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"NIGHT COURT: THE COMPLETE THIRD SEASON" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) DVD EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on DVD February 23 www.NightCourtDVD.com Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
The zany characters from New York’s municipal court are back for a third season. Judge Harry T. Stone presides over a circus of bizarre characters that come into his courtroom, either to be on trial or to help run the show. We see a new bailiff to replace Selma and a new defense attorney with Markie Post.
WHAT I LIKED
I remember watching this show religiously when I was in high school. It was one of the crazies shows on television. Of course, in retrospect and in the age of the Internet and YouTube, the wackiness of Judge Stone’s courtroom has paled quite a bit.
However, there is a lot of nostalgia to be had in this film. From the references to Mondale losing the election to Harry’s love for Mel Torme, “Night Court” is a series that is steeped in its era. Yet somehow it manages to be a little timeless (except for Markie Post’s hair-do, which screams 1986).
Overall, I enjoyed revisiting the third season of “Night Court.” It was made at a time when sit coms were very different from what they are like now. I’m okay with that, if looking into the past.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
My biggest beef with “Night Court,” even when I watched it on television in the mid-1980s, was that it had a tendency to preach to the audience. I thought Harry Anderson was a real funny guy, but he went serious so fast and so hard in so many episodes that it really bummed me out.
The third season saw the messages in full swing. There was a string of shows which featured a transgender friend of Dan’s, then a little person and later a foster kid that Harry wants to adopt. On the whole, “Night Court” was funny, but it fell apart when it took itself too seriously. I prefer to have a little more comedy in my situation comedies.
DVD FEATURES
There are no special features on this DVD set.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of 80s television sit coms.
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"DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE SPECIALS" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: ****1/2 (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: ****1/2 (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on DVD February 2 www.BBCAmericaShop.com Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
After Christopher Eccleston played the Doctor for a single season, David Tennant came in and became a modern legend in “Doctor Who” history. Well, the Tenth Doctor has left the building, and his exit is chronicles in a series of movie specials from the BBC. What would have been a fifth season of the revived series includes four television specials (one with two parts) and gives a tearful good-bye to David Tennant.
WHAT I LIKED
I remember watching the old “Doctor Who” episodes on PBS when I was a kid. This was back in the day when it was all shot on 3/4” videotape with some of the worst special effects known to man. However, I loved the series, and Tom Baker will always be my favorite Doctor. However, David Tennant ranks as a close second. I really felt he took the series to a whole new level in his short four year as the Doctor.
While I feel just a bit cheated by the BBC dropping a series of TV movies instead of a complete 14-episode season, there is a certain throwback feel to this DVD set. After all, the “Doctor Who” episodes of my childhood were all four- and six-part serials playing week-to-week.
These stand-alone movies allowed the stories to be a little more cinematic and cover greater ground. “The Next Doctor,” which is the annual Christmas episode, is a cute little bait-and-switch for the audience looking to find out more about the new Doctor. It’s the closest we get to the pacing of the regular episodes, and it also gives us a return of the Cybermen.
“Planet of the Dead” and “The Waters of Mars” are both very characteristic of the stories told in the David Tennant years. The Doctor is off to distant worlds (well, as distant as Mars is, in the latter), and he’s facing a very alien threat. While “Planet of the Dead” is pretty creepy and gives us a possible taste of a new companion, it’s “The Waters of Mars” that is probably most chilling for its imagery and how it darkens the Doctor’s character.
“The End of Time” is presented in two parts, treating the audience to not just the return of The Master but also the return of the Time Lords. We learn a little more about the Time War, which we have all been wondering about for years.
The end of the two-part movie offers a sweet retrospective into the David Tennant years, and we get a greater sense of the great Time Lord’s emotional struggles he goes through when he regenerates.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Like I have previously said, my only complaint about this box set is that it is not as full as a regular season. I’d love to see more of David Tennant, and a four-movie finale just seemed a bit short to me.
DVD FEATURES
The box set comes with more than seven hours of special features, much of which is taken up with the “Doctor Who Confidential,” which is a series of hour-long retrospectives of each episode.
There is also a special “Doctor Who at the Proms” which features Freema Agyeman hosting a night of Doctor Who music. There are deleted scenes with Russell T. Davies and a slate of video diaries by David Tennant chronicling his last days on the series.
Additional features include audio commentaries, BBC station identifiers for the “Doctor Who” Christmas specials and a featurette on “Doctor Who” at Comic-Con.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Fans of the Doctor who want to say good-bye to David Tennant.
