JANUARY 19, 2011 FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS Michael Giltz Freelance writer and raconteur Posted: January 18, 2011 07:34 PM BIO Become a Fan Get Email Alerts Bloggers' Index 9 3 views 1 2Inspiring Funny Hot Scary Outrageous Amazing Weird CrazyDVDs: Archer -- The Funniest Sitcom Around Read More: Animation , Archer , Conspiracy Theories , Dances With Wolves , Dark Skies , Dvds , George Clooney , Gulliver's Travels , Kevin Costner , Martin Scorsee , Movies , Raging Bull , Ricky Gervais , Robert DeNiro , The X-Files , TV Shows , Entertainment News ARCHER SEASON ONE (Fox; $29.98) -- Let me put my cards on the table: the animated, raunchy, very adult spy show Archer is the funniest sitcom on TV.</p><p> You can catch up with the first 10 episodes right now.</p><p> Season two starts January 27 at 10 p.m. on fx.</p><p> Either way, you'll enjoy the savviest voice cast on TV, including Jessica Walter and (sometimes) Jeffrey Tambor from Arrested Development , the hilarious Aisha Tyler and Chris Parnell and above all the drolly deadpan H.</p><p> Jon Benjamin as the drunken, sexist, lazy but somehow effective field agent Sterling Archer aka "Duchess." It's basically a work place comedy given a new spin by having the work place be a for-hire spy agency and our Matt Helm-like hero having to endure his overbearing boss, also known as his mother.</p><p> The sexual gags are very explicit so this is notfor people who find South Park crass.</p><p> But if your taste runs a little blue, you're gonna love this show, which is wildly quotable and -- thanks to Benjamin and Tyler -- features the sexiest, funniest duo on TVsince Dave and Maddie sparred on Moonlighting .</p><p> Yep, I'm a fan.</p><p> MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOSTFOLLOW HUFFINGTON POSTBIG NEWS: The Kardashians | Gwyneth Paltrow | Celebrity Splits | Jon & Kate Gosselin | Smarter Ideas | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP SHARE THIS STORY Submit this story Get Entertainment Alerts Sign Up So Sorry: See Our Golden Globes WORST-DRESSED Comments (661) Golden Globes President Lashes Out At Ricky Gervais Comments (2,914) PHOTOS: Jennifer Aniston Bares Chest, Talks Stomach & Rear End Comments (1,536) Gilt MANual Memo to Young Hollywood: This Is How You Do It Comments (132) The Key To Happiness: A Taboo For Adults? Comments (101) Roy Sekoff: Palin 'A Genius At Playing The Victim' Comments (525) PHOTOS: Hayden Panettiere Shows Off Chest, Boyfriend Comments (394) LEBANON ($38.96 BluRay or $28.95 regular DVD; Sony) -- The top winner at Venice, I was really looking forward to Lebanon , a film about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon as seen through the eyes of soldiers in one tank headed into enemy territory.</p><p> I thought it might be a corker a la Das Boot.</p><p> And while it's true I've never actually seen a film about an Israeli tank crew, the movie proved unfortunatelyfamiliar.</p><p> Actually, it came across like a play, thanks to the movie being set almost entirely inside the tank, with glimpses of the outside world coming through the viewfinder.</p><p> The crew is the usual grab-bag of types, from the military regular to the raw recruit to the nervous gunner and the cynical weapons loaderwho always questions everything.</p><p> These are the nicest soldiers imaginable: they are wary of using theirweapons for fear of hurting civilians to the point of rebellion, discuss everything (even though the leader tries to shortchange this), try and protect a prisoner from a suspicious "ally" who wants to torture and probably kill the guy and even place a call to one of the guys' mother to assure her he's ok.</p><p> No points forguessing which one of them doesn't make it.</p><p> THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW SEASON ONE ($29.98; Warner Bros.) -- What a scandal! Ricky Gervais was cheeky last year at the Golden Globes.</p><p> He promised to be even more insulting this yearbecause he never planned to do it again.</p><p> And then...he was even more insulting and cheeky this year! What nerve! Oh how he blindsided them.</p><p> What...what CHEEK! And what exactly did they expect? The only thing cheekier would be to take one of the most successful podcasts of all time and then lazily -- yeslazily, you heard me right, Mr.</p><p> Gervais -- repurpose it into an animated series.</p><p> Gervais doesn't have to actually do any work and because the animators sometimes visualize some of the nutty asides of the three hosts, Gervais can actually pretend it's worth listening to again.</p><p> And, oddly, amusingly, it is.</p><p> What abastard. 1 of 5 Sec.</p><p> Kathleen Sebelius Health Care Repeal Will Raise Costs for Families Steven Chu U.S.