DVD Releases and News

Fresh Fodder: New DVD Releases - 11/21/2006

We'll get to the releases in a minute, but first I want to highlight what was once an obsession:

"Alias" was a weekly staple in our household, much like "Lost" is today. On Sunday, (and then Wednesday, and then Thursday), my family eagerly awaited the hour-long slot of time on ABC when we would find out more about the exploits of Sidney Bristow and her cohorts. When Season 5 began, however, I had to swallow bitter pills of disappointment as the show I had come to love was heading in decidedly questionable directions. The ever-present fact of Jennifer Garner's real-life pregnancy jerked me out of the spy-thriller-Bond-fetish universe in which I had managed to immerse myself. I had grown to love my pouty secret agent, not the fresh-faced crew they brought in to fill the void left by Vaughn's "death", Weiss's move to D.C., and the side-lining of Sidney Bristow as she had to step aside due to her pregnancy. Sending a pregnant woman on black-ops missions always seemed a bit ridiculous in my eyes.

But we were there, every week.

Overall, Season 5 was an enjoyable one, saved by a strong last leg of episodes that returned us to what made the show so good from the beginning. Having the studio shorten the season to 17 episodes didn't help (you can almost sense the writers trying to hastily tie together the loose plot strands in the second half of the season), but when Michael Giacchino's tense techno-string music kicks in and Jennifer Garner starts kicking ass, you really don't care.

The Stuff We Care About

Alias - The Complete Collection (Seasons 1-5 + Rambaldi artifact box)
and
Alias - The Complete Fifth Season

Features

Certificate: TV-14
Runtime: 4512 Minutes
Label: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone Home Entertainment
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
DVD Format: Custom, Widescreen Anamorphic, 1.78:1, Closed Captioned, Color
DVD Features: Subtitles: English, Spanish, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 5.1
Region: 1 (USA, Canada and US territories)

Special Features (for the Complete Collection)

29 discs with every episode of all five seasons, plus bonus disc of never-before-seen extras including:
Jennifer Garner's never-before-seen first interview as Sydney Bristow.
Exclusive J.J. Abrams interview.
Identity theft – Alias' sexiest Aliases.
Case Closed: Emotional cast reunion from the series finale.
Dossier 47 – The Secret of the Infamous Number.
Fan montage, bloopers, and more!
Packaged in replica of Rambaldi artifact box, with secret compartment holding the bonus disc.
Hardbound book revealing answers to the show's deepest secrets, including introductory letter from JJ Abrams.
Plus commentary on select episodes, deleted scenes, featurettes, bloopers, and other supplements from the original season releases.

Preview:

Ice Age - The Meltdown

Amazon Synopsis: "While Skrat the Saber Toothed Squirrel is still ineffectually trying to regain his precious acorn, the misfit trio of Manny the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Sabretooth Tiger have settled down in an isolated valley with numerous other animals. However, the trio discover that the ice wall surrounding the valley is barely holding back a massive body of water behind it and it's melting state threatens to break and flood the valley. With their one chance of survival being a boat at the other end of the valley, the trio follow the desperate exodus there. Along the way, they meet Ellie, a female mammoth who is convinced she's a opossum like her brothers. While the strange group continues the trek, they must learn to get along even as Manny struggles to find some connection to this strange female who may be the only other one of his kind."

Features

Rating: Rated PG for some mild language and innuendo
Runtime: 91 Minutes
Label: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Format: Keep Case, Widescreen , 1.85:1, Color
DVD Features: Subtitles: Spanish, French, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Track 2: Spanish, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Audio Track 3: French, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Region: 1 (USA, Canada and US territories)

Special Features

All–New Short - "No Time for Nuts"
All–New Crash & Eddie Stunts - 3 Short Shorts
Crash and Eddie Blooper
Commentaries by Director Carlos Saldanha, Producer Lori Forte and the Production Team.
The Animation Director's Chair- Storyboard, Animation, Final for "Play Dead," "Fish Story," "Nuts," "Family," "Face Off," "Drain"
Intro Into New Characters - "Meet Ellie" and "Meet Crash and Eddie"
Lost Historical Films on the Ice Age Period: The Sloth "Nature's Lovable Lisper,"
The Wooly Mammoth "Nature's Beast of Burden," The Saber-Tooth Squirrel "Nature's Nutty Buddy," The Saber-Tooth Tiger, "Nature's Fearsome Feline," The Vulture "Nature's Cleaners," The Possum "Nature's Spunky Spectacles"
Sloth Dancing to Sid's Sing-a-Long
Set Top Games - Factoid Meltdown, Scrat's Piranha Smackdown, Sid Soccer Game, Personality Match Game, Vivendi Universal Game Memory Challenge.
Silly Sid & John Leguizamo – A Featurette

Preview:

An Inconvenient Truth

Amazon Synopsis: "Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Mr. Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change. A longtime advocate for the environment, Gore presents a wide array of facts and information in a thoughtful and compelling way. 'Al Gore strips his presentations of politics, laying out the facts for the audience to draw their own conclusions in a charming, funny and engaging style, and by the end has everyone on the edge of their seats, gripped by his haunting message,' said Guggenheim. An Inconvenient Truth is not a story of despair but rather a rallying cry to protect the one earth we all share. 'It is now clear that we face a deepening global climate crisis that requires us to act boldly, quickly, and wisely,' said Gore."

Features

Rating: Rated PG for mild thematic elements.
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Label: Paramount
Studio: Paramount Home Video
DVD Format: Custom, Widescreen Anamorphic, 1.78:1, Closed Captioned, Color
DVD Features: Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Track 2: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Region: 1 (USA, Canada and US territories)

Special Features

Commentary by director Davis Guggenheim
Commentary by producers Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, Scott Z. Burns, and Lesley Chilcott
"An Update with Former Vice-President Al Gore"
"The Making of An Inconvenient Truth"
Music video
Package made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials

Preview:

You, Me and Dupree

Amazon Synopsis: "For newlyweds Carl and Molly Peterson, life can't get any sweeter as they begin anew to settle down into married life. With a nice house and established careers in tow, nothing seems to get in their way. However, Carl is about find out just how much friendship means when Randy Dupree, his best friend has been displaced from his home and fired from his job because of attending their wedding. Taking his friend in, what Carl and Molly are about to experience is that the fine line between a few days and whatever else is after, can be a lot more than they bargained for. Especially when their friend overstays his welcome in far too many ways than he should."

Features

Rating: Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference.
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Label: Universal
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Format: Keep Case, Widescreen Anamorphic, 1.85:1, Color
DVD Features: Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Track 2: English, Dolby Digital 5.1, Audio Track 3: English, Dolby Digital 5.1
Region: 1 (USA, Canada and US territories)

Special Features

Commentary by directors Anthony and Joe Russo.
Commentary by writer Michael Le Sieur and producer Scott Stuber
"Dupree's Memoirs" interactive scrapbook
Alternate Ending
Deleted Scenes and Outtakes

Preview:

Scoop

Amazon Synopsis: "A student journalist, for a college paper, visiting friends in contemporary London happens upon the scoop of a lifetime. Along the investigative trail, she finds magic, murder, mystery - and perhaps love, with a British aristocrat."

Features

Rating: Rated PG-13 for some sexual content.
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Label: Universal
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Format: Keep Case, Widescreen Anamorphic, 1.85:1, Closed Captioned, Color
DVD Features: Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Audio Track 1: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Region: 1 (USA, Canada and US territories)