United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access,...... more

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In this 1960s comedy, Freddy Benson (Marlon Brando) and Lawrence 'The Prince' Jameson (David Niven) are two charming scoundrel confidence trickster gigolos who prey on wealthy women taking holidays on the French Riviera. The pair join a playful competition to see who is best at the job, and the target is cute Janet Walker (Shirley Jones), better known as the "American Soap Queen." Who can extract $25,000 first ...Bedtime Story ( King of the Mountain ) ( Bed time Story )

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United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access,...... more

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 0 DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), SPECIAL FEATURES: Black & White, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In this 1960s comedy, Freddy Benson (Marlon Brando) and Lawrence 'The Prince' Jameson (David Niven) are two charming scoundrel confidence trickster gigolos who prey on wealthy women taking holidays on the French Riviera. The pair join a playful competition to see who is best at the job, and the target is cute Janet Walker (Shirley Jones), better known as the "American Soap Queen." Who can extract $25,000 first ...Bedtime Story ( King of the Mountain ) ( Bed time Story )

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The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities...... more

The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities weigh heavy. This, then, is an exploration of the Jordans, an average American couple who can't find any reason to stay together after 15 years. Once you get past the star power of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there's a terrifically pithy script working for them that effectively manages to juggle the genre crossover of a comedy-drama. Several montages cover years of petty squabbling, raising two kids, and long silences. There are confessions to camera about who picked what fight, and flashbacks to time spent offloading with friends. These provide the comedic backbone, with director Rob Reiner hogging the best lines. The best gag and narrative device is a bedroom scene following a therapist's revelation that every couple goes to bed with their parents' way of thinking rattling around in their minds. Sure enough, the super-wide bed shows all six in hilarious fashion. Despite the general paranoid atmosphere that everyone's doomed, you can rest assured that the guy who brought you When Harry Met Sally allows optimism to prevail.On the DVD: Reiner's commentary is a little sporadic, but like the great stand-up comic he always seems to be, each comment is priceless. He explains how he hates acting, yet can't help himself. A 20-minute documentary interviews all the cast and also composer Eric Clapton, and they all give their pessimistic views on why relationships break down. Willis is in fine form telling us that it was "so much more challenging than running down a street with a gun and shouting"! The widescreen presentation is crisp, as is the 5.1 sound. One trailer rounds out the package. --Paul Tonks

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The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities...... more

The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities weigh heavy. This, then, is an exploration of the Jordans, an average American couple who can't find any reason to stay together after 15 years. Once you get past the star power of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there's a terrifically pithy script working for them that effectively manages to juggle the genre crossover of a comedy-drama. Several montages cover years of petty squabbling, raising two kids, and long silences. There are confessions to camera about who picked what fight, and flashbacks to time spent offloading with friends. These provide the comedic backbone, with director Rob Reiner hogging the best lines. The best gag and narrative device is a bedroom scene following a therapist's revelation that every couple goes to bed with their parents' way of thinking rattling around in their minds. Sure enough, the super-wide bed shows all six in hilarious fashion. Despite the general paranoid atmosphere that everyone's doomed, you can rest assured that the guy who brought you When Harry Met Sally allows optimism to prevail.On the DVD: Reiner's commentary is a little sporadic, but like the great stand-up comic he always seems to be, each comment is priceless. He explains how he hates acting, yet can't help himself. A 20-minute documentary interviews all the cast and also composer Eric Clapton, and they all give their pessimistic views on why relationships break down. Willis is in fine form telling us that it was "so much more challenging than running down a street with a gun and shouting"! The widescreen presentation is crisp, as is the 5.1 sound. One trailer rounds out the package. --Paul Tonks

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With a story that's too flimsy to support its running time, this road-mo vie comedy has plenty of problems, but at its best it's a surprisingly inspired...... more

With a story that's too flimsy to support its running time, this road-mo vie comedy has plenty of problems, but at its best it's a surprisingly inspired vehicle for the clever teaming of Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. Robbins plays an addled advertising executive who comes home early one day and discovers his wife in bed with his boss. To make matters worse, he's later carjacked by a struggling, unemployed family-man-turned-petty-thief (Lawrence), and that's when he loses his cool completely. He takes the carjacker hostage and recruits him on a road-trip scheme of revenge against his wife and boss. Plotting to break into his boss' high-security vault, Robbins gets a criminal assist from Lawrence, but they're also on the run from another pair of would-be thieves who trail them to the vault's location. The routine plot of Nothing To Lose is occasionally limp and sluggish, but writer-director Steve Oedekerk (who makes a wacky cameo appearance as a security guard) mines comedy gold during several scenes that detour from the plot for the sake of sheer lunacy. Robbins and Lawrence have great comedic chemistry (if you can tolerate Lawrence's constant profanity), and although the movie ends on a false note with some unlikely turns of fate, it's definitely good for more than a few solid laughs. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

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"Bed of Nails" would have been a better title for this romance, an excruciating exercise that brings out all the worst in the genre. Christian Slater's...... more

"Bed of Nails" would have been a better title for this romance, an excruciating exercise that brings out all the worst in the genre. Christian Slater's performance is the high point of this flick, but his character is so obvious that even his subtle skills ultimately makes little difference. Slater plays Lewis, a florist who looks up one night during one of his habitual nocturnal walks and spies Mary Stuart Masterson weeping in a window. The next day he follows her to work and delivers a gorgeous arrangement of posies, leaving her guessing as to the identity of her secret admirer. We must wonder why Lewis pursues her with abandon, as Masterson's character Lisa seems nothing but a dull workaholic. Well, okay, she's also neurotic. First-time director-writer Michael Goldenberg's lopsided script lets us see the psychic damage harboured by both of the main characters but doesn't make Lisa interesting enough to warrant all the attention heaped upon her, whereas Lewis is a model of perfection. Goldenberg often slips and slides over many details in the story. Since the dialogue is not particularly witty or meaningful, and the plot has pretty much withered by the second reel, there isn't much left on the screen to enjoy. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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Lisa Stansfield's greatest hits compilation Biography opens with her collaboration with cutting-edge dance act Coldcut, "People Hold On", followed by the UK and...... more

