CSI Las Vegas Season 5 Part 2 (Region 2 DVD) Review

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After a very so so beginning to the 5th season the second half of 5 is where things get interesting. If you don’t know CSI and want to catch up you can read the story basics on the previous release reviews on this site. This 5.2 set totals three discs.

The stories include the usual with a number of single episodes and longer storylines. What makes this set stand out from the rest is the inclusion of the two part season ending directed by Quentin Tarantino. That story is about how CSI Nick Stokes gets abducted at a crime scene and buried alive with the other characters trying to find him. At the time this was a new idea but has been copied to death since by shows like Fox’s Bones. It does start out slow but turns into a really good episode and a show highlight. There is only a single scene that shows Tarantino’s involvement in suitably gory style. Apart from that its business as usual.

Extras on the set are numerous in number and include commentary tracks and three featurettes. These are CSI: Season Five a Post Mortem, a talking heads piece with lots of clips. Then there is CSI: Procedures on the Scene and in the Lab. The last called CSI: Tarantino Style is all on Tarantino’s two parter described earlier. All are informative to a point but could be longer.

Verdict: +

Best of 2007 – January

Starting today, we’ll be revealing our best posts of 2007. Technically speaking we didn’t start posting in this blog until late February 2007. All the posts before that month came from either my older video game development blog or reviews from the older StuffWeLike.com designs.

Best of 2007:
JanuaryFebruaryMarch April May

January 2007

Reviews:
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

A fantastic game, that was one of the first worthwhile $60 purchases on the Xbox 360.

Star Trek Legacy
While not perfect, this game is great for both strategy enthusiasts and Star Trek fans.

The Pipeline Accepts Sponsors

The Pipeline Sponsor

Get ready for advertisements to start appearing in StuffWeLike.com’s media player The Pipeline. However this does not mean we’re going to flood the player with ads! We hate “annoying” ads and understand that YOU hate them as well. We’re working with advertisers to create ads possible that don’t hinder your ability to use and enjoy videos on The Pipeline.

An affiliate program is also in the works so that you can make money off of these advertisements as well. Imagine being a blogger and embedding The Pipeline on your blog. All content will be automatically updated by StuffWeLike and you make a percent of the money that we make from the advertisements. It’s literally as simple as that.

Bottom line is don’t worry when you start seeing advertisements in the player. Support our sponsors and we’ll continue to support you by releasing great content via our blog and The Pipeline.

If you’d like to advertise in The Pipeline then email David Rodriguez davidrodriguez[AT]stuffwelike[DOT]com.

CSI Season 5 Part 1 (Region 2) DVD Review

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The beginning of the 5th season is somewhat of a hit and miss. CSI (Las Vegas) is the original CSI show with William Petersen as Gil Grissom the lead character. While a number of loner storylines progress there are two very interesting episodes. Down the Drain shows how a set of bones found in a storm drain results in the team finding a house filled with explosives. 

Then there is Mea Culpa where after evidence changes in a murder case resulting in the team becoming under investigation. 5.1 provides a lot of entertainment value and is worth a look to solid fans of the show. It can also act as a starting point for new ones. There are the usual few episodes that are not worthwhile though so a word of warning should be given. DVD extras include the standard commentary tracks minus key cast members. 

Verdict: +

CSI Miami Season 4 Part 1 (Region 2) DVD Review

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The DVD of the first half of the fourth season provides more questions than answers. CSI Miami stars David Caruso as the lead of a group of crime scene investigators. Season 4 Part 1 entertains using a large number of insulated storylines such as Urban Hellraisers about a group of university students who after playing a GTA style game decide to try scenes from the game for real. Even though anyone who has played a game will feel like shouting at the screen at some of the holes in the games design it’s a good episode.

There are also a few elements that develop into later stories and a few big ones on the three discs that are very interesting. What is a surprise is that there are no real bad episodes in this set. You should expect one or two but in this case it’s hard to find one that could really be considered a bad episode. One storyline has one of the CSI’s receive a nail in the head from nail gun and is about figuring out how it happened from the viewer’s perspective. It’s an episode shown from finish to start so you are just waiting for it to happen in a sort of perverse pleasure. DVD extras include a number of episode commentaries but none by David Caruso which is a shame. 

Verdict: +

The Dorms Summer Edition

Funny enough, we never made The Dorms episode 2. After the successful first episode and the “want” to do more episodes, things caved in. Over the summer David Corwin and I went ahead and tried our hands making a spin-off to The Dorms called The Dorms Summer Edition. It failed. We never released it to the public because it was just so bad.

Having 3 people work from cameramen to actors to writers is not a good idea – especially when none of them are directly studying film. What a fiasco.

I’ve warned you ahead of time that the summer edition is a crappy spin-off, as all spin-offs are.

Enjoy.