M - DVD

Midsomer Murders Set 9

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

As seen on A&E and The Biography Channel

WHAT EVIL LURKS BEYOND THE WELL-TRIMMED HEDGES OF MIDSOMER . . .

The cozy villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in these contemporary British television mysteries. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, modern master of the English village mystery, the series stars John Nettles (Bergerac) as the unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby with John Hopkins (Love in a Cold Climate) as his brash young assistant, Sergeant Dan Scott. Guest stars include Garry Cooper, Diana Quick, Harriet Walter, and Caroline Blakiston.

THE MYSTERIES
Things That Go Bump in the Night -- A series of grisly murders rocks the village of Fletcher's Cross and a group of controversial spiritualists fall under suspicion.
Dead in the Water -- Barnaby and Scott immerse themselves in the luxurious world of rowing after a murder mars the annual Midsomer Regatta.
Orchis Fatalis -- In the orchid-mad village of Midsomer Malham, Barnaby and Scott must discover who would kill to own an extremely rare specimen.
Bantling Boy -- Why did the owner of Bantling Hall bequeath his champion thoroughbred to four Midsomer villagers? The only person who knows doesn't live to tell the tale.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE Caroline Graham biography and cast filmographies.

The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection - Volume 10.2 (Giant Gila Monster / Swamp Diamonds / Teenage Strangler / Giant Spider Invasion)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

"I sing whenever I sing whenever I sing..." 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Opening Credits (beginning remarks):

Didn't we just go through this?

The first version of Rhino's Volume 10 of their MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 box sets included a copy of GOZILLA VS. MEGALON. Unfortunately, it didn't appear that they had the legal right to distribute it, and the discs quickly were recalled from store shelves. Only we few who were quick enough on hitting the pre-order button we able to snag a copy before the lawyers descended.

However, Rhino decided to take pity on the MST3k fans. As their last act before letting the rights to MST3k itself go over to "Shout! Factory", they re-released Volume 10 -- this time as Volume 10.2 -- with THE GIANT GILA MONSTER in place of the giant Japanese monster.

As an extra bonus, included on the GILA MONSTER disc is a brand new sketch featuring Trace Beaulieu (as Dr. Clayton Forrester and Crow T. Robot), Frank Conniff (as TV's Frank and Tom Servo) and Joel Hodgson (as Joel). They describe the "real" reason as to why the DVD sets had to be recalled and demonstrate how exactly one should upgrade their Volume 10 package to 10.2. As sad as I am, I was not only delighted to see the crew back in costume (albeit looking a tad older), I also noticed the glaring continuity error. (I should repeat to myself, "It's just a DVD extra; I should really just relax.")


THE GIANT GILA MONSTER

From the title, one might expect this to be a typical rip-off of a Japanese giant monster movie. In actuality, the eponymous monster gets relatively little screen time. Most of the story is about a teenaged tow truck driver who by the end of the movie is looking to improve his singing career. That's right, THE GIANT GILA MONSTER is a musical.

This is a very silly movie which takes itself a little too seriously. A normal sized gila lizard on a series of models to make it look like a monster; a lead character who's a teen heartthrob trying to break into the rock'n'roll industry; a know-it-all parent who finally learns his lesson: this would be a cult film even without the MST3k treatment. Although I didn't find the movie riffing to be among the MST3k gang's finest (mediocre MST3k is still better than most TV), the whole package is a lot of fun.


SWAMP DIAMONDS

When the plot summary contains a gang of jail-breaking female bandits on the run from the cops and attempting to find diamonds they buried before their previous arrest, "boring" should not be the adjective one would use to describe the final product. And, yet, there is no way around using that descriptor here.

The film stars Mike Connors (a.k.a. Mannix), credited here as Touch Connors. A police woman infiltrates a gang of three woman, along the way capturing and falling for Connors' character. This is a typical Roger Corman piece of fluff, but fortunately -- once again -- Joel and the bots keep us from falling asleep.


TEEN-AGE STRANGLER

If TEEN-AGE STRANGLER had been made in the 1970s or 80s, then it would have been what we now call a teen slasher movie. However, this was made in the relatively more restrained 1960s, and therefore is only a teen strangler movie.

The plot of the film is almost exactly what the title suggests. A suburban high school is being terrorized by a criminal who goes around at night strangling the local teenagers. As the cast is made up mostly of teenagers, the quality of the acting is really all over the place which gives the MST folks lots to mock (their send up of the nerdy Mikey character is hilarious).


THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION

I hadn't seen this episode since back when it had aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, so I was really looking forward to it. As you can guess this one involves a giant spider from outer space terrorizing rural Wisconsin in the 1970s. The casting director must have been calling up people completely at random; I can see no other way in which they got both Barbara Hale and Alan "The Skipper" Hale in the same movie. The Wisconsin setting gives the gang a lot of fodder for jokes (remember that Mike Nelson and a few of the writing staff had once lived in Wisconsin). The repeated references to the Green Bay Packers team and players never failed to crack me up.


Love Theme (conclusion):

It's good to see that Rhino was able to correct their mistake and get the three episodes from Volume 10 (and the new offering) back out into circulation. This is one of the stronger sets from Rhino with each of the four standing up well to multiple repeated viewings (especially, for me, THE GIANT SPIDER INVASION). Let's hope Shout! Factory will give us something equally fun for their first release.

Editorial Review:

Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 02/05/2008

Mad About You - The Complete Second Season

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Timeless Family Entertainment 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

"Mad About You" dvd's will brighten anyone's day. It was a wonderful series with many memorable characters and one very dumb, but loveable, dog. The dvd quality is excellent. Watch an entire season without commericals or interruption.

Mad About Great TV! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I just finished watching the second season of Mad About You and I'm ready to buy the third season. You cannot really beat great television like this. Between the episode where they break John Lennon's piano bench and the episode where they misplace a homemade naughty video tape, you will find yourself laughing outloud.

I wish these guys were my neighbors. But I'll settle with them on dvd. I need seasons 4-7!

Editorial Review:

Greenwich Village newlyweds Jamie and Paul Buchman (Academy Award winner Helen Hunt [Best Actress, As Good As It Gets, 1998] and Paul Reiser) reach new heights of hilarity and neurosis in the second season of this Emmy Award-winning comedy series. With lovable characters in both achingly real and hilariously unreal situations, this smartly written sitcom showcases a Manhattan couple trying their hardest to keep love alive in the midst of all the mad, mad, mad, mad, madness that modern marriage can bring!

Macgyver - The Complete Fourth Season

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Macgyver - two seasons 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the Macgyver DVDS. More programs need to be of this caliber.

Macgyver-just as interesting now as it was when it first aired 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Macgyver ages well, it is still interesting and still amazing how he can take a piece of chewing gum, a penny, and a little bit clay and make something explode. There is a little profanity, but only a word or two in each show.

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

Slowly, but surely, we will have all 7 seasons of the MacGyver series! My sons and I truly enjoy watching MacGyver, well, "MacGyver It!" It is somewhat educational in that my boys question whether or not 'it can be done'; then they study/research the topic until they're satisfied. The T.V. show Mythbusters has made it even more fun during episodes proving/disproving MacGyver actions. We are super Richard Dean Anderson fans as well.

Macgyver - The Complete Fourth Season 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A must have for any MacGyver fan! He might be older, but he still knows how to get out of any tough situation. The set came quickly and was in great condition (no flaws in packaging or disks). It played perfectly and has been fun to watch!

Editorial Review:

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 05/01/2007

The Mod Squad - The Second Season, Vol. 1

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Don't trust Paramount/CBS! 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This set hasn't hit the streets yet but some people are giving it five-star reviews. Whenever you see something being released by CBS/Paramount, a red flag should immediately be raised because you don't know what you're getting.

The company has destroyed recent DVD releases of "The Fugitive" and "The Odd Couple" by removing all the original music from the episodes.

Who knows how the upcoming release of "The Mod Squad" will be altered? Wait before you buy. DO NOT pre-order anything from this company until you are sure you'll be getting what you expect.

As for me and others, we've banned buying any products from CBS/Paramount until the situation regarding "The Fugitive" is rectified.

Landmark Crime Drama Began The Spelling Empire 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 8 people found this review helpful.

The Mod Squad is a seminal television show for several reasons. One is that it was so clearly a product of its times - from the clothes, hairdos, to its rebellious, revolutionary, hippie sensibilities.

The second reason is that The Mod Squad was the beginning of the legendary producing legacy of Aaron Spelling, and his many years of providing viewer-friendly programs to both ABC and Fox. Although he had worked as an actor and writer, and had already produced Johnny Ringo and Burke's Law, The Mod Squad began an incredible and unprecedented almost forty year run of producing television shows that captured fans with either high-octane action sequences, or opulent comedies or soap-operatic dramas. The partial list includes The Rookies, SWAT, Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch, Vegas, Hotel, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Dynasty, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, and Charmed.

