DVD Corner

“Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely Everything” – So far, it’s the best boxed comedy set of the year. Is there a brighter, dumber, sharper, looser and more spectacular mess than Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley)? Unlikely. These two pill-popping, booze-swilling, grass-smoking, youth-seeking former hippies turned style icons make for one of the funniest series ever created by the BBC, which is saying plenty given its pedigree. Highlights include the episodes “Parralox,” in which Edina and Patsy experiment disastrously with a substance not unlike Botox; Eddy and Patsy joining Menopausals Anonymous in the life-changing “Menopause;” and the unforgettable trip they take with poor, unwanted Saffy in “Morocco.” It’s the rare television sitcom that consistently delivers through to the end, but that’s the case here – the series concluded while it was still hot, thus securing its spot in pop-culture’s revered canon of the best of the best. As a bonus for the show’s hard-core female fans, the set comes sheathed in a silver-padded case that could, in a pinch, serve as a daytime purse. Inside are nine discs, 36 episodes, three specials, and four hours of behind-the-scenes bonus material. And yes, every bit of it is fabulous. Absolutely everything. Grade: A

“Anger Management” Blu-ray – A second-rate comedy more interested in dipping into the toilet bowl than it is in becoming the smart satire on anger management gurus it could have been. Adam Sandler is Dave Buznik, a passive-aggressive advertising executive who allegedly harasses a flight attendant and is sentenced to anger management sessions with Jack Nicholson’s manic buffoon, Dr. Buddy Rydel. The film’s one-note joke is that Dave couldn’t be less aggressive – he’s a kitten with the bite of a worm, a man who is so timid, he barely can bring himself to kiss his girlfriend, Linda (Marisa Tomei), in public. Scattered among the product placements and bathroom humor are a host of caricatures – John Turturro as a venomous war vet, Luis Guzman as a lisping gay Hispanic, Woody Harrelson as a German transvestite hooker and John C. Reilly as a Buddhist monk with a mean head butt. Rated PG-13. Grade: C-

“Blades of Glory” Blu-ray – A figure skating satire in which somebody naturally gets kneecapped. Will Ferrell is the alcohol-soaked, oversexed figure skater Chazz Michael Michaels, whose war with Jon Heder’s uptight Jimmy MacElroy gets each of them banned for life from the sport when they come to fisticuffs. It takes a loophole to get them back on the rink, this time as a squabbling male couple who enter the pairs competition. The laughs are inspired and big, and while you wish the movie was as cruel as you know the figure skating world is, at least it isn’t afraid to be silly. Supporting turns from Will Arnett and Amy Poehler underscore that notion. Rated PG-13. Grade: B+

“The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection” and “Cranford” – Stiff upper lips, knives in the back, love just out of reach – and then suddenly in hand. This satisfying collection of three miniseries from the BBC are based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s Victorian novels. In “North & South,” Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe) must leave her rural life in the southern part of England and find herself in the north. It’s a chore, but the love she finds in John Thornton (Richard Armitage) gets her through it. “Wives and Daughters” stars Justine Waddell as Molly Gibson, who has, shall we say, some issues with her difficult stepmother, Hyacinth (Francesca Annis). Gaskell died before completing the novel, but it doesn’t show here. Also in the set (and available separately) is “Cranford,” which joins together three Gaskell novels – “Cranford,” “My Lady Ludlow,” “Mr. Harrison’s Confessions” – and which finds Dame Judi Dench co-starring opposite Dame Eileen Atkins. Given the talent and those titles, you can imagine the drama they create on-screen. “Collection”: Grade: B+; “Cranford”: Grade: A-

“Gunsmoke: Second Season, Vol. 2” – In Dodge City, Kan., where smoking guns and shootouts are the order of the day, U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness, superb) is up to his arms in the chaos brimming along the new frontier. This second season of the show, which appeared during the 1956 television season, isn’t as dark as what came before it, but within it, you nevertheless can see its influence reflected in other television shows, from “The Big Valley” straight up through “Deadwood.” The series is an appealing throwback with Dennis Weaver as Dillon’s sidekick Chester and Amanda Blake as the formidable Miss Kitty, owner of the lively Longbranch Saloon. Blake is very good here – she’s tough and she’s pretty – but once you’ve seen Joan Crawford’s saloonkeeper in the camp classic “Johnny Guitar” (add it to your Netflix queue), all others come second. Grade: B+

“John Wayne: The Fox Westerns” – Includes four films – 1930’s “The Big Trail,” the 1960 Western-comedy “North to Alaska,” 1961’s “The Comancheros” and 1969’s “The Undefeated.” The standout is Raoul Walsh’s “Trail,” one of Wayne’s best and earliest films, in which he looks ridiculously young, but don’t let his baby face fool you. When it comes to romancing Marguerite Churchill, he’s all Duke. Beyond the value (find it online for under $25), the set finds Wayne once again capturing the isolation of the cowboy, turning him into a kind of comic hero, and all the while offering a valentine to the masculine aesthetic. Grade: B

“Muppet Show: Season Three” – Certainly, the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, muppetational shows ever to hit television. The third season of “The Muppet Show” finds the series nearing its prime. This four-disc set includes 24 half-hour shows with its human guest stars a faded red carpet of throwbacks. Pearl Bailey, Lynn Redgrave, Cheryl Ladd, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Raquel Welch, Danny Kaye and Sylvester Stallone, among others, take turns tussling and singing with the Muppets. We all win. Creator Jim Henson’s mad world of foam and frizz finds its roots in vaudeville, its heart on Broadway, its head in the ether, its hat tipped to Carson. The show was reflective of the times, ahead of its time and yet steeped in the slapstick of the past. Anarchy is everywhere here and it’s a release. The show remains as fresh and as laugh-out-loud funny today as it did when it first premiered in 1976. Who knew that one of pop culture’s most enduring love affairs would be between a frog and a pig? Grade: A

WeekinRewind.com is the site for Bangor Daily News film critic Christopher Smith’s blog, video podcasts, iTunes portal and archive of hundreds of movie reviews. Smith’s reviews appear Mondays, Fridays and weekends in Lifestyle, as well as on bangordailynews.com. He may be reached at Christopher@

weekinrewind.com.