Charmed - The Complete Third Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from WB Television Network, The
Charmed: The Complete Third Season is a little different from its previous seasons in that the long-running series, for the first time, is dominated by a single story arc that affects nearly every episode. Actor Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck, Fantastic Four) joins the Charmed cast as Assistant District Attorney Cole Turner, who enters the show when he unsuccessfully prosecutes a demon-possessed killer who attacks the Halliwell sisters' police ally, Inspector Morris (Dorian Gregory). In short order, Cole becomes romantically involved with Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), but it's soon revealed that he's actually a demon, part of an unholy plot to destroy the Charmed Ones, i.e. the Halliwell sisters.
Trouble is, Cole's human incarnation begins to battle with his demon self, and the rest of the season is really dedicated to the ramifications of his ambivalence. Even old issues on Charmed, such as the forbidden love of Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Leo (Brian Krause), an angelic Whitelighter, become secondary to the Cole-Phoebe story. (The latter becomes supernatural when Phoebe's misery over Cole turns her into a shrieking Banshee and the pair meet up in the hellish Dark Side.) Season highlights include "Primrose Empath," in which Shannen Doherty gives a superb performance when her character, Prue Halliwell, takes on the powers of an empath and is soon overwhelmed by the emotional pain carried by scores of others. "Sleuthing with the Enemy" finds Prue and Piper, in the first of several such stories, working at opposite purposes from Phoebe, who is intent on saving Cole from capture or destruction. The clever and comic "Look Who's Barking" concerns a spell that turns Prue into a Banshee-tracking dog who gets hit by a car and briefly becomes the pet of a handsome, single man. Season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose" may be the best Charmed episode in its first three years, a scary and apocalyptic tale in which the powers of the Halliwell sisters, long kept secret, are revealed to an insatiable news media, the police and military, and dangerous crazies. Not to be missed. --Tom Keogh
Protecting the innocent vanquishing evil and evil doers and generally righting wrongs are not exactly on the agenda of every twenty-something on the fast track to discovering what life's all about. But for the Halliwell sisters this has become their destiny. Prue the oldest is driven to succeed and dislikes the free-spirited antics of the youngest sister Phoebe. Piper the earthy middle sister mediates between her siblings. Phoebe discovers The Book of Shadows in the attic and their witchly powers are activated igniting a bond that reaches beyond petty sisterly grudges. Prue has the power to move objects Piper to freeze time and Phoebe to see the future. The sisters must band together to protect themselves and the world from the dark demonic forces that seek to destroy them. It's an existence fraught with excitement and danger but these three unique sisters wouldn't trade their "charmed" lives for anything!System Requirements:Running Time 952 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360272949 Manufacturer No: 027294
Charmed - The Complete Fourth Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from WB Television Network, The
Charmed: The Complete Fourth Season is a captivating story of big changes in the world of the Halliwell sisters. San Francisco witches Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs) grieve the loss of Prue (Shannen Doherty) at the same time they discover the existence of a fourth Halliwell sibling: Paige (Rose McGowan), offspring of the girls' late mother and a Whitelighter (thus making Paige part witch and part angel). Paige was raised as an adopted child, but has been aware of her sisters for awhile. Still, she's ambivalent about joining forces with them (despite having two powers instead of the usual one), and Piper--now the oldest of the surviving sisters, reluctantly taking over Prue's position as leader--is in no hurry to welcome Paige into the fold.
Blood and loyalty prevail, however, and soon Paige takes over Phoebe's old role as screw-up rookie, mangling potions and causing havoc (such as switching bodies with Phoebe at an inopportune time). But her strong survival sense, compassion, and ability to read people (she's studying to become a social worker) add a powerful new weapon to the Halliwell arsenal. Meanwhile, several key storylines from the third season carry over to this new year, notably the running drama concerning demon-with-a-soul Cole (Julian McMahon) and his ongoing battle to stay free of hell's wrath while maintaining dark powers. His romance with Phoebe leads them to become ruler and queen of the Underworld, where Phoebe's loyalty is tested and a demonic baby enters the picture. Piper and her husband, Whitelighter Leo (Brian Krause), deal with sorrow over Prue and frustration over not being able to have a child, and the sisters' police ally, Inspector Morris (Dorian Gregory), has to contend with an out-of-control boss bent on charging the Halliwells with a crime. All that and a witch-hunter and appearance by the angel of destiny, who offers to relieve the witches of their magical burden. The most impressive aspect of the fourth season is the way Doherty's loss isn't treated as a mere vacuum to be filled with a new body, but is taken as an opportunity to reinvent the show in several crucial ways. --Tom Keogh
The Charmed Ones, modern-day urban witches, Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Paige (Rose McGowan), move into Season four with deeper, darker and more deftly crafted stories. As Piper and Phoebe struggle with the loss of their older sister, they discover the existence of half-sister Paige Matthews. Possessing the power to orb as a half-Whitelighter, Paige joins the Halliwell sisters to recreate the magical triad that protects the innocent and vanquishes evil. But all may be lost as Cole's (Julian McMahon) demonic side takes over, and Leo (Brian Krause) must face his past if he is to help the sisters in a battle that could destroy them all. With intriguing characters, amazing special effects and the perfect brew of suspense, drama and humor, each exciting episode in this fascinating supernatural series casts a gripping spell.