Lisa Stansfield's greatest hits compilation Biography opens with her collaboration with cutting-edge dance act Coldcut, "People Hold On", followed by the UK and US videos for her first solo tune "This is the Right Time". As is highlighted by Lisa's introductions of each video, part of her appeal is her gutsy, no-nonsense attitude. She candidly tells stories about the making of the videos, as if she's a gossipy, loud-mouthed friend. Crowing about heart-throb Linus Roache being her love-interest in the video to "Set Your Loving Free", and how she half-froze standing in a Madrid fountain for the "So Natural" promo, her introductions provide a warming insight. Adopting the same technique Lady Godiva used to gain attention, Lisa a couple of times literally reveals all in her videos. The sultry "Time to Make You Mine" depicts Stansfield writhing around naked on a bed of leaves, with strategically placed animated tattoos. Later video "Never Gonna Give You Up" sees her striding down a bustling high street completely starkers: a great treat for those who like a bit of bare-arsed northern soul. On the DVD:Biography is littered with Easter eggs of bonus out-takes. The disc's menus are attractive and fun to use--random audio excerpts of Lisa's songs accompany each sub-menu. The extras are impressive, too, with live versions of "All Around the World" and "People Hold On", as well as lesser-known album tracks ("What Did I Do to You" and "Suzanne"). Filmed in what appears to be a swish New York loft apartment, the alternate US video of "Change" is also included, along with a duet with the "walrus of love" Barry White. --John Galilee

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Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue,...... more

Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue, 9-year-old Max (Max Records) stomps around the house, feeling neglected. When his mom (Catherine Keener) sends him to bed without supper, Max runs away (something he doesn't do in the book). He finds a boat and sails to a distant land where fuzzy monsters are raising a rumpus in the forest. Since his wolf suit allows him to fit right in, he joins the fray, catching the eye of Carol (James Gandolfini), who notes, approvingly, "I like the way you destroy stuff. There's a spark to your work that can't be taught." With that, they pronounce the diminutive creature king, hoping he can bring cohesion to their fractured family. After Max comes across Carol's scale-model town, he decides they should build a real one, but the project stalls as Alexander (Paul Dano) and Douglas (Chris Cooper) mope, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) browbeats Ira (Forest Whitaker), and Carol pines for K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), who prefers the company of owls Bob and Terry. Max realises he has to make a choice: stay with the wild things or return home, where he has to keep his aggressive impulses in check.For readers of Sendak's slim tome, his decision won't come as a surprise, but Jonze ends the story on a lovely grace note. Until that time, the squabbling is a bit much--these monsters never stop talking--but Jonze, cowriter Dave Eggers, the Jim Henson Company, and singer/songwriter Karen O. have gone all-out to re-create the inner world of a child with as much empathy as was mustered for the inner adult world of Jonze's Being John Malkovich. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities...... more

The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities weigh heavy. This, then, is an exploration of the Jordans, an average American couple who can't find any reason to stay together after 15 years. Once you get past the star power of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there's a terrifically pithy script working for them that effectively manages to juggle the genre crossover of a comedy-drama. Several montages cover years of petty squabbling, raising two kids, and long silences. There are confessions to camera about who picked what fight, and flashbacks to time spent offloading with friends. These provide the comedic backbone, with director Rob Reiner hogging the best lines. The best gag and narrative device is a bedroom scene following a therapist's revelation that every couple goes to bed with their parents' way of thinking rattling around in their minds. Sure enough, the super-wide bed shows all six in hilarious fashion. Despite the general paranoid atmosphere that everyone's doomed, you can rest assured that the guy who brought you When Harry Met Sally allows optimism to prevail.On the DVD: Reiner's commentary is a little sporadic, but like the great stand-up comic he always seems to be, each comment is priceless. He explains how he hates acting, yet can't help himself. A 20-minute documentary interviews all the cast and also composer Eric Clapton, and they all give their pessimistic views on why relationships break down. Willis is in fine form telling us that it was "so much more challenging than running down a street with a gun and shouting"! The widescreen presentation is crisp, as is the 5.1 sound. One trailer rounds out the package. --Paul Tonks

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Roseanne burst onto the screen in 1988, when top-rated sitcom The Cosby Show exuded a smug Father Knows Best glossiness. In contrast, the blue-collar Conner...... more

Roseanne burst onto the screen in 1988, when top-rated sitcom The Cosby Show exuded a smug Father Knows Best glossiness. In contrast, the blue-collar Conner family bickered with the offhand nastiness of real families, which didn't mean they loved each other any less. Front and center was Roseanne Barr (now known by the single name Roseanne), a former stand-up comedian who wasn't afraid to rock the boat (her fights with producers were legendary). When even the fat guys on sitcoms have svelte, hottie wives, it's hard to believe that this woman--overweight, abrasive, with a voice like a wood chipper--became top of the television heap. Roseanne spoke up for a kind of lower-class feminism; she didn't concern herself much with politics, but within the family she just as much in charge as her husband Dan (the ever-dependable John Goodman)--though in the final episode of the first season, she took a stand at her factory job that was half Norma Rae, half Cool Hand Luke. But most often the show turned the ordinary rituals of domestic life (putting the kids to bed, coping with visiting parents) into sharp comic scenarios. The stories were smartly hidden in a series of scenes that felt organic and unforced. The entire cast--one of the best ensembles ever, including theatre veteran Laurie Metcalf as Roseanne's sister Jackie; Lecy Goranson as eldest daughter Becky; Michael Fishman as youngest child D.J.; and especially Sara Gilbert as middle daughter Darlene--swiftly cultivated the mixture of comfort and tension that marks most family relationships. The result was a portrait of American family life that rang achingly, hilariously true.Roseanne's first season was solid from the start; few shows have had such an immediate grasp of their ideal tone and rhythm. Roseanne may have been a little stiff in the first few episodes, but she developed her chops quickly. By only the third episode, in which Roseanne and Dan run into a divorced friend at a restaurant and do some impromptu evaluating of their own married life, Roseanne was already exploring the psychology behind the wisecracks. By episode 6, set in a bowling alley, Roseanne begins to truly inhabit her character, growing more physically and emotionally expansive (she herself singles out this episode as the one where she started to have fun). Roseanne was never afraid to share the spotlight; Goodman, Metcalf, and the kids all had central roles in one episode or another, and one of the most striking episodes focused on Roseanne's coworker Crystal (the underrated Natalie West), whose husband had been embedded in concrete while working on a bridge. This black comic premise gave way to surprisingly touching grief when old secrets emerged. Guest performers like George Clooney (a semi-regular in the first season), Ned Beatty (as Dan's father), Estelle Parsons (an insidious turn as Roseanne's mother), and Fred Thompson (as a domineering supervisor) always had meaty material to work with. Simply one of the best sitcoms of all time. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