But still at the heart of this show was the rapport and relationship between the three street kids who were rounded up and rehabilitated into undercover cops - rich kid Pete Cochran (Michael Cole), runaway Julie Barnes (Peggy Lipton), and taciturn revolutionary Lincoln Hayes (Clarence Williams III. Pete, Julie, and Linc had immediate street cred with the mostly young felons they ran across, and even though it could be testy or frosty, their relationship with their mentor and rehabilitator, Captain Adam Greer (played by Tige Andrews)was solid, and they grew to have much mutual love and respect and affection.

The shows could stretch credulity almost to the breaking point, but the shows dealt with relevant issues, were very entertaining, and well written and well acted.

It is a great treat to watch these episodes again, and we can look forward to the release of the other episodes with great anticipation.

Editorial Review:

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 11/25/2008

Midsomer Murders - Set One

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Midsomer Murders Set One 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Set one-nine are excellent for mystery fans. High quality production, good story lines, characters are much less dark than previous British Mystery series, and since BBCA doesn't always run the full episodes aired in GB, and often skips episodes, we were quite pleased the note several we had not seen.

British Mysteries, like those on PBS are not often rerun here so I snap them up as soon as they become available. BBCA's prices are significantly higher so I love that I can buy them on Amazon.

Exceptional Series 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I've seen about twenty of the Midsomer Murders and they are uniformly excellent. They represent a nice blurring of subgenres. At first they appear to be classic English mysteries, i.e. cozies--with the shrewd detective, the loyal assistant and a collection of village types (as we move from village to village within the county). The difference is that the stories are far more realistic and far more bloody. The characters are less quaint and chummy than those in cozies and far closer to the denizens of the world of crime fiction. The settings are beautiful, of course, though there is darkness and rain echoing the violence of the stories. The result is something for everyone--the lover of cozies, the lover of crime and detection and the lover of the English countryside. The continuing characters are attractive and engaging and each supporting cast usually includes one or two mainstays of the English theatrical community. The series is very entertaining, very thoughtful and characterized by strong production values. Go for it.

Editorial Review:

Studio: Acorn Media Release Date: 05/13/2003

Macgyver - The Complete Series

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Poorly Done MacGyver DVDs 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The first thing is they did not need to make another MacGyver DVD set when they already have made the seven seasons. All they had to do is add the two movies in with the last season and that would have completed the set, but no they wanted to waste money by making a very sloppy job on this set with a cheap box and almost all of the CDs are scratched up and smeared with glue. It was not a bad set, because I had bought two box sets from two different places and both of them were the same way with scratches and glue on almost all of the CDs. I only kept the best one because I wanted the two movies and the rest is trash!

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

MACGYVER IS A FAMILY FRIENDLY AND WHOLESOME SERIES. DOES NOT PROMOTE VIOLENCE. IT IS HUMOROUS. THE MAJORITY OF THE STUNTS MACGYVER USES TO ESCAPE PREDICAMENTS ARE INCREDULOUS BUT ENTERTAINING ANYWAY. GREAT FOR FAMILIES WHO CARE ABOUT WHAT THEY WATCH ON TV.

Editorial Review:

MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is a contemporary hero and role model who applies his scientific knowledge to ordinary items to create for himself and others a means of escape from impending doom.

M*A*S*H - Season One (Collector's Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 202 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

War is Hell but MASH is Comedy Heaven 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

'MASH' is one of the finest American TV series ever to come out of the old network system. As practically everyone who searches Amazon for information on this great show will have undoubtably already read the excellent highlighted reviews, I'd like to add my case for starting your 'MASH' collection with this particular DVD set.

First, as this was the first season, the show has yet to fully evolve into what we all remember it as from syndication. There's an endless parade of cute young nurses, and multiple characters from the film appear here and nowhere else in the series. Also, much of the comedy leans toward what other military-based sitcoms had already done. Thus, certain things happen in this DVD set that we don't usually associate with MASH. I don't regard this as a debit as it keeps this particular box set from being predictable.

Second, continuing with the shock of surprise comes the revelation that the producers seldom insisted on period accuracy. The aforementioned nurses, for example, wear 'mod' hairstyles and Radar O'Reilly reads comic books that weren't published until the 1960s long after the Korean War was over. The nonconformist attitudes of many of the doctors is definitely not what one would have expected in the 1950s and neither are most of their haircuts. Back in the early 1970s, this might have been seen as a flaw. Today, it helps to remove the 'period piece' stigma that so many other early 1970s sitcoms suffer from. Coupled with the use of film stock rather than videotape and this is certainly one of the freshest-looking TV comedies over 30 years old.

