Evans Above

The Showtime series Ray Donovan ran for seven seasons from 2013 to 2020. The show was supposed to end with an eighth season, but it was abruptly cancelled by network’s new regime when CBS merged with Viacom. After a loud outcry by fans on social media, the powers that be thought it best to offer showrunner David Hollander and chance to wrap the show up with a two-hour movie. Ray Donovan: The Movie premiered on Showtime in January 2022.

Liev Schreiber plays the title character, a “fixer” who makes problems for his celebrity clients go away through various illegal means including bribes, crime scene clean ups and threats. When he’s not making problems go away, he’s devoted to his family, but not so much his wife. And then there’s his dad, Mickey (Jon Voight), recently released from prison. With no intent to reform, his reappearance complicates Ray’s life further. Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment are releasing the series and movie together as a Ray Donovan: The Complete Series DVD set. I had a chance to take a look.

The video for the series and movie is presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio. I’ve mentioned this in previous TV DVD reviews: as a 2000s era HD series it would of course have been nice to see it released on Blu-ray, but the economics of TV home media releases often see them released on DVD only. Still, the release is very good for DVD, with as much detail as the format can handle. The colour palette is pleasing and there are only minor compression artifacts evident here or there.

On the audio side, all seasons and the movie have an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Seasons one and two also have French and Spanish 2.0 tracks while season three has only an additional Spanish 2.0 track. The other seasons and the movie are English only. Seasons one through three have English subtitles, while the remaining seasons and the movie also have English SDH subtitles. Dialogue is clear and centred, music used sounds good, and the surrounds are put to good use for action and ambient sounds.

The 29-disc DVD set is housed in a large plastic case with the DVDs stacked on multiple spindles. The set does not include a digital code. There are several production featurettes and commentaries spread across the seasons, but the set also includes a couple episodes from a few Showtime series: Billions, The Affair, Penny Dreadful, and Happyish.

With very good audio and video for the DVD format, fans of the show or the curious who like to collect will be happy picking up Ray Donovan: The Complete Series on DVD.

Jared Padalecki stars in Walker, a reboot of the popular Chuck Norris show Walker, Texas Ranger which aired in the 1990s. Padalecki plays Cordell Walker, a legendary officer in Texas’ investigative law enforcement agency. He’s a widower and a father of two. In the show’s second season, Walker finds himself having to deal with new neighbours, the Davidsons, who have moved back to the ranch next store. This development dredges up a childhood trauma shared between the two families. Series regulars include Lindsey Morgan, Ashley Reyes, Molly Hagan, Keegan Allen, Violet Brinson, Kale Culley, Coby Bell, Jeff Pierre, Odette Annable and Mitch Pileggi. Paramount is releasing Walker: Season Two on DVD and I had an early look.

The first season was initially released on DVD but later on Blu-ray so there’s a chance that Paramount will do that again but just wanted to cover both bases in the market. The DVD video is in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. It’s quite a good looking DVD transfer with a pleasing colour palette and as much detail as the DVD format can offer.

On the audio side, the release comes with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and English SDH subtitles. Dialogue is clear and centred and though not totally immersive, the surrounds do provide some extra spacing during action sequences.

The twenty episodes of season two are spread over five discs. The extras consist of some deleted scenes and a gag reel.

As mentioned, Season One was recently released on Blu-ray, so you might want to wait and see if that happens here. If you’re a fan of the show and still on the DVD format, then the Walker: Season Two DVD is a good buy.

In the second season of Star Trek: Picard, our hero (Patrick Stewart) and his companions are trapped in an alternate reality by his old nemesis Q (John de Lancie). The season also stars Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, and Brent Spiner. Whoopi Goldberg also appears in her TNG role of Guinan. Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing a limited-edition Star Trek: Picard – Season Two Blu-ray SteelBook. I had a chance to check it out.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The image has a great amount of detail in facial features, textiles and environmental surfaces and the prosthetic work looks amazing in this transfer. The colour palette thrives with muted greens and bright exteriors and the black levels allow for detail in the shadow though there is some minor crush. Banding is also present but it and compression artifacts are not a major problem.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, as well as German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish. The surround channels have action elements moving seamlessly throughout them and the ambient sounds will place you in the environment so well that you’ll apply for a Star Fleet pension. The score is clear and dynamic and dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix. It’s an excellent audio experience.

