In honor of Valentine’s Day, TV Squad created a three minute supercut montage of both contemporary and classic television characters kissing. Hit the jump to watch the video.
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This Week in DVD & Blu-ray: Watchmen, Coraline, Pushing Daisies, and More
Posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 by Adam Quigley
This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.
Please don’t take the commentary on the movies and TV shows too seriously, as they’re meant not to be reviews but rather previews that include the general thoughts and ramblings of a twice-committed DVD addict. The categories represent solely the author’s intentions towards the films at hand, and are in no way meant to be a reflection on what he thinks other people should rent or buy. So if he ends up putting a movie you like in the “Skip it” section without having seen it, please keep in mind that the time you could spend leaving a spiteful but ultimately futile comment could instead be used for more pleasant things in life. Like buying DVDs.
WATCHMEN
(Available as single-disc Theatrical Cut and 2-Disc Director’s Cut)
For the longest time the Watchmen graphic novel was said to be “unfilmable”. Obviously, that’s a nonsensical notion. If we’ve learned anything from the Super Mario Bros. movie, it’s that any property can be adapted into a film, regardless of story (or lack thereof). The real question is whether or not it can be done well. And in the case of Watchmen, director Zack Synder found himself in a lose-lose situation. The problem with adapting any comic or novel for the big screen is that, more often than not, what worked in its original medium just doesn’t translate that well to film. Thus, the only solution is to make concessions by changing various aspects of the source material. In many instances, this process has yielded positive results (V for Vendetta, the latest Harry Potter films), regardless of what the frothing hostility of certain fanboys might suggest. Watchmen though, would only suffer from these types of changes. To significantly alter the source material would be to defeat the purpose of adapting it at all. Zack Snyder was clearly aware of this, and decided (with one notable exception) to remain as faithful to Alan Moore‘s classic graphic novel as possible. While I strongly believe Snyder made the right choice, there’s no denying that the resulting film suffers from all the expected flaws that come with going down this route. The pacing is all over the place, certain twists and turns don’t carry the same weight as they do in the graphic novel, and uninitiated viewers may find themselves at a total loss as to what in the hell they’re watching. Simply put: As a movie meant to stand on its own, Watchmen is a failure. It succeeds, however, as a fascinating experiment and companion piece for those who have already read and loved the graphic novel. Likely not what the studio was hoping for, admittedly, but for people like me, it’s just about the best Watchmen film we could’ve asked for… even if, frankly, it probably shouldn’t have been made in the first place.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: DVD – Single-disc includes the theatrical cut of the film. 2-Disc includes the director’s cut with 25 minutes of additional footage, a “The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics” featurette, 30 minutes of Video Journals, a My Chemical Romance Desolation Row music video, and a digital copy of the theatrical version. Blu-ray – Includes all of the 2-Disc DVD extras, along with 2 additional featurettes (“Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes”, “Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World”), 30 minutes of Watchmen Focus Points, and a Warner Bros. Maximum Movie Mode.
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Pushing Daisies to Do a Firefly and Become a Movie?
Posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
ABC have a number of unaired Pushing Daisies episodes in the can, with no indication when or if they’ll even air them. Like several beloved shows before it, Daisies was snipped off in it’s prime. Between the first season (abbreviated by the writer’s strike) and the second (axed early) the show’s makers managed to bag only 22 epsisodes, I believe – a typical run for one, uninterrupted season but, on the other hand, the makings of a nice little bargain-price box set. Premature evacuation has struck to the show’s creator Bryan Fuller before, with Dead Like Me being snuffed out long before the fans were sick of it. That show, however, has been spun off into a movie, Life After Death, due on DVD shelves in February, and now, according to star Kristen Chenoweth, Daisies might be about to follow suit.
Bryan Fuller Tells All About His Return to Heroes
Posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 by Devindra Hardawar
It looks like television mastermind Bryan Fuller is following through with his previously-rumored return to Heroes now that Pushing Daisies has been canceled. And judging from this awesome interview with Michael Ausiello, something tells me we can expect Heroes to get a lot better come the second half of season three. While he has to build off a plotline begun by certain former producers, it’s clear that Fuller has a good sense of Heroes’ current narrative failures and what it takes to remedy them.
