Tim's Christmas gifts (to himself)

In what has become a yearly tradition for me, I was once again braving the crowds at Target the day after Christmas.

No, I wasn't looking for half off decorations or discounted lights. Target seems to only want to put this one item I want on sale at this time.

Each year I plan a little better and learn more tricks to get in, grab it and get out as quickly as possible.

Oh, the item?

Yes, I own every season of "Psych" on DVD and I've purchased each one at Target during the holidays. I've never spent more than $14.99 for a set.

One year, I got a season for $12.99.

With a usual price of $39-$44, it's almost a steal for $14.99.

And this is a show where if I need cheering up, I can just grab a disc and start laughing. I think my disc with "American Duos" on it might need to be replaced I've played it so much.

I did grab another excellent deal on Super Monday (the day after Christmas).

Best Buy had season two of "Community" for $14.99, with a usual price of $39.99. Add to that the $5 Reward Zone certificate I got (and free shipping), I got the set for less than $11. 

Great DVD deal

Talk about an awesome deal.

Season one of the short lived NBC drama "Life" for only $5!

And this is no sale item. This is its regular price at Target.

I found it on a back end cap facing the rest of the DVDs. It was alongside collected sets of shows like "Deadliest Catch" and "My Life on the D-List."

Sure, the first season is only 11 episodes, but you can't beat that kind of price.

The set also includes a number of extras including deleted scenes, a blooper reel, audio commentary and four featurettes.

Green Lantern takes over Wondercon

While plenty of great comic book news came out of Wondercon, this weekend was all about Green Lantern.

From the awesome four minutes of footage from the upcoming movie "Green Lantern" to the spectacular "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights" animated DVD to the comic book panel, I felt like I had joined the Lantern Corps.

Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns explained why he thinks the character has become so popular in recent years.

"The types of stories you can tell with Green Lantern, because it's so different from every other hero that's out there cause it's really sci-fi," Johns said. "Green Lantern is much more than a superhero, it's a sci-fi epic."

The live action film stars Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and Blake Lively as Carol Ferris. The first trailer didn't generate the expected buzz, however, the extended footage shown at Wondercon was amazing and got fans excited about the film again.

The clip featured Jordan finding a crashed Abin Sur and receiving his ring, he then says the oath (a totally geeked out moment,) and travels to Oa. The excitement in the room was ridiculous when Reynolds appeared on stage and led the crowd in the Green Lantern oath.

Reynolds was endlessly charming and the fans loved him.

Following the "Green Lantern" panel, there was a screening of the animated DVD release "Green Lantern: Emerald Knights." The film features stories of various Green Lanterns woven together as the Corps prepares to battle a powerful foe.

The cast includes the voices of Nathan Fillion, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Issacs, Kelly Hu and Wade Williams. The film is executive produced by Bruce Timm and features voice direction by Andrea Romano, who have worked on many of DC's most acclaimed animated projects.

The movie is an exciting, action-packed adventure that serves as a nice intro to the Green Lantern world for non-nerds. Fillion is perfectly cast as Jordan, showing the perfect blend of heroism and cockiness.

"Emerald Knights" hits stores on June 7, preceding the live action theatrical, which will be released June 17.

At conventions like Wondercon, it's all about buzz coming out of the show, and this year Green Lantern took the crown. While it was the biggest blockbuster at the convention, it also had the most to prove.

In the days since the clip hit the Internet, fan excitement has been re-energized and the film has regained ground against its competitors. Which is exactly what DC and Warner Bros. needed.

'Supernatural' news extravanganza

With The CW's endless hiatus almost over, it's time to once again talk about "Supernatural."

Michael Ausiello has a preview up of the highly anticipated western themed episode airing April 22. The story includes photos and story secrets about Sam meeting Samuel Colt.

On top of that, Warner Home Video announced today that it will be releasing the DVD set "Supernatural: The Anime Series" on July 26.

The series is the first ever live action program to be redone in Japanese anime. It follows the stories of "Supernatural's" first two seasons with prequels and spinoffs adding to the season's story arcs.

All 22 episodes feature Jared Padalecki as Sam and Jensen Ackles appears in select episodes as Dean. The series' stars also introduce each episode and appear in bonus content with show creator Eric Kripke.

The set will be available in Blu-Ray and Standard discs, ranging in price from $50-55.

Black Friday purchases

So, I waited to post this because Amazon had a great deal for the first season of "Dollhouse" for $9.99 on Blu-ray. Too bad I woke up early this morning to find a bunch on nonsense regarding buying the set. There were two things I wanted, each released hours after each other.

