One of the grandest traditions in all of Discovery Channel, one of the only good reasons to actually have cable any more, is Shark Week. And seeing as we’ve just left behind another season of Shark Week, it’s always good to get caught up in case there was anything you missed. The folks out at Discovery sent out a copy of Shark Week: Restless Fury to help us get reacquainted, and if you like sharks, you’ll be all over this one.

Shark Week: Restless Fury sets us up with a variety of shark-themed programs spread over two discs, including a best-of disc with some bonus features. You’ll also get a set of individual shows featuring sharks from various angles and under various premises, including a shark filmed in ultra slow motion, a series of stories from survivors of shark attacks, and a whole sequence devoted to surviving a shark attack hosted by a former Special Forces operative. Whether you’re interested in what sharks look like or what kind of damage they can do, you’re going to be pretty well covered here…as long as you like sharks.

Basically, no matter what your particular interest in sharks, you’re almost certain to be covered here. They’ve covered the waterfront with this small selection of shark fare. Basically, if you’re looking for an introduction to Shark Week (or, parenthetically, looking to introduce someone else to Shark Week), then you’re going to have most everything you need right here to show off the full range of Shark Week phenomena. And considering that this sucker’s got two discs and a total run time of three hundred eighty seven minutes, you’ll want to have a good chunk of a week (well, okay, only about five percent of a week) available anyway to get through all of this.

And naturally, some of this will be better than other parts. But no matter what, if you’re not into sharks, you’re going to be caught somewhat flat-footed here, because that’s all this is about. They’ve even got it stamped on the front. But still, Shark Week is some of Discovery’s best stuff, and should be judged accordingly.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Shark Week: Restless Fury a seven out of ten for providing a great selection of Shark Week fare. Some of it is better than others, of course, but most of it will still be very much worth your time. Admittedly, you’ll have to be into sharks to enjoy it, but still–most of it is sufficiently exciting to be interesting.

The folks out at Anchor Bay sent us a copy of Beautiful Boy for us to review, and this one, you won’t be able to get hands on until tomorrow. But rest assured, for those of you who like a good drama but don’t particularly care if it makes you feel bad the entire time you watch it, well, you’ll do pretty nicely here indeed.

Beautiful Boy follows a married couple who’s been pretty much estranged for years, except for the child they had together. But when said child embarks on a mass shooting at the college he attends before killing himself, the couple suddenly finds themselves thrust together much more than they had been in recent years, and though no one’s sure just how it will all turn out, it’s going to be a long, strange trip the two had never wanted to take, though the trip may well leave them much better off than they expected.

The end result of the whole thing is, frankly, a massive downer, especially in the early going. The family is clearly fragmenting, the kid’s clearly buckling, and then, oh, by the way, junior ran amok with a gun and left a pile of corpses in his wake, this is not the kind of movie you want to watch if you’re having a bad day and you want to cheer up. This is actually the kind of movie you probably want to watch if you’ve been thinking, jeepers, I’ve been entirely too happy lately and it’s about time I was just miserable for an hour and forty minutes.

In fact, the whole thing actually manages to get worse following the announcement as the estranged couple is now living down the death of their son and are largely unable to comfort each other because they barely know who they are any more. Mom spends half her time on her son’s bed while Dad’s off sobbing in the shower before work. Long stretches will go by in silence, making the whole thing even more gut-wrenching than the subject matter would imply. Then we discover that Junior’s got a manifesto, and things get even more depressing from there, up to where husband and wife are passing around press statements and not saying anything.

By the time I got done watching Beautiful Boy I wanted to call my own parents and apologize. I wasn’t sure for what, exactly, but all I knew was I felt like apologizing. This was easily one of the most depressing movies I’d seen in months, possibly ever, and frankly, I regret watching it. It’s not that it was a bad movie, or a particularly poorly-done movie, it’s just that the content was so plainly, oppressively depressing that watching it was an ordeal better reserved for circles of Hell itself.

If you want to feel bad watching a movie, then Beautiful Boy was made just for you. It’s a very well put together film, it’s just such a disaster to watch that it’s hard to recommend. Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale splits the difference and gives Beautiful Boy, a very well put together device that will gouge out your soul while you watch it, a six out of ten because, as good as it is, it’s still a lot like the Breakfast Machine from Family Guy. It doesn’t make breakfast at all…it just shoots you in the arm. And that’s what watching Beautiful Boy is like, a giant, impressive piece of work that just shoots you in the arm.

Untitled Snow White does not have a title yet. Why? I don’t know.  The movie looks whimsical and enchanting – though a little silly. The movie is directed by Tarsem Singh (Immortal) and written by Melissa Wallack, Jason Keller. The cast is wonderful with Julia Roberts, Lily Collins, Armie Hammer, Nathan Lane, Mare Winningham, Sean Bean and Michael Lerner.

