AMERICAN DAD {Season 4} (DVD Review) - 23/4/09

And about time too! Just how long do we have to wait to get these on DVD? Obviously the English edition is a hash-up of the US Season's 3 & 4 and you can tell with the re-arranging of episodes. So give it a year or so and we will get the remnants of the US Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 for a release here in the UK as Volume 5 - Take the piss why don't you? Still it's worth getting for the kick-off opening episode a Bond parody called "Tearjerker" and more amusement follows as dysfunctional family members bait each other continually whilst saving the free world from insurgency. Lots of fun especially the episode where Steve makes a friend of a ginger cat - I laughed like a drain! (In fact I'm laughing now remembering it while I type this out with a chuckle!) You also get Audio Commentaries on all Episodes, an Extended & Extensive Deleted Scenes section and Featurettes "Tearjerker: And Then They Will Cry" and "Roger: Master Of Disguise" which always looks like Roger in a suit & a wig - Which is just the point! You also get a "Comic Con 2008" table read-through from the voice cast. So all in all another great 14 episodes (With revamped title sequence) from the American Dad cast & crew in "American Dad Volume 4".

KNOWING Film Review - 8/4/09

Starting off fairly ominously back in 1959 a school places a time capsule in it's playground to be opened 50 years hence. The mysterious numbered list from the capsule is retrieved in the present day and uncannily has predicted the last few decades major disasters with still three to go on the list (..and pretty wince inducing they are when they hit!) A fast race to prevent this from happening turns into a major panic shockingly when things get totally turned on their head? What is even stranger is that the film finishes with a typical Hollywood ending that isn't your typical Hollywood ending - If you get the meaning? At the same time it also becomes a major downer and an uplifting inspirational tale at the the same time at the finish - If you can get the gist of it? How they managed to pull that off I'll never know? Nic Cage really drives this along turning into a panicky, out-of-control character who eventually realises that nothing he can do will alter anything and resigns himself to his fate.

SAW 5 (DVD Review) - 6/4/09

Sadly after 4 great films this one let's the series down in my opinion? Taking it's main element from Saw's 3 & 4 this film jumps between the past and the present with other elements coming from Saw's 1 & 2. This is not a bad thing though as it fleshes out the role of the central character and his 'hidden' accomplice nicely and also ties up some loose ends but also asks many more questions yet to be answered? Still as a Saw film "Saw 5" fits well into the canon of Jigsaw's history. Hopefully on the rewatch the next time around I'll pick up further clues and answers to the whole mystery?

This DVD also comes with five Featurettes and also two Audio Commentaries.

RODDENBERRY ON PATROL (DVD Review) - 5/4/09

Another DVD short floating around the ether that I'd heard about but only just managed to get hold of a copy. Filmed with a host of Star Trek actors in cameo roles and directed by Tim Russ; this gentle tongue-in-cheek parody surmises Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, working on a script for a new show in his time as a Police Patrol Officer out on the beat. Throw in numerous Trek references in all manner of ways as this is directly aimed at die-hard fans!

Also on the DVD is a second short under the Bonus Features titled "Life 2.o" and also a short "Outtakes/Bloopers" reel. Buy only as a last resort!