DMC stars Soichi Negishi, a timid boy with folk-singing aspirations, who also just happens to be the cult leader of all followers of Death Metal music. When Negishi puts on his wig and face paint, he instantly transforms into Lord Krauser II, band leader of Detroit Metal City. Krauser is the swearing Overlord of Hell who commands the stage with his repugnant words and electric guitar. Family? He has none because he killed them upon birth. Well, at least that’s what the teen rumors say. In reality, Soichi is a mama’s boy who was raised on a farm. It’s all bizarre and twisted, but you won’t stop reading.

Throughout Volume 1, the parallels between Negishi and Krauser are intertwined like Bruce Wayne and Batman. On the surface the two identities appear different. However, Negishi has been living the lie so long that vestiges of each lifestyle have begun to accidentally leak over into the other, causing several laughable situations.

Krauser is joined by band mates Jaki, aka Masayuki, and Camus, aka Terumichi. These two are more into living out their dual identities than Negishi. And, that’s exactly what the band’s boss, a vicious woman who enjoys sexual assaults, wants. As much as she despises Negishi, she is enthralled by Negishi’s persona on stage. Unfortunately, once he’s backstage, the gloves are off and she’ll kick Negishi around, literally, to get the performance she wants from him.

Detroit Metal City is the new breed of Manga, from Kiminori Wakasugi. The stories are written and illustrated with utterly distasteful humor that urges you to laugh. If you’ve never laughed at an underdog getting demoralized, you will now. Just make sure you can deal with the expletives, because DMC delivers vulgarity and inappropriate comments by bucket load.

Title: Detroit Metal City, Volume 1 (DMC)
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Author/Illustrator: Kiminori Wakasugi
ISBN-10: 1421527421
ISBN-13: 978-1421527420
Release Date: June 9, 2009
Rating: 8.0 / 10

The big Botwin news the came about in Weeds Season 5 Episode 6, “Van Nuys,” is that Nancy did not choose Andy. It was hinted at in the arcade scene in Episode 4, “Super Lucky Happy,” that Nancy had repressed feelings for Andy. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, since the fans demand drama with their dark comedy, Nancy packed up her things and headed over to Esteban’s with Shane.

You can’t blame Nancy - there’s only so much stress a pregnant woman can take. Not only did Nancy learn that Celia was squatting in her garage, but she also learned from Celia that Sucio’s dead carcass had surfaced in box in the garage. The unwelcome visitor and the dead thug were marginal when compared with Celia’s return to her evil self. Esteban sends over two goons to take care of Sucio’s dead body with a healthy dose of acid. Celia, being the cunning and ruthless business woman that she is, decides to take pictures with her camera-phone and use them to blackmail Nancy for full run of the Botwin household. Celia is worse than a rat in the New York City subway system, no matter how much poison you use neither seems to go away.

Nancy is also looking for a better father figure to be in Shane’s life. After Shane’s teacher rips him off for thousands in marijuana, Ignacio takes it upon himself to teach Shane street justice. The two head over to the Shane’s teacher’s apartment with Isabelle Hodes. They recover the lost weed, and Ignacio tells Shane to steel something back. The three start grabbing objects at random, then Ignacio gives the final order, “Shoot him in the leg.” Unfortunately, Shane misunderstands the order and shoots the teacher’s pet bird instead. Once again we see Ignacio’s softer side when he weeps, “Poor little birdie.”

Silus and Doug’s medicinal pot business is suffering from growing pains, or rather lack of growth. The two have only managed to concoct three good strains of marijuana, while the rest of their crop was simply “dick weed.” When the duo tries to negotiate with a Weed broker for a new supply, Doug’s flippant negotiating skills quickly cuts short the deal. Literally. A man with a sword, apparently ripped out of the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” live-action movie, comes to give Doug and Silus the boot.

Andy continues to be the cheap whore, dating one of his brother’s ex-flames for money. She’s in charge of the bank account, so Andy will pretty much do anything. And anything just happens to include sex on the beach, while watching a few homeless people defecate in front of him. Well that’s another notch on Andy’s belt. He can now tell everyone he slept with a woman whose “spell-hit ratio is off the charts.” Yes, she’s an online gamer. And, there’s nothing funnier than online gaming in comedy.