The 3-disc set comes with a nice collection of extras, including deleted scenes, a gag reel, and some nice featurettes exploring the characters, props and production. The SteelBook case is black and features black and white images of Picard and Q with the show’s title in gold letters. The rear of the case features a Federation emblem while the inside features a series of highways that echo the appearance of the Federation’s emblem.

A nice, understated collectible case, excellent audio and video, and a good collection of extras make the Star Trek: Picard – Season Two Blu-ray SteelBook an easy pickup for fans of the show.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank Blu-ray is harmless family film that treads the familiar territory of martial arts master and student. The filmmakers say it’s an homage to Blazing Saddles and Mel Brooks is an executive producer as well as voicing a samurai.

Michael Cera plays Hank, a hound who dreams of being a samurai. His dream comes true when the town of Kakamucho needs a samurai and Ika Chu (Ricky Gervais), a high ranking government official with ulterior motives, sends him there. He figures the cats of Kakamucho will send Hank packing and his thugs can move in, but with the help of a catnip-addicted samurai named Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson), Hank works to win the trust of the cats. Other voice talent includes George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou and Michelle Yeoh. Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing the movie on Blu-ray and I had a chance to take a look.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The CG animation looks great here with detail in the environmental textures and character. The colour palette ranges from popping primaries to muted earth tones. Black levels are deep with no crushing and the video does not exhibit any signs of compression artifacts.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos soundtrack as well as French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai. The Atmos track is an unexpected surprise for a lightweight family film, but the height speakers and surrounds really bring the action scenes and atmosphere to life. Dialogue is clear and centred, music is bright and dynamic, and your subwoofer will add some extra oomph to some scenes.

The Blu-ray disc also comes with a digital code. There are three bonus: a discussion of the characters by the cast, a look at the voice recording process and a longer featurette where director Rob Minkoff shows how to draw Hank and Jimbo.

Though Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank isn’t going to be in the hallowed halls of animation classics, it’s a fun film for the family and boasts excellent audio and video.

Jordan Peele was one of the executive producers and the host of the two season reboot of the legendary series The Twilight Zone. The show ran on CBS All Access (the predecessor to Paramount+) for two seasons from 2019 to 2020. Like the original, this anthology series tackles a different issue each episode, from immigration to racism, alien invasions and misinformation. Some of the actors in the episodes included Sanaa Lathan, Chris O’Dowd, Morena Baccarin, Damon Wayans Jr., John Larroquette, Donna Dixon, Eric Keenleyside, Kristin Lehman, Ryan Robbins, Peter Kelamis, Ethan Embry, Gil Bellows, and George Takei. Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series on DVD. I had a chance to take a look.

Normally when I review a recent TV series that’s been released on DVD, I mention that market forces often dictate why it didn’t get a Blu-ray release. The two seasons of this show were, however, individually released on Blu-ray, so it is kind of odd that they wouldn’t just repackage them as a complete series set. Still, they could have been looking at the fact that DVD still has a larger market share, so that format won out.

All that aside, these discs are about as good as the DVD format can look, with good detail, a pleasing colour palette and natural skin tones. As to be expected in the DVD format, darker scenes do suffer from some loss of detail and crushing. The twenty episodes of the series are spread over seven discs so there aren’t really any issues with compression artifacts. The series is presented in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio.

On the audio side, the episodes comes with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack as well as an additional English stereo track. Subtitles are available for English SDH. Dialogue in the series is clear, centred and well-prioritized in the mix. The surrounds are put to good use with ambient and action sounds moving through the soundscape.

The 7-disc set does not come with a digital code. Extras includes promos and additional insights on the events of each episode, audio commentaries, a tribute to Rod Serling, deleted and extended scenes, a couple of 29+ minute production pieces and a gag reel.

If you truly loved this reboot, then you might consider purchasing the two individually released seasons on Blu-ray to get the better video and nighttime detail. Still, with excellent audio and video for the DVD format, The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series DVD is a good pickup for more casual fans.

