Horton, Peter

Grey's Anatomy - The Complete Second Season

Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/26/2008

The medical drama's second season could be diagnosed as bipolar; in other words, it got much worse and much better at the same time. Whiny, self-involved surgical intern Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), arguably the weakest spot in the otherwise likeable ensemble, had already left viewers annoyed. But season two, in which Meredith coped with being dumped by her married McDreamy (a.k.a. neurosurgeon Derek, a.k.a. Patrick Dempsey) by excessive drinking, sleeping around, gazing like a sad puppy and--unforgivable!--breaking the heart of longtime admirer/friend George (the cuddly T.R. Knight), could have alienated audiences for good. (Seriously, sometimes you want to shake the girl and feed her some cookies.) Thankfully, what Meredith's storyline threatened to derail was held together by some emotional episodes, including "Into You Like a Train," in which a pair of strangers are impaled together on a metal pole, and "Much Too Much," featuring a mother's quintuplets in critical condition. But the standout show that turned Grey's Anatomy into a television force came with the January 2006 post-Super Bowl episode, a two-parter involving a "code black" lockdown when a live bomb is housed inside a patient.

Romance also remained key to the staff at Seattle Grace: Steely Cristina (Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh) softens, to her great dismay, as her relationship with Dr. Burke (Isaiah Washington) gets serious; Izzie (Katherine Heigl) pairs up, then breaks up, with Alex (Justin Chambers, the villain of the cast if you had to name one) before falling in love with flirty, tender heart patient Denny (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Derek and estranged wife Addison (Kate Walsh, who somehow managed to win over Meredith-McDreamy fans despite being the Other Woman) make attempts at fixing their marriage, and Dr. Bailey (Chandra Wilson, easily a standout) tries to balance a medical career with mommyhood. Even George finds a new love with orthopedic surgeon Callie (Sara Ramirez). The season wraps up with a weeper of a two-part finale, set at the hospital during a "prom" (it's complicated). But with the fancy gowns and tuxes, tears and romantic tension, leading to a crossroads for Meredith and Derek, you can bet the episodes are a delight for any Grey's fan. The show also continues to rely heavily on narration (not a good thing) and soundtracks (a good thing), using tracks from artists before they hit it big (KT Tunstall, Brandi Carlisle, Snow Patrol).

On the DVD

Four of the episodes get an extended treatment, though the tag line "too steamy for television!" is overreaching a bit. Oh is the only actor to turn up on a commentary, which is otherwise just the writers and producers congratulating each other. Walsh turns up the charm in "The Doctors are In," in which characters answer fans' questions, but Chambers appears noticeably drab and disinterested. Despite "Uncut" being in the title, the special features aren't anything you'll be watching again and again. Save that rewind button for the show itself. --Ellen A. Kim

Amazon Women on the Moon - Collector's Edition

A spoof 1950s sci-fi movie interspersed with various comedy sketches. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/01/2004 Starring: Donald F. Muhich Michelle Pfeiffer Run time: 85 minutes Rating: R Director: Joe Dante

Contrary to popular rumor, this 1987 collection of comedy skits is not about a group of female employees from Amazon.com on a mission to the lunar surface. It's a series of unrelated spoofs and sketches designed to resemble an aimless night of TV channel-surfing, and the satirical targets include grade-Z science fiction films of the 1950s, sex films of the 1930s, hospital soap operas, and Playboy video centerfolds. There's a charity drive in which legendary bluesman B.B. King pleas for donations to help "Blacks Without Soul," and Ed Begley Jr. thinks he's the son of the Invisible Man, which would be fine if he weren't as visible as everyone else. The various sketches feature an all-star cast including Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, the late Phil Hartman in an early role, and many others. It's strictly hit-or-miss, and many of the sketches fall flat, especially since the subjects being spoofed (the title sketch is a send-up of the actual 1954 movie Cat Women on the Moon) are funny enough without being satirized. Even though Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide describes most of the sketches as "astonishingly unfunny," this can be a very amusing movie if you're in the mood for a no-brainer with a lot of familiar Hollywood faces. Now a modest little cult film, it's the kind of disposable entertainment that maintains its appeal almost in spite of itself. --Jeff Shannon