Weeds will take a bold step in Episode 6, “A Modest Proposal.” The story will jump ahead 6 months with Nancy fully showing. We’ll get a chance to see how everyone’s decisions have played out.

In this clip, Shane skips school with Ignacio. You can just imagine how that will play out. You’ll also notice the famous misquoted reference from “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” that was parodied in “Blazing Saddles.”

About Weeds Season 5 Episode 6: A Modest Proposal
It’s six months since we last saw everyone and Nancy is in full bloom. Esteban proposes, and all seems right with the world until Nancy discovers there’s another woman in Esteban’s life. Andy, meanwhile, has gone on a spending spree and let himself go. Now he must come to terms with the new order of things. Celia, unhappy in her job at the mall, discovers an opportunity in the world of cosmetics. Shane spends an eye-opening day with Ignacio. Silas and Doug’s medical marijuana dispensary is in full operation. But Deputy C.P. Jones continues his meddling ways.

We had a chance to demo some excellent new features in this game, including: terrain deformation and user-control of the rider. The game features multiple levels of terrain, so once you break through the snow level, you’ll eventually dig up the dirt below it. Also, if you backtrack over the same layer of dirt, you will be able to see the tracks over ridden in real-time. Adding user-control of both the rider and vehicle allows for more dynamic stunts.

Interview with THQ Global Brand Manager, Ali Bouda.

Unfortunately, the one drawback we noticed was that there was no custom board creation. It would have been nice if gamers were allowed to upload their own created boards, so that other players could compete on them.

MX Vs. ATV Reflex is expected to hit the PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo DS December 1, 2009.

MySims Racing is the latest EA venture into the world of Mario Kart style racers. Despite some neat customization and car upgrades, Sims fanatics won’t find this title to be anything close to the traditional Sims franchise. While on the racing front, this title makes no apologies in avoiding the creation of potential nuances to kart gaming. However, whatever your taste in gaming, if you’re looking for a new kart game to try your hand at, MySims Racing will provide you with an entertaining gaming experience.

MySims Racing takes advantage of the Wii’s strengths without calling attention to the console’s technical weaknesses. Graphically, this title features the cartoony and comical style block-shaped characters now inherent to the MySims franchise. The colors are crisp and vibrant, helping the characters to pop out of the screen. I didn’t experience any flicker and texture pop, which I have almost come to expect with any Wii games that involve fast motions.

Gamers have three choices of gameplay: story, quick race and multiplayer. The story mode shouldn’t really be considered a story at all. You begin the game posed with the task of revitalizing a town through racing. That’s pretty much it. So, if you’re looking for a great story, you won’t find it here. Gamers have a lot of customization they can do with both their characters and car. I’ve played several Wii games where you only get three or four complexions and about two different styles of eyes, so having so many character options to choose from was refreshing. Your car also has several customizable features, which you won’t find in Mario Kart.

Whereas in a Sims title, you’d expect more interaction with NPCs, this racer will rarely present any additional personalities to warrant the Sims name. While venturing from race to race, various MySims will show up on your overhead map simply asking you to complete a number of different activities. Most of these amount to either racing against the clock or picking up a bunch of misplaced items. This quickly gets redundant, so try to spread these out between actual races. After each race, you will collect MySims currency that can be used to upgrade your vehicle. This is probably the best feature of MySims Racing, because each car upgrade is immediately felt, as your wacky mechanic fixes up your kart. Get to love your mechanic and the bizarre MySims meaningless language he uses since you will be visiting his garage frequently throughout the game.

The gameplay makes use of the left and right wheel turning movements we were presented in Mario Kart. Unfortunately, just like Mario Kart, you’ll probably want to stick to using the controller or analogue stick to navigate your racecar. It’s just a better gaming experience. So far, Excitebots, from Nintendo, is the only racing that was really able to take advantage of the Wii-wheel style of gaming. You’ll notice a distinct improvement in kart handling as you continue to upgrade your kart, making the Wii-wheel style of gaming better. However, the analogue stick will continue edge out the Wii-wheel by a long shot.

