Category: TV DVD Quicktakes (Page 18 of 26)

A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All

November 17, 2008 /

Colbert seems to have been trying to recapture the feel of every old network holiday variety special from the ’70s and ’80s — and he succeeded, at least insofar as A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All consists of 45 minutes of cheesy sound effects, cheesier visual effects, and a nonsensical parade of seemingly random guest stars strung together by a plot that sounds like the product of a 64-gallon jug of brandy eggnog. It isn’t entirely without laughs — and may actually be worth purchasing if for no other reason than the chance to see Elvis Costello dressed up as the Nutcracker, a clown, and a bear who has eaten Elvis Costello — but the overall effect is similar to a bad episode of The Colbert Report. It’s a shame, because there really aren’t very many bad Report episodes, and Colbert is one of the funniest people on TV, but A Colbert Christmas swings feverishly back and forth between gratingly nonsensical and unexpectedly funny with exhausting speed. One consistent highlight, however, is the musical portion of the program, which includes an explosion-laced Christmas carol from Toby Keith, an plea for mankind to not “bogart love” from Willie Nelson, and an ode to nutmeg from John Legend. All told, any holiday special that ends with Santa in a knife fight with a grizzly can’t be all bad, but it’s nowhere near as funny as it should have been.

Click to buy “A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All”

External TV, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Shaun the Sheep: Off the Baa!

November 13, 2008 /

We’re cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs when it comes to Aardman Animation, but this set of eight short films starring Shaun the Sheep (the hero from the Wallace & Gromit short “A Closer Shave”) feels a tad slight. There are some great bits here, particularly “Off the Baa!” and “Who’s the Mummy,” which features the cutest baby chicks you’ve ever seen (they’re balls of fluff with beaks, literally). The problem is that the wordless premise to these shorts does not lend itself well to back-to-back viewings. It is also clear that there were budgetary issues when assembling these shorts, as certain shots appeared in multiple episodes. There is a cute bonus feature that has a group of children introducing the characters and explaining their roles on the farm, but that part is also maddening too, because it includes footage from episodes not included on this DVD, many of which look funnier than the ones assembled here. It’s a nice addition for Aardman fans, but second-tier to their other work.

Click to buy “Shaun the Sheep: Off the Baa!”

External TV, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Liberty’s Kids: The Complete Series

November 5, 2008 /

Originally a part of the PBS Kids schedule from 2002-03, and since in near-constant cable syndication, DiC Entertainment’s “Liberty’s Kids” attempted to boil down 16 years of early American history (from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to George Washington’s inauguration in 1789) into a 40-part series of cartoons. In this respect, it isn’t terribly different from any of a number of like-minded projects, and in fact, it suffers from shades of the same embarrassing pandering that seems to go with the whole ‘take a dry subject and make it cool’ subgenre of children’s entertainment – but “Liberty’s Kids” has a lot going for it, too. Knowing they’d have to scrub out most revisionist perspectives (and all of the stories’ naughty bits), the filmmakers did their best to present our founding fathers’ tales from several points of view, and although it doesn’t always work – a number of the featured characters feel like token attempts at multiculturalism – it’s still a lot better than the rote, bone-dry (and often inaccurate) retellings most of us got as kids.

They often seem shoehorned into parts that don’t really make sense, but “Liberty’s Kids” boasts a tremendous celebrity voice cast, including Walter Cronkite (as Benjamin Franklin), Annette Bening, Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, Ben Stiller, Liam Neeson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Norman Schwarzkopf, and – in a performance for the ages – Sylvester Stallone as Paul Revere. None of this will matter to the show’s target audience, but it speaks to the studio’s dedication to the finished product – which is bundled up beautifully by Shout! Factory in this six-DVD set, along with an array of bonus features, including featurettes and a 40-page booklet. None of it will take the place of a well-written textbook and a good teacher, but as a gateway into American history, it works surprisingly well. If you’re looking for a gift you can feel good about for the preteen in your life, you could do worse than this.

Click to buy “Liberty’s Kids: The Complete Series”

TV, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge / The Return of Cooler

November 3, 2008 /

By far two of the best “Dragon Ball Z” movies released, the Cooler-themed double feature is much shorter in comparison to the earlier films, but it’s a vast improvement on a tired formula that felt stale the first time around. The first film, “Cooler’s Revenge,” opens with a prologue that shows how Freiza’s older brother let the escape pod carrying Goku as a child get away unharmed. When he discovers that a Saiyan killed his cocky little brother during his attempted takeover of Namek, however, Cooler heads to Earth with his Armored Squadron to exact revenge. Following Goku’s eventual defeat of Cooler (who’s seemingly burned to a crisp by the Sun), the Z Warriors are contacted by Dende warning of an alien takeover of Namek’s new home planet. When they arrive, a new and improved Metal Cooler is there to welcome them – and this time around, he’s got the help of a rogue computer chip that automatically rebuilds him every time he’s destroyed. Sure, he’s kind of like Cell (who had a similar regenerative power), but anyone who enjoyed the Namek and Freiza sagas (and really, what “DBZ” fan didn’t like them?) will absolutely love both of these films. Short, sweet and loaded with wall-to-wall action, “Cooler’s Revenge” features Piccolo in one of his most badass appearances yet, while Vegeta’s team-up with Goku in “The Return of Cooler” is a welcome surprise.

Click to buy “Dragon Ball Z: Cooler’s Revenge / The Return of Cooler”

External TV, TV, TV Anime, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil

October 29, 2008 /

Lewis Black is a very funny guy, Patton Oswalt has been known to elicit a chortle or two, and Greg Giraldo…well, it really depends on who’s being roasted. Why then is “Root of All Evil” such an embarrassingly unfunny program? The concept of the series revolves around taking two subjects that may be considered social cancers and pitting them against one another in a mock courtroom setting. Black is judge, jury and prosecutor, while a revolving guest cast of two comedians per episode mount the cases for defense. (It goes without saying that anything even remotely resembling a legal reality is left at the door.) Of the eight episodes showcased here, titles include such mind-numbingly stupid topics as “Weed vs. Beer,” “Oprah vs. Catholic Church” and “Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney.” The half hour episodes are sleep-inducing affairs and you’ll be doing well if you mildly chuckle even once an installment. The defense attorneys occasionally present material from outside of the courtroom – these pre-taped bits that appear to at least have had some thought put into them are episode highlights (if one was searching for such bright spots), but the painful courtroom antics that dominate the screen amount to little more than bad improvisation. If this series were to return for a second season, it either needs to seriously rethink its game, or put the show itself on trial in an episode titled “Root of All Evil vs. The Moment of Truth.” Now that might be funny.

Click to buy “Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil”

Humor, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2023 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