Author: Robert Greenberger

It goes without saying that the 1970s cannot be recounted without examining certain cultural phenomena. The Godfather and star Wars certainly helped redefine filmmaking and both had major impact on pop culture. But then there was the growth of cult cinema, which endures to this day, and was sparked by the arrival of a 20^th Century Fox flop, a failed adaptation of a British stage play that gained some cred when it moved to Los Angeles. Little did anyone suspect that when New York’s Waverly theater began screening The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight, it would engage a generation.

I had heard of it soon after the screenings began but didn’t see it for the first time until my college roommate showed it in our dorm room so I could see and hear it for myself before it screened on campus with complete audience participation. I was taught which lines to repeat, when to throw toast, and the rest.

Thanks to home video, the film’s popularity has never waned as subsequent generations have discovered it and made it a part of their experience. So, here we are marking its anniversary with The Rocky Horror Picture Show 40-th Anniversary Celebration. 20^th Century Home Entertainment has released it in a variety of formats but even its most basic single-disc Blu-ray edition is packed with wonderful stuff.

Richard O’Brien never expected his twisted homage to science fiction films would ever grow beyond the Royal Court Theater. Working with director Jim Sharman, they were clearly in sync and having fun. Anchored n stage by Tim Curry, the show gained a nice following, crossing the ocean to play at the Roxy Theater where core members of the film cast assembled, It was so enthusiastically received that a bidding war for film rights erupted.

The movie was shot cheaply and quickly, as befit its story, and opened in England on August 14, 1975 and at the UA Westwood in Los Angeles on September 26. Mainstream audiences and their critics didn’t get it. More, they didn’t like it and it was quickly yanked from its limited release. The Waverly began their screenings April 1, 1976 and finally, it found its intended audience.

In the current Entertainment Weekly, Curry (Dr. Frank N. Furter), Patricia Quinn (Magenta), Meat Loaf (Eddie), Barry Bostwick, and Susan Sarandon were reunited and in their reminiscences you got a sense of the organized chaos surrounding the production. It probably helped that Bostwick and Sarandon were new to the production, as were their characters Brad and Janet.

The story doesn’t always make sense but boy, does it look sharp and have a great soundtrack. The performances were spot on, with tongue just firmly enough in cheek so they got the joke and shared it with the audience. The combination of Sci-fi tropes, rock score, and amazing visuals helps keep it entertaining on repeat viewings. The high definition edition is crisp, matched with a strong audio track.

The single Blu-ray disc offers the film in in its USA and UK release versions along with Audio Commentary by O’Brien and Quinn. Most of the special features are repurposed from previous editions but is nice to have them here. Many of these can also be downloaded to your computer. These include:

• Rocky-oke: Sing It!
• Don’t Dream It, Be It: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast, Part I
• An-tic-i-pation: The Search for the 35th Anniversary Shadowcast, Part II
• Mick Rock (A Photographer)
• Mick Rock’s Picture Show (A Gallery)
• A Few From The Vault
• Outtakes
• Alternate B&W Opening
• Alternate Credit & Misprint Ending
• “Rocky Horror Double Feature Video Show” (1995)
• Beacon Theater, New York City (10th Anniversary)
• Time Warp Music Video
• The Midnight Experience
• Pressbook & Poster Gallery

We haven’t had a good old fashioned disaster movie in ages. The timing for San Andreas is interesting in that most Californians have stopped worrying about the big earthquake, focusing instead on the drought and/or the wildfires. But the seismologists have never stopped fretting that a quake, more devastating than the 1906 San Francisco event, is imminent. After several decades of “imminent” waiting, I can see how attention has wandered.

The Dwayne Johnson-led action film is a brutal reminder of just how much devastation is likely to result from such an earthquake. With CGI effects to enhance the imagery, this is a visual feast of destruction. And like every good epic in this genre, we follow the impossible efforts of one man not only to survive but to rescue his family despite the odds. As a result, the horrific reality is undercut by the muscular heroics. We know they’re going to nearly die but survive, the nuclear family intact, as San Francisco vanishes around them.