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The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities...... more

The Story of Us is about the fear of potential separation most marriages are supposed to experience. Personalities clash; identities blur; responsibilities weigh heavy. This, then, is an exploration of the Jordans, an average American couple who can't find any reason to stay together after 15 years. Once you get past the star power of Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, there's a terrifically pithy script working for them that effectively manages to juggle the genre crossover of a comedy-drama. Several montages cover years of petty squabbling, raising two kids, and long silences. There are confessions to camera about who picked what fight, and flashbacks to time spent offloading with friends. These provide the comedic backbone, with director Rob Reiner hogging the best lines. The best gag and narrative device is a bedroom scene following a therapist's revelation that every couple goes to bed with their parents' way of thinking rattling around in their minds. Sure enough, the super-wide bed shows all six in hilarious fashion. Despite the general paranoid atmosphere that everyone's doomed, you can rest assured that the guy who brought you When Harry Met Sally allows optimism to prevail.On the DVD: Reiner's commentary is a little sporadic, but like the great stand-up comic he always seems to be, each comment is priceless. He explains how he hates acting, yet can't help himself. A 20-minute documentary interviews all the cast and also composer Eric Clapton, and they all give their pessimistic views on why relationships break down. Willis is in fine form telling us that it was "so much more challenging than running down a street with a gun and shouting"! The widescreen presentation is crisp, as is the 5.1 sound. One trailer rounds out the package. --Paul Tonks

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Season 1: Four years after the American version of Queer as Folk made gay men the focus, it was time for a little turnabout with The L Word (bad title,...... more