MySims Racing comes with the full package of Mario Kart style attacks that can be used during races. So, you can do everything you’d expect to botch your competitors racing ambitions from lobbing objects at opponents to making them skid. There are two nice features that stand out. The first is a seed you can throw out and have it immediately spring into a tree, creating an obstacle for opponents. Just beware, you can also crash into the tree you planted, and getting it to fall in the right spot is a task onto itself. Also there is a tornado attack, where the controls and screen are inverted. This is great to do to opponents, but having this done to you will just make you frustrated.

Unlike the DS version of MySims Racing, which feels sluggish most of the time, the Wii release has a nice “vroom” factor. So, gamers will actually feel the momentum of the boosts and drifts. However, the DS quickly trumps the Wii when it comes to multiplayer action. The Wii comes with your standard four-player split screen for local-player competitive racing. However, there is no online component. Both Mario Kart and Excitebots had superb online features, so there really is no excuse for EA to have left online gameplay out of this title. Why they made sure to include use of WiFi for the DS and neglected online for the Wii is baffling.

MySims racing won’t break any rules in the world of racing games. However, it’s still has its fun moments and is a nice addition to the MySims franchise. Lack of online play is a severe strike against this title, especially since it’s executed almost flawlessly in other kart style games on the Wii.

Title: MySims Racing
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Genre: Kart Racing
Publisher: EA
Developer: EA
Release Date: June 12, 2009
Rating: 7.3 / 10

“Tiny Bubbles” introduced Paula (Judith Ivey), who used to be a nurse at All Saints but is now dying from lung cancer. In her own words, she’s “always been a bitch on wheels.” Instead of hospice, Paula simply wants to die. She requests bed five, which apparently has a history of patients dying. The nurses all keep up the story that they’re waiting for a bed in hospice to open up every time Mrs. Akilitus asks about Paula.

While Paula is waiting to die, the “cat-ball” guy is back in the ER. This time his cat turned on the garbage disposal, while he was fishing out a fork. This one will take a little more reconstructive work than the shredded-balls event did. Paula, sitting in the next bed, thinks this is hysterical. No matter how much pain she’s in, she still has her spit-and-vinegar. Jackie has to close the curtain between the two patients’ beds.

After Eddie paid his respects to Paula, Paula confides in Jackie that he provided her with Percoset after her hysterectomy. Jackie doesn’t play it off well at all. The problems, at least to her, are mounting against Eddie. Last week he was getting friendly with Coop and this week Jackie discovers that she’s not the only one Eddie doles out his drugs to.

In the bathroom, Jackie does a quick line while loading Paula’s champagne glass with morphine. All the nurses do the toast. Paula says, “Here’s to you and here’s to me and if we ever disagree, fuck you and here’s to me.” Akilitus comes in just after Paula dies and says, “If there’s anything funny with that bag (pointing to the iv bag) I’ll have your asses… every single one of them.” In Episode 5, “Daffodil,” Akilitus told Jackie that she knew all the tricks and that there was nothing Jackie could do that she had not seen or done before. It looks like Mrs. Akilitus was wrong.

Coop’s history gets a little more interesting in “Tiny Bubbles.” The paramedics come wheeling in his mother. As he’s fighting with her, his “other mother” comes in. Coop’s birth mother needs her gall bladder removed and requests that Coop be in on the surgery. When her blood pressure drops during surgery, Coop gets scared and grabs Dr. O’Hara’s boob. Even though the warning buzzer is going off, O’Hara just stares at him for what seems like a long time, until he finally let’s go. She tells him “now that’s a good boy.” She’s heard about this from Jackie, but to experience it for one’s self is always different. And like everything else, O’Hara handled it with grace and finesse.

