Headsup: A Dose of the Sillies
If you need a little bit of silliness mixed into your weekend, check out these recently released titles:
First up is The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Johnny and Friends featuring game-changing comedians Steve Martin, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy. This three-disc collection includes nine episodes of The Tonight Show that span across the seventies, eighties, and nineties in the heyday of host Johnny Carson. All nine shows are complete (including the commercials from when they aired— a fun bonus!) and have not been previously released for retail. Disc One includes three episodes (from 1976, 1982, and 1991) with the legendary once-banished guest (and eventual fill in host) Steve Martin, who appears alongside Jimmy Stewart, Karen Black, Sylvester Stallone, Cathy Ladman, Leon Redbone, and others. Disc Two centers on the incomparable Robin Williams, whose three episodes (one from 1984 and two from 1991) show the unpredictable entertainer cracking Johnny up as he appears with Phyllis Newman, Steve Lawrence, Jonathan Winters, and Park Overall. Disc Three belongs to Eddie Murphy, whose three episodes (all from 1982) show how Murphy skyrocketed to stardom in less than a year as he appears with fellow guests McLean Stevenson, Wayne Rogers, Albert Hague, Randal "Tex" Cobb, and Angela Bofill. The DVD set is out now from Time Life but isn't available on Amazon (except for one third party seller here) or Barnes and Noble as of yet, so keep [...]
First up is Bunnicula, the new animated series loosely based on the book (of the same name) many of us read and loved as kids by James and Deborah Howe. The story revolves about a vampiric bunny rabbit who instead of blood thirsts for vegetable juice, which gives him supernatural powers. In this (comedic) series, Bunnicula (voiced by Chris Kattan) teams up with his adoptive human Mina (a New Orleans teenager, voiced by Kari Wahlgren), Harold (her easy-go-lucky dog, voiced by Brian Kimmet), and Chester (her anxiety-ridden cat, voiced by Sean Astin) for otherworldly adventures with lots of laughs along the way. The series premiered in February of 2016 and is currently airing on Cartoon Network.
Next we have Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which pairs the rambunctious cartoon cat-and-mouse duo with beloved Roald Dahl icon Willy Wonka and other familiar characters. Based 
First we have The Story of China, written and hosted by the gold-standard-making historian Michael Wood. In this six-part documentary about the oldest continuous state on earth, Wood follows the stories of characters who formed China's history and cultural identity, including those who led the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties from 1500 BC to the twentieth century along with leaders in science, literature, and revolutionary political movements. A sprawling and vibrant story (charmingly told in Wood's posh British accent), The Story of China brings viewers face-to-face with the likes of The First Emperor, Xuanzang (famed Buddhist traveler), Su Song (often referred to as "China's Leonardo da Vinci"), Li Qingzhao (a female poet), and Mao Zedong (the Communist revolutionary also known as "Chairman Mao"), among many others. On his historical journey, Wood also examines the places where these stories took place, taking viewers back in time to see the Silk Road, the Yellow River, the Grand Canal, the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and other amazing places that were the backdrop of China's journey over the last four thousand years. If you just want to check out the series (and haven't caught it live on PBS), you can currently 
First we have The Vampire Diaries, the story of a love triangle between teenage heroine Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and two brothers, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), which just happens to be set against the backdrop of the world of modern-day vampires. Based on the L.J. Smith novel series of the same name, the show premiered in September of 2009 and has had a successful run ever since. It garnered 112 award nominations and 37 wins, including multiple People's Choice, Teen Choice, and Young Hollywood Awards. Season eight follows Damon and Enzo (Michael Malarkey) as they continue to kill people while under the influence of a powerful and evil force, while at the same time Stefan, Caroline (Candice King), Bonnie (Kat Graham), and Alaric (Matt Davis) search for answers about the mysterious disappearance at the end of season seven. Matt (Zach Roerig) is in the mix as well, as it becomes apparent that an unknown family connection to Mystic Falls may be the key to saving the town from being destroyed.
First we have a collection of some of the lesser-known films of Jacques Rivette, a French film director and critic famed for his work during the New Wave movement in French cinema in the 1950s and 60s. Rivette began his career as a filmmaker at age twenty and over the course of his career made twenty-nine films (including notable titles L'amour fou (1969), Out 1 (1971), Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), and La Belle Noiseuse (1991) ). Now available from Arrow Academy is The Jacques Rivette Collection, a trio of films from the latter part of his career. In 1975, Rivette and Stéphane Tchal Gadjieff (producer from Out 1) again joined forces with the goal of creating a love story, an adventure, a fantasy thriller, and a musical as a quartet of interconnected films dubbed Scènes de la vie parallèle, with each revolving around two central female characters. Unfortunately, after the back-to-back filming of Noroît (an adventure story of two pirates) and Duelle (a fantasy about the Queen of the Night and the Queen of the Sun) in the spring of 1975, Rivette suffered a breakdown a few days into production for Marie et Julien (which would have been the love story in the series); the director later said that he "broke down physically" and "had overestimated own strength". After a year of recovery, the idea of the film quartet was abandoned and Rivette turned to Merry-Go-Round (a surreal detective film), which ran 
First up is the fifth season of Major Crimes, the spinoff of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning series The Closer, which ran on TNT from 2005-2012 (ending when its star Kyra Sedgwick decided it was time to pursue other projects). The storyline and main characters were so well-loved that creators literally didn't skip a beat between the two shows, airing the premiere of Major Crimes on the same night as the finale of The Closer. Major Crimes follows the case-by-case challenges of the (fictional) Major Crimes Division of the LAPD and the interpersonal relationships between its officers. Starring two-time Oscar nominee Mary McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor, the primary cast also includes G. W. Bailey (as Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza), Tony Denison (as Detective Lieutenant Andy Flynn), Michael Paul Chan (as Detective Lieutenant Michael Tao), Raymond Cruz (as Detective Julio Sanchez), Kearran Giovanni (as Detective Amy Sykes), Phillip P. Keene (as Buzz Watson), Graham Patrick Martin (as Rusty Beck), and Robert Gossett (as Assistant Chief Russell Taylor).
Out just in time to wet fans' appetites for the live-action Wonder Woman film hitting theaters this Friday (Thursday in select cities), the feature-length animated film Wonder Woman is available in a commemorative edition DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack. The film tells the story of Diana, an Amazonian princess who leaves the sanctuary of the idyllic man-free island Themyscira to chase after Ares, the God of War, bent on creating world chaos and eventual extinction. With the help of U.S. fighter pilot Steve Trevor, Diana must navigate the modern world in an attempt to save her own from destruction. The awards-laden cast includes Golden Globe winner Keri Russell (The Americans, Waitress, Felicity) as Diana/Wonder Woman, People's Choice winner Nathan Fillion (Castle, Firefly) as Steve Trevor, Tony Award nominee Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Chocolat) as Ares, Rosario Dawson (Daredevil, Sin City) as Artemis, Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways, Candyman) as Hippolyta, David McCallum (NCIS, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) as Zeus, Emmy winner Marg Helgenberger (CSI, China Beach) as Hera, Oliver Platt (X-Men: First Class, Chicago Med) as Hades, and Vicki Lewis (NewsRadio, Godzilla) as Persephone.
Recent Comments