How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
June 8, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who take comfort in Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards working on the same television show again: Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season
What was once planned as a one-off mockumentary titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm has strangely transformed itself into HBO’s longest-running scripted series*. And, given its similarities to that other beloved sitcom of the ‘90s, Seinfeld, Curb’s lengthy run on pay cable makes it seem like Seinfeld never went off the air.
Curb’s ties to Seinfeld were very evident in the show’s seventh season, which, among other things, is about Larry’s efforts to assemble a Seinfeld reunion show after accepting a sizable offer from NBC. The Curb universe and Seinfeld universe met for realsies in the season finale, where storylines were on par with an average episode of Seinfeld: Julia Louis-Dreyfus accuses Larry of leaving a stain on an antique table, Jerry and Larry criticize Julia’s book release party for being too short, and so on.
NBC, desperate for a hit, will try to replicate Curb’s success next season with a show not unlike the HBO staple. The Paul Reiser Show, scheduled to debut as a midseason replacement in 2011, is a semi-autobiographical sitcom revolving around former television star Paul Reiser. Reiser, who hasn’t worked on television in years – both in real life and on the show – recruits the help of his friends to figure out his next career move.
*Well, once its eighth season, scheduled to air in 2011, completes its run
Disc includes: The Seinfeld Reunion: It Could Only Happen on Curb…featurette, Rebuilding the Seinfeld Sets featurette, Larry David as George Costanza featurette, A Seinfeld Moment on Curb: Interview with Larry David and the Seinfeld Cast featurette
For people who think Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio should work together as much as possible: Shutter Island
With the way things have been going as of late, Dennis Lehane is poised to be as much a household name as wifey favorite Nicholas Sparks. Except in Lehane’s case, his storytelling is something to aspire to and, thankfully, doesn’t force his lead characters to suffer from terminal diseases. Three of Lehane’s novels – Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island – have been adapted for the screen. And it wouldn’t surprise me much if his 2008 book, The Given Day, follows suit.
Marketed as equal parts mystery, psychological thriller and horror, Shutter Island reteamed Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie that gave both men their best box office opening yet. After a three-day take of $41 million, Shutter Island completed its run with $127.8 million in the domestic kitty and another $166.5 million from foreign theaters.
Disc includes: Behind the Shutter featurette, Into the Lighthouse featurette
For people who haven’t seen John Travolta shoot a gun in a movie for what seems like a very long time: From Paris with Love (Special Edition)
Am I as crazy as John Travolta apparently was in From Paris with Love to think that the aforesaid movie would be a good time? Its trailer was exciting enough. It basically sold the idea that Travolta would be playing a nutso, yet seasoned special agent who’s partnered with a younger dude (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) after Meyers’ character is offered his first senior-level assignment in France.
What resulted wasn’t pretty for its distributor, EuropaCorp. Though not a total bomb, the $52 million actioner pulled in just $42 million worldwide – with a little more than half of that coming from U.S. engagements. Critics weren’t too kind to it either. Just 37% liked
what they saw according to Rotten Tomatoes.
But, a movie like From Paris with Love will undoubtedly be in the black after DVD sales are included. Cheap guys like me, for instance, have been waiting for the Travolta vehicle – which doesn’t have Hairspray or Old Dogs in the title – to hit the rental market.
Disc includes: Audio commentary; The Making-Of featurette; Spies, Spooks and Special Ops: Life Under Cover featurette; Secrets of Spy Craft: Inside the International Spy Museum featurette; Friend or Foe trivia game; Charlie Wax’s Gun Locker featurette
For people who forgot that Nip/Tuck even aired original episodes this year: Nip/Tuck: The Sixth and Final Season (Widescreen)
Nip/Tuck’s six-season run on FX is a solid example of what a crash and burn on television looks like. At its height – Nip/Tuck’s third season – everybody’s favorite plastic surgery drama routinely drew more than five million viewers per episode. Its two-hour season three finale, “Cherry Peck/Quentin Costa,” became the most-watched scripted program in FX history when 5.7 million people tuned in to see the unmasking of The Carver, a season-long antagonist who actually debuted on the show in season two.
As a point of reference, a meager 1.8 million saw the series finale, “Hiro Yoshimura,” which aired in early March and rounded off Nip/Tuck at an even 100 episodes. Even two back-to-back episodes of Tyler Perry’s House of Payne out delivered the finale, luring in an average of 2.6 million each.
How sad, really, for a show that was nominated for a Best Drama Golden Globe in 2003 and won the prize outright two years later.
Disc includes: Tell Me What You Don’t Like About Yourself: The Psychology Behind the Plastic featurette, Surgery featurette
June 8, 2010
Blu-ray
180° South
Animation Express
Caddyshack
Crossing Over
From Paris with Love (Special Edition)
Happy Together
Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Three
The Illusionist
Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy
Power Kids
Shutter Island
UFC Rampage Greatest Hits
World's Most Beautiful Waterfalls
The X Files: I Want to Believe / Fight the Future
DVD
180° South (Widescreen)
The 41 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah... (Widescreen)
The A-Team: The Complete Series (Limited Edition)
Animation Express
The Beatles: Behind The Curtain
Caddyshack
The Cry of the Owl
Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Seventh Season
Dire Straits: Alchemy Live
Family Matters: The Complete First Season
From Paris with Love (Special Edition)
Ghost Writer: Season 1
Gypsy (Deluxe Edition)
Happy Together
iCarly: iSaved Your Life
Ice Road Truckers: The Complete Season Three
The Illusionist
Nip/Tuck: The Sixth and Final Season (Widescreen)
Not the Messiah: He's a Very Naughty Boy
Papillon Rose: The Complete Collection
Power Kids
Shutter Island
Starstruck (Extended Edition)
UFC Rampage Greatest Hits
WWE: The Undertaker's Deadliest Matches
The X Files: I Want to Believe / Fight the Future (Double Feature)