Home Video

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
  • IMDB: link

best-marigold-hotel-dvdDirected by John Madden, and adapted from Deborah Moggach‘s bestselling novel by Ol Parker, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel offers a rich cast of English actors in an ensemble piece about a group of elderly pensioners who all move into the same retirement community in India.

The cast is better than the material, but The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel sports some noteworthy performances (particularly that of Judi Dench as a recent widow) and boasts the kind of feel-good story most should enjoy without becoming sappy or overly sentimental.

Our group of travelers include a penniless widow (Dench), a gay man (Tom Wilkinson) returning to India looking to reconnect with the love of his life, a henpecked husband (Bill Nighy) and his demanding wife (Penelope Wilton), a kindly but somewhat racist housekeeper (Maggie Smith) in need of a hip replacement, an aging ladies man (Ronald Pickup), and a woman (Celia Imrie) in the market for a new husband.

…

The Best Exotic Marigold HotelRead More »

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Read More »

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
  • IMDB: link

madagascar-3-blu-rayIn their third film the four animals from Madagascar – Alex (Ben Stiller) the lion, Marty (Chris Rock) the zebra, Melman (David Schwimmer) the giraffe, and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) the hippopotamus – join a European circus and finally make it home to New York City. After growing tired of waiting for the penguins to return to Africa, the NY foursome travel to Monaco to retrieve their friends and start the journey home only to have to hide out in a rundown traveling circus to escape a crazed Animal Control officer (Frances McDormand) who wants Alex’s head stuffed and mounted on her wall.

Fans of both the first and second film should enjoy themselves here as the third entry into the franchise gives us more crazy plans and inventions from the penguins, more zany travel adventures for our fearsome foursome, new wacky supporting characters, and even a love interest (Jessica Chastain) for Alex this time around.

…

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most WantedRead More »

Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted Read More »

Psych – Season Six

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Psych – The Complete Sixth Season
  • tv.com: link

psych-season-six-dvdShawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) return for yet another season of tomfoolery and crime solving wackiness. Highlights from Psych‘s Sixth Season include the return of Pierre Despereaux (Cary Elwes) and a search for a treasure trove of lost art, Shawn and Gus going undercover with a local minor league baseball team, the introduction of William Shatner as Juliet’s (Maggie Lawson) father, Shawn going undercover in a mental institution, and a Hangover-inspired episode as Shawn, Gus, Lassie (Timothy Omundson), and Woody (Kurt Fuller) try to piece together the events of a wild night together.

Other stories this year include a vampire killer, Lassie getting a girlfriend (Kristy Swanson) and moving into a haunted apartment, a comic book episode featuring Santa Barbara’s own vigilante, Shawn and Juliet’s lover’s retreat, the return (sort of) of Blackapella, and a Chinatown–inspired season finale leaving the future of one cast regular (Corbin Bernsen) in serious doubt.

…

Psych – Season SixRead More »

Psych – Season Six Read More »

Dial M for Murder

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Dial M for Murder
  • IMDB: link

dial-m-for-murder-blu-rayAlfred Hitchcock‘s 1954 classic stars Ray Milland as ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice who for a year has known about his wife Margot’s (Grace Kelly) affair with an American crime novelist (Robert Cummings). Wanting revenge, and the wealth his dead wife would bring, Tony blackmails a petty criminal (Anthony Dawson) into helping him pull off the perfect murder. When things don’t go to plan Tony rolls with the punches and tries to frame his wife for the first-degree murder of the would-be assassin.

Dial M for Murder delivers several of Hitchcock’s trademark touches including a charming sociopath – even though Milland’s character is trying to bump off Grace Kelly (in her first collaboration with Hitchcock) we somehow don’t begrudge him the opportunity. We also get the central role of a staircase to the plot, and the planning and boasting of a perfect murder.

…

Dial M for MurderRead More »

Dial M for Murder Read More »

The Great Mouse Detective

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Great Mouse Detective
  • IMDB: link

the-great-mouse-detectiveThe 1980’s were lean years for Disney. Sure, the studio gave us The Fox and the Hound to begin the decade and The Little Mermaid to end it (and start a resurgence for Disney animated features), but the near decade in-between produced some very un-Disney-like choices for theatrical features including 1985’s The Black Cauldron and 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective.

The concept may sound a bit goofy (no pun intended), but The Great Mouse Detective centers around Basil of Baker Street (Barrie Ingham), the world’s foremost mouse detective. As the film opens Basil and a doctor recently returned from Afghanistan, Dr. David Q. Dawson (Val Bettin), are approached by young Olivia Flaversham (Susanne Pollatschek) whose father (Alan Young) has been kidnapped by the evil Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price). Ratigan wants the toy maker to create a clockwork version of the Queen (Eve Brenner) which he can use to rule all of England.

…

The Great Mouse DetectiveRead More »

The Great Mouse Detective Read More »