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"SCOOBY-DOO!: ABRACADABRA DOO" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *1/2 (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on DVD February 16 www.AbracadabraDoo.com Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Scooby and the gang are called off to visit Velma’s sister Madelyn at the Whirlen Magic Academy. There, they uncover a groovy mystery involving a greedy ice-cream mogul and several hauntings by a banshee and a flying dragon. The Mystery Inc. gang must solve the mystery in order to save the school.
WHAT I LIKED
There was a period of time when it seemed that the true heart and soul of Scooby Doo was dead. Then about ten or fifteen years ago, Warner Bros. started making stand-alone movies released direct to video. The many “Scooby Doo” television series have come and gone, some for better (like “What’s New Scooby Doo?”) and some for worse (like “Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!”). However, these direct-to-DVD movies have been pretty faithful to the original concept of the series from back in the 60s.
In this latest DVD movie, we go back to some of the classic trademarks of the series. Fred has his ascot back (and cracks a couple jokes about it in the process), Daphne’s still a klutz and Velma’s as nerdy as ever. Scooby and Shaggy also have long-since thrown their vegetarian ways behind them (thanks to Casey Kasem no longer voicing Shaggy), so we’re not getting preached at in this episode. Incidentally, it was nice to see Matthew Lillard return to his role of Shaggy by voicing the character in this movie.
We’re back to the classic style of the mysteries with better animation than the original series. There’s a mystery that is fully debunked in the show, even though the hauntings seem ultra real. With plenty of winks and nods to the audience, which includes adults who grew up on Scooby-Doo, “Abracadabra Doo” makes for a pleasant viewing with your kids.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
Anything you can complain about in a show like this is easily dismissed with a wave of the hand and a simple, “It’s a Scooby-Doo movie, after all.” But even then, I always marvel at how a scoundrel manages such elaborate effects. These culprits are always hoping to get property or land, but they should move to Hollywood and get a job in special effects... within the “Scooby-Doo” universe of course. I know it’s only a cartoon.
DVD FEATURES
Along with some trailers for other Warner Bros. DVDs, there’s a ten minute video that offers some suggestions on how to make your own scary puppets. It’s a neat craft, and yes, I promised my kids that I would help them make some puppets one of these days.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Kids, and their parents who want a modern take on Scooby-Doo nostalgia.
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"TOM AND JERRY’S GREATEST CHASES: VOL. 4" DVD Review by Kevin Carr MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars) BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: * (out of 5 stars) Not Rated Available on DVD February 16 Official Kids WB site Studio: Warner Bros. Back to DVD Review Home |  |
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Warner Bros. continues its rolling releases of Tom & Jerry cartoons from the 40s and 50s, collected in a single-disc DVD. Another fourteen classic animated favorites are available in this fourth volume for more than an hour and a half of chases and slapstick.
WHAT I LIKED
One of the best things about DVD is that the classic cartoons I enjoyed as a child are readily available to share with my sons. Instead of having to search on Cartoon Network or elsewhere on the cable dial, I can now find these DVD collections and enjoy watching them with the kids. After all, Saturday morning cartoons are dead, and this is even better.
Like the previous installments of “Tom and Jerry’s Greatest Chases,” the cartoons cover a wide time frame, though most of them come from the 50s era when both Tom and Jerry had a smoother design. Various guest stars show up, including the little duckling, Tom’s alley cat pals, many of Tom’s girlfriends and Tuffy the diapered mouse.
Also like previous installments, there’s plenty of chases, though I imagine that any collection of Tom & Jerry cartoons would feature that.
The episodes included on this disc are “The Mouse Comes to Dinner,” “Springtime for Thomas,” “Trap Happy,” “Polka-Dot Puss,” “Saturday Evening Puss,” “Little Quacker,” “Cruise Cat,” “The Missing Mouse,” “Jerry and Jumbo,” “Just Ducky,” “Little School Mouse,’ “Tom and Cherie,” “Muscle Beach Tom” and “Down Beat Bear.”
The running time for this disc is just under 100 minutes, which offers a nice selection of slapstick fun without overstaying its welcome.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE
The only real problem with these single-disc releases is that they are not remastered for home viewing. Scratches, gaffs and other problems in the transfer process are pretty common throughout the cartoons.
DVD FEATURES
There are no additional features to this DVD.
WHO’S GOING TO LIKE THIS MOVIE
Anyone who likes a good cat-and-mouse cartoon.
