Your time is short. We know this. So in order to expedite your buying and Netflix decision making, we provide you with a list of the cool and not-so-cool titles coming out for movies, television and everything in-between. So put your feet up, grab some popcorn and check out this week’s selections.

Movies

UNDERWORLD AWAKENING | (c) 2012 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING – I’m just glad to see Kate Beckinsale in full body spandex again, who cares how good the movie is or isn’t. OK, that’s not true, well at least not partially true – it is awesome to see her again in spandex. After the so-called prequel UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS, the whole UNDERWORLD franchise was pretty much dead in the water. Until Beckinsale decided to commit to another film did we as movie viewers even care if it went anywhere. Luckily, she came back and we get once again another good story about werewolves and vampires living in a world that now knows they exist and has taken to task the process of eliminating them completely. But those sneak Lycans have a plan to not only survive but come up with a way to become immune to silver – their only weakness. While there are some weak issues with the film in terms of how they deal with Michael and the vampire history in particular, it is still an UNDERWORLD film that stays pretty true to the other movies and delivers the action goods.

Related Link: Movie Review of UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING

Related Link: Exclusive Photos from the UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING premiere

MADISON COUNTY | (c) 2012 Image Entertainment

MADISON COUNTY – While this won’t win any awards for creativity or originality, if you are desperate for some twentysomethings getting butchered by hillbillies this will fit the bill. Following some correspondence from an author who wrote about how dangerous it is to go into the backwoods, a group of friends travel to a craptacular small town for a dude’s Master’s thesis. Of course, when they show up, the townsfolk isn’t too kind to them and they quickly get targeted by a dude wearing a pig mask and wielding an axe. Along with the plot, the deaths aren’t too imaginative or brutal but like I said if you want to get that hillbilly killing fix on, check it out.

SHOCK LABYRINTH 3D | (c) 2012 Well Go

SHOCK LABYRINTH 3D – A very odd offering from Japan that happens to be the first full-length 3-D feature from the nation. You’d think they would have chosen something a bit more entertaining. This is some weird story about a bunch of kids that went to a strange hospital then go there again when they are older and relive some of the horrors they experienced then in the present day. Oh yeah and some chick returns after 10 years and little blue and gray girls run around trying to scare people (not surprisingly, this was directed by the guy who did JU-ON).

And the rest …

• PLAYBACK – A decent enough horror film about an evil TV broadcast that turns people into killing machines for whatever reason.

Television

CHUCK THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON | (c) 2012 Warner Home Video

CHUCK: THE COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON – CHUCK will probably always go down as one of the most fan-friendly and fan supported series as all time. Season after season when all hope seemed to dim that the show wouldn’t get renewed, fans would rally and save it. Probably didn’t hurt that it was on NBC where they were having failure after failure and CHUCK was one of the few series that actually had a solid fan base. CHUCK also thrived from the fact that the stars loved their fans and went all out for them. Time after time we’d read stories or see videos of Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin and more would spend time with fans and get them excited about the show. That type of dedication is few and far between in television or all of show business. Now, I won’t comment about the end of the show and how it strayed away from some of the moments that made it great. I just like to remember the show for being so good to fans and treating them as more shows should. This is the final season of the show including all 13 episodes from the last season.

DOCTOR WHO NIGHTMARE OF EDEN | (c) 2012 BBC Warner

DOCTOR WHO: NIGHTMARE OF EDEN – As the BBC gets close to wrapping up its collection of WHO episodes onto DVD, some of what is coming out at the end may not be the best series that were ever put together. Take NIGHTMARE OF EDEN for instance. While not a bad episode, it was never one of Tom Baker’s best. The humor that Baker usually brings to the table is noticeably absent, it has Romana, arguably one of the not-so-great companions, K-9 rolls around and the storyline just is merely OK. Two starships get locked together in time and space after emerging from hyperspace in the exact same time causing the Doctor to find a way to fix things. Of course, this isn’t all that’s happening and when people start dying, it is a race against time to save those left. The cool thing here, however, is the great extras included such as a look back at the episode from the cast and crew, a new audio commentary, some interviews with Baker and much more.

DOCTOR WHO THE HAPPINESS PATROL | (c) 2012 BBC Warner

DOCTOR WHO: THE HAPPINESS PATROL – Another not-so-great episode this one starring Sylvester McCoy – the last Doctor from the original series. McCoy had some great episodes during his run that can really be put up there as some of the great storytelling the series has ever had but this was certainly not it. Shockingly, this is a campy story – which by WHO standards is saying something – where sadness has been abolished and is punishable by death and a villain that is made of candy. Yeah, a bit over-the-top in terms of the cheeseball nature of the show – again, saying something for WHO.  Now there is a really good documentary on the extras which is almost worth your time along because it gives sort of a reason behind some of the political nature of the episode. Also included are deleted scenes, an audio commentary and much more.

DOCTOR WHO DRAGONFIRE | (c) 2012 BBC Warner

DOCTOR WHO: DRAGONFIRE – The best way to sum this up is Dracula in space on ice. Remember when I said that the BBC was rolling out some of the maybe not so great episodes toward the end of the run of WHO episodes, yeah they pinned three of them together this month. DRAGONFIRE basically is a treasure hunt episode gone bad when the Doctor (again McCoy) and Ace, who takes over as the companion for Mel after this episode, work with an evil overlord to defeat a creature that has been trapped on an ice planet for good reason that they learn all too well. Again, some great extras including an audio commentary, an Ace-centered featurette and much more.

FANTASY ISLAND THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON | (c) 2012 Shout! Factory

FANTASY ISLAND: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON – When I was a kid, I loved the ABC night that included both LOVE BOAT and FANTASY ISLAND – hey, I was young. It was a double dose of cheesiness that provided a nice escape from whatever reality I was living at the time and focus on other people doing some really cool things that I wished I could have done. Beyond that, this is a series that has been in much demand from the public to come to DVD. Here, we get all 25 episodes from the second season on a six disc DVD set with some really good guest stars (all from the 80s, go figure).

THE BIG C THE COMPLETE SEASON SEASON | (c) 2012 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

THE BIG C: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON – Showtime’s original series starring Laura Linney as someone living with cancer and having to deal with those around her as she goes through the process of getting treatment, getting sick from chemo and much more. Surprisingly, this is not a depressing drama but a pretty good comedy that shows off Linney’s chops at handling a serious situation in some funny ways.

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Article: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING highlights this week in DVD and Blu-ray Releases 

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