When Coop’s mother wakes up from surgery, she wants to know “where is the little fucker?” In surgery O’Hara gave Coop a little grief for keeping his mother’s gall bladder, but he obviously knows his mother better than anyone else. Coop’s mom states, “for all the pain it sure as hell doesn’t look like much. That’s the exact same thing I said when they cut the cord and put you in my arms.” I think that does a lot to sum up many of Coop’s insecurities.

As Paula was dying, she was going through her purse. She gave Mo-Mo subway tokens, which had obviously been in her purse for many years because tokens went out years ago. Jackie, however, got the keys to Paula’s apartment. “Tiny Bubbles” closes on Jackie entering Paula’s apartment. Everything is already in boxes.

The closing song, “When it don’t come easy” by Patty Griffin, was perfect and touching: an absolutely beautiful end to another Nurse Jackie episode.

In Nurse Jackie Episode 7, “Steak Knife,” a first-date goes wrong leaving a man with a steak knife lodged inside his chest. Tensions heat up between Jackie and Eddie when the “couple’s” one-year anniversary comes up. O’Hara, our portrait of cool at All Saints, begins to lose it, and Jackie is right there to lend a helping hand.

Shirahama Kenichi is your typical 16-year-old kid, who gets pushed around by bullies and has hormonal delusions of going out with the prettiest girl in high school. When a beautiful transfer student, named Furinji Miu, shows up, Kenichi embarks on a tireless quest to impress her by becoming a great martial artist. Unfortunately, trying to impress Miu results in life-threatening training exercises at Miu’s grandfather’s dojo, Ryōzanpaku. The six masters at the dojo decide to train Kenichi to be their chosen disciple. Each of Kenichi’s teachers is a master of various arts from Kung-Fu and Tai Chi to Mui Thai.

In the words of the Ryōzanpaku masters, Kenichi “has absolutely no natural aptitude for the martial arts at all.” It is his endless desire to help those close to him that makes him great.

In “Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season One: Volume Two,” Kenichi moves into the Ryōzanpaku dojo. His desire to help his friends leads him to a battle with the number one gang in town: Ragnarok. The stories in volume two don’t break any molds and follow a simple formula. Kenichi learns a new technique from his masters, after nearly dying in training. One of Kenichi’s friends is threatened, and he miraculously uses the exact technique he learned earlier that day to win the fight.

There are Anime series that aim to buck the trend of being cliché stories and then there are those that don’t. Kenichi falls into latter category and tends to be your cliché ‘boy from nowhere success story.” The series still finds its entertaining moments as Kenichi engages in near-death training, while trying to woo Miu. There is also a funny episode in this set where two girls fight for the heart of Kenichi.

Kenichi isn’t a series that will win any prizes with die-hard Anime fanatics. However, come-and-go Anime fans, who still tote the flag of Ninja Scroll or stick to safe-plays like Naruto and Bleach, will find this series entertaining enough to check out.

Title: Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple Season One, Part Two
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: June 16, 2009
Rating: 6 / 10

Michele and JHoop, of the BuzzFocus Game Room, stopped by the Tournament to check out The Bigs 2 and get some initial fan reaction. In the first round JHoop takes on Justin Guglielmino, a player who just happened to rank number 1 online in the original Bigs.

See the highlights from the Bigs 2 Tournament in NYC.

About The Bigs 2:
The BIGS 2 allows fans to experience heroic gameplay, legendary game modes and incredible player models. Elevating The BIGS 2 to new heights are bigger power-ups, amazing visual effects, and an all new Become a Legend mode. Featuring exciting player animations and pick-up-and-play controls, The BIGS 2 is scheduled to be available on July 7, 2009 for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION 3 and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems, PSP (PlayStation Portable) system, and Wii home video game system from Nintendo.

About Army of Two: 40th Day
A carefully orchestrated series of mysterious catastrophes is dragging Shanghai, China to the brink of ruin, and now the Army of Two must fight their way through ravaged city districts as they try to beat the odds and uncover the secret of the 40th Day.

