DVD Releases March 3 2009

East of Eden

From Acorn Media
Average customer review:

Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck considered East of Eden his quintessential novel. At more than six hours, this sumptuous production brings Steinbeck’s bestseller to the screen more fully and faithfully than any other adaptation. Sweeping from Connecticut to California and from the Civil War to World War I, it follows three generations of the tumultuous Trask family: patriarch Cyrus (Warren Oates); his feuding sons, Adam and Charles (Timothy Bottoms, Bruce Boxleitner); and quarrelsome grandsons, Aron and Cal (Hart Bochner, Sam Bottoms). Through these men’s lives slithers Cathy (Jane Seymour) -- a she-serpent who holds their love and enmity.

With a cast that includes Lloyd Bridges, Howard Duff, Anne Baxter, and Karen Allen, this saga explores the nature of good and evil, the origin of sin, and the hope of reconciliation. In its ambitious themes, pervasive Biblical allusions, and abiding reverence for the land, East of Eden stands as a timeless American epic.

Winner of an Emmy® for best art direction and Golden Globes® for best miniseries and best actress.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE exclusive interview with Jane Seymour, biography of John Steinbeck, and cast filmographies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #255 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 480 minutes

Customer Reviews

If You Are Among Its Long-Waiting Fans, Enjoy
"John Steinbeck's East of Eden" is considered the most faithful screen adaptation of the greatly-loved book of the same name by respected Nobel Prize winning American author John Steinbeck, ( The Grapes of Wrath (Centennial Edition); famously filmed as The Grapes of Wrath). And, of course, Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck Centennial Edition);equally famously filmed as Of Mice and Men ). Steinbeck is said to have always considered it ("Eden") his most characteristic work. However, the TV production has not been available for a long time, and its fans have been hungrily awaiting a rerelease. It now comes to us as a box set of three DVD's, totaling approximately 382 minutes, comprising the three episodes of the original TV mini-series drama as shown on ABC in 1981. Special features of the new set include subtitles; bless their hearts, and a new interview with the series' star, Jane Seymour, best known for the TV show Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Complete Series Megaset.

The lavish, multi-million dollar entertainment, filmed on location in Salinas, California, captures the full arc of Steinbeck's novel, Connecticut to California, American Civil War to World War I, as it traces the troubled men of the Trask family. (The well-known 1955 theatrical version, starring James Dean (East of Eden ) covered only the last, World War I period.) Upon the debut of the television miniseries, it won an Emmy for best art direction and Golden Globes for best miniseries and best actress (Seymour). The series follows three generations of Trask men, from Civil War patriarch Cyrus (Warren Oates); his feuding sons Adam and Charles (Timothy Bottoms, Bruce Boxleitner), and Adam's quarreling fraternal twin sons Aron and Cal (Hart Bochner, Sam Bottoms). Along the way, Cathy/Kate Ames (Jane Seymour) plays an important role in many of their lives. Guest stars include: Lloyd Bridges as Samuel Hamilton, Karen Allen as Abra, Anne Baxter as Faye, Howard Duff as Jules Edwards, Richard Masur as Will Hamilton, Grace Zabriskie as Cathy's mother, and M. Emmet Walsh as sheriff Horace Quinn (yup!).

The story is as much Cathy/Kate's as the Trask men's, and Jane Seymour largely carries it. (I did find that Timothy Bottoms was too light-weight for the job). Furthermore, reviewers as varied as The Boston Globe and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune have considered this Seymour's best work. She herself, although she has nearly 100 characters to her 40-year portfolio, told daytime talk show queen Oprah Winfrey in 2003 that Kate was "the best role of my career." Winfrey said, "I think there was no other Kate. In my mind, you personified all that she was and captured that in a way that I still marvel." (When Winfrey relaunched her book club in 2003, she chose "Eden" as the first selection.) If you're among the fans waiting for this release, enjoy.

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The Hills: The Complete Fourth Season

Directed by Hisham Abed
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 392 minutes

Customer Reviews

Season 4 keeps the drama going for sure....
Today is February 23, 2009 and I am watching throught the first disc of the 4th season....so glad that I got it. I missed the first few episodes when they aired not to long ago, so when I saw that I could purchase this season earlier than the release date, I ordered it up (MTV had it as a pre sale weeks before the March release, with FREE SHIPPING...got it in 3 days). Anyway, I was watching the 3rd season and was left with a huge "oh my gosh" I NEED to find out what's up with these chicks, especially the drama between Lauren, Lo and Audrina....I can't believe how things got between those three. Plus, I needed to find out why Heidi took crazy Spencer back....what a sociopath he is and in the 4th season he is on a mission to completely isolate Heidi....so I would DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS DVD to anyone who is a fan, especially of the 3rd season.....

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Wildfire: Season 3

Directed by Bradford May, Ellie Kanner, Frank Perl, John Behring, Rachel Talalay

Kris Furillo (Genevieve Cortese) has just finished serving time at a juvenile detention center for grand theft auto and resisting arrest. Upon her release, she is offered a job at the Ritter family ranch after Pablo Betart (Greg Serano), a center volunteer who teaches inmates to ride horses, notices Kris' unusual talent with the animals, especially the horse Wildfire, with whom she has bonded. In Season 3, Kris hopes to save Raintree Ranch from devastating financial news, but the rivalry between Raintree and Davis Farms intensifies as they fight to save themselves. And a cruel betrayal leads Kris to reconsider her romantic relationship with Junior (Ryan Sypek). Meanwhile, Matt (Micah Alberti) steps in and lends her support, leaving Kris once again torn. With two great guys to turn to, she is forced to make a decision. Whom will she choose? Continue your collection with all 13 episodes of Season 3, complete with exclusive bonus material including audio commentaries with cast and crew.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #67 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 539 minutes

