Black Sails: The Complete First Season (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
Black Sails: The Complete First Season comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on January 6 via Anchor Bay Entertainment.
The Starz series, executive produced by director Michael Bay (Transformers films and Pain & Gain) and created by Jonathan Steinberg (Jericho, Human Target) and Robert Levine (Touch), the story centers on Captain Flint (Toby Stephens), an intimidating pirate captain whose new addition to his crew is an upstart named John Silver (Luke Arnold).
Set in the British colony of New Providence Island in 1715, Black Sails also stars Hannah New as Eleanor Guthrie, the daughter of a smuggler who teams with Flint and turns the pirates’ accrued loot into financial gain.
Along with season one’s eight episodes, the Black Sails Blu-ray ($59.99) and DVD ($49.98) contains the following Bonus Features:
Black Sails: A Look Inside
Dress To Kill
Pirate Camp
Folklore Is Finished: Pirate Politics
A Place In History
Building The Behemoth
Black Sails: The Complete First Season (Anchor Bay Entertainment)
The second season of Black Sails stats January 24 on Starz.
Downton Abbey Season 5makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut (via PBS Distribution) on January 27, 2015.
Season 5 features returnees Maggie Smith, Hugh Bonneville, Michelle Dockery, and Elizabeth McGovern, along with new characters played by Richard E. Grant (Girls), Anna Chancellor (The Hour), and Rade Sherbedgia (24). Harriet Walker and Peter Egan also reprise their roles as Lady Shackleton and Lord Flintshire.
Forty minutes of extra video, along with the full season, are featured on the Blu-ray ($54.99) and DVD ($49.99) versions (the show will also be available as a digital download).
Season five of Downton Abbey premieres on Masterpiece (PBS) starting January 4, with the season finale airing March 1.
Also airing on January 4 is The Manners of Downton Abbey, a one-hour documentary that has on-set historian Alastair Bruce, along with members of the Downton Abbeycast and crew simulate the social etiquette of the day. The special also includes interviews with Bonneville and Dockery, as they talk about the challenge and joy of playing characters from a different time period. The doc will also be available on Blu-ray ($29.99) and DVD ($24.99) on January 6.
During its illustrious run, Downton Abbey has garnered 11 Emmys, two Golden Globes, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Previously available for the PlayStation 4 and PC, Pure Poolwas recently released on Xbox One, and fans of the console who are in need of some casual gaming have come to the right place.
Whether you’re a pool shark or a sports geek taking a halftime break from watching a football game, Pure Pool is a title (priced at $12.99) with universal appeal. If you want to try a few free games in single player mode, this title is worth a look simply as a pick up and play experience. After all, how hard can hitting a few balls on a table be?
Pure Pool – VooFoo Studios & Ripstone Publishing
Indie developers VooFoo Studios and Ripstone Publishing bring their own distinct vision to the proceedings, as Pure Pool‘s hyper-real graphics and immersive environment are its creative calling cards. Once you step into this bar/lounge, ambient instrumental music (at times hypnotic, other times it’s jazzing) surrounds the area, putting you in a relaxed state as you prepare to make your first break.
Pure Pool makes excellent use of the Xbox One controller, as the left stick is employed to aim your cue stick at the intended target. The right stick, once its pulled back and moved forward, is used to set the action in motion. If you hold the “B” button while pushing the right stick, you’ll put spin on the ball, and in turn simultaneously pressing the “A” button gives the ball a more accurate trajectory. Though it requires a bit more coordination than pulling on a trigger and pressing a button, the control mechanics are a perfect fit for the game.
All of my Pure Pool playing time occurred as a single player, and although a huge part of the title deals with competing against other members online with one on one matches and custom leagues, I had more than enough fun playing by my lonesome.
Pure Pool – VooFoo Studios & Ripstone Publishing
Part of the fun with Pure Poolis the amount of in-game achievements you can accrue during you’re playing – and earning various icons after completing various trick shots or potting a certain combination of balls is one of the reasons why I’ll continue to keep playing the title for weeks to come.
Pure Pool‘s physics and gameplay is also top notch, as the title gives an accurate representation of the pure strategy and hand/eye coordination that’s involved with this all too overlooked sport. The controls to execution experience was a seamless experience, and during my two hours of play the cue stick responded to every single command from my controller.
Along with its immersive visual design, Pure Pool is also a dead-eye shooter with its gameplay presentation (the audio of the balls bouncing and smashing throughout the table is also realistic). You can also customize your pool table and cue (my table has a space-age theme) which is also an added bonus.