Season 1: Four years after the American version of Queer as Folk made gay men the focus, it was time for a little turnabout with The L Word (bad title, great show). Centering around a tight-knit group of lesbians in Los Angeles, this drama was far removed from its working-class male counterpart in both style and content. While the men of QAF enjoyed a fabulous if melodramatic life on the middle-class streets of Pittsburgh, the women of The L Word lived it up in sunny California, with gorgeous houses, glamorous careers and sexy wardrobes. Ironically, though, The L Word adhered more to the everyday drama of ensemble shows like thirtysomething than the soap opera antics of QAF, and the results were surprisingly heartfelt and effective, appropriately stylish but never over the top. There was plenty of room for titillation, but creator Ilene Chaiken fashioned from the start a show centered on characters and not just sex, aiming for the heart rather than... well, other places. The L Word focused primarily on committed couple Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman), a former power-career duo who've decided to have a baby; however, artificial insemination and the changing dynamics of their relationship throw their previously happy existence off-kilter. Within their orbit are spunky journalist Alice (Leisha Hailey), sultry hairdresser Shane (Katherine Moenning), closeted pro tennis player Dana (Erin Daniels), and espresso bar owner Marina (Karina Lombard) who, in the show's most polarising storyline, bedded the seemingly straight Jenny (Mia Kirschner) and shook up her heterosexual world. Jenny's "am-I-straight-or-not?" kvetching frustrated both her fiancé (Eric Mabius) and many viewers, who were alternately irritated and intrigued by her inability to decide one way or the other. But Jenny's weakness was part of The L Word's strength: in exploring many sides of many issues, both domestic and political, it never came up with an easy answer for any of them, making the show all that more fascinating--and compulsively watchable. --Mark EnglehartSeason 2:Once a series has broken new ground, where does it go from there? Showtime's The L Word, concerning the relationships of a community of lesbian Los Angelenos, turned heads with its smart, funny writing and fully realized characters. Season Two offers more of the same, with some notable guest stars and experiments in narrative and music. This season, Jenny (Mia Kirshner) fully embraces her sexuality as her ex-husband/roomie (Eric Mabius) departs and voyeuristic documentary filmmaker Mark (Eric Lively) and womanchaser Shane (Katherine Moennig) move in. Shane and Jenny struggle good-heartedly over the affections of new character Carmen (Sarah Shahi), who isn't given much to do plot-wise apart from occasionally spinning records and serving as one corner of the love triangle. Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman) start the season on the rocks due to Bette's infidelity; the introduction of the one-dimensionally nasty Helena Peabody (Rachel Shelley) causes further friction between Bette and Tina while playing havoc with Bette's curatorial career. Meanwhile, Dana (Erin Daniels) and Alice (Leisha Hailey) go from being best friends to being a whole lot more, providing some of the most touching scenes of the season. Kit (Pam Grier) takes on The Planet, the seeming center of LA's lesbian universe, converting it into a nightclub where, conveniently, guest-starring bands can play. Strong points of the season include Bette and Kit confronting the death of their father (the superb Ossie Davis) and Shane's new job as a gopher for a high-powered Hollywood producer (the equally superb Camryn Manheim). Less strong are the distracting, neo-expressionistic passages meant to be glimpses into Jenny's creative mind and the interminable use of the series' theme song--re-interpreted in a number of genres--to the point of distraction. Mark's voyeurism, which crosses all sorts of boundaries as he installs hidden cameras around the house, is a brilliant way to challenge male viewers who may tune in just to TiVo their way to the sex scenes. That said, the arc of that particular story grows increasingly far-fetched as Mark somehow avoids criminal prosecution and instead endures the horrible fate of having Jenny refuse his offer of coffee and a muffin. Despite its flaws, The L Word is a show that deserves to be cheered on, not for its politics, but for the skillful way it conveys complex human entanglements with sensitivity. --Ryan BoudinotSeason 3: The third season of The L Word is all about transitions. The season opens with Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey) coping with her between-seasons break-up with Dana Fairbanks (Erin Daniels), who is herself headed for an even heavier series of transitions. Kit Porter (Pam Grier) both falls in love with a younger man and discovers she is going through menopause. Shane (Katherine Moennig), who spent much of the first two seasons of the show hopping from bed to bed, finds herself more or less committed to Latina deejay Carmen (Sarah Shahi). And the second season's resident villain, Helena Peabody (Rachel Shelley), becomes embroiled in a sexual harassment case that leaves her ultimately looking like the victim. As with previous seasons, The L Word gets all hot and bothered with various seductions filmed to sometimes jarring music on the soundtrack, but it's the day-to-day foibles and celebrations of Los Angeles's lesbian community that keep the show interesting. Newcomer Moira/Max (Daniela Sea) begins the process of gender reassignment, making for some curious situations with potential employers. Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman) begin to drift apart when Tina lands a big movie studio job and starts feeling attracted to men, leading to a custody battle over their baby daughter. Where The L Word starts getting preachy and obvious is in the opening flashback sequences. When these vignettes refer to current characters of the show, they make sense; when they depict situations meant to underline how queer identity has evolved over the years, they seem politically overloaded. The L Word works intelligently through its characters' concerns without having to resort to such direct appeals for tolerance. Its strength isn't in making lesbian culture appear more mainstream, but in making us care and identify with these women's struggles, regardless of our sexual orientation. --Ryan BoudinotSeason 4: If the third season was marked by transitions, The L Word's fourth concerns growing up--or trying to, at any rate. Shane (Katherine Moennig) becomes her brother Shay's guardian, Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina (Laurel Holloman) stop fighting over their daughter Angelica, and Bette's new boss, Phyllis (a very game Cybill Shepherd), decides it's time to embrace her true nature. So, after 25 years of marriage (Bruce Davison plays her husband), Chancellor Kroll comes out of the closet--and sets her sights on Alice (Leisha Hailey). For all the inclusiveness, Max (Daniela Sea), still remains on the margins. Dumped by Jenny (Mia Kirshner) the year before, Max continues to share her apartment while acclimating to life as a man. For those who felt season three was too dark, four offers a welcome corrective. There's still plenty of angst--Jenny's memoir meets with a few negative notices (Heather Matarazzo's journalist pens the harshest critique) and Helena (Rachel Shelley) learns to live without Mommy's money--but there are plenty of moving moments to compensate (most revolving around Shane and Shay). New additions also arrive to shake things up, like Marlee Matlin as an artist who helps Bette to broaden her horizons, Kristanna Loken as a single mother with a yen for Shane, and Rose Rollins as an Iraq War veteran with whom Alice has a tryst (leading to a well intentioned, if heavy-handed message about how even liberals should support the troops). As in seasons past, the directorial line-up impresses as much as the acting talent, and includes Oscar winner Marleen Gorris (Antonia's Line) and playwright Moisés Kaufman (The Laramie Project). --Kathleen C. Fennessy, Amazon.comSeason 5: In a clever move, the producers of The L Word use season five to revisit the origins of their own creation. After Jenny (Mia Kirshner) sets out to direct the silver-screen edition of her novel, Lez Girls, she enters a parallel world populated by actors playing thinly-veiled versions of the central cast (in a typical Jenny move, she sleeps with the star who portrays "Jesse"). This post-modern plotline brings newcomers up to speed, while offering early-adapters new perspectives on the past. Naturally, the shoot doesn't go smoothly. When the increasingly self-absorbed Jenny hires adoring fan Adele (ER's Malaya Rivera Drew) as her assistant, events take on All About Eve overtones. Since Jenny is turning her life into a movie, it only makes sense for the two to bleed into each other. In other developments, Tina (Laurel Holloman) and Bette (Jennifer Beals) consider reconciliation, Helena (Rachel Shelley) does time in prison, Alice (Leisha Hailey) takes her penchant for gossip too far, Tasha (Rose Rollins) fights to stay in the military, and Shane (Katherine Moennig), a dead ringer for Warren Beatty in Shampoo, rejoins the ranks of the single, only to fall for straight girl Molly (Cybill Shepherd's daughter, Clementine Ford). In a more melodramatic, but equally entertaining move, Dawn Denbo (Elizabeth Keener), proprietor of new hotspot SheBar makes life hell for the Planet, but Kit (Pam Grier) and her loyal clientele refuse to go down without a fight--even if they don't offer "Lesbian Turkish Oil Wrestling". Aside from the fact that Max (Daniela Sea) continues to get short shrift, The L Word's fifth season proves the show has more than a little lusty and gutsy life left in it. --Kathleen C. FennessySeason 6 Description: In the sixth and final season of The L Word, careers evolve, relationships are tested and friendships end in murder. It begins with Jenny found dead and as a result, everyones lives are turned upside down leaving all the friends despondent, but also suspects. Who did it and how did it happen? Flashbacks of the months leading up to the murder will be the only way to put the pieces together to learn why.