The movie, out now on Blu-ray from Warner Home Entertainment, is exciting and entertaining despite stretching credulity, As with so many of this films, the scenes of death and destruction are sometimes hard to watch and always prolonged beyond necessity. Whereas you could get to know the cast aboard the vessel trying to land in Airport or survive The Towering Inferno, the editing is much faster so it changes the pacing and tempo and you can get lost in the debris.

The story begins with the scientists at Cal Tech, led by Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti). They believe they have perfected predicting quakes so of course, their equipment is immediately tested with the Bog One, which is bigger than most worst case scenarios imagine. We watch as Hoover Dam and Los Angeles get smashed as the wave heads north up the San Andreas Fault line.

Enter rescue helicopter pilot Ray Gaines (Johnson), abandoning his daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario), to do his duty around Los Angeles. She accompanies her soon-to-be stepfather Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd) and her mother Emma (Carla Gugino) into and out of danger until dad has come to the rescue. They wind up being accompanied by Daniel’s sister Susan (Kylie Minogue) and things continue to move at a breathless clip.

You root for everyman Johnson to save the day time and again, because that’s all these movies want you to do. There’s no room for discussions over safety inadequacies or the general nature of human behavior. Instead, our core characters stand in for mankind and we munch our popcorn, hoping they survive without too much trouble.

Director Brad Peyton (Journey 2) keeps things moving along, sometimes too quickly, but rarely taking his eye off the family that gives the film a heart more recent efforts like 2112 skipped. We’re left reassured we will survive and rebuild.

The high definition transfer is excellent at 1080p, 2.40:1 so every bit of concrete and steel, every drop of water, and every fleck of blood is sharp. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack is a peerless match the visuals making this one satisfying home viewing experience.

There are only a few special features included, which is surprising given the scope of the project. The Audio Commentary from Peyton offers up many a nugget of interesting information about the filmmaking process. Then there are some relatively short pieces starting with San Andreas: The Real Fault Line (6:23), as cast and crew recall shooting specific moments; Dwayne Johnson to the Rescue (9:24), as the star recounts making the film’s opening and closing sequences;  Scoring the Quake (6:13), with Composer Andrew Lockington; Deleted Scenes (4:40), a collection of eight scenes, with option commentary from Payton; a Gag Reel (1:22); and, a Stunt Reel (2:56).

Arrow was the first serious approach to superheroics based on the DC Universe in quite some time. There was little risk picking a second tier character that some but not many may have known about. Producer Greg Berlanti assembled a team consisting of Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg to sift through nearly 70 years of Green Arrow material and figure out how to turn it into a weekly series for the CW.

Once they figured out it was a story of redemption, of Oliver Queen’s journey from spoiled rich kid to a man avenging his father’s death and maturing into the man he was intended to be, they hit pay dirt. The series was rich with nods to the DCU and the adaptations from the source material served to make the show strong and fascinating.

They hit pay dirt with the casting of Stephen Amell as Queen but even better was the amazing chemistry he had with his supporting cast, notably Emily Bett Rickards, originally brought on for a bit role, but grew into the series’ heart and soul.

Season one was all about coming back to Starling City and Queen atoning for his sins and his alter ago, the Hood, reclaiming the metropolis. Season two was a journey towards becoming a hero as his support team grew, but the price that came with his newfound role was steep. Season three, out now on Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, was all about identity.

Across the 23 episodes, every member of the main cast had to reassess their role on the team, their connection to Queen, and their personal goals. We saw his kid sister Thea (Willa Holland) grow up, trained by her biological father, Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman), to become a capable fighter. We saw Sarah Lance (Caity Lotz) die in Merlyn’s game for power with his former liege, Ra’s al Ghul (Matt Nable), who had come calling to Starling City. Her death propelled her sister Laurel (Katie Cassidy) to stop her alcoholic spiral and train to become the new Canary, complete with sonic cry.