The Cure

Parental opposition cannot stop the friendship of two rural minnesota teens one hiv-positive. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 11/23/2004 Starring: Joseph Mazzello Bruce Davison Run time: 97 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Peter Horton

This heartfelt drama tells us it's an AIDS movie that's not about AIDS. When this film keeps its promise (roughly the first three-quarters), it's a winner, a film about a truly notable friendship between two 11-year-old boys. Diagnosed with AIDS from a blood transfusion, Dexter (Joseph Mazzello) has gratefully bypassed most of Kübler-Ross's stages of death. He is, however, an outcast among his peers until Erik (Brad Renfro) comes along and finds him quite normal. Their bond deepens as they look for a cure for the disease using odd forms of scientific theory. Part educational text, part Mark Twain adventure, part tearjerker, the movie relies on something not found in movies these days: a love affair of male friendship. At its center are two of the best pre-actors around. Mazzello (Jurassic Park) has a professional presence on screen. The wild card is Renfro in only his second role (the other was The Client). As the outgoing, Huck Finn-ish boy, he has impressive physical abilities that communicate a naturalness on screen. The film's sappy hospital scenes bog down the picture tremendously, but they do lead to two special scenes that end the movie. The Cure is an assured directorial debut by TV actor Peter Horton (thirtysomething). An interesting note: single mothers raise both kids, a fact never lingered on--refreshingly so--in the script written by Robert Kuhn. --Doug Thomas

Once and Again - The Complete Second Season

After the romantic courtship and the awkwardness of first dates, Once and Again in its second season settled into charting the growing relationship between fortysomethings Lily (Sela Ward) and Rick (Billy Campbell), who finally shook off all their angst and family pressures to embark on a long-term relationship. And of course, once finally committed in their love for each other, life rudely interrupts what should have been a comfortable, winding road to happily ever after. Rick's architecture firm is hand-picked for a new high-profile project, but it's dogged by community protests and run by the ever-devious Miles Drentell (David Clennon, reprising his shady character from thirtysomething); what's more, Rick's ex-wife, Karen (Susanna Thompson), is the lawyer representing the project's opposition. Lily finds herself as the assistant to a twentysomething entrepreneur at a fledgling dot-com, and the victim of the amorous, non-professional interests of a consultant for the troubled company. She's also faced with the fate of her late father's restaurant, run by her ex-husband, Jake (Jeffrey Nordling), who's charming but not the best of businessmen, and his financial strain soon becomes hers as well. Oh, and then there are the kids: Rick's son Eli (Shane West) would rather start a band than go to college, and daughter Jessie (Evan Rachel Wood) may be anorexic; Lily's daughter Grace (Julia Whelan) falls into a friendship with a troubled girl, and only Zoe (Meredith Deane) seems to be the most normal--that is, when she isn't worried about Rick and his kids moving into her house.

The course of true love never did run smooth, and truth be told, there were a bit too many plot twists cooked up for this season of the Edward Zwick-Marshall Herskovitz drama (including a hostage episode at Jake's restaurant that garnered high ratings), but the creative team behind this show managed a deft balancing act among all the characters and plotlines. Teenage angst co-existed alongside more adult worries, and the specter of professional and money troubles for both Rick and Lily kept the characters grounded in a reality not often seen in television dramas. And in addition to giving all the cast members shining moments, Once and Again developed an extensive number of secondary characters, including Lily's mentally ill brother Aaron (Patrick Dempsey), Jake's flighty girlfriend Tiffany (Ever Carradine), Karen's hunky younger boyfriend (Mark Feuerstein), and an uncredited Edward Zwick as Jessie's therapist. It was the core cast, however, that made Once and Again soar--teen actors West and Whelan broke their characters' stereotypical molds, the young Wood (who would go on to star in thirteen) was outstanding as she navigated blooming adolescence: Nordling and Thompson, as the exes on the periphery, were two of the best supporting actors ever on television. As always, though, Ward and Campbell were the show's heart and soul, always communicating the underlying waves of frustration and anger in their character's facades as well as the love and happiness. Despite low ratings, ABC renewed Once and Again for a third and final season, giving all us fans of great television (and hopeless romantics) one more year with Rick and Lily after this one. --Mark Englehart

Golden Globe(R) award-winner Sela Ward and Billy Campbell star in the highly acclaimed second season of ONCE AND AGAIN. Celebrate the loves and experience the triumphs and heartbreak that made ONCE AND AGAIN a favorite among critics and audiences everywhere. It's "a great show," raves Robert Bianco of USA TODAY. Now you can experience all 22 episodes of season two in this spectacular five-disc set, featuring exclusive bonus features. It's everything you remember and so much more.

Once and Again - The Complete First Season

Rick (Billy Campbell) and Lily (Sela Ward) are fortysomething parents with two kids; both are still feeling the repercussions of their failed first marriages; both are haplessly single and consumed by their family identities (plus, let's just face it, both are gorgeous beyond belief). Dropping off their respective kids at school in their respective SUVs, they spy each other across a crowded driveway. Granted, it's not terribly romantic, but sparks fly and tentatively, embarrassingly, like teenagers, they embark on a first date--awkward conversation and fumbling make-out sessions in cars included. So begins the acclaimed TV series Once and Again from producers Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, the guys who brought you über-sensitive dramas thirtysomething and My So-Called Life. And like those award-winning shows, Once and Again mines the mundane and ordinary to find extraordinary drama, tackling both midlife crisis and teen angst, as Rick and Lily's kids (most notably heartthrob Shane West and blooming wallflower Julia Whelan) navigate the perils of high school while their parents traverse the mine field of adult romance, with ex-spouses and disapproving family members lurking in the shadows.

The first season takes Rick and Lily from first date alone to first date en famille, in which their respective broods finally meet and confront the fact that their parents--gasp!--like each other. Along the way, there's amazing writing, pitch-perfect direction that takes scenes from comedy to drama in seamless swoops, and a tight-knit ensemble that hits all the right notes. Ward won an Emmy for this first season as the anxiety-ridden Lily, but she's equally matched by the quietly stunning Campbell, and their interaction is touching, funny, sexy, and heartbreaking--everything you could want in a romance, and more. --Mark Englehart

Starring Golden Globe and Emmy Award(R)-winning actress Sela Ward and Golden Globe-nominee Billy Campbell, ONCE AND AGAIN explored brave new territory with the compelling story of two families blending at the seams. The second marriage of Lily Manning (Ward) to Rick Sammler (Campbell) pushes both to the limit as they try for domestic normalcy while navigating divorce, parenting, financial hardship, and many other life lessons. From the creators of THIRTYSOMETHING and MY SO-CALLED LIFE comes the complete first season DVD collection. Enjoy all the moving moments and memorable performances of a brilliant supporting cast, including Shane West (A WALK TO REMEMBER) and Evan Rachel Wood (THE UPDSIDE OF ANGER) once and again.

Amazon Women on the Moon

Contrary to popular rumor, this 1987 collection of comedy skits is not about a group of female employees from Amazon.com on a mission to the lunar surface. It's a series of unrelated spoofs and sketches designed to resemble an aimless night of TV channel-surfing, and the satirical targets include grade-Z science fiction films of the 1950s, sex films of the 1930s, hospital soap operas, and Playboy video centerfolds. There's a charity drive in which legendary bluesman B.B. King pleas for donations to help "Blacks Without Soul," and Ed Begley Jr. thinks he's the son of the Invisible Man, which would be fine if he weren't as visible as everyone else. The various sketches feature an all-star cast including Rosanna Arquette, Griffin Dunne, Carrie Fisher, Michelle Pfeiffer, the late Phil Hartman in an early role, and many others. It's strictly hit-or-miss, and many of the sketches fall flat, especially since the subjects being spoofed (the title sketch is a send-up of the actual 1954 movie Cat Women on the Moon) are funny enough without being satirized. Even though Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide describes most of the sketches as "astonishingly unfunny," this can be a very amusing movie if you're in the mood for a no-brainer with a lot of familiar Hollywood faces. Now a modest little cult film, it's the kind of disposable entertainment that maintains its appeal almost in spite of itself. --Jeff Shannon

Everything from old science fiction films to TV critics is lampooned on a television channel that keeps viewers interested in a 1950s-style sci-fi movie by interspersing a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials.