(41)Studio: Digital1stop Release Date: 08/25/2009 Read more
(15)Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 03/16/2010 Read more
(86)NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) is more than just an action drama. With liberal doses of humor it's a show that focuses on the sometimes complex and always amusing dynamics of a team forced to work together in high-stress situations. NCIS Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) a former Marine gunnery sergeant whose skills as an investigator are unmatched formerly led this troupe of colorful personalities. Gibbs a man of few words only needs a look to explain it all. The team includes NCIS Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) an ex-homicide detective who may come off as the world's oldest frat boy but whose instincts in the field are unparalleled; forensic specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) a talented scientist whose dark wit matches her Goth style and eclectic tastes NCIS Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) an MIT graduate whose brilliance with computers far overshadows his insecurities in the field and Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) a former Moussad agent who shares a bond with Gibbs over the death of his arch nemesis Ari the terrorist who killed former NCIS Special Agent Kate Todd. Assisting the team is medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum) who knows it all because he's seen it all and he's not afraid to let you know. Rounding out the team is NCIS director Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly) who has a romantic history with Gibbs. From murder and espionage to terrorism and stolen submarines these special agents travel the globe to investigate all crimes with Navy or Marine Corps ties.System Requirements:Running Time: 835 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 097361375540 Manufacturer No: 137554Describing season four of NCIS as "the season of secrets," executive producer Shane Brennan suggests that season five (offered here with 18 episodes, including a two-part finale, on five discs) is "the season of answers." For the most part, that's true--but at season's end, loyal viewers are likely to be thrown for a loop by the death of a major character and a startling set of changes bound to have a profound effect on the show's future. Picking up where the previous year left off, this new batch jumps right in with a continuation of Special Agent Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and company's pursuit of notorious international arms dealer La Grenouille ("The Frog," played by Armand Assante), whom NCIS director Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) is particularly keen on taking down--a quest that's complicated by the fact that the bad guy is a CIA asset, and by Agent Anthony DiNozzo's (Michael Weatherly) love affair with La Grenouille's daughter. That storyline, barely touched on thereafter, is resolved in the 14th episode, "Internal Affairs." Meanwhile, the NCIS crew is distracted by an array of other cases, most of them involving murder. Of particular interest are several episodes related to Iraq and the War on Terror: a Naval officer of Syrian descent who's suspected of being an Al Qaeda mole is murdered seconds after Gibbs talks him out of jumping off a building ledge; a Marine who's having a violent bout of post-traumatic stress after returning from the Mideast turns out to be far worse off than that; Medical Examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum) refuses to conduct an autopsy because of the deceased's Muslim beliefs.
There's no doubt that NCIS is slick, entertaining prime-time television in every respect: writing, acting, production values, music, and so on. Still, one's appreciation of the show largely depends on the characters' likeability, and that's very much a matter of taste. Gibbs may be a chick magnet, with four former wives and a past relationship with Shepard to prove it, but he's also a taciturn fellow with horrible social skills. DiNozzo's funny and insouciant, but his smugness and incessant razzing of computer nerd Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) soon becomes tiresome, while Shepard is steely and simply unlikeable (the most appealing characters are arguably McCallum's Mallard and Pauley Perrette's mouthy Abby Sciuto, the goth-like forensic expert). Bonus material includes cast and crew commentary on various episodes and a typical assortment of featurettes. --Sam Graham Read more
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Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 04/06/2010 Run time: 1050 minutes Read more
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Stills from The Unusuals (Click for larger image)
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(59)Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/18/2009 Read more
(178)David Boreanaz (Angel Buffy the Vampire Slayer) stars as F.B.I. Agent Seeley Booth who teams up with forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) to solve some of the most baffling and bizarre crimes ever. Booth depends on clues from the living witnesses and suspects while Brennan gathers evidence from the dead relying on her uncanny ability to read clues left behind in the bones of the victims. Their different investigative styles cause the two to frequently clash creating an undeniable chemistry and just the right touch of dark humor. Inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs and state-of-the-art criminal investigation procedures Bones is a compelling cutting edge television.System Requirements:Running Time: 946 Minutes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 024543267287 Manufacturer No: 2236728A taut series filled with drama as well as great chemistry between its two lead stars, Bones is a strong addition to Fox's television lineup. Debuting in 2005 to favorable critical reviews, the series shares an audience of fans with the CSI franchise. Smartly written and well-acted, the first season of Bones focuses on the collaborations between FBI special agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel), whom Booth somewhat sarcastically nicknames "Bones." Each of the 22 episodes follows a premise well-known to regular viewers of crime dramas--a murder has been committed and a body found. The team's job is to figure out who the victim is, how he or she was killed, and how it was done; that part doesn't differ from other shows on television. What sets the show apart is the humor injected into the episodes (Boreanaz is particularly good at delivering wry lines). There's some wicked humor in the episode focusing on Brennan's attempts at dating, which is nicely offset by the horrific crimes she has to deal with. And for a show with such attractive leads, Bones doesn't make a huge point of dwelling on any possible attraction between the pair. Rather, it takes advantage of their playful bantering, which is more akin to that of bickering siblings than repressed lovers--for this season, anyhow. The series is inspired by real-life forensic anthropologist and author Kathy Reichs (who stars in one of the featurettes on the four-disc set). In a nice play on art imitating reality, Kathy Reichs also is the name of the heroine in the murder mysteries that Dr. Brennan writes on the side. By the end of the season, viewers will learn enough about the characters to care, but not enough to completely understand why they are the way they are. That is an ongoing mystery. --Jae-Ha Kim
Beyond Bones: The Complete First Season
 More "Edge-of-your-Seat" TV DVDs |  Break No Bones: A Novel (Temperance Brennan Novels) |  24: Season 5 |
 Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz)is a former Army sniper who mistrusts science and scientists - the "squints," as he calls them, who pore over the physical evidence. |  Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel)is a highly skilled forensic anthropologist who works at the Jeffersonian Institution and writes novels as a sideline. |  Angela Montenegro (Michaela Conlin), earthy and bawdy, is Brennan's friend and fellow scientist.
