Jack Nicholson plays Francis Phelan and Meryl Streep plays Helen Archer, two Depression Era drifters. Francis used to be a baseball player, but alcohol destroyed his career, then he accidentally dropped his infant son while drunk, and he ran away from his family after that. Helen used to be a singer on the radio, but now she's a drunk like Francis. Traveling with his friend Rudy, who just learned he has cancer, we learn about his past and how he came to be who he is.

This film earned excellent reviews and Oscar nominations for both Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and for good reason. However, while this is a fantastic movie, it is a terrible DVD. First of all, it's pan and scan. Pan and scan! At this point, it is not a minor thing to complain about when a movie is non-anamorphic widescreen. For it to be pan and scan is simply unacceptable. Additionally, the video quality is quite poor, even for a film that is 22 years old.

There are no real extras on the DVD, although there is an image gallery.

Simply put, Ironweed is a great movie but this is a terrible DVD. Rent it and wait for a remastered version to come out, one that looks more like it did in theaters.

A strong ensemble comedy that plays to the strengths of the cast members, season three is arguably the season when the show really started to click. (Then again, season one doesn't count, since it only ran six episodes.) By the third season, the writers and the cast really knew the characters and the comedy was at its sharpest and freshest and there were a number of strong plots. (Elliot forgetting to pick up Maya at the dentist, Finch becoming paranoid after watching Psycho, Finch's newly divorced dad comes by and starts a relationship with Nina.) There are also several great guest spots, including Mark Hamill as himself, David Cross as Elliot's "slow" brother (possibly the best episode of the entire season, maybe even the entire series), and more. For fans of the show, this 3-disc set is certainly worth checking out.

Sadly, there are no extras on the 3-disc set. Nor are there subtitles or proper chapter placements. The only DVD authoring here are the play all buttons.

If you have been waiting for nearly five years since Just Shoot Me - Season One & Two came out, you should be happy this week, sort of. On the one hand, there are more than enough strong episodes during Season Three that the 3-disc set is worth picking up, but the total lack of extras is a drop-off from the first release. Even so, it is a solid rental, leaning towards a purchase.

The episodes on this DVD include...

• We Got the Bee - Portia, Gwen, and Penny form a band (Pretty Pretty Princesses) and Bessie wants to join. Sadly, music is not one of her talents. That is until Rocky teaches her to play the drums.
• So Happy Together - The Honeybee Scouts are putting on a Dog Show, and Portia's little Precious is the favorite to win. However, Bessie's determined to win, even though she only has one day to train her dog. ... but first she needs a dog to train.
• Sweet Sixteenth - Bessie wants to ride The Punisher, the best roller coaster in the world, but she's 1/16th of an inch too short. She will do anything to grow that extra 1/16h of an inch. Anything.
• Bee My Baby - Portia and Gwen con Bessie into babysitting Gwens younger brothers and sisters, including the baby, which she immediately loses.
• Bee Afraid - Bessie is trying to earn her Happy Camper badge. She's tried to earn this badge before, but every time it gets dark she has to call her mother to take her home.
• Artifical Unintelligence - The science fair is coming up, and Bessie decides to build a robot (after her atom smasher was deemed too unstable to enter). However, Portia decides to sabotage her creation.
• Bat Mitzvah Crashers - Bessie and Penny have the time of their lives at Penny's neighbor's jungle-themed Bat Mitzvah, and not content to let it end, they decide to crash as many Bat Mitzvahs as they can.
• Super Secret Weakness - Bessie starts looking for the one weakness for her Super Hero alter-ego, The Mighty Bee! It turns out it's zucchini.

The character of Bessie Higgenbottom can be a little too enthusiastic at times, but while that might get on my nerves, kids in the target audience should enjoy the TV series. The Mighty B! - We Got the Bee is good value for the money, but I would prefer full season sets. Perhaps rent this one and wait to see if such DVDs will be released later on.

While most films from Dragon Dynasty are martial arts action movies, for the most part, this movie is a crime thriller that deals more with the inner workings of the Hong Kong drug trade and its effects on the people involved. (For instance, Daniel Wu's neighbor, Zhang Jing Chu, is a heroin addict with a 4-year old daughter). I've read a number of reviews compare the movie to Traffic and that's a great comparison for the film, and there's very little action. Great drama, but make sure you go in not expecting the typical martial arts action, otherwise you might be disappointed.

Extras on the DVD include an audio commentary track with Bey Logan, obviously. It's a Dragon Dynasty release, therefore Bey Logan has to be involved. There is also a 15-minute long making-of featurette, which is in Mandarin with English subtitles. Or it could be Cantonese. It spends as much time on the drug trade as it does on the movie. There are also three interviews with actors Daniel Wu and Zhang Jing Chu, as well as with the producer Peter Chan. All combined, they run just over an hour.

Protégé is one of the best dramatic works I've reviewed from Dragon Dynasty, and the DVD has more than enough extras to lift it to a solid purchase. In fact, for fans of movies like Traffic, The Departed, or Infernal Affairs, this is a must-have.