-China Clean Energy Cooperation Is Good for America and Good for the WorldDON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS HOT TRENDS jeremy renner kelly preston silent birth natalie portman pregnant rihanna topless sandra bullock More Celebrity News at People.com More Celebrity News at Popeater.com See Our Picks For Golden Globes BEST-DRESSED Comments (523) 200 Cows Mysteriously Drop Dead Comments (1,321) Sherri Shepherd Reveals Details of Her Upcoming Wedding READ MORE Is Ex-Idol Contestant Alex Lambert Really Homeless? READ MORE Hilary Duff Says PregnancyReports Are 'Not True' READ MORE 'Full House' Star JodieSweetin Is Engaged Pete Wentz Stoked to Take Bronx on Tour Seal Calls Tim Gunn Heidi's 'Other Husband'THE AMERICAN ($39.98 BluRay or $29.98 regular DVD; Universal) -- Some complained about the marketing of this film.</p><p> Universal sold it as a thinking man's action flick, with George Clooney as our provocative hero (a man who builds custom-made guns for assassins).</p><p> But what would you have done? Sold it as an unsuccessful, dull arthouse film? Of course not.</p><p> Anton Corbijn follows up Control with this less-satisfying but no less ambitious tale which plays like a European art film, studying the lonely andisolated Clooney as he holes up in a small town, beds a local prostitute (who is of course gorgeous enoughto be a runway model) and maybe, perhaps falls in love while he strives (not unreasonably) to avoid being killed.</p><p> Made with good intentions all around but the screenplay's cliches let it down.</p><p> I would point out one very clever touch I hope becomes standard on all titles, and not just some BluRays.</p><p> This offers uHear,which lets the film jump back about five or so seconds and briefly turns on the English subtitles.</p><p> That way, if a line of dialogue is muddied or hard to hear, you can catch it quickly without having to laboriously go through the steps of turning the subtitle function on and off.</p><p> Well done! JERSEY SHORE SEASON TWO UNCENSORED ($29.99; MTV/Paramount) -- It's not the end of the world.</p><p> But you'll wish it were.</p><p> TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 7 Randy Jackson Disses J.Lo Marisa Flaunts BikiniBooty Miranda Kerr Shows OffNew Baby MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW HOT ON FACEBOOK HOT ON TWITTER Video Colombia Jon & Kate GosselinHUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGESKelly Preston Talks Scientology, Silent Birth 76 Comments Justin Timberlake Texting Olivia Munn 'My Relationship Is Over': Report 220 Comments Anne Hathaway: Catwoman In New Batman Film 176 Comments Jennifer Lopez Threatened To Kill Ricky Gervais At Golden Globes 311 Comments Portia de Rossi: My Ex- Husband Stole My Brother's Wife 7 Comments Christina Aguilera's Embarrassing Drunk Moment In Jeremy Renner's Bed 143 CommentsDANCES WITH WOLVES 20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION/RAGING BULL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION ($29.99 each on BluRay; MGM) -- They came out a decade apart but these films are weirdly linked in my mind.</p><p> Raging Bull's loss to Ordinary People is considered one of the Academy Award's greatest blunders.</p><p> Personally, I will defend to the death the excellent film by Robert Redford, which is no embarrassment as an Oscar winner.</p><p> However, Scorsese's film and Robert DeNiro's towering performance do loom over it and indeed most other movies.</p><p> It looks amazing on BluRay and of course features some all-new extras.</p><p> Dances With Wolves is in some quarters considered another major Oscar blunder for keeping Scorsese's GoodFellas from winning Best Picture in 1990.</p><p> Again, I considered both movies among the best of that year, so won't call it a shonda.</p><p> But yes, GoodFellas is the other masterpiece by Scorsese (along with The Last Waltz ) and is a tremendous film.</p><p> Dances looks and sounds good but unfortunately they do the film no favors by ONLY including the near 4 hour director's cut.Whatever you think of each version (and the four hour director's cut is a slog, in my opinion), fans should never have to choose.</p><p> You should always include both the theatrical version and any extended cut option on the same disc.</p><p> Even if you don't, you certainly should make both available.</p><p> Putting out only thedirector's cut instead of the substantially different version that was a worldwide smash and swept the Oscars cheats everyone, including Kevin Costner.</p><p> DARK SKIES COMPLETE SERIES ($44.99; Shout) -- One of the great side effects of The X-Files was that it allowed other networks to gamble on smart, wildly ambitious shows like this one.</p><p> Almostforgotten, it's been given a loving boxed set by Shout, which collects the entire show (including the international version of the pilot) and loads of extras.</p><p> How's this for paranoid conspiracy theories: muchof our post-war history is a lie meant to cover up a threatened alien invasion and everyone (I do mean everyone) is in on it.</p><p> Our heroes are two young idealistic people who head to Camelot (I mean JFK's DC), one ot work for a Congressman and the other to work for Jackie.</p><p> They're soon on the run when theyuncover this massive conspiracy.