The story of Aquarion takes place 12,000 years after the fall of the Shadow Angels. When these alien forces are reawakened, to enslave the human race, a small group of survivors band together to battle the new threat with Aquarion. To form Aquarion, three pilots must merge their souls and spaceships to form the Mechanical Angel Aquarion.

Like most Anime series, there are several strong sexual and religious themes spread throughout this story, such as reincarnation and virginity. Each time the pilots merge their souls, they also become one through a sexual orgasm. Merging is explored like a teenager’s sexual fantasy. One episode is dedicated to merging for the first time: exploring how it physically feels and the emotions involved. The youngest pilot, or Element, Segumi is getting ready for her first merge she must first conquer the simulator. Segumi states, “I forgot the stupid simulator doesn’t go all the way.” We quickly see that Aquarion’s raunchy humor is manifested to perfection through childlike simplicity.

American audiences will quickly notice the similarities to Voltron, especially when they merge and call forth the Aquarion Saber. Unfortunately, Aquarion was only a 26 episode series, and after watching every episode you’ll wish there was more.

If you were ever a fan of the Gundam series, Aquarion will be right up your ally. The characters are immediately entertaining and poignantly delivered through the voice-acting and engaging character arcs.

Title: Aquarion: The Complete Series
Starring: Christopher Bevins
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: June 9, 2009
Rating: 8 / 10

The set starts off with a mission to the Land of the Stars. The people of this land use a special form of jutsu gained from a meteorite that crashed into their village a long time ago. Mysterious deaths and sickness lead Naruto and his friends to uncover a secret that could cost the group their lives.

In the second mission, Naruto joins Choji and Hinata in a mission to escort a group of merchants from the Land of Greens. Along the way, they learn that one of the merchants is really a princess. The Hidden Leaf Ninja quickly realize that their simple D-class mission is really an A-Class adventure. The trio must fight a group of deadly assassins who control different styles of water jutsu.

Naruto: Uncut Box Set 14 may not deal directly with the main story arc of the series, but it’s still entertaining and definitely should be added to any collector’s shelf. Naruto continues to inspire the people around him in his endless quest to become the next Hokage.

The box set also comes with the collectable Naruto playing cards.

Title: Naruto Uncut Box Set 14
Starring: Maile Flanagan
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: May 26, 2009
Rating: 8 / 10

From comic books to Anime series to live-action feature films, fans of the Street Fighter series have seen numerous incarnations of Street Fighter origin tales over the past two decades. Street Fighter II V (Victory) and Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie were the most well received. The 1994 Street Fighter film, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia, had a less warm reception and was all together a combination of bad acting and poor scripting. The latest incarnation of Street Fighter, The Legend of Chun-Li, easily trumps the 1994 movie on both accounts. Fans of the Street Fighter mythos will watch as one of their favorite characters embarks on a loosely thrown together and all together unappealing search to avenge her family.

Not only is the story appalling, but the casting was horrendous. For starters, Kristin Kreuk should not have been cast as Chun-Li. It was a calamity to see Chun-Li start out as a very visibly Asian child, then turn into Kristin Kreuk when she grew up. Sorry, there is no forgiveness for that. Kreuk also feels like she’s playing her whiny role as Lana Lang in Smallville for entire film. Secondly, Chris Klein as Charlie Nash was an abomination. Not for one second does anyone believe Klein to be a military soldier, especially one that would have the admiration of someone like Guile. Watching him felt like watching American Pie the Street Fighter edition. I actually enjoy watching both Neal McDonough and Michael Clarke Duncan act. But as Bison and Balrog respectively, they just didn’t fit the roles. Honestly, Balrog should always just be left out of any Street Fighter story.

The saving grace of this Blu-ray release is Disc 3. You get ‘Street Fighter Round One: FIGHT! Animated comic movie.’ This is a great watch, and any fan of Street Fighter will definitely enjoy watching this origin story. I was slightly upset with some of the choices they made for Charlie and Ken, but I can live with them. Unfortunately, you’ll have to bite the bullet and buy the Legend of Chun-Li to see the Animated comic movie. But, if you are a fan, it’s worth it. Just find a deal on the Internet so you don’t get caught paying full price.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li deserved a lower score, but had to be given something for packaging the awesome animated comic movie along with this Blu-ray release.

