Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts

Thursday, April 13, 2017

DVD Review - Silicon Valley: The Complete Third Season


HBO; TV-MA, Approx. 300 minutes; $24.98; Amazon
Available today on DVD, as well as Blu-ray, from HBO Home Entertainment is Silicon Valley: The Complete Third Season, featuring 10 episodes on a 2-disc set. There are no special features except for deleted scenes. It comes with a free Digital HD code.

Created by Mike Judge, John A ltschuler, and Dave Krinsky, the series stars Thomas Middleditch, T. J. Miller, Josh Brener, Martin Starr, Kumail Nanjiani, Amanda Crew, Zach Woods, Matt Ross, and Suzanne Cryer. Season three of the series received 11 Emmy® nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Thomas Middleditch).

Season Three picks up shortly after events of season two finale, where the founder of Pied Piper, Richard (played by Middleditch) was removed as CEO of his own company by the now Raviga-run board. Jack Barker (played by Stephen Tobolowsky) is quickly hired as new CEO and his way of running things doesn't go well with Richard and the rest of his team - Erlich (T.J. Miller), Jared (Zach Woods), Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) and Gilfoyle (Martin Starr).

Barker wants the company to release a business-platform box, but Richard and the team would rather release a consumer-facing platform. While Pied Piper team act like they will compromise and build the box, they're actually planning on going with the original plan and continue with their platform.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

DVD Review - Vice Principals: The Complete First Season



TV-MA; 269 minutes; $19.98; Amazon
Now available on DVD from HBO Home Entertainment is the dark-comedy Vice Principals, featuring all 9 episodes on a 2-disc set. Created by Danny McBride and Jody Hill (co-creators of HBO's Eastbound & Down), the series stars Danny McBride, Walter Goggins (Justified), Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Georgia King, Sheaun McKinney, Busy Philipps, and Shea Whigham.

The series is set around the North Jackson High School, where the current principal (played by Bill Murray) is retiring. The two vice principals, Neil Gamby (played by Danny McBride) and Lee Russell (played Walton Goggins), are both wanting the job as his replacement. Unfortunately, it's not up to the principal to decide who will replace him. Instead, the school board hires college professor Dr. Belinda Brown (played by Kimberly Herbert Gregory) as the principal.

While Gamby and Russell have always been enemies, the two vice principals make an alliance to take down Dr. Belinda Brown, so one of them can become principal.

Throughout the nine episodes, the series focuses mostly on Gamby as he tries to get the new English teacher, Amanda Snodgrass (played by Georgia King), to like him. When he's not at the school, he's butting into his daughter's life (played by Maya G. Love), as he tries to outshine her stepfather, Ray (played by Shea Whigham). The rest of the time Gamby is helping Russell with some to scheme to get rid of the new principal, normally ending with hysterical results.


Exclusive Bonus Features includes:

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Popcorn & Coffee: Veep: The Complete Fourth Season


TV-MA; 281 minutes; $26.95; Amazon

The big anticipated premiere of the sixth season of Game of Thrones debuts tonight on HBO, but don't forget there are two other season premieres afterward -Silicon Valley and Veep.

HBO Home Entertainment released Veep: The Complete Fourth Season to DVD last week, featuring all 10 episodes from the award-winning season. The only bonus feature on the two-disc set is the "Hilarious Deleted Scenes."

Created by y Armando Iannucci, Veep debuted on HBO in 2012 and quickly became a critical hit. In the beginning, the series centered on Selina Meyer (played by Emmy-winner Julia Louis-Dreylus) a former Senator who is now the first female Vice-President of the United States. Towards the end of season 3, the President stepped down to take care of his ailing wife, leaving Selina to become the first female President.

The fourth season is set around the upcoming election, which is Selina's first campaign for President. Her campaign encounters several setbacks including the resignation of her campaign-manager Amy Brookheimer (played by Anna Chlumsky) and the firing of Deputy Director of Communications Dan Egan (played by Reid Scott). Then of course her staff has to deal with other issues, including a missing painting and the search for a new VP.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Popcorn & Coffee: Silicon Valley: The Complete Second Season



TV-MA; 300 minutes; $26.95; Amazon
Available now on DVD from HBO Home Entertainment is Silicon Valley: The Complete Second Season, which ties in nicely with Sunday's (April 24th) season premiere. Special Features on the 2-disc set includes deleted scenes, Reality Bytes: The Art & Science Behind Silicon Valley, and 6 audio commentaries from the cast & crew.

Created by by Mike Judge, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, the series follows Richard Hendricks (played by Thomas Middleditch), a young man who quits his job at the tech company Hooli to start up his own tech business, Pied Piper. Working with him is programmer Bertram Gilfoyle (played by Martin Starr), programmer Dinesh Chugtai (played by Kumail Nanjiani), CFO Donald "Jared" Dunn (played by Zach Woods) and Erlich Bachman (played by T. J. Miller), co-owner of Pied Piper.

Despite winning the Tech Crunch Disrupt at the end of Season One, the Pied Piper team has had a series of setbacks, including the sudden death of their financier, Peter Gregory, as well as being sued by Hooli, whom has their own ripoff compression called Nucleus.

Most of season two shows Hooli's creator, Gavin Belson (played by Matt Ross), trying to get rid of all the bugs in Nucleus, so they can get their product out before Pied Piper does. Meanwhile, the Pied Piper team seeks out sponsors to help them show off their product's streaming abilities, but unfortunately things go horribly wrong. After several more setbacks, their company's only chance of survival lies in the hands of the lawyer Pete Monahan (played by Matt McCoy), who happens to be an convicted criminal.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

DVD Review - Game of Thrones: The Complete Fifth Season



Not Rated;
559 minutes; $59.99; Amazon
Fans of the hit HBO series Games of Thrones will have to wait a bit longer for the new season to begin, which will premiere on April 24th. Until then, you can rewatch The Complete Fifth Season that is available to own on DVD & Blu-ray, featuring all 10 episodes.

The fantasy series is based on the "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series by George R. R. Martin. The fifth season uses materials from the fourth and fifth novels (A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons), as well as borrowing a few scenes from the third book (A Storm of Swords) and the yet-to-be-released sixth novel, The Winds of Winter.

Picking up shortly after the fourth season finale, Tyrion Lannister (played by Peter Dinklage) is on the run after murdering his father, Tywin. He is later captured by Jorah Mormont (played by Iain Glen), who plans on delivering Tyrion to Daenerys Targaryen (played by Emilia Clarke), in the hope she will forgive him for his betrayal. Daenerys has more things to worry about than her former guard returning as a civil war is brewing in her kingdom.

Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams) makes her way to House of Black and White, so she can learn the powers of the Many-faced God; however, her passion for revenge might ruin everything.

Jamie Lannister (played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), along with Bronn (Jerome Flynn), travels to Dorne retrieve his teenage niece/daughter, Myrcella (played by Nell Tiger Free), but things aren't quite as easy they planned it to be.

While Cersel Lannister (played by Lena Headey) awaits Jamie's return with their daughter, she must deal with a religious group, the Sparrows, who are determined to out anyone who sins.

Jon Snow (Kit Harington) has more problems than any other character as he steps into the role as Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. After making the decision to make an alliance with the wildlings, his men loses their trust in him. To make matters worse, the White Walkers and their army of dead are getting closer.


The bonus features on the five-disc DVD set are: