BC Living
Spreads – From Scratch
You’ve Gotta Try This In May
How to Support BC Wineries Now
4 Tips on Balancing a Nutritious Diet with a Side of Indulgence
Choosing Connection: A BC Family Day Pledge to Prioritize Presence Over Plans
Embracing Plant-Based Living this Veganuary and Beyond
Inviting the Steller’s Jay to Your Garden
6 Budget-friendly Holiday Decor Pieces
Dream Home: $8 Million for a Modern Surprise
Local Getaway: A Mini Cozy Sanctuary in Nelson
B.C. Adventures: Our picks for May
Spring into Fun in Kamloops: The Best Events in the City
BC Distilled
Melodies and Museums: Solo-Friendly Entertainment for the Independent Traveller
Arts Club Theatre Company Celebrates 60 Years
Pyrrha Connects People With Pieces That Speak To Them
BC-Based Gifts Perfect for Mom
SOLO CHIC: 5 Essential Pieces for the Stylish Solo Traveller
Winter is coming (to your living room) as Game of Thrones: Season 1 hits DVD
Sean Bean stars in the first season of Game of Thrones, which hits DVD this week
Based on the epic novels of George R.R. Martin, this HBO series tackles the mythical story of feuding kingdoms and the sex, violence and deceit that goes on behind them.
Sean Bean is Eddard Stark, the paternal head of one of the families fighting to rule the land of Westeros. His best friend, Robert (Mark Addy of The Full Monty) is the king who is married to a member of the evil Lannister family. The plots are far too intricate to explain here, but if you think you might like Lord of the Rings crossed with The Sopranos, then this gripping series should appeal to you. This 5-disc set (available on DVD and Blu ray) contains not only all 12 episodes, but also audio commentaries from cast, crew and authour Martin himself; accessible “pop up” facts and maps to help you better understand the complex weaving of characters, plots and lands throughout every episode; “making of” featurettes and much more. (HBO)
If you enjoy your mythology epic and violent, then you’re in for a treat with this 300-like take on a Greek commoner named Theseus (Henry Cavill) who is chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans) to try and stop King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) before he can find a deadly weapon that can bring down the entire civilization.
Adam Sandler works double-duty in this ridiculous slapstick farce as Jack Sadlestein, the dependable family man and his annoying twin sister Jill, whose annual Thanksgiving visit always descends into comic disaster. In a rare comedy appearance, Al Pacino co-stars as himself, who has fallen in love with Jill and whose appearance in a TV commercial could save Jack’s career. Also, watch for an array of familiar comic faces in cameos. (Sony)
Speaking of remakes, along comes this high-energy musical romp about a big-city teen named Ren (Kenny Wormald) who moves to a small town where dancing and rock and roll music have been banned. It isn’t long before he has the whole town up and shaking it (in overly choreographed dance numbers) and winning the heart of a beautiful local girl (Julianne Hough). (Paramount)
When two college students – American Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and British Anna (Felicity Jones) – meet and fall in love, things only get more complicated after she stays in the U.S. after her visa expires and finds herself unable to return to the country. The question remains whether the long-distance love of these two young people can survive. (Paramount)
In filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s latest drama he tries his hand at horror. Long-time collaborator Antonio Banderas plays a brilliant but emotionally scarred plastic surgeon who invents a practically indestructible synthetic skin. Elena Anaya is the mysterious woman he holds captive in order to experiment on.
After the murder of their friend, a group of brave teens risk their own lives trying to prove that local legend and town mortician Ely Vaughn (Dennis Quaid chewing up the scenery in every scene he is in) is actually the cold-blooded killer in this thriller from director Martin Guigui. (eOne)
Val Kilmer, who had one of the best roles of his career playing Doc Holliday in Tombstone, returns to the Old West to portray an older Wyatt Earp in this new straight-to-DVD film. While the elder Earp recalls his early years to a reporter, the action on-screen is played out by a group of largely-unknown younger actors in the true story of his hunting down of the man who killed the woman he loves. (Sony)
There’s a not-so-subtle ecological message told within this animated film about a bunch of animals (voiced by British comedians like Stephen Fry, Dawn French, Jim Broadbent and James Corden) who band together to stop some humans from building a dam that takes away their water supply. (Alliance)
Entertainment is coming from everywhere these days and this is a great example. Originally based on a video game series, actress Felicia Day created (and starred in) a popular series to be available only on the internet. Now, all six episodes of this web series set in a fantastical medieval land are available on DVD. (eOne)
After the accidental death of his father, a teenager’s (Mike Rosenbaum) life begins to unravel in this Christian drama. Unsure what to do, his mother (Natalie Grant) sends the boy to live with his estranged grandfather (Rusty Whitener), who attempts to bring the boy around with hard work and Christian teachings. (Image)
Re-released Classics
In their first original feature-film, the British comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus decided to send up the legend of King Arthur and his knights and their quest for the Holy Grail. Fans of the team know that this was just a loose thread on which to hang a series of much-quoted gags and memorable comic scenes that comedy nerds would giggle over for decades to come. BONUS FEATURES include two separate audio commentaries, outtakes and extended scenes including almost 15 minutes of Terry Gilliam’s animations that didn’t make the final film; a 47-minute tour of shooting locations with Python members Terry Jones and Michael Palin and much more. (Sony)
John Robie (Cary Grant) is a cat burglar whose quiet retirement is shaken when a copy cat thief begins to commit crimes that bear his signature and threaten to bring down the heat on him. Knowing it will “take a thief to catch a thief”, Robie offers his services to an insurance agent (John Williams), who gives him a list of the next possible targets which include a mother and daughter, the latter of whom (Grace Kelly) soon catches the faux-criminal’s eye. Alfred Hitchcock directed this gorgeously-shot film and this version contains great BONUS FEATURES including audio commentary from film historian Drew Casper; a 2008 Q&A with Hitchcock family members for USC film students; “making of” featurettes and much more. (Paramount)
As part of Universal’s 100th anniversary, the studio is re-releasing a series of their greatest films on DVD and Blu-ray. Deer Hunter, the 1978 story of three young friends (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Cazale) who leave their blue-collar factory town for the jungles of Vietnam, is given the high-def treatment complete with audio commentary (not from the actors unfortunately) and more.
