DVD reviews: Time trip back to Saturday heroes
It’s another week of slim pickings with new DVD releases.
• “Howdy Kids: Saturday Afternoon Western Roundup,” Grade B-plus: If you grew up in the 1950s, then this is a three-DVD set you have to own. It’s a fun trip back to Saturdays when heroes – who rode horses, flew planes and even got around in a jeep – ruled the television airwaves.
There are 25 episodes of live-action programming originally designed to entertain children.
Included are episodes of “The Lone Ranger,” “The Range Rider,” “The Rifleman,” “The Adventures Of Rick O’Shay,” “Fury,” “The Roy Rogers Show,” “Annie Oakley,” “The Adventures Of Kit Carson,” “The Adventures Of Champion,” “The Cisco Kid,” “Sergeant Preston Of the Yukon,” “Sky King,” “Red Ryder” and “Buffalo Bill Jr.”
Everyone will have their favorites, but two of the standouts are “Sky King” – who battled bad guys using an airplane – and “Sergeant Preston Of the Yukon” – whose companion was King, a dog billed as a husky but was really an Alaskan Malamute.
Even if you didn’t grow up in the ’50s, these live-action shows are still fun to watch.
• “Boss: Season 2,” Grade B: The second season of this political and human drama featuring Kelsey Grammer as Chicago Mayor Tom Kane steps up the intensity of the first season.
Grammer’s first year was good enough to earn him a Golden Globe. The second season comes with an even stronger performance from Grammer, who portrays a politician battling to hold his career together despite having a debilitating brain disease.
It helped that new actors added to this potboiler, including Sanaa Lathan, Jonathan Groff and Tip “T.I.” Harris, playing characters who replenish Kane’s inner circle that was devastated in the first season.
Also new on DVD:
“Hyde Park on Hudson”: Bill Murray portrays President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War”: Richard Basehart narrates this four-DVD set that covers from 1945-1975.
“Into The Cold”: Documentary follows two men as they retrace and commemorate Robert E. Peary’s successful expedition to the North Pole.
“Gabriel Iglesias: Aloha Fluffy”: Gabriel Iglesias comedy special filmed in Hawaii.
“Best of Latino Laugh Festival”: Cheech Marin hosts the comedy special starring Greg Giraldo, Pablo Francisco, Jeff Valdez and others.
“Planet Ocean”: Josh Duhamel narrates this look at the ocean.
“Love Free or Die”: Documentary challenges the belief that homosexuality is in direct conflict with faith.
“Family Ties: The Sixth Season”: Family comedy starring Michael J. Fox.
“Wow Wow Wubbzy: Best of Walden”: Includes episodes of “Mr. Cool” and “Walden on the Beach.”
“The Four”: Film based on the novel “The Four Detective Guards.”
“Rainforest Rescue”: Features two episodes of “Wild Kratts.”
“Deadball”: Juvenile delinquent agrees to join the baseball team in a battle to the death against the psycho butcher girls.
“LUV”: Common stars in the coming-of-age story.
“Oklahoma City Dolls”: TV series about female factory workers who start their own semi-pro football team.
“We Are Egypt: The Story Behind the Revolution”: Documentary follows key Egyptian politicians during the time before the 2011 uprising.
“Woochi: The Demon Slayer”: Fantasy film based on a Korean folk tale that broke Korean box office records in 2009.