thelatestreviews.com

The Madonna DVD “Celebration” is in stores now and available from on-line resellers. The two disc DVD features over 40 classic Madonna videos. Long time Madonna fans will notice that some videos are missing. Not here are music videos for “Everybody,” “Dress You Up,” “Bad Girl,” “Nothing Really Matters,” and “You Must Love Me.” Now what fans can enjoy are two discs filled with restored classic Madonna music videos.

Disc #1 opens with the music video “Burning Up.” This 1983 video introduced Madonna to the masses as it was played on MTV. Other classic music videos featured on the first DVD are “Like a Virgin,” “Material Girl,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” and “Like a Prayer” among others. Disc two should please fans as well as it features the music videos for “Secret,” which was the first single released from the 1995 Madonna album “Bedtime Stories.” Other modern classics featured on the second disc are “Frozen,” “Ray of Light,” “Die Another Day,” and “Music,” among others. The second disc features the majority of the post 2000 Madonna music videos all the way up to the video for “Celebration.”

The Madonna DVD “Celebration” is in stores now.

The Facts of Life the Complete Fourth season DVD once again proves that Shout! Factory is among the leader in restoring and releasing classic television shows to the home dvd purchasing community. The effort that was put into this DVD release was “monumental” and well worth the wait. As previous releases were released by another company, the first Shout! release gives fans hope that they will be able to complete their “Facts of Life” DVD collection. This is the first “Facts of Life” DVD release in several years and fans were worried that they might not be able to complete their DVD collection.

Talk about hard work and an effort well done, the “Facts of Life” the Complete Fourth Season DVD opens up with a bonus that television fans probably thought they would never own on DVD. The DVD opens up with the feature length film “The Facts of Life-Goes To Paris.” The nearly two hour movie is a 1980s classic. The movie originally aired on NBC on September 25th 1982. In the movie, the girls from Eastland, Blair, Tootie, Natalie and Jo arrive in Paris for a fun vacation filled with romance. When this movie originally aired, so many young girls were excited about the prospect of pen pals and foreign romance. It is so great the television fans will be able to own this hard to find classic on DVD. The VHS/BETA version of “The Facts of Life-Goes To Paris” was available for rental and purchase until about 1989, so fans of the movie will be so pleased to own this classic on television. The movie is featured on the first DVD in the four disc set.

On to season four. The fourth season of “The Facts of Life” was in bright sparkling sharp color, when looking at the DVD you can see this high intensity NBC camera color as if they were not yet using the softer filters that they used for shows like “Empty Nest” and “The Golden Girls,” the sharpness is very noticable and the restoration for the high definition DVD release is spectacular. The theme for the fourth season appears to be independence as each girl has her own set of issues and circumstances to deal with. The fourth season of “The Facts of Life” aired between September of 1982 and May of 1983. The season starts with a financial debacle known as Jo is made to consider accepting money from the family of Blair Warner when she faces losing portions of her scholarship to Eastland School. Jo is full of pride and doesn’t want any handouts from the Warner Foundation. This is not the only time during the season Jo has to deal with the theme of money, in the episode “Help From Home,” Jo is having a hard time dealing with graduating from Eastland when she realizes her family may not be able to afford college. During the 1980s, there was some controversy about the stereotyped image of the character of “Jo” because of her always being made to “act” so tough. Other cool episodes include the fan favorite episode of when a royal enrolls at Eastland and the popular episode of the Sadie Hawkins Dance when Natalie is afraid she can’t find a date.

The large theme of the season is “disability” and “accidents” the episodes are unforgettable. This season features the episode when Tootie has to address hearing loss. Blair once again has to display the ultimate compassion and understanding when she has to counsel a student who is handicapped. Mrs. Garrett has to deal with a medical issue-high blood pressure and the girls learn a hard lesson about drinking and driving.

The season is a catalyst that may leave fans near tears–how did it happen so fast? Where did the time go? As the season ends, Blair and Jo graduate from Eastland School. So many fans from the 1980s remember the heartfelt episode episode when tough kid Jo graduates from rich preppy Eastland with school sister friend Blair, and the pain that Tootie and Natalie have to deal with knowing they will have to continue the Eastland tradition without Blair and Jo by their side. To remember that anticipation the summer of 1983, just wondering what would “Facts of Life” be without Blair and Jo there. To imagine Shout! Factory has bestowed such a treasure to television fans.

Bonus features include “Know The Facts: Trivia Game.” “The Facts of Life: The Complete Fourth Season” is now available on DVD.

Shout! Factory has really done a great job when it comes to pleasing fans of 1980’s television. “Mr. Belvedere” Season Three is now available on DVD for the first time. Shout! Factory released “Mr. Belvedere Seasons 1 & 2″ on DVD earlier this year. The release was well received by fans of the television show.

