Lately I’ve wanted to write something positive for the Christmas season. I’ve been catching up on the classic Holiday movies, which has been great, but I’m only fifty-fifty at the theater lately (Good: Tangled, The Fighter Not Good: Tron Legacy, How Do You Know). So, I thought I’d write about something that just can’t miss. With the spirit of the season inside me, here are the DVD’s I got this Christmas and why you should get them, too:Band of Brothers – If you liked Saving Private Ryan, you’ll love this. Produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg and inspired by true events, you get to see U.S. soldiers’ journey from bootcamp to Berlin in a smart, emotional, action packed 10 part series.
Toy Story 3- Just in case just saying the title isn’t enough at this point, this is a Pixar production. Just in case that’s not enough (embarrassing if that is the case) this is as good as animated movies, as good as any movie gets. The unlimited imagination and heart behind this series really comes together in this third and probably, but hopefully not, last Toy Story movie. Do you believe that the original Toy Story came out in 1995? These movies have been with us 15 years already! That’s why it really feels like you’re visiting old friends again when you put this movie on. Many of these movies’ biggest fans have been with Buzz and Woody for half their lives. The next generation will have these guys in their cribs.
Inception - One of my friends just asked me what I thought about this movie today. He asked me two things, what did I think happened at the end and what are the Oscar prospects for this movie. What I’ll say about the first question is…(go see the movie). As for Inception’s Oscar chances? They’re good. This movie should and will be up for Best Picture (don’t get me started on the 10 nominees thing!), Christopher Nolan will be up for Best Director and I’m sure a few of the visual effects and hopefully Best Original Screenplay. Anytime you throw together Christopher Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m going to see the movie and it’ll probably be on my Christmas list, too. If you start to think ever story has already been done, a movie like this comes along. You have to see it and probably see it again.
The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum- This trilogy was Matt Damon’s wheelhouse. You couldn’t have cast a better Jason Bourne, and the series is pretty much fueled by that casting. The action sequences are awesome, the hand to hand combat was better than anything else out there. In Supremacywhen Bourne beats a guy to hell with a rolled up magazine, you know you’re watching a different kind of spy movie. There are moments from these movies that feel somewhere close to what a real spy would experience. The thing that holds this series back from being great is the over-arching storyline of Bourne’s past identity. It just gets boring at some point. The pretentious attitudes of the bureaucrats at their respective agencies takes the fun down a notch, too, but overall, the feel of these movies is dead on.
The Hangover- This movie was something else! I loved this movie and every character was great, except for Doug. Boy am I glad he was stuck on the roof the whole movie. And how about Tyson? Man, this movie was hilarious. It really capitalized on the Vegas hype without getting to be all flash. No Jessica Alba, no Kate Bosworth, just Ed Helms, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and a bunch of great supporting characters.
Psych (Season 4)- This show took a great concept, fake psychic detective, and because of the strength of the characters and their relationships to each other we’ve got a show that’s still great five seasons in. The show is full of pop culture references so that it feels like you’re watching someone that grew up in your neighborhood solve crimes. Even though the concept may be unique, the main characters are so immediately relatable that Psych has been and will continue to be one of the best hour long shows on TV.
Flight of the Conchords (Season 2)- Either you’ll like this show or you won’t. I guess that’s the case with everything, but this show about two naive New Zealanders who are struggling to make it in New York as musicians is really quirky, but also really hilarious. Every episode features funny songs from the duo and really ridiculous plot lines. The best scenes are the ones with the band’s manager Murray who lends a little bit of relative practicality to the show and these guys play their accents for comedy to the fullest. Always putting themselves and their country down, late in Season 2 the Prime Minister of New Zealand comes to visit Murray and the guys and he always introduces himself just as Brian. It may not read very funny, but give it a shot.
The last DVD I got this year was the Chicago Blackhawks 2010 Stanley Cup DVD. Oh, yeah, just in case you didn’t know, the Chicago Blackhawks are reigning world champions. Sniff.
What a great Christmas and Happy New Year!