Entourage: Season Three – Part Two (HBO DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: B
Some call
this series mediocre at best where as others call it pure genius; as a reviewer
I will fall in between and call it fun and enjoyable. Entourage, a series that makes you wish you
were part of the gang is full of life and constant happenings. In a world that has begun to deliver to it’s
seemingly A.D.D. stricken fans the show is just fast paced and driven enough to
make the viewer fall in love with every word and ridiculous action.
The
series stars Adrian Grenier (Vince), Kevin Dillon (Drama), Kevin Connolly
(Eric), and Jerry Ferrare (Turtle) as a bunch of friends trying to find their
way through the fast paced life of Hollywood.
Vince is an up and coming star and his friends are there to help them
out as his entourage of buds. Eric
became his manager, Drama is Vince’s older brother who doubles as chef and
trainer, and Turtle is the gopher assistant who winds up being the butt of many
jokes. The whole series is said to be
based loosely on real time movie star Mark Wahlberg’s life and times as he made
his way into Hollywood, but how much is true we may never know (probably most
isn’t). As we were left at the end of Season Three: Part One Ari Gold (Jeremy
Piven), Vince’s manager, had just been fired by the boys for botching up a big
deal and that was Part One’s big,
yet, anticlimactic cliff hanger. Part One of Season Three was probably, to
date, the series low point but Part Two
definitely makes up for Part One’s
mistakes and Season Four (not yet on
DVD) even goes further to help the series get back on track.
The
technical features, as stated previously on this site about HBO series, are
basically the same as many other HBO releases with the features not being bad,
but not being anything special either.
The picture is presented in a nice 1.78 X 1 Widescreen that is pretty
crisp and clear, with only the occasional moments where the color quality
demonstrates dimmed colors with a certain blurry quality. The sound is adequate in its Dolby Digital
5.1 Surrounds, but nothing that truly ‘pops’ and is a tad lackluster. The extras are also adequate for a
‘half-season’ 2 Disc release offering fans a chance to see an exclusive ‘behind
the scenes’ look at how the Season Finale was made, an in-depth interview with
the cast, and select audio commentaries.
This reviewer was not quite thrilled with the ‘behind the scenes’
featurette or the commentaries, but found the cast interviews to be insightful
and humorous.
In the
end, this being the second part of the third season (with the series now moving
into Season Five) this reviewer
would not recommend just anyone picking up the series at this point. Up to this point the series (like many HBO
series) has had a great deal of character and plot development that someone
just walking into the series would not be able to understand. The series is surely great episode too
episode, but it is the collective that makes this series wonderful. The cast is funny and well rounded; if they
keep this up the series could last a long time.
- Michael P Dougherty II
