About this product: After 15 years, The New Kids On The Block made a triumphant return to the world stage. 'Coming Home' the DVD will document the process and the many journeys the band went on as they toured the globe playing over 140 sold out arena concerts performing to a million plus fans. In addition the DVD will feature 6 live performances from the band's world tour, an assortment of bloopers, behind the scenes, band jokes and special moments with the fans.
About this product: This somewhat unpleasant 1992 sequel to the blockbuster Home Alone revisits the first film's gimmick by stranding Macaulay Culkin's character in New York City while his family ends up somewhere else. Again, the little guy meets up with colorful people on the margins of society (including a pigeon woman played by Brenda Fricker) and again he gets into a prop-heavy battle with Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. The latter sequence is even worse than the first film in terms of violence inflicted on the two villains (director Chris Columbus, who also made the first film, can't seem to emphasize the slapstick over the graphic effects of the fight). The best running joke finds a concierge (Tim Curry) at the swank hotel where Culkin is staying trying and failing to prove that the boy is on his own. --Tom Keogh
About this product: Nature's Most Amazing Events takes up the mantle left by the stunning BBC series Planet Earth, and offers a closer look at some of the most fascinating and dramatic natural happenings on the planet. Narrated by David Attenborough, it digs in some detail into the impact of certain events on nature, and manages to hone in on small stories in the midst of major happenings. It's a breathtaking cocktail. What particularly lifts Nature's Most Amazing Events too is the stunning photography. Many will recall just how superb the shots in Planet Earth were, but if anything, Nature's Most Amazing Events tops it. The cinematography here is world-class, and it greatly enhances the series around it as a result. That said, there's more than enough substance to Nature's Most Amazing Events as it stands anyway. Diligently made and researched, and presented in an accessible, yet not condescending manner, it's another major success for the BBC in this area, and further cements why it's a world leader where natural-history documentaries are concerned. Credit must go too for the decision to include the making-of material. Back when the BBC broadcast The Blue Planet, this material was often just as interesting as the main feature itself, and the same is true here. It's a genuinely fascinating insight into the production of such an ambitious, and unmissable, series. --Jon Foster
About this product: This fast 3 Mile walk is the best way to get the belly flat. “Burning Calories” will always be the sure way to reduce all areas of the body, especially stubborn belly fat! After torching all those calories, join Leslie for a short session on the floor that includes the all-time best move to super-sculpt the belly… rated number one for muscle engagement. All of our famous features of Walk at Home Workouts are in this program! Gentle “Warm Up” Walk! Brisk 4 and 5 mile per hour pace! Mile Markers allow you to choose 1, 2, or 3 Miles! Multi-Muscle Movements! Compound exercises give you a bigger calorie burn! Easy “Cool Down” Walk! Stretch for a healthy end to your walk! All New! The Walk Clock!
About this product: In the fourth season of Home Improvement, the Taylor family faces some important milestones. Tim (Tim Allen) turns 40. Jill (Patricia Richardson) is laid off from work and pursues her master's degree. And youngest son Mark (Taran Noah Smith) slowly begins to outgrow precocious middle brother Randy (Jonathan Taylor Thomas). (Oldest sibling Brad, played by Zachery Ty Bryan, remains pretty much the same confident kid he always was.) As for their inner circle, Tim's Tool Time buddy Al (Richard Karn) gets an ego boost when he's named one of Detroit's hottest bachelors, and little seen but often heard neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman) goes on his first date in two decades. Add Debbe Dunning, who replaces Pamela Anderson as the new Tool Time girl, and you've got the makings of another solid season. When the ABC sitcom aired during the 1994-1995 TV season, it did well enough to place in the Top 5 for the fourth consecutive year. And aside from some pop culture giveaways (Jill's clothes; Randy's use of a floppy disc to backup his computer), the warmth and humor exuded in this 25-episode, 3-disc set hold up remarkably well.
