Television - DVD

Forever Knight - The Trilogy, Part 2 (1994 - 1995)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Columbia TriStar surprised a lot of Forever Knight fans by releasing the second season of the cult supernatural series on DVD, despite underwhelming sales of the first-season set; what's even more exciting about this six-disc box for longtime followers are its supplemental features, which include commentary by star Geraint Wyn Davies and series co-creator James Parriott. Overall, the second season is marked by change, both in front of and behind the camera: vampire detective Nick Knight's former master and nemesis, LaCroix (Nigel Bennett), takes a more active role in the series, and offers a direct threat to Nick's desire to become mortal again, while Nick's lengthy past is explored more deeply in flashbacks. Gary Farmer's Captain Stonetree is gone, having been replaced by Natsuko Ohama as Captain Cohen--however, she too would leave the show by season's end, as would Gary Kapelos (Nick's partner, Schanke), and Deborah Duchene (Janette Ducharme).

What didn't deviate from the first season was the abundance of exciting and imaginative stories--highlights from season 2 include "Stranger Than Fiction," in which Nick falls for an Ann Rice-like writer; "Father's Day," which partners LaCroix with the Mob; the return of Jack the Ripper in "Bad Blood"; and "Baby Baby," one of two second-season episodes directed (quite well) by Wyn Davies. Extras include Wyn Davies and Parriott providing commentary for two episodes ("Blood Money" and "Killer Instinct"), while Nigel Bennett goes it alone for a pair ("A More Permanent Hell" and "Curiouser and Curiouser"). Parriott and Wyn Davies also appear in a 20-minute featurette (titled, appropriately enough, "About the Show"), and a brief segment in which they answer questions posited by series devotees. In short, season 2 has plenty for FK aficionados to (ahem) sink their teeth into. --Paul Gaita

Angel - Season Two (Slim Set)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 128 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The second season of Angel saw the cult vampire show finally stand on its own from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, assembling all the members of the show's core cast, transferring the action to a fashionably run-down L.A. hotel, and bringing in a few Buffy characters from Angel's history to further establish the moody vampire's own mythology. Moving their Angel Investigations to posher digs, Angel (David Boreanaz), Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) were soon joined by street fighter (J. August Richards)--and by street fighter, of course we mean demon street fighter. But just as this group was solidifying, up popped Angel's old love, Darla (the fantastic Julie Benz), freshly arrived in L.A. from a hell dimension… just in time to be turned into a vampire again by her old cohort, Drusilla (Juliet Landau), and lure Angel into abandoning his newly formed team. It was the best and worst of times for Angel in its second year, for while the basis was being set for the show's stellar third and fourth seasons, dramatic tension was diluted by Angel's going solo and the necessary (but plot-debilitating) flashbacks to various points in Angel's history. However, just when it seemed everything was about to fly out the window, Angel's creative team threw its characters for a loop--literally--by transporting them to the demon dimension of Pylea, a medieval-style fantasyland populated by monsters and humans alike. It shouldn't have worked, as hokey as it was... but it did, thanks to crack storytelling, sharp dialogue, and the sheer joy the actors unleashed, especially the gifted and fiendishly funny Carpenter. The second half of the season also saw the addition of two of Angel's best characters: the horned Lorne (Andy Hallett), a green demon with a penchant for karaoke, and Fred (Amy Acker), a physicist trapped in Pylea who helped the gang engineer their escape. With these two in tow, Angel began to soar. --Mark Englehart

The Twilight Zone: Vol. 1

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Twilight Zone was one of those programs that people talked about fpr days at the office. It was a show I never missed, and now I can see them all again. I was afraid they wouldn't hold up well, that my recollection of them was about to be destroyed. But, no.

Art Carney is excellent as a besotted and disillusioned Santa. The theme is a little preachy and the snow looks more like soap flakes than winter precipitation. This is probably the least of the 3 episodes on the disk, but it's still pretty good. Art Carney's performance alone is worthwhile.

Agnes Moorhead is the only real character in the second episode, a lonely woman in a remote farmhouse. A spaceship crashes into her attic and she has to fight the tiny aliens with the primitive weapons at hand. The spacemen shoot her and raise blisters on her skin. She doesn't have a single word of dialogue, just moans and grunts, and it doesn't matter. This is a real classic, one that never left my mind in almost fifty years.

In the third episode, a boyish Robert Redford plays a wounded cop who falls at the doorway of a condemned building. The only occupant is an old woman who is afraid of letting Death in and suspects the wounded cop of being Death. The story is not one of the best of the series, but it is better than some.

TV never got better than Rod Serling's Twilight Zone. What more can one say?

Editorial Review:

Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 04/03/2001 Rating: Nr

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 183 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

so-so 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've always enjoyed vampire movies and as a kid this one was my favorite. Though its cheesy, i still like it.

Slay Me 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Really... what can you say about this movie? It is cheesy, not well acted, and not well scripted... but indeed, it is a load of fangs and fun (be sure to notice Ben Affleck's small part on the basketball court).

