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| Deuceday DVDs: September 2nd, 2008 |
| Tuesday, 02 September 2008 | |
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Yet another slow week on the DVD front. We have two vastly different TV-on-DVD entries this week and a Direct-to-Video animated movie that was actually, truthfully quite good. I know, I'm as surprised as you are.   First up is "Eli Stone: The Complete First Season". Okay, now don't get me wrong here: I really want to like Jonny Lee Miller. I've watched "Hackers" more times than is probably healthy, I thought he was pretty good in "Trainspotting"... I'm even ashamed to say that he was probably the best part of "Dracula 2000" (yes, I was the one person who actually watched Dracula 2000). But this show? Not so much. I gave it a chance. It was on after Lost, it looked like it had a unique premise ("jerky lawyer is either a prophet of God, or has a brain tumor that is giving him hallucinations") and yes, it had Jonny Lee Miller in it. However, with all this in it's corner, Eli Stone just didn't deliver the way I thought it would. What started out as an interesting idea basically devolved into a hacky combination of "My Name is Earl" meets "Ally McBeal"... kind of a "My Name is Ally McBearl". Whatever you want to call it, call it a rental at best (and only if you've worn through your copy of Hackers for the fourth time like I have). Direct-to-Whaaaa?  It's a rare occurence when a movie surprises me. I've become so good at weeding out the good from the bad, regardless of media hype and trailer extravagance, that I typically know going in what kind of movie I'm in for. So whether it was the current phase of the moon, or perhaps the planets have aligned just so, as Zod as my witness I stand here today surprised. "Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow" is the lastest direct-to-video animated movie from Marvel Studios, makers of such watered down dreck like the Ultimates movie and an Iron Man animated movie that made me want to stop reading the comic altogether (which was an impressive feat at the time). Sufficed to say, I was not expecting what I got: a good, lighthearted all-ages-welcome superhero movie. Set in an "alterna-future" where the Avengers save the world, pair off and have kids, then get attacked and killed by Ultron, each of the Next Avengers is like a good game of "If They Mated": the son of Captain America and Black Widow is super agile and acrobatic, the son of Black Panther and Storm has cat-like reflexes and can summon electricity, and so on and so forth. That synergy rolls down into every aspect of the characters, even reflected in their costume design. The movie is definitely kid-friendly, but has enough action and battle scenes to keep any comic book movie fan entertained. If I had to compare it to something I'd say it has a very "Avatar: The Last Airbender" vibe - a good blend of humor, action, and adventure. While normally I'd avoid Marvel direct-to-video movies like the plague, this one is definitely worth picking up. That's What She Said   Last but definitely not least, we have "The Office: Season Four".That's it. That's all I should have to say. Why haven't you bought this yet? Click on it. Buy it. Quickly. Done? Okay, good. What I love about the fourth season of The Office is that unlike previous seasons which normally contain self-contained individual episodes, this season maintains that feel while keeping a consistant over-arching plot throughout the entirety of the season. Oh, also that it makes me shoot soda out of my nose from laughing so hard. Personal highlights for season 4 include Michael running over Meredith, the entire Dunder Mifflin Infinity farce complete with Ryan's ridiculous facial hair and cocaine addiction, the guys going undercover to get back at Karen's branch (and subsequently destroy her copier), the entire "Dinner Party" episode - particularly "That One Night" sung by none other than Nicholas D'Agosto (Claire's boyfriend from Heroes), every single one of Jim's fake proposals, and finally the "pièce de résistance": the parking lot blowout to celebrate Toby's departure, complete with ferris wheel.   However, the only downside is that season four was cut short due to the WGA Strike, which makes this box set feel a bit light. Sure, there are quite a few hour-long special episodes, but all in all it feels slightly lacking with only 14 total episodes instead of the standard 22. I know that I don't feel right paying full price for what was essentially three quarters of a season.However, if you don't already own Seasons 1-3 on DVD, now is the perfect time to pick up "The Office: Ultimate Package (That's What She Said): Seasons 1-4" also released today. Even with the shortened fourth season, it's still worth the money to pick them all up at once. Do you know the lyrics to "That One Night"? If the devil were to explode, and evil was gone forever, what sort of party would you have? Post a comment below and let us know! Comments (0)
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