DVD Picks & Pans: Last-Minute Stocking Stuffers

Tom Miller

Okay, time's running out and your Holiday shopping list is getting longer.  Who knew that the kid who can't get the morning paper on the porch expected a gift?  The nieces and nephews, yeah.  And the next-door neighbors who pick up your mail when you're out of town.  But, the guys who pick up the garbage?  Come on.

It's all good though.  You can solve all those problems - and more - with one stop at your local video retailer.  As always, we at Military.com are here to help with a few suggestions for your last-minute holiday shopping:

"The Bourne Ultimatum," DVD-2007 ($29.98, Universal Studios Home Entertainment) Also available in HD.  The complete Bourne trilogy also is being released in a set: "The Jason Bourne Collection" and "The Jason Bourne Trilogy" in HD.

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

In the latest - and presumably the last - of the series, director Paul Greengrass ("United 93") puts Bourne (Matt Damon, the world's sexiest man in his signature role) through his paces as he enters the home stretch of his quest.  Bourne races across three continents and countless cities (Moscow, Turin, Paris, London, Madrid, Tangier, and New York City) chasing and being chased.

In a turnabout, one of his pursuers, CIA operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) sides with Bourne and joins Bourne on the lam.  Parsons, who had minor roles in the first two Bourne movies, steps up to a supporting role here, and with Damon, carries the film.

Of the three Bourne films, "The Bourne Ultimatum" boasts the most adrenaline but the least character development.  Our favorite remains the initial entry, "The Bourne Identity," which balances the chase sequences with an intriguing love story featuring Bourne and the enigmatic German gypsy Marie (a ridiculously sexy Franka Potente). 

Almost anybody on your shopping list will enjoy the Bourne movies. 

Military.com Stocking Stuffer Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, commentary with director Greengrass, and several featurettes on making the movie.)
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"Stardust," DVD-2007 ($29.99, Paramount Home Entertainment) Also available in HD.

Let's be honest upfront: This is a chick flick.  Give it to your wife and expect to spend two hours watching a fallen star, wicked witches, evil princes, and a lovable hero.  And, she'll probably want to watch it during the Rose Bowl.  This might be a better choice for one of the nieces or the neighbors. 

"Stardust" is a romantic fairly tale.  Two worlds separated by a wall exist side-by-side here: a village of mortals and a magical kingdom called Stormhold.  When a falling star lands in Stormhold, a young mortal, Tristan (Charlie Cox), offers to retrieve it for the girl of his dreams, Victoria (Sienna Miller). 

It turns out that Tristan isn't the only one interested in the fallen star, which upon impact with Earth looks surprisingly like Claire Danes.  In fact, it is the beautiful Ms. Danes playing a star named Yvaine.  Her other pursuers include the evil witch Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), who wants to cut out and eat Yvaine's heart for its promise of eternal youth, and the sons of Stormhold's recently-deceased King who need it to secure the throne. 

Guess who gets the girl/star? 

Military.com Stocking Stuffer Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, a blooper reel, and a featurette, "Good Omens: The Making of Stardust.")
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"The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, Vol. II -The War Years," DVD-2007 ($129.99, Paramount Home Entertainment with Lucasfilm Ltd. and CBS Home Entertainment)

Anyone who argues that history is boring hasn't seen "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones," legendary producer George Lucas' Emmy-award winning television series from the 1990's. 

Lucas' vision was to take his popular Indiana Jones character, reinvent him as a nine-year-old and a teenager, and place him in situations where he would interact with famous people and become involved in key historical events of the early twentieth century. 

Over the course of the series, which ran from 1992-1994, Indy goes on safari with former President Teddy Roosevelt, is kidnapped by Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution, fights in World War I, shares a post-war college dorm room with future G-Man Eliot Ness, and works on a film set for legendary director John Ford. 

The series is being released in three volumes.  Vol. I came out on October 23 and takes Indy to the threshold of World War I.  Vol. II is available December 18 and covers the war years.  The final volume covering the post-war years is set for a spring 2008 release. 

