‘Mythbusters’ Season four ‘3:10 to Yuma’
Featuring two special effects veterans, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, this engaging, mirthful yet seriously scientific approach uses some imaginative and often crazy-looking methods in testing the validity of timeless myths and urban legends of popular culture. From exploding pants, Ben Franklin’s kite, lethal lighters, mind-control devices, cell phones on planes and seasickness, cutting-edge science has never been more fun to watch. Thirty episodes come on six discs. (Discovery) This engaging remake of the 1957 picture that starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, centers on a broken-down Civil War veteran (Christian Bale) volunteering to deliver an infamous outlaw (Russell Crowe) to the “3:10 to Yuma,” a train that will take the killer to trial. Based on an Elmore Leonard short story (1953) and a box office winner a half-century after the original premiered, this James Mangold (”Walk the Line”) picture has been nominated for two Oscars (Best Sound and Original Score.) (Lionsgate) The John Frankenheimer Collection Known for presenting big-budget, large-scale, action films using unconventional camera angles and blocking techniques, the influential director‘s style is on display with four titles in this set. “The Young Savages,” based on a best seller, stars Burt Lancaster in a court trial of a murder involving a blind gang member. “Ronin” features Robert DeNiro where covert mercenaries find themselves competing with other underworld organizations in trying to steal a top-secret briefcase in post-Cold War France. Director commentary and an alternate ending are offered here. Burt Lancaster appears again as the lead in “The Train,” an exciting WWII drama. He portrays a French Resistance member trying to outsmart the Nazis and preventing them from transporting precious stolen paintings back to Germany. In “The Manchurian Candidate,” Angela Lansbury earned an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a woman involved in a cynical political brain-washing plot. Co-starring Frank Sinatra, it also includes interviews with Ole’ Blue Eyes and the director. (MGM) ‘ER’ Season eight New faces (as well as the return of an old one, Sherry Stringfield as Dr. Susan Lewis) arrive on the scene in this long-running look at the work and lives of doctors and their staff in a Chicago emergency room. There are 22 episodes on six discs (originally airing in 2001) that include story lines involving: a smallpox scare; sexual harassment; and an “Angel of Death” who has been secretly murdering elderly patients. Creator Michael Crichton, a Harvard Medical School dropout, wrote the original script in 1970 as a movie, “EW: Emergency Ward.” ‘Medabots’ The Complete First Season Get ready to robattle as the popular Fox Kids series comes to DVD. Set in the near future, “Medabots” revolves around the adventures of a group of kids and their pet robots loaded with artificial intelligence and a specialized arsenal of high-powered weapons. Twenty six episodes on four discs provide nearly 10 hours of challenges where kids have the ultimate power involving over 350 unique robots. (Shout Factory) ‘Terry Jones’ Barbarians’
For the first time on DVD, the former Monty Python comedian and popular historian brings his quirky exploration through Roman history from a very different perspective, the Barbarians. We learn in this four-part, double–disc set that many of these “non- Romans” were in fact not barbaric at all, but rather well-organized and intelligent societies with no intentions of overthrowing the Roman Empire. The Goths and Celts are among those explored. (A&E) RANDY WILLIAMS
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 1, 2008. Read the original PDF.