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Lost: Season OneAlong with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a...... more

Lost: Season OneAlong with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilisation or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season TwoWhat was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. --Ellen Kim Lost: Season ThreeWhen it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season FourSeason four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilisation in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season FiveSince Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." --Kathleen C. FennessyLost: Season SixIts taken a long time to get here, but finally, the last season of Lost arrives, with answers to at least some of the questions that fans of the show have been demanding for the past few years. In true Lost fashion, it doesnt tie all its mysteries up with a bow, but it does at least answer some of the questions that have long being gestating. In the series opening, for instance, we finally learn the secret of the smoke monster, which is a sizeable step in the right direction.In terms of quality, the show has been on an upward curve since the end date of the programme was announced, and season six arguably finds Lost at its most confident to date. Never mind the fact that its juggling lots of proverbial balls: theres a very clear end point here, and the show benefits enormously from it. Naturally, Lost naysayers will probably find themselves more alienated than ever here. But this boxset nonetheless marks the passing of a major television show, one that has cleverly managed to reinvent itself on more than one occasion, and keep audiences across the world gripped as a result. Theres going to be nothing quite like it for a long time to come --Jon Foster

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Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue,...... more

Through his handcrafted ode to the trials of childhood, Spike Jonze puts his own unique imprint on Maurice Sendak's enduring classic. In the prologue, 9-year-old Max (Max Records) stomps around the house, feeling neglected. When his mom (Catherine Keener) sends him to bed without supper, Max runs away (something he doesn't do in the book). He finds a boat and sails to a distant land where fuzzy monsters are raising a rumpus in the forest. Since his wolf suit allows him to fit right in, he joins the fray, catching the eye of Carol (James Gandolfini), who notes, approvingly, "I like the way you destroy stuff. There's a spark to your work that can't be taught." With that, they pronounce the diminutive creature king, hoping he can bring cohesion to their fractured family. After Max comes across Carol's scale-model town, he decides they should build a real one, but the project stalls as Alexander (Paul Dano) and Douglas (Chris Cooper) mope, Judith (Catherine O'Hara) browbeats Ira (Forest Whitaker), and Carol pines for K.W. (Lauren Ambrose), who prefers the company of owls Bob and Terry. Max realises he has to make a choice: stay with the wild things or return home, where he has to keep his aggressive impulses in check.For readers of Sendak's slim tome, his decision won't come as a surprise, but Jonze ends the story on a lovely grace note. Until that time, the squabbling is a bit much--these monsters never stop talking--but Jonze, cowriter Dave Eggers, the Jim Henson Company, and singer/songwriter Karen O. have gone all-out to re-create the inner world of a child with as much empathy as was mustered for the inner adult world of Jonze's Being John Malkovich. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

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With a story that's too flimsy to support its running time, this road-mo vie comedy has plenty of problems, but at its best it's a surprisingly inspired...... more

With a story that's too flimsy to support its running time, this road-mo vie comedy has plenty of problems, but at its best it's a surprisingly inspired vehicle for the clever teaming of Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence. Robbins plays an addled advertising executive who comes home early one day and discovers his wife in bed with his boss. To make matters worse, he's later carjacked by a struggling, unemployed family-man-turned-petty-thief (Lawrence), and that's when he loses his cool completely. He takes the carjacker hostage and recruits him on a road-trip scheme of revenge against his wife and boss. Plotting to break into his boss' high-security vault, Robbins gets a criminal assist from Lawrence, but they're also on the run from another pair of would-be thieves who trail them to the vault's location. The routine plot of Nothing To Lose is occasionally limp and sluggish, but writer-director Steve Oedekerk (who makes a wacky cameo appearance as a security guard) mines comedy gold during several scenes that detour from the plot for the sake of sheer lunacy. Robbins and Lawrence have great comedic chemistry (if you can tolerate Lawrence's constant profanity), and although the movie ends on a false note with some unlikely turns of fate, it's definitely good for more than a few solid laughs. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

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Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Italian ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC...... more

Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Italian ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In this understated drama by director and co-writer Pupi Avati, the life-changing events that sweep through an office of nondescript bank workers may be minor in the scheme of a greater cosmos, but they have a major impact on everyone involved. The story is told through the eyes of Luigi (Claudio Botosso), just out of college and starting work at the bank as a new recruit. Luigi is shy enough to seem aloof at the beginning, but he quickly gets into the rhythm of office politics, at least as much as his still-reserved personality allows. Luigi would like to go out with Annalisa (Elena Sofia Ricci) but the attractive woman has chosen his former roommate Dario (Dario Parisini) instead. Meanwhile, Luigi is getting an introduction into the small and often corrupt and profligate society around him; women seem willing to bed down with whomever -- though not with him -- and they even get drunk at parties. Older men are chasing women who are their employees, the haves are not interested in associating with the have-nots, and even the rich cannot always get into -- and stay in -- the clubs that define an elite strata. As relationships come and go, one of the more unscrupulous workers is finally discharged, but not before a scandal erupts. And tragedy also lies waiting in the wings -- leaving Luigi with a lot of life experience in a very brief period of time. ...Employees ( Impiegati )

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Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Italian ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC...... more

Italy released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: LANGUAGES: Italian ( Dolby Digital 5.1 ), Italian ( Mono ), English ( Subtitles ), Italian ( Subtitles ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.78:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Filmographies, Interactive Menu, Photo Gallery, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In this understated drama by director and co-writer Pupi Avati, the life-changing events that sweep through an office of nondescript bank workers may be minor in the scheme of a greater cosmos, but they have a major impact on everyone involved. The story is told through the eyes of Luigi (Claudio Botosso), just out of college and starting work at the bank as a new recruit. Luigi is shy enough to seem aloof at the beginning, but he quickly gets into the rhythm of office politics, at least as much as his still-reserved personality allows. Luigi would like to go out with Annalisa (Elena Sofia Ricci) but the attractive woman has chosen his former roommate Dario (Dario Parisini) instead. Meanwhile, Luigi is getting an introduction into the small and often corrupt and profligate society around him; women seem willing to bed down with whomever -- though not with him -- and they even get drunk at parties. Older men are chasing women who are their employees, the haves are not interested in associating with the have-nots, and even the rich cannot always get into -- and stay in -- the clubs that define an elite strata. As relationships come and go, one of the more unscrupulous workers is finally discharged, but not before a scandal erupts. And tragedy also lies waiting in the wings -- leaving Luigi with a lot of life experience in a very brief period of time. ...Employees ( Impiegati )

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This box sets has the same contents as the box set available on Amazon.com.Lost: Season OneAlong with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout...... more

