Our Picks Reviews - Page 37

Baby boomers who grew up watching TV cartoons a couple of generations before cable television will rejoice that this lovably wacky 1967 series finally has made it to DVD, intact with all 17 original episodes and the never-aired pilot. Each week featured a trio of escapades by George, a goofball Tarzan clone; cool-cat racecar driver Tom Slick; and Super Chicken, a crime-fighting fowl. And let’s not forget one of the coolest theme songs ever, a bouncy, tympani-thumping tune that warned our vine-swinging do-gooder—who never seemed to listen—to “Watch out for that . . . tree!” /
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Charlton Heston portrays Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the real-life hero-warrior of Spain’s Middle Ages, and Italian screen siren Sophia Loren is the exotic royal beauty who holds his heart in this sweeping 1961 epic, available for the first time on DVD. As befits the spectacular “Super-Technirama Technicolor” production, this deluxe box set celebrates the movie’s big-screen lushness with a lavish load of bonus materials, including commentary, recordings of original promotional interviews by Heston and Loren, a 1961 El Cid comic book and numerous featurettes.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Singer-songwriter Vera had only one significant hit single, but it was a doozy: “At This Moment,” a heart-wrenching pop masterpiece, became a massive crossover smash in 1986 after it was used on the television series Family Ties. Relive the “Moment” and discover the many other charms of Vera and his crack band, which wowed sellout crowds in Los Angeles for years before “At This Moment” found its moment in the sun, on this 14-song collection culled from a juke-joint-jumpin’ live 1981 nightclub appearance and studio sessions that followed.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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“Bad boys, bad boys—whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?” The gritty, intoxicatingly voyeuristic FOX-TV series that has asked that musical question every night for two decades—becoming in the process the longest-running reality show in TV history—celebrates the milestone with this collection of rough-and-tumble, you-can’t-outrun-the-law highlights, commentary tracks and special features that include its 1989 pilot, a never-aired episode, a documentary exploring the show’s impact on popular culture and a rundown of “Toughest Takedowns.”
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Try to sort the truth from the lies in this collection of 400 cards, each printed on both sides with a pair of statements—one is factually correct, the other is a flagrant fib. Sorted into categories to cover almost any trivia taste (Science & Technology, Arts & Entertainment, Business & Law, Sports & Games, History & Geography, and Wild Card!), it’s entertaining, mentally edifying fun for the whole family—and harder than you might think!
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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The ultimate gift for music lovers who grew up on the sounds of the ’60s and early ’70s, this colossal box brings back the far-out, hippy-dippy, heavy-metal-thunder, tie-dye memories with more than 290 groovy tunes that defined the times. Get down, rock on and chill out to Sonny & Cher, Jim Croce, Donovan, Cat Stephens, Canned Heat, T. Rex and dozens of other artists—some of them sadly shortchanged in other musical roundups of the era, but not here—in this delightfully exhaustive trek back to days of yore when peace, love and music were the trifecta on which pop culture optimistically placed its bets.
—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Hollywood Winners & Losers: A to Z
By Mark Thise
Hardcover, 242 pages ($19.95)

A perfect primer for the Academy Awards on Feb. 24, this fun and fact-filled rundown of everyone who’s ever been nominated for an Oscar, 1929 to present, will satisfy your cinema-buff curiosity (Did it actually take that long before Paul Newman took home a trophy?) and settle all sorts of show-biz arguments about who’s won, who hasn’t, and all the firsts, lasts, mosts and only’s across the years.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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Haggard wanted to do something he’d never done before, and he did with The Bluegrass Sessions, his first bluegrass album. Recorded in a relaxed, down-home “picking-parlor” session over the course of two days at Ricky Skaggs’ studio, and featuring the guest talents of Alison Krauss and Marty Stuart, it’s a tasty, hot-licks ramble through a mix of Haggard standards, country classics and a handful of new tunes, all dressed up in a bright bluegrass suit.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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Nelson saddles up a hot new co-producer for his latest musical ride: young-buck chart-topper Kenny Chesney, who brings a refreshing twist of subtle innovation to Nelson’s classic style on Moment of Forever. Vocally, Chesney stays almost completely behind the curtain, sidling up to the microphone only for “Worry B Gone,” a bluesy drinkin’-song duet with a distinctly Willie-esque tweak at the end. Elsewhere, Nelson revels in the words and textures of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, Chesney, Big & Rich’s Big Kenny and other writers—including his sons, Lukas and Micah—for this invigorating dip into a fresh pool.
Neil Pond, American Profile

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From an embracing Neolithic skeleton couple buried 5,000 years ago to a family snapshot left behind by an astronaut on the moon, these 150 large-format color and black-and-white images, all gleaned from the archives of National Geographic, reveal the many moods, faces and textures of the universal, timeless emotion that “makes the world go round.” Each photo offers an irresistible invitation to enter the private, personal and often poignant moments captured, over the decades and often continents apart, by the camera’s eye.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

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