Girls:
The Complete Third Season
(2013/HBO Blu-ray)/Life's
A Breeze (2013/Magnolia
Blu-ray)/Mythbusters: 10th
Anniversary
Collection
(2015/Cinedigm/Discovery Channel DVD Set)/Robin
Williams: Live Across Australia
(2014/Umbrella Region Free PAL Import DVD)
Picture:
B/B-/C+/C+ Sound: B/B-/C+/C+ Extras: B-/D/D/D Main
Programs: B-/C/B-/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Robin
Williams
Import DVD is now only available from our friends at Umbrella
Entertainment in Australia, can only play on DVD players that can
handle the PAL DVD format and can be ordered from the link below.
Here's
some new comedy titles you should know about...
Girls:
The Complete Third Season
(2013) continues the (mis)adventures of Hannah and her friends in a
show that remains funny, bold, consistent and amusing, even if it is
a little less consistent than previous seasons. In all that, it
still delivers like no other comedy on TV and the many amusing
highlights include Hannah working for GQ Magazine... sort of and
driving many people wacky, Adam (Adam Driver) getting a big acting
role, some characters getting close when they maybe should not and
continuations of various storylines from previous seasons that at
least make sense.
Creator/lead
actress/star Lena Dunham has had much off-screen press for sometimes
boring things, but it has not affected the show in any overt way and
I was glad to see the show not suffering much of the weekly TV grind.
The actors are now more than into their roles and that coherence
helps the show immensely. You should definitely start at the
beginning if you are unfamiliar with the show, but Girls
continues to be one of the only shows of its kind anywhere, dealing
with all characters well while being from an all-too-rare female
perspective. Hope they can keep this going.
Extras
include Digital HD Ultraviolet Copy for PC, PC portable and iTunes
capable devices, while the Blu-rays add Inside The Episodes segments,
audio commentary tracks on six select episodes, The
Making Of Girls: Season Three
featurette, Deleted/Extended Scenes, Gag Reel, three faux music
videos from one of the episodes and Lutheran Healthcare Honors Lena.
Lance
Daly's Life's A Breeze
(2013) is a silly comedy that get outright lame comedy that seems
very belated form a cycle a good few years ago of films out of the UK
that had to do with 'plain folks' suddenly coming into money or being
involved in the possibilities of big money. This time out, we have
the likable Fionnula Flannigan as a retiree dealing with her often
clueless family and especially her goofy son (Pat Shortt) who one
day, decides to get some money together and redo her home without
telling her. Out goes the old appliances and dated things, putting
her into shock when her mattress is gone.
At
first they think it is because of sentimental attachment or that she
is so comfortable with it, but she soon reveals a fortune in cash was
inside it and they were stupid enough to throw it out! The rest of
the film with its TV sitcom-like idiot plot has the gang trying to
find it and it does not stay a secret quest for long. The latter
pushes the credibility of an already shaky script and it only gets
worse. Even the ending is unsatisfactory and after its 83 minutes,
you too will say 'that's it?' in what was likely a quaint telefilm
that somehow got a theatrical release. Now you can see for yourself.
There are no extras, unless you count BD Live interactive functions.
Mythbusters:
10th Anniversary
Collection (2015)
collects the favorite episodes by the hosts of the hot show from the
Discovery Channel that has lasted far longer than anyone but fans
would realize. A speculatory show by way of David Letterman asks
what would happen if you tested out something stupid to see the
results and a show has resulted. This is not very scientific, so it
is semi-comical at best if not very repetitive in, especially in this
10-DVD set. Topics include if cockroaches can survive nuclear
radiation, a shattering subwoofer, paper armor, surfing shockwave and
an underwater car. If that does not always make sense, you'll have
to see it for yourself to believe it.
The
result is each segment is only as interesting as what is being
investigated, making this an uneven, exhaustive set. Fans will like
this one, but for the rest of us, a little will go a long way.
There
are no extras.
Last
but certainly not least is Robin
Williams: Live Across Australia
(2014), a surprisingly solid compilation of appearances on Australian
TV rarely seen anywhere. First comes a 1979 Don
Lane Show (see more on
that series elsewhere on this site) where Williams gives what is his
first-ever interview and promotes a Mork
& Mindy in its early
years, followed by promo appearances on lesser-known shows in the
U.S. for Good Morning
Vietnam, The
Birdcage, Dead
Poets Society and
Bicentennial Man.
His energy, creativity and spontaneity are as vital as ever and
makes for a great tribute to a man whose talents, heart and soul we
lost too soon, and at the worst possible time. A nice et worth going
out of your way for, fans will especially be thrilled with it, but
non fans will be surprised how good these appearances are as well.
There
are sadly no extras.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Girls
are easily the best-looking presentations on the entire list with
exceptionally solid-looking work throughout typical of HBO's best
series, while the 1080p 2.35 X 1
digital High Definition image transfer on Breeze
can be a little lighter than it ought to be in more than a few shots.
Some of the locales look good, though.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on Mythbusters is not
bad throughout, but not always great and color can be limited like
the Video Black and Video White, while the 1.33 X 1 image on the
Williams disc has the segments coming from remarkable archival
videotape for the most part transferred very well.
In
the sound department, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes
on the Girls
episodes are very well mixed, recorded and presented down the the
Michael Penn score and licensed music, while the DTS-HD MA (Master
Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Breeze
is on the quiet side and sometimes, recording is not as warm as one
would like. The lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 sound on the DVDs are tied
for last place, but sound good for what they are. Mythbusters
is simple stereo like the later Williams
segments, but the earlier Williams
segments are decent monophonic recordings that sound good too.
To
order the
Robin
Williams
Umbrella import DVD, go to this link for it and many other hard to
find releases at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
