This Week in DVD

Tangled: My understanding is that after some early marketing concentrating on the traditional Rapunzelesque aspects of the story, Disney changed the ad campaign to concentrate on the make lead and emphasize the action and adventure aspects of the animated feature in an effort to assure boys it was "OK" to see it.

I say, how shallow does Disney think we males are? Even the youngest of us are surely sophisticated enough to recognize a good story when we see it, and not to shy away from a potentially great viewing experience just because a girl is the main character.

Black Swan: Eh, awards or no awards, I don't think I can sit through a movie about two chicks.

All Good Things: Based on a true story of "murder and missing persons" in New York City in the eighties. I'm more concerned with the return of Kirsten Dunst, who is hopefully healthy and happy after apparently taking some time off to deal with some "issues." Her co-star is Ryan Gosling, who is not Ryan Phillippe, and I imagine he's OK with that.

Fair Game: Sorry to keep dragging the Personal Lives of the Stars into this (Hey, remember when Robin Leach hosted "Personal Lives of the Stars"?), but, yeah, this drama based on the Valerie Plame case may be a good one (I'm ashamed to admit that I know a lot more about the Plame case and that CIA mess than I do the Robert Durst case covered in "All Good Things." I barely remember that), but the real story here is, what's the deal with Sean Penn and Scarlett Johansson? It seems fairly well established that Penn is a miscreant--OK, alleged miscreant--so does ScarJo hooking up with him tell us more about him or more about her? Personally, I believe it doesn't tell us much about him--I mean, so he's dating Scarlett; who wouldn't--but it kind of makes you wonder about her. So, yeah, "Fair Game," out on DVD this week.

The Resident: When you see Oscar winner Cuba Gooding in direct-to-video movies, it's not that jarring anymore. But TWO-TIME Oscar winner Hilary Swank? When I read this thriller came from Hammer Films--yes, that Hammer Films--I thought, "Huh. Guess Christopher Lee is in this one, too." Turns out...he is!

Mad Men Season 4: I'm still getting caught up on the show, so no comment from me on season 4. I'm working on it, I'm working on it.

Dennis the Menace Season 1: Knowing it's on twice a day on Antenna TV is enough for me to get my occasional Dennis fix, but I'm glad Shout is getting this out there for the fans. Me, I grew up on Hank Ketcham's comic strip and more significantly, the old Dennis the Menace comic books. Some beat-up old 1960s-era back issues were some of my favorite reads as a kid, and there were also the digests like "Pocketful of Fun." I watched the series after reading those comics, and for me it never captured the mischievous spirit and fun of the print version.

Rocky and Bullwinkle Season 5: And another great series is complete--not perfect, but complete, and at this stage of the DVD industry, that's gonna have to be enough.