TV DVD Reviews

TV DVD Reviews

Reviews Archive
The Shield: The
Complete Series

full starfull starfull starfull starfull star
Eleventh Hour: The Complete Series
full starfull starfull starno starno star
The Rockford Files: Movie Collection, Volume One
full starfull starfull starfull starno star
Doctor Who: The Black Guardian Trilogy
full starfull starfull starfull starno star
Doctor Who:
The War Games

full starfull starfull starfull starno star
Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection
full starfull starfull starfull starfull star


Black Adder: The Ultimate Edition
full starfull starfull starfull starfull star

Flashpoint:The First Season
full starfull starfull starfull starno star

It's Garry Shandling's Show: The Complete Series
full starfull starfull starfull starfull star

The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete Fifth Season
full starfull starfull starfull starno star

Monty Python: Almost the Truth - The Lawyer's Cut
full starfull starfull starfull starno star

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
full starfull starfull starfull starno star

Traffik
full starfull starfull starfull starno star

Vega$: The First Season, Part One
full starfull starfull starfull starno star


DVD QuickTakes

QuickTakes Archive / QuickTakes Archive (pre-May 2008)

Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices

After dutifully earning his bones as one of the more reliable roasters at Comedy Central's annual events (to Larry the Cable Guy: "Why are you so popular?"), Greg Giraldo finally gets his first one-hour special, and he makes it count. His take-no-prisoners approach is intact here, and in fact he saves a lot of his best bits for third rails like children (they're fat, sickly and autistic). He does come a tad too close to a bit that popped up in Bill Burr's act a year or so ago (the 'I'm not a racist, but...' routine), but he makes up for it by hammering a "sleepy Rasta" who nodded off in the third row, and by saluting a "gaggle of squawking twats" who refused to let 9/11 ruin their friend's bachelorette party. The bonus features include the unaired pilot episode of "Adult Content," a Comedy Central show about, well, porn. It's a pretty decent show, though it makes sense that they would have had trouble following it up. With any luck, "Midlife Vices" will allow Giraldo to carve out a name for himself as something other than "that roast guy," because the material here is most worthy.

Click to buy "Greg Giraldo: Midlife Vices"

You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush

Given how brutally Will Ferrell skewered George W. Bush during the 2000 election, you'd think a one-man show in which Ferrell celebrates the end of Bush's two terms with 90 minutes of proudly partisan buffoonery would be a can't-miss prospect -- and during the limited live run of "You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush," that may have been true. On DVD, however, Ferrell's salute to the former Commander-in-Chief provokes more chuckles than guffaws, due at least in part to the fact that, despite his many contributions to late night comics' monologues, Bush's presidency really wasn't all that funny. Taped shortly after Bush yielded office to Barack Obama (or, as Ferrell's version of W. calls him, "the Tiger Woods guy"), this performance initially had the power of pent-up catharsis to get it across; now, however, it's mostly just a faintly humorous, somewhat painful look back at a period of American history pockmarked with war, terrorism, economic turmoil, and a horrific natural disaster. Ferrell's squints, frat-boy chuckles, and screams of idiotic rage just can't keep up with it all, although the show's more brazenly surreal moments (including a dance with Condoleezza Rice, played here by the fearless Pia Glenn) offer pleasant reminders of just how far he's willing to go for his comedy. If you really loathed Bush, you'll probably want to own it -- or at least watch it -- just to have one last laugh at his expense, but otherwise, this is a pretty lukewarm roast.

Click to buy “You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush”

Iron Man: Armored Adventures - Volume One

Following the box office success of “Iron Man” last summer, it was pretty much a given that Marvel would move forward with an animated series. When it was announced that Tony Stark would be getting the high school treatment, however, my interest in the project plummeted. Fortunately, I still had a lingering curiosity as to how it would turn out, and although a teenage version of Iron Man certainly isn’t ideal, the show actually works better than expected thanks to some solid writing and slick CG animation. Loosely based on the comic book roots, the series begins with teenage prodigy Tony Stark putting the finishing touches on his latest invention. But before he can show it off to his dad, he’s killed by longtime business partner, Obadiah Stane, in a coup to take over Stark Industries. Now, with the help of his friends Rhodey and Pepper, Tony begins to unravel the mystery behind Stane’s takeover, all while playing superhero in his new Iron Man armor. Sadly, only six episodes are included in this Volume One collection, so while we do get to see classic Iron Man baddies like Mandarin, Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo, you’ll be left wanting more when it’s all over. That may be Marvel’s intention, but with the new sequel due out in theaters this May, let’s hope they release the entire first season in time for casual fans to discover what they're missing.

Click to buy “Iron Man: Armored Adventures - Volume One”