Month: October 2008

[DVD REVIEW] “The Sarah Silverman Program” Season Two, Volume One

There’s no other way to slice it, this two-disc DVD feels like it should be out on the market for half the price with half the discs, because it’s essentially half of a complete DVD set.

Don’t get me wrong, I think The Sarah Silverman Program is hilarious and I really enjoyed watching every episode on this DVD—all six of them. That’s right, six.—but the bottomline is this DVD set just isn’t much of a set. It feels half done and I can only assume it’s a casualty of the writer’s strike, as the creative team behind the show seems to have done their best to put together a ton of special features to make up for the lack of episodes.

The second disc is chock-full of behind-the-scenes skits and online videos (including the fantastic “Cookies Come Alive!” animated shorts by the dudes who brought us all the insanely funny “House of Cosbys”), not to mention the complete 2007 Comic-Con panel with the writers and cast, but with only six episodes as the disc’s main sell (at least they all have commentary!) this two disc set feels like corporate chose to package an incomplete product that the show’s talent did their best to fill with extras for fans.

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A Hodg(man)e-Podge post

Ok, I’m here to run down a few things that were all spurred on by this Onion AV Club interview with John Hodgman.

Picture shamelessly stolen from The Onion, so GO READ THE ARTICLE!

Now if you are only familiar with Mr. Hodgman as the PC in those Mac commercials, then you need to get your ass in gear and check out the man’s writing and other hilarious TV appearances including numerous appearances on “The Daily Show,” a sure-to-be-awesome upcoming stint on “Battlestar Galactica” and an episode of one of my favorites, “Flight of the Conchords.”

I loved Hodgman’s first book, the laugh-out-loud compendium of fake trivia The Areas Of My Expertise, and saw his new book(More Information Than You Require) over the weekend and immediately scooped it up. While I haven’t started into More yet, if it promises half the laughs of Areas it’ll be more than worth the investment.

Seriously, go pick both of these books up. You’ll be hard pressed to find a funnier read!

I know I mentioned it above, but I have to say I am super excited to see Hodgman on “BSG.” Think he’ll be the final cylon?!

Lastly, all this info about the frequent “Daily Show” contributor led me to realize I hadn’t given any sort of update on my trip to see a taping of “The Colbert Report,” which I attended this past Thursday (Oct. 23).

If you get the chance to reserve tickets for a taping of “The Report,” do it! Colbert is hilarious in person and even answered questions out of character before the taping, which was both fun and interesting. The guy is spry as heck and just keeps a smile on your face or has you buckling over with laughter the entire time. The comedy is gold when you watch the show on TV, but in person, it definitely reaches a new level of hysterical.

Now, while you can’t see me in any crowd shots of the show I attended, when Colbert ran over to meet his guest (Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter) he stopped to right in front of my section of the audience and raised his hands in the air. I stood and applauded, first among my entire audience section. And, if you’re paying attention and looking closly, you can see Colbert’s nod to me, featuring eye contact (which you can’t see on TV), before he sits with his guest.

Ok, that does it for today, folks! Thanks for your continual patronage on this blog that sometimes has a point, and other times (i.e. today) is just ramblings about things that interest me.

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Presidential (Comedy) Material!

Two week’s ago, IDW Publishing put out two books which gave comic book backstory/biographies of the two presidential candidates: Barack Obama and John McCain. While the book’s put together a pretty interesting little history of each candidate, there were a few humorous panels I just had to call out!

Apparently, though Barack Obama’s body has aged, his face has looked the same since he was just a wee lad among the waves!

McCain is for real…FOR REAL! Do not miss with this dude! He will F–K you up!

BUMP IT!

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[DVD REVIEW] “The Incredible Hulk”

Marvel Studios second big DVD of the year—”The Incredible Hulk”—is definitely a big piece of multimedia worthy of Green Genes legacy, but much like it’s theater outing, it doesn’t quite match up to “Iron Man.”

Where “Iron Man” boasted special features that looked as though they’d received as much love and consideration as the feature presentation, “Hulk’s” special fair feels tagged on and falls short in comparison. Be it the half-length “Making of…” feature (30 minutes as compared to “Iron Man’s” hour) or the lack of an extensive character history in the comics feature with numerous creator interviews (Instead of “Iron Man’s” compelling hour-long look at the history of Iron Man comics, it only features an animatic of a scene from eph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Hulk: Gray), “Hulk” isn’t bad, but just isn’t as good.

What “Hulk’s” DVD does deliver is a plethora of deleted scenes that give fans insight into the Edward Norton/Marvel Studios feud and rumors that surrounded the film’s release. With a brief alternate opening and about 40 minutes of footage that wasn’t seen on the big screen, fans can get a look at Edward Norton’s vision of “Hulk.” Disappointingly, every deleted scene is used for character exploration and none feature any Hulking out (which does make sense, considering effects budgets…but still!). While a few offer fun backstory (Banner’s time spent in Tibet and subtle references to Captain America), the main insight taken away from viewing these scenes is that Marvel Studios made an extremely smart move by removing 40 minutes of non-Hulk footage from the feature. These additional scenes definitely display Ed Norton’s complete understanding of the character and comic, but would have made for a very long and boring film even with all the theatrical release’s amazing Hulk-outs!

