Entourage - The Complete First Season
from Hbo Home Video
Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 05/10/2005 Run time: 240 minutes
Entourage is everything viewers have come to expect from an HBO series: smart, hilarious, and highly addictive, especially when taken in full-season, DVD form. As implied in the title, the show follows Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), a rising Hollywood star with bedroom eyes and an over-active libido, along with his three childhood companions-turned-hangers-on. Kevin Dillon plays Johnny Drama, Vincent's less-attractive, B-list actor of a brother (he is Matt Dillon's less-attractive, B-list actor of a brother in real life). Jerry Ferrara plays Turtle, the weasel, and Kevin Connolly appears as Eric, the Everyman hero who hopes to parlay his friendship with Vincent (plus two years of community college) into a career in talent management. Along the way Eric contends with the predictable self-doubt, romantic indecision, etc. The cast is rounded out by Jeremy Piven (Doug Hughley from Singles) as a foul-mouthed agent reminiscent of Jay Mohr's short-lived Peter Dragon character. Finally, it's produced by Marky Mark himself--and you've got to believe that guy knows something about the star-entourage relationship. If possible, watch with a friend so you'll have someone to quote lines back to later. --Leah Weathersby
21 Jump Street - The Complete Second Season
by Daniel Attias
from Fox Network
Johnny Depp became an instant heartthrob and certified star in this second season of the Fox-TV sensation co-created by Patrick Hasburgh and Stephen J. Cannell (THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO, SILK STALKINGS). Depp stars as Officer Tom Hanson, who along with Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise), Harry Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) and Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete) forms an undercover police unit to infiltrate high school crime. Under the command of Captain Fuller (Steven Williams), these tough but compassionate young cops tackle such explosive issues as steroid abuse, crack addiction, racial violence, teen suicide, AIDS, Ioki's escape from Saigon and much more. 21 JUMP STREET - THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON includes all 22 action-packed episodes from the hit `87/'88 season featuring such guest stars as Christina Applegate, Jason Priestley, Pauly Shore and Brad Pitt in one of his first screen roles.
21 Jump Street - The Complete Fourth Season
by Daniel Attias
from Fox Network
The fourth season of Fox's hip undercover cop phenomenon opens with Ioki (Dustin Nguyen) in the hospital and Hanson (Johnny Depp) in prison (falsely convicted of murder). The end of the premiere ("Draw the Line") brings good news for one of them when Penhall (Peter DeLuise) and Booker (Richard Greico) join forces, while the fate of the other looks promising. This is confirmed in the following episode ("Say It Ain't So, Pete"), but by then, Booker will have split the scene (to return for the Booker-Jump Street crossover, "Wheels & Deals").
Other notable episodes include "Eternal Flame," directed by Mario Van Peebles (Baadasssss!) and guest starring a longhaired Thomas Haden Church (Sideways). There's also "Come From the Shadows," in which Penhall marries a Salvadoran refugee to prevent her deportation (and adopts her nephew when he becomes orphaned), "Stand By Your Man," in which Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete) is the victim of date rape, and "Mike's P.O.V." with a scruffy Donovan Leitch (Gas, Food Lodging) and preppy Vince Vaughn (Swingers).
The rap on the fourth year is that Depp started turning in lackluster performances when he couldn't get out of his contract. Fortunately, he doesn't sink the show, but it's clear his heart isn't in it anymore. On the bright side, 21 Jump Street remained as much a time capsule of the late-1980s as ever with music from the B-52s and Devo and references to Ghostbusters and Back to the Future. (Hoffs' surname was even taken from a notable 1980s figure: Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles.) Once Depp was set free, Fox pulled the plug on the program, which ran for a final season in syndication. In exchange for the Booker episode, this set deletes the season finale, "Blackout," which featured Depp's final appearance as Officer Tom Hanson. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
21 Jump Street Season 5
by Daniel Attias
from Fox Network
Their Unforgettable Final Season Plus The Infamous Blackout Episode Starring Johnny Depp It was the show that became a top-rated Fox sensation made Johnny Depp an overnight star and remains one of the coolest cultural phenomena of the 80s. And it all leads here the undercover cops of Jump Street Chapel Doug Penhall (Peter DeLuise) Judy Hoffs (Holly Robinson Peete) Captain Fuller (Steven Williams) and new rookie officers Joey Penhall (Michael DeLuise) and Tony Mac McCann (Michael Bendetti) are caught up in some of the most explosive action and drama in the show s history! In addition this collection contains three episodes filmed during Season 4 but aired during Season 5 including the still-controversial "Blackout" which features Johnny Depp s final series appearance. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 013131363098 Manufacturer No: DV13630
Disturbing Behavior
by David Nutter
from MGM (Video & DVD)
