Disc Reviews

In one corner you have U.S Attorney Chuck "The Scholar" Rhodes, played by Paul Giamatti. He's the reigning world champion with a record of 80+ to 0. In the other corner is Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, played by Damian Lewis; he could also be considered undefeated. He runs a sexy brokerage firm. Both of these guys walk and talk like champs. There's a lot of trash-talk between them, but both have very lurid and potentially devastating skeletons in their perspective closets. But what happens when both find themselves in deep trouble? That's the question as Billions heads into Season 3, where you'll get all 12 episodes on four discs with very minimal extras.

The strength of two very strong performances immerses us in each of these worlds to a point that we discover something none of these players know, or at least would be willing to admit. They are very much the same, and the culture of their careers is more alike than not. Both are willing to bend a rule for "the common good", and both believe themselves to be the heroes of their own stories.

When it comes to Christmas horror films, it’s been a while since there has been a hit that has tackled the holiday and succeeded.  For me you’d have to go back to 2010 with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, or more recently Krampus in 2015. But despite the few hits this time of year, there tend to be several attempts for a horror film to come out and make a name for itself.  This year we get the low-budget offering All The Creatures Were Stirring, an anthology film which on paper seemed to show plenty of promise, but the execution resulted in one of the most tedious films I’ve seen this year.  The film opens up with friends Max (Graham Skipper) and Jenna (Ashley Clements) getting together for the holiday since neither has anyone to spend the holiday with, so rather than be alone they go on a bizarre date.  Max decides to take his date to an independent stage performance that is mostly silently performed.  Each act that the performers put on is a story that we see over the course of the film. Though this may be a unique way to present the separate stories, it definitely lacks in execution.

The first story -- usually when it comes to anthologies this is the one that tends to be the best or at least should be a major hook. 

The things we do for our children. That was all I could think of while watching Fancy Nancy, another Disney Junior series. Nancy is a girly girl with a love of all things glittery and French. Funny, I can think of another little girl who fits that description. It goes without saying that Nalyce was immediately on board for this disc, going as far as to remind me every day that we need to review this show. When we finally set down to watch it, she was all business, turning off all the lights and basically becoming a zombie staring at the screen. I mean, I've never seen her so dedicated to anything. I have to admit a certain level of pride. Sadly, I was not as enamored with the show as she was.

The series is laid out in the typical format for a Disney series: two episodes per thirty-minute format. Each episode imparts an important lesson that every child should screen to function as a productive member of society, such as the importance of sharing and accepting people for who they are.