12/16/2015DVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett, Young Brian Wilson and More | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=2ca81bab-2a76-4286-aa5a-6fce9220850c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/4DVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett,Young Brian Wilson and MoreDVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett, Young BrianWilson and MoreLoads of TV, an acclaimed movie about the Beach Boys, "lost" Carol Burnett and more highlight this batch ofnew releases on DVD, BluRay, digital download or however you choose to consume your entertainment ofchoice.</p><p> Let's dive in!ARROW SEASON 3 ($60.10 BluRay; Warner Home Entertainment) THE FLASH SEASON 1 ($60.10 BluRay; Warner Home Entertainment) GOTHAM SEASON 1 ($60.10 BluRay; Warner Home Entertainment)Marvel may be killing it at the cinema, but DC is killing it on TV.</p><p> The two perennial giants of comic books areused to their own universes and apparently DC's is in your home.</p><p> Arrow has proven a game-changer for WarnerBros. (the studio behind the show), powering the CW for the last few years and helping to launch The Flash tosimilar acclaim and ratings success.</p><p> I found Arrow pretty angsty and silly from the start but fans have clearlyembraced it, including the comic book fans who can school me on the many variations of this character over theyears and what the show gets right.</p><p> That didn't stop me from checking out The Flash but I thought the pilot wasawful.</p><p> Huge ratings followed (by CW standards) and now here comes Season 1 on disc.</p><p> Like others who havenoticed the show and realize it's here for the long haul, now I have a chance to give IT another chance bywatching the episodes in order.</p><p> The one that has sort of worked for me is Gotham.</p><p> Mainly, I'm a fan of BenjaminMcKenzie (he of The OC, bitch!) who has grown with Southland and now this into a genuine TV star.</p><p> The showalso benefitted from letting villains apparently dominate a season long arc, rather than popping them in and out,always to return.</p><p> Surely, villains can always come back (even from the dead) but it's good Gotham at leastcreates the sense of actual danger since we're so used to our heroes being bulletproof.</p><p> McKenzie could beBruce Wayne, but of course here he's the mentor to Bruce Wayne as Commissioner-To-Be James Gordon.Here's hoping the just-launched season two has him working more with the compelling David Mazouz.LOVE & MERCY ($24.99 BluRay; Lionsgate) QUEEN AND COUNTRY ($24.98 DVD; BBC)Capturing an artist on film -- the creative process they undergo -- has to be one of the most challenging tasks fora film.</p><p> Derring-do? Falling in love? Revenge? That's easy compared to showing a poet or painter in action.</p><p> Sohere is the relatively rare film about an artist that works.</p><p> It's not just any artist.</p><p> Love & Mercy captures BrianWilson of the Beach Boys at his peak.</p><p> The Beatles delivered the marvelous one-two punch of Rubber Soul andRevolver and in response to the first album Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys delivered their masterpiece PetSounds.</p><p> That in turn pushed the Beatles towards Sgt.</p><p> Pepper.</p><p> The miracle here is that Love & Mercy capturesall this with drama and genuine artistic excitement.</p><p> The praise for the film has been strong, though some dislikethe bifurcated nature of the tale.</p><p> The movie jumps between Wilson at his peak and Wilson later in life, troubledby mental health issues and trying to reclaim his mojo. (Remarkably, that would happen when he finallydelivered Smile and it was damn near as good as one could hope.) Paul Dano is so good he might well beremembered come Oscar time.</p><p> And John Cusack as the older, troubled Wilson has his advocates too.</p><p> Butwhatever happens come awards time, this small gem will surely find a wider audience than ever in people's12/16/2015DVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett, Young Brian Wilson and More | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=2ca81bab-2a76-4286-aa5a-6fce9220850c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/4homes and happily send folk to Pet Sounds.</p><p> It's no criticism of the movie to say that album is the realmasterpiece here and the more folk that discover it, the happier all involved will be.Queen And Country did not enjoy the praise and long, art house run of Love & Mercy.</p><p> It's a sequel to Hope &Glory, director John Boorman's childhood memory of war that showed from a kid's point of view, war could bepretty much a lark.</p><p> Queen And Country isn't a patch that career peak but it is ideal for Anglophones and anyonewho enjoyed that earlier film.</p><p> Whereas Love & Mercy built up a lot of cred during its theatrical run, this onepractically disappeared.</p><p> It will prove a welcome discovery for anyone who seeks it out.THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW: THE LOST EPISODES ($59.95 DVD; Time Life) SISTERS SEASON 1 AND 2 ($44.99 DVD; Shout! Factory) PEANUTS EMMY HONORED COLLECTION ($26.99 DVD; Warner Home Entertainment)I grew up watching Carol Burnett, but I'm not THAT old! Plus, the show barely existed in reruns and those rerunswere sad, truncated affairs of sketches from later seasons for various technical and music rights reasons.</p><p> Manyof its "hits" are etched in my brain and the various compilations and excellent boxed sets of recent years were adelightful bit of nostalgia and good old comedy.