Charade is the 1963 caper flick about a young woman (Audrey Hepburn), whose late husband is believed to have stolen some money and who is both helped and pursued by a gang of men (including Cary Grant, Walter Matthau and James Coburn) none of whom she is sure she can trust.
Sullivan’s Travels is the story of a film director (Joel McCrea) who wants to prove he can make films about “real people” and so he hits the road to live life as a “hobo” in Frank Capra’s classic comedy.
My Man Godfrey is a screwball comedy that stars Carole Lombard as a ditzy socialite who, as part of a scavenger hunt, “saves a lost man“ (William Powell) and brings him home to be her butler. (Universal)
TV on DVD
When Lynda La Plante felt that she had told all the stories she could with her character Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren in the long-running Prime Suspect TV series), she started writing novels featuring a new female protagonist: DC Anna Travis. The Above Suspicion novels were then adapted for British TV and Kelly Reilly (from the Sherlock Holmes films and the chilling Eden Lake) was cast as Travis.
The first two seasons (which are based on the first two novels) are now available on DVD. The first season deals with Travis’s first assignment dealing with a homicide that seems connected to a series of grotesque killings from the past. While she takes the initiative to prove herself worthy of her new post, she makes the rookie mistake of getting personally involved with the prime suspect in the case. Ciaran Hinds (Rome) co-stars as DCI James Langton, her gruff superior with whom she has a complicated professional relationship.
The second season entitled Red Dahlia, has the two detectives investigating a grisly murder that bares more than a passing resemblance to the unsolved Los Angeles Black Dahlia murder case of the 1940s. With political pressure and leaks to the media influencing their investigation, they race against time to find the killer. Each case in the ongoing series captures all of the grit and drama of the best of British crime thrillers with the characters played by Reilly and Hinds becoming more intricate each year. (Acorn)
This new animated series (in the on-going franchise based on the Hasbro toys) features all the favourite Autobot characters (including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Arcee) as they once again take on the Decepticons, who are trying to take over the world. This 4-disc set (available on DVD and Blu-ray) contains all 26 episodes of the first season of the series as well as the five-part mini-series Darkness Rising. With the limited edition Blu-ray set you also get a 96-page IDW graphic novel. (Shout Factory)
This 3-disc set (also available in blu-ray) gives fans of Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective (played by David Suchet) 11 of the best mysteries (which first aired in the early 1990s) all re-mastered and restored including “How Does Your Garden Grow?” and “Wasp’s Nest.” (Acorn)
Amy Price-Francis (The Cleaner; 24) stars in this gripping crime procedural as the resilient and no-nonsense Jessica King, who becomes the newly appointed head of Toronto’s Major Crimes Task Force after the previous one had an embarrassing emotional breakdown on national TV. After getting through eight years in Homicide, two marriages and multiple stab wounds she has experienced enough to make her the “go to” person for the impossible to solve crimes, which is just where she wants to be. This series begins on a good note with the first two episodes directed by Clark Johnson, who has helmed episodes of The Wire, The Shield and Homicide: Life on the Street. This 3-disc set contains all eight first season episodes. (eOne)
After CBS Entertainment took a Facebook poll to see which episodes (of all of these classic TV series) were fan favourites, they compiled them together in these collections. If you want to remember a series (but not have to shell out a fortune for the complete sets) this is a great way to remember. For instance, on the Odd Couple set, you get eight classic episodes including “The Blackout” in which Oscar (Jack Klugman) finds himself accused of robbing his own poker game when the power goes out; and “Password” where the pair became contestants on the classic game show. The Happy Days disc (also containing eight episodes) includes the first episode of the series as well as “Fonzie Moves In”, in which Fonzie (Henry Winkler) becomes a tenant of the Cunningham home when he takes a room above the garage. (Paramount)