Third, there's the opportunity to appreciate actors portray characters who either were not there for the full run of the series or who evolved into something very different. McLean Stevenson's Colonel Blake may never win awards as a model of military efficiency, but I sure would love to have someone that easygoing as my boss! Wayne Rogers' approach to Trapper John make him seem like Dean Martin to Alan Alda's Jerry Lewis-like Hawkeye Pierce. Gary Burghoff's early version of Radar O'Reilly is a very sly, shifty, deceptively dimwitted corporal who is far removed from the lovable innocent we all remember. And was there ever an actor better capable of playing a pompous twit than Larry Linville as Frank Burns? Linville also shows incredible ability as a straight man to both Rogers' and Alda's antics; the same jokes would likely fall flat without a steady straight man as a target.

On the downside there are no extras. We do get the chance to turn off the laughtrack, which makes the TV show seem even more cinematic than before. But there are no cast interviews (not even contemporary talk show interviews), no still galleries, no commentary tracks. We do get a mostly noninformative booklet with some tiny photos and a track listing, along with original airdates. I didn't feel cheated by this, as the price of the set makes it very affordable, but I do think it's a missed opportunity.

In sum, I was very impressed with how fresh 'MASH' is, and how nearly impossible it is to 'date' the series. The first season may not be as 'good' as the later ones, but to me the differences are so slight that this DVD set easily deserves 5 stars. I strongly suggest you start with this set and then work your way through the others in sequence.

Editorial Review:

Korea, 1950. They were a MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit stationed three miles from the front. Incoming helicopters full of wounded brought the horrors of war to them daily and sometimes bullets flew right outside the operating room door. Occasional hilarity and constant hijinks were all that kept them sane.

Loosely based on real-life MASH unit 8055, life at the 4077 revolved around the day-to-day routines of Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce, Captain "Trapper" McIntyre, Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake, Major Margaret Houlihan, Major Franklin Burns and Corporal "Radar" O’Reilly. Through these characters, viewers traveled beyond the long hours and the horrors of the operating room to a place where friendships were forged, laughter was found and drinks were served.

Midsomer Murders - Set Six

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The cozy villages of Midsomer County reveal their most sinister secrets in these contemporary British television mysteries. Inspired by the novels of Caroline Graham, modern master of the English village mystery, the series stars John Nettles (Bergerac) as the unflappable Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby with Daniel Casey (The Wingless Bird) as his eager young assistant. Guest stars include Honor Blackman, Susan Wooldridge, Isla Blair, Christopher Good, Phoebe Nicholls, Trevor Cooper, and Neville Phillips.

The Mysteries:
A Talent For Life—Sordid affairs and financial secrets boil silently beneath the surface in the village of Malham Bridge until a double murder stirs the waters.
Death and Dreams—Investigating a string of deaths in Midsomer Worthy, Barnaby follows a trail of strange clues, nearly to his own demise.
Painted in Blood—When Joyce Barnaby finds a fellow painter from her Midsomer Florey watercolor class stabbed to death, two National Intelligence Squad agents take over the case.
A Tale of Two Hamlets—Someone is decimating the ancient Smyth-Webster family, and the bad blood between the villages of Upper and Lower Warden is renewed with a vengeance.
Birds of Prey—Investment in a secret invention leads to an apparent suicide in Midsomer Magna, and a plan to steal valuable falcon eggs leads to another death. Can Barnaby and Troy find the link?

M*A*S*H - Season Ten (Collector's Edition)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

MrB 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

How can anyone not like MASH?? Much better than earlier seasons with Frank Burns.

timeless 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

MASH is one of those shows thats funny even if you were not yet born when the show was on the air. its just plain funny, even the more serious episodes when the show was in its later years were funny in their own way, MASH will never die.

Editorial Review:

Relive your favorite M*A*S*H moments with this three-disc DVD Collector's Edition containing all 21 classic Season Ten episodes!They were the 4077 MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) unit stationed three miles from the front during the Korean War. As the war drags on it begins to take a toll on the docs and nurses who day after day fight to save the incoming wounded helicoptered in directly from the front lines. But as much as the gang of the 4077 cared for the wounded soldiers they also cared about each other. And that camaraderie coupled with a liberal dose of hijinks and hilarity served to make their tour of duty in Korea an experience none of them would ever forget.System Requirements:Running Time: 561 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 024543241409 Manufacturer No: 2234140