I’ve also downloaded the Pure Pool VooFoo DNA Pack, which enables players to take on the developers of the game, and if I ever break out of my own social rut I may challenge these good folks to a game or two. Until then, I’ll continue my single player ways with Pure Pool, a diverting game that thankfully breaks in all the right directions.
Pure Pool – VooFoo Studios & Ripstone Publishing
To download Pure Pool, please go to the Xbox Store.
Robert Downey Jr. & Robert Duvall in The Judge – (Credit: Claire Folger)
The Judge, a drama headlined by Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, hits Blu-ray and DVD on January 27 via Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
The story centers on Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.), a highly successful defense attorney who returns to his hometown for his mother’s funeral. Hank’s reunion with his family is bittersweet due to his estranged relationship with his father (Duvall), who serves as the town’s judge. When his father’s accused of murder, Hank takes on the most important case of his life. Jeremy Strong and Vincent D’Onofrio play Hank’s brothers with Vera Farmiga starring as the lawyer’s former flame.
The Judge Blu-ray Combo Pack Special Features Include:
Commentary from director David Dobkin
The featurettes “Inside the Judge” and “Getting Deep with Dax Shepard” (he plays a well intentioned but inexperienced lawyer).
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary from David Dobkin
***The Standard DVD edition release has the “Getting Deep with Dax Shepard” featurette.
One of The Judge’s strengths lies in Downey Jr.’s innate chemistry with the ensemble cast. Hank Palmer is a lawyer who’s still living with a chip on his shoulder, only to have those edges slowly worn off by letting go of his past.
Since it clocks in at 141 minutes, The Judge thankfully doesn’t skimp on character development, and one wonders what David Dobkin left out of his final cut. Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl, Country Strong) is wonderful as a young girl who flirts with Hank at a local bar, but her character is understandably under developed (there’s a ton of story to tell in The Judge). Maybe Meester, as well as Samantha Powell’s (VeraFarmiga) relationship with Hank, will be given a bit more “screen time” with deleted scenes.
As it stands, TheJudgeis one of this year’s most underrated films, and it’s great to see Robert Downey Jr. in a dramatic role that has nothing to do with the Marvel Universe.
During The Judge press conference, Robert Downey Jr. talked about the universality of the film and the joys of working with Robert Duvall.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (opening December 17) is director Peter Jackson’s third and final installment of Bilbo Baggins’ (Martin Freeman) heroic quest against darkness and the evil dragon known as Smaug (voiced by Freeman’s Sherlock Holmes compatriot Benedict Cumberbatch).
Although J.R.R. Tolkien’s undertaking of Middle Earth towers above the fray with its sheer ambition, much of its resonance originates from the simple theme that each individual, no matter how big or small, can be the hero of their own story. In the quote below, Benedict Cumberbatch talks about Tolkien’s idea of heroism?
“With Tolkien you get the feeling it’s about proving that you don’t have to seem heroic. Heroic actions can come from small people. It’s about levels of sacrifice and that’s what is truly heroic – the small deed or the big deed done by the small person.”
Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins – Warner Bros. Pictures & MGM (Photo Credit: Mark Pokorny)
To hear Benedict Cumberbatch talk about the “epic odyssey” that surrounds The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, click on the media bar below:
It’ll be a “White Christmas” for millions of people this holiday season, and in celebration of the holidays (and a great artist), the documentary American Masters: Bing Crosby Rediscovered premieres tonight at 8 pm on PBS (check local listings).
The installment, which serves as the series’ Season 28 finale, centers on Crosby’s illustrious career and his family life (the movie is also available on DVD per PBS Distribution). The documentary also has a holiday encore presentation on Friday, December 26 on PBS at 9 pm.
Narrated by Oscar nominated actor Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), the project features interviews with Cosby’s widow Kathryn, daughters Mary and his sons Harry and Nathaniel.
(l to r) Nathaniel, Mary and Harry with their parents Kathryn and Bing Crosby as seen in “American Masters: Bing Crosby Rediscovered.” Photo credit: Courtesy of Bing Crosby Enterprises
The project doesn’t sugarcoat the entertainer’s personal life, as it details his own struggles with his first wife Dixie and their sons Gary (he penned the 1983 memoir Going My Own Way), Dennis, Phillip, and Lindsay. Entertainers Michael Feinstein, Tony Bennett, biographer Garry Giddens, and record producer Ken Barnes are also interviewed for the doc.