But, these Amazon deals needed to be purchased within 15 minutes of clicking on it. Meaning I would need to buy them both separately and pay shipping for both.

No thanks.

I did, however, get some good movie deals on Black Friday.

And kept a tradition alive.

For the past few years I have gotten a great deal on a season set of "Psych."

This year I thought Borders had a great deal for season four for $14.99, but my store was sold out.

Enter Target's amazing TWO day sale.

They had the unadvertised "Psych" season four for only $12.99! In fact, they had all the seasons for that price.

I also picked up "The Best of The Greatest American Hero" (four episodes) for only $1.99!

Big fan of that show and especially cool because I had just shown my niece the opening of the show on YouTube the day before.

And lastly I got "Elf" for $3.99. What makes this deal great is that the DVD is not a bare bones release. This is the full on special, two-disc edition with loads of extras.

My family loves that film and now we don't have to wait for the USA Network to air it.

And no commericals!

The home entertainment war is about over

Last week I actually walked into a Blockbuster video.

Yeah, shocking.

I was there to look at Playstation 3 games (super expensive) to rent when I overheard an interesting conversation.

The employee behind the register was telling a customer how bad business was and how Blockbuster is basically going out of business.

What do I care, I have Netflix.

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Blockbuster had already made a deal with Warner Bros. for a 28 day exclusive right to any new release. That means that Netflix won't get "The Blind Side" until its been on Blockbuster rental shelves for a month.

Now it's being reported that Blockbuster made a deal with Fox and Sony that mirrors the Warner Bros. deal.

The whole thing confuses the heck out of me.

OK, I am going to try to explain my frustration with a sports reference.

Say Netflix are the Lakers and Blockbuster are the New Jersey Nets (Currently the worst team in the NBA). Why would anyone make any sort of exclusive deal with the Nets that alienates Lakers' fans?

I have emptied my Netflix queue. Why should I bother when I can't get new releases for a month?

"The Tournament": Best Action Movie of 2009

"The Tournament" is a movie that has flown under the radar, playing only at a handful of film festivals during the summer of 2009. After it was well recieved at Cannes, it followed to play in festivals in Germany, Finland and finally, in the US at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival in October, and was released on DVD a few days later.

A rather genius story written and directing by virtual unknowns in Hollywood, is about a tournament that takes place in a different city around the world every seven years. Gathering 30 of the world's best assassins, the Bookmaker pits them against each other and watches every moment, as rich businessmen bet on the winner. Tracking devices are inserted into their bodies so the betters can track them, and they can track each other. With only 24 hours to kill the other 29 gamers, it's kill or die for an enormous cash prize.

With a story that can be seen as a typical shoot' em up action film, it is anything but. Joshua Harlow, played by Ving Rhymes(Mission Impossible), is already a Tournament champion, but returns to avenge the death of his wife, whose killer is another player. Lai Lai Zhen, played by Kelly Hu (X2), fights for redemption and the right to disappear forever. And in it for the joy of the kill is Miles Slade, played by Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries), and is probably the craziest of them all. However, in the wrong place at the wrong time is Father MacAvoy, played by Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe), a priest who accidentally requires a tracking device and is suspected a player. Taken under Lai Lai's wing, she is determined to protect him in a deadly game of all or nothing.

A combination of great dialogue, great and terribly cringing death scenes, and strong acting on Carlyle and Somerhalder's parts, this film is definitely not for the faint of heart...literally. However, if you don't mind some blood on the walls, and a Texan who snaps off fingers with his cigar cutter as prizes, then you'll love it. As an aspiring writer who sometimes struggles creating original action scenes, it's clear that these three writers did not have that problem. A fly on a bus windshield, a slaughter in a strip club, and imploding from a charged tracking device, "The Tournament" is ingenious not only in story, but just plain cool action.

As a person that loves action movies for the sheer entertainment of seeing how writers come up with different ways to kill people, this film fascinated me from start to finish. It's a non-stop action thrill ride created for an audience to simply enjoy watching a few familiar faces and being in your seat for an 90 minutes.

There are few films today that give an audience the simple love of going to the movies. "The Tournament" is definitely one of these.

I enjoyed every minute of this film. From Robert Carlyle's priest with a drinking problem, and Ian Somerhalder's completely and utterly insane and unhinged Texan that kills anyone and anything in his way, "The Tournament" will make you laugh, cringe, gasp, and even cheer.

Worst cartoon ever

I have always been a big comic book fan, obviously.

