very

The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories
$14.99
My 18 month old daughter loves the book, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We thought we would buy this for her to entertain her while we do some chores around the house, or to keep her entertained on some of our long car rides. This DVD is great because it also has The Very Quiet Cricket, The Mixed Up Chameleon, and Papa Please Get the Moon for me. But most of the time, she just has up replaying the Hungry Caterpillar. Quality of the DVD is just okay, otherwise I would have given it 4 stars.

A Very Long Engagement
$19.98
A bizarre mix indeed but, believe it or not, it's a pretty apt description of this very odd but quite brilliant film.

First off, you get the most realistic depiction of what war must be like since "Saving Private Ryan", only this time the scene is the trenches in the Somme in 1917... so meticulously recreated, believably presented and deeply shocking that it will leave you stunned and drained by the time you've got through the first section of the film.

But then things become very different as director Jean-Pierre Jeunet and lead actress Audrey Tautou take very distinct aspects of their comic classic, "Amelie", and rework them into a much "darker" mix involving a charmingly poignant love story and an extremely complex and, in the end, pretty unbelievable detective story, centred on the fate of five men sentenced to almost certain death for self-mutilation in the trenches. Tautou plays a tougher but actually similarly sweet & quirky character to Amelie, and Jeunet uses a number of the same directing techniques that made "Amelie" such unconventional but fascinating viewing - flash backs, unusual camera angles, fast scene cutting, bizarre events, and intriguingly odd characters - right down to a secret box that holds the key to a mystery.

And, like "Amelie", the dialogue is in French and its delivery is fast, meaning that if you're trying to follow it with English sub-titles you're quite likely to get lost at key points. None of which sounds too promising. But no matter, because the detective story element of the film is fairly predictable, the d���nouement to the love story holds no surprises and, their not why the film fully deserves a five star rating.

Why it does is because Jeunet is such a brilliant director and, as a result, the film is stuffed full with superb cinemaphotograhy, first class acting, wonderful scene-setting and, above all, a "pace" that holds your attention throughout and a "style" that makes for, at times, quite beautiful viewing... until, that is, you're plunged back into his equally brilliant vision of what life was actually like in the mud, squalor and blood of the trenches.

Horrific, charming, wholly believable and pretty unbelievable, all at the same time, "A Very Long Engagement" is an extremely strange film but one that will leave you marvelling at the sheer quality of its direction, photography and acting... and, as "Saving Private Ryan" achieved so successfully, it's depiction of the grim realities of war make it one of the best anti-war films that you're likely to see and one that you won't forget for a very long time.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
$7.99
After reading the synopsis of the story, I expected that Alexander was going to have some bad events in his day, but I expected something to counteract the horrible day.

I thought it was a downer book. I mean, poor Alexander had nothing that went right during his entire day. I was considering buying it for my nephew, but after reading it I thought, how depressing. I later saw my 9 y/o nephew and he saw the book and said he had already read it. I told him to tell me about it. He remembered the repeated phrase (the book title), he remembered the gum in the hair, getting his shirt wet and his foot getting smashed. I remembered the friend not wanting to be his best friend anymore, the cat not wanting to sleep with him and his slipping in the mud and being called a cry baby.

It would have been nice if there had been something other than a perfunctory acknowledgment of the terrible day. The only comment at the end is that "My Mom says some days are like that." I guess it's realistic, but putting a funny or positive spin on some of the events would have been great for showing how to deal with those terrible days. I mean this book is for kids...they'll get realism enough as they grow up.

I can honestly say, I've never had such a pileup of terrible things happen in just one day and if I did - as an adult, I know how to deal with it. Maybe, the book had such terrible things happen that if a child only had a few bad things, he could compare it to this book and say his day wasn't nearly as bad as Alexander's.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: A Very Sunny Christmas [Blu-ray]
$29.99
This is NOT HD Quality video!! Buy the DVD version. There's even a disclaimer "extra" from the producers explaining it's upconverted and not HD.

That aside, the episode is a great part of the It's Always Sunny world. All the Seinfeldian characters are in fine form making bad decisions, bickering, etc. as usual. Why a DVD instead of broadcast - well you get a nude Danny Devito from behind, some extra swearing and a claymation montage.

Not the funniest episode ever, but not the worst, either. If you like Sunny, you should like this DVD.