35 hours.

I emphasize that part because... well... the DVD is 35 hours long! And no, I didn't watch all of it, I don't think anyone can expect me to watch the entire DVD, certainly not with a full slate of other DVDs to review this week. I did check out several of the stories, starting with...

• The Kennedys
  Starting with Joseph Kennedy, who rose in the world of business and then in politics, so much so that he dreamed of becoming the first Catholic president of the United States. But the start of World War II and Joseph's thought that Germany would win caused a sense of defeatism that killed his career, which was followed by several tragedies over the coming years. The nearly 4-hour program continues to JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Edward Kennedy, all of whom had presidential ambitions of their own.
• Nixon
  At nearly three hours, this program is still shorter than the movie I recently reviewed. This program starts out at the end of his term, which ended in disgrace, and goes to the beginning to see how his rise started. This new rise seemed to be predicated on anti-Communist hysteria, as well as a lot of dirty campaign tricks. That's not to say JFK ran a clean campaign, but this was a new level that should have tipped people off on what kind of president he would be. (And don't blame that on losing to Kennedy, because Nixon ran dirty campaigns right from the beginning.) On a side note, Gerald Ford isn't even given a footnote here.
• George H. W. Bush
  I like George H. W. Bush and thought he was a good president (I also agreed with him calling Reagan's economics 'Voodoo Economics'). I was looking forward to this particular program, and it was interesting to learn more about him. Watching this, it would have been better had he topped Reagan in 1980 Republican primary; I especially liked the comparison between what Reagan pretended to be in his films, and what Bush was in real life. On a side note, I found it strange that they specifically called Joseph Kennedy anti-Semitic, but they completely ignored Prescott Bush's connection to the Nazi regime. Perhaps it is because those events hurt Joseph Kennedy while Prescott's connections never seemed to cause political harm to the Bush family, which is something I've never been able to fully understand.

For history buffs or for political junkies, The Presidents Collection is an amazing DVD to grab. Most won't have the endurance to get through it all, especially not in one sitting, but there is a huge value here for those interested and for them it is easily worth buying. In fact, if you are a teacher, then it is certainly worth picking up, because you could have your entire semester plan worked around it, and then you would make your kids read a single textbook for the entire year. Awesome plan.

This is the kind of show that is made for TV on DVD. It draws you in from the start and you want to watch it all as fast as possible. (Waiting a week for each installment is just not acceptable.) However, because there are so many threads, it is nearly impossible review the series without letting too many spoilers drop. Threads here include Vic's impending retirement (which is not his idea, of course), Kavanaugh's pursuit to catch Vic at all costs (even if he has to break more laws than Vic), as well as dealing with the fallout from Lem's death at the end of season five that gets more and more complicated as the season goes on.

Extras on the four-disc set are incredible with all ten episodes having either an audio commentary or deleted scenes, and most have both. In addition, there are three featurettes, the first being Saturns's Sons on disc one. This 30-minute featurette on the making of season six and features talking heads, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips from the movie. Two Directors talks about some of the directors that worked on this season, but the mainly focus on ... two of them. Hence the name. Finally, Full Circle: Franka Potente is a 14-minute featurette on Franka Potente, who has a recurring role this season as a... well, that would be a major spoiler.

Finally, there are subtitles, no play all buttons, and the way the credits are set up, proper chapter placement is more or less moot. Season Six of The Shield is a must have for fans of the series, and if you haven't seen the series so far, start with Season One. The final season starts in September, and I can't wait.

Son of Rambow is a coming of age story between two unlikely friends who bond over their attempts to make a movie. Bill Milner plays Will Proudfoot, a young boy whose strict religious sect forbids him from associating too much with the outside world, this includes a ban on TV and movies... movies like Rambo. (I know that's not the actual name of the movie, but bear with me.) Lee Carter, played by Will Poulter, is an outsider for another reason. His family life is rough with an absent mother and a brother who is just not equipped to be a parental figure. Without a parental figure in his life, he tends to bully those below him in the pecking order, which includes Will, at least to start with. Their relationship changes from one kid bulling / conning another for opportunistic reasons, to one of genuine friendship. It was certainly the heart of the movie.

Extras on the DVD include an audio commentary track with the two boys, as well as Garth Jennings, the director, and Nick Goldsmith, the producer. Like they say early on, this is not a technical commentary that delves deep into the symbolism of the movie, but it is a load of fun. Next up is a making-of featurette that runs 26 minutes, that is a mix of talking heads, behind-the-scenes footage, and clips from the movie. Like the audio commentary track, it tends to lean towards the entertainment end of the spectrum. There's a short film, Aron, that was made by Garth Jennings, which inspired this movie. Finally, there's another short film, this time the 5-minute short that won the Son of Rambow website contest.