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 Zach Addy (Eric Millegan), is a young prodigy whose genius IQ actually gets in the way of his finishing the several doctorates he has begun. |  Dr. Jack Hodgins (J Thyne), is an expert on insects, spores and minerals, but conspiracy is his hobby. |
Stills from Bones: The Complete First Season (click for larger image)
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(311)All 24 episodes from the third season. 6 Discs. Produced by Donald Bellisario (JAG), NCIS follows the workings of investigators at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Led by the wise Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), a crack investigator with no qualms about bending the rules to find his answers, the team takes on cases involving terrorism, murder, espionage, and international arms smuggling. Gibbs is aided by homicide detective Anthony Dinozzo (Michael Weatherly), forensic scientist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), computer expert Timothy McGee (Sean Murray), and new department head Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly). This collection presents the series' third season in its entirety for a total of 24 episodes.With two solid seasons already banked, NCIS returns for a compelling third year with exciting plotlines and a slightly tweaked cast. The show's second season ended with the brutal and shocking death of Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander). The first two episodes of this season deal with the aftermath of bringing her killer to justice and examining the emotional impact of her loss on the remaining members of the NCIS team, which is led by Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). The six-disc set includes all 24 episodes, which aired on CBS during 2005-2006. Returning are happy-go-lucky ladies' man Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly, Dark Angel), forensics expert and resident Goth chick Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum, The Man from U.N.C.L.E), and agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray). Former Mossad intelligence officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) joins the close-knit cast, as does Jennifer Shepard (Lauren Holly, Dumb & Dumber) as the new NCIS director. Working on a daily basis with Shepard initially makes Gibbs wary. Not only is she a former girlfriend, but she also was his underling at one time. Equal parts CSI and JAG, NCIS works primarily because of its quirky cast, which is able to take sometimes regurgitated ideas and rework them into something engagingly watchable. Throughout this season, we will see agents endangered and framed, and one will accidentally kill an undercover detective who may not have been armed. But the explosive two-part season finale will finally shed light on Gibbs' painful history and help explain why he is who is he today. --Jae-Ha Kim Read more
(237)Unlike most television crime dramas, which neatly introduce and then solve a case all in the space of one hour, HBO's THE WIRE follows one single drug and homicide investigation throughout the length of an entire season. Centered on the drug culture of inner-city Baltimore, the series' storyline unfolds from the points of view of both the criminals lording the streets and the police officers determined to bring them down. This first season introduces detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and his supervisor, Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick), as they begin to pursue evidence against drug kingpin Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris). Meanwhile, Barksdale and his henchmen Stringer (Idris Elba) and Wee-Bey (Hassan Johnson) concern themselves with a rival drug dealer (Michael K. Williams) who's been cutting into their profits. Created by writer David Simon (THE CORNER, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET), THE WIRE's multifaceted approach offers a nuanced overview of every aspect of the drug trade and the complex morality of its participants.After one episode of The Wire you'll be hooked. After three, you'll be astonished by the precision of its storytelling. After viewing all 13 episodes of the HBO series' remarkable first season, you'll be cheering a bona-fide American masterpiece. Series creator David Simon was a veteran crime reporter from The Baltimore Sun who cowrote the book that inspired TV's Homicide, and cowriter Ed Burns was a Baltimore cop, lending impeccable street-cred to an inner-city Baltimore saga (and companion piece to The Corner) that Simon aptly describes as "a visual novel" and "a treatise on institutions and individuals" as opposed to a conventional good-vs.-evil police procedural. Owing a creative debt to the novels of Richard Price (especially Clockers), the series opens as maverick Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West, in a star-making role) is tapping into a vast network of drugs and death around southwest Baltimore's deteriorating housing projects. With a mandate to get results ASAP, a haphazard team is assembled to join McNulty's increasingly complex investigation, built upon countless hours of electronic surveillance.
The show's split-perspective plotting is so richly layered, so breathtakingly authentic and based on finely drawn characters brought to life by a perfect ensemble cast, that it defies concise description. Simon, Burns, and their cowriters control every intricate aspect of the unfolding epic; directors are top-drawer (including Clark Johnson, helmer of The Shield's finest episodes), but they are servants to the story, resulting in a TV series like no other: unpredictable, complicated, and demanding the viewer's rapt attention, The Wire is "an angry show" (in Simon's words) that refuses to comfort with easy answers to deep-rooted societal problems. Moral gray zones proliferate in a universe where ruthless killers have a logical code, and where the cops are just as ambiguous as their targets. That ambiguity extends to the ending as well; season 1 leaves several issues unresolved, leaving you begging for the even more impressive developments that await in season 2. --Jeff Shannon Read more
