Friday Night Lights: The Fourth Season

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• AC-3; Box set; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 10/04/2011For four years, the residents and students of Dillon, Texas, have faced difficult choices on and off the field with courage, passion and perseverance. Now the time has come to find closure for problems of the past while pursuing new possibilities that will lead many beyond Dillon city limits. But, will everyone be up to the challenge?Saying goodbye to Dillon, Texas, won't be easy for those who've been with Friday Night Lights from the start--especially those who read the book or saw the movie. Over five years on NBC, students graduated, the high school changed (from West to East Dillon), and Eric and Tami Taylor (Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton) and Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) remained constants, sometimes making mistakes, but a! lways trying to do right by their kids--biological and otherwise. And few shows offered more believable relationships, from Coach and Tami to Luke (Matt Lauria) and Becky (Madison Burge), who rekindle their romance in the final season.

If the fourth year marked the end of an era, the fifth revolves around new beginnings: Tami returns to her role as guidance counselor (after a controversial reign as principal), Buddy takes his wayward son under his wing, Julie (Aimee Teegarden) has a rough start at college, Billy (Derek Phillips) becomes assistant football coach, Becky moves in with him and his wife, and quarterback Vince (Michael B. Jordan), who continues to see Jess (Jurnee Smollett), tangles with his recently paroled father, Ornette (Cress Williams). Naturally, there are a few new arrivals, but they don't make the same impact as returning Dillon veterans Landry (Jesse Plemons), Jason (Scott Porter), Matt (Zach Gilford), Tyra (Adrianne Palicki), and Billy's younger brot! her, Tim (Taylor Kitsch), whose adjustment to life after priso! n parall els Ornette's experience.