On the problems that arose in seasons two and three:
It became too dense and fell into certain sci-fi trappings. For instance, in the “Villains” arc, when you talk about formulas and catalysts, it takes the face off the drama. And I think the goal for everybody is to put a face back on the drama. You have to save something with a face; otherwise you don’t understand what you’re caring about. I thought the “Villains” arc started out very interestingly, and then became sort of muddy and dense and I couldn’t get my hooks into the characters to understand their motivations.
I also started to feel confused about what people’s abilities were. One of the great things about the first season is that the metaphor for their abilities was very clear. Those metaphors seem to have gotten complicated in the past two seasons. I share that concern with everybody on the writing staff. It’s not like I’m coming in and saying, “This is what you need to do to fix it!” Everybody knows what needs to be fixed and everybody is sort of rowing in that direction.
As someone who loved Heroes up until the sucktastic season one finale, I’m glad to hear that somebody on its staff is finally admitting to the show’s problems, and that he has the full support of the other writers to change course. Something also tells me he couldn’t speak as freely about these issues if former producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander were still involved. I’m fairly certain that their departure, coupled with Fuller’s return, could bring Heroes back to greatness—or at least make it watchable again.
Fuller’s first episode is 3×19, which is the sixth episode of the Fugitives arc set to begin airing early next year. He goes on to mention in the interview that the main characters will finally return to normal, non-super-powered, lives (Peter Patrelli is a paramedic! Claire is college-bound!). Given that I don’t even recognize the characters anymore from their season one counterparts, this is change for the better. We can also expect the show’s narrative to become more focused, with fewer plotlines per-episode.
Fuller plans to stick around for season four, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he jumps ship to work on another series of his own that will ultimately die because it’s “too good for TV”. Until then, Heroes fans should strap in for a treat. I just hope they remember what good Heroes is like.
Discuss: Are you a Heroes apologist or hater? Do you think Fuller could help bring the show back from the brink of suck? What sort of God cancels Pushing Daisies anyway? Sigh.
Source: EW via Aint It Cool News
ABC has decided not to pick up Pushing Daisies for a full season. THR reports that Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone were also given the axe. Post your thoughts in the comments below!
Pushing Daisies Creator Bryan Fuller to Return to Heroes?
Posted on Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 by Devindra Hardawar
When Heroes writers/producers Jeph Loeb and Jesse Alexander were ousted from the show, it was clear that series creator Tim Kring was looking to change things up. I personally stopped watching Heroes because it became needlessly confusing and overstuffed—a far cry from what it was throughout most of its first season.
Now Kristin dos Santos is reporting that Kring may be aiming to repeat the golden days of that first season by bringing back Bryan Fuller, an acclaimed television writer who has made a habit of creating cult shows. Fuller created Dead Like Me (though he left due to disagreements with the show’s drection), Wonderfalls (unjustifiably cancelled by Fox), and most recently, the sweetly morbid Pushing Daisies. He was a producer throughout most of season one of Heroes, wrote two of the best episodes of the series (most notably, “Company Man”), and was also responsible for much of Claire’s plotline.
While still unconfirmed, Fuller’s return could be exactly what the show needs right now. It may be difficult to recall today, but season one of Heroes was a refreshingly tight narrative experience (until the finale at least). At the time Lost was muddled in its own convoluted plot machinations, and Heroes served as a sort of anti-Lost for genre television. It’s ironic that today the situation is almost exactly reversed now that Lost is back to kicking ass.
The only issue with Fuller’s return is that he’ll have to spend less time with his current baby, Pushing Daisies. He could balance his time between both shows—it’s certainly not unheard of—but his potential availability may also hint that Pushing Daisies may not return next season, which is something I’m not quite prepared to think about just yet.
Discuss: How do you feel about the state of Heroes? Do you think firing Loeb and Alexander was wise? Do you think Bryan Fuller could restore the show’s former greatness?
/Filmcast Ep. 20 – Religulous (GUEST: Amelie Gillette)
Posted on Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 by Devindra Hardawar
In this episode of the /Filmcast, Dave, Devindra, and Adam are joined by the Onion AV Club’s Amelie Gillette and together they tear apart the notion of a Blade Runner sequel, try to figure out if they trust James Cameron more than McG, and spend some time discussing the finer points of religion while reviewing Bill Maher’s Religulous.