The movie focuses on the exploits of the Special Investigation Section of the LAPD, a branch of the police that go after the "worst of the worst" with little oversight. Here they are lead by Melville Atkinson (Matt Nable) and early in the movie they are tracking a psychopath named Vic, who is planning a daring daylight robbery of a jewelry store. Due to his loose cannon nature, Melville lets Vic get away, and gets a cop shot in the process. In comes Billy Beckett (Peter Stebbings) and the team is once again after Vic, who has a bigger heist planned.

This movie is just way too generic to work. It's a simple action movie that tries to be the next incarnation of The Shield, but it is nowhere near as good. The main bad guy is a true psychopath, which is supposed to make viewers want him busted, or killed; however, he's a messy psychopath, not one that looks capable of evading cops long enough to become a real threat. In other words, his character feels like a poorly written villain in a movie, and that kills suspension of disbelief. Without a solid grounding in reality, all the shootouts and car chases lose their appeal.

Additionally, there are no extras on the DVD.

S.I.S. - Special Investigation Section is a show that aims a little too high and at times takes itself a little too seriously. Without any extras on the DVD, it's worth no more than a rental, and that's only if you are interested in some mindless action.

Still Waiting... - Buy from Amazon: R-rated or Unrated
A direct-to-DVD sequel to Waiting... The original wasn't a big hit, nor did it wow critics, but I liked it, for the most part. Will I like this one?

We are back at ShenaniganZ only a lot of the cast from the original movie have moved on. This time around the focus is on the manager, Dennis, played by John Michael Higgins. He's looking for a good night to get his sales numbers over the top, else he won't get his promotion to district manager. But knowing his staff won't care if he gets his promotion or not, he decides to tell them a little white lie: if they don't make the sales tonight, the corporate bosses will shut the restaurant down. His job is made a lot more difficult thanks to Ta Tas Wing Shake, which is stealing a lot of their business, and more than a few of their former staff. That's the main plot, but most of the movie focuses on the day-to-day life of the people who work in the two restaurants, and in that respect it is very similar to its predecessor.

So similar that several scenes felt like they were lifted directed from the first movie (crop dusting, for instance). A lot of the cast members from A HREF=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2005/WAITI.php>Waiting... didn't bother to sign up for this one (Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris, and Emmanuelle Chriqui, among others) but it was clear that some of the characters were created to fill the void. For instance, Steve Howey plays Agnew, the head waiter who has a personality very similar to Monty; however, while Ryan Reynolds was smarmy, he was still charming. Agnew wasn't. In fact, he was a racist asshole and he was painful to watch. (Yes, I understand this was a set up for a cameo by Chi McBride, but by the time Bishop appeared to give Agnew a well-deserved smackdown, it was too late.) Speaking of cameos, this movie is filled with minor appearances from cast members of the first movie, including Vanessa Lengies and the aforementioned Chi McBride. The only cast member that returned to a really substantial part was Alanna Ubach. As for the newcomers, most ranged from annoying, offensively annoying, to completely nondescript. The only newcomer that I thought was a worthy addition was Tania Raymonde, as Amber, one of the new waitresses. Most of the rest of the new cast, the new bartender, the Ta-Ta girls, etc., I can't even remember their names, which shows they made zero impact on the movie.

Extras are better than most direct-to-DVD sequels starting with an audio commentary track with the director, Jeff Balis, and the writer, Rob McKittrick. For former spends his time talking about the making of the movie and how the low budget hurt. The latter spends his time mocking the movie for going direct-to-DVD when the original, which he directed, had a theatrical run. Oh, and farting into the mike. Up next is Sloppy Seconds, a seven-part, 46-minute long making-of featurette, which details just about every aspect of the movie. There are also 20 deleted / alternate / extended scenes, but they run just 21 minutes total, so most are insubstantial. There are three sections of outtakes running a total of six-and-a-half minutes. Overall it is a strong selection of extras, and does add some replay value to the DVD.

I liked Waiting... more than most critics did. This time around there are far fewer reviews, and the ones I've seen are even more negative. Still Waiting... copies the original too often, and it is weaker it nearly every regard from the writing on down. It is certainly not worth buying, and unless you were a huge fan of the first movie, it is not worth renting.

• Join the Circus - The DVD starts with a double-length episode. With summer vacation, the three decide to take a vacation and join the circus. However, while Tuck and Ming-Ming love their new jobs, Linny misses being the Wonder Pets and saving animals.
• Save the Rat Pack - The Wonder Pets are called in to help Blue Eyes, Sammy, and Dino and help them with their dance moves. The Wonder Pets in Las Vegas.
• Fiddler Crab on the Roof - They group is summoned to Russia to save a fiddler crab who likes to play his fiddle on the roof, which is a dangerous place to be.
• Save the Armadillo - The Wonder Pets go to the old West to help an armadillo, who thinks his town is haunted.
• Save the Visitor - There's no animal to save this time around, as the Wonder Pets have to help an alien get back to his spaceship after his spaceship is scared away by a small puppy.
• Save the Tree - The trio travel to the city to rescue a tree, which is trying to grow in a dirty, empty lot.
• Save the Elephant - The Wonder Pets have save an elephant who has its trunk stuck in the mud.

Fans of The Wonder Pets will be happy with the latest DVD release, Join the Circus, as it continues to be a fun pre-school show with catchy music its audience can sing-along with. And at just $11, it's a good value as well.