</p><p> Hitting the road, they investigate every odd happening of the Sixties(which means they're very busy) while the conspiracy grows and grows and grows. (Vietnam? Just an excuse for the alien fighters to get more funding.) I've only watched the pilot so far but the show is great fun and you can always judge a series by its cast: Eric Close, Megan Ward and Jeri Lynn Ryan are justsome of the names it can boast of.</p><p> Nicely done all around. (Note: I can't speak to whether the set maintains all the original music cues used when the show first aired.) Japan Michael Bloomberg Crime Islam Steve Jobs The Kardashians MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » FOLLOW HUFFINGTON POST ARMY OF CRIME ($34.95 BluRay or $29.95 regular DVD; Lorber) -- A French film about the Resistance directed by Robert Guediguian.</p><p> It's based on the true story of the Manouchians -- 30 or so French patriots who wrecked havoc for a while on the Nazis in their midst only to be rounded up andsummarily shot.</p><p> The film could serve as a master class for the obvious.</p><p> It begins with a voice over namingthe names of each beloved patriot.</p><p> When something tragic happens, classical music is certain to swell on the soundtrack.</p><p> Or things move in slow motion.</p><p> Or they move in slow motion AND the classical music swells.</p><p> And the roll call is repeated at the end.</p><p> It's always fun to see the Nazis get outwitted. (Sorry, Germany.) And the Manouchians, as portrayed in this film, at least, are certainly the best-looking members of the Resistance imaginable.</p><p> Thomas Elek (played by Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet) is called a"dirty Yid" by a fellow student but surely the guy is just jealous of how handsome Elek is.</p><p> Few movies embody the idea of "pedestrian" more perfectly.</p><p> AN ULTIMATE GULLIVER COLLECTON ($15.99; American Pop/Virgil) -- An unintended but happy consequence of the ill-fated Jack Black spin on Gulliver's Travels is this jam-packed DVD.</p><p> The picture quality is just so-so.</p><p> Frankly, the animated 1939 Gulliver's Travels at the heart of the set will probably never be properly restored, despite its significance in animation history.</p><p> But this DVD is admirably bursting with items and certainly makes up in quantity what it lacks in superior image quality.You get the okay Fleischer film (the first full-length animated feature after Disney's Snow White and an innovator in the never-quite-successful strategy of rotoscoping (which involves filming actors and thenanimating over their movements).</p><p> But you also get seven animated shorts starring Gabby, a character inthe film that the Fleischers spun off into a string of shorts.</p><p> And you get a 1965 Japanese anime spin-off of the Swift character called Gulliver's Travels Beyond The Moon.</p><p> AND to top it off you get a Melies short from 1902 called - rather laboriously -- Gulliver's Travels Among The Lilliputians and the Giants.</p><p> For hardcore animation buffs, this is a low-budget treat. ***** Thanks for reading.</p><p> Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinion makers as guests.</p><p> It's available free on iTunes.</p><p> Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.</p><p> Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and also available for free on iTunes.</p><p> Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and reviews .Comments 2 Pending Comments 2View FAQ 120 Fans Follow 0 Fans Justin Timberlake Texting Olivia Munn 'My Relationship...</p><p> Jennifer Lopez Threatened To Kill Ricky Gervais...</p><p> Christina Aguilera At Jeremy Renner's Party: Passes...</p><p> Charlie Sheen Spends $26K On Prostitutes In...NOTE: Michael Giltz is provided with free copies of DVDs to consider for review.</p><p> He typically does not guarantee coverage and invariably receives far more screeners and DVDs than he can cover each week.</p><p> Also, Michael Giltz freelances as a writer of DVD copy (the text that appears on the back ofDVDs) for some titles released by IFC and other subsidiaries of MPI.</p><p> It helps pay the rent, but does notobligate him in any way to speak positively or negatively of their titles.</p><p> Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz More in Entertainment...</p><p> I love Archer.</p><p> Best show on TV.</p><p> Only another week.</p><p> Archer is my absolute favorite show on tv right now.</p><p> LOVE IT!! Recency | Popularity HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR Angelus2007 45 minutes ago (2:51 PM) Permalink | Share it 2little 3 hours ago (12:47 PM) Permalink | Share it Login or connect with: More Login Options Post to Facebook.</p><p> Post to Blogger.</p><p> Post to Twitter.</p><p> Post to WordPress.</p><p> Post to TypePad.</p><p> Post to Tumblr.To reply to a Comment: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to.</p><p> Share your Comment: Post Comment Preview Comment View All Favorites FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD GREEN FOOD TRAVEL TECH LIVING HEALTH DIVORCE ARTS BOOKS RELIGION IMPACT EDUCATION COLLEGE NY LA CHICAGO DENVER BLOGS Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ | Contact Us User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc.</p><p> All rights reserved.