The season’s meta arc was Ra’s wanting Queen as his heir, to wed his daughter Nyssa (Katrina Law), and relocate to Nanda Parbat. The others had to protect the city while trying to help Queen. But there were many a distraction along the way. Queen Consolidated was bought out by Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), renamed Palmer Technologies, and we watched the eager, affable Palmer build a suit of armor nicknamed A.T.O.M. to protect his city. More time was spent with the new spinoff series, Flash as members of that cast casually dropped by for teamups and shakes.

Additionally, there were side stories about Diggle (David Ramsey), his wife Lyla (Audrey Marie Anderson), and their Argus work which also involved the Suicide Squad.

As a result, things sprawled and grew diffuse, robbing Queen of the spotlight. His journey was constantly being obscured by everyone else’s. Even the main supporting team seemed to be losing screen time to other threads so across the season things were engaging but messy. What really hurt were the ludicrous flashbacks, taking Oliver Queen off his island exile and actually bringing him to Hong Kong and even a secret visit to Starling. If they are done with the island, maybe they should be done with the flashback device and move on.

By the end of the season, Arsenal (Colton Haynes) was gone, Laurel was accepted as the Black Canary and Thea suited up as Speedy. Palmer’s armor seemed to work better when he was miniaturized. And Merlyn is the new Ra’s al Ghul as his opponent Damian Darhk has set his sights on the ravaged Starling City – all of which sets up the new season beginning tonight.

The show has never looked stronger with terrific set designs for Nanda Parbat, sleeker, more appropriate costumes. The production and effects team deserve their kudos which come with some nice bonus material on the final disc

The high definition transfer is sharp and the sound good. The episodes are spread across four discs, each one with episode-specific deleted scenes. Disc four has a nice package of features starting with “Second Skins: Creating The Uniforms of Arrow”; “Nanda Parbat: Constructing The Villain’s Lair”; “The Man Beneath the Suit – Atom’s First Flight”; the ever-present Gag Reel, and the well-traveled Warner TV panel from 2014’s Comic-Con International (also found on several other releases this fall).

Yes, gaining great power brings with it great responsibility but that does not mean a character cannot revel in the sudden ability to do the seemingly impossible. After a decade of films with tortured protagonists, all in the name of gritty reality, the arrival of the CW’s The Flash series has garnered near universal praise because, for a change, the protagonist is having some fun. Out now from Warner Home Entertainment, The Flash: The Complete First Season is well worth having.

Grant Gustin makes for an appealing and engaging Barry Allen because he’s young and an unlikely hero, who is having fun running faster than the speed of sound. He’s a pumped, hyper-active puppy hero, eager to use his powers for as much good as possible, from helping paint buildings to rescuing stray animals. He wants to do it all and thinks he can.

Along the 22 episodes of the first season, he was coming to terms with the changes in his life from the fun to the tragic as his newfound abilities opened up new clues into the investigation of his mother’s murder when he was a young child.

Spinning off from Arrow, the new series worked hard to differentiate itself from the darker show. Still, it couldn’t entirely avoid the structure of a support team, all of whom know his true identity. Here’s he’s aided by Dr. Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker) and the tech wiz uber-geek Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes).  Both work at S.T.A.R. Laboratories in the employ of Dr. Harrison Wells (Tom Cavanagh), who was the catalyst for accident that resulted in Barry gaining super speed. Wells is more than he seems from the outset and with every episode another layer is peeled away, a far more successful rolling out of a Big Bad than Arrow managed in three seasons.

Barry also has a home team in the form of Detective Joe West (Jesse L. Martin), who took the young Barry in after his father, Henry (John Wesley Shipp), was arrested and jailed for the murder of his wife. As a result, he grew up with Iris West (Candace Patton) as a sister, someone he had fallen for although she fell, instead, for dad’s partner Eddie Thawne (Rick Cosnett).