Have any questions, comments, concerns, feedback, or praise? E-mail us at slashfilmcast@gmail.com or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next next week as we review Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies.
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This Week in DVD: Speed Racer, The Love Guru, Pushing Daisies, 88 Minutes, and More…
Posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 by Adam Quigley
This Week in DVD is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s.
SPEED RACER
A film that has earned equal shares vehement hatred and unabashed praise, Speed Racer has proven itself one of the most divisive films to come out in a long while. This fact was made very clear when the movie only earned back $40 million of its $120 million budget. Even so, I have to admit to being one of the supporters for the film, as once I got past my initial nausea in reaction to the film’s over-stylized visuals (which are tantamount to what you might get if the Easter Bunny had a nasty case of rainbow diarrhea), the kickass action sequences, strong actors and palpable appreciation for the source material make the whole experience a very fun and worthwhile ride.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Unsurprisingly, there isn’t much in the way of special features for this massive box office flop. We only get two featurettes (‘Speed Racer: Supercharged’ and ‘Spritle in the Big Leagues’).
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $16.99 | $15.99 | $14.99 | |
| Amazon – $15.99 | |||
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Exclusive deluxe edition ($22.99).
Where? Target.
PUSHING DAISIES (SEASON 1)
This will be the first DVD I’ve ever blind bought. Normally I’d test the waters through Netflix before potentially wasting $20 bucks, but after being unable to escape the show’s constant praise (with words being thrown around like “wonderful,” “quirky,” “unique,” “brilliant,” “magical,” etc. etc.) and discovering it’s from the creator of one of my favorite shows, Dead Like Me, I get a strong feeling that this is a purchase I won’t regret. The premise revolves around a man named Ned who possesses the ability to bring the dead to life (and back to death again) with only a touch. However, if they remain alive for longer than a minute, someone else dies in their place. Season 1 contains 9 episodes.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: There’s a substantial amount of material available to access, but the only way to get to it is through a feature called ‘Pie Time: Time for Pie.’ It allows you to view the episodes and periodically select a cursor that appears onscreen, and from there it takes you to individual feaurettes.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $22.99 | $24.99 | $19.99 | N/A |
| Amazon – $18.99 | |||
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Exclusive book.
Where? Target.
CHUCK (SEASON 1)
You guys can go ahead and debate over the quality of this show, because I honestly could not have less interest in it. I remember watching the pilot episode and now looking back there’s not one scene I can remember from it. I also remember catching the last five minutes of almost every episode before Heroes would air, and being confused as to whether they were just playing reruns of the same episode over and over again (since they all seemed to resolve in the exact same way). However, there’s a reason this is in the good section and not the bad: people like it. Maybe I need to actually invest some time in the show before I understand why, but apparently the season continued to get better as it went along. So if you’re in the mood for an action dramedy about a computer geek turned secret agent, by all means check out Chuck. Season 1 contains 13 episodes.
Blu-ray? Will be released November 11, 2008.
Notable Extras: Declassified Scenes, 2 featurettes (‘Chuck’s World’, ‘Chuck on Chuck’), a gag reel, and a gallery of web originated mini-featurettes.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $27.99 | $29.99 | N/A | |
| Amazon – $25.99 | |||
88 MINUTES
So many people doubted me when I said Righteous Kill would be bad. “How the hell do you take two of the world’s best actors and make a shitty movie?” Unfortunately, half that question was already answered when Righteous Kill director Jon Avnet squandered Al Pacino’s talents with 88 Minutes, a movie that currently holds a whopping 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and was even slapped with the indignity of being released straight-to-DVD outside of the U.S. before its domestic release. And now that Righteous Kill has been released to a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems a lot of the blame can continued to be put squarely on director Jon Avnet. Here’s a tip for studios: next time you want to pair together two of the world’s most badass actors, choose a competent director who hasn’t already put one of those actors to shame in a film like this.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: A director commentary, an alternate ending, and 2 featurettes (‘Director’s Point of View’, ‘The Character Within’).
