Disc Type

Jay (O'Neill) is the patriarch of his extended family. He's a pretty wealthy businessman who lives in relative comfort. He's married to a Columbian woman who is much younger than he is. Gloria (Vergara) also brings her son Manny (Rodriquez) to the Pritchard home. They also have their own 5-year old named Joe (Maguire). Jay has two grown children with families of their own. Mitchell (Ferguson) is gay and living with his partner Cameron (Stonestreet). The two have adopted a Vietnamese daughter named Lily. Mitchell is an attorney who supports his family, while Cameron is the jolly stay-at-home dad.

When Michael Weatherly left NCIS it was like losing an old friend, both for the cast and crew of the franchise and for the millions of fans who had invited him into their living rooms for almost 15 years. But he returned to both. His presence was very much alive in the last season of NCIS. He was discussed, shown in flashbacks, and somehow continued to carry on his teasing war with McGee. But he wouldn't return in person. That's because he was busy with the second season of his own show Bull. And while Bull is reportedly based on the early career of Dr. Phil, nothing could be farther from the reality that Bull is 100% Michael Weatherly.

It's hard to believe your pathological inability to make a decision finally paid off.”

Since its debut, Silicon Valley has brilliantly lampooned the tech industry by showing us both the proverbial “guys in a garage” and the self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires obsessed with staying ahead of the curve. Given the fact that we're now in season 5 — and the Pied Piper gang has improbably managed to stay in business this long — the days inside the boys' fratty “hacker hostel” seem especially far off. But while Silicon Valley still delivers an entertaining mix of brainy and bawdy laughs, the series seems to be running out of ways to show us how these brilliant dorks can continue to fail upwards.

Is it such a bad thing to find it refreshing that Trench 11 is a horror film that takes place during World War I?  There is something about it being placed in this time period that immediately makes the familiar plot seem entirely unique.  The easiest way to describe this film is to say it’s The Dirty Dozen meets John Carpenter’s The Thing.  Seriously, if that doesn’t at least raise an eyebrow and catch your interest at least a little bit, then clearly this won’t be the movie for you.  Now, granted, this was shot on a low budget and is ambitious; while it doesn’t quite meet its full potential, Trench 11 is still a fun little flick to throw on late at night.

For its first seven years there have been few departures on the refreshed version of Hawaii 5-O. What we have seen instead is additions to the cast pretty much on an annual basis. The result has been a fairly large ensemble that wasn't there for the start. But Season 8 sees the largest departure to the series since its inception. It started out with Daniel Dae Kim wanting the same pay as the show's two leads, Scott Caan and Alex Loughlin. That wasn't going to happen, and before long Kim started to accuse the show runners of being racist because of the difference in pay. Now keep in mind that every series has a lead or leads who get more money than the rest of the cast.

"Everything is always about Sheldon."

Warner Brothers is very familiar with superheroes. That goes double for the character of Sheldon, played by Jim Parsons on The Big Bang Theory. A common thread in the superhero business, of course, is the origin story. With the popularity of The Big Bang Theory, and the Sheldon character particularly, it isn't all that surprising that we would eventually be treated to Sheldon's origin story. But instead of flashbacks on the series, the decision was made that Sheldon's childhood was territory that could be mined for years.

I’m pretty sure at some point we’ve all played the game Truth or Dare. Pretty much it’s a game we all play in our teenage years, where the results tend to end up with either some hurt feelings, shame, or someone getting injured.  I think the worst instance I can remember in my past was on a camping trip, and it resulted in one of our friends falling into our campfire. As you’d imagine, it didn’t end well, and all our parents were pretty upset.  Over the years the game has been brought to the big screen in a variety of ways, and this incarnation of Truth or Dare puts up a noble effort by injecting a supernatural spin on the game. And the result?  I can honestly say I had a good time with this little flick.

Our group of friends has been playing the same game of tag for 30 years.”

The tag(haha)line on the Blu-ray cover for this film states, “Based on a True Story. We're Not Kidding.” The idea of a life-long game of tag is so ridiculous, the people who made this movie can hardly believe it themselves. But while Tag has some fun presenting a children's game as if it were a big-budget action flick, the film ultimately (and ironically) falters when it veers away from the silly real-life premise and tries to shoehorn dramatic moments to make it feel more like a movie.

"We've got a whole new game of tiddlywinks."

It's the unlucky 13th season of Supernatural, and it might be the most loaded season ever. We have a basket full of bad guys and gals, and the Winchester Brothers have got their work cut out for them, as if last season wasn't busy enough. The Winchesters found and then lost their Mom. Crowley has finally bit the dust, and he will be greatly missed at least by this fan. Lucifer's son has finally been born, and there are going to be a lot of bad folks wanting to get their hands on that little guy. Of course, he isn't such a little guy any more. He's now the appearance of an older teenager, and he has some mad wicked power.

There is something about the notion of movie magic that I believe can grab hold of an audience member and pull them from their living room seat and into the story they are watching.  This movie magic seems to occur more often these days, as special effects seem to take leaps and bounds every year as new technology is created to dazzle us all.  Here’s the thing, though, sure, it’s great how we can now see lifelike 50-story monsters destroying cities, or how underwater worlds can exist, but none of it matters if the story or the characters are not relatable.  If the story isn’t there, then your big effects are nothing more than overpriced cartoons that will be forgotten by the time the audience has exited the theater.  When it comes to Higher Power, the best way to describe it is to use the overused expression, “all style and no substance.”