STYLEThe PhilmGuy's DVD Review: 'The Borgias', 'Shameless', 'Jersey Shore'
Dec. 27 2011, Published 10:24 a.m. ET
Apollo 18
A silly faux-doc – think Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project – tells the story of a fictional final Moon landing that went awry, leading to confrontations with aliens. The drab film tries to emit scares but ends up breaking its found-footage illusion too often to take seriously. Commentary, an alternate ending and deleted scenes fill out the extras of the Blu-ray/digital copy combo.
The Borgias: Season 1
Jeremy Irons stars as megalomaniacal Pope Alexander VI in this Showtime drama, about political corruption and backstabbing in the late 15th century. Melding the organized crime sensibilities of The Sopranos with the exquisite period detail of The Tudors, the show proves to be yet another engrossing winner from red-hot Showtime. The nine-episode season features few extras, save for episodes of other Showtime shows.
Final Destination 5
Apparently bored with slaying teenagers in comically inventive ways, the series turns to coworkers who take an ill-fated bus ride on a company retreat. Sticking to the formula, one of the passengers receives a psychic premonition that everyone on the bus will die. So he bails, drawing others with him and angering the invisible hand of death, which picks off everyone else one-by-one. With no stars other than David Koechner, this escapade seems on the surface to be a direct-to-video retread, but it's every bit as fun as its predecessors. The Blu-ray/DVD/digital copy combo includes alternate scenes and breakdowns of its well-shot crash scenes.
THE PHILMGUY REVIEWS: YOUNG ADULT STARRING CHARLIZE THERON
The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
An amiable, dry British comedy picks up spiritually where Ricky Gervais's The Office left off. David Cross stars as a clueless American who lucks into a management position at the British branch of an energy drink company, wading his way through life by winging his responsibilities and telling ridiculous lies. Commentary, deleted scenes and outtakes fill out the extras.
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Jersey Shore Uncensored: Season 4
The train wreck pseudo-reality show heads to Florence, Italy, where the ugliest of Americans put their ignorance and self-absorption on display for your entertainment pleasure. Cast members play to their well-established personas more than ever, leading to the wild drama devotees have come to expect. Extras include deleted scenes, confessionals, the reunion special and a retrospective.
The Pool Boys
A halfway enjoyable but ultimately unfulfilling comedy, the film is a nudity-filled coming-of-age comedy. Brett Davern plays an aspiring Harvard student who is tricked into an internship with his pool guy uncle (Matthew Lillard). Davern shows potential, resembling a young Matt Damon in looks and mannerisms, and Lillard is in his element as a shyster, but the jokes are too lame to pull the film through. You know a movie is in trouble when it trots out Tom Arnold as its celebrity guest star. Cast and crew interviews highlight the extras.
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The Rocketeer: 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray
Billy Campbell plays an unlikely hero who gets ahold of a jetpack, uses it to foul up Nazi plans and win the heart of his girlfriend (Jennifer Connelly) from a Nazi secret agent played by Timothy Dalton. Although relentlessly sappy, the film's action scenes that hold up well over time and is earnest enough to melt a cynical heart. There are no worthwhile extras on the so-called anniversary disc. Guess Disney ran out of jetpack fuel.
Shameless: Season 1
Emmy Rossum enthralls as the de facto head of a poor, dysfunctional family in this riotous hourlong Showtime comedy series, remade from a British show of the same title. William H. Macy plays the eternally drunken father of six who delusionally sees himself as the family's rock. The house is a crowded carousel of wackiness, but has just as much heart as it does humor, with unexpected family members picking up the slack to help others out of jams. The Blu-ray features a rare extra for a TV series — digital copies of each episode, accessible via the Ultraviolet program that works in concert with Flixster. There's also deleted scenes and featurettes on casting and adapting the show from the British original.
