Screenhead

The Guardian, the dramatic legal TV series starring Simon Baker, on DVD with the First Season in a 6 disc set, including all 22 first season episodes. In stores now from Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment, but you can win a copy here at Screenhead!

The Guardian is truly a captivating legal drama starring Simon Baker (The Mentalist), is available now on a six-disc DVD set featuring all 22 riveting first season episodes from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment.

When a hotshot corporate lawyer has a run-in with the law and is sentenced to 1,500 hours of community service, he becomes The Guardian – a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances. The Guardian garnered a host of industry acclaim with Simon Baker earning a Golden Globe nomination for the lead role.

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the 9 winners Thursday, November 19, 2009.

Jean Hupke (65) is the winner of iCarly Season 2 Vol. 1 — congratulations!

My daughter loves watching iCarly on Nickelodeon. The show is hilarious.  She really enjoyed the movie iGo to Japan, which is included in this DVD.

iCarly Season 2 Vol. 1 DVD  contains brand-new web segments, special guest star appearances and exciting episodes from Season 2, including iCarly’s first web award nomination and the kiss that shocked the world!

iCarly Season 2 Vol 1 is a 2-Disc Set with 11 episodes including the iGo to Japan TV movie and more!

MEDIUM is an American supernatural and dramatic television series which premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005. Its focus is Allison DuBois (Patricia Arquette), who acts as a research medium for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney’s office. A wife to loving husband, Joe, and mother of three beautiful daughters who all inherited the gift passed down from generation to generation. The show is based on experiences from self-proclaimed spiritual medium Allison DuBois, who claims to have worked with law enforcement agencies across the country in criminal investigations.

“The Fifth Season of MEDIUM – the hit, supernatural crime drama, starring Emmy award winner Patricia Arquette ….. re-materializes on DVD. In Stores now from Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment. The 5 disc set features all 18 chilling episodes plus great special features.” 

Screenhead has 9 copies of the fifth season of MEDIUM to giveaway through the month on October.  Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winners October 27, 2009.

I think Megan Fox looks like Gene Tierney in this promotional clip for SNL.  The clip below has young Frank Sinatra singing “Laura”, the theme song from the movie of the same title.  Laura is a wonderful movie starring Gene Tierney, which fans remember her the most. Other Tierney movies are shown in the clip as well. Tierney is just as beautiful, if not more, than Megan Fox.

Screenhead has an exclusive Community giveaway opportunity for our loyal visitors! In anticipation for the September 17^th premiere of Community, we have two great prize packs to give away. Each prize pack includes all these great goodies (as you can see in the image): 

• Cooler
• Beer Stein (Greendale Community College)
• Pencil
• Magnet
• Water bottle
• Key-chain Bottle Opener 

Community is about a band of misfits at Greendale Community College, lead by Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), who form a study group where they eventually learn more about themselves than the course of work they are studying.

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winners October 4, 2009. Be sure to check out Community premiere on Thursday night 9:30/8:30c, September 17, 2009!

Whoa, brace yourselves, Western fans!

I know you’ve been getting short shrift for literally YEARS now.  Maybe you only get three or four new releases a year, and most of your new stuff comes in the form of remastered antiques.  If it weren’t for 3:10 to Yuma you’d probably STILL be watching Wyatt Earp.

But now I’ve got an absolutely charming bit of news here that’ll really put a hitch in your gitalong, as it were.  The SECOND longest running television series of all time, which lost its crown to no less a media icon than The Simpsons, Gunsmoke will be getting its own big-screen adaptation.  You may not be terribly heartened by the news that it will have a more “contemporary look” and “modern action”, but there’s no denying that it will in fact exist.

They’re bringing in the screenwriter from National Treasure: Book of Secrets to handle the script on this one, so at the very least they mean to get some mileage out of this one.  Release dates are still a pipe dream at this point, but when there’s more to tell you,  you know we’ll have it right here.

I did not watch a lot of Torchwood.  It was mostly on BBC America, and the few episodes I saw on the Sci Fi Channel showed up so sporadically in both time and date that I didn’t even know when it was on half the time.

