DVD Picks & Pans: Big Screen, Little Screen, Part III

Military.com - Tom Miller

In the interest of diversity, we again offer selections from big screen and small for your viewing consideration.  Among the movies fresh out on DVD, there's a recycled Jason Bourne trilogy and the second installment of the "Hellboy" franchise.  Among newly-released TV network fare, we've included the seventh season of a quirky hospital comedy and the seventh season of a Navy-lawyer drama. 

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"The Bourne Trilogy," DVD-2007 ($34.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

Even since the crew of a fishing boat pulled the bullet-riddled body of CIA uber-assassin Jason Bourne from the Mediterranean, the Bourne series has been the ultimate chase- movie franchise: Bourne, suffering from amnesia, chasing after whoever took his identity, and his CIA masters chasing down their errant creation in order to silence him. 

Bourne I—"The Bourne Identity"—introduces our hero, CIA assassin Jason Bourne (Matt Damon in the signature role of this career), who has inconveniently lost his memory after being shot and dumped into the Mediterranean.   As he tries to piece together who he is, his former handlers seek to track him down and eliminate him.  Joining Bourne on his odyssey is an enigmatic German gypsy Marie (a ridiculously sexy Franka Potente), who starts out as a getaway driver and ends up as a love interest.  Directed by Doug Liman, this is the best of a fast-paced, entertaining series.

Bourne II—"The Bourne Supremacy"—is directed by Paul Greengrass ("United 93") who tries to disguise a thin script with lots of action.  As this sequel opens, Bourne is living in paradise with Marie, but it's too good to last.  Framed for the murders of two CIA agents, Bourne is on the run again: trying to prove his innocence and avoid his CIA pursuers who are directed this time out by Pamela Landry (Joan Allen) and include field operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles reprising her role from the first Bourne film).  

In Bourne III—"The Bourne Ultimatum"—the latest and presumably the last of the series, director Paul Greengrass puts Bourne through his paces as he enters the home stretch of his quest to discover who he is and what's happened to him.  Bourne races across three continents and countless cities (Moscow, Turin, Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier, and New York) chasing and being chased.  In a turnabout, one of his pursuers, CIA operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) sides with Bourne and joins him on the lam.  Parsons, whose appearances in the first two Bourne movies were much too brief, steps up to a supporting role here, and with Damon, carries the film.

This set includes all three films and hours of bonus material on three discs. 

Military.com Rating: *** ½

(DVD extras include feature commentary, deleted scenes, and an impressive array of featurettes.)

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"Hellboy II: The Golden Army," DVD-2008 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in a 3-disc special edition and 2-disc Blu-ray edition.

Ron Perlman returns as the irascible Hellboy in this action-packed and ironic sequel. 

For those who aren't fans of Mike Mignola's comic-book hero, Hellboy springs from an unholy collaboration between Satan and the Nazis.  Rescued by the American Army, he's raised by the benevolent Professor Broom, the founder of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development. 

In this latest adaptation, the adult Hellboy works for the Bureau alongside his pyrokinetic girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair)—and, yes, she's hot—and a telepathic mer-man named Abe Sapien (Doug Jones), who's called "Blue."  (Liz affectionately calls Hellboy "Red.") 

The villain this time out is the otherworldly Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), who wants to wake up a sleeping Golden Army and break the ancient truce between his people and the human race.  Once awakened, the Golden Army is supposedly invincible.  The fly in the Prince's ointment is his twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) who has the missing piece of a golden crown that must be reassembled in order to awaken the Golden Army.  Appalled by her brother's megalomania—and attracted to Abe—the Princess sides with the humans.  When the evil Prince kidnaps her, Hellboy and his colleagues race to find them and head off Armageddon. 

Even if you aren't a fantasy fan, director Guillermo del Toro's alternately macabre and subversively funny concoction is a pleasant diversion.  The plot is serviceable, the special effects are stylish, and the acting is solid.  Perlman is Hellboy and Blair plays Liz with a nice balance of panache and vulnerability.  Anna Walton, as Princess Nuala, is a scene-stealer in a supporting role. 

Military.com Rating: ***
 
(DVD extras include deleted scenes, feature commentary, set visits, a "Troll Market Tour" with the director, and an "Animated Zinco Epilogue Comic.")

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"JAG: The Seventh Season," DVD-2008 ($55.98, CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment)

One of television's most successful dramas, "JAG" ran for ten seasons (1995-2005) and spawned a spin-off hit in "NCIS."

Intended as a mix of "Top Gun" and "A Few Good Men," JAG follows a team of Navy lawyers (Judge Advocate General Corps) as they investigate and try offenses involving military personnel.  (Unlike "NCIS" which focuses on field criminal investigations, "JAG" is more of a courtroom drama.) 

The cast is headed by JAG lawyers Lieutenant Commander "Harm" Rabb (David James Elliot), a former Navy fighter pilot, and Marine Major Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie (Catherine Bell).  A good bit of the show's spark comes from the tension generated by their relationship: a relationship that they revisit in Season Seven when they find themselves single again and on missions in Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean.

Also in the seventh season, JAG welcomes a new lawyer, Sturgis Turner (Scott Lawrence); and Bud Roberts (Patrick Labyorteaux) and wife Harriet (Karri Turner) struggle to adjust to Bud's war-time deployment. 

A consistent spot in Nielsen's Top 10, three Emmys and eleven nominations, and a ten-year run attests to this military drama's popularity, quality, and staying power. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(This set includes all twenty-four Season Seven episodes on five discs with no bonus material.)

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"Scrubs: The Complete Seventh Season," DVD-2008 ($29.99, Buena Vista Home Entertainment)

The strike-shortened (11 episodes on two discs) seventh season of ensemble medical comedy "Scrubs" follows a familiar quirky and often surreal path. 

"Scrubs" is a funny, if sometimes bizarre, look at the cast of characters who work at Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital.  The show centers on narrator Dr. John "J.D." Dorian (Zach Braff), now an attending physician at Sacred Heart, and his friends and colleagues.   These include neurotic physical and sometime love interest Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke), best friend and surgeon Dr. Christopher Turk (Donald Faison), Turk's wife and the hospital's head nurse Carla Espinosa (Judy Reyes), senior physician and Residency Director Dr. Percival Cox (John C. McGinley), and Chief of Medicine Dr. Bob Kelso (Ken Jenkins). 

"Scrubs" won a 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series and the 2006 Peabody Award for Excellence. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, bloopers, audio commentaries, "One-On-One with Ken Jenkins," and a behind-the-scenes look at the season-ending "fairytale" episode directed by Zach Braff.)

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Military.com Picks & Pans Rating Scale

* Pan—Save your time
** Borderline Pick—Okay but only as a last resort
*** Pick—Worthwhile & enjoyable
****Enthusiastic Pick—Excellent 
*****Not to Be Missed—A Classic

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Copyright 2009 by Tom Miller