Peter Covino
It seems like a million years ago that Joe Friday and Bill Gannon (Jack Webb, Harry Morgan) awkwardly walked through a crime scene in Dragnet (now seen locally on the Retro Television Network).
Approved by the Los Angeles Police Department (the scripts look like they had the stamp of approval of 1969 law enforcement) Friday's favorite foes were the devil weed marijuana and hippies, seemingly all thriving in the shadow of that famous icon, Los Angeles City Hall.
Flash forward some 40 years later and City Hall again gets a co-star billing in one of the newest cop shows from L.A., Southland, but that is probably the only similarity to the usually comically-dated Dragnet.
Southland: The Complete First Season (Warner Home Video), which consists of seven episodes (there are at least another six episodes that have yet to air on TV), is gritty to say the least.
These are the uncensored versions of the episodes which first aired on network TV in 2009 with the R-rated language, which got bleeped out on the original broadcast, restored.
And that only adds to the realism of this mostly on the streets of Los Angeles drama, which focuses on a group of cops and their families, as well as the criminals and victims they encounter on the job.
From the producers of ER and The West Wing, you are definitely going to be waiting for episodes 8-13, once you get to know these LAPD officers and detectives.
The cast includes Ben McKenzie (The O.C.), Michael Cudlitz (Band of Brothers), Regina King (24) and Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do!) as well as C. Thomas Howell, who steals mostly every episode he appears in as Officer Billy Dewey, a somewhat reprehensible cop, who is also an alcoholic, among other things.
It’s not surprising that NBC cancelled this show after airing only six episodes. It is probably too dark and real for network TV. The original episodes, included on this two disc set, plus the six unaired episodes, also are currently being shown on TNT.
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To Blu-ray or not to Blu-ray, that is the question?
Well, ponder no more, citizens, Universal Studios Home Entertainment has helped make it a moot point thanks to an industry first — the “flipper” disc, which features Blu-ray and DVD versions on one disc.
Fittingly, the first DVD/Blu-ray flip-disc combo is the The Bourne Trilogy (The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.)
This trio is definitely “Bourne again” as Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne in one of the most successful superspy franchises ever.
Each side of the flipper disc includes the feature Bourne film, as well as all available bonus features, with the Blu-ray side also featuring exclusives such as U-Control and internet-linked BD-Live.
The best thing about the combo discs you can add to both your DVD collection and start a Blu-ray collection at the same time, so you will be ready for that eventual Blu-ray player purchase. And if you are bringing some discs with for a weekend or vacation, you can have that Blu-ray option away from home as well.
The Bourne films, of course, look great in Blu-ray, with so many colorful European locales.
The Bourne films have been available in both Blu-ray and standard DVD in previous releases, but this is also the first time the films are available in the superior quality format on an individual basis.
The three-part series follows Bourne, who awakens with no memory of his involvement with a top-secret arm of the CIA, in The Bourne Identity, to more adventures and battles with his former bosses as he goes back to the beginning to find out who he was in The Borne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum.
The bonuses for all three discs are really just too numerous to mention but include deleted and extended scenes, a look at trilogy author Robert Ludlum, alternate openings and endings; interviews with Matt Damon; racing through the streets of Moscow; andfeature commentaries.
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If you are looking for classy romance in Blu-ray, with the emphasis on classy, just out is the multi-Academy Award nominated Atonement (2007) and the equally classy Pride and Prejudice (2005) (Universal Studios Home Entertainment.) Both star Keira Knightly (Pirates of the Caribbean) and are directed by Joe Wright.
Not your typical straight forward piece, Atonement stars James McAvoy and Knightly in a romance that begins in 1935. Knightly is Cecilia, a rich young woman, and McAvoy is Robbie, the son of the estate's housekeeper. Standing in their way is Briony, Cecilia's younger sister, who shares the love for Robbie. The story is told through Briony's eyes (she is writing a novel) and it is her intervention that dooms the pair.
Lavish sets and backdrops make this an even better Blu-ray experience.
There is more Blu-ray goodness with Pride and Prejudice, one of the greatest love stories ever told.
Knightley plays Elizabeth Bennett and Matthew Macfayden is Mr. Darcy, the guy Elizabeth believes is the last guy on earth she would ever marry . A common tale, but it was an original idea when Jane Austen first penned this romance. She, of course, is soon smitten.
Bonus materials feature commentary, conversations with the cast, a look at the politics of 18th century dating and a feature on the stately homes of Pride and Prejudice.
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There is star-studded romance in New York, I Love You (Videndi Entertainment), an experimental kind of movie shot entirely in New York, and filmed all over the city.
These are sometimes glimpses, more than stories, each segment with a different director, though occasionally a star from one story shows up in another.
This is the Blu-ray version (the standard DVD will also be released Tuesday) and the city has seldom looked better. This is a sequel of sorts to Paris, je t’aime, which was a similar look at people in Paris.
While not every segment works, there is so much here and so many stars, that there is pretty much something for everyone.
The cast is large and sometimes legendary. The legendary include Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as an old married couple walking and walking (they really don't get very far) and arguing and Julie Christie and John Hurt (Shia LaBeouf is there as well) in a more Twilight Zone kind of segment about a former opera singer at a hotel.
Other notables include Hayden Christensen, Andy Garcia, Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Ethan Hawke, Chris Cooper, James Caan, Anton Yelchin, Bradley Cooper and Drea de Matteo.
This is a hit-and-miss effort on the numerous segments, but it is more hit than miss.
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