Play All 9.9.08
by Brian Tallerico

It's a very weird week at Play All. Like you, we're still getting over one of the most bizarre opening weekend in NFL history and slowly getting into the new season of television. And, honestly, the world of DVD is a little odd this week. There are some great classic movies hitting Blu-Ray that we'll cover later and a couple of early year hits in Forbidden Kingdom and Baby Mama, but there are no real "must-haves" this week. Very few pre-orders will be filled. Which leaves Play All kind of light, but we must forge onward. We've got a trifecta of reality with an excellent music documentary and two of the bigger basic cable reality TV hits to go with a pair of Russian action films on Blu-Ray and two of the bigger TV hits of the last five years. Sextuplets, little people, vampires, psychics, TLC, AND David Caruso? It's definitely a weird week at Play All.

Day Watch/Night Watch (Blu-Ray)
Studio: Fox
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
Features: Commentaries, Deleted Scenes on Night Watch, Extended Ending on Night Watch, "The Making of Night Watch", "Characters, Story, & Subtitles", "Night Watch Trilogy", "The Making of Day Watch"

Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch and Day Watch are two of the biggest movies in Russian history. They're comparable to the two Matrix flicks or The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers in both their success and the fact that they make up the first two-thirds of a high budget trilogy. (Maybe. Some reports have said that Twilight Watch, the final film in the series, could be in jeopardy.) Timur went on to make the pretty-awesome Wanted this summer. See where it all began in glorious Blu-Ray. Both Night Watch and Day Watch fail a bit (the former more than the latter) in the storytelling department but they're visual stunners. These are the kind of sensory experiences that are perfect for Blu-Ray. They may be all style over substance, but when that style is in high-def, that can be an easy criticism to overcome.

CSI Miami: Season Six
Studio: Paramount
Starring: David Caruso, Adam Rodriguez, Eva La Rue, Rex Linn, Jonathan Togo, Khandi Alexander, and Emily Procter
Features: "Four-Sight: Directing CSI: Miami", "Playing Dead", "The Real Women of the MDPD", "Analyzing Season Six", Two Commentaries

David Caruso is living, walking, sunglasses-wearing proof that no mistake is too big to be corrected. Even David would have to admit that walking away from NYPD Blue after only one season to become a movie star was probably not the brightest move, especially considering the massive success the show sustained without him, but he found a new life on the first CSI spin-off, the monstrously huge CSI: Miami. By many measuring sticks, Caruso's second hit has been bigger than his first. Following the same format as the hit original show but moving the forensic science from the glitz of Vegas to the sunny shore of Florida proved that the CSI franchise could be as profitable, maybe even more so, than Law & Order. According to Wikipedia, the show has actually been named the "World's Most Popular TV Show" following rating studies of 20 countries worldwide. This season, the sixth, averaged 14 million viewers and finished 8th in the ratings on the year. I have a feeling that CSI: Miami is going to be on for another DECADE. If you're thinking about picking up the sixth season, set aside some dough for this time every year.

Jon & Kate Plus Eight: Seasons 1 & 2
Studio: Genius Entertainment
Starring: The Gosselins
Features: 1 Hour Special: Surviving Sextuplets and Twins

"8 times the laughs, love and fun!" Some shows offer perspective on your day-to-day life. If you think your house is loud, messy, and a little out of control at times, check out the day-to-day existence of Jon and Kate Gosselin in the first two seasons of the very fun and very cute Jon & Kate Plus Eight. These two lovely people wanted to have one more kid after giving birth to twins a few years earlier. They struggled and underwent some fertility treatments to get pregnant. The Gosselins ended up with not one, but SIX more children to add to their clan and the TLC show chronicles life with, in these seasons, two six-year-olds and six two-year-olds. The atypical elements to the Gosselin clan may have got them the reality show in the first place, but it's actually the relatable things about this enormous family and the copious amounts of love on display that made it a hit. And it doesn't hurt that the sextuplets are the cutest thing on television.

Last Days of Left Eye
Studio: Anchor Bay
Directed by: Lauren Lazin
Features: Exclusive New Unreleased Song - "Let's Just Do It", Deleted Scenes

Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes was a crucial part of the best-selling female R&B group of all time, TLC. She was one of the most talented and vibrant rapper/singers of her generation and has influenced countless people that followed her from Beyonce Knowles to Rihanna. Left Eye also had quite a controversial life outside of the recording studio and has already been the subject of several documentaries, but Last Days of Left Eye is different. This is Lopes in her own words and through her own eyes. Just 26 days before Lopes would die in a tragic accident at the age of only 30, Left Eye went to a mysterious spiritual retreat deep in the jungles of Honduras and she took a camera with her. When she died, hours of unedited tapes were left behind and those serve as the basis for Last Days of Left Eye. It's the film that Left Eye herself never got to complete and uses private moments from Lisa's journals and home movies, along with highlights from her career. Last Days of Left Eye is a riveting and powerful documentary about a talented musician taken from us way too young.

Little People, Big World: Season Two - Volume One
Studio: Genius Entertainment
Starring: The Roloffs
Features: None

Matt and Amy Roloff are just over four feet tall. The world looks completely different to them and they face a very unique set of challenges. The next time you're out and about running errands or doing whatever it is you do, imagine doing it from two feet closer to the ground. The Roloff's existence is chronicled on the TLC hit Little People, Big World and the show has become a basic cable phenomenon. They have one Little son named Zach and three average-height children, Jeremy, Molly, and Jacob. The second season features the clan working on new business opportunities, strained finances, discipline melt-downs and other family matters. The Roloffs may have a unique viewpoint on life but they also have to deal with raising a family just like anyone else. Check out a stunning 23 episodes on three discs now on DVD.

Medium: Season Four
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Miguel Sandoval, David Cubitt, Kae Weber, Sofia Vassileva, and Maria Lark
Features: Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Glenn Gordon Caron and Larry Teng, Joe's Crayon Dream, Introducing Cynthia Keener, The Making of Medium: Season 4, Gag Reel

The fourth season of the underrated Medium hits DVD this week in a slim four-disc set from Paramount. Medium was barely saved from the cancellation for its third season but the fourth season that almost never was actually increased in average viewers from the year, something almost unheard of in 2008, and the show settled into a very impressive 10 million or so viewers a week. It probably helped that Medium debuted in January when the rest of the TV world was mired in reality TV and reruns due to the strike, but NBC has already committed to bringing back this surprisingly riveting series back in early 2009. Until then the 16 episodes that aired from January to May of this year will have to do. If you've ever been a fan of Medium, pick up the fourth season just for Anjelica Huston's fantastic and Emmy-nominated guest arc.

-- Brian Tallerico

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