“I’ve never seen an entertainer more comfortable in his own skin, more certain of who he was,” says Emmy-winning filmmaker Robert Trachtenberg, whose previous American Masters documentaries include Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, On Cukor, Gene Kelly: Anatomy of aDancer and Cary Grant: A Class Apart. “With the new material I’ve found, I think the breadth, depth and candor of his story will hopefully allow people to see him in a new light.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of Bing Crosby Enterprises
During his career, Crosby amassed almost 400 hit singles, starred in the popular “Road” films with comedian Bob Hope, and won the Oscar for the 1944 flick Going My Way.
Football is ramping up with playoffs just around the corner, and EA Sports has released a Holiday Edition of Madden NFL 15which contains over $20 worth of Ultimate Team content. The digitally exclusive iteration of the game is available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network through January 12, 2015.
Gamers who download the title receive the full version of Madden NFL 15, 10 Pro Packs for Madden Ultimate team, and a Ghosts of Madden Past Pack that includes quarterback legend Dan Marino and former Super Bowl champs Emmitt Smith (running back) and Ray Lewis (linebacker).
Madden NFL 15 is available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. For more info, please go to http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl.
Guitar god Jeff Beck hits the road early next year on a solo and co-headlining tour with ZZ Top. Beck’s run withZZ Top are rescheduled dates from September, in which their double bill tour was cut short to an injury sustained by ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill.
“We’re so glad that Dusty made a full recovery and now, we are looking forward to getting back out there and finish what we started,” said Beck, a twice inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist (as a solo musician and as a member of The Yardbirds).
Tickets to Beck’s solo tour is on sale starting December 5. Vocalist Jimmy Hall, bassist Rhonda Smith, drummer Jonathan Joseph, and guitarist Nicolas Meier are joining Beck on the tour.
Along with his tour commitments, Beck is also working on his next solo album which is expected to come out in 2015.
Tour details are below:
April 16 The Paramount Huntington, NY April 17 The Paramount Huntington, NY April 18 The Capitol Theatre Port Chester, NY April 19 Orpheum Theatre Boston, MA April 21 Ulster Performing Arts Center Kingston, NY April 22 Bergen Performing Arts Center Englewood, NJ April 24 Count Basie Theatre Red Band, NJ April 25 The Strand – Capital Performing Arts CTR York, PA April 26 The PalaceTheatre Greensburg,PA
With ZZ Top:
April 30 Cedar Park Center Cedar Park, TX May 1 Winstar Casino Thackerville, OK May 2 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion The Woodlands, TX May 3 Concrete Street Corpus Christi, TX May 7 MidFlorida Credit Union Amph. Tampa, FL May 8 Cruzan Amphitheater West Palm Beach, FL May 9 St. Augustine Amph. St. Augustine, FL May 10 Verizon Wireless Amph. Alpharetta, GA
The blood red poster for Starry Eyes pretty much says it all, as Alexandra Essoegives a disturbingly magnetic performance as Sarah, a Hollywood starlet who will do anything to land a promising movie role.
Starry Eyes – Alex Essoe
Echoing David Lynch’s classic Mulholland Falls and Brian De Palma’s psychological thrillers from the 1970s (Sisters, Carrie), Starry Eyes is as unsettling as the day is long, and if you love creepy, haunting journeys of the soul, Starry Eyes, which is now available on VOD and iTunes, delivers the goods.
I’ve seen a ton of this year’s awards driven performances, and though she won’t receive a huge Oscar campaign push from the major studios, Alexandra Essoe’s work in Starry Eyes is one of my favorite performances this year (she certainly gives Sissy Spacek and Jamie Lee Curtis a run for their money).
Living in the fringes of Hollywood, Sarah has “starry eyes” for A-list actresses of yesteryear, as her apartment wall is adorned with pictures of some of Tinseltown’s most alluring leading ladies. To prep for the role, Alexandra Essoe used Rita Hayworth’s iconic performance in Gilda as a form of inspiration.
Sarah, desperate to see her name in lights, makes the ultimate Faustian bargain in Tinseltown, and unfortunately landing a bigtime movie role leads to a devastating transformation.
During my sit down with Alexandra Essoe, she talked about the keys of staying in the moment as an actress:
For PlayStation 3 gamers yearning to save a bit of cash with their in-game purchases, the free to play title Ace Combat Infinityis holding its “Infinity Festival” sale through December 2.
The sale enables players to purchase the such in-game items as the Ace Combat Infinity Rookie set for $0.99 (its regularly priced at $1.99). If you want to purchase the Unlimited Campaign Play Tickets, you’ll shell out just $14.99 (regular price: $19.99).
Running until December 1, the “Defeat the Butterfly Master” online co-op missions ranking event has gamers competing to earn the most points from their missions. Winners of the event receive a “Butterfly Master” limited emblem and an “MiG-21bis-Sagittarius” limited special aircraft.