Cheesy, comedic fun. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great movie for the lighthearted, cheesy, comedic angle. I prefer this type of thing to the TV series, which takes itself WAY to seriously. This movie is a great lighthearted laugh or two.

A little Cheesy, but still a fun movie 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

If you're a fan of the tv show, you might be really disappointed in this one if you're looking for more of the same thing. The tone, pacing, and overall feel are very different.

The original movie is much more of a comedy and a bit of a silly one at that. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's much more for a fan of fun 80s movies thatn for the BTVS series. Some of the lines are very cheesy and haven't aged well, but the fun of the movie is still there. It's entertaining and can keep you in good spirits for nearly 2 hours.

Fun for fans of light comedy, not for the horror fanatic or diehard BTVS fan.

Editorial Review:

A popular cheerleaders life becomes a total drag when its revealed that she is the worlds only hope against a vampire invasion. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/11/2007 Starring: Kristy Swanson Donald Sutherland Run time: 86 minutes Rating: Pg13

Angel - Season Five (Slim Set)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 173 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Awesome! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

*SPOILERS BELOW*

And here I thought Angel had gotten as good as it can get! But no, I was gladly proven wrong. Season 5 was amazing. The addition of Spike to the cast was a brilliant move and I just wish he played a bigger role. (Also, still waiting to find out if he got Shanshu or not!) Smile Time was the best episode of the entire series, IMO, funniest, sweetest, most perfect thing ever. [Course, then we all had to get our hearts broken by the next episode...] I really need to get the comic continuation, cause I'm dying to find out what happens next!

positive 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This item came quickly and in good shape. It wasn't the actual "slim set" that I thought it was.

If you're a Buffy fan, don't bother (in my opinion) 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am a huge fan of the Buffy series. I started watching Angel only because I knew the two shows were linked. I can't believe how they ended this show though. My entire purpose for watching was the thought that it would end with Buffy and Angel being together (or even Buffy and Spike... kill Angel off for all I care... once he got his own show, he wasn't the same Angel from the Buffy series. They ruined that too). I don't see why they even brought up the point of Angel having the possibility of getting his soul back, just to throw it away at the end. I think it's unfair to fans who stuck with the show (which for the most part, in my opinion, was really crappy compared to Buffy) till the end. To kill off everyone at the end? I mean... seriously?! I feel this entire series was a waste of my money. Angel and CORDELIA?! Her, of all people? Give me a break. The only good thing about the show was the characters that came from Buffy (Spike, Willow, Drusilla, Wes, etc.).... and Fred. But they killed her too. I don't see how any fan of Buffy could possibly enjoy this show at all.

Editorial Review:

In the final season Angel has finally emerged from 200 years of darkness but the fine line between good and evil is harder to see than ever! System Requirements:Running Time: 990 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543233510 Manufacturer No: 2233351

The X-Files (aka Fight the Future)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 424 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The definitive American television series of the '90s comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realized in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy--basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonize Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. --David Chute

The Twilight Zone - Season 2 (The Definitive Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Twilight Zone season 2 - DVD quality lacking 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have found for whatever reason, the quality of the DVDs for this season are not as good as the other seasons. I have all 5 seasons on DVD, and only season 2 seems to have jumping horizontal lines and occasional wash out of picture in at least 4-5 different episodes. This is peculiar since I also have all episodes on VHS tape as well, and NO episodes have this tracking issue on VHS. I bought the DVDs in hope of replacing the VHS copies, but the VHS copies of season 2 are visibly much better quality than the DVD. It seems in the transference of the episodes for this season onto DVD was poorly done. I have noted this on not one, not two, but three different versions of the season 2 collection. They all seem to happen in the same episodes as well. One episode in particular that I have found one of the worst is "The Lateness of the Hour", which incidently happens to be one of my favorite episodes. It also doesn't seem to be isolated to one disk, I have witnessed it on at least one episode on each disk. Has anyone else come across this in season 2? I'm wondering if all season 2 collections are hosed or if I have come across a streak of bad copies.

Editorial Review:

The Complete Second Season of Rod Serling's Classic, Groundbreaking Series Exploring the Fantastic and the Frightening. Spectacular New Digital Restorations Featuring Unsurpassed Video and Audio Clarity! All 29 Episodes of the second season: ·King Nine Will Not Return ·The Man in the Bottle ·Nervous Man in a Four-Dollar Room ·A Thing About Machines ·The Howling Man ·Eye of the Beholder ·Nick of Time ·The Lateness of the Hour ·The Trouble with Templeton ·A Most Unusual Camera ·The Night of the Meek ·Dust ·Back There ·The Whole Truth ·The Invaders ·A Penny for Your Thoughts ·Twenty-Two ·The Odyssey of Flight 33 ·Mr. Dingle, the Strong ·Static ·The Prime Mover ·Long Distance Call ·A Hundred Yards Over the Rim ·The Rip Van Winkle Caper ·The Silence ·Shadow Play ·The Mind and the Matter ·Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up? ·The Obsolete Man