Son of Rambow was one of many, many potential sleeper hits of the past summer, but while it earned very good reviews, it never found an audience. The DVD isn't overloaded with extras, but there's more than enough here to raise it past the rental stage and to a solid purchase.

There are 23 shorts on this 2-disc set, so let's get right to the highlights...

• You Nazty Spy!
  Larry, Moe, and Curly become dictators in this rare political turn for the trio. In fact, this is the first Hollywood film to spoof Adolf Hitler. A great way to start off the set.
• A Plumbing We Will Go
  After narrowly escaping conviction, the three are on the run from the cops and hide out in a fancy house pretending to be plumbers. Many feel that the troupe were at there best when they were screwing up relatively normal jobs, like plumbing, and there's plenty of comedy here.
• From Nurse to Worse
  The three try to get $500 a month from an insurance scam by pretending Curly is nuts, but he pretends to hard and the doctor wants to conduct emergency surgery.
• No Census, No Feeling
  After being chased by the police, again, the three wind up as census takers, which allows them all sorts of interactions (mostly played as one-shot jokes). However, the short takes off when the three find themselves at a fancy mansion and roped into a bridge game. On a side note, what the hell is alum? And why is it used in so many comedy shorts? I know Bugs Bunny has used it more than once to defeat one of his enemies.
• So Long Mr. Chumps
  After finding and returning some oil bonds, the trio are offered $5,000 if they can find another honest man with executive abilities. They hear of one such man, but he's in prison, so they decide to go to prison to break him out. But wouldn't you know it, the one time they want to be caught by the police...
• Dutiful But Dumb
  I loved Cinemaware, which was a company that made video games for the Amiga in the late 80s. One of the games was The Three Stooges, which included an oyster soup game, which is based on this short, or at least part of this short. I loved The Three Stooges game, and others by that company like Defender of the Crown and The King of Chicago. So this short brings back memories, as well as being a great fun on its own.
• I'll Never Heil Again
  The sequel to You Nazty Spy! This time around the King of Moranica, King Henry the 6 7/8th is trying to reclaim the throne.
• In the Sweet Pie and Pie
  The Three Stooges play convicts who are to be hanged in the morning, but they become part of a scheme to get an inheritance by marrying three society ladies. Of course, the ladies didn't plan for them to live, so they try to try to get them to leave on their own. Ths short has arguably most famous ending of them all, but I won't spoil it here.

About a third of the shorts presented on the Three Stooges Collection 3 are top tier. However, I don't think there's a single short that isn't at least worth checking out, and most have replay value. This is more than enough to recommend buying the DVD, but you might want to start with collections one and two.

The Transformers - Blu-ray - Buy from Amazon
It has been nearly a year since the DVD and the HD DVD. When it first hit High Definition, this was a groundbreaking release. So what has changed?

Thankfully, not much.

The video is the same, the audio has got a smart upgrade to Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround track. However, the extras are all the same, right down to my problems connecting to the network. (It's like I'm cursed. And since I was able to download a patch, it can't be a problem on my end.) I'll try again next week to see if things have changed.

The Blu-ray debut of The Transformers is even better than the first time it hit High Definition, but only by a small margin. Additionally, in the time between releases, what was groundbreaking before is now just commonplace for a monster hit such as this. For instance, Picture-in-Picture is relatively common now. That said, it is worth grabbing, especially if you bought the DVD, as there is a mail-in rebate to get $10 back. (Sadly, people who bought just the HD DVD version can't participate in the rebate program.)

Morgan Spurlock's follow-up to Super Size Me takes a look at terrorism with the same attitude as he had when he tackled nutrition in Super Size Me, but only to mixed results. I think part of the problem is the subject seems to deserve a more somber treatment than McDonalds' effect on nutrition did. (Although the numbers show that more people die from poor nutrition, either eating too much fat, calories, etc., or not enough nutrients, than are killed by terrorist attacks, so it should be the more somber topic. But, there's a difference between the numbers and the emotions behind a subject.) The movie is at its best when Morgan Spurlock is just talking to people and listening to the people from all sides (although not everyone wanted to be part of the conversation).

The worst part of the film was the set up. I didn't buy the fact that he went out to find Osama Bin Laden to make the world safer for his upcoming kid. He went there to make a movie. That entire part of the movie could have been trimmed and it would have been for the better.

Extras on the DVD include seven extra bits including an alternate ending, interviews with some Saudi women, a member of the IRA, interview with the Israeli President Shimon Peres, and more. In total they run close to 18 minutes, which is not a lot of extras. However, considering how poorly the movie did at the box office, this isn't bad.

Granted, if you are interested in the subject, you won't learn a lot new from, Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?, and if you are can learn a lot from the film, you probably are not interested enough to bother watching. That said, the movie is better than the reviews would indicate and it is worth checking out. However, for most a rental will be enough.