Bonus features include:
Disc One
- Theatrical and Unrated feature
- Audio Commentary by Patrick Aiello, Ashok Amritraj, Neal McDonough and Chris Klein
- Street Fighter: In Movie Enlightenment
- 14 Deleted Scenes
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Sneak Peek
- Becoming a Street Fighter
- Chun Li: Bringing the Legend to Life
- Fox Movie Channel Presents Making A Scene
- Recreating the Game: Arcade to Film Comparisons
- The Fight in Black and White: Storyboard Gallery
- Behind the Fight: Production Gallery

Disc Two
- Unrated Digital Copy

Disc Three
- Street Fighter Round One: FIGHT! Animated comic movie

Title: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Starring: Kristin Kreuk, Chris Klein, Neal McDonough, Michael Clarke Duncan
Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 30, 2009
Rating: 3 / 10

The story begins with a wandering nomad, named Munsu, who just happens to be the last Amen Osa, a secret army tasked with protecting the Jushin Empire. Unfortunately, the Jushin Empire is no more, and now the world has been overcome with zombies, beasts and sadists. The reason for the fall of the empire or the overwhelming presence of death, will hardly be explained in this feature film. However, you’ll still be drawn into the gunslinging action as a cynical Munsu wages war on the undead.

Don’t be fooled though. Although the Amen Osa once protected the kingdom, the group’s last survivor unexplainably has no interest in helping others. In fact, the opening scene involves a boy, seeking to become an Amen Osa, who Munsu uses to make a tactical escape.

You may not grow to like Munsu during the course of this movie, but you will appreciate the cell animation used to execute the film’s numerous firefights and blood baths.

‘Blade of the Phantom Master: Shin Angyo Onshi’ is one film that deserved to either be made into a trilogy or mini-series. Limiting this Manga translation to a feature film severely hurts the plot and will leave most viewers in the dark, as the back-story is quickly glossed over.

Fans of the original Manga will get a kick out of watching this OVA, but new viewers will want to lay their hands on the Manga first, to truly appreciate this series.

Bonus Features:
- Making of Video
- Storyboards
- Interviews with the Japanese Cast

Title: Blade of the Phantom Master: Shin Angyo Onshi
Starring: Charles Campbell
Studio: Funimation
Release Date: June 30, 2009
Rating: 7 / 10

Here it is FIFA fans, the new FIFA 10 teaser trailer from EA Sports.

FIFA 10 features:
- 360 Degree Dribbling: The first-ever true 360° dribbling system in a foootball game gives you precise control to skillfully play spaces between defenders that previously were not possible.

- Physical Play Freedom: Wider dribble touches and new collision sharing allow for a less predictable yet extended fight for possession, resulting in more realistic battles between the dribbler and his defender.

-Skilled Dribbling: Advanced animation warping technology lets skilled players face defenders and maneuver around them with highly-responsive lateral dribbling, just like the game’s legends.

Dark Blue stars Dylan McDermott as Lt. Carter Shaw, Omari Hardwick as Officer Ty Curtis, Logan Marshall-Green as Officer Dean Bendis, and Nicki Aycox as Jaimie Allen. Each character has a lot of depth that looks to be enfolding throughout the series.

The “Dark Blue” pilot follows the season premier of Leverage. This is a wonderful pairing. Both focus on teams going undercover to bring down the bad guys. Though Leverage has a decidedly humorous angle throughout the show; “Dark Blue” is darker and grittier.

Full of suspense and energy, the “Dark Blue” pilot is an exciting start to a promising series. With a different angle on cop shows, this TNT original series has not only plenty of danger but is also surrounded by intrigue as well.

Five couples, whose grooms are part of America’s Armed Forces, pledged their love for each other and country in New York City’s Times Square. The rain didn’t dampen the wedding festivities as the brides walked under the cover of WeTV umbrellas to Times Square’s Military Island for the ceremony.

