True Blood – The
Complete Fourth Season (HBO Blu-ray) + Entourage:
The Complete Eighth and Final Season (HBO Blu-ray) + Curb Your Enthusiasm: The Complete Eighth Season (HBO DVD)
True Blood – The
Complete Fourth Season
Picture: A- Sound: A Extras: C Episodes: C-
The classic ‘monsters’ have captivated audiences well before TV or
cinema even existed. In recent years it
seems that popularity of the ‘monster’ genre has exploded. Everywhere you turn there is a new film or
series about vampires or werewolves; not to mention the undying fascination
with zombies (pun intended). Some
films/series are better than others, but there are tons more dreadful
incarnations than captivatingly creative ones.
I would consider True Blood to
be leaning toward the dreadful side of the genre.
Perhaps I just don’t get it?
But the sexually infused, gruesome, vampiric soap opera that is True Blood is poorly written and is
only saved slightly by a talented, good looking, enthusiastic cast. [SPOILER
ALERT] The Fourth Season picks up where Season
Three left off…Sookie is a fairy.
Yes, you heard me right…a fairy.
After being whisked off to Fairy Central, the audience gets introduced
to her once long lost grandfather (Gary Cole).
Her Grandfather (amongst other) has been in fairyland eating some odd,
glowing fruit and whereas in his mind he has only been gone a few hours from
earth, he in fact has been gone 20+ years.
Sookie quickly realizes that this land of fantasy is anything but
fantastic and flees with her grandfather in hand; being chased by evil fairies
the whole way. Back on earth the series
quickly wraps up what everyone outside of Sookie has been doing for the past
year, because whereas she thinks she has been gone minutes (good ol’ fairy-time
for ya) it has been a year.
I had high hopes for True Blood
as Season One was interesting
and Season Two kept it going
(staying far enough away from Twilight),
but since then Season Three and Four have been an odd mesh of soap
opera drama, HBO language/sex, and poorly placed horror/fantasy that I just
don’t know where it is going. Quite
frankly, I don’t want to know. Fans who
have invested time, emotion, and energy are sticking around drooling at every
turn (many having loved this season), but this reviewer has had it with True Blood…put a stake in it.
Extras for this season include:
·
Audio
Commentaries (6 in total that actually do a splendid job of giving
solid insight from cast and crew, mixing the opinions together so nothing is
too boring or one sided)
·
Inside the Episodes (Basically episode recaps after viewers have
watched that episode)
·
True Blood: The
Final Touches (A sit down with the FX team to show how the ‘magic of
True Blood’ is brought to life in post-production)
·
Enhanced Viewing
Mode
·
True Blood Lines (An interesting
HD feature that allows the viewer to keep better track of the menagerie of
characters)
Entourage: The
Complete Eighth and Final Season
Picture: B Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: C
A wonderful series that knew it was time to go (perhaps a season too
late); Entourage holds a special
place in this reviewer’s DVR…at least until the next slightly interesting
series comes along. New to HBO Blu-ray
is the Eighth and Final Season of Entourage, here to wrap up all loose
ends and give the audience what they want.
I always found Entourage to
be a fun venture into nonsense. The stories
of Entourage were never too deep,
but were a good waste of time; kind of like getting together with a group of
old buddies. In this season we see
relationships end, reunite, and generally wrap things up; never stepping too
far out of their comfort zone or rocking the boat.
Essentially this season was a firm hand shake good bye, as we see
Vince (Adrian Grenier) taking a back seat to his costars and watching everything
fall together. The spectator like
portrayal of Vince (though a bit odd for a main character) was interesting and
allowed the audience to recap and find closure on many storylines including E
(Kevin Connolly) and Sloan’s (Emmanuelle Chriqui) relationship status, Ari
(Jeremy Piven) and his wife’s feud, and even the more boring Turtle plot
points.
In the end, it was an opportunity given to the series to ride off into
the sunset, something that is not afforded too many series these days; but
being that it is a successful HBO commodity I suppose it was both expected and
warranted.