From the outset, comic book fans had familiar names and all served as trigger warnings to future events, some of which will occur in season two, launching this week. The winks and nods are nicely handled and not overdone. They are there for a reason, and unlike in Gotham, they modify not ignore the source material. This includes Caitlin’s lover, Ronnie Raymond, who seemingly died in the same accident but actually merged with Prof. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) to form Firestorm.
If there’s a fault to the first season is that they have too many characters introduced, some dispatched with speed such as Simon Stagg (William Sadler), and others arriving and going without much consequence such as Dr. Tina McGee (Amanda Pays). Rather than focus on Barry and the Flash persona, time is given over to the development of Firestorm and later the Atom (Brandon Routh). And while its fun seeing the two series casts interact with ease, it again takes time away from developing the supporting cast. While we know something of Cisco’s past, Caitlin is fun but underdeveloped, which made “Who Is Harrison Wells?” such a fun turn for the actress.

The rogues, especially Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) are resonant from the four-color pages but Cold in particular has a nicely developing persona and relationship with the Flash. Tying Girder (Greg Finley) to Barry’s past was also nicely done.
It’s a wonderfully, satisfying and strong debut season and listening to the production team discuss it on the bonus material shows the level of detail brought to the plots and effects. The first season is spread across four Blu-ray discs, each containing some deleted scenes, some of which I wish made to air.
There’s also enlightening commentary from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Andrew Kreisberg, and DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns on Disc 1’s “Pilot”.

In addition to the deleted scenes, there are several nice special features such as Disc 3’s “Behind the Story: The Trickster Returns!” (8:39), exploring Mark Hamill’s return to his character of The Trickster and what went into the episode.

On Disc 4, there’s “The Fastest Man Alive” (30:39) exploring the process of going from four-color comic to network series. There’s a lot of interesting tidbits in this one. Mostly for fans of special effects, “Creating the Blur: The VFX of ‘The Flash'” (26:25). A nice bonus is “The Chemistry of Emily and Grant” (4:20), the test footage between Grant Gustin and Arrow’s Emily Bett Rickards. Repurposed across multiple episode sets is “DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014” (29:31). Finally, there’s the usual Gag Reel (8:24).

We’ve been asked to reconsider our enjoyment of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron in the wake of the corporate shuffling that sees Kevin Feige reign supreme. Scuttlebutt has it the film was a disappointment to Walt Disney but one has to wonder how a global box office take of $1.4 billion (as of this weekend) can be a disappointment.  Shot with a mammoth $250 million budget, the film needed to earn only about $800 million to be profitable (before licensing and ancillary revenue) so it has to be a financial success.

A critical success is something else. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it is 74% fresh although audiences liked it 86% of the time. Now yes, it is far lower than the 92% the first Avengers film did, but let’s face it, nothing like that had ever been tried on film and it worked beyond anyone’s expectations.

And the expectations were incredibly high this time around as we got Ultron, the deadliest and most powerful of the Avengers rogues plus the introduction of Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and the Vision so we knew going in this was going to be more packed than before. That writer/director Joss Whedon managed to make it work so well at all is to be commended.

The film is out now on Digital HD and hits stores October 3 on in a Blu-ray combo pack from Walt Disney Home Entertainment. It stands up well to a second viewing. I was sent a Digital HD code and can say the crisp color and strong audio were excellent both on my laptop and on my television via Chromecast.

The film nicely bridges the events from the first film, with Loki’s powerful staff located and taken from a wounded but clearly not dead Hydra (the set up for which was aided by ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). We open with the team arriving in time to get the staff from Baron Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) but what do you do when you have absolute power at your fingertips?