Vol. II, my particular favorite, is a nine-disc set and includes eight feature-length episodes and a treasure trove of companion documentaries that add historical depth and insight.  The documentary subjects include, among others, poet Siegfried Sassoon; humanitarian Dr. Albert Schweitzer; iconic spy Mata Hari; the Red Baron, German ace Manfred von Richthofen; and T.E. Lawrence, the legendary Lawrence of Arabia.

The eight episodes in Vol. II follow the peripatetic Indy from the bloody trenches of France to the jungles of Africa, the skies over France, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Spain.  Along the way, he meets some of history's legendary figures: Lawrence; future French President Charles de Gaulle whom he encounters in a German POW camp; painter Pablo Picasso; Sweitzer; and the treacherous Mata Hari with whom he has a torrid affair while on leave in Paris. 

Indy is played as a young man by Sean Patrick Flanery who is excellent, as is the cast in general.  Guest stars in "Vol. II: The War Years" include Christopher Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Daniel Craig. 

This is an excellent series that brings history vividly, dramatically to life.  Get this one for your kids and watch it as a family. 

Military.com Rating: ****

(DVD extras include a historical overview, interactive game, and interactive timeline.)
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"Dirt: The Complete First Season," DVD-2007 ($59.99, Buena Vista Home Entertainment)

Be careful with this title.  When we Iowans hear "Dirt," we tend to think in terms of soil.  The stuff where the corn grows . . . the corn that hogs turn into bacon (and heart disease), sweetens your Coke (and inflates your figure), and when blended with gasoline, powers your SUV.  (I hope no Iowa farmers are reading this.) 

As it turns out, this series has nothing to do with corn, pigs, pop, pollution or conventional dirt.  This is metaphorical dirt: the kind that paparazzi harvest and editors deliver via supermarket tabloids.  Of course, it's salacious and nobody reads it.  NOBODY!

The series stars ex-Friend Courtney Cox as Lucy Spiller, the glamorous editor of tabloids "Dirt" and "Now."  (Cox and her actor husband David Arquette also are series producers.) 

Along with her staff - especially ace paparazzo Don Konkey (Ian Hart, "Finding Neverland"), who's as strange as he is resourceful - Spiller digs up and dishes the dirt on Hollywood's celebrities.  It's sexy and seductive, and like "Nip/Tuck" likes to push the envelope of what's acceptable on basic cable. 

Guest stars include Cox's fellow Friend Jennifer Aniston who appears in the final episode as a rival editor and shares a rather chaste kiss with Lucy.

This four-disc set includes all thirteen episodes of the first season. 

Don't even think about giving this to the paperboy or the nieces and nephews.   Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include deleted scenes, outtakes, and featurettes "Celebrity Couple Gets Dirty," "Through a Lens Darkly," and "Tabloid Wars.")
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"National Treasure: 2-Disc Collector's Edition," DVD-2007 ($29.99, Buena Vista Home Entertainment)

Just in time for the Dec. 21 premiere of the sequel, "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," Disney re-releases the original blockbuster in a "2-Disc Collector's Edition."

For those whose memory needs refreshing, Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) is on the trail of a legendary treasure taken from the temple of King Solomon by the Knights Templar and guarded through the centuries by the Freemasons.  Believing that a map to the treasure is hidden on the back of the original Declaration of Independence, Gates steals it from the National Archives.  "National Treasure" is contrived and often implausible but always fun - the kind of adventure you might associate with Indiana Jones. 

"National Treasure is suitable for everybody on your list. 

Military.com Rating: ***

(DVD extras include the original DVD bonus material - alternate ending, deleted scenes, and four featurettes - plus all-new bonus features: additional deleted scenes and four more featurettes.)
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Military.com Stocking Stuffer Rating Scale

*      Only the Grinch would consider giving this
**    A gift return waiting to happen
***  Worth a smile on Christmas morning
**** Better than a gift certificate

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Copyright 2009 by Tom Miller