January 2008 DVD Reviews & Video Reviews

Shrek the Third

Paramount Home Video / Dreamwork
DVD
ISBN# B000UVKGPI
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99 or as low as $8.95 from Amazon.com!

Its another tough day in the kingdom of Far Far Away for our green skinned friend. Fiona's father King Harold announces on his deathbed that Shrek will be his successor. The prospect of being king is a nightmare for Shrek, so Shrek sails forth with Donkey and Puss In Boots to seek out the only other heir who can properly ascend to the throne - a nerdish teen named Arthur who is the object of abuse by all of his classmates and who has a total lack of self-respect. Meanwhile, there is trouble brewing back in Far Far Away. The evil Lancelot is rounding up all of the other fairy tale characters who feel slighted by the way history has treated them and is plotting to take over the throne.

Its a frolic through fantasyland with a shameless disregard for taste. If you were a fan of the first two movies, you won't be disappointed by Shrek the Third. Its always hard for sequels to maintain the magic of the original, and that's probably why I was a bit disappointed in this one. The novelty is worn off, and the humor has not improved. Also available in HD-DVD format... while it/they last.

The Bourne Ultimatum

Universal Studios
DVD
ISBN# B000VWYJ86
Suggested Retail Price: $29.98 or as low as $13.74 from Amazon.com!

Jason Bourne is not free of the CIA yet. We pick him up in Moscow where we left him in "The Bourne Supremacy". He's searching for the CIA executive who was responsible for killing his girlfriend in the previous episode. He succeeds, but finds himself the target of the clandestine section within The Company headquartered in New York that does dirty deeds like renditions and assasinations led by Deputy Director Noah Vosen. This section was also in charge of Treadstone, the program that created him in the first place.

After infiltrating the New York office, Bourne meets Dr. Albert Hirsch, the man who recruited him into the program and erased his memory. Notable performances by Albert Finney as Dr. Hirsch and David Strathairn as Noah Vosen, and Scott Glenn as DCI Ezra Kramer. Outstanding work by Joan Allen who returns as Pamela Landy, the stallwart agent who doesn't quite believe that Bourne is the real threat, and also by Julia Stiles as Nicky Parsons, the young operative we met in Berlin. Finally, of course, Matt Damon succeeds in making this a thriller that grabs you by the throat and never lets go.

Billed as the final installment in the trilogy, "The Bourne Ultimatum" answers many questions and has a big splash of a finish that leaves the door open for another episode someday.