Charmed - The Complete Second Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from WB Television Network, The
Charmed: The Complete Second Season finds San Francisco's favorite and fetching trio of witches, the Halliwell sisters, still battling supernatural forces while trying to make sense of their tricky personal lives. It has been a year since Prue (Shannen Doherty), Phoebe (Alyssan Milano), and Piper (Holly Marie Combs), were each endowed with a unique, magical ability after discovering the Book of Shadows in their attic, and while Phoebe and Piper are in the mood for celebrating, Prue is emotionally incapable of using her telekinetic gifts. Powerless to have saved her ex-lover, Andy Trudeau (Ted King), from death in season 1, Prue's grief prevents her from cooperating with her sisters in a battle against a demon who steals the all-important Book.
That's just the beginning of the Halliwells' otherworldly troubles. The second season finds the sisters also taking on brain-zapping Warlocks, a Demon of Hate, a Darklighter who inspires thoughts of suicide among the living, evil witches, and--get this--the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, who turn out to be quite dapper (albeit nasty) fellows. Meanwhile, Piper struggles to raise $60,000 to open a happening new club (at a site where two other clubs have failed) while also juggling romantic feelings for two guys, one a hunky new neighbor and the other last season's handyman character, Leo (Brian Krause), who turns out to be a Whitelighter (a kind of an angel). Prue's job at the art gallery gets a bit wobbly, and she gives unintentionally mixed signals to a very nice man who likes her a lot. Phoebe, for her part, is still in school and meets a handsome prospect at a dating service--then has to save him from a succubus (a female demon who seduces men and then kills them). Season highlights include the episode "She's a Man, Baby, a Man," in which Prue--due to a botched spell--becomes a man (a clever and funny performance by Doherty). In a reversal of Tootsie's feminist theme, Prue learns how to be a better woman for having a been a man, though a lot more repairs take place at the house while she's a he. "Animal Pragmatism" concerns yet another spell gone awry, this one turning a pig, a rabbit, and a snake into full-grown men with the characteristics of the creatures they were. The final show, "Be Careful What You Witch For," is a lot of fun, co-starring French Stewart as a genie who makes a lot of mischief at the same time the sisters are trying to put a Dragon Warlock in his place. --Tom Keogh
In CHARMED, the three Halliwell sisters have accepted their destiny of protecting the innocent and vanquishing evil doers, even though that is generally not on the agenda of every twenty-something on the fast track to discovering what life's all about. Prue (Doherty), the oldest, is driven to succeed and dislikes the free-spirited antics of the youngest sister Phoebe (Milano). Piper (Combs), the earthy middle sister, mediates between her siblings. Prue has the power to move objects, Piper to freeze time and Phoebe to see the future. The sisters must band together to protect themselves, and the world, from the dark, demonic forces that seek to destroy them.
Charmed - The Complete Sixth Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from WB Television Network, The
A trio of sister witches use their powers of magic to fight evil.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 15-JAN-2008
Media Type: DVD
Charmed - The Complete Seventh Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from WB Television Network, The
The challenges come fast and furious for the Halliwell sisters in Charmed: The Complete Seventh Season. Some of them are pretty exotic, too: a visit from Lady Godiva, who inspires a certain, unexpected freedom in witchy sisters Phoebe (Alyssa Milano), Piper (Holly Marie Combs), and Paige (Rose McGowan) while dodging the evil designs of a nasty land baron. Shakti and Shiva, the ultimate lovers of Hinduism, manage to occupy the bodies of Piper and still-evolving Whitelighter Leo (Brian Krause) at a very bad time: The consummation of their love will destroy the universe. An ex-demon turned professor at the Magic School falls under a spell that causes him to believe he's Robin Hood and that Phoebe is Maid Marian. And it goes on like that: an invisible demon posing as an imaginary friend to a child; a time-travel trip to 1899 (and the site of a tragic fire) that strands Phoebe; the arrival of Pandora's Box in the hands of a shape-shifting visitor from the Underworld. Things never quiet down for the Halliwells, and their lives are even more complicated by Zankou (Oded Fehr), who shows up in a running storyline about his effort to release the Shadow, the ultimate power, and steal the Book of Shadows, which is crucial to the sisters' witchcraft. Meanwhile, Leo must make a crucial choice in order to release Piper and Phoebe from their deaths at the hands of yet another demon: Should he save them or engage in magic that will ultimately rob him of his free will? An exciting season full of new changes and characters, transitions, children, and much else, Charmed: The Complete Seventh Season carries on this long-running television show's breathless pace and intriguing mix of the arcane and ordinary. --Tom Keogh
The Aaron Spelling-produced television drama CHARMED follows the adventures of three modern-day witches juggling their supernatural abilities with the demands of everyday life. Sisters Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Paige (Rose McGowan) use their magical powers to protect innocent people from demons while struggling to rise above the childish bickering of sisterhood to work together as a team. This collection presents every episode from the series' seventh season.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360707045 Manufacturer No: 070704
Charmed - The Complete First Season
by Janice Cooke-Leonard
from Paramount
A trio of sister witches use their powers of magic to fight evil.