This 13-episode arc traces the road to the state championships and marks the end of one of television's most emotionally involving shows, always operating on the principle that everyone can change, and that there's still room on network TV for semi-improvised, documentary-style filmmaking. Deleted scenes, commentary tracks, and a featurette offer a comprehensive look back at a stellar series, truly one of the medium's very best. --Kathleen C. FennessyTV's hottest new drama, Friday Night Lights, touches down on DVD with all 22 Season One episodes in a 5-disc collection! In the small town of Dillon, everyone comes together on Friday nights when the Dillon High Panthers play. But life is not a game; and the charismatic players, new coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler), and the passionate fans find that their biggest challenges and obstacles come off the field in the compelling day-to-day dramas of their tight-knit community. From producer! s Brian Grazer (The Da Vinci Code) and Peter Berg (The Kingdom) comes the critically acclaimed TV series based on the best-selling novel and hit theatrical movie. Discover why The Associated Press calls it "breathtaking in how it captures ordinary life set against extraordinary passions."The first season of Friday Night Lights accomplishes something that few television dramas are able to do: It betters the 2004 film (starring Billy Bob Thornton) on which the series is based. Set in Dillon, Texas, where football--even on the high school level--is everything, Friday Night Lights is a compelling drama with a football subplot. Poignantly and effectively touching on racism, rape, steroids, jealousy, infidelity, and life-changing injuries, the series presents the inhabitants of Dillon as real people who are flawed, but remarkable in their ordinariness. Though the series struggled to find an audience during its inaugural year, it was a critical favorite thanks to som! e fine acting by leads Kyle Chandler (as Coach Eric Taylor) an! d Connie Britton (who portrays his wife, Tami). Coach Taylor's career depends on his ability to get the Dillon Panthers to the state championship. If the team suffers a losing streak, he knows his family, which includes daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden), will no longer be welcome in Dillon. Britton, who also played the coach's wife in the film version, is a phenomenal actress who shares simmering chemistry with Chandler. Not content at just being the coach's wife, she lands a job as a counselor at the local high school. That position plays a pivotal role in the season finale, which leaves viewers wondering whether Eric will leave Dillon to accept a coveted coaching job with a university. Though the majority of the twentysomething actors appear too mature to portray high school students, they have the mannerisms of teens down pat. Gaius Charles is perfect as cocky running back Brian "Smash" Williams, who'll risk his health to make sure he gets a football scholarship to college. Local! sweethearts Jason Street (Scott Porter) and Lyla Garrity (Minka Kelly) are the high school's golden couple. When a football injury leaves him paralyzed, he finds strength in what the future holds for him, but Lyla finds herself in a short-lived affair with Jason's best friend Tim Riggins (Taylor Kitsch). Once the relationship comes out in the open, their classmates' reactions to the "traitors" show that sexual inequality is rampant even in the teen set. Tim's teammates briefly ostracize him, but just as quickly forgive him, especially since he's so valuable on the football field. But Lyla becomes persona non grata to the girls at school who take too much glee in calling the head cheerleader a slut. The hits she takes verbally are no less lethal than the ones the boys take on the gridiron. And the tentative relationship between Julie Taylor and Matt Saracen (Zach Gilford) is the best depiction of teenage love since Angela Chase fell for Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Li! fe. The actors do a wonderful job conveying the sweetness,! pain, a nd hurt of falling in love without really understanding all of its implications. Peter Berg, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, has a strong presence as a writer on the series and evenly distributes the storylines between the kids and the adults. Friday Night Lights is a drama with teenage characters at its core. But the stories are universal. --Jae-Ha KimOne of the greatest TV dramas of all time continues with 13 gripping fourth season episodes of the critically acclaimed series Friday Night Lights. Small-town life in Dillon has changed irrevocably with the dramatic split of the school district. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) finds himself fighting for the respect of the East Dillon Lions, while his wife, Tami (Connie Britton), faces her own battles as principal of the Dillon High Panthers. Across town, it’s a season for change as graduating students face life after high school, and new students deal with hostile rivalries. From executive producers Brian G! razer, Peter Berg and Jason Katims comes the show that critics rave “may have the greatest emotional range of any series ever on television” (Neal Gabler, Los Angeles Times).The fourth season of Friday Night Lights begins with Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) in what appears to be a lose-lose situation. Fired from Dillon High School as the Panthers' football coach, Taylor is offered a position coaching the East Dillon Lions. No matter how the school board tries to spin it with platitudes about both schools being equal, East Dillon is rundown, has no funds, and has a football squad that's a team in name only. Of course we all know that Coach Taylor being who he is, it's only a matter of time before he turns the team around and gets a little vengeance on the snooty Panthers. Meanwhile, his wife Tami (Connie Britton) is principal of Dillon High School, where their daughter Julie (Aimee Teegarden) is a senior. Her boyfriend, Matt (Zach Gilford), who had the chance to go ! to art school in Chicago, stayed behind in the small Texas tow! n becaus e he didn't want to leave behind his grandmother--who's suffering from Alzheimer's--or Julie. Though some of the plot points may sound melodramatic, they play beautifully in the 13 episodes, which originally aired on television during the 2009-2010 season. There are cast changes, reflecting the graduation of some of the characters. Lyla (Minka Kelly) briefly returns from her studies at Vanderbilt to attend a funeral, while Tim (Taylor Kitsch)--the boy she left behind--struggles with his ambivalent feelings for college and his need to help take care of the only family he has: his older brother, sister-in-law, and infant nephew. And new characters like Vince (Michael B. Jordan)--a central part of at least half the story lines--easily fit into the ensemble cast. Meanwhile, Lyla's dad Buddy (played by Brad Leland with just the right combination of sleaze and pathos) turns out to be instrumental in helping get the football program off the ground at East Dillon. Landry (Jesse Plem! ons) realizes that his on-again, off-again girlfriend is never coming back to him. And he's OK with that as he tackles the challenges of being the new kid at East Dillon. But, as his best friend Matt notes, "he's like a girl" when it comes to holding grudges. There also is major fallout for Tami, who is accused of telling a teenager to end her pregnancy, and trouble for a football player who gets hooked on drugs after an injury. When his religious parents tell him to pray, he does: "Dear Lord, please let me get some more drugs before Friday." There are a few scenarios that ring false, like when the Panthers' star quarterback J.D. McCoy (Jeremy Sumpter) seemingly turns into a malicious, spoiled brat overnight. But overall, Friday Night Lights scores just the right touch. --Jae-Ha Kim

Burke and Hare

• BURKE AND HARE (DVD MOVIE)

William Burke (Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead) and William Hare (Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Lord of the Rings trilogy) luck into some easy money when they discover they can sell a fresh cadaver to Dr. Knox (Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton, The Ghost Writer) at Edinburgh Medical College for dissection.  After somehow producing another corpse to sell, Burke and Hare suddenly find themselves in a lucrative if unsavory business.  However, the next cadaver is not quite so easy to obtain, and when word gets out of how profitable the trade is, the duo find themselves blackmailed and in dire need of more bodies.  Murder is not a laughing matter, but then again, this is the 1820's.  Co-starring Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) and directed by John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, Animal House), who returns to feature films after more than a decade to! helm this dark, grisly comedy, based on an entirely true story.Studio: Wea-des Moines Video Release Date: 09/29/2009 Run time: 91 minutes

The Affair of the Necklace

• A romantic drama based on the controversial true story of Jeanne De La Motte Valois, a countess whose name was stripped from her by the Royal Family during the late 18th Century. The story of her fight to restore her name and proper place in society is filled with mystery, intrigue and desire, with an infamous diamond necklace at the center of it all.Running Time: 118 min. Format: DVD MOVIE G

The Necklace Affair
by Ashley Gardner
A Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries novella

London 1817
Captain Lacey agrees to track down the missing necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for the theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the Clifford household, while Lacey and his fr! iend Lucius Grenville follow other leads. The investigation digs up scandal and past secrets, and Lacey finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval.