If you’re Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), you use if for good, coaxing your egghead buddy Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) into helping you use the power to create an android that would help them police the world. As the artificial intelligence is incubating, they briefly debate the ethics then go party with the team in one of the nicer ensemble moments. However, the A.I. , now called Ultron (James Spader), breaks into the Avengers’ swanky HQ and soundly beats them, propelling the story.

There’s a lot of meat to chew on between punches. While the fights be one too many or perhaps just each one is too long, the themes of power and responsibility echo clearly. There’s a nice moment between Stark and Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) that also sets the stage for next May’s Captain America: Civil War.

This is where the film gets rubbery and weak. We’ve closing out Phase Two and setting up Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and we’re expanding the cast of players rather quickly. As a result, what we loved about the first film is less prevalent here. Time has to be given to the introduction of the powerful siblings, the creation of the Vision (Paul Bettany), Ultron’s plans, and a set up for the eventual Black Panther film with a needless plotline involving Ulysses Klaw (Andy Serkis).

What is more welcome, though, is the middle section as the fractured team retreats from Ultron to a private home, where we learn that Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) is happily married to Susan (Linda Cardellini), raising two kids between assignments. The reminder of what they’re fighting for is nice and it does give us some of the film’s strongest character moments (a little more of the contrast between heroes and mere mortals would have been welcome) from the Stark-Rogers confrontation to the budding romance between Natasha Romanov (Scarlett Johansson) and Banner.

But then we’re globetrotting, all to prevent Ultron from lifting up a small European country and using it to destroy the world, fulfilling its programming in an unanticipated manner. There’s some wonderful action moments in the second half, some good stunts, some lovely CGI, but after a time, it becomes just so much noise so you just want it over. When Mjolnir helps bring the fight to an end, we’re very thankful.

In true Avengers style, now that the premier heroes have had their films and been in two Avengers features of their own, the spotlight is being shifted to the newcomers: Falcon (Anthony Mackie), War Machine (Don Cheadle),  Scarlet Witch, and Vision. It is true to the comic series and does stir things up, especially to see how they function together next year before they presumably take center stage in the two-part Avengers: Infinity War later this decade.

The Blu-ray and Digital HD will come with a limited assortment of features, but enough to keep you interested. There’s a brief review of the four already-seen Infinity stones in The Infinite Six (7:31) and you can sightsee during the briefer travelogue Global Adventure (3:00). More satisfying is From The Inside Out – Making Of Avengers: Age Of Ultron (20:53) which shows you just how the CGI for Ultron and Hulk worked and you will be even more impressed with the performances from Spader and Ruffalo. The Gag Reel (3:36) is the usual assortment of pratfalls and blown lines but far more interesting are the Deleted Scenes. You get a much better sense of the stakes in The Norn Cave (3:44) and Bruce and Natasha Talk (4:21). Interesting but less vital are Watch Your Six (2:49) and The Man in the Church (1:11).

Those purchasing the Digital HD through Disney Anywhere will also receive the exclusive Connecting The Universe (4:53) which is incomplete but nicely connects the dots of the cosmic doings, setting up the next two Avengers films, closing out Phase 3.

Pitch Perfect snuck up on us as a charming, funny film that took the national interest in all things acapella and grafted it onto the teen Coming of Age story template from Bring it On. With a strong ensemble and winning soundtrack, it wowed at the box office, making a singing star of Anna Kendrick, and ensuring there’d be a sequel.

If the film had any fault it was that some elements were so outsized they seemed incongruous with the rest of the story, such as the force and volume of Anna Camp’s projectile vomiting or Renee Wilson’s super-sized characterization.

Unfortunately, the trend towards bigger and more preposterous elements plagues Pitch Perfect 2, out now on Blu-ray Combo Pack from Universal Home Entertainment. At a performance before President Obama, Fat Amy has a wardrobe malfunction that gets televised but the reaction is far more extreme than Janet Jackson’s real life exposure during the far better watched Super Bowl.

