Home Video

I have fantastic memories from seeing From Dusk Till Dawn in the theater back in 1996.  Goodness, it's so hard to believe that was nearly twenty years ago! Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino had only made a few films up to that point. More so, George Clooney was really just the dude from "ER" and a host of failed series. Now, Tarantino's films are always Oscar worthy, Clooney has been Best Actor, and Robert Rodriguez owns the El Rey Network. They are a power trio in modern Hollywood, but back then they were just making a horror flick.

The idea of remaking a well loved horror film as a television series that essentially follows the map of the original, well that takes balls! To be honest, it all pays off quite well. Considering the film was packed with stars or soon-to-be stars, the series pulls off recasting so well, that you mostly don't even miss the original players.

Joel Gilbert's latest documentary, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE UTOPIA, is a two-hour coast-to-coast tour of America in decline. Using THE WIZARD OF OZ as a springboard, Gilbert draws comparisons from the Wizard -- a charlatan -- to President Barack Obama. Not being as complicated of a connect-the-dots as his previous work, DREAMS FROM MY REAL FATHER, UTOPIA is easier to follow, and more inventive in its employment of effects and its cogent use of parallel analogy.

It just goes to show, you can't always trust the critics. I hadn't watched any of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because I'd heard from some corners -- comic-fan corners, mind you! -- that the show was not just underwhelming, it was actually bad.

Now that I've got the entire first season to review, I think that the critics were wrong -- mostly. And, yes, I get the inherent irony of my saying that -- I'm completely up on the Epimenides paradox. So with the second season debuting tonight, you've got a few hours to go pick this up and cram like mad to get up to speed.

For those of us old enough to remember, there was a time when there were no music videos and there was no MTV (not that MTV plays any videos anymore) and the only way you go to see your favorite performers were to see them in concert.

Ten in 1973 it all changed…on August 19th 1972 the pilot for Midnight Special aired and it was so good!

Finally we got a chance each week to see the hottest musicians perform one or more of their hit songs live…that’s live as in not pre taped and not lip synced.

It meant staying up late to be able to see it considering I was only 12 when the show first started, but because I was very familiar with the music and musicians of those days thanks to my 8 years senior older brother’s extensive record collection I begged and pleaded to stay up each week (until I was old enough to stay up without having to ask for permission) each week to see the performers whose music I was listening to every day.

It's only September, but anyone knows that if you want to get the really cool stuff for Christmas, you have to start making your list early. Any later than Halloween, and you're likely to get stuck with whatever your friends and family could pick up at the local Walgreens. And you want cool, right? Like, bowtie cool?

Well look no further, friend! The BBC has put together some gift set releases of their best and brightest shows. Let's tear off a corner of the wrapping paper for a little peek, shall we?

DOCTOR WHO: THE COMPLETE MATT SMITH YEARS LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY GIFT SET

I admit, I'm not completely up to speed on the Ben 10 phenomenon. I know that Ben's a kid with a special wristwatch (like Johnny Sokko) that allows him to turn into one of any variety of aliens so that he can go into battle against other aliens (like Ultraman). And, that's about it.

For those of us who live without BBC America on our tellies, the Blu-ray/DVD releases are an event. Yes, we're behind the curve of all the other Whovians, but we just pretend we're time-traveling to the day of the broadcast premiere. It adds to the overall gestalt of following The Doctor.

There's a giant flying monster that, wherever he goes, acts like a giant EMP burst. Cities are drained of power when he's near. Across the ocean, there's another giant monster on the ground who does the same thing. (Although not having power is the least of the problems when the skyscraper you're in is being toppled.) There's very little humanity can do except to drop a nuclear bomb on them -- powered by an analog wind-up timing device, out of necessity.

When Joel Gilbert wrote and produced "Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad's Coming War for Islamic Revival and Obama's Politics of Defeat," the film became a feature at the CPAC Conference and went on to win an award at the Hudson Institute Film Festival. Now, the contributing editor to FamilySecurityMatters.org has turned his political sights to another aspect of the Obama administration, that being the origins of the President himself. But if you think Gilbert is climbing aboard the Birther Express (which I would really love to see a version of among all the trains I've collected in my TrainStation 2 app game), think again. According to Gilbert, birthers are barking up the wrong tree. It's not a question of where Obama was born -- but rather, one of paternity.

Fans will recognize Kathy Garver's face from her scores of television appearances, not the least of which was the role of Cissy in the Don Fedderson classic series, Family Affair. But if you have a discerning ear, you may find that you're more familiar with Ms. Garver's work than you might have realized, as the actress has continued to keep quite busy up through even today.

Through the magic of cellular phones, we caught up with Ms. Garver while she was en route to a celebrity golf tournament, after which she was slated to deliver a carload of Mrs. Beasley dolls and ornaments loaded in the backseat for an autograph show at the Beverly Garland Hotel in Studio City for fans of Family Affair, the fourth season of which is just now becoming available on DVD.