About this product: The fourth season of the charming sitcom How I Met Your Mother (or HIMYM to fans) remains as inventive yet as heartfelt as ever. The writers pull off all kinds of narrative tricks, and though events are sometimes absurd, they never feel gimmicky--the show has a solid grip on its characters and keeps everything grounded in their ongoing lives. Devoted womanizer Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, riding a wave of popularity in the wake of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog) can't understand why he's having actual feelings for Robin (Cobie Smulders), whose career as a TV anchorwoman is floundering. Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan) struggle with holding on to their youthful passion under the pressures of getting older. And Ted (Josh Radnor) struggles to follow through on his engagement to Stella (Sarah Chalke)--a relationship that (spoiler alert!) capsizes midway through the episodes. While the season-long story lines are carefully teased out, each episode is flush with clever or daffy ideas, among them a list of Canadian sex acts, Barney trying to pick up hot chicks while disguised as an 80-year-old man, multiple interventions (culminating in an intervention intervention), Marshall's charts and graphs, Barney's fake family, wooo! girls, the cheerleader effect, the front porch test, and the Naked Man, among many others.
Attentive fans will be rewarded with a wealth of small references to past episodes. Though there are moments when the fundamental premise--that this is all part of an unbearably long story that a future Ted is telling to his children--feels obnoxiously stretched (toward the end of the season, one episode in particular builds up to a false revelation), for the most part HIMYM is a sterling example of a well-sustained sitcom; the characters have successfully grown over the four seasons without losing everything that made them funny in the first place. The number of extras is surprisingly small--only a few show commentaries, an enjoyable group interview, and an extended version of Barney's video resume. --Bret Fetzer
Stills from How I Met Your Mother: Season Four (Click for larger image)
About this product: TWILIGHT star Robert Pattinson takes on a new kind of role as Arthur, a twenty-something supermarket clerk and depressed musician who s just been dumped by his girlfriend and has to move back home to his emotionally distant parents. But when Arthur discovers the best-selling self-help book It s Not Your Fault, he spends his inheritance on hiring the oddball author to be his live-in life-coach. Can a dreamy poet suffering from a quarterlife crisis now find a way to become more normal , or is Arthur just a romantic misfit who could change his world just by being himself? Rebecca Pidgeon (THE UNIT) co-stars in this painfully funny and surprising comedy about getting by, growing up and letting go, featuring original songs performed by Robert Pattinson.
About this product: This all-time classic now has Horton Hears a Who! on the same video for a great double bill.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas To heck with the kids--this is one of the best holiday presents you can give yourself. Adapted from the children's book by Dr. Seuss, this charming story is one to watch every holiday season. It is just edgy enough to help you forget the more cloying aspects of Christmas, yet it is also sweet enough to remind you of the reason for all that holiday cheer. Animation genius Chuck Jones directed this 1966 television production featuring the voice of Boris Karloff as the mean greenie. Bitter and selfish, the Grinch decides to steal Christmas away from the Whos, the sweet little folk who live at the bottom of his mountain home. When little Cindy Loo Who returns his hateful act with kindness, she melts the old miser's heart. There are many reasons to watch this: inventive wordplay, Karloff's impressive narration, and a very memorable soundtrack. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Horton Hears a Who! Chuck Jones was chief animator on this lively adaptation of the famous book by Dr. Seuss. The story of a friendly elephant named Horton who discovers--deep inside a daisy--a tiny city called Whoville with tiny, intelligent residents--this film (fleshed out a bit from the source) is strong on character and has striking, appealing visuals. The little folks of Whoville, with their natural air of aristocracy, are a kick, and when they come to see Horton as a hero for his democratic view of all life big and small, the effect is quite touching. This should be a real treat for kids already familiar with the book, and just might inspire those who haven't read it to pick it up. --Tom Keogh
About this product: If the end of Friends left a hole in your life, take a look at How I Met Your Mother. Quirky young urban folk grappling with life and love--check. Charming, good-looking actors who aren't afraid of looking like idiots for the sake of a good joke--check. Crisp, solid writing that sticks comfortably within the sitcom format, but is fresh enough to nudge the show into surprising and inventive moments--check. In fact, the creators of How I Met Your Mother should be embarrassed by how close they hew to the Friends formula--except that they do it so well. Let's face it, Friends didn't invent this territory (tales of twentysomething life), they just refined it. How I Met Your Mother quickly cultivates its own flavor: A little more openly romantic than most sitcoms, willing to let a scene take a quiet or off-kilter turn, trusting that not every viewer has to get every joke.
