
Pierce Brosnan
Stellan Skarsgard
Amanda Seyfried
The delirious sight of Meryl Streep leading a river of multigenerational women singing "Dancing Queen" is one of the high points of Mamma Mia!, the musical built around the songs of the hugely popular pop group ABBA. The plot sets in motion when Sophie (Amanda Seyfried, Mean Girls), daughter of Donna (Streep), sends a letter to three men, inviting them to her wedding--because after reading her mother's diary, she suspects that one of them is her father. When all three arrive at the Greek island where Donna runs a hotel, Donna flips out and finds that passions she thought she'd laid aside are coming back to life. But let's face it, the plot is not the point--it's a ridiculous contrivance that provides an excuse for the characters to sing the massive hits of ABBA. Regrettably, first-time film director Phyllida Lloyd (who directed the original stage production) has drawn over-the-top performances from everyone involved, even Streep; every production number hammers its exuberance into your eyeballs. Which is too bad, because Mamma Mia! is a rarity: A middle-aged love story. The kids start things off, but the story is really about Streep and the three guys (former James Bond Pierce Brosnan, former Mr. Darcy Colin Firth, and Swedish star Stellan Skarsgard), as well as Donna's best friends (Christine Baranski, best known from the TV show Cybill, and Julie Walters, Calendar Girls). It's a romantic comedy aimed at the people who were around when all these songs were new, and that's an age group Hollywood largely ignores. For that alone, Mamma Mia! deserves to find an audience. --Bret Fetzer
Sales Rank:67 List Price: $59.98 Lowest New Price: $19.99 Lowest Used Price: $17.48 MPAA Rating:
Format:
AC-3
Box set
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
The overall strength of the second season of House, M.D. proves that its first-year success wasn't a fluke. This season starts with Dr. House (Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie) pursuing his ex-wife Stacy (Sela Ward) and ending with a tragedy that could potentially be deadly for himself and two colleagues. The premise of each show follows a set routine--a patient is brought in with unusual symptoms; House challenges his trio of underlings to diagnose the problem; they treat the patient, usually incorrectly the first few tries; and then at the very last minute--through a revelation that often has little to do with the patient--House figures out what's wrong and saves the day. It would be easy for this set up to grow old fast. But because of the smart writing, nuanced acting, and believability of the characters (who're often dealing with unbelievable scenarios), the formula works on each of the 24 episodes that aired on Fox during the 2005-2006 season. Viewers have been conditioned by the Marcus Welbys of the TV world to think of doctors as saviors. Even on ER, the most narcissistic physician was selfless at heart. But House is a different breed. When he's at an off-track betting parlor and a woman collapses, he doesn't miss a beat. Still eying his race on television, he asks, "Is anybody here a doctor?" He'll mock a sick patient's complaints with a sarcastic, "Boo hoo!" And, if there happens to be a dead body around, he has no qualms about shooting it if he believes that could help diagnose another gun-shot victim.
Not that he's any more reasonable or compassionate to his boss Cuddy (Lisa Edelstein), his oncologist best friend Wilson (Tony winner Robert Sean Leonard), or his young charges Foreman (Omar Epps), Cameron (Jennifer Morrison), and Chase (Jesse Spencer). He instructs his doctors to break into patients' homes as if they're cat burglars. He does not know the meaning of the phrase "politically correct." But because he spits out insults (as if he has a mild case of Tourette's) equally to both his patients and colleagues, the latter never flinch at his constant stream of inappropriateness. When his three young doctors storm into his office to report the declining condition of a patient by blurting out, "We have rectal bleeding," House says, "What? All three of you?" To sensitive Wilson, who is trying to get some work done without being interrupted, House says, "I know you're in there. I can hear you caring." And when Foreman's father says, "My son says you're a manipulative bastard," House replies, "It's a pet name. I call him Dr. Bling." Of course House actually does care about his patients, but he views a good bedside manner as the luxury of a doctor who has a healthy patient. But dying patients with seemingly incurable diseases need something more. They need House. --Jae-Ha Kim
Sales Rank:65 List Price: $29.98 Lowest New Price: $13.95 Lowest Used Price: $7.67 MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format:
Box set
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Director(s):
Actor(s):
Steve Carell
John Krasinski
Jenna Fischer
Rainn Wilson
B.J. Novak
The British sitcom The Office has the most devoted following this side of Monty Python, so an American remake seemed doomed. Amazingly, the remake actually finds its own enjoyable version of the original's uncanny comedy of embarrassment. Office manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell, The Daily Show, The 40 Year-Old Virgin) believes he's the beloved leader of the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of a paper products company--but his relentless and painfully forced efforts at comedy creep out everyone around him, including paranoid Dwight (Rainn Wilson, who had a memorable recurring role on Six Feet Under), nervous receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer, LolliLove), and aimless salesman Jim (John Krasinski, A New Wave), who's smitten with the already engaged Pam. The pilot episode suffers from closely replicating the British pilot, but after that The Office finds its own footing, turning diversity training, an office birthday party, and a basketball game into excruciating yet hypnotically funny rituals of humiliation. Carell, though clearly talented, can't match Ricky Gervais' unique performance as the aggressively needy British manager (it's hard to imagine that anyone could); as a result, the supporting roles become more prominent, and Wilson, Fischer, and Krasinski quickly create a rapport that matches and may even exceed that of their British counterparts. Be sure to watch the deleted scenes; remarkably, they're as good as the material that made it on the air in this six-episode season. --Bret Fetzer