This is a 25,000-word (ten-chapter) novella. The events in it occur between the end of The Sudbury School Murders and the beginning of A Body in Berkeley Square.
The Necklace Affair
by Ashley Gardner
A Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries novella

London 1817
Captain Lacey agrees to track down the missing necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for the theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He recruits Lady Breckenridge to infiltrate the Clifford household, while Lacey and his friend Lucius Grenville follow other leads. The investigation digs up scandal and past secrets, and Lacey finds ! himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, f! or the n ecklace's retrieval.

This is a 25,000-word (ten-chapter) novella. The events in it occur between the end of The Sudbury School Murders and the beginning of A Body in Berkeley Square.
An anthology of shorter works from the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries series. The Necklace Affair: Captain Gabriel Lacey agrees to track down the necklace of a society matron and prove the innocence of her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. The investigation reveals scandal and past secrets, and Lacey finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. The Gentleman's Walking Stick: Captain Lacey untangles a web of deceit involving an old army friend, his only clue being a missing walking stick. The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald: Captain Lacey is asked to locate a gentleman's daughter, although he senses that the family will be just as happy for her to remain missing.

The child Jeanne Valois lost her family, her home! , and her fortune to the greed of an influential aristocrat. Now grown into a proud young woman of rare beauty and exceptional wiles, she has gained entrance to the court of Louis XVI and exquisite, reviled queen Marie Antoinette through an expedient marriage, seeking restitution for what was stolen from her. But Jeanne de La Motte-Valois's entreaties have fallen on deaf royal ears, inflaming her desire for justice...and vengeance.

In an era of excessive splendor, squalor, and cruelty, amid the myraid intrigues, both dangerous and erotic, that swirl around the powers of France, the brilliant stratagems of a woman wronged will eclipse all others -- as infamy, tragedy, and death loom in the shadows of a conspiracy that begins with a breathtaking vision of diamonds and gold...and ends with revolution.

A necklace that belonged to Marie Antoinette is to be presented to Queen Elizabeth. Blake and Mortimer's sworn enemy Olrik, about to be tried in Paris, manages to escape an! d steals the precious necklace out from under their noses duri! ng a gli ttering reception in the French capital. The affair threatens to turn into a full-blown diplomatic incident, especially since Olrik is doing his best to embarrass Blake and Mortimer by tipping off the press about his every move.WEALTH AND DESIRE. POLITICS AND CORRUPTION. CELEBRITY AND SEXUALITY. AN 18TH-CENTURY FRENCHWOMAN COMBINES THEM ALL IN A TREACHEROUS SCHEME TO ACQUIRE THE 2800-CARAT DIAMOND NECKLACE THAT WILL ENABLE HER TO BUY BACK THE ROYAL STATUS TAKEN FROMHER.For all its earnest intrigue, historically accurate references, and elaborate set design, The Affair of the Necklace is best enjoyed as a comedy of Hollywood errors. The court of late-18th-century France is ruled by Marie Antoinette (Joely Richardson), whose confidence and favor is yearned for by Jeanne de la Motte-Valois (Hilary Swank), a young woman stripped of her title and orphaned at a young age. As flashbacks repeatedly remind the audience, Jeanne is essentially pure at heart even as she takes up ! with a court gigolo (Simon Baker) and enacts the intricate scheme from which the title is drawn. Soon embroiled in Jeanne's plan to win back her rightful place in the world are her avaricious husband of convenience, Nicolas (Adrien Brody); the soon-to-be-disposed-of Marie Antoinette; the salacious Cardinal Rohan (Jonathan Pryce); a necklace of questionable taste; and a host of other players. All the makings for a hilarious romp (à la Ridicule) are in place, but director Charles Shyer, with his lavish budget in tow, wants the film to be taken seriously. Only Christopher Walken, in a hilarious turn as the fraudulent soothsayer Count Cagliostro, sees through the facile script and relishes his part in what will no doubt prove a colossal flop. --Fionn Meade