DVDIALOG   

Okay, so the headline might not have all that much to do with the subject matter, but it does at least include the name of the hit TV show we’re talking about and it references one of Neil Young’s greatest songs. Hey, I’ve done nearly 400 blog posts, so give me a break.

Anyway, I had a chance to speak with Todd A. Kessler and Daniel Zelman, two of the co-creators and executive producers of the popular New York-based TV show Damages, the second season of which Sony will be issuing on DVD on Jan. 19, a week before the third season premieres on FX. Kessler and Zelman, both native New Yorkers, were enthusiastic in telling me about their New York experiences and what ...Read More

We recently spoke with Jim Sturgess about his role in the Kari Skogland-directed thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking (Phase 4, DVD and Blu-ray street: Jan. 5), wherein he portrays a hustler in late 80s Northern Ireland who’s recruited to become an undercover informant on the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

VB: Hailing from London and still living in England, you undoubtedly brought considerable knowledge of the IRA to your role in the film.

Sturgess: It was obviously something that was going on when I was growing up. Well, I was only a child, but I ...Read More

We’re always excited to hear what William Shatner has to say when he looks back at his career of the past half-century, a career that has seen him appear in some pretty ridiculous projects. Of course, we’re not talking about his legendary turns in Star Trek and a couple of awesome Twilight Zone episodes, not to mention his Emmy Award-winning run on Boston Legal.  No, we’re referring to such schlocky projects as the TV flicks The Horror at 37,000 Feet (1973) and Pray for the Wildcats (1974), and the delightfully named theatrical misfire Want a Ride, Little Girl? (1974).

Actress Brittany Murphy has died at age 32. According to Video Business sister publication Variety, Murphy was found unconscious in her shower and was pronounced dead on arrival to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Starting her acting career with a role on TV's Murphy Brown, Murphy's best-known roles were in Don't Say a Word, 8 Mile and Just Married. She also starred in Sin City and voiced a character in Happy Feet.

Lately, her movies had gotten smaller, such as indie ...Read More

Three of legendary TV writer/producer Stephen J Cannell’s most popular shows—21 Jump Street (1989), Hunter (1984) and Renegade (1992)—are about to receive their second DVD incarnation, several seasons of each having been previously released years back by Anchor Bay and the USA Network. Mill Creek will be issuing Season One DVD sets of the three on Jan. 19 (prebook Dec. 21) for the very reasonable price of $14.98 each.

And Cannell, who told me in a recent interview that when his shows “are in my rearview mirror, I’m definitely pointed forward,” couldn’t be happier that his multi-season smashes are making a return.

Just a quick note on the upcoming Presenting Roger Corman’s Best of the B’s Collection I: Hot Bikes, Cool Cars & Bad Babes (Infinity, Street: Dec. 15), a very well-priced anthology of low-budget goodies produced and/or directed by the King of the B’s himself, who received a 2009 Academy Honorary Award last month.

This four-disc batch of flicks includes The Fast and the Furious (1954) with John Ireland and Dorothy Malone, T-Bird Gang (1959) with Ed Nelson, John Brinkley and a young Vic Tayback in a walk-on, The Wild Ride (1960) starring Jack Nicholson and Geor...Read More

Okay, so it’s not the most surprising first question to ever be asked to a first-time feature director who previous credits include of a slew of music videos by such performers as Green Day, Weezer, Nelly, Fergie and Ashlee Simpson, but the first thing I queried (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb about concerned the major differences between helming a three-minute clip and mounting a feature-length film. And in our recent phone interview, the affable Webb was all too prepared with his answer.

“The thing that was most different than I what I had anticipated was that I felt the project was all on my shoulders,” he said of (500) Days, which will be issued ...Read More

We caught up with the charming Michelle Monaghan last week just as she was kicking off Thanksgiving weekend in her home state of Iowa to talk about her Oscar buzz-worthy starring role in the indie film Trucker, which will be released on DVD by Monterey on Jan. 5.

VIDEO BUSINESS: A fine supporting cast aside, Trucker is all you, isn’t it? You’re in every scene…

MICHELLE MONAGHAN: Oh yes. What’s sort of funny is that use it didn’t really dawn on me that I was ...Read More

AK100: 25 Films of Akira Kurosawa is the hands-down winner for finest mega-box set of the year. The Criterion Collection—the high-end label that’s been doing outstanding home entertainment packages with the Kurosawa catalog for some two decades now—has put it all together for set celebrating one of the world cinema’s great directors, a filmmaker who was active for some 50 years. Honestly, you don’t even have to be a cinephile to at least have heard of some of Kurosawa’s great ones. The Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Throne of Blood…sound familiar?

The AK100 set (so named because 2009 would have been the late Kurosawa’s 100...Read More

Teen angst—as well as passion, love and good old fashioned anger—took a theatrical face and form back in 1977 when Texas-born rocker Marvin Lee Aday aka Meat Loaf  was unleashed on the world via the landmark album Bat Out Of Hell. Thirty-two years and 40 million copies later, the album continues to be eminently provocative and playable. It may have been long ago and faraway, but it was not so much better that it is today back in the late Seventies—just a lot more expensive and we don’t have to keep moving the needle back on the album to hear our favorite Bat songs. Nor are we even limited to albums, now that Bat Out Of Hell ...Read More

Pussycat Dolls founder and chief choreographer Robin Antin was in a lively mood when we spoke on the phone last week about the upcoming Robin Antin’s Pussycat Dolls Workout DVD, the first-ever fitness program from the sexy girl group and dance ensemble. The Anchor Bay title streets on Dec. 15.

Hell, first I thought it was simply me, even though I’d never had an opportunity to charm celebrated dancer/choreographers/business women on the phone before. It was only after our conversation that I learned of how there’s a reported rift between the Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger and the balance of the babe-alicious act. And Antin was busy issuing statements that the Dolls, which she...Read More

Jerry Lewis had a couple of TV series and a few special specials back in his heyday, but none as strange as 1967’s The Jerry Lewis Show, a “Best of” collection of which will be issued by Infinity on Nov. 23). A remarkably self-indulgent paean to himself, The Jerry Lewis Show is a variety-styled show wherein each installment features a collection of musical performances and comedy sketches, most of which feature Jerry portraying one of his cartoony characters (who go by such names as Sidney Portnoy, Professor Frobisher and the undeniably offensive Oriental criminologist Inspector Sam Lichee).

The ...Read More