These are the highlights of the December 14 releases.
First, the genre releases:
- Buffy
the
Vampire Slayer – The Complete Series: All seven
seasons on 39 disks. - I,
Robot:
“Inspired by” the story by Asimov, as opposed to
“based on,” or
“bearing any relation to.” - Lost
in Space
– Seasons One and Two: Released just after the
announcement of
season three. - Mary
Poppins: Now this is family
entertainment. - Quantum
Leap –
The Complete Second Season: Sam and Al are at it
again. - Star
Trek: The
Original Series – Complete Third Season: This
finishes off the
series, which is now available in a convenient three
pack. - The
X-Files –
Complete Series: This is a collection of all nine
seasons, just in
case you want them all but missed them.
Now, the non-genre releases:
- Collateral:
Tom
Cruise makes a remarkably good villain. - Family
Guy –
The Freakin’ Sweet Collection: This includes Seth
MacFalane’s
favourite episodes. - Top
Gun –
Special Edition: This is a two disk release.
Finally, it’s time for the pick of the week, and my
selection shouldn’t surprise anyone.
of the Rings –
Return of the King: Special Extended Edition.
This is finally
out. Those of you who have been waiting for all
three to be available
should be aware of this.
Mary Poppins? Mary Poppins!
This is one of the few musicals I’m able to sit through repeated viewings of, which has caused me to memorize the songs (the others being The Wizard of Oz and anything Monty Python), but I think I want it just for the commentary tracks: “Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews having a jolly time” sounds like fun.
Has anyone ever read the original books? I’ve heard they’re a lot different in tone than the Disney version (which is unsurprising given the amount of butchering Disney has done to what we refer to as ‘Children’s Literature’) but I am curious as to how different it actually is.
I, Robot
I, Robot is a good, enjoyable movie, just don’t go looking for a masterpiece. It got a bad rap for not being perfectly based on the novels, but it is a good movie. If nothing else I recommend renting it.
Damien
Re: I, Robot
“Not perfectly based on the novels”?
The novels where EVERYONE ON EARTH (except those working on robots) distrusts robots? You mean that the film where Will Smith is THE ONLY MAN ON EARTH who distrust robots is not perfectly based on the book who’s name it misuses?
You have a talent for understatments ; )
Personally, I’m refusing to give them my money for having used a famous name to hype their film. They used a dead man’s name to promote something that is the antithesis of his work: That is not right.
My disgust and hatred isn’t because it’s not “perfectly” based on the novels, it’s because it is NOT based on the novels. They just bought the rights to what they saw only as highly recognisable brand names, and tagged those on the movie “hardwired”, which is the kind of story Asimov speficically did not write (trusted robots go nuts and start killing their masters). I’m sure I would have loved to see Harwired and be entertained by the rampaging hordes of killbots and their inevitable defeat at the hand of the Fresh Prince, but for their disgusting corpse-raping, they lost my handfull of dollars. I’ll see it when I get a chance to without paying for it (I hear Alan Tudyk did a great job playing Sonny).
Boy, I sure am negative these days… I blame Fox : )
P.S. I just went over to IMDB to check out the background of the people involved. It was written by Jeff Vintar (screen story and screenplay) and Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Goldsman wrote the 2 bad Batman and Vintar wrote the Final Fantasy movie (which was beautifull, but had no story). I’m starting to question the fact that I would have enjoyed Hardwired now…