This box sets has the same contents as the box set available on Amazon.com.Lost: Season OneAlong with Desperate Housewives, Lost was one of the two breakout shows of 2004. Mixing suspense and action with a sci-fi twist, it began with a thrilling pilot episode in which a jetliner traveling from Australia to Los Angeles crashes, leaving 48 survivors on an unidentified island with no sign of civilisation or hope of imminent rescue. That may sound like Gilligan's Island meets Survivor, but Lost kept viewers tuning in every Wednesday night--and spending the rest of the week speculating on Web sites--with some irresistible hooks (not to mention the beautiful women). First, there's a huge ensemble cast of no fewer than 14 regular characters, and each episode fills in some of the back story on one of them. There's a doctor; an Iraqi soldier; a has-been rock star; a fugitive from justice; a self-absorbed young woman and her brother; a lottery winner; a father and son; a Korean couple; a pregnant woman; and others. Second, there's a host of unanswered questions: What is the mysterious beast that lurks in the jungle? Why do polar bears and wild boars live there? Why has a woman been transmitting an SOS message in French from somewhere on the island for the last 16 years? Why do impossible wishes seem to come true? Are they really on a physical island, or somewhere else? What is the significance of the recurring set of numbers? And will Kate ever give up her bad-boy fixation and hook up with Jack? Lost did have some hiccups during the first season. Some plot threads were left dangling for weeks, and the "oh, it didn't really happen" card was played too often. But the strong writing and topnotch cast kept the show a cut above most network TV. The best-known actor at the time of the show's debut was Dominic Monaghan, fresh off his stint as Merry the Hobbit in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The rest of the cast is either unknowns or "where I have I seen that face before" supporting players, including Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly, who are the closest thing to leads. Other standouts include Naveen Andrews, Terry O'Quinn (who's made a nice career out of conspiracy-themed TV shows), Josh Holloway, Jorge Garcia, Yunjin Kim, Maggie Grace, and Emilie de Ravin, but there's really not a weak link in the cast. Co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias), Lost left enough unanswered questions after its first season to keep viewers riveted for a second season. --David Horiuchi Lost: Season TwoWhat was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. --Ellen Kim Lost: Season ThreeWhen it aired in 2006-07, Lost's third season was split into two, with a hefty break in between. This did nothing to help the already weirdly disparate direction the show was taking (Kate and Sawyer in zoo cages! Locke eating goop in a mud hut!), but when it finally righted its course halfway through--in particular that whopper of a finale--the drama series had left its irked fan base thrilled once again. This doesn't mean, however, that you should skip through the first half of the season to get there, because quite a few questions find answers: what the Others are up to, the impact of turning that fail-safe key, the identity of the eye-patched man from the hatch's video monitor. One of the series' biggest curiosities from the past--how Locke ended up in that wheelchair in the first place--also gets its satisfying due. (The episode, "The Man from Tallahassee," likely was a big contributor to Terry O'Quinn's surprising--but long-deserved--Emmy win that year.) Unfortunately, you do have to sit through a lot of aforementioned nuisances to get there. Season 3 kicks off with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) held captive by the Others; Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) on a mission to rescue them; and Locke, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), and Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) in the aftermath of the electromagnetic pulse that blew up the hatch. Spinning the storylines away from base camp alone wouldn't have felt so disjointed were it not for the new characters simultaneously being introduced. First there's Juliet, a mysterious member of the Others whose loyalty constantly comes into question as the season goes on. Played delicately by Elizabeth Mitchell (Gia, ER, Frequency), Juliet is in one turn a cold-blooded killer, by another turn a sympathetic friend; possibly both at once, possibly neither at all. (She's also a terrific, albeit unwitting, threat to the Kate-Sawyer-Jack love triangle, which plays out more definitively this season.) On the other hand, there's the now-infamous Nikki and Paulo (Kiele Sanchez and Rodrigo Santoro), a tagalong couple who were cleverly woven into the previous seasons' key moments but came to bear the brunt of fans' ire toward the show (Sawyer humorously echoed the sentiments by remarking, "Who the hell are you?"). By the end of the season, at least two major characters die, another is told he/she will die within months, major new threats are unveiled, and--as mentioned before--the two-part season finale restores your faith in the series. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season FourSeason four of Lost was a fine return to form for the series, which polarized its audience the year before with its focus on The Others and not enough on our original crash victims. That season's finale introduced a new storytelling device--the flash-forward--that's employed to great effect this time around; by showing who actually got off the island (known as the Oceanic Six), the viewer is able to put to bed some longstanding loose ends. As the finale attests, we see that in the future Jack (Matthew Fox) is broken, bearded, and not sober, while Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is estranged from Jack and with another guy (the identity may surprise you). Four others do make it back to their homes, but as the flash-forwards show, it's definitely not the end of their connection to the island. Back in present day, however, the islanders are visited by the denizens of a so-called rescue ship, who have agendas of their own. While Jack works with the newcomers to try to get off the island, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), with a few followers of his own, forms an uneasy alliance with Ben (Michael Emerson) against the suspicious gang. Some episodes featuring the new characters feel like filler, but the evolution of such characters as Sun and Jin (Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim) is this season's strength; plus, the love story of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) provides some of the show's emotional highlights. As is the custom with Lost, bullets fly and characters die (while others may or may not have). Moreover, the fate of Michael (Harold Perrineau), last seen traitorously sailing off to civilisation in season two, as well as the flash-forwards of the Oceanic Six, shows you never quite leave the island once you've left. There's a force that pulls them in, and it's a hook that keeps you watching. Season four was a shorter 13 episodes instead of the usual 22 due to the 2008 writers' strike. --Ellen A. Kim Lost: Season FiveSince Lost made its debut as a cult phenomenon in 2004, certain things seemed inconceivable. In its fourth year, some of those things, like a rescue, came to pass. The season ended with Locke (Terry O'Quinn) attempting to persuade the Oceanic Six to return, but he dies before that can happen--or so it appears--and where Jack (Matthew Fox) used to lead, Ben (Emmy nominee Michael Emerson) now takes the reins and convinces the survivors to fulfill Locke's wish. As producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse state in their commentary on the fifth-season premiere, "We're doing time travel this year," and the pile-up of flashbacks and flash-forwards will make even the most dedicated fan dizzy. Ben, Jack, Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Sun (Yunjin Kim), and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) arrive to find that Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) have been part of the Dharma Initiative for three years. The writers also clarify the roles that Richard (Nestor Carbonell) and Daniel (Jeremy Davies) play in the island's master plan, setting the stage for the prophecies of Daniel's mother, Eloise Hawking (Fionnula Flanagan), to play a bigger part in the sixth and final season. Dozens of other players flit in and out, some never to return. A few, such as Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), live again in the past. Lost could've wrapped things up in five years, as The Wire did, but the show continues to excite and surprise. As Lindelof and Cuse admit in the commentary, there's a "fine line between confusion and mystery," adding, "it makes more sense if you're drunk." --Kathleen C. FennessyLost Season SixIts taken a long time to get here, but finally, the last season of Lost arrives, with answers to at least some of the questions that fans of the show have been demanding for the past few years. In true Lost fashion, it doesnt tie all its mysteries up with a bow, but it does at least answer some of the questions that have long being gestating. In the series opening, for instance, we finally learn the secret of the smoke monster, which is a sizeable step in the right direction. In terms of quality, the show has been on an upward curve since the end date of the programme was announced, and season six arguably finds Lost at its most confident to date. Never mind the fact that it's juggling lots of proverbial balls: there's a very clear end point here, and the show benefits enormously from it. Naturally, Lost naysayers will probably find themselves more alienated than ever here. But this season nonetheless marks the passing of a major television show, one that has cleverly managed to reinvent itself on more than one occasion, and keep audiences across the world gripped as a result. There's going to be nothing quite like it for a long time to come. --Jon Foster