As a result, the Barden Bellas are now pariahs both on campus and in the acapella competition world. Of course, there’s a loophole which they exploit so the disgraced national champions prepare to compete in the International Competition against a German team that works with stereotypical efficiency. They are the goliaths to beat and we all know they will be taken down a notch with heart and soul.

The film barely pauses to introduce the full Bella squadron so few actually feel like characters as opposed to window dressing. Instead, we focus on Kendrick’s character, who has over the last three years become the leader. But, she wants more and secretly takes an internship at a recording company where she faces new challenges, shaking her from her mash-up comfort zone.

Impossibly, the Bellas are all seniors so graduation looms and until a freshman arrives to join the team, there is little thinking about continuing their legacy or domination. But legacy becomes an undercurrent as Emily (Hailee Steinfeld), daughter of a former Bella (Katy Segal) forces her way into the group. Being the younger outsider does for this film what Kendrick’s Beca did in the first and she is utterly charming in her innocence.

The broad humor does not work for me at all, as I prefer the subtler, funnier bits such as Kendrick’s fascination with her German rival Kommissar (Birgitte Hjort-Sørensen). Or the clearly ad-libbed and inappropriate comments from podcasters

The team’s antics reach a nadir with a senior home performance so they go to seek their mojo from Camp’s Aubrey, now a motivational guru. Cohesive once more, they work hard for worlds and win (not a spoiler) and their performance is all you want from this film.

A third installment is in the works and one hopes that the transition to a mostly-new Bellas will bring with it a downshift in tone so they avoid embarrassing themselves.

The digital transfer is just fine with an excellent 1080p transfer matched with the more important DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack that makes the songs pop.

The Combo pack comes with Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD. The Special Features are plentiful but perfunctory. There’s a Bonus Song Performed by The Treblemakers (3:27): The song follows an introduction; Extended Musical Performances: Bellas (1:58), Das Sound Machine (1:23), and Bellas: Finale Clap-Along (0:44); Das Sound Machine Finale Breakdown (2:06) so you can hear each layer on its own; Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes: Jesse Drops Off Beca At Work — Extended (1:46), Treble Party — Alternate (1:00), Bumper Arrives at Treble Party (1:18), Treble Party — Extended (1:04), Car Show: “Farter” (0:56), Intro to Mansion — Extended (1:35), Beat Box — Extended (1:21), Setting Up Tents — Deleted (1:50), and Amy and Bumper Make-Up — Alternate (1:32); a fun Gag Reel (3:08);  Line-Aca-Rama (3:36), alternate takes; Green Bay Rap (0:52), yes, those are the pro football players and film fans in their glory;  Elizabeth Banks’ Directorial Debut (5:20), a celebration of the actress’ ascension to behind the camera; The Bellas Are Back (6:13); Aca-Camp (1080p, 5:04);  The Making of the Riff-Off (6:02), a closer look at the underground sing off that seems out of place until they explain why it’s in the film; The World Championships of A Cappella (9:30), when Baton Rouge was used as Denmark; Snoop Is in the House (2:53), Snoop Dogg’s cameo is highlighted; Residual Heat Internship (2:26), as Beca works for the unnamed character played by Keegan-Michael Key; An Aca-Love Story: Bumper and Fat Amy (5:26), exploring the improbable Adam DeVine-Rebel Wilson romance; and finally,  Legacy: Hailee Steinfeld (6:04).

There is additional Audio Commentary from Director/Producer Elizabeth Banks and Producers Paul Brooks and Max Handelman which actually tells you more about the film’s production than all of the above.

The Inker’s Shadow
By Allen Say
Scholastic Graphix, 80 pages, $19.99

Growing up a Japanese youth during World War II must have been a dizzying time and rich with memories and material for narratives. Allen Say has been mining those remembrances in a series of graphic memoirs, the latest of which is out from Scholastic. The Inker’s Shadow picks up from his The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice which was released in 1994.