</p><p> But here is something completely different.</p><p> Here we have 16uncut episodes from the show's first five seasons, shows that haven't been seen at all.</p><p> Not once! So for mostpeople, even a fan like me, these are essentially brand new.</p><p> True they are a little more rickety than the episodesin color that I know and love, sketches from when the show was firing on all cylinders.</p><p> The pleasure here is notin seeing perfection, but watching the birth of classic characters and routines that would grow and change overthe years.</p><p> It's seeing a young Burnett doing just about anything and realizing she can get away with it.</p><p> It'sseeing a parade of celebrity guests.</p><p> For someone who has never seen Burnett's peak years, this is not the placeto start.</p><p> For those who know and love her classic variety show, this is a treat.Sisters is another landmark show, but one more for what it did than for what it is.</p><p> Sometimes, shows break downbarriers but that is more of an enduring accomplishment than the actual series itself.</p><p> That may, I fear, be thecase here.</p><p> Sisters was unique for its focus on women and their concerns and the checklist of issues that theshow tackled with frankness and fearlessness is impressive.</p><p> Still, one must admit it's a bit dated.</p><p> For somereason, I believe thirtysomething will be less dated, perhaps because it was so specific in its self-critical, self-awareness.</p><p> But I haven't proven that by actually re-watching that landmark series that came in this show's wake.The saving grace here is the excellent cast, led by Swoozie Kurtz and Sela Ward.</p><p> For years, they madeSaturday night at 10 pm a haven for smart viewers. it's a pity of course they couldn't just release all six seasonsin one boxed set since anyone who cares would want the whole thing.</p><p> But you take what you can get.Now, Peanuts are a perennial.</p><p> Ask me to name their TV specials and like most I would start and end with theHalloween one and the classic Christmas one.</p><p> But here are eleven more -- eleven (!) and by no means all,apparently.</p><p> You won't be surprised to hear they're not up to the standards of A Charlie Brown Christmas or eventhe lesser It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.</p><p> These aired from 1975 to 1990, but most date from the 1980sand it shows.</p><p> The strip was a little tired by then and the TV specials were tired too, lacking the distinctive scoreof Vince Guaraldi.</p><p> And frankly, why not just box them all together in one set? You do get a bushel of specials butonly two are new to DVD (five have been remastered).</p><p> Surely it's time for a definitive set? It's hard to imaginethe consumer who would buy this that didn't want to buy them all.FURIOUS 7 ($34.98 BluRay; Universal)The Fast & Furious franchise is almost unique in film history.</p><p> With one exception, every film in this series hasproven more popular than the one before.</p><p> Is it the multi-culti cast? Is it the over-the-top action that is somehowstill rooted in the real world the way action in a James Bond film perhaps is not? Is it just...cars? No, it's the RatPack vibe of the ensemble.</p><p> From Vin Diesel to the late Paul Walker to Michelle Rodriguez on down, everyoneseems to be having a blast.</p><p> They know it's silly, they know it's popcorn fare and they love it.</p><p> The sense that they12/16/2015DVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett, Young Brian Wilson and More | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=2ca81bab-2a76-4286-aa5a-6fce9220850c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/4had as much fun making it as you should have watching it is infectious.</p><p> And I don't mean the dismissive attitudeof those 1970s movies where the endless bloopers made it seem like the actors didn't give a damn about theactual film they were making as long as they had fun on the set.</p><p> No, the actors here seem determined toentertain and audiences continue to eat it up.</p><p> Will it continue now that Walker is gone? This upward trajectorycan't go on forever and maybe some magic will be gone.</p><p> But FF remains a remarkable accomplishment, even ifonly diehard fans can remember what happened in FF4 versus FF2 versus FF7.AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: WALT DISNEY ($24.99 DVD; PBS) CINDERELLA ($36.99 BluRay; Disney)Walt Disney is a complex, towering figure in American pop culture.</p><p> It's no surprise he's one of the few to qualifyfor the four hour, American Experience treatment rather than the more typical tow hours devoted to a singleperson.</p><p> It is surprising that this look at his life falls far short.</p><p> It feels superficial and glib, both overly familiar andnot nearly penetrating enough.</p><p> It breaks no new ground and doesn't cover the well-known contours of UncleWalt's life with the definitiveness it deserves.</p><p> If you know absolutely nothing about him, the parade of talkingheads (some great like Neal Gabler, many others less so) will I suppose inform.</p><p> But for such a sprawling affair,somehow you feel they barely scratch the surface.</p><p> One area where it does succeed is in the research that wentinto it.</p><p> The behind-the-scenes archivists did turn up a treasure trove of home movies, studio footage, rare audioand more.</p><p> For those with a passionate interest, that will prove enticement enough.