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Greys Anatomy: Season 1Just when you wanted to say "Oh no, not another hospital drama," Grey's Anatomy turns into one of the most addicting series on...... more

Greys Anatomy: Season 1Just when you wanted to say "Oh no, not another hospital drama," Grey's Anatomy turns into one of the most addicting series on television. With no big stars and no hype, the ABC series debuted as a mid-season replacement and became a bonafide smash in its nine-episode season. The series, a hybrid of House's medical detectives and Dawson's Creek's hormones and catchy pop-rock soundtrack, follows five competitive surgical interns at the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital. There's optimistic ex-model Izzie (Katherine Heigl), bumbling do-gooder George (T.R. Knight), competitive glacier Cristina (Sandra Oh), cocky womanizer Alex (Justin Chambers), and the show's namesake, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), whose medical career is complicated by her famous surgeon mother who now lives with Alzheimer's, and her frowned-upon relationship with another surgeon, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey, enjoying the best career revival since Rob Lowe). The doctors juggle romance and foster friendships while trying not to stab each other in the back over surgeries. Grey's Anatomy's first season, while entertaining, went a little far trying to find its groove, overdosing on Meredith's overly simplistic voice-overs ("At the end of the day... faith is a funny thing"), and musical montages. It has the usual trappings of a hospital drama (unusual cases, such as the patient with the 70-pound tumor, and trysts in the on-call room), but with more warm fuzzies and light touches. Pompeo, who can sound just like Renee Zellweger if you close your eyes, is likeable but not strong enough of a presence compared to her co-stars. Luckily the quirky dialogue and stellar acting by the ethnically diverse cast, particularly by Chandra Wilson (Dr. Bailey, aka "the Nazi") and Oh, who won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress, more than make up for it. --Ellen A. KimGreys Anatomy: Season 2For viewers bored or distressed by the constant gore and breakneck speed of hospital dramas like ER, Grey's Anatomy comes as a breath of fresh air. Unlike other shows set in the world of medicine, this series is just as concerned with its characters' personal lives as with their medical careers, and thrives by stressing the way in which the two intertwine. After all, for surgical interns who have chosen to dedicate their lives to medicine, the hospital largely becomes their home. Extremely well-written, the series mixes serious issues like mortality with funny storylines and wit. Each character is well developed and individualized, coming off as real rather than stereotypical. Rather than standing on its own, each medical challenge sheds some light on the doctors' personal experiences, bringing the hospital environment to a refreshingly relevant level. While the series may not be the most realistic medical drama on television, it is certainly the most compelling and entertaining, containing such juicy plotlines as love triangles, affairs between co-workers, and secret romances. This release contains every episode from the show's well received second season, picking up right where the first left off, with Meredith discovering that her boyfriend, Derek, has been hiding the fact that he's married. Shocked and betrayed, Meredith embarks on a messy healing process that involves angry shouting matches and a string of one-night stands. As usual, the show avoids taking itself too seriously by interjecting serious themes with light-hearted dialogue and humorous medical emergencies. Rounding out the already impressive ensemble cast are new characters like Derek's wife (Kate Walsh) and new love interests for most of the cast. While the season contains plenty of laughs, it keeps the intensity up as well, and ends on a decidedly sombre note.Greys Anatomy: Season 3In the third season of Grey's Anatomy, one medical intern will get married to a superior while another is left standing at the altar. Two interns will lose their parents. And one main character will try to commit suicide--or not fight very hard to save her own life. There will be multiple hook-ups, infidelity, and trust issues. In between the soap opera-style drama that attracts millions of viewers in the US each week, interns Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), Alex Karev (Justin Chambers), and George O'Malley (T.R. Knight) will also perform some medical miracles. At the end of season 2, Izzie was distraught over the death of her fiancé, Denny. Now she finds that her very rich boyfriend has left her millions of dollars. Instead of putting the money into the bank and allowing it to accrue interest until she decides what she wants to do with it--as sensible Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) suggests--Izzie mopes around the house in an irritating stupor. Actually, irritating is an apt description for several of the main characters. It takes a leap of faith to believe that sexy, spectacular, and rich orthopedic surgeon Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) would be even vaguely interested in wishy-washy George. Previously, he'd convinced himself that he was in love with Meredith. Now he's pining for his other roommate, Izzie, even though he's already got Callie. And rather than welcoming her into their fold, Izzie and Meredith (and to a lesser extent Cristina) give Callie the mean-girls treatment. They may have rebuffed him at one point, but they don't want Callie to have him, either. There is something very needy about this group of interns who have no one to turn to but each other when a crisis occurs. Viewers get some insight into "dark and twisty" Meredith's upbringing, as she spends more time with her cold and demanding mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's, and her milquetoast father, who didn't fight very hard to have contact with her as a child after her mum kicked him out of their house. It's no wonder Meredith ended up emotionally damaged and unwilling to completely open up to Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) ... a.k.a. McDreamy. Though the show's title implies that Meredith is the most important character, it's not true. The ensemble cast, which also includes James Pickens Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber (who had a long and complicated affair with Meredith's mother) and Kate