But the few I did see, well, I have to admit there was something there. Especially when I got my hands on an advance copy, which is only just available on DVD today, of Torchwood: Children of Earth.

In Torchwood: Children of Earth, the Torchwood crew is going to go through five really, REALLY unpleasant days of an alien invasion by a race that calls itself the 456.  The 456 wants only one thing–Earth’s children.  Further complicating matters is that there’s one lone survivor of the 456’s last invasion, and he knows they’re on their way.  But can Torchwood manage to defeat the 456 before the children of Earth are lost forever?

It resembles nothing so much as a really, REALLY dark version of Men in Black but for England.  And it almost seems badly out of place–most Torchwood episodes involved the handful of Torchwood employees tackling that week’s Special Guest Villain / Paranormal Oddity.  And if you haven’t seen a lot of Torchwood before, you’re going to be just a little lost on some of the finer points of who’s who and what’s what.

But–and this is the really interesting part–if you haven’t seen a lot of Torchwood, you can actually go in blind on this one.  It functions just as well as a stand-alone as it does part of a greater series, if somewhat differently.  I have to admit that I got taken up with the whole thing, watching the interestingly-laid paths of science fiction and action with plenty of thriller capability.

It’s pretty solid, and a little chilling.  This is, as I said, a much darker iteration of the normal Torchwood series.  Longtime fans may be put off by this and may even go so far as to wonder if this is a whole new direction for the Torchwood series to go in.   Even the DVD menu was a chiller, frankly–the first time I heard the 456 speak I got the willies something fierce.  In fact, I don’t know what it is, but calling an alien race “the 456″ is somehow the most ominous name I’ve heard in a long time.  I’ve heard a lot of alien race names that carried plenty of fiendish glottals–the K’Klikkit, the K’Tang, the Ur-Quan (both Kohr-Ah and Kzer-Za)–but somehow, something as simple as a race that goes by three numbers in sequence (those of you who remember Star Trek: Voyager and Species 8472, you have to admit that’s somehow not so foreboding.  Maybe it’s the addition of “species” or the lack of sequence, I don’t know) is just the creepiest thing in some while.

Oh, and special advance warning for those who haven’t seen the show: brace yourselves in advance for some homosexuality and naked men.

The critical thing to remember is, Torchwood: Children of Earth has a lot going for it, but you’re going to have to clear your schedule.  Like FIVE HOURS of your schedule.  But if you do, you should enjoy the results. The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Torchwood: Children of Earth a seven out of ten for managing to be accessible to the newcomers and yet valuable to those who’ve seen some episodes before.

To say Comic-Con is a big deal would be an understatement.  The convention kicks off tonight at the San Diego Convention Center and runs through the weekend. Quite a few heavy hitters plan to attend from James Cameron generating more fans for Avatar to Mickey Rourke promoting Iron Man 2.  We mustn’t forget televisions shows from “Heroes” to “Burn Notice.”

Some folks call Comic-Con an audition for Hollywood.  I rather think of it as a promotional frenzy for those who twitter and visit YouTube for a glimpse of the upcoming films and television shows.  Scott Bowles of USA Today calls it a “kind of an American Idol-style tryout for Hollywood.”

Unfortunately, I won’t be there this year, but hope to report anyhow through intelligence from Internet acquaintances.  But, don’t get me wrong, I wish I could be there in the frenzy. My email cache is filled with invitations from various media outlets inviting me to visit their booths or view their footage. Alas!

With that being said, USA Today posted a very informative point of view on Comic-Con with a little bit of history added to the hype.  You will also find plenty of production stills from Iron Man 2. 

(Source)

With the all too imminent release of A Haunting In Connecticut to DVD mere hours away, it’s interesting to note that the movie is indeed based on a true story.  Said true story was documented in the popular Discovery Channel TV series A Haunting, specifically, an unusually large ninety-four minute version that, for this series, likely meant it was split in two parts to accommodate the commercial break.