Media Type: DVD
Artist: CHARMED
Title: SEASON 1
Street Release Date: 02/01/2005
Genre: TELEVISION
Charmed: The Complete First Season recaptures a period when television's WB network was particularly keen on series about the supernatural and specially powered characters. The original home of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and future launch pad for Angel and Smallville, the WB debuted Charmed in 1998 with many of the same intriguing ironies that made those other shows click. Specifically, the greater a character's powers, the more vulnerable he or she becomes; the more superhuman, the more painfully obvious one's lonely, fragile humanity. The Halliwells, a trio of witch heroines and siblings at the center of Charmed, is a case in point. Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) returns to her San Francisco family home after losing her job, and moves in with her older sisters Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs). On her first night back, Phoebe finds the Book of Shadows in the attic and recites a spell giving all three women unique powers they were always meant to have: Prue suddenly has the gift of telekinesis, Piper can make time stand still, and Phoebe can see into the future. All well and good, but along with those extraordinary abilities is a new awareness of dark forces in the world from which mortals need protection. In some cases, those forces have been plotting a long time to steal the Halliwell's magical legacy once they awakened to it--and now they will never let up.
Evil warlocks, demons, ancient curses, Grimlocks, and Wendigos (the last two are best left explained by their respective episodes), however, are only half the battle on this sexy dramedy, in which more ordinary matters of emotional and real-world survival also preoccupy the Halliwells. An important ally, Inspector Andy Trudeau (Ted King), is Prue's ex-lover, a delicate detail that mixes pain with duty as the couple rekindles their troubled relationship while solving otherworldly crimes. In "Dead Man Dating," Piper falls for the ghost of a murdered man who needs help, and later competes with Phoebe for the attention of a handyman, Leo (Brian Krause). Jobs and money are always an issue, too. At one time or another, Phoebe works as a psychic, Piper as a caterer, and Prue finds a job at an auction house. As with Buffy, the engine of Charmed is the seamless, sometimes-comic, sometimes-tender way in which all these dynamics in the magic and non-magic worlds blend together, presenting young adult challenges that are both unique and somehow terribly familiar. It is particularly fun to watch this series grow, deepen, and experiment during its first year. The season's true highlight is probably "That 70s Episode," in which the Halliwells go back in time to meet their younger selves. --Tom Keogh
Charmed - The Complete Series
from WB Television Network, The
No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 15-JAN-2008
Media Type: DVD
Charmed recaptured a period in the 1ate 1990s when television's WB network was particularly keen on series about the supernatural and specially-powered characters. The original home of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and future launch pad for Angel and Smallville, the WB debuted Charmed in 1998 with many of the same intriguing ironies that made those other shows click. Specifically, the greater a character's powers, the more vulnerable he or she becomes; the more superhuman, the more painfully obvious one's lonely, fragile humanity. The Halliwells, a trio of witch heroines and siblings at the center of Charmed, are a case in point. Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) returns to her San Francisco family home after losing her job, and moves in with her older sisters Prue (Shannen Doherty) and Piper (Holly Marie Combs). On her first night back, Phoebe finds the Book of Shadows left for them by their late mother and recites a spell giving all three women unique powers they were always meant to have. Prue suddenly has the gift of telekinesis, Piper can make time stand still, and Phoebe can see into the future. All well and good, but along with those extraordinary abilities comes a new awareness of dark forces in the world from which mortals need protection. In some cases, those forces have been plotting a long time to steal the Halliwells' magical legacy once they awakened to it--and now they will never let up. Indeed, the forces of the Underworld never do let up in Charmed, giving the Halliwells a major headache for the next eight seasons. Yet the show became about so much more than that, blending (again, like Buffy) the sisters' personal lives with their responsibilities as protectors and stewards of magic. Jobs, lovers, marriage, and children were just as prominent in Prue's, Phoebe's, and Piper's thoughts and emotions as warlocks and leprechauns. In fact, Charmed peaked creatively when the whole of season three concerned the fallout of Phoebe's romance and marriage to a disguised demon (Julian McMahon). The series' focus at that point was quite gripping, but it was inevitable that