DVD Picks & Pans for Late Winter

Military.com - Tom Miller

Maybe I'm being too optimistic.  The groundhog made his appearance this morning, saw his shadow, and scurried back into his hole for six more weeks.  So, perhaps Ol' Man Winter isn't on his last legs after all.  

Whatever the weather holds, we can be prepared.  So, go ahead and start drawing up plans for that spring garden.  Leaf through the seed catalogs.  Get the tiller tuned up.  It can't hurt. 

But, just in case the groundhog is right, maybe you should also plan for being stuck inside a few more weeks.  Stockpile some books.  Check out the latest DVD releases at Amazon or Best Buy.  You'll find that there's a plethora (that's "a lot" for you sailors) of new titles to keep you occupied.  This week, you might warm up with a Clint Eastwood collection, a NASCAR documentary, or some classic television.

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"NASCAR: The Ride of Their Lives," DVD-2009 ($24.99, CMT/Paramount Studios Home Video)

If you're a NASCAR fan--and even if you're not--this Country Music Television documentary tracing the history of the Daytona 500 will put you in the driver's seat for an extended adrenaline rush.

Narrated by actor Kevin Costner, this inside look at the history of NASCAR uses rare archival footage and interviews with the sport's pioneers to tell the story of stock car racing from its early days on makeshift tracks to its present incarnation as America's most popular sport.

While screenwriter Shawn Truax and director Rory Karpf's film is a sentimental tribute to NASCAR, they don't ignore the controversial side of the sport:  Its roots among moonshiners and good ol' boys; the struggles of African-American drivers and women to gain traction in the sport; and the death of popular driver Tim Richmond from AIDS are all explored. 

But, the focus is on the drivers that made the sport famous: pioneers like Lee and Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, and Darrell Waltrip, and contemporary celebrity-drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 

The racing footage is exhilarating; the interviews often sobering.  There's Gordon and his step-father talking about a missed childhood and Junior talking about his dad who died in a 2001 Daytona crash.  But, the most heartbreaking is Bobby Allison and his wife discussing the deaths of sons Clifford and Davey who followed their father into racing. 

If you miss the rough-and-tumble old days of NASCAR, this documentary will be especially appealing.  Jeff Gordon and Junior are here, but it's clear than they stand on the shoulder of giants. 

Military.com Rating: *** ½  

(DVD extras include over 60 minutes of new & extended interviews.)

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"Clint Eastwood: American Icon Collection," DVD-2009 ($19.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

Okay.  So there's no Dirty Harry here.  No Man With No Name.  Not even a Bill Munney.

But, despite his tough-guy image, Eastwood has played a broad range of characters over his memorable career.  This four-movie collection is a testament to his diversity.

In psychological thriller "Play Misty for Me," surely the best known of the four films in this collection, Eastwood plays a disc jockey contending with an obsessed fan.  Really obsessed.  He also directs in his debut behind the camera.

"The Beguiled" finds Clint playing a wounded Yankee soldier rescued and nursed back to health by the girls at a Southern boarding school.  The handsome Yankee soon charms all the lonely young women, sparking jealousy among them.  The denouement proves yet again that "hell has no fury like a woman scorned."

"The Eiger Sanction" is vintage Eastwood: an action thriller in which he plays a professional assassin. 

In "Coogan's Bluff," Eastwood plays a soft-spoken Arizona cop sent to New York City to collect a prisoner.  The prisoner escapes and Coogan goes searching for him in the big city. 

These aren't the first films one thinks of when Eastwood is mentioned.  But, for Eastwood fans, they help fill in the blanks. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include production notes, theatrical trailers, poster and photo galleries, commentary on "Misty" and "Beguiled" with Eastwood and director Don Siegel, and a featurette, "Play It Again . . . A Look Back at Play Misty for Me.")

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"Melrose Place: The Fifth Season, Volume One," DVD-2009 ($42.99, CBS DVD/Paramount Home Entertainment)

Okay, you can admit it now.  You knew it was over-the-top trashy, but you watched anyway.  Right?  Don't worry.  You're not alone.  For a while in the naughty nineties, "Melrose Place," was the ultimate guilty pleasure.

And why not?  There were lots of good-looking, young people living in a fashionable LA apartment complex, wearing designer clothes, lying, cheating, stealing, and hopping from one bed to another with abandon. 

The real attraction for many was Amanda Woodward (the very sexy Heather Locklear), the ruthless art director at D&D Advertising.  Over the first five seasons of the series, Amanda managed to bed every male character except the gay Matt Fielding (Doug Savant). 

In "The Fifth Season, Volume One"--the first 19 Season Five episodes on four discs--the highlights include Jake (Grant Show) and Allison's (Courtney Thorne-Smith) secret love affair; Richard's (Patrick Muldoon) return from the dead; Michael's (Thomas Calabro) affair with a newcomer, Megan Lewis (Kelly Rutherford), with a secret; Jane's (Josie Bissett) exit; and the arrival of troubled couple--is there any other kind at Melrose Place?--Kyle (Rob Estes) and Taylor (Lisa Rinna) McBride.

"Melrose Place" was another of producer Aaron Spelling's stable of primetime soaps, and while it didn't rack up the awards, it pulled in the viewers.  Many believe that the program hit its peak in the Fifth Season.  Two seasons later, Fox cancelled it. 

For seven seasons, "Melrose Place" was the place to be for trashy fun. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(There are no bonus features.)

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"Friday the 13th: The Series-The 2nd Season," DVD-2009 ($49.99, CBS/Paramount)

All 26 Season Two episodes (on 6 discs) of producer Frank Mancuso, Jr.'s syndicated knockoff of the eponymous horror franchise arrives on DVD on February 10. 

Mancuso borrowed only the name of the popular movie franchise--because it symbolizes bad luck and curses--for this sci-fi series that ran for three seasons from 1987 to 1990.

The series revolves around a store of cursed antiques sold by Lewis Vendredi (R.G. Armstrong) in a deal with the Devil.  When Vendredi tries to welsh on the deal, the Devil takes his soul.  Vendredi's niece Micki Foster (Louise Robey) and her cousin by marriage Ryan Dallion (Chris Wiggins) inherit the antiques store and sell off many of the cursed antiques before discovering the truth. 

Micki and Ryan undertake to recover all the cursed artifacts and lock them away.  Most of the people who have acquired the antiques, however, are using them for personal gain and don't want to relinquish them.  Without conflict, there is no drama.

Usually, each episode involves the recovery of a single artifact.  In "The 2nd Season," the antiques featured include: Sun King Louis XIV's mirror; actor and assassin John Wilkes Booth's makeup case; Adolf Hitler's pink silk boutonniere; and a World Series ring from the infamous 1919 Black Sox series. 

"The 2nd Season" also introduces the character of Johnny Ventura (Steve Monarque) who helps Micki and Ryan.  (Johnny becomes a permanent character in the third season when he replaces Ryan.) 

If you're looking for Jason, you won't find him here.  But, you will find an entertaining sci-fi drama with an intriguing premise. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(Bare bones DVD.)

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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