The film stars Rich Franklin as Isaac, a genetically engineered cyborg super soldier, who escapes from the facility where he was created. He comes across a border guard, played by Tiffani Thiessen, who helps him run from the group sent to retrieve him, a group led by Bruce Greenwood. My expectations for this film were low, and at most I was hoping it would be an effective time-waster, and it was. Rich Franklin is a former UFC champion, so he can handle the action scenes well. Also, his character is not supposed to be quite human, so lack of acting skills can be attributed to that and are more acceptable. The script actually does more than just there to set up the action scenes, and overall it is entertaining, which is its main goal.

On the other hand, there are no extras on DVD.

Perhaps it is just low expectations, or perhaps its because I watched this movie after Kill Switch, but I thought Cyborg Soldier was actually worth checking out. However, it's not a great movie and it is coming out on a featureless DVD, so it is just worth a rental.

The latest DVD release includes four episodes, starting with...

• Dora Saves Three Kings Day - Dora, Diego, and Boots dress up for Three King's Day and ride to the party on an elephant, camel, and horse, but when Swiper tries to steal their treats, the animals get away and you have to help them find the animals again.
• Isa's Unicorn Flowers - Dora and Isa grow and collect various flowers, including one that looks likes a unicorn's horn, which causes a unicorn to show up. But when he becomes trapped, you must help him find a rainbow so he can get back home.
• Benny's Big Race - Benny the Bull is going to be part of his first race, but his go-cart falls apart, so Dora and Boots have to help him complete the race. However, sudden and inexplicable wheel loss is not his only problem.
• The Backpack Parade - Dora and Boots dress up their backpacks in costumes for a parade. Huh?

Dora the Explorer is a hugely popular show for pre-school kids, and Dora Celebrates Three Kings Day! is just the latest DVD release from the franchise. Sadly, the DVD doesn't offer any additional value added features, but for fans who bought previous DVDs, this one is worth checking out, and the episodes have enough replay value for their target audience that it is worth picking up.

The film starts shortly after the events of the first film when Biker Queen, sister to Harley Mom arrives at the bar and sees the aftermath, including the corpse of her sister, and she vows revenge, dragging the Bartender along with her and her biker gang. Meanwhile, in a neighboring town, the monsters are terrorizing the town killing off most of the population. The few survivors band together with the biker gang and try to survive. It doesn't go well.

A lot of the horror is gone, replaced with pure spatter, and they try to increase the humor and / or the level of campiness, which wasn't successful. I find that too much gore, no matter how well done, gets repetitive. You need moments of calm to build up the mood and suspense. But this is hard to do and having a lot of blood hit the screen is easy. Also, nearly all of the attempts at campy humor missed. One scene involved one of the monsters raping a cat. Yes, you read that right. According to the audio commentary track, they thought it was funny, but it was just stupid. Stupid and the scene lasted way too long. Additionally, too many of the characters were 100% unsympathetic. The two Mexican wrestlers, Thunder and Lightning, as well as Biker Queen were the only new characters that were even remotely sympathetic (the wrestlers' grandmother "died" too soon to care about, and the biker gang members never showed as distinct enough characters and were there either to be victims or to be shown topless). Honey Pie, who was one of the most hated characters of the first film actually comes across as a nice person in this movie, at least compared to the used car salesman. Since I didn't care about most of the characters, and I found the gore uninteresting, and the humor lame, there was very little to keep my attention here.

Extras include an audio commentary track, a 12-minute long making-of featurette, and another featurette on Gulager family, which has three generations on both sides of the camera. They're worth checking out for fans of the movie, but they don't have a whole lot of replay value.

No one goes to see a movie called Feast 2 - Sloppy Seconds thinking it is going to be an award winner. However, it wasn't able to match my low expectations. It was weaker than the first movie in just about every way. Granted, it is likely still worth renting for fans of this type of horror movie, but that's as far as I would go.

Ghost Whisperer - Season Three - Buy from Amazon
Getting caught up. Hopefully this time next week I will be completely caught up on all of the DVDs that arrived late. ... Assuming no more late DVDs arrive this week.

Season three of Ghost Whisperer continues where Season Two left off, namely Melinda Gordon finding out that there is a light and a dark side to the afterlife, and that there's a dark Ghost Whisperer trying to get people to be trapped on the dark side. (On a side note, this reminds me of the Tru Calling and its dark counterpart.) This season we also are introduced to a new storyline, which deals with the secrets of the origins of the town that partially explains all of the dark happenings in Grandview. While this storyline plays a large part in season 3, there are also a number of stand-alone episodes that are great, including one where a businessman is haunted by a ghost that thinks he is Santa Claus. Despite being cut short by the strike, Ghost Whisperer season three is as strong as ever and certainly worth checking out.