Say was born in 1937 as Japanese aggression was at its height and was the product of a Japanese-American mother and Korean father. Four years after his parents divorced, he apprenticed himself to cartoonist, Noro Shinpei, who became his “spiritual father:” When his real father remarried and started a second family, he moved to the United States and invited Say to join him.

Being a Japanese teen in California less than a decade after the end of World War II brought with it prejudices and tensions that complicated Say’s assimilation to his new home. Here’s where this volume picks up and we see him struggle to make friends, learn English, and continue to develop his art. There was an initial, disastrous experience in military school His father’s inattention did little to help and Say struggled.

Things did not improve until he enrolled at Citrus Union High School, whose principal, Nelson Price, saw the young Say’s potential. Say studied, painted, and held a part-time job while still mastering American cultural mores.

His pages mix prose, illustration, and graphic storytelling seamlessly, carrying the reader through these trying experiences. We see close-minded adults, arrogant, privileged children, and the first true friends Say made in the United States. There’s a poignant moment toward the end as Say prepares to take a girl to the prom only to have his heart crushed.

Still, Say’s perseverance sees him through to his high school graduation and as the book concludes, one chapter closes and we see him on his way.

Overall, this provides a unique view into the immigrant experience at a particular point in American life, just as the Cold War was gripping the country’s psyche and conformity was becoming the watchword of the decade. Say’s individuality is challenged time and again but through his art and work ethic, we watch him gain confidence and skill, putting him on a path that has seen him win the coveted Caldecott Medal, Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, and ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults.

Homeland has been a strong drama series that has tackled timely issues mixed with interesting personal drama. However, its third season meandered a bit so it was refreshing to see the fourth go round return to stronger, more dynamic storytelling. With the Nicholas Brody (and his family) thread now neatly snipped off, the focus has returned to driven, flawed Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) and the shadowy world of espionage.

Homeland The Complete Fourth Season is now out on a three disc Blu-ray set from 20^th Century Home Entertainment. The revitalized series picks up with Carrie now in Kabul as a station chief, using reliable intelligence fed to her from a resource to target terrorists and take them out. That is, until one attack destroys a civilian home, amidst a wedding celebration no less. The target escapes and the groom has also survived and becomes the fulcrum upon which the season’s major arc revolves.

Carrie is a great field operative but not much of a station chief, barking orders and doing nothing to build relationships with her team. Life in Afghanistan is busy enough but things change when Pakistan chief Sandy Bachman (Corey Stoll) uses bad intel that results in a civilian home being destroyed. When Bachman is attacked on the streets and killed in a retaliatory action for bombing the house, a guilty Carrie gets involved in the investigation, forcing her way into becoming his replacement where she repeats her bad management and lack of trust. This means that rather than trusting and using her team, she winds up working with those form her past including Saul Berenson (Mandy Patinkin), who has his own issues with Dar Adal (F. Murray Abraham), Fara Sherazi (Nazanin Boniadi), and of course the enigmatic Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend). In fact, Quinn’s story arc this season started off strong and petered out once he was caught up in Carrie’s magnetic pull.

There’s a lot of plotting, moves, and countermoves but it all builds to Saul getting kidnapped and his attempts at escape while target/Taliban leader Haissam Haqqani (Numan Acar) is executing his own plot to infiltrate the CIA base and extract its secrets. The pacing is tight and builds to a nice crescendo in the final episodes as everything comes together. The larger issues reflect the contentious relationships in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and those who resettled from those lands in America along with how American diplomats have to tread a fine line between frenemies. Carrie may also have met her match in Aasar Khan (Raza Jaffrey), Pakistan’s counter-terrorism expert.

There prices to be paid all around as allies die and Carrie is made to feel guilty for not being in America to raise her child. However, once the dust settles, Carrie comes home and even reconciles with her mother while Quinn is off on a dangerous mission that apparently does not set up the soon to launch season five. But it does leave Carrie and Saul far apart, which is a shame since they work so well together. But trust and friendship remain collateral damage in the very dangerous game they play.