Entourage was a fun series,
I am not sure how well it will hold up over time as it seems very ‘in the now’
of pop culture. Ten years from now
viewers may look back and laugh at the hair styles, attitudes, and generally
all things “2000’s;” but hey, it was fun while it lasted! Right Marky Mark?
Extras for this final season include:
·
Hollywood Sunset:
A Farewell to Entourage (The one and only extra, kind of a letdown as this
is the final season; commentaries and a better ‘behind the scenes look’ would
have been nice)
Technical
Features for True Blood: The Complete
Fourth Season & Entourage: The
Complete Eighth and Final Season
Whereas both
series are nice in their own right, True
Blood stands out as the better of the two productions now on High
Definition Blu-ray. True Blood is a presented in a 1080p, AVC Encoded wonderful 1.78X1
widescreen that could almost be cinematic.
The colors are strong, framed by inky blacks, with fine details popping
throughout each and every episode making for a truly pleasurable/yet gruesome
experience. Entourage lacks the pop True
Blood holds as it appears quite average (almost DVD quality) in its 1.78X1
widescreen and often times distracting with digital noise (especially on whiter
the backgrounds). Though it says it is
high def, it is hard to believe. The
sound on True Blood is equally
impressive as its picture in its 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Track that pulls out
all the stops as a creepy, suspenseful atmosphere is created; whispering when
needed and at the same token blasting into life. The entire soundscape is utilized and creates
an enjoyable experience. Entourage is less than stellar as the
dialogue-centric series skids by only utilizing the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
track for music and a the few more ‘actiony’ scenes that exist. Dialogue does remain crisp and clear.
Curb Your
Enthusiasm: The Complete Eighth Season
Picture: B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Episodes: B+
Larry David is hilarious and his Curb
Your Enthusiasm series is by far one of the funniest on television
today. After lending his comedy genius
to ‘the show about nothing’ (Seinfeld) he hit us hard again with a ‘realer’
series (again about nothing) that highlighted his personal narcoses that gave
life Seinfeld in the first
place. In Curb we have experienced time and time again, season after season
the hilarious intellect that Larry David uses to focus in on the minutest
detail of daily life that frustrates, irritate, and generally befuddle most
people. Then he takes that sticking
point and satirizes, blends, and uses his warped sense of reality to create one
of the funniest series out there.
In Season Eight we return
to the world of Larry David with a wide range of annoyances to be
discussed. Whereas audiences were
initially given the impression that this season would be Larry’s return to his Seinfeld roots in New York, it took
until episode six for us get him to his old stomping grounds. Even after he returned to the Big Apple we
didn’t experience the Larry David audiences were expecting and in the end it
was a bust. This is not to say that Season 8 was horrible by any means,
because it wasn’t. The material was
fresh, funny, and just as taboo as ever.
My main complaint would be that this season (as well as last season)
lost its footing a bit; that is to say it did not flow as nicely. Curb hit
its stride a few seasons back, but since then has been floundering to deliver a
cohesive product. The elements are there
in terms or writing, cast, and production but some elements seem forced as the
improvisation that the series has so proudly worked off of at times ventures
into area of obvious, idiotic slapstick that just doesn’t work.
I love Curb and will
continue to watch as topics like “Vow of Silence,” “The Bald Code,” and Larry
versus Michael J Fox keeps drawing me back for more. The series is brilliantly funny and delivers
week after week, I just hope they cast/crew don’t lose their footing any
further in terms of the whole package.
The technical features on this season set are in line with the
previous season and whereas not much improved, hold steady and deliver a
quality HBO product. The picture is a
solid anamorphic Widescreen with bright colors, high HD filming quality with
minimal grain/distortion, and clean lines.
The sound is a 5.1 DTS-MA mix that comes mainly from the center for this
dialogue-centric series, though the surrounds do kick in for the musical
scores. Little to complain about here as
everything is crisp, clean, and clear though a High Def Blu-ray release would
be nice.
Extras this season include:
·
Round Table Discussion with Larry and the Cast
·
Leon’s Guide to New York City
- Michael P. Dougherty II
