Our Picks Reviews - Page 20

Sixty—yes, 60!—DVDs contain every episode from nine TV seasons, three made-for-TV movies, and more than a dozen cast interviews, documentaries and other bonus features. This wagonload of a collection will keep Little House lovers glued for hours (167 of them, to be precise) to something the Ingalls family never imagined—a television!
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Spanky, Buckwheat, Alfalfa, Darla and all the other “Our Gang” members re-convene in these 80 remastered shorts from 1929 to 1938, the “golden age” of the groundbreaking mini-comedies that made household names out of a menagerie of child actors. Extras include commentary from historians, interviews with former Rascals, several featurettes, and a booklet with fun facts and an explanation of the show’s “curse,” the unfortunate fates and untimely demises of 11 cast members.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Once “Opie” on TV’s Andy Griffith Show, Ron Howard grew up to become an Oscar-wining movie director, and this new roundup presents four of his best big-screen tales of toughness, tenderness and triumph: A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Cinderella Man and Backdraft. Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Renee Zellweger, Gary Sinise and Kurt Russell light up the stories, and four additional discs of bonus features include interviews, documentaries, commentary and other goodies.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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After TV’s The Twilight Zone, creator Rod Serling opened Night Gallery, a weekly series of fantasy, horror and sci-fi tales, each built around a painting. This collection of 61 episodes from 1971-72 will give you nearly 19 hours of spine-tingling, class-act, retro-TV chills—plus a look-back documentary, a closer examination of the paintings used in the series and commentary from Night Gallery historians and acclaimed fantasy-film director Guillermo Del Toro.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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This heavyweight history-at-your-fingertips collection starts with a book, which assembles 300 reproductions of historic front-page news from America’s pre-eminent “newspaper of record.” Then it continues on three DVD-ROMs, which present the remaining 54,267 front pages. And finally, it leads online to the complete New York Times archive, containing every story, start to finish, ever printed in its pages. This journalism juggernaut is perfect for newshounds, history buffs and anyone just curious about what was going on in the world on any given day of the past 157 years.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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The ultimate gift for fans of moviedom’s most famous crime dynasty, this collection includes all three Godfather films, each newly restored and featuring tell-it-like-it-was commentary by director Frances Ford Coppola. Two full bonus discs pack serious heat with a documentary on the making of the sagas, a spotlight on the films’ memorable music, scenes that didn’t make the final cut and a look at the wide-ranging pop-cultural impact of this cinematic milestone. Leave the gun, take the cannoli…and gift-wrap this box for the gangster-movie lover in your life.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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Legends, superstars and newcomers share the spotlight in this well-researched, intimately detailed stargazing into the lives, loves and losses of performers affiliated with the world-famous Grand Ole Opry. Author Oermann, a renowned music historian, finds fresh angles for dozens of riveting stories, including the mysterious death of Hank Williams, the romance of Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood and the reason many Opry stars wondered, back in 1963, if they were living—and dying—under a curse.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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From the author of the ’80s travelogue Blue Highways comes this new diary of adventures, encounters with colorful characters and stopovers at pleasingly offbeat places along the less-traveled back roads of small-town America. Incorporating into its title a long-forgotten word denoting anything strange or peculiar, Roads to Quoz is an absorbing literary trek full of delightful surprises.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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Clean the tux, gas up the Aston Martin and order that martini shaken, not stirred. Then put on this CD of 23 musical themes from James Bond movies and you’re ready for whatever sexy villainesses, evil geniuses and other life-of-danger entanglements that might come your way. Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die,” Carly Simon’s “Nobody Does It Better” and Tom Jones’ “Thunderball” share the swingin’ space with other signature soundtrack tunes performed by Duran Duran, Madonna, Sheryl Crow and others, plus a DVD of music videos and an in-concert live performance of Shirley Bassey’s “Goldfinger.”
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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Where is heaven on Earth? National Geographic asked 82 different photographers to seek it—and bring back photos. From spectacular scenes of nature to sublime places of the heart impossible to find on any map, these 155 images will transport you to realms of tranquility, beauty and wonder that invite your eyes to linger on every page.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

from Amazon.com

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