DVD Rundown

It's a busy week at your local video store so let's get started!

Taking Lives (R)
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, and Kiefer Sutherland

Cliched story line for this flick--poor loner FBI profiler gets romantically involved with somebody and then she has a hard time catching the bad guy. Sounds a bit like Profiler: The Complete First Season to me. In all fairness I have yet to see this film, but I'm in no rush to do so.

Godsend (PG-13)
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and Robert De Niro

Spawn-of-Satan type flair with a stem-cell twist.

GoodFellas (R)
Starring: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

I can forgive the powers that be for coming out with this Special Edition DVD. GoodFellas was one of the earliest films available on DVD and the truth is that I don't think anybody knew how to capitalize on the format back in those days. There's a difference between giving the public what it wants (a special edition of a top-notch film) and taking advantage of the public (releasing a stripped-down version of the film, maybe even call it a special edition, and then release a fully-loaded DVD six months later. Like I said, the former is forgivable, but that doesn't make it any easier on the pocket book.

After watching this film you will never listen to Layla the same way again. Maybe that's why Clapton released another version a few years back. GoodFellas has stood the test of time and is one of the greatest gangster movies of all time. The performances are outstanding and this flick even gave birth to one of my favorite cartoons--The GoodFeathers on The Anamaniacs.

It's a HOT DATE kind of film.

Mean Streets (R)
Starring: Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel
Directed by: Martin Scorsese

I suppose that some marketing guru was having a colonic one day and said to himself, "Self. There's this De Niro movie coming out on DVD. That'd be a great time to bilk his fans out of a few more bucks."

Verily, they gaveth the masses a double-does of Scorsese and De Niro shalt be sold thrice. Thrice shall be the number and the number shalt be thrice. Nay will the number be more or less than thrice. Neither shall it be two nor shall it be four. De Niro wilt be sold and he wilt be sold thrice.

Bon Voyage (PG-13)
Starring: Gerard Depardieu, Isabelle Adjani, and Peter Coyote

Haven't heard too much about this one, set in Paris right at the start of WWII.

Bill Cosby: Himself (PG)
Starring: Bill Cosby (of course)

A classic in every way! This is Cosby at his absolute best. Make sure you grab it if you've never seen it before because it is definitely a HOT DATE.

Dinner For Five: The Complete First Season headlines a slew of Complete First Seasons--Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, and Alf to name a few. Oh! I'm sorry. Alf is actually called Alf: Season One, but its not like that will help us forget that it was the worst show in the history of television. We've seen every episode of Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley at least a dozen times each so only you hardcore fans might be interested in owning them. However, Dinner For Five was so difficult to find on television I never saw a single episode and the parade of stars that lined up for this show was endless. It might be worth a rental if your a movie buff and lucky enough to have a video store that really cares about that sort of thing.