Check out the highlights from the wedding ceremony:

The Five Couples included:
- Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Minucci (US Marine Corp) and Michelle Mesa.
- Senior Chief Aaron Ryan (US Navy) and Barbara Borowy
- Lt. Kelly Lanning (US Navy) and Meghan O’Brien
- Jeff Smith (US Navy, Pentagon) and Traci Dehaas
- Staff Sgt. Anthony Perretti (US Air Force) and Brittany Cartwright

American Idol’s Melinda Doolittle was on hand to usher in the newlyweds first dance. The five couple’s shared in a taste of WeTV’s “Amazing Wedding Cakes,” as WeTV President and GM, Kim Martin, toasted to their futures.

“Bridezillas” airs Sunday at 9p/8c followed by “Amazing Wedding Cakes” at 10p/9c.

Alan Rickman (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Sweeney Todd) plays Eli Michaelson, a philandering, arrogant physics professor who just won the Nobel Prize. His son Barkley (Bride Wars) has yet to gain his approval for anything, including his PHD work on cannibalism. On the eve of the Nobel Ceremony, Barkley is kidnapped and held for a two million dollar ransom. His father, thinking it’s a joke, yells at Barkley and refuses to pay the kidnapper. The circumstances change when he receives a severed thumb in the mail.

A great cast supports Rickman and Greenburgh, including: Shawn Hatosy, Mary Steenburgen, Bill Pullman, and Eliza Dushku. Danny Devito also has a small role as the Rickman’s reformed OCD neighbor. The ensemble of actors gave great performances, despite every character being a flat one-dimensional archetype. The script was bulky and the plot had way too many shocking reveals that ended up feeling unbelievable and pointless.

The featurette in the special features section offers some insight into the decision in casting, but mostly focuses on the cast and filmmakers complements towards the script. Whether authentic or not, these opinions don’t offer much insight into the creative process or about the films production.

From the opening credits to the last shot, this movie is over paced and super saturated with excessive camera movements and techno music. I love fast paced music videos and Guy Ritchie films, but even this one had me feeling like I needed a prescription of Ritalin to get the whole point. Paul Okenfold provides a fantastic score, but there is just way too much music in this film. Not a scene went by that didn’t have a distracting house beat or string ensemble in the background.

If you’re into movies that have funny one-liners and a shiny production value, check out this DVD. Just don’t expect too much replay value.

DVD features:
- Commentary with Cast & Filmmakers
- Deleted Scenes with Director Commentary
- Trailers for Nobel Son
- Featurette with behind the scenes footage and cast interviews
- Coming Attractions

Title: Nobel Son
Starring: Alan Rickman, Bryan Greenberg, Shawn Hatosy, Eliza Dushku
Directed by: Randall Miller
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: June 9, 2009
Rating: 6 / 10

The words may sound like a Battlestar Galactica prophecy, but in actuality it’s the latest smack-in-the-face foreshadowing in the Weeds Season 5.

The test results are in: Nancy is the mother of Esteban’s son. However, fans still have the looming doubt in their minds after Nancy mutters the words “nothing is exactly as it seems” inscribed on a pre-baby shower gift from her baby’s daddy. In case you missed the words being spoken, the director provided a close up on the box for an added taste of foreshadowing humor.

Ignacio, Esteban’s latest “goon guard,” moves in with Nancy and the family. He’s a taser happy goon, and gives Andy a few thousand volts to the back. Our favorite promiscuous Botwin lover passes, out wetting his pants. Wetting your pants in front of Nancy, the girl you can’t have, is enough to drive a man mad. Or, if you’re Andy, put on your best short shorts, headband and tube socks and start a nerdy workout regime.

Capt. Roy Till shows up, stalking Ignacio. After quoting a line from Dirty Dancing, “Nobody puts Baby in the corner, Till tries to storm the Botwin. Unfortunately, Ignacio is one step ahead of him with his now notorious taser.

“I’m going to burn his clothes, drain his blood, and null his balls with acid.” Ignacio is head-over-heels to dish out some malicious punishment to Till. Where does Esteban find these people – the U.S. Post Office? Nancy, very nonchalantly, uses Ignacio’s taser to put him to sleep, on his own urine. Tasing may now be America’s number one pastime.