Extras are found on the first two discs, which is strange as extras are usually found on the last disc. They included audio commentary tracks on the season premiere, as well as an animated short that looks like an animated comic book and seven more webisodes from The Other Side. Welcome to the Underground talks about the new theme and story arc that comes out this season, and it includes looks at several new sets, and it's the best extra on disc one. Disc two has two featurettes: Bringing the Spirits to Life and Payne’s World. The first is eleven and a half minutes long and deals with how the special effects brings the ghosts to life. The second featurette is on the character Professor Rick Payne, which is played by Jay Mohr. Sadly, Jay Mohr is leaving the show, which is a terrible. I hope the show doesn't suffer too much. Finally, there are three interactive features that I couldn't quite review properly because my PS3 was shorted out by a power surge (while I was reviewing The Three Stooges) and I was using my old DVD player and the remote control is broken. There is a haunted house, an interactive diary, and a scary scene creator.

One last note, the season was shortened by the strike, which makes the price per minute a little higher than before, but not so much so that I'm upset by it.

Ghost Whisperer slumped a bit in the ratings during Season Three, so much so that some were worried it would not be brought back for season four. However, this is not indicative of the overall quality of the season. For fans of the show, Season Three is certainly worth picking up. Others should give the show a try, as it is better than most people give it credit for.

It all seriousness, I went into this movie with an open mind. I wasn't expected cinematic greatness. After all, it is a direct-to-DVD release, and these are not known from their high quality. That said, I was not prepared for just how bad this movie was. Everything from the writing to the acting to the directing was substandard. Not even the fight scenes could elevate this movie above rock bottom. (There was one particular scene early in the movie where Seagal throws a bad guy through a window and they show it again, and again, and again. It was just too much to take. The script was full of clichés, Seagal's whisper acting is worse than Caruso's squat and squint style of acting, and the director seemed to think fast cuts and repeating action scenes would be enough to cover for Seagal's obvious inability to handle fight scenes. It's not even bad in a fun way.

Moving onto the extras, there are none. But at least that means I don't have to listen to someone on a commentary track defend this crap.

Kill Switch is not the worst movie I've reviewed, but it is close enough. No amount of extras on the DVD would lift it to a rental, and they don't even bother trying. Truly worth skipping.

This is a Lifetime TV movie, and a lot of people have negative opinions of such films, and they are commonly described as tearjerkers, or worse. However, while this movie certainly has a heavy emotional edge to it, it is not manipulative in how it handles the drama. Definitely worth watching, especially for fans of the book, for the most part. A few of the secondary characters from the novel didn't make it into the adaptation, but this is to be expected, since TV movies have a rather strict timeframe and if they included all of the characters, the movie would have been three hours long. So if your favorite characters were Doro, Leo, or Rosemary, then you might be disappointed with the movie.

Sadly, there are no extras on the DVD.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter tells a touching story in a way that is emotional, but not manipulative, which is trickier than it sounds. When the movie first aired on TV, it was seen by more than 5 million people, the most of any cable program that week, so there clearly was an audience that it tapped into. However, the DVD is completely devoid of special features, which hurts its overall value. It is still worth checking out for fans of such movies, but I'm not sure there's enough replay value to warrant picking up over just renting. Call it a solid rental, maybe a weak purchase.

NCIS - Season Five - Buy from Amazon
Season Five starts off where Season Four left off, with the director using the team to go after an international arms dealer, one that she has a personal grudge with. The story concludes this season, with explosive results. ... Hmmm pun.

(In reality, while there is an explosion in that episode, I was kind of disappointed in the way the story just fizzled at the end. It felt rather anti-climactic given the build up.)

Season five is usually when shows start to show their age, if they make it this long, but NICS is still going strong. In fact, ratings-wise, it had its best season, reaching the top 10. This is an amazing feat, especially given the number of police procedural shows. This one sets itself apart from the competition for a number of reasons, including the cast of characters, all of whom have their own little quirks that keep things interesting. Additionally, the writing is strong, even if the Naval setting tends to be underused at times. (There are a number of shows that could take place on CSI or Law & Order with only minor tweaks.) However, the writing is uniformly strong, and it draws you in from the start till the end. It's the kind of show that you want to watch in a marathon session, even if most of the episodes are stand-alone episodes.

Extras on the 5-disc set include audio commentary tracks on four episodes, usually with one cast member and a member of the crew. Sadly, none feature Pauley Perrette, who is my favorite member of the cast. Over on the second disc there is a single featurette called Requiem Revisted, which was one of the most powerful episodes of the season. The rest of the featurettes are found on disc five, including Season Five: From Stem to Stern, which is a 17-minute recap of the most recent season. The Dressing Room: The Costumes and Wardrobe of NCIS, which spends 14 minutes looking at the wardrobe. There's a 10-minute featurette, NCIS on Location, on the filming of the show that is done on location. Finally, there's From Pauley to Abby: Hairspray, Lipstick and Tattoos, which shows Pauley Perrette's transformation from herself to her character at hair and make-up.

For fans of the show, NCIS Season Five is arguably the best season of the show so far. The only possible complaint is the length of the season, which was cut short due to the strike. It was short by about 20%, while the 5-disc set costs about 10% less, which makes it a little more on a per minute basis. However, that's a minor, minor complaint, and it is not nearly enough to say it is not worth picking up. If you are a fan of the show, this is a must have. If you haven't seen the show, check it out, but start with Season One.