This paranoia-fueled thriller, more intelligent and imaginative than you would have reason to believe, owes a huge debt to The Stepford Wives with its premise of a goody-good high school clique programmed by an evil doctor to be wholesome, academically driven, and shining examples of clean living. Unlike its predecessor, though, David Nutter's film opts to open up its premise for everyone to see, diluting the scares but amplifying the creepy atmosphere. There's never any question of what's happening to the students of Cradle Bay High, who go from being druggies and sex fiends to the academically excellent Blue Ribbons, but it's a lot of fun to see these programmed teens run amok--and start killing people--when their hormones kick in. And considering they're all horny teenagers, this happens, oh, at least a few times a day. Model-perfect James Marsden, with stunning cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, is the new kid in town who stumbles on the plot with a little help from metalhead Nick Stahl. Moody Marsden stirs up trouble when he refuses to join up with the Blue Ribbons, prompting his concerned parents to consider signing him up for the program, especially after it turns Stahl into a vest-wearing, pep-rallying brainiac. The satire isn't entirely fulfilled (the evil kids hang out at the yogurt shop and spout inspirational platitudes), but once the action kicks in it's quite an enjoyable ride, thanks primarily to Bruce Greenwood (of The Sweet Hereafter) as the mad scientist behind it all and Katie Holmes (Go) as Marsden's love interest. Refusing the advances of the star football player and fighting gamely alongside Marsden, Holmes manages to deck a few bad guys with a fervor that squarely puts her in Linda Hamilton and Jamie Lee Curtis territory. With Steve Railsback as the colluding chief of police and Dan Zudovic as a janitor with a penchant for getting rid of "rats," rodent and otherwise. --Mark Englehart
Something strange is happening to the teens of cradle bay. One by one problem teens are turning into example students. But this parents dream-come-true turns deadly when these remodeled kids begins to short circuit. Includes eleven deleted scenes audio commentary by the director and more. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 09/09/2008 Starring: James Marsden Nick Stahl Run time: 84 minutes Rating: R Director: David Nutter
Entourage - The Complete First Season [UMD for PSP]
from HBO Home Video
- entouragepsp
Your best friend's star is rising in Hollywood, and there's only one thing to do: join his entourage. Meet Eric, Turtle and Johnny Drama: three guys from Queens dedicated to helping their film-star buddy Vincent Chase navigate the absurdities of modern-day Hollywood--where sex, parties and super-agents rule the town.
Roswell - Seasons 1-3
from 20th Century Fox
Roswell - The Complete First Season
Opening with a Dido theme song and featuring character-driven, sweet-natured melodrama, Roswel was a show with a surprisingly dedicated fandom, who twice won it reprieve from cancellation. One of its main strengths was, of course, the extent to which its premise--alien teenagers trying to sort out their identities while emotionally involved with their human contemporaries--was a free-floating metaphor for race and sexuality issues. Another was the strong ensemble that its cast developed: you believed in the strangeness of the alien trio and the well-intentioned normality of their three human friends. Jason Behr gave the alien Max a quiet authority and Majendra Delfino took the sidekick role of Maria and gave it both intensity and fine comic timing. It was also a show in which you were never sure which adults you could trust--William Sadleir trod a fine line of ambiguity as the local sheriff and Julie Benz was silkily sinister as an FBI agent. Anyone who ever loved this show will want these DVDs--and many others may want to find out what the fuss was about.
Roswell - The Complete Second Season
Season 2 of the cult science-fiction series Roswell opens on a promisingly positive note, with the rescue of alien teen Michael (Brendan Fehr) by Max (Jason Behr) and his pals, but as soon as things settled down, new challenges threaten their existence. That was par for the course on this imaginative program, which hit its stride in its sophomore year (2000-2001) with a tighter blend of thoughtful youth drama and otherworldly action. The season's chief threats to aliens Max, Michael, Isabel (Katherine Heigl of Grey's Anatomy), and newcomer Tess (Emilie De Ravin of Lost), and Earthlings Liz (Shiri Appleby), Maria (Majandra Delfino), and Alex (Colin Hanks) are Vanessa Whitaker (Gretchen Egolf), a congresswoman with a very sinister secret agenda, and Brody Davis (Desmond Askew), the new curator of Roswell's UFO Museum, who harbors an equally unpleasant plan for the friends. The struggle between human and alien forces, both good and evil, to uncover the truth about Max and his companions leads to a pair of shocking events--a death among the group, and in the season finale, Max, Michael, and Isabel's possible return to their home planet. Other highlights from season 2 include the imaginative period piece "Summer of '47," with the series regulars assuming the roles of townspeople and government officials at the time of the original alleged UFO crash; the two-parter "Meet the Dupes" and "Max in the City," which poses the alien quartet against their physically identical doubles (with extremely different personalities); and "A Roswell Christmas Carol," which offers an unsentimental retake on the Dickens story.