The laughs continue with the release of “Mr Belvedere Season 3.” This release features 22 episodes. The four DVD set is in stores now. The air dates for the episodes are 9/26/1986 to 5/15/1987. The the season starts with the episode “The Thief.” In this episode Heather, the daughter on the show is working at a record store and her boyfriend tries to steal from the store leading to a sticky situation. The situations that the Owen’s family has to deal with during the third season include George’s near death experience, Mr. Belvedere having to deal with the possibility of being deported, Marsha’s pregnancy scare, and Kevin falling in love with an older woman. This third season of Mr. Belvedere included a lot of melancholoy moments and many happy moments. The episode “Deportation:Part 1,” is a very sad and touching episode. The television show “Mr. Belvedere” was always about friendship and loyalty. In this episode, Wesley, angry at Mr. Belvedere calls the Department of Immigration on “Mr. Belvedere” and Mr.Belvedere almost gets deported from the United States. The episode is two parts and in the episode “Deportation: Part 2″ the family tries to make sure that Mr. Belvedere doesn’t have to leave the United States of America Another really good episode of the third season is the episode “Pills.” In this episode, the daughter of the Owens household Heather is in a situation where she considers taking weight loss drugs. With the help of her mother, Heather addresses the drug situation. The third season of “Mr Belvedere” ends with the episode “College Bound,” in which the oldest son is ready to go to college but George and Marsha have to deal with the reality that college is expensive. “Mr. Belvedere” is a fun show to watch almost twenty years or so since it went off of the air. Television fans will enoy adding this DVD to their collection. The running time of the DVD is +250 minutes. “Mr Belvedere Season Three” is in stores now.

Madonna has a new greatest hits package coming out later this month. The two disc set features over 20 of Madonna’s biggest hits. To celebrate the release of this new package, Madonna has released the new song “Celebration.” The song is a return to her 80’s dancefloor roots and fans of the classic song “Holiday” will enjoy this uptempo song. The song probably won’t get a lot of love from radio as it should, but its a great song and Madonna fans surely will be waiting for the “Celebration” remixes. Madonna’s website www.madonna.com is a multimedia paradise for fans.

Erasure is one of the most well known techno duos of all time. “Total Pop! The First 40 Hits,” is a double CD release that will surely please fans of the popular duo. Erasure got their start back in the 1990’s. The group had big hits with songs “Chains of Love,” “A Little Respect,” and “Who Needs Love Like That,” among other songs. “Total Pop! The First 40 Hits,” features 40 hits from the duo.

The songs featured on the album are from 14 Erasure albums. The color booklet that comes with the CD features art work for the 40 singles that are included in the two disc set. This two CD collection features some of the biggest hits that Erasure has had to offer. The CD features great high energy music that techno music fans will appreciate. The CD features songs that were released between 1985 and 2007. Erasure has so many fans, this CD is sure to please. Other stand out songs on the CD include “Always,” “Stop!,” “Breath of Life,” and “Don’t Say You Love Me.”

The 80’s are remembered for being a decade of fun loving family sitcoms. Shout! Factory has been making fans of 80’s television happy the past few years by releasing many of these shows on DVD for the first time. “My Two Dads” was a funny family show that premiered on NBC in 1987. The show starred Greg Evigan and Paul Reiser. “My Two Dads” was a hit for Paul Reiser before he hit it big with “Mad About You.” The premise of the show was about a 12 year old girl named Nicole Bradford whose mom had died. After the death of her mother, Nicole is placed in the home of two men who take on the role of her father. The show was a cute ensemble show. The show was a coming of age show about a young girl growing up in the home of two men without a woman in the house. “My Two Dads-The Complete First Season” features 22 episodes from the shows first season. The box set opens with the episode “My Two Dads.” In this episode, Nicole Bradford is left in the custody of her brand new fathers. Nicole is happy living with her new fathers Michael and Joey. Both of the fathers have personalities of their own. They work hard during the first season to make Nicole feel comfortable in her new living environment. Nicole has to deal with dating, Michael and Joey have to deal with dating considering that they have a young daughter, and the judge who handled the adoption almost becomes a part of the family.

“My Two Dads” was a cute show that lasted several seasons during the 1980’s. The actress Staci Keanan who starred on the show went on to star in the sitcom “Step By Step.” The DVD features a featurette titled “A Look Back at My Two Dads” that features the cast members. The picture quality on the DVD is good considering the age of the show. Fans of the show who haven’t seen it in a long time will be pleased with the DVD release.

Sony Legacy has released “Love Train-The Sound of Philadelphia Live in Concert.” This live DVD will surely please fans of these artists. The concert DVD has a running time of 1 hour and 55 minutes. The concert was recorded live on June 7th, 2008. The high energy show features performances from T.S.O.P. Orchestra and the Three Degrees, Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes, Bunny Sigler, THe O’Jays,” Jerry Butler,” The Delfonics and other musical acts associated with The Sound of Philadelphia. The DVD is in stereo and features 5.1 surround sound. Fans of The Sound of Philadelphia will appreciate this soul filled high energy concert experience.

Fans of the Indiana Jones movie series will be pleased to know that the original soundtracks of the first three Indiana Jones movies have been released on audio CD. The soundtracks for “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” have been released. All of the music on the audio CD’s was composed and conducted by John Williams. All three albums were produced by John Williams. The music on the “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” CD was performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. All three music CD’s feature music that was previously unreleased on CD. Each of the music CD’s features detailed track listings. Fans of the Indiana Jones movie series will appreciate owning these music CD’s.