About this product: "It's been a hard year for us," Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), leader of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, tells his mentor, profiler extraordinaire Jason Gideon (Mandy Patinkin) in the season finale. No kidding! Just when you think Criminal Minds has shown you the worst that humanity has to offer, the show unleashes an Emmy-worthy episode like "No Way Out," featuring Keith Carradine in a chilling performance as Frank, who just may be the most prolific serial killer in history, and whose capture in a desert diner is only the beginning of a battle of wits between himself and Gideon. From serial killers and a mad bomber to sadistic kidnappers and rapists, these are truly the cases that try men's (and women's) souls. In this second season, the writers have taken great care to flesh out the BAU team. In "The Aftermath," Elle Greenaway (Lola Glaudini), who still has not fully come to grips with being shot, steps over the line in stopping a serial rapist. In "Revelations," we see flashbacks to resident genius Reid's (Matthew Gray Gubler) painful childhood after a religious zealot (a scarily convincing James "Dawson" Van Der Beek), kidnaps, tortures, and drugs him (a later episode deals with Reid's addiction). In "Profiler, Profiled," devastating secrets about Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore) are revealed after he is arrested during a visit home on suspicion of being a serial killer.
New to the team this season (following Glaudini's departure from the series) is Paget Brewster (perhaps best known as Chandler's short-lived girlfriend Kathy on Friends) as Emily Prentiss, an ambassador's daughter. "Welcome to our nightmares," she is greeted. Her addition allows viewers to see familiar characters fresh through her eyes. Criminal Minds is potent stuff. "It gets to you," a character states at one point. Which might explain the gag reel clip in which Patinkin playfully breaks character during a scene in a playground by insisting on taking a spin on a merry go round and leaping on a teeter-totter (Patinkin would announce during the summer hiatus that he would not be returning to the show for season 3). Another fun extra, in addition to four illuminating episode commentaries and behind-the-scenes segments, is a profile of Kristen Vangsness, who portrays Criminal Minds' liveliest and most colorful character, "tech kitten" Garcia. Perhaps the only thing a newcomer to the series needs to know is that the term "unsub" means "unknown suspect." Its frequent use in each epsiode has the makings of a drinking game. --Donald Liebenson
About this product: Viewers who feel they may have been C.S.I.'d, S.V.U.'d, or NCIS'd to death, should really keep an open mind concerning Criminal Minds, because this compelling procedural crime series brings fascinating new facets to this crowded genre. The always galvanizing Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope) makes a welcome return to the small screen as Jason Gideon, head of the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, and sage mentor to his elite team of profilers, including compassionate Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson, of Dharma & Greg), Lola Gladini as sex-crimes expert Elle Greenway (since departed from the series), live-wire hunk Derek Morgan (Shemar Moore), and genius-geek Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), who actually looks creepier than many of the perpetrators that the team races against time to apprehend. Before they can do that, they must establish psychological profiles of the criminals and think as they do. Given they have handles such as the "Seattle Strangler" and the "Keystone Killer," this can be psychologically taxing (in one episode, Spencer confides to Derek that the job is giving him nightmares). While cliffhangers frame this inaugural season, each episode (except the season finale) wraps up its cases in the allotted hour.
In addition to serial killers, the series unleashes a gallery of twisted and depraved specimens. "Trust me," Derek comments early on, "we cover the whole spectrum of psychos." This includes arsonists, rapists, child abductors, and even a cannibalistic killer. Anchoring the proceedings is Patinkin, who exudes authoritative gravitas, and who is always good for scenery feasting. He really comes to life when killers have Gideon at gunpoint and he taunts them into losing their already unsteady grip. Most episodes feature the voiceover of a team member reciting a pertinent quote from such varied sources as W.H. Auden ("Evil is always human") to actor Peter Ustinov, a literary conceit that could stand to be retired. Stylistic flourishes in the editing and camerawork are likewise more of a distraction when the cases themselves are so gripping, given that the victims are primarily women and children. "There's nothing I would rather do than put the bastards away," Greenway states at one point. And there's nothing we'd rather do than watch them do it, which has made Criminal Minds, initially Lost opposite that ratings juggernaut, one of television's solid hits. --Donald Liebenson
About this product: "Find the fetish, find the fiend." This is the queasily compelling Criminal Minds' version of "Save the cheerleader, save the world," and it drives each dark and disturbing episode. Before this pivotal season can really get down to cases, it must deal with some unfinished business. Mandy Patinkin, who announced he would be leaving the series, was given a graceful exit, but not before his character, ace FBI profiler Gideon begins to doubt his abilities and sanity in the aftermath of the murder of his girlfriend at the end of last season. Meanwhile, his protégé, Hotch (Thomas Gibson) is under pressure from Section Chief Erin Strauss (Jayne Atkinson) to resign the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), and Prentiss (Paget Brewster) submits her resignation rather than get dirt on him for Erin. All it takes to keep the team intact is for Strauss to join them at work on a particularly disturbing case involving a man using his son to lure unsuspecting women ("He's going to kill you, you know"). And speaking of unfinished business, enter Gideon's replacement, David Rossi (Joe Mantegna, an inspired choice), a BAU legend who returns to the unit he helped found. He claims he just wants to help with the BAU "an agent down," but his true motivation will become clear as the season unfolds Suffice to say it involves an extremely cold case that continues to haunt him. Rossi's introduction is the accessible entry for viewers new to the series, as they, along with Rossi, get to meet the other team members, including hunky Derek (Shemar Moore), bookish genius Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler), and colorful computer whiz Penelope Garcia (Kristen Vangsness). This season, the team is confronted with nightmarish cases, involving all manner of killers (including one cannibal). Working together to catch these "unsubs" before they can claim another victim offers further opportunities for what Rossi calls "personal growth." In a two-part episode, Shemar must confront his crisis of faith. In another episode, Reid attends a support group for his addiction (another development from last season). Two cases hit particularly close to home. In one, a team member is shot, and in the explosive season finale, another is targeted by terrorists. Considering Criminal Minds's intensity level, even the bonus gag reel, comprised of pratfalls, tension-breaking clowning, and even a birthday cake break for Mantegna, can be unsettling! There is something to be said for having a week to unwind between new episodes. A Criminal Minds marathon can seriously creep you out. And we mean that in a good way. --Donald Liebenson
About this product: Winner of 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, A Beautiful Mind is directed by Academy Award winner Ron Howard and produced by long-time partner and collaborator, Academy Award winner Brian Grazer. A Beautiful Mind stars Russell Crowe in an astonishing performance as brilliant mathematician John Nash, on the brink of international acclaim when he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. Now only his devoted wife (Academy Award winner Jennifer Connelly) can help him in this powerful story of courage, passion and triumph.
About this product: Screenwriters rarely develop a distinctive voice that can be recognized from movie to movie, but the ornate imagination of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) has made him a unique and much-needed cinematic presence. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a guy decides to have the memories of his ex-girlfriend erased after she's had him erased from her own memory--but midway through the procedure, he changes his mind and struggles to hang on to their experiences together. In other hands, the premise of memory-erasing would become a trashy science-fiction thriller; Kaufman, along with director Michel Gondry, spins this idea into a funny, sad, structurally complex, and simply enthralling love story that juggles morality, identity, and heartbreak with confident skill. The entire cast--Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, and more--give superb performances, carefully pitched so that cleverness never trumps feeling. A great movie. --Bret Fetzer
About this product: CRIMINAL MINDS revolves around an elite team of FBI profilers who analyze the country's most twisted criminal minds, anticipating their next moves before they strike again. The Behavioral Analysis Unit's most prominent agent is David Rossi (Joe Mantegna), a founding member of the BAU, who returns to help the team solve new cases, while pursuing some unfinished business of his own. Each member brings his or her own area of expertise to the table as they pinpoint predators' motivations and identify their emotional triggers in the attempt to stop them.
Welsh detective Noel Bain solves crimes his own way. He relies not on science or technology, but unerring instinct, keen intelligence, and a passion for defending the innocent. A workaholic widower, he also struggles to protect his teenage daughter, Hannah, from the world he knows too well--one filled with horrific murders, brutal sex crimes, and unrepentant villains.
Philip Madoc (The Last of the Mohicans, Doctor Who) is unforgettable as the brooding detective in this acclaimed drama. Set in a Wales more bleak than picturesque, the series has earned comparisons to Cracker and Inspector Morse for its gritty authenticity and strongly drawn characters. Guest stars in these feature-length mysteries include John Rhys-Davies (The Lord of the Rings) and Siân Phillips (I, Claudius).
DVD FEATURES INCLUDE director’s production notes and cast filmographies. SDH subtitles
About this product: A Beautiful Mind manages to twist enough pathos out of John Nash's incredible life story to redeem an at-times goofy portrayal of schizophrenia. Russell Crowe tackles the role with characteristic fervor, playing the Nobel prize-winning mathematician from his days at Princeton, where he developed a groundbreaking economic theory, to his meteoric rise to the cover of Forbes magazine and an MIT professorship, and on through to his eventual dismissal due to schizophrenic delusions. Of course, it is the delusions that fascinate director Ron Howard and, predictably, go astray. Nash's other world, populated as it is by a maniacal Department of Defense agent (Ed Harris), an imagined college roommate who seems straight out of Dead Poets Society, and an orphaned girl, is so fluid and scriptlike as to make the viewer wonder if schizophrenia is really as slick as depicted. Crowe's physical intensity drags us along as he works admirably to carry the film on his considerable shoulders. No doubt the story of Nash's amazing will to recover his life without the aid of medication is a worthy one, his eventual triumph heartening. Unfortunately, Howard's flashy style is unable to convey much of it. --Fionn Meade
About this product: The memoirs of game-show creator-host Chuck Barris (the man responsible for The Newlywed Game and The Gong Show) are the inspiration for this sneaky biopic, which not only covers Barris's television career, but also his exploits--unsubstantiated, but also not disproved--as a government assassin. As Barris, Sam Rockwell gives a gutsy, manic-depressive, warts-and-all performance, depicting how Barris cheated repeatedly on his longtime girlfriend Penny (Drew Barrymore), was recruited into the CIA by a stone-faced agent (George Clooney, who also makes a stylish directorial debut), created some of the most popular yet reviled TV shows of the 1970s and '80s, and had a torrid affair with a mysterious, beautiful operative (Julia Roberts). For a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is pretty straightforward, letting Barris's fevered brain speak for itself. The result manages to be lurid, comic, and oddly philosophical. --Bret Fetzer
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