The hub of the likable cast is Josh Radnor, who keeps Ted (a single guy ready to settle down) from being annoying, despite his neuroses and perfectionism. Cobie Smulders gives Robin (the girl Ted thinks might be the one, but who doesn't want to settle down) enough goofy, tomboyish charm that she feels like a person and not an idealized love interest. Jason Segel (Freaks and Geeks) and Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Pie), plays Ted's soon-to-be-married best friends Marshall and Lily with enough lingering doubt in their engaged happiness to keep them from becoming too comfortable. And rounding out the cast is Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, M.D.), shedding his good-guy image as Barney, a crass, lecherous cad who, nonetheless, comes through for his friends. Episode plots are pretty straightforward (Ted signs up with matchmaking agency; Marshall takes a well-paying job he doesn't like; when Ted gets a girlfriend, Robin realizes she has feelings for him after all; and Lily has second thoughts about getting married), but the show maintains a nice balance of single-episodes stories and a season-long arc--and as you grown attached to the characters, even fairly routine stories are made to feel fresh. This is good comfort television: Smart but not snotty, earnest but not cloying, oddball without being forced or wacky. Check it out. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: No other sitcom is as gleefully inventive as How I Met Your Mother. The basic setup is familiar stuff: Five charming, good-looking twentysomethings pal around New York City seeking love and happiness. But many episodes have a narrative trick. For example, when his friends try to persuade Ted (Josh Radnor) from going on a date with the doctor removing the butterfly tattoo he got while drunk, their justifications send the show careening back and forth among three interconnected flashbacks. Other episodes repeat scenes from different perspectives, or leap forward, or interrupt scenes to provide necessary exposition. None of this is groundbreaking, but it is consistently smart and clever--and when combined with crisp comic dialogue and zippy performances, it's pure sitcom delight. This is a show that manages to make a gang's in-jokes actually funny. Season Three is absolutely essential for any fan of the show, because this is the season we actually meet the title character; after two years of preamble, the mother to Ted's unnamed kids finally appears! But there are abundant other reasons to get this season, including Marshall (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) buying a crooked apartment, Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) getting the yips and getting slapped, and the return of Robin Sparkles, Canadian teenybopper alter-ego of Robin (Cobie Smulders). There's a wee bit of unfortunate stuntcasting (though she doesn't embarrass herself, Britney Spears still sticks out by dint of sheer inescapable celebrity), but it's a minor flaw in an all-around superb season. Add in an abundance of commentaries, featurettes, music videos, additional scenes, and How I Met Your Mother: Season Three is clearly a must-have for fans and a great introduction for newcomers. --Bret Fetzer
Beyond How I Met Your Mother: Season Three on DVD
Arrested Development – Season Three on DVD
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – Season Three on DVD
Family Guy, Vol. 6 on DVD
Stills from How I Met Your Mother: Season Three (Click for larger image)
About this product: Under a thick carpet of green-dyed yak fur and wonderfully expressive Rick Baker makeup, Jim Carrey is up to all of his old tricks (and some nifty new ones) in this live-action movie of Dr. Seuss's holiday classic. He commands the title role with equal parts madness, mayhem, pathos, and improvisational genius, channeling Grinchness through his own screen persona so smoothly that fans of both Carrey and Dr. Seuss will be thoroughly satisfied. Adding to the fun is a perfectly pitched back-story sequence (accompanied by Anthony Hopkins's narration) that explains how the Grinch came to hate Christmas, with a heart "two sizes too small." Ron Howard proves a fine choice for the director's chair with a keen balance of comedy, sentiment, and light-hearted Seussian whimsy. Production designer Michael Corenblith gloriously realizes the wackiness of Whoville architecture, and his rendition of the Grinch's Mt. Crumpit lair is a marvel of cartoonish, subterranean grime. Then there's Cindy Lou Who (Taylor Momsen), the thoughtful imp who rallies her village to recapture the pure spirit of Christmas and melts the gift-stealing Grinch's cold, cold heart. You've even got a dog (the Grinch's good-natured mongrel, Max) who's been perfectly cast, so what's not to like about this dazzling yuletide movie? The production gets a bit overwhelmed by its own ambition, and the citizens of Whoville (including Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Molly Shannon, and Bill Irwin) pale in comparison to Carrey's inspired lunacy, but who cares? If a movie can unleash Jim Carrey at his finest, revamp the Grinch story, and still pay tribute to the legacy of Dr. Seuss, you can bet it qualifies as rousing entertainment. (Ages 5 and older.) --Jeff Shannon
About this product: The sweet, snarky charms of How I Met Your Mother are in full force on this clever sitcom's second season. The show's conceit is that it's all from the point of view of the future self of Ted Mosby (played in our time by Josh Radnor, voiced in the future by Bob Saget), telling his kids the story of how he met their mother--a character that, two seasons in, has yet to be introduced. Instead, the show revolves around Ted's romantic pursuit of Robin (Cobie Smulders) and the cozy relationship of Ted's best friends, Lily (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's beloved Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall (Jason Segel from another cult show, Freaks and Geeks). Careening through these two love stories is Barney (Neil Patrick Harris, the former Doogie Howser, M.D.), an aggressively single womanizer, whose intimate friendship with this largely sincere and domestic bunch doesn't make much sense...but often makes for excellent comedy. This goofy quintet of late 20somethings flounder their way through life in New York, wrestling with love and careers. When the first season ended, Ted and Robin had finally hooked up, but Marshall and Lily had suddenly split up. Season two runs with this, enriching the relationships among all the characters over the season's progress while spinning out all sorts of stand-alone plots that make each episode a treat. Examples: Ted discovers that his parents have been keeping a secret from him; Marshall, feeling burnt by love, starts doing couple things with a newly single male friend; Lily gets a job at Ted's office and is appalled by Ted's obnoxious boss; Robin tries to keep Ted from discovering her sordid past; and Barney...well, Barney is the gleeful source of a dozen cockeyed tales, ranging from asking Lily to paint a nude portrait of him to grappling poorly with his gay brother's sudden turn to monogamy to going on The Price is Right to find his father. The entire cast is superb (and much more confident this season), but Harris's inexplicably endearing smarminess really pushes the show into a higher comic bracket. That performance energy--combined with the cunning use of flashbacks and other twisty story techniques--makes How I Met Your Mother both sweet and spicy, a conventional sitcom that tweaks the formula enough to make it feel fresh and engaging. If the creators can keep this up, this show will become a classic. Season Two features an abundance of fan-pleasing extras, including cheerful commentaries, extended scenes, and a disturbing music video of the show's theme song. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: Louie Giglio does a great job describing God's unconditional and infinite love for us. Giglio's passionate talk is inspiring and motivating and appropriate for all ages. You will see how great our God is, in fact, he is awesome!
DVD