As a child I had all the toys and watched all the cartoons. Recently the "Super Friends: The Lost Episodes" was released on DVD. Meaning episodes that never aired on television.

I rented it through Netflix and was eager to watch it. I actually ripped open the envelope as quickly as possible.

The first episode I saw "The Rollercoaster" I clicked on to watch.

And boy, did my soul die a little.

The plot involves two not-so-tough looking gang members (they look like a nerdy Fonzie) bringing a very nerdy, overweight guy with glasses to an shut down amusement park as part of a gang initiation. First problem, a guy like that would never be accepted by any gang. Sorry.

So they sneak onto the rollercoaster and open the electrical box to start the ride. The key for the box falls out (remember that.) They get on the ride and of course it goes out of control and the coaster starts to fall apart.

Luckily, the Wonder Twins and their monkey Gleek are coming out of a movie RIGHT across the street. They run over there to help.

Jayna turns into a giant eagle. And before Zan can transform I guess "Bucket of water?" And he then turns into a bucket of water.

They fly up and try to save the gang members, but can't. They go down to try to shut the ride down, but the electrical box is locked! Even though the key just fell out five minutes earlier. If she just looked down...

So they send Gleek to get The Atom at the Justice League HQ.

In the meantime Jayna turns into a walrus and Zan into an ice car. Yes, an ice car. They save two of the gang bangers, but can't save the nerdy one.

At Justice League HQ Gleek is screaming at the Atom in monkey talk. Now a little background, Ray Palmer who is the Atom is supposed to be one of the smartest men alive in the DC Universe. But, in the cartoon? Not so much. Here is his response to Gleek.

"What's wrong Gleek? I can't understand you?"

Maybe because he's a freaking monkey!!!

So Atom follows Gleek back and shrinks down to fit through the keyhole and saves the day.

The gang members get a lecture on true friendship and whatever.

I promptly put the DVD back in the envelope and sent it back.

February - Dead zone for movies?

Everyone knows that summer belongs to big budget blockbusters and the fall belongs to Oscar bait (films trying really hard for an Academy Award.)

But, what about the winter?

Considering that the first big hit of the season was "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," it means it's hard to find a good movie out there nowadays. The No. 1 movie in America right now is "He's Just Not That Into You." Yeah...

So, in looking at Rotten Tomatoes today to see what is out in theaters and on DVD this week it became a little clearer.

Three wide releases in theaters: "Friday the 13th," "The International" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic." All three are considered "rotten," with favorable percentages under 60 percent. "The International" is very close at 56 percent, with the other two in the 20's.

The releases on DVD aren't fairing any better. "W," "Nights in Rodanthe," "Soul Men" and "Miracle at St. Anna" are all in the "rotten" category as well.

The only "Fresh" release of the week is the Oscar nominated "Frozen River."

One good film to see against seven not so good movies is not a good percentage to have if you are bored.

I guess the morale of the story is to go buy a good book this week.

Tim's Black Friday memories/pickups

I hate Black Friday shopping with a passion. I used to work for Wal-Mart in the electronics section and always had to "open" on Black Friday, which meant I had to wake up extra early and deal with throngs of deal seeking "people." I use that term loosely because for some reason cheap TVs and other crap bring out the worst in people. I have seen it all from yelling, fighting, tugs of war over clothes to shopping carts being rammed into heels for people not moving fast enough.

During one year you could hear the rumbling of feet and carts coming from the front of the store. It sounded like a stampede, as if it were the Perris California running of the bulls or something. Another year all I did was fill the row in front of the department with 19 inch televisions, go to the back, load up more and repeat... for 3 hours. And, I apparently, wasn't going fast enough.

This, and an aversion to super large crowds, has helped me avoid going out for Black Friday door busters or sales only from 5 a.m. to noon. One exception is Target, who has done away with door busters in favor of two day sales. Meaning I can stroll in say around 10:30 a.m. get what I want and leave, without having to wait in line... like what happened this morning.

I picked up season 2 of "Psych" for $13.98, which I believe, is a great deal. The Target receipt says it normally costs $39.99. A good basis for comparison is the uber-cheap Web site Deep Discount DVD, which lists "Psych: Season 2" for $39.96. I'll take a $25 savings any day.

Another good deal, sort of, was the "I Am Legend" DVD for $3.98. I say sort of because it is the bare bones version with no real extra features other than some comics. Target lists it as originally costing $13 and Deep Discount DVD has it for $6.58. So I saved about $3.


Now you must excuse me so I can go watch Shawn and Gus perform "Shout."