DVD & Blu-Ray Video Reviews

Incredible Hulk

Universal Studios
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $19.98 or as low as $4.99 from Amazon.com!

Desperate to find a cure for his problem, Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) has hidden himself away in Brazil, only to find himself driven back to America by the evil General Ross (William Hurt). Ross is still trying to find and destroy Banner, in his effort to develop a super soldier. The plot thickens when Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a crazed combat veteran who sees the formula as a way to make him young again, turns into a beast himself. Hunting for his anonymous benefactor of a scientist and still under siege by General Ross, Banner turns to his long lost girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler), the daughter of General Ross. Banner is conflicted because he knows that anyone who is close to him is in danger from the beast that lies dormant within him. Aren't we all? Yes, the story is pretty predictable and even the CGI scenes of The Hulk in action are disappointing. This is a case of "I told you that story to tell you this one". It's all a set-up for the next Hulk movie where General Ross teams up with Iron Man mogel Tony Stark (Robert Downey jr.). So if you're a fan of Marvel comic superheroes, you should see this movie in order to get the background for the next one. Otherwise, don't bother.

Get Smart

Warner Home Video
DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $19.98 or as low as $4.41 from Amazon.com!

Fans of TV's "Get Smart" are going to be disappointed by this movie. Steve Carell plays the bumbling spy Maxwell Smart ably enough, but he's given little to work with in this mediocre spoof. Set in our modern world, Smart is an errand boy intelligence analyst for The Chief of CONTROL (Alan Arkin) who tells him he's too good at his job to be promoted to Field Agent. But when the forces of evil attack CONTROL headquarters and kill most of the agents around the world, Smart is pressed into service. His teammate, the brainy, brawny Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), is there to keep him out of trouble. The movie tries to recapture the spirit of the TV series, but never pulls it off. The Maxwell Smart cliches are awkwardly inserted into the dialogue and the plot is too thin to keep you interested in the outcome. The only good thing about this movie is that it spawned a decent sequel: "Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control" starring Masi Oka (Hiro from "Heroes") and Nate Torrence who are two junior scientists in CONTOL. Rent that or see it on Netflix, but skip this clunker.

Cruising Has No Limits

by Lin Pardey~Larry Pardey

Pardey Books
Hardcover
or as low as $49.93 from Amazon.com!

Lynn and Larry Pardey take you with them on some of thier most exciting cruises in their 29 foot sailing ship, The Taleisin. Based in New Zealand, they travel to many different countries. From Africa to Brazil and back. If you've ever dreamed of sacking it all, buying a boat and head out to sea, this video will show you what it would be like to travel for weeks or months at a time. They meet many different people who graciously share their homes and their stories. Their African 4x4 Safari is the highlight of the DVD, and is filled with jaw-dropping scenes. It's a thoroughly entertaining show. Larry Pardee is the author of many marine books, so he makes a great guide.

Jumper

20th Century Fox
DVD
ISBN# B00177Y9ZC
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99 or as low as $8.82 from Amazon.com!

Jumper is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller about a mild-mannered computer geek named David Rice (Hayden Christensen) who's constantly being belittled by his tyraniccal female supervisor and dominated by Millie, his cheating girlfried. But his life is transformed one day when he discovers that he has the ability to teleport himself to anyplace he can visualize in his mind. David explores his abilities by among other things, "jumping" into a bank vault to grab some quick cash. But his robbery is such a mystery that it attracts the attention of Roland (Samuel L. Jackson), who claims to be from the NSA, but is amazingly unsurprised by the closed vault caper that's baffling the police and bank officials. David starts to blythely travel around the world for a couple of years until Roland catches up to him and captures him with a magic gun that prevents him from teleporting. It turns out the Roland is the head of a group called paladins whose secret mission is to destroy all jumpers like David. David manages to escape from the paladins' fortress, and goes back home to try to find Millie again. After a brief scuffle with Millie's boyfriend Mark, the guy she was cheating with, David teleports Mark into a bank vault, then comes back and persuades Millie to take a trip with him to Rome - Millie's lifelong dream. She reluctantly accepts. While they're in Rome, they try to visit the Collesium, only to find it closed. Locks being no barrier to David, he teleports inside to open a gate for Millie. When David is looking for a path down to the area for Millie, he discovers another jumper named Griffin who warns him about the paladins ultimate plans, and tells David that he must stay away from everyone he cares about because the paladins will kill them in order to capture him.

Jumper is a thrill ride that travels around the world while we follow the good vs. evil story of the paladins and the jumpers. A rolicking action movie that keeps your eyes glued to the screen.

John Adams

HBO
DVD
ISBN# B000WGWQG8
Suggested Retail Price: $59.99 or as low as $33.88 from Amazon.com!

Paul Giamatti plays John Adams in this superb biography of one of America's most underappreciated founders. Based on the best-selling book by David McCullough, this HBO mini-series tells the story of a very human Adams, a Boston lawyer who can't abide the British hegemony that eventually leads to the American Revolution. We follow Adams and his family as they endure the years of war and the political battles that ensue as the nation is born and struggles to find a balance in the fragile relationship between the thirteen colonies to form a central government.

Watching this series makes you appreciate the courage, integrity, and remarkable intelligence of men like John Adams, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson without requiring the idealized legends we all learned in school. These were all real men with very personal concerns who rose above them in a common cause. Historians are blessed by the fact that Adams' wife Abigail kept most of the many letters the two exchanged while Adams was away from home during the Revolution, while he attended the Continental Congress, and later when he was an envoy to France. McCullough relied on them heavily in telling the story of their relationship. Laura Linney is nothing short of superb in her portrayal of Abigail as the loving wife, devoted mother, and Adams soul mate and counsel. Kudos also to David Morse who plays George Washington as a reluctant politician whose moral compass keeps him from allowing his fame as the leader of the Revolution from turning the presidency into a monarchy. And British actor Tom Wilkinson shines as Ben Franklin who is shown in an unusually unflattering light as a much more self-interested man than the patriotic inventor and prolific orator we read about in the history books in grade school.

While the actors are an essential factor in making this series such a rewarding marvel, what has to amaze us all is that the story told here is the unvarnished truth. Few writers manage to make history so compelling and yet palatable to a broad audience. A must-see if there ever was one.