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Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic (+ Digital Copy and BD-Live) [Blu-ray]

Directed by Jake Strider Hughes
Average customer review:

Watched any great books lately? Now you can. The most celebrated graphic novel of all time that broke the conventional mold continues to break new ground. WATCHMEN illustrator Dave Gibbons oversees this digital version of the graphic novel that adds limited motion, voice and sound to the book's strikingly drawn panels. All 12 chapters of the story are here, nearly 5 hours spanning everything from the mysterious demise of the Comedian to the crisscrossed destinies of loosely allied superheroes to their fateful impact on the world. Be in the know. Be watching. With Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #61 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Animated, Color
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 325 minutes

Customer Reviews

Great work!!
I loved this from the first few seconds into it; after the credits had finished rolling! The music creates a powerfully interpreted atmosphere, and the directing is perfect. The only thing I hated was that there were no female voices. One actor narrated the whole thing, doing all the voices, and altering his tone and inflection slightly for each character. While he did an excellent job on all the male characters, I think the best approach for this would have been a two-person team of a guy for all the male voices, and one female for all the female parts. If this had been an audio book, the one actor approach would have sufficed, since in those cases, the actor merely provides vocalization for the dialogue, and it doesn't matter what gender it is rendered in. But in an Illustrated Graphic Novel, you actually See the characters, and one never loses the disconcertment (I checked; that is actually a word) of "seeing" a male voice being uttered by a female character, especially the Same male voice. I hope that they redo this one day soon, with that in mind. If they do, I will buy it again, that is how much I liked this. By the way I still own my original copy of the Watchmen, bought from Bud Plant's Comic Art, many many years ago now. To me, this was just as powerful, and I would highly recommend it. I watched the entire thing in one sitting, even though it took several hours, that is how entranced I was.

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Nash Bridges: The Second Season

From Paramount
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #134 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Running time: 1072 minutes

Customer Reviews

Better this time around
In my opinion, this is a much better release of Nash Bridges than the first season was. While this season is not as loaded with features as the previous one, this season only has part two of the writers round-table continued from the first season, the presentation of the series itself is better. While the first season contained none of the songs by popular artists featured in the televised versions, this season actually contains some of them, an example being the opening song of the episode 'Night Train'. Also, where the first season DVD's replaced its songs (from James Brown to Rod Stewart and the Allman Brothers) with primarily new created instrumental overdubs, this season actually uses other popular music in place of some of its songs. The picture is once again fantastically restored, as was the first season's and the commentary by Don Johnson and others on a few of the episodes is rather interesting. Overall, in my opinion, this is a better quality release of a great series than was the first season.

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The Return of Man from U.N.C.L.E.

From Paramount
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #222 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

Not Entirely Successful, but a Welcome Reunion!
The most surprising omission in the recent "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series" collection was the 1983 reunion movie (I assume because the rights were owned by a different studio), so the newly-released "The Return of Man from U.N.C.L.E." is a 'must' for all us fans of Solo, Illya, and the immortal spy network, to truly complete our collections!

"Return of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair" (the original title) doesn't compare with the best episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 (writer/producer Michael Sloan reportedly used episodes from Season 3...perhaps the worst year for the series...for his research), and some of his wry 'twists' don't make much sense (aloof, shy Kuryakin retired to become a women's fashion designer? Skirt-chasing, yet dedicated Solo now peddling computers and broke?), but there are nice touches, as well; Patrick Macnee, 'John Steed' in the classic "Avengers", makes a perfect successor to the late Leo G. Carroll, as head of U.N.C.L.E. (there are some very welcome references to the beloved older actor); villain Anthony Zerbe puts a nice spin on how both THRUSH and U.N.C.L.E. aren't as much fun, anymore, in the new world order; and Vaughn and particularly McCallum, look remarkably unchanged after 14 years ("good makeup men", Solo quips).

While some 'surprises' seem out-of-place (George Lazenby, spoofing his one 007 film, here playing 'J.B.', and rescuing our agents), and a dumb decision to split up Solo and Kuryakin, teaming them with new partners, is an obvious mistake, there is still magic in the franchise, and "The Return of Man from U.N.C.L.E." offers ample opportunity for fans to relive that crazy era when U.N.C.L.E. saved the world, each week!

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Doctor Who: The Key to Time (Special Collector's Edition)

From BBC Warner
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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #458 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-03
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Collector's Edition, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 7
• Running time: 627 minutes

Customer Reviews

Preempt: Why this is being re-released
It's already been covered what extras are going to be on these discs, and they're pretty awesome for a Doctor Who fan.

So, why is this being re-released here in the States? Back in the earliest part of the decade, BBC Video here in North America rushed out a set of "The Key to Time", due to the high popularity of Baker's Fourth Doctor compared to others in this country.

This version never saw the light of day in the United Kingdom, Australia, Europe, etc.

In late 2007, the Key to Time finally saw release in the rest of the world. And this time, the Restoration Team and 2 entertain did the full restoration and documentary job they normally do on releases. (The first set of Key to Time was the only one ever released first in the U.S.)

So, enter March 2009. North America is caught up with all but the very latest releases from Britain. Given the, quite frankly, haphazard method and quality of the first North American release, it was decided to bring the set that Britain/Rest of the World got to the States.

If you don't want to buy it, that's fine. May sees two new releases that are only 4 and 5 months behind Britain's release schedule, respectively. And that's the pace we'll likely stay at.

As for me, I'd glad we're getting this in the States. Since it was already made, and we're so close behind Britain now, why not?

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