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $19.99 | $16.99 | $17.99 | $16.99 |
| Amazon – $24.99 | |||
THE LOVE GURU
(Available as single-disc and 2-Disc Digital Copy Special Editions)
Featured as one of this week’s Shit Movies of the Week on the /Filmcast, The Love Guru is possibly one of the most embarrassing comedies I’ve ever had the misfortune of seeing. It’s almost even on the level of a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer production (the geniuses behind Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, and so on…) as there’s a constant supply of random pop culture references that aren’t funny and don’t relate to anything going on in the movie, of which there really isn’t much to begin with. When the film isn’t wasting time on unfunny referential nonsense, Mike Myers makes sure to keep things moving by incessantly mugging for the camera and overall just making a huge ass of himself, a fact that’s further evidenced every time he recycles his own material from the Austin Powers films.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Extras on the single-disc include featurettes (‘One Hellava Elephant’, ‘Hockey Training for Actors’, ‘Back In The Booth With Trent and Jay’), 11 deleted and extended scenes, and bloopers. The only addition exclusive to the 2-disc is a digital copy of the film.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $16.99 | $17.99 | $16.99 | |
| Amazon – $18.99 | |||
*Does not include 2-Disc Edition, which costs $22.99 at each of the listed stores (including Amazon).
MADE OF HONOR
I don’t think anybody was really debating over whether or not this would be anything more than just another inoffensive, bland and unoriginal chick flick, but the 12% on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.4 rating on IMDB certainly solidify those expectations nicely. Apparently Hugh Grant and Matthew McConaughey weren’t available for the role of “awkward yet likable leading man with a good heart,” so the role went to Patrick Dempsey. Not even the amazing Michelle Monaghan (from one of my favorite films, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) presents enough incentive to give this film the go-ahead. And man does that stupid pun in the title make me cringe.
Blu-ray? Yes.
Notable Extras: Just a director commentary.
| BEST PRICE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Best Buy | Circuit City | Fry’s |
| $16.99 | $15.99 | $14.99 | |
| Amazon – $15.99 | |||
EXCLUSIVE DEAL:
What? Deluxe edition ($22.99), includes exclusive bonus content and digital copy.
Where? Target.
Other noteworthy DVDs available this week…
Young@Heart – Snow Angels – Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) – Risky Business (Deluxe Edition) – The Breakfast Club (Flashback Edition) – Sixteen Candles (Flashback Edition) – Weird Science (Flashback Edition) – Blood Simple (Director’s Cut) – Will & Grace (Season 8) – Private Practice (Season 1) – Dirty Sexy Money (Season 1) – Torchwood (Season 2) – Criminal Minds (Season 3)
Discuss: What are you planning to rent or buy this week?
NOTE: Some deals may be in-store only.
Exclusive: Free $10 Target GiftCard with purchase of both Private Practice (Season 1) ($29.99) and Dirty Sexy Money (Season 1) ($29.99).
$19.99 – Dexter (Season 1 or 2), Family Guy (Volumes 3 – 5), and more…
$29.99 – The Office (Seasons 2 – 4), House (Seasons 1 – 4)
$10 – Casino Royale, The Kingdom, Stomp the Yard, and more…
Exclusive: Save $10 with purchase of both Private Practice (Season 1) ($29.99) and Dirty Sexy Money (Season 1) ($29.99).
$14.99 – Doomsday, The Bank Job, There Will Be Blood, Vantage Point, The Other Boleyn Girl, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, 21, What Happens in Vegas, and more…
$4.99 – Vanilla Sky, The Manchurian Candidate, Enemy at the Gates, Road to Perdition, 8 Mile, The Hunt for Red October, Spy Game, Jacob’s Ladder, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Patriot Games, Double Jeopardy, For Love of the Game, and more…
$6.99 – Punch-Drunk Love, Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, Garden State, The Girl Next Door, Sleepless in Seattle, Legally Blonde, Guess Who, 50 First Dates, and more…
$3.99 – Jeepers Creepers, Blue Velvet, Fargo, Hotel Rwanda, Eight Men Out, This is Spinal Tap, Dances with Wolves, Hoosiers, and more…