But is it any good?  Was it even necessary?  Can it possibly compete with the added force of the Hollywood wizardry the theatrical release brought to bear?  That’s what we’re taking a look at today.

When Karen and Ed Parker move into their new home, in order to help take care of their cancer-stricken son, they find that their new house has a whole lot of history to it…and none of it good.  But when the Parker family decides to stand and fight, they’re going to be taking a force of serious evil, and all they’ll have to fight with is their faith, a priest serving as exorcist, and that always-controversial of paranormal investigator teams, Ed and Lorraine Warren, the same duo who took on the Amityville haunting.

Anyone who’s seen the show A Haunting already knows what the format is like–part dramatization, part interview with the actual participants, and always present is the gravelly voice of the narrator. But for those of you who haven’t seen this show yet, man, you don’t know what you’re missing.  This is the SCARIEST kind of horror you’re going to see.  Why?  It doesn’t depend on blood or obscenity or anything else.  What it depends upon instead is the random juxtaposition of the mundane and the insane.  They’ll start out wiht something quiet and simple, like a little girl playing with her dolls, then they’ll let something flash by, almost too quick to be noticed.  Almost.

Then you find out what that something is, and man, you almost wish you hadn’t found out after all.

They are going to do things that you never thought were possible within the confines of a normal everyday television show–they’re going to scare you.  Why?  Because this show is the absolute unquestioned master of creating forboding, ominous environments.  They will SCARE YOU by virtue of creating an atmosphere of utter dread.  They will frighten you to no end, and you will enjoy it.

I’m stunned to report that, after having seen the theatrical version, and having seen THIS version, that there can be no doubt.  This version is wildly, WILDLY scarier.  Not to mention wildly, WILDLY superior.  It amazes me to no end to tell you that an episode of a pseudo-documentary television show can pack more punch than a theatrical release movie, but it is what it is.

I have little doubt that you’ll be patently amazed by what you see here, and cheerfully recommend it to you.  Enjoy to your heart’s content, because this sucker’s spectacularly freaky.

A Haunting In Connecticut is so spectacularly freaky, in fact, that it gets a full nine out of ten, with only its inherent limitations holding it back from true perfection.

ENTER TO WIN A PRIZE PACK FROM THE A&E HIT DRAMA

THE CLEANER, STARRING BENJAMIN BRATT.SEASON 2 PREMIERES JUNE 23^RD AT 10PM ET/PT ON A&E NETWORK 

Season two of the hit A&E original scripted drama series “The Cleaner,” starring Benjamin Bratt, Grace Park, Amy Price-Francis and Esteban Powell premieres Tuesday, June 23 at 10PM ET/PT. 

Inspired by the true story of real life “extreme interventionist” Warren Boyd, “The Cleaner” stars Bratt as William Banks, a recovering addict who must balance his unwavering dedication to helping others get clean with an increasingly rocky personal life and the ghosts of his addictions. Banks and his teammates Akani Cuesta (Park) and Arnie Swenton (Powell) employ an unconventional – and often by any means necessary – approach to getting addicts and those who surround them to realize they’ve reached rock-bottom and help them begin the process of recovery. With every success and failure, William wrestles with his commitment to his work and his love for his wife Melissa (Price-Francis) and their children through an unusual relationship with God. 

Whoopi Goldberg guest stars in the series premiere, “Hello America,” as William’s (Bratt) former sponsor who resurfaces when an addict he is called to help is one she currently sponsors.  

To celebrate the premiere of season 2 of The Cleaner, enter to win a great prize package that includes: 

• The Cleaner season 1 DVD courtesy of CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Entertainment
• A&E T-shirt, hat and pen
• The Cleaner candle set, moleskin journal and set of eco-friendly shopping bags

Post your name and Screenhead will pick the winner of The Cleaner prize package Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

The Cleaner, premieres June 23rd at 10:00PM ET/PT only on A&E Network.  

Visit the official site for more information and to view exclusive content.  Become a fan of The Cleaner on Facebook! 

Click here to purchase the season 1 DVD of The Cleaner.