Twin Peaks - The Second Season

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 116 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Don't search for all the answers at once," says a giant appearing to FBI Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in a vision. "A path is formed by laying one stone at a time." In Twin Peaks, that's easier said than done. Over the course of two seasons, that path went nowhere and everywhere. "Bureau guidelines, deductive technique, Tibetan method, and luck" don't cut it here. It also takes a little magic, which is what makes David Lynch and Mark Frost's bracingly original serial drama one of TV's ultimate trips, and still the stuff that fever dreams are made of. With the DVD release of season 2, die-hard Peakers can rekindle their obsession with this macabre, maddening, sinister, and surreal series set in the rural Pacific Northwest community whose bucolic surroundings hide "things dark and heinous." (If you're new to Twin Peaks, best to get the lay of the land by watching the brilliant feature-length pilot and the instant-cult-classic first season, which capture Twin at its peak. Neither is widely available on DVD, however.) Three main mysteries drive season 2. First, there's the still (!) unresolved murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Then, there's the question of who shot Cooper in the season 1 cliffhanger. And finally, ultimately: What about Bob? With its dream logic, bizarre behavior, and nightmare imagery, much of what transpires goes right by you. Some subplots (Sherilyn Fenn's sexpot Audrey held captive at the bordello, One-Eyed Jacks) are easier to latch on to than others (amnesiac Nadine believes she's an 18-year-old high schooler) And, yes, that's a pre-X-Files David Duchovny as Dennis/Denice, a transsexual DEA agent.

In Twin Peaks' second season, the truth is out there, but we are entering A Few Good Men territory. When Laura's killer is at last revealed in episode 16, no doubt many will not be able to handle the truth. The teases, red herrings, and out-and-out gonzo looniness will try the patience of viewers with a more conventional bent. But, as Cooper observes at one point, "All in all, [it's] a very interesting experience," with enough doppelgangers, allusions, pop-culture references, and in-jokes to keep bloggers buzzing. If, for example, you get any pleasure from recognizing Hank Worden, who played Mose in The Searchers, as "the world's most decrepit room service waiter," then Twin Peaks may just make you feel right at home. --Donald Liebenson

Beyond Twin Peaks

Essential DVDs by Director David Lynch

The Soundtrack

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

Stills from Twin Peaks: The Second Season (click for larger image)

The X-Files - Fight the Future (Widescreen Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 424 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The definitive American television series of the '90s comes to the big screen with an anticlimactic whimper. And how could it be otherwise? Why should material so perfectly realized in one medium necessarily translate well into another? The series is crisply and thoughtfully executed in just about every detail, but the heart of its appeal lies in the elegant handling of complicated and evolving ongoing story lines, which is not something movies are especially good at. The big-screen drive for closure cramps the creative style, though it may also help nonfans get a grip on the proceedings. We do get some invigorating thrills and chills, however, and a more satisfying sense of the scale of an all-enveloping human-alien conspiracy than ever before, but there's no more plot development here than in an average two-part season-ending. FBI black sheep Mulder and Scully have been temporarily transferred from the X-Files project to an anti-terrorist unit to investigate an Oklahoma City-style bombing. They uncover a new wrinkle in the Syndicate/Cancer Man conspiracy--basically an attempt to help one bunch of (benign?) aliens fight off another bunch who want to colonize Earth. A spectacular, ice-bound finale thrillingly staged by series-veteran director Rob Bowman offers Mulder (but not a conveniently unconscious Scully) his first clear look at a You Know What, which in some quarters qualifies as an epochal event. Martin Landau offers the agents some crucial clues, and several familiar TV faces (including the Lone Gunmen and Mitch Pileggi's indispensable Assistant Director Skinner) turn up briefly to wink knowingly at faithful fans. --David Chute

Angel - Season Three (Slim Set)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 112 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the third season of Angel, the titular vampire with a soul was forced to stand alone thanks to the (temporary) death of his beloved Buffy and her show's move to a new network, with no crossover between the two allowed. He returns from seeking peace in a demon-haunted monastery to find the L.A. Angel Investigations team fighting supernatural crime in his absence. Fred is still haunted by the nightmare dimension from which they rescued her; Cordelia's visions get ever more painful and debilitating. The schemes of the evil law firm Wolfram and Hart become every more imaginative and dragon lady Lilah Morgan becomes even more of an enemy when lusting after Angel. Unbelievably, Darla, Angel's vampire sire and lover, turns up, pregnant with his child and is tortured by inexplicable motherly feelings as well as a raging thirst for human blood.

For a few episodes things go pretty well--but Angel's enemies, both those he has made in his quest for redemption and those he made when he was unadulterated evil, are still out there. Stephanie Romanov comes into her silky own in this series, making Lilah Morgan all the more seductively evil because she is clear about the choices she has made; the satanic law firm of Wolfram and Hart are this show's most inspired creation. As the season moves to its close, Wesley (Alexis Denisof) has hard choices to make. The devastating climax is compulsive viewing, and this season also contains one of the most impressive single episodes of the entire show: in "Waiting in the Wings," writer, director and creator Joss Whedon comes up with a classic ghost story as Angel and his crew go to the ballet and find a performance that is literally timeless. --Roz Kaveney