The featurettes in this special edition are great, especially seeing how Edward Norton and Tim Roth brought their CG counterparts to life, but the lackluster “Making of…” featurette really made me wish director Louis Letterier or Norton had taken a more vested interest in it like Jon Favreau did on “Iron Man.” Favreau’s cooperation and great enthusiasm for capturing the production and process of the film on tape made for an amazing, hour-long documentary. “Hulk’s” main documentation of this is standard, 30 minute fair and an enjoyable watch, but after seeing what it could have been in “Iron Man,” it left me wanting.

Lastly, the billing of this special edition DVD as a three-disc set is a bit misleading. Sure, it technically has three discs, but one of them is just a digital copy of the film. So, for all intensive purposes it is a two-disc special edition featuring a digital copy. That, and the overly complex DVD menus that focus on looks instead of user-friendliness, are my only real gripes on the technical issues of the package.

Overall, “Incredible Hulk” was a great movie well worth owning on DVD, but it’s special features don’t make much more of a compelling argument to pick it up. There’s definitely plenty worth watching on this three-disc set’s second disc, but DVD enthusiasts will likely be let down by how much more could have been added to sweeten the pot on this special edition.

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Smell the cilantro, Batman!

I wanted to get this up last week when it came out, but couldn’t find the time. Anyway, here’s a shot from Gail Simone’s Secret Six #2, and one of the most hilarious single panel’s in comic history!

Context: Catman is fighting Batman to keep him occupied as the Secret Six break into Alcatraz. Throughout the fight, Catman continually comments on how he smells cilantro or wonders if there is a Mexican restaurant nearby. Finally, Batman gets fed up and says, “If you must know…I had a burrito!”

Fantastic!

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[DVD REVIEW] “Iron Man”

As if you really needed a reason to go out and buy “Iron Man” on DVD (check out my review of the flick here if you are curious why the movie is so awesome), I decided to give the special features a look and just reaffirm the obvious need for purchase of this incredibly rad summer blockbuster.

As a big fan of special features, “Iron Man” isn’t lacking in the slightest. The seven-part “Making of” documentary not only provides some amazing insight into the film, but does something I really wish more DVDs would do: put each aspect of the film into a chronological recap of the production. I hate when I have to click over to another featurette and sit through 15 boring minutes of interviews to gain the three I needed to learn about the making of the Iron Man suit. Blending all of these aspects together and taking the viewer from the first day of production to the final editing process was truly a treat to watch.

However, the real thing that set this documentary apart—as its good production quality and chronological nature don’t really place it too far ahead of other DVDs—is director Jon Favreau’s enthusiastic participation in the whole thing. Not only do you get to see Favreau morph from a hefty, bearded bear of a man to a svelte, clean-shaven Happy Hogan, but Favreau introduces most every part of the documentary at each location and even others up his anxieties and excitement about the film’s production in numerous interviews. His commitment to the film definitely shined through on the big screen and his commitment to “Iron Man” in its entirety—DVD and all—really puts this DVD’s headlining feature far above anything I’ve seen delivered in comic book movie special features so far.

The DVD also features a fun and interesting six-part look at the comic history of Iron Man and features interviews and insight on the Iron Avenger from legends like Gerry Conway and Gene Colan, and more recent scribes like Warren Ellis and Charlie and Daniel Knauf. It’s a great refresher course with loads of interesting things from creators for the big Iron Fan and a nice history for the newbie to ol’ Shellhead’s Marvel legacy.

The deleted scenes are best watched after the documentary, in my opinion, because insight into the making of the film is helpful when viewing the additional footage. The scenes were definitely deleted for good reason, as they all seem like they would have been extremely out of place in the movie, but really instills faith in Favreau for “Iron Man 2” as you can see some goofy party scenes in Dubai—which, BONUS!, do feature the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah—hit the cutting room floor.

It was a DVD already well worth buying, and the special features deliver hours of additional enjoyment for anyone who loved “Iron Man.”

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[DVD REVIEW] “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

While I thought “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was a fair movie that didn’t live up to the original trilogy due to no fault of the actors or director, but based simply on the story, it’s 2-disc special edition DVD has the special features that deliver the real Indy goodness, but begs the question as to how the movie could have turned out so okay/mediocre when it seems the entire production had recaptured the magic of making the first three films.

Buying this single DVD may not be worth it, considering the inevitable 4-disc box set that will undoubtedly emerge right after you have, the 12-part production diary entitled “Making ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'” is well worth the cover price if you are set on un-box-set version of Indy’s fourth escapade. Put together with all the love and detail that the current fourth disc in the box-set containing special features on the first three flicks received, the in-depth look into each and every part of the production is an truly engaging look into how this film came to be. Whether it’s seeing a closing shot of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas riding off into the sunset in a vintage auto after filming “Indy” 4’s opening sequence or each and every interview demonstrating how truly badass Harrison Ford remains, diehards and casual Indy fans alike will love this well-constructed, near-hour-and-a-half long feature!

The rest of the special features are pretty standard fair—insight into special effect, props and the backstory behind the crystal skulls—but have enough fun moments to reward the DVD connoisseur who trucks through them all, including a great insight into aviation-enthusiast Harrison Ford’s help picking the airplanes that appear in the movie, as well as footage of whip-practices before filming!

In the end, it may not have been Indy’s best outing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t recapture the magic that the production did with these great special features. A purchase might be an iffy move based on the guaranteed future box-set, but the bonus disc is well worth a rental at the very least!

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