How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
February 23, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who know it's not polite to punch women in the face, even if the girl in question calls herself Snooki and has a unnatural hairdo: Jersey Shore: Season One
Not even MTV could have predicted the blockbuster it had on its hands. Essentially The Real World, but with an exclusively Italian-American cast and no token gays or minorities, Jersey Shore is the story of seven (at one time eight) playthings who shack up at the Jersey Shore for an unforgettable (and in many ways unforgiveable) summer of booze, boobies, fights and sex. After premiering to a quiet 1.38 million viewers on December 3rd, the reality show reached series highs in total viewers (4.8 million viewers) and other key demos for its season finale in January.
Sure, if the cast was boring and not of the hot mess variety that the casting department brilliantly chose, Jersey Shore's finale would not have been watched by 348% more people than its premiere. But much of its success with young viewers is due to the negative press the show received, including accusations from the National Italian American Foundation, which claimed the show did little more than portray Italian stereotypes in a harsh light. In reality TV, any press is good press.
Besides Big Brother, which I'm oddly attracted to, I haven't watched reality with any regularity since the season of The Real World that filmed over the time that 9/11 happened. However, home on winter break with nothing better to do, I convinced my sister to watch a rerun of the Jersey Shore premiere with me. I wanted to know why MTV, which hasn't produced anything big since The Osbournes and maybe The Hills, suddenly had something fueling the water cooler talk on blogs and Twitter.
From the start, we were blown away. Jersey Shore was one of the more addicting things either of us had seen in ages. Snooki and The Situation and Paulie D and the rest of ‘em. They invite shady people over, tan and go to the gym, get in bar fights. Like a seven-car pile up, it was hard to look away.
Yet returning to my apartment in the new year, I reverted back to my old ways. Four episodes in and with five more to go, I had zero desire to keep up with the show. While wildly addicting, Jersey Shore has a shelf life – and a brief one at that. I'm curious to see how many people turn out for the premiere of season two, which should be here this summer.
Disc includes: Uncensored episodes, deleted scenes, Reunion Special featurette, Tips from The Situation and Snooki featurette, Jersey Shore Makeover with Michael Cera featurette
For people who believe you can never go wrong with Showtime: Nurse Jackie: Season One
When The Sopranos ended its run in 2007, I found myself anxious to see what Edie Falco would get into next. After an attempt at comedy as Jack Donaghy's love interest on 30 Rock – I found her four-episode arc pretty spotty – I didn't know what to make of Showtime's new half-hour dark comedy Nurse Jackie with Falco as the titular Jackie Peyton. Besides Falco, the only cast member whose name I recognized belonged to Peter Facinelli. Facinelli, who's inching closer to household name status, is Edward's father in the Twilight movies. To put it best, I was on the fence about Nurse Jackie. After watching the pilot, which was the network's most-watched premiere ever (1 million viewers), I knew Nurse Jackie was a show worth sticking with.
A better comedy than it is drama, Nurse Jackie is a series that feels like it should be an hour, but taps out after 27 minutes instead. Falco plays flawed emergency room nurse Jackie Peyton, who's married with two kids, but isn't faithful to her husband. Affair guy, Jackie's co-worker, also feeds her addiction to painkillers and other medication by making it readily available to her at All-Saints Hospital.
Though Falco seems to be the only actor on the show who has received acclaim, the ensemble is pretty wonderful, too. At work, Jackie is surrounded by colorful characters with spunky (Elenor) and gullible (intern Zoey) personalities. Jackie's home life could use a little work, though. It's on the dry side.
As for the season, it's slow in parts, wickedly funny in others. In that respect, it's uneven. Like other shows, season two has the benefit of skipping the expositional groundwork laid in season one and a better idea of what stories work with these particular characters, and which don't. Nurse Jackie has an honest chance at evolving into something really special.
Disc includes: Audio commentaries, All About Edie featurette, Unsung Heroes featurette, Prepping Nurse Jackie featurette, Nurse Stories featurette
For people who think its about time that Carrie Fisher explores the horror-thriller genre: Sorority Row
Like a sane person, it's fairly easy for me to distinguish the good from the bad. Sorority Row? Obviously a money grabbing, clichéd, I Know What You Did Last Summer rip-off. But is it worth the dollar one needs to rent on a Redbox? Certainly. Cast members include representatives from trashy reality shows and Bruce Willis and Demi Moore's lovechild. Plus Carrie Fisher! You can't go wrong.
Additionally, props are in order for the people behind Sorority Row's trailer, which has an "oh shit!" moment unlike any I've seen in at least the past year. I can't tell you the last time I was in a theater full of people who collectively gasped in unison during a preview. Of course, I'm referring to an unlucky lady getting mistakenly impaled by a tire iron.
Disc includes: Sorority Secrets: Stories from the Set, Killer 101 featurette, Kill Switch featurette, deleted scenes, outtakes, PIP video commentary with director and cast
For people who think Matt Damon has Johnny Depp-inspired range for being in movies like The Informant! and Invictus in the same year: The Informant!
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! is overrated. Though The Informant! maintains a 77% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Matt Damon's Oscar-worthy performance as a doughy chubster who blew the whistle on his company's price-fixing tactics was the only thing I liked about the movie. Had the role gone to another actor, I probably would have found little to nothing to like. The Informant!, based on true events and a same-named book published in 2000, suffers from being too dry and for having a silly wit that doesn't appear enough. Even Joel McHale, who's pretty great in everything he does, is blah here.
Disc includes: Audio commentary, additional scenes
February 23, 2010
Blu-ray
Analyze This & That Set
The Box
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
The Crazies
The Damned United
Dead Snow
Dirty Harry / Magnum Force
Frantic / Presumed Innocent
Grumpy Old Men Collection
Ichi The Killer
The Informant!
Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
Miss Congeniality / Miss Congeniality 2
Motherhood
Nurse Jackie: Season One
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
Sorority Row
The Universe: Complete Season 4
Wrong Side of Town
DVD
$9.99 (Widescreen)
Adam-12: Season Four
The Box
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
The Damned United
Dead Snow
FlashForward: Season One, Part One
Ghost Hunters: Season 5, Part 1
Howards End (Criterion Collection)
The Informant!
Lock N Load with R. Lee Ermey: Complete Season 1
Make Way For Tomorrow (Criterion Collection)
Motherhood
Mythbusters: Urban Legends
Nurse Jackie: Season One
Project Runway: The Complete Sixth Season
The September Issue (Special Edition)
Sorority Row
UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez
The Universe: Colonizing Space
The Universe: Complete Season 4