Astros 50th Anniversary Collector’s
Edition (MLB/A&E DVD Box Set)/Goon (2011/Magnolia/MagNet DVD)/Highlights Of The 2012 Masters Tournament
(A&E/New Video DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Main Programs: B/C/B-
Now for
more sports related releases…
The great
series of Major League Baseball DVD box sets from A&E, the most formidable
box set series of its kind and on any sport, continues with the Astros 50th Anniversary
Collector’s Edition. The Houston team, Texas’
best baseball team, includes four disc of four of their most historic games and
game moments including Nolan Ryan’s 5th No-Hitter on 9/26/81, Mike
Scott’s No-Hitter Clinches Division play(s) on 9/25/86, 2005 NLDS Clincher from
October 9 and Craig Biggio’s 3,000th Hit on 6/28/07. We also get a fifth single DVD in Astros Memories rounding out the
coverage and celebration of the team’s many successes.
As usual,
A&E has done a top rate job and made yet another collector’s item that is
also of reference caliber. Any fan of
the team or baseball overall will not be disappointed. All the extras are on the Astros Memories DVD and includes No
Hitters Under The Dome, Dierker’s Diary: What Might Have Been, Bob Aspromonte’s
Home Run Story, Craig Biggio’s Biggest Night, Bob Watson Speech, Dierker’s
Diary: All-time Astros teams, Houston Midsummer Classics and Nolan Ryan In The
Gym.
Michael
Dowse’s Goon (2011) is actually a
narrative comedy about hockey co-written by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express, both reviewed elsewhere on this site) with Seann
William Scott and Liev Schreiber as rivals in this so-so comedy that seems as
interested in squeezing in obscenities and obscene jokes into the dialogue as
laying out any kind of story, but here it is.
Scott plays Doug, who works as a bouncer but wants more.
Hockey
might make him a moneymaking star of some sort, but he has plenty of personal
and professional obstacles, though a tragically hip friend (Baruchel also in an
acting turn here) intends to help him.
However, they both may need more help than they realize and Doug has a
permanent rival (Schreiber) who can’t stand him.
Eugene
Levy shows up as Doug’s father, but as funny as these actors can be and though
some moments here work, this was too one-note and disappointing, yet it
captured the vicious side of hockey enough that I would not be surprised if it
became some kind of cult item down the line.
See it for yourself.
Extras
include an HDNet piece about it, Hockey Cards, Trailers, feature length audio
commentary by Dowse & Baruchel, Goalie Audition, Fighting 101, Deleted
Scenes, Outtake/Blooper Reel and Power Play Mode for more behind the scenes
footage.
Finally
we have Highlights Of The 2012 Masters
Tournament, the quality follow-up to the 2011 Highlights DVD we covered not that long ago:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11157/Highlights+Of+The+2011+Masters+T
This
time, Bubba Watson, Tiger Williams, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Louis
Oosthuizen competing for the title and it is a nice record of the event that
fans will appreciate. Like its
predecessor, it is smart and shows you why people love this game and are not
bored by it. There is also a certain
sense of pride, so it is a go to disc for those interested in the subject. I only wonder why there is no Blu-ray version
yet. Extras include Big 3 Press
Conference, Ceremonial Opening Tee Shot, Outdoor Green Jacket Ceremony and
Champion’s Press Conference.
The 1.33
X 1 image on the vintage Astros
games are the equal of the footage on the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1
image on the Astros Memories DVD, as
well as the anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on both the Goon and Masters DVDs. They have
their softness and detail issues, but are not awful, though they could have
been better (especially Goon and Masters) but they’ll do and playback is
just fine overall for the format.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on Goon should
be better than the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the other DVDs, but the
mix is not very wide-ranging nor does it offer a consistent soundfield. However, it might sound better on Blu-ray.
- Nicholas Sheffo