Like Everybody Loves Raymond minus the screeching mother-in-law, Home Improvement is driven by the classic combination of a sensible wife married to a silly man-child husband who thinks about himself first, even when he doesn't intend to. When Jill wants to go back to school so she can become a therapist, Tim isn't supportive. At first it appears he just doesn't want any changes. But he later confesses he's worried she'll lose interest in him if she returns to school. After she reassures him that this would never be the case, he says, "If your dream is to work with nuts, you should go back to the world of macadamia." Look for an appearance from a very young Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain, Dawson's Creek), guest starring as Brad's makeup-savvy girlfriend who advises him on how to cover up his pimple. As for Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels, Ally McBeal), her blink-and-you'll-miss-her spot as a woman interested in Al is little more than a glorified cameo. --Jae-Ha Kim
About this product: Three years after A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), Charles Schulz's beloved "Peanuts" characters hit the big screen again in the enjoyable Snoopy, Come Home. This time, everyone's favorite beagle turns the kids' world upside down when he receives a mysterious letter from a girl named Lila and hits the road with best friend Woodstock, evading a sadistic would-be pet owner and other perils along the way. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown is left to wonder: Who is Lila, and will Snoopy ever return? Snoopy, Come Home still holds up well for kids of all ages, though the mod opening sequence and snappy songs by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and other Disney films) are unmistakably from the '70s. Vince Guaraldi's jazzy music is missed, but Thurl Ravenscroft, best known for "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" and the laugh of the Jolly Green Giant, lends his basso profundo to the persistent "No dogs allowed!" (All ages: minor cartoon violence). --David Horiuchi
About this product: There's no more reliable engine for comedy than the differences between men and women; Home Improvement puts that topic front and center. Launched from the stand-up comedy of Tim Allen (The Santa Clause, the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story), this sturdy sitcom rests on the endearing, befuddled machismo of Tim Taylor (Allen), the host of a how-to-build-stuff show called Tool Time, who finds raising three sons and being a supportive husband isn't always as easy as sanding down a door frame. In the show's first season, the tried-and-true domestic plotlines (for example: wife wants to have a romantic dinner, husband wants to watch the big game--the fodder of every family sitcom since the dawn of television) are given a fresh spin by Home Improvement's embrace (and gentle mockery) of the men's movement that flourished in the early '90s. Tim's neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), whose face is always obscured by the fence between their yards, proves to be a font of Iron John-style wisdom--wisdom that Tim comically garbles when he puts it into practice. Allen and Patricia Richardson (as Tim's prickly but tolerant wife, Jill) immediately established a cozy but smart banter with enough bite to rise above the bland bickering of too many sitcoms. Some jokes degenerate into schtick--Tim's manly grunting becomes rote by the second episode--but Allen and his writing team consistently found surprises in this familiar territory. The capable supporting cast also includes Tim's sensitive and woefully single assistant Al (Richard Karn), his three cute sons (Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Zachery Ty Bryan, and Taran Noah Smith), and Tool Time's eye-candy (future Baywatch sex bomb Pamela Anderson). --Bret Fetzer
About this product: Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor combine reality and fantasy in this smooth, ebullient take on the long-running Prairie Home Companion radio show. Set during the show's fictitious last broadcast--the host station has been bought--the film has plenty of elements from the real PHC radiocasts, including a live audience and the sensational Shoe band. The onstage program is mostly music numbers, a beguiling mix of standards and old-style country. However, the show's usual comedy sketches are never presented, save for the commercial parodies--this may be a PHC show, but Lake Wobegone is never mentioned. Instead, the sketches are played out as backstage banter that feautres the Johnson Sisters (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin), a harried stage hand (Maya Rudolph), a former listener turned angel (Virginia Madsen), and Keillor himself (a crusty alter-ego named simply G.K.). A few characters from the real PHC are given life: the singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty and gumshoe Guy Noir are embodied by Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, and Kevin Kline, respectively. Old flames are fanned, stories are spun, new talents are found (Lindsay Lohan has a chance to shine as Streep's daughter) and everyone wonders if G.K. will do something to ebb the tide of cancellation (personified by Tommy Lee Jones as the corporate Axeman). All of the actors do right as singers, and seem to be having the time of their life. Keillor's screenplay is perfect fodder for Altman's usual brand of storytelling, as characters babble on with the camera picking them up often in mid-thought. The film appeared a few months after Altman received an honorary Oscar, and the director is still at the top of his game, creating this smile-inducing, song-filled time, ending with an ethereal last musical number. --Doug Thomas
About this product: In its third season, Home Improvement settled into a comfortable and hugely popular groove. Tim Taylor (Tim Allen, The Santa Clause, the voice of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story) banters fondly with his wife Jill (Patricia Richardson, Ulee's Gold) at home, snipes at his assistant Al (Richard Karn, Sex and the Teenage Mind) on his TV show Tool Time, and discusses manly troubles with his philosophical neighbor Wilson (Earl Hindman), while his three sons (Taran Noah Smith, Zachary Ty Bryan, and Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who was the voice of the young Simba in The Lion King) run amok. In just about every episode Tim garbles Wilson's Iron John-esque advice; in just about every episode he mocks Al for being a lonely oversensitive guy, even after Al finds a girlfriend; in just about every episode Tim and Jill tiff over the differences between the sexes...and yet the cast, though sheer warmth and enthusiasm, makes it feel consistently fresh--or if not fresh, cozy.
Not that the season was without a few new faces: Debbe Dunning replaces Pamela Anderson as the Tool Time girl; Al gets a girlfriend, Ilene (Sherry Hursey); several episodes features some new neighbors (Mariangela Pino and Robert Picardo, later the Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager); the great M. Emmet Walsh (Blood Simple) appears as Jill's father; and a number of sports figures, shuttle astronauts, and former President Jimmy Carter make guest appearances as themselves. This is solid sitcom comfort food; dependable and satisfying, familiar but still lively. If you're not a fan of Allen's humor, this season won't change your mind, but many couples will see a little of themselves in Tim and Jill's relationship, and that's not a bad thing. More power! --Bret Fetzer
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