The movie opens March 12, 2011 but is not rate yet. I guess they are waiting on the title of the movie first. Alas!

However, the studio just released a bunch of pictures from the movie. The pictures look like the movie is a fairy tale. The studio is calling the movie spectacular with reimagining of the classic fairy tale with Julia Roberts as the Queen, Lily Collins as Snow White, Armie Hammer as Prince Alcott, Sean Bean as the King and Nathan Lane as the Queen’s hapless and bungling servant, Brighton.

The evil queen steals control of a kingdom and an exiled princess enlists the help of seven resourceful rebels to win back her birthright in a spirited adventure comedy filled with jealousy, romance and betrayal.

Rescued by a band of diminutive highway robbers, Snow White grows into an indomitable young woman determined to take back her realm from the treacherous Queen. With the support of her subjects, she roars into action in an epic battle that blends spectacle, magic and contemporary humor in Singh’s signature, jaw-dropping visual style.

William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959) is one of my all time favorite movies. The characters are engaging with action pack adventure. I always think of the chariot race when someone mentions Ben Hur – it is pure entertainment.

If you are into cinematography, this movie is a cut above the rest – true product of the days of Hollywood when special effects consisted of great camera work. I can’t think of any other movie that surpasses the grandeur of Ben-Hur.

Now, you can watch it at home on a giant screen with the movie completely remastered. You will appreciate this Blu-ray package with booklets and other extras you enhance your viewing pleasure. I can safely say this is the closest near-perfect version we will ever see.

Ben-Hur took home an unprecedented 11 Academy Awards in 1959 and clearly deserved every single one. Prince Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) and his estrangement from old Roman pal Messala (Stephen Boyd) is grand in detailed, and sensitively portrayed. Directed by William Wyler, who was the junior assistant on MGM’s original silent version in 1925, the story is magnificent and never sacrifices the human focus in favor of spectacle. Miklos Rozsa’s grandiose musical score, notably one of the greatest ever written for a Hollywood picture. At four hours it’s a long tale but worth every moment.

Available on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, On Demand and for Download 9/27! Please make sure you Like Ben-Hur on Facebook and Follow Ben-Hur on Twitter.

Screenhead has One (1) DVD box set to giveaway. Please post your name and I will pick the winner October 25, 2011.

Ellen Page has moved into the production of The East, a Tony Scott’s Scott Free Productions, starting with Brit Marling and Alexander Skarsgard.

According to Variety, the story concerns a private contracting firm tasked with protecting big corporations from radical environmentalists and anti-business extremists that assigns its best and brightest agent to infiltrate a mysterious anarchist organization known only as ‘The East.’

Marling portrays an undercover agent, who finds herself in love with the leader of The East, who will be played by Skarsgard. Page will play Izzy, a member of The East who used to be Skarsgard’s lover and is now jealous of the attention he pays Marling’s character.

By the way, Page spent her summer with Woody Allen shooting his “Bop Decameron” with Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin and Greta Gerwig.

DreamWorks Pictures’ War Horse, director Steven Spielberg’s epic adventure, is a tale of loyalty, hope and tenacity set against a sweeping canvas of rural England and Europe during the First World War. My daughter is so excited about seeing this movie. She loves horses, and this movie is all about a horse.

War Horse begins with the remarkable friendship between a horse named Joey and a young man called Albert, who tames and trains him. When they are forcefully parted, the film follows the extraordinary journey of the horse as he moves through the war, changing and inspiring the lives of all those he meets—British cavalry, German soldiers, and a French farmer and his granddaughter—before the story reaches its emotional climax in the heart of No Man’s Land.

What makes this story or movie so unique and endearing for those who love horses is that the First World War is experienced through the journey of this horse—an odyssey of joy and sorrow, passionate friendship and high adventure.

War Horse is one of the great stories of friendship and war— a successful book, it was turned into a hugely successful international theatrical hit that is currently on Broadway. It now comes to screen in an epic adaptation by one of the great directors in film history.

Turns out that even the folks at the BBC can get a little meta, as presented by The Hour, a copy of which they sent us for review. The Hour is so new that it only just came available for sale yesterday, and if you’re ready for some truly potent drama from some of the best drama makers on the face of the earth, then brace yourself, because The Hour is going to have everything you want in spades.

The Hour follows a television show on the BBC called The Hour, a news show that looks to provide news and gossip and everything else you’d expect to see. But it’s not just news gathering that makes The Hour something to watch, it’s the stuff that goes on when the cameras stop rolling that’s every bit as important. With lots of jostling for power, scene stealing, and such going on, you’d think nothing else could be going on. But for three folks involved in The Hour’s production, things are about to get a whole lot more complex as they’ll find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy of positively epic proportions.