The high definition AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 is perfectly fine as is the lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There aren’t many special features to entice you and they are fairly perfunctory. You have a few nonessential Deleted Scenes (10:52), Character Profiles (16:56) featuring Peter Quinn, Aasar Khan and Fara Sherazi; and, From Script to Screen (23:17), the most unique feature.

While one of the strongest ensembles on television today, The Big Bang Theory has come to revolve around the socially awkward Sheldon (Jim Parsons), so it makes perfect sense that the eighth season began and ended with the brilliant scientist. Sandwiched in-between, the series slowly advanced the cast of characters through their lives and thankfully Chuck Lorre has not prevented them from growing.

Warner Bros Home Entertainment releases The Big Bang Theory The Complete Eighth Season this week and the combo pack contains all 245 episodes on Blu-ray and Digital HD. We open with Sheldon, 45 days after leaving on a train, only to call Leonard (Johnny Galecki) to come rescue him from Kingman, Arizona. Accompany him is Amy (Mayim Bialik), who has been hurt by Sheldon’s actions, which remains a recurring theme through the season, setting up the finale, where she puts their relationship on hold just as he was about to propose.

While their relationship foundered, the real winner this year has to be Penny (Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting) since she has come to realize she won’t make it as an actress and gives up waitressing to become a pharmaceutical salesman. And guess what? She’s good at it and is finally making money so we see how this does and does not change her as she and Leonard keep talking about their impending marriage.

The character who may have grown the most this season was Raj (Kunal Nayyar). Not only has he felt comfortable speaking to women, but he has endured one breakup and is now involved with Emily (Laura Spencer). At first, we think it’s an odd but sweet pairing but by the finale, we realize just how creepy she is which apparently propels Raj’s arc in the coming ninth season.

The season is also one of loss. First, and perhaps to foreshadow matters, the team clean out the office of a deceased professor and find a bottle of champagne he had stored for the day he made his big discovery, which never happened. And then, just as Stuart (Kevin Sussman) reopens the comic book store, Howard (Simon Helberg) learns of his mother’s death (prompted by the quick death of actress Carol Ann Susi). The remainder of the season follows the repercussions of her absence culminating in the wonderfully touching “The Leftover Thermalization”.

The season is filled with all the usual supporting players without losing the focus on the core characters, as the guests serve as foils such as when Wil Wheaton and Penny discuss the horrible film they made together. In some ways the strongest episode of the season is a result of the combustible meeting between Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf) and Beverly Hofstadler (Christine Beranski). And the geek quotient may have been diluted by the various romantic entanglements, it is not gone. The impromptu visit to Skywalker Ranch was a highlight.

The season-long threads come to a head in the finale which sees Sheldon and Amy in crisis while Leonard and Penny are ion the process of eloping. If there’s a false note in any of the brilliance, it’s Penny’s overreaction to the news that Leonard had a drunken kiss with a colleague while in Antarctica. Given her sexual past, her reaction, spilling into the season premiere in a few weeks, rings falsely.

Still, the series has sustained its premise and become a rich, endearing, and still uproariously funny series. The high definition transfer and audio are superb. There are six special features spaced between the two discs. We have the 2014 Comic-Con Panel, which is interesting for archival purposes, and Shooting Stars: BBT on BBT, a cleverly named bit about Billy Bon Thornton’s turn as a lecherous doctor.

It’s a Quark…It’s an Atom…It’s the #BBTSuperfnas! Which shows the winners of the international contest brought to the soundstage. While engaging, it would have been nicer to show us how they won and the challenges that earned them the points. Best is the loving tribute Here’s to You, Carol Ann Susi and cast and crew talked about the unseen actress’ impact on them and their characters. Finally, there’s a lengthy Gag Reel showing that the complicated dialogue is quite difficult to master.