Home Improvement: The Complete Second Season
By Peter Knegt

Somehow one of the highest rated television series of the ’90s, the second season of Tim Allen’s ode to Midwestern manhood, Home Improvement gets the second season DVD treatment. Containing 25 episodes, the set features the life and times of Tim Taylor (Allen), a self-proclaimed TV “tool man,” his wife Jill (the endearing Patricia Richardson) and their there children Brad, Randy and Mark (Zachery Ty Bryan, Jonathan Taylor Thoma, and Taran Noah Smith). There are also Tim’s “assistant,” Al (Richard Karn), his wisdom-filled neighbour, Wilson (Earl Hindman), and his original tool girl (Pamela Anderson, in her last season on the series). The result is a conventional sitcom that is certainly above average (during this season at least) but isn’t much more than that. There’s not much of a recurring plot through out the season, just typical sitcom formations in which a problem arises (often domestic and often relating to some sort of masculine identity crisis) and is solved in 22 minutes with a few laughs along the way. Allen is a fairly gifted comic and thankfully Richardson is a decent actress and portrays Jill with enough feminine strength to even out some of Allen’s rather sexist antics. There is really not much in the way of extras, besides a montage of the season’s most hilarious moments, which is rather disappointing. But as there are obviously a few Home Improvement fans out there (it ranked number one in the United States for this particular season), this set should probably work out fine. However, for anyone who had any judgement during the 1990s, the fourth season of Seinfeld just came out. (Buena Vista)
The Complete James Dean Collection
The biggest no-brainer of the year, in terms of a box set — after all, James Dean only made three feature films, in the span of two years, before his death in a car crash in 1955. But Warner has done all three up right; for the man who’s had more air time in death analysing his impact than he ever had on screen, we’re given a more complete picture of his world: as an actor, an artist, a recluse and a speed freak (in the racing, not the narcotic sense). ...Read More
American Psycho: Uncut Version - Dir. by Mary Harron
After years of excellent character work, Christian Bale is now known by most as Batman. But five years ago, he played a character more disturbed than any Batman foe. Adapted from Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 controversial novel, American Psycho the film divided critics and audiences. ...Read More
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004
Though it seemed improbable, The Daily Show has entered the DVD game with this brilliant collection of episodes from the 2004 U.S. presidential race. Four nights a week, the cast and writers at the Daily Show employ satire as a coping method in their faux newscasts to help America deal with just how fucked up its news is. ...Read More
12 Monkeys - Dir. by Terry Gilliam
A Dirty Shame - Dir. by John Waters
Bad Guy - Dir. by Kim Ki-duk
Beyond The Sea - Dir. by Kevin Spacey
Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection
Boogeyman - Dir. by Steven Kay
Bride and Prejudice - Dir. by Gurinder Chadha
Casino - Dir. by Martin Scorsese
City Space - Dir. by Craig Noble
Coach Carter - Dir. by Thomas Carter
Crazed Fruit - Dir. by Ko Nakahira
Cry-Baby - Dir. by John Waters
Daniel and the Superdogs - Dir. by André Melançon
Dear Frankie - Dir. by Shona Auerbach
Degrassi Junior High: Season 2
Diary Of A Mad Black Woman - Dir. by Darren Grant
Escape from the Newsroom
Fright Pack: The Devil Made Me Do It
Garfield and Friends Volume Three
Hide and Seek - Dir. by John Polson
Hitch - Dir. by Andy Tennant
Hostage - Dir. by Florent Emilio Siri
Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte - Dir. by Robert Aldrich
Imaginary Heroes - Dir. by Dan Harris
In Old Chicago - Dir. by Henry King
In the Realms of the Unreal - Dir. by Jessica Yu
Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition - Dir. by Steven Spielberg
Million Dollar Baby - Dir. by Clint Eastwood
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous - Dir. by John Pasquin
Moving Violations - Dir. by Neal Isreal
Rescue Me: The Complete First Season
Saved by the Belles - Dir. by Ziad Touma
Scrubs: Season One
Seed of Chucky - Dir. by Don Mancini
The Bette Davis Collection
The Browning Version - Dir. by Anthony Asquith
The Crow: Wicked Prayer - Dir. by Lance Mungia
The Jacket - Dir. by John Maybury
The Joan Crawford Collection
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit - Dir. by Nunnally Johnson
The Ren & Stimpy Show: Seasons Three and a Half-ish
The Scalphunters - Dir. by Sydney Pollack
The Upside Of Anger - Dir. by Mike Binder
Grizzly Bear - Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC October 14
Before the release of 2009's Veckatimest, Grizzly Bear stood at a career watershed of sorts. Critical darlings without much mainstream success, they could very well have continued in the direction set with 2007's Friend EP and become perennial indie overachievers, in the vein of the Li... Full Review
Hostage Life - Centre Of The Universe
It's unfortunate the words "maturity" and "growth" are stigmas in the world of punk rock. They would be the perfect descriptors for Toronto, ON-based Hostage Life's tertiary release. Maintaining the adage that a band never realize their true potential until their third album, the quintet prove thems... Full Review
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant Dir. by Paul Weitz
In an interesting twist of Hollywood fate, Chris and Paul Weitz have entered the final stretch of 2009 each in control of a major vampire franchise built from the pages of popular young adult fiction.

From one half of the brotherly team who brought us American Pie and About ... Full Review
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