Nancy handcuffs Till and Ignacio to the bed; she is unable to figure out what to do with the two quarreling foes. When Nancy leaves, Ignacio and Till engage in a vicious round of “foot fighting.” But, all quarrels are put aside when Ignacio points out Till just caught a boner playing battling-footsies him. Till states, “It’s a perfectly normal reaction to the adrenaline of combat.” Ignacio cries out in horror like a child, “I don’t want to fight no more with you.”

Andy tries to impersonate Judah Botwin in an effort to get the money from his brother’s bank account. When he asks Shane if this is the morally right thing to do, to help the family, Shane turns over his father’s passport and leaves with several thousand dollars worth of marijuana to sell to his teacher. Shane’s moral compass may have gone south, but he is still the voice of truth. “I’m a Botwin, we’re not responsible for anything we do.”

The laughs haven’t stopped since Weeds Season 5 began. Fans also caught a funny scene where Nancy threw lighted matches at Celia for asking to move in with the Botwins.

In the next episode of Weeds, Nancy visits her obstetrician Dr. Audra Kitson (Alanis Morissette) to discuss the possibility of aborting the baby. Meanwhile, Shane goes to get his pot back from Mr. Sandusky with the help of Ignacio. But, what fans will really want to know is, will Nancy and Andy hook up? And, if so, how will Esteban take the news?

In this clip from Weeds Season 5 Episode 5, ” Van Nuys,” Celia, who has been secretly living in the garage, is finally discovered by Nancy.

In episode 3, “Scratches,” Alan Ball continued to explore the supernatural, further diverting the focus from our fanged friends. Was I expecting a minotaur-like creature to come out of nowhere and attack Sookie? Heck no, but I sure am interested in seeing how this plays out and what’s the connection to Merlotte’s latest waitress, Daphne (who, like Sookie, was also sporting some deep gouges in her back).

Lafayette fans certainly had a lot to be happy about as all collectively breathed a sigh of relief when Sookie rescued him (and serious props to her for demanding his release). Meanwhile, Tara finally seems to be realizing that Maryanne, Eggs and all the freaky-deaky happenings going on at the mansion are way too weird to stick around for. The question is: can she leave without sending Maryanne into a frenzy? I highly doubt it.

We’ll have to wait two weeks to see what happens next (HBO usually skips airing new shows on the holiday weekend). Instead, you’ll be able to rewatch the first three episodes again this Sunday.

Take a look at what’s to come on July 12:  Jason’s in apparent trouble and Tara attempts to break away from Maryanne. Looks like another great episode.

2K Sports invites gamers and fans of The BIGS video game series to the Nintendo World Store in New York City on Monday, July 6 for The BIGS 2 Home Run Pinball tournament. Attendees will have the exciting opportunity to meet and get autographs from the New York Mets’ Mike Pelfrey and Alex Cora, who will help kick-off the tournament.

Eligible participants in the The BIGS 2 Home Run Pinball tournament will have the chance to win prizes such as a Wii system from Nintendo, an authentic Major League Baseball® jersey autographed by Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, the cover athlete and spokesman for The BIGS 2, and a variety of other prizes. Attendees will also have the exclusive opportunity to purchase The BIGS 2 for Wii a full day before the game is released in retail stores. Registration for the tournament begins at 12:00 PM Eastern Time and registration slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Tournament play begins at 4:15 PM Eastern Time. All prospective tournament participants must be 10 or older, and participants 17 or younger must be accompanied by and have permission from a parent or guardian.

Date: Monday, July 6

Location: Nintendo World Store
10 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10020
(646) 459-0800

Schedule:
12:00–3:30 PM – Home Run Pinball Tournament registration
4:00 PM – Event introduction
4:10 PM – Mike Pelfrey and Alex Cora of the New York Mets to faceoff in The BIGS 2
4:15 PM – Tournament begins
6:00 PM – Tournament concludes