Roswell - The Complete Third Season
The sci-fi-themed teen drama Roswell begins its third and final season with Max (Jason Behr) and Liz (Shiri Appleby) back together and taking a desperate chance to find Max's son. After the many cosmic concepts of the previous season, the series dialed back the mythology to focus on the more--excuse the expression--human aspects of the characters. Roswell was often described as Dawson's Creek meets The X-Files, and accordingly Isabel (Katherine Heigel) finds romance with a lawyer (Adam Rodriguez), but struggles both with her mixed feelings about revealing her alien identity and with the aftermath of the tragedy in season 2. (The romance is later spoofed in a Bewitched-style episode.) At the same time, Max and Michael (Brendan Fehr) travel to Los Angeles in search of an alien bounty hunter that might be able to help them find Max's son. (They also find Roswell executive producer Jonathan Frakes making a guest appearance as himself.) Michael takes a night job that at first is played for laughs (in "Michael, the Gang, and the Great Snapple Caper"), then takes on threatening implications in a rousing two-parter that eventually leaves all parties not too much different from how they started. Michael also struggles in his relationship with Maria (Majandra Delfino), first when he makes new friends and later when she meets a figure from her past (Clayne Crawford) who revives a longtime music dream that might lead to bigger things. All the while, the alien trio faces the constant struggle of keeping their identities secret, even as the net seems to be tightening around them. When a key character returns in the series' penultimate episode, both the aliens and the humans they love face a critical decision.
Disturbing Behavior [Region 2]
This paranoia-fueled thriller, more intelligent and imaginative than you would have reason to believe, owes a huge debt to The Stepford Wives with its premise of a goody-good high school clique programmed by an evil doctor to be wholesome, academically driven, and shining examples of clean living. Unlike its predecessor, though, David Nutter's film opts to open up its premise for everyone to see, diluting the scares but amplifying the creepy atmosphere. There's never any question of what's happening to the students of Cradle Bay High, who go from being druggies and sex fiends to the academically excellent Blue Ribbons, but it's a lot of fun to see these programmed teens run amok--and start killing people--when their hormones kick in. And considering they're all horny teenagers, this happens, oh, at least a few times a day. Model-perfect James Marsden, with stunning cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, is the new kid in town who stumbles on the plot with a little help from metalhead Nick Stahl. Moody Marsden stirs up trouble when he refuses to join up with the Blue Ribbons, prompting his concerned parents to consider signing him up for the program, especially after it turns Stahl into a vest-wearing, pep-rallying brainiac. The satire isn't entirely fulfilled (the evil kids hang out at the yogurt shop and spout inspirational platitudes), but once the action kicks in it's quite an enjoyable ride, thanks primarily to Bruce Greenwood (of The Sweet Hereafter) as the mad scientist behind it all and Katie Holmes (Go) as Marsden's love interest. Refusing the advances of the star football player and fighting gamely alongside Marsden, Holmes manages to deck a few bad guys with a fervor that squarely puts her in Linda Hamilton and Jamie Lee Curtis territory. With Steve Railsback as the colluding chief of police and Dan Zudovic as a janitor with a penchant for getting rid of "rats," rodent and otherwise. --Mark Englehart
Disturbing Behavior [Region 2]
by David Nutter
This paranoia-fueled thriller, more intelligent and imaginative than you would have reason to believe, owes a huge debt to The Stepford Wives with its premise of a goody-good high school clique programmed by an evil doctor to be wholesome, academically driven, and shining examples of clean living. Unlike its predecessor, though, David Nutter's film opts to open up its premise for everyone to see, diluting the scares but amplifying the creepy atmosphere. There's never any question of what's happening to the students of Cradle Bay High, who go from being druggies and sex fiends to the academically excellent Blue Ribbons, but it's a lot of fun to see these programmed teens run amok--and start killing people--when their hormones kick in. And considering they're all horny teenagers, this happens, oh, at least a few times a day. Model-perfect James Marsden, with stunning cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, is the new kid in town who stumbles on the plot with a little help from metalhead Nick Stahl. Moody Marsden stirs up trouble when he refuses to join up with the Blue Ribbons, prompting his concerned parents to consider signing him up for the program, especially after it turns Stahl into a vest-wearing, pep-rallying brainiac. The satire isn't entirely fulfilled (the evil kids hang out at the yogurt shop and spout inspirational platitudes), but once the action kicks in it's quite an enjoyable ride, thanks primarily to Bruce Greenwood (of The Sweet Hereafter) as the mad scientist behind it all and Katie Holmes (Go) as Marsden's love interest. Refusing the advances of the star football player and fighting gamely alongside Marsden, Holmes manages to deck a few bad guys with a fervor that squarely puts her in Linda Hamilton and Jamie Lee Curtis territory. With Steve Railsback as the colluding chief of police and Dan Zudovic as a janitor with a penchant for getting rid of "rats," rodent and otherwise. --Mark Englehart
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