Home Media Magazine - May 25 - 31, 2008 - (Page 30)

REVIEWS Prebook 5/28; Street 6/24 Edited by John Latchem I FUTURAMA: THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS episodes to constitute a new season for Comedy Central’s broadcast package. As could be expected, the requirements of episodic television seep into the pacing for the Fox, Comedy, $29.98 DVD, NR. Voices of Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, David Herman, Maurice movie. Storylines start and stop and start again when the plot shifts direction every 20 minutes, making for a very LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Tress MacNeille, Brittany Murphy, David Cross. chaotic single-viewing experience. As a result, the movie he second direct-to-video resurrection of “Futur- begins with great energy and high expectations, but without episode breaks seems to run out of ama” manages to improve upon steam halfway through. the first. However, both movies In the half-hour format, “Futurama” tend to support the notion that “Futuranever wore out its welcome despite playma” is probably best in smaller doses. ing second fiddle to its older cousin, “The Bender’s Big Score, released late last year, Simpsons.” In both the original series and brought back the Planet Express crew these new movies, individual scenes and from the void of cancellation in a grand characterizations stand out. Beast With time-travel adventure. The Beast With a a Billion Backs has some great gags, inBillion Backs picks up right where the cluding a hilarious cameo by professor previous film left off. A large rift in the Stephen Hawking. space-time continuum has opened, and The DVD loads up on extras, with the on the other side lives a large multiusual assortment of deleted sequences tentacled creature, Yivo, that soon engulfs and a commentary. There are a few feaEarth and enslaves all who live there. While Yivo is a throwback to 1950s monster movies, the turettes about the cast, including guest star David Cross film’s title offers clues to its true nature. The Beast With a as Yivo, and a preview of the third movie, Bender’s Game, a Billion Backs is a play on the old British expression “the Dungeons and Dragons-inspired tale due later this year. A special treat is a bonus episode edited from footage of beast with two backs,” a reference to sex best known from the “Futurama” video game. Credit to the producers for a passage in Othello. Like Bender’s Big Score and two upcoming “Futurama” making this available to fans not familiar with the game. movies, Beast With a Billion Backs will be broken into four – John Latchem T “Futurama” TM and © 2008 20th Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved I MINUTEMEN Street 5/27 Disney, Family, $26.99 DVD, NR. Stars Jason Dolley, Luke Benward, Nicholas Braun, Chelsea Staub. A fter the wildly successful “High School Musical” movies, the Disney Channel has continued to mine the high-school experience as fodder for new made-forTV movies. Minutemen is the latest entry into the canon, and it is an agreeable sci-fi comedy that features several of the channel’s current teen heartthrobs. The plot, which dips its toe into several similarly themed movies, revolves around a pair of high-school boys, fairly low on the popularity food chain, and a metal-shop refugee, who is way smarter than he looks, who invent and construct a time machine. At first they use the contraption to wreak havoc on the kids who’ve bullied them and climb a few notches on the high-school status ladder. But the more they fool with the timeline, the shakier the whole time-space continuum becomes. Pretty soon, the planet is in danger of caving in on itself, and only the three dweebs can undo the damage they’ve done. Dolley, Benward and Braun, as the geek brigade that brings civilization as we know it to the brink of destruction, are all rising young Disney Channel hunks. Dolley and Benward both have surprisingly good comic timing and, although neither is ready for Shakespeare, they turn in solid performances as kids who leap before they look. Especially good is Braun as the kid everyone assumes is a menacing dullard but who is actually a quick-witted mechanical genius and is, perhaps, the smartest of the three. A music video of the film’s title song and a standard-issue electronic press kit making-of featurette are included. But the real attraction of Minutemen is the film’s three stars. Their presence renders criticism of this cute little confection completely null. Its intended audience — tweens and young teenage girls — will be happy to watch Minutemen again and again. – Anne Sherber I CORY IN THE HOUSE: NEWT & IMPROVED EDITION Street 5/27 Disney, Family, $19.99 DVD, NR. Stars Kyle Massey, Jason Dolley, Maiara Walsh, Madison Pettis. T he premise of this first spin-off series from the Walt Disney channel is that Cory’s father has been hired as the head chef for the president of the United States, so the family moves into the White House. Cory, who was a recurring character on the channel’s popular “That’s So Raven,” finds himself living down the hall from the leader of the free world. Even though his new digs are crawling with secret service agents, not to mention the president’s status-obsessed daugh- ter, Cory still attends the neighborhood public school and has the same teenage problems and struggles as the kids from the ’hood. “Cory in the House” is a little bit of a throwback to the sitcoms of the 1970s and ’80s, such as “The Facts of Life” and “Diff’rent Strokes.” Kids who represent a rainbow of ethnicities seem to have the run of the White House, getting into and out of scrapes and sticky situations. In one episode, Cory’s band is scheduled to play at the library until the librarian declares on the morning of the performance that they have to have a great new song written and ready to play by that afternoon. In another, Cory wants to show a girl the Oval Office. The disc also includes an interesting documentary that features interviews with the cast and creators. Fans of “That’s So Raven” will be keen to see what became of Cory. With a cast that includes teenage boys to suit virtually every taste, even preteen girls who aren’t “Raven” fans will find something to like about “Cory in the House.” – Anne Sherber I STEVE MILLER BAND: LIVE FROM CHICAGO A bonus disc gives fans by video footage from a deeper insight into Millradio interview conducter himself with a short ed from the back of a taxi Street 5/27 documentary in which ferrying Miller around Koch/Coming Home, Music, $34.99 two-DVD set, NR. he discusses his career Chicago as he tells stoand the musical landries from his career, ans of the Steve Miller Band marks of Chicago. This and how he first came will go nuts for this deluxe to Chicago to become a boxed set of the group’s sum- special splices in some of blues musician. mer 2007 concert at the Ravinia Fes- the concert footage with Also included is a tival. The first disc includes a set of interviews with the fans, 20 songs, including such classics as who relate why they’ve remained photo gallery of the concert and a “Fly Like an Eagle” and “The Joker.” loyal to the Steve Miller Band for 40 not-so-hidden bonus gallery of archive photos. The set also includes a music CD of years and counting. The documentary is accompanied 12 of the songs performed live. – John Latchem F 30 Home Media Magazine May 25–31, 2008

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Home Media Magazine - May 25 - 31, 2008

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