Walsh as Derek's ex-wife Addison, is fantastic. And it's difficult to outshine Oh, who has some of this season's funniest and emotional moments as she navigates a relationship with Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington), who is far more romantic and traditional than she is. Though not as compelling as the show's debut season, this third year still packs a strong emotional punch. --Jae-Ha KimGreys Anatomy: Season 4Season four of the hit ABC medical drama was on shaky ground from the season premiere, which left Cristina (Sandra Oh) at the altar by Burke (Isaiah Washington, fired after the press-frenzied third season); Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek (Patrick Dempsey) downgraded to no-relationship-just-sex status; and George (T.R. Knight) pondering divorce from Callie (Sara Ramirez) to pursue love with his best friend, Izzie (Katherine Heigl). That last pairing made for one of the worst decisions in the series thus far; George and Izzie always worked so well as friends without the will-they-won't-they element, but suddenly throwing them into bed and watching them fumble their way to coupledom (an attempt that mercifully doesn't last) was painful to watch, in particular because Heigl, who had won an Emmy for the previous season, was reduced to a lot of whining and fretting. Meanwhile, Meredith's family issues come to a head when her half-sister Lexie (Chyler Leigh) begins her internship at Seattle Grace and instantly tries too hard to bond. And as she once again drives away Derek with her trust issues, Meredith finally gets smart and enters therapy (one of the redeeming elements of the season, with Amy Madigan as the hard-nosed counselor) to "get healed." The writers' strike became a welcome blessing for the show, which had seriously derailed before its hiatus; during the strike, creator Shonda Rimes has said she reexamined the direction of the show, making for an ultimately satisfying second half of the season. Standout episodes include "Forever Young," in which a high school bus crash leaves the staff pontificating their own adolescent cliques; "Lay Your Hands on Me," with a standout performance by Chandra Wilson as Bailey, whose crumbling marriage comes front and center when her toddler gets in an accident; and the season finale "Freedom," in which Meredith and Derek save two brain-tumor patients in love (Jurnee Smollett and Marshall Allman), leading to their own (lasting?) reunion, Bailey heads up an effort to rescue a guy who lay in concrete to impress a girl; and Callie finds herself attracted to the new cardiac surgeon, Erica Hahn (Brooke Smith). --Ellen A. KimGreys Anatomy: Season 5Season 5 is a pivotal one for the riveting Grey's Anatomy. The doctors at Seattle Grace Hospital bloom and show new layers, the drama meets and exceeds that of previous seasons, and the show marks an important milestone--its 100th episode--with developments that, as with all the great Grey's episodes, brim with belly laughs and moving tears.The season gets off to a slow start, with perhaps a bit more relationship angst than even diehard fans would prefer. Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Derek "McDreamy" (Patrick Dempsey) start out with the familiar push-pull of their love affair--but a resolution, at last, is in their future. Callie (the excellent, and newly glamorous, Sara Ramirez) wrestles with her sexual orientation. Cristina (Sandra Oh, never better) is still picking up the pieces from her ruined engagement to the departed Burke (Isaiah Washington). To help her, or maybe to throw her for another loop, the series introduces the gruff, macho military doc, Owen (one of TV's sexiest hunks, Kevin McKidd).Yet series creator and still active writer Shonda Rhimes unveils story arcs about midway through the season which have the surgeons' operating room dramas intersecting with the characters' private lives--with waves of heartbreaking results. Fans may take issue with "Dead Denny" (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his endless visitations--complete with sex--with Izzie (Katherine Heigl)--but as the season builds, Izzie's mystery illness, and her deep love for Alex (Justin Chambers) are treated with delicacy and respect, and Denny's character both reacts and ultimately supports. There's a wedding--a fairy-tale one--celebrating the show's 100th episode, and the love of the characters, and the pain they've overcome to get there--are equal parts of the very human, very lovely, result. The season finale is among the show's best ever, with the fate of two beloved characters, George (T.R. Knight) and Izzie, left unknown and laden with sorrow. --A.T. Hurley

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Lisa Stansfield's greatest hits compilation Biography opens with her collaboration with cutting-edge dance act Coldcut, "People Hold On", followed by the UK and...... more

Lisa Stansfield's greatest hits compilation Biography opens with her collaboration with cutting-edge dance act Coldcut, "People Hold On", followed by the UK and US videos for her first solo tune "This is the Right Time". As is highlighted by Lisa's introductions of each video, part of her appeal is her gutsy, no-nonsense attitude. She candidly tells stories about the making of the videos, as if she's a gossipy, loud-mouthed friend. Crowing about heart-throb Linus Roache being her love-interest in the video to "Set Your Loving Free", and how she half-froze standing in a Madrid fountain for the "So Natural" promo, her introductions provide a warming insight. Adopting the same technique Lady Godiva used to gain attention, Lisa a couple of times literally reveals all in her videos. The sultry "Time to Make You Mine" depicts Stansfield writhing around naked on a bed of leaves, with strategically placed animated tattoos. Later video "Never Gonna Give You Up" sees her striding down a bustling high street completely starkers: a great treat for those who like a bit of bare-arsed northern soul. On the DVD:Biography is littered with Easter eggs of bonus out-takes. The disc's menus are attractive and fun to use--random audio excerpts of Lisa's songs accompany each sub-menu. The extras are impressive, too, with live versions of "All Around the World" and "People Hold On", as well as lesser-known album tracks ("What Did I Do to You" and "Suzanne"). Filmed in what appears to be a swish New York loft apartment, the alternate US video of "Change" is also included, along with a duet with the "walrus of love" Barry White. --John Galilee

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