For those of you looking at this and thinking State of Play set in the Mad Men era, well, you’re almost disturbingly astute. That’s exactly what I got out of this, and the combination is surprisingly watchable and remarkably astute. You’ll be wondering well before the end of the first episode just where all they’re going with this, and by the end of the DVD set, some nearly six hours later, you will be looking at something impressively deep and downright surprising. They’ve intermingled so much into this; not just details on the wider conspiracy, but also more of the normal stuff, like their relationships (or lack thereof) and their work to try and put The Hour together.

It’s a lot more impressive than you’d think, and it’s well worth keeping an eye out for if you get this opportunity. Watching where they go with this, and how many different fronts they’ll cover, is an exciting process that does a terrific job of immersing you in the lives of the people that put together The Hour, and it’s surprisingly fun. It’s a bit slow, granted, but it’s still quite nice.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Hour an eight out of ten for putting up a surprisingly entertaining, if somewhat slow, heavily dramatic production. The BBC should be proud of what they’ve put on, and you’ll likely find this one a welcome addition to your video lineup.

Nicolas Winding Refn featurette

Ryan Gosling featurette

Carey Mulligan featurette

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn throttles into the Hollywood fast lane with the precision-crafted action caper Drive.

Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for armed heists by night. Though a loner by nature, Driver can’t help falling in love with his beautiful neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a vulnerable young mother dragged into a dangerous underworld by the return of her ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).

After a heist intended to pay off Standard’s protection money spins unpredictably out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). But when he realizes that the gangsters are after more than the bag of cash in his trunk-that they’re coming straight for Irene and her son-Driver is forced to shift gears and go on offense.

The movie was written by Oscar nominee Hossein Amini,The Wings of Dove, and adapted from the eponymous novel by James Sallis. The Wings of Dove is such a different movie than Drive. It’s hard to image they both were written by the same person.

He’s done the time, now he might as well do the crime. Acclaimed indie filmmaker Malcolm Venville (44 Inch Chest) directs an all-star cast in the outrageous crime caper, Henry’s Crime, is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

I have picked the two winners for the giveaway. They are Cody and Jennifer Jenkins. They both answered the question correctly and were picked as the winners.

“With a terrific cast led by Keanu Reeves (The Matrix Trilogy), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air) and a splendid James Caan (Misery), Henry’s Crime is a fun comedy with irresistible heist and heart” (Boxoffice Magazine). Reeves stars as Henry Torne, a wrongly accused man who winds up behind bars for a bank robbery he didn’t commit. After befriending a charismatic lifer (Caan) in prison, Henry finds his purpose — having done the time, he decides he may as well do the crime. But his outlandish plan to rob the very same bank spins wildly out of control, as he finds himself performing in a stage play and falling in love with the production’s seductive leading lady (Farmiga).

Big, BIG news for you retro television buffs today, because the folks out at A&E sent out a copy of Mike Hammer: The Complete Series for me to review for you today. It won’t even hit stores until this Tuesday, so you’ve got plenty of time to get excited, because for retro television fans, detective show fans, and folks who can’t get enough of Darren McGavin, you’re absolutely going to go wild over this.

Mike Hammer: The Complete Series follows the title character, an ace private eye, as he pursues a variety of cases all over the general vicinity of New York City. He’ll find himself pursuing cases, but also pursuing criminals, and even occasionally killing a few of them. He’ll chase blackmailers, murderers, bank robbers, and most anybody else that commits crime in his city.

This is very much a shot of fifties era television–it even feels like fifties era stuff–and if you liked things like The Twilight Zone you’ll definitely get a thrill here. Darren McGavin is a scenery chewer of such excellence that the set designers must have to lace their paint with jalapenos to keep McGavin from wrecking up the joint. And even better, most every episode of McGavin’s Hammer is a meager half-hour (more like twenty-odd minutes), so the mysteries will come very much bite sized and simple to digest. You’ll get dozens of little mysteries here, convenient to break out at most any time of day. They’ll be fast and simple to process, just like most any other sitcom, plus you get the added bonus of them having that retro television spirit that’s extra fun.

And even better, some of the episodes will also pack some humor in. You often don’t see it coming, like when Mike Hammer finds himself abruptly playing secretary / bodyguard for an elderly neighbor who found himself falling into a substantial windfall. Several portions of the episode are surprisingly laugh-inducing, but they’ll quickly turn around into a full-on mystery. Plus, Hammer himself is something of a flirt, and encountering an attractive woman–which he will do with some regularity–often causes him to abruptly, and visibly, switch gears.

Mike Hammer The Complete Series is a rapid and highly engaging affair, giving you the option of taking it a little at a time or in big chunks, and that kind of variety is every bit as helpful as the series is fun and entertaining.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Mike Hammer The Complete Series an eight out of ten for being a slice of delight from the fifties brought forward almost fifty years to a whole new audience. And you should have a great time with it to boot.