Paramount and WWE teamed up to produce Rumble, which takes place in a world where monsters and humans live side by side. Monster wrestling is, well, HUGE and each city and town is represented by a monster wrestler. When Stoker’s champion, Tentacular (Terry Crews), wins the world championship, he announces that he no longer wants to represent Stoker. The town’s stadium and revenues are in jeopardy, so a young girl named Winnie (Geraldine Viswanathan), whose late father was a star coach, searches for a monster that can save the town. She finds Steve (Will Arnett), an amateur monster wrestler with a penchant for dancing. Can she train him in time? Can he win the fight? Can they save the town? All the tropes of an underdog working to save the town are here. Other voice talent includes Stephen A. Smith, Jimmy Tatro, Tony Danza, Susan Kelechi Watson, Tony Shalhoub, Bridget Everett, Greta Lee, Ben Schwartz, Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch. Paramount Home Entertainment are releasing Rumble on Blu-ray and I had a chance to look at it.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s an excellent picture with great detail in the CG animated environments, clothing, and animated hair and fur. The colour palette is wide-ranging from darker tones to punching primaries. Black levels are very good and while there aren’t any compression artifacts, there is some occasional banding in the image.

On the audio side of things, you have the choice of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack as well as a French Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH and French. The surrounds put you in the stadiums with both action and ambient effects. The low end really kicks in with giant monsters crashing around everywhere. The music is bright and lively, and the dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The Blu-ray disc also comes with a digital code and a small collection of extras that look at the characters and might even teach you how to salsa.

Rumble is a family-friendly animated sports movie that goes over very familiar territory. Children will enjoy the colourful monster wrestlers and if you accept it for what it is, you can have some fun too. While the story might be lightweight, the audio and video presentations win the fight.

Paramount and Nickelodeon Home Entertainment are releasing The Smurfs (2021) Season 1 Volume 2 on DVD and I had the opportunity to take an early look and this second part of the 2021 reboot.

The computer animated reboot is a very colourful show that looks great even on DVD. As I’ve said before, market forces dictate that even though this show was aired in HD, the home market for this title is better suited to DVD and its lower price point. The primaries really pop.

The DVD disc contains nine episodes. The included episodes are:

• The Pluffs!
• The Majestic 5/Kitchen Klutz
• Chef Soup/Adventures in Smurfsitting
• The Round Up/Waffle Wednesday
• Funny Mommy/Smurfy Day Care
• Smurfy Secrets
• Crashing Gargamel’s Party/The Curse of the Smurfs’ Treasure
• Storm Loses her Mojo/Pop Out
• Knight Smurfalot/Forget Me What?

On the audio side, the 5.1 soundtrack is mostly front-heavy. Dialogue is clear and centred and music is bright and clear.

Young children who love this new Smurfs reboot will be happy to see that their parents have added The Smurfs (2021) Season 1 Volume 2 DVD to their collection.

For seven seasons, from July 8, 1992 to May 24, 1999, viewers tuned in to watch the steamy, crazy and explosive antics of a group of twentysomethings living in Melrose Place, an apartment complex on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Though some characters left and others joined, for the meat of the series the main characters were the cheating Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro), Jane Mancini (Josie Bissett), his fashion designer wife, Billy Campbell (Andrew Shue), a writer, Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith), climbing the ladder in the ad world, Jake Hanson (Grant Show), a carpenter who found time to sleep with most of the female characters over the years, Matt Fielding (Doug Savant), a gay social worker (at a time in society where TV execs felt they had to point that out), and Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga), a photographer escaping an abusive husband. The series started off with two other characters played by Vanessa A. Williams and Amy Locane, but Locane was written off after 13 episodes and Williams exited after season one. Ratings and reviews were middling, but then Melrose Place producer Aaron Spelling hired his secret weapon, Heather Locklear, who had worked with Spelling on T.J. Hooker. Locklear played Amanda Woodward, Alison’s ruthless boss. With Amanda in the show, the stories became crazier, the relationships steamier, and the business skirts shorter. Ratings shot up. Paramount Home Entertainment has now released Melrose Place: The Complete Series on DVD. I had a chance to look at it.

The benefit of the Melrose Place set is that, with 226 episodes spread over 54 discs, it’s hefty enough to be used a piece of home gym equipment. Get those arm curls in! If you’re used to watching shows in widescreen HD, be aware that this series was made and aired before HDTV was in use. The show’s 480p transfer is in a 4:3 aspect ratio and the video transfer, though it improves in later seasons, lacks extremely sharp details and bold colours. There is also crushing in the black levels. Compression artifacts aren’t as bad as they could have been had Paramount stuffed more episodes on less discs. If you realize that broadcast TV didn’t look all that great in the NTSC days, then you’ll realize that DVD physical media still looks better than that. It’s always hard trying to soften expectations from people used to a Blu-ray and 4K world. It’s a good video presentation for the DVD format.

On the audio side of things, Melrose Place comes with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. English subtitles are not available for all the seasons. Being a 2.0 track, your surrounds and subwoofer have the night off, so make some room on the couch so that they can watch the show with you. Dialogue and music are generally clear.

The 54 disc set does not come with a digital code. There are audio commentaries by show creator Darren Star on a couple of episodes and the first three seasons each have a few short featurettes with the cast and creative team.

Shows like Melrose Place don’t always show up on streaming services, so physical media is a great way to see the show whenever you want. If you spent seven years in the 1990s glued to the antics of these Melrose Place residents then you’ll want to add Melrose Place: The Complete Series DVD to your home entertainment library.

When Dexter ended its eight year run in 2013, its final episode was a cause for much discussion, just like the series finales of Seinfeld and The Sopranos. Not everybody was over the moon thrilled at the idea of revisiting the life of the serial killing forensic technician, but when the limited series Dexter: New Blood premiered in 2021, audiences and critics alike felt it was worth hanging out with series lead Michael C. Hall again. If you love the show, or if you’re looking to explore both shows together, you’ll be glad to hear that Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing a Blu-ray box set of both shows together. I had a chance to look at this Dexter: The Complete Series + Dexter: New Blood Blu-ray set.

The 1080p AVC encoded digital transfer is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio for Dexter and a 2.39:1 ratio for Dexter: New Blood. The Dexter discs are the same as previous Blu-ray releases so issues that were mentioned in the past are still present. The show has great clarity in facial features, environments and textiles. The colour palette is good and the bright primaries of Florida pop in some scenes. There are occasional issues of banding throughout the seasons. It’s quite often a dark presentation but that’s a creative choice, so it’s a feature not a bug. As advocates of physical media will tell you, HD discs will always look better than the HD broadcasts or streams so this is the best that Dexter has looked. As for Dexter: New Blood it’s presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It’s a step up from the original series, with most of the quibbles about its video missing here. Once again, the creators have made an artistic choice and the colour palette here has a cooler, washed out look that matches the cold landscape of this new setting.

On the audio side of things, here’s the language break down:

• Dexter: The First Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Second Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby TrueHD 5.1
• Dexter: The Third Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Fourth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Fifth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Sixth Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, English and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Seventh Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish and English Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: The Final Season – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
• Dexter: New Blood – English Dolby TrueHD 5.1

As for subtitles, seasons 1-5 have English SDH, seasons 6-8 have English and English SDH. Dexter: New Blood has English SDH subtitles. Dialogue is clear, centred and well-prioritized. There’s some nice low frequency usage and the surrounds are used mostly for ambient sound rather than action.

The 106 episodes of the two shows are spread over twenty-eight discs, which are stacked on multiple spindles in a large plastic case. Extras on Dexter include some cast and crew audio commentaries on a few episodes, interview featurettes and two episodes of the Showtime series Ray Donavan. Dexter: New Blood extras include a few featurettes on the reboot of the story. There are no digital codes.

While curious TV viewers may not be the target market, fans of Dexter will be interested in picking up this Dexter: The Complete Series + Dexter: New Blood Blu-ray set.

In March of this year, Paramount Home Entertainment released The Godfather Trilogy on 4K UHD discs. As we approach the holiday season, the studio has released a lil’ something for those physical media buffs who like to collect SteelBook releases with special artwork. I had a chance to take a look at The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone 4K SteelBook and will let you know about this collectible release.

For a review of the audio and video on this release, please check out our full review of The Godfather Trilogy 4K from March of 2022.

The Godfather 4K, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone SteelBook contains one 4K disc and a digital copy code. Please note that this 4K disc does not contain all the supplemental material found in this year’s trilogy release. The attraction for this release is the artwork. The 4K disc does include an introduction by Francis Ford Coppola. The SteelBook artwork is glossy and features a portrait of Al Pacino as the older Michael Corleone with an orange, yellow and red background. The back of the case is black and features a quote in gold letters: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” The inside panel features a red-tinted collage of characters and scenes from the film.

As mentioned in the previous trilogy review, the disc has excellent audio and video. I stress again, this release is missing that release’s bonus content. If you like collecting SteelBooks and displaying them and you love The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone, then you’ll enjoy adding this to your collection.

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