subsequent seasons would back off on such a singular perspective and develop a broader range of storylines. A major change in Charmed accompanied the departure of Shannen Doherty from the show at the end of season three, replaced by Rose McGowan as a fourth sister, Paige, unknown to either Phoebe or Piper. While Paige had the same mother (herself a witch) as the other two surviving Halliwell girls, her father was a so-called Whitelighter, essentially an angel. That combination gave Paige unique gifts that made Charmed even more fun (if slightly less compelling). But the loss of Doherty--the show's best actress, who gave at least one bravura performance per season--proved significant. Charmed wasn't quite the same, but it carried on, continuing to make new fans and maintaining a breathless pace and intriguing mix of the arcane and ordinary. --Tom Keogh
The Power of Three on DVD
 Charmed - The Complete First Season |  Charmed - The Complete Second Season |  Charmed - The Complete Third Season |
 Charmed - The Complete Fourth Season |  |  Charmed - The Complete Fifth Season |
 Charmed - The Complete Sixth Season |  Charmed - The Complete Seventh Season |  Charmed - The Final Season |
The Blue Lagoon and Return to the Blue Lagoon (Double Feature)
by William A. Graham
from Sony Pictures
BLUE LAGOON: The lush beauty and splendor of a South Pacific paradise is vividly captured in this version of Henry DeVere Stacpoole's 1903 novel. Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon however the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline (Brooke Shields) and Richard (Christopher Atkins) make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. They learn to cope with the bewildering variety of physical changes that come with adolescence. And as they begin to mature their childhood affections lead to a sensitive and more profound love and the birth of a child. But will they ever see civilization again?RETURN TO THE BLUE LAGOON: Return to the enchanting South Pacific where an exciting new adventure unfolds. When two young lovers lose their lives at sea they leave a young son behind. A kind-hearted widow and her daughter rescue the orphan but through tragic circumstances the children are abandoned on a deserted island. As days turn into years the boy and girl experience the blissful awakening of tender young love. But their rapture is violently interrupted by the troublesome crew of a passing ship and the new temptations that it brings. Their dreams of returning to society quickly fade when their hearts tell them that nothing is worth sacrificing the purest of loves. Full of romance and action this sequel to the smash hit is a coming-of-age story that your whole family will enjoy.System Requirements:Running Time: 100 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 043396094505 Manufacturer No: 09450
Danielle Steel's: Family Album Parts 1 & 2
by Jack Bender
from Starz / Anchor Bay
Part I: Faye and Ward Thayer live through enough ups and downs for several lifetimes. A whirlwind courtship leads to a comfortable life fueled by Ward's family fortune. But as the fortune vanishes, Ward's drinking and cheating compel Faye to throw him out. Faye builds a film directing career and later takes on an unlikely partner: Ward, now reformed. But the strain of raising their four rebellious children threatens to split the marriage again. Part II: The Thayer children face the challenges of the tumultuous 1970s: Vietnam, drugs, dropping out and more. Thanks to a part in her parents' film, Valerie makes the transition from low-budget film actress to rising star. Lionel rediscovers a friend from the past, while Anne's affair with a friend's father leads to a large family of her own. During a heartwarming weekend surrounded by family, Faye's extraordinary life comes to a close.
Sleepwalkers
by Mick Garris
from Sony Pictures
Stephen King's Sleepwalkers is about a half-human, half-cat race of shape shifters called, for no apparent reason, sleepwalkers. Hunky Charles Brady (Brian Krause) and his incestuous mother (Alice Krige) are sleepwalkers, and they've come to the small town of Travis, Indiana, where they've somehow acquired a nice house and false identities. They need virgin souls to survive and have fixated on local beauty Tanya (Madchen Amick from Twin Peaks). That's about it for the story--from then on it's a series of chase scenes full of badly done gore. King must have been sleepwalking himself when he wrote this screenplay--the dialogue is terrible, the characters are cardboard, and the plotting is clumsy. Combine that with mediocre acting, thoughtless direction, slapdash editing, and cheesy special effects, and you have Sleepwalkers. Amick comes off reasonably well and there are cameos by King, Clive Barker, and horror directors John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Joe Dante (Gremlins), and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). But really, if you're interested in were-cats, see the original The Cat People, starring Simone Simon; it's both sexier and scarier. --Bret Fetzer
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