</p><p> Of course, they'll be the onesmore than most who recognize how little else here is of note.Disney was first and foremost a creative force.</p><p> The man who used his TV show to promote his theme park andhis theme park to promote his movies and his movies to promote his albums and books and his albums andbooks to promote his TV show? He loved synergy and creative recycling more than anyone.</p><p> Witness his savvyprotection of the studio's crown jewels, the animated films that weren't always successes right away but couldbe re-released every seven years or so to a new crop of kids and thus become enduring and profitable classics.So if anyone would have appreciated the way his company now turns properties into Broadway musicals andthen TV shows and then back into movies, it would be Uncle Walt.</p><p> He might have done a more distinctive jobthan this live action remake of Cinderella.</p><p> But a juicy turn by Cate Blanchett, prestige direction from KennethBranagh, family friendly fare with a modest feminist slant to make it new and especially worldwide box office ofmore than $500 million? He would most definitely approve.MODERN FAMILY SEASON 6 ($39.98 DVD; Fox) HOMELAND SEASON 4 ($49.99 BluRay; Fox) VICIOUS SEASON 2 ($29.99 DVD; PBS)Modern Family did not make Emmy history and win Best Comedy for six seasons in a row.</p><p> And thank god forthat.</p><p> If you want to know why, you need look no further.</p><p> The show has had far more passionate advocates thanI, but even they would admit it has long worn out its welcome and become a dim version of its former self.Everything now feels forced and too clever and the large cast feels more oppressive than expansive as in thefirst year or two.</p><p> It remains very popular and likely will run as long as the cast agrees.Homeland didn't wear out its welcome.</p><p> It's just a great miniseries that unfortunately thought it was a TV show.</p><p> Ifthey had made season one as a complete event and stopped there, its reputation would be great.</p><p> Instead itimmediately went off the rails completely in season two, tried to end things up in season three and reboot inseason four.</p><p> It's a frantic, tangled dramatic arc for a show that had a complete storyline...one that should havelasted 12 episodes.</p><p> Ever since Lost, TV creators seem incapable of realizing that high concept shows likeHomeland simply CAN'T be a long-running TV series.</p><p> The best actors in the world can't mask that fact and withClaire Danes and Mandy Patinkin Homeland has prove that to a fault.Now, no one really thinks Vicious is good, least of all the actors involved.</p><p> Some might feel this series about two12/16/2015DVDs: Young Bruce Wayne, Young Carol Burnett, Young Brian Wilson and More | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=2ca81bab-2a76-4286-aa5a-6fce9220850c&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&4/4gay men of a certain age living in bitchy domestic "bliss" surrounded by their female best friend, a handsomeyoung straight neighbor and various hangers-on is good trashy fun.</p><p> And they'd be right about the trashy.</p><p> It'sweirdly compelling since the show features Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi -- two of the greatest actors alive --in a sitcom with all the wit of Three's Company.</p><p> Toss in Frances De La Tour and you have an embarrassment ofriches or perhaps just an embarrassing waste. it would be far more satisfying to see them all in something trulyworthy of their talents but it's undeniable that they...well, elevate the material? No, that's not quite right.</p><p> Lowerthemselves to its level? Closer, but not quite.</p><p> Perhaps it's just perversely amusing to see these world classtalents having a go at such middle-brow fare and doing it with glee.</p><p> Plus there's the frisson of seeing two menwho had to be closeted for much of their careers getting to savor all the campy jokes for all to see.</p><p> I for one feelalmost compelled to watch.NOTE: Prices and format are strictly based on what is made available to me for review.</p><p> If they give me a DVD,that's the format and list price I include.</p><p> Needless to say, every title here is often available in multiple discformats not to mention on demand and via streaming so the list price included is virtually never what you'll payand the format is always just one of many ways for seeing the work reviewed.Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the founder of BookFilter, a book lover's best friend.</p><p> Looking for the nextgreat book to read? Head to BookFilter! Need a smart and easy gift? Head to BookFilter! Wondering what newtitles just hit the store in your favorite categories, like cookbooks and mystery and more? Head to BookFilter! It'sa website that lets you browse for books online the way you do in a physical bookstore, provides comprehensiveinfo on new releases every week in every category and offers passionate personal recommendations every stepof the way.</p><p> It's like a fall book preview or holiday gift guide -- but every week in every category.</p><p> He's also thecohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment newsof the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available for free on iTunes.</p><p> VisitMichael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.Note: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs and Blu-rays with the understanding that he would beconsidering them for review.</p><p> Generally, he does not guarantee to review and he receives far more titles than hecan cover.
