Sunday Morning Shootout: The Triple Threat and The Directors (2003)

A guide to Hollywood

Let me start by telling those unfamiliar with the series about its tone: Peter Bart and Peter Guber are interested in what makes Hollywood tick. They are not interested in the tabloid side of Hollywood stars' lives, they want to know why and how their guests make movies. Don't mistake this for a technical view of Hollywood, because even though it does look at the business and art side much more than what you get in Newsweek or even Entertainment Weekly, it is very accessible for non-film buffs...in fact, people who are inspiring film buffs must start here!

Now as to what this contains. Each disc has five or six complete episodes. An episode starts out with Guber and Bart discussing some topic (for example, "Are blockbusters crowding out Oscar-worthy films?" or "Do film critics really matter?" or "Do actors make good directors?"). These discussions are lively and animated with the Peters' wearing their passions on their sleeves and both sides not only represented but articulated well. The second half of the approximately 30-min show is an interview with the featured guest which tends to focus not only on their work and how they perform their craft, but also the guests' input on topics that are critical to the movie business today.

The Cons: The only cons are technical. Not only is there not a "Play All" button on the main menu (something I thought would be standard on all TV show DVD sets from now on), when you choose an episode you are required to scroll down to the "Play Episode" button. The plus side of all this is that each show is nicely chopped up into logical and easily accessible chapters for those who just want to hear the conversion on "Do movie trailers misrepresent movies?" or just want to skip to the interview of Mel Gibson.

This is an incredible set...I can't wait until they release Season 2! I'm tempted to list highlights, but you can look at the list of guests below and see quality of talent that is contained in this set.

Disc One
THE TRIPLE THREAT (Actor/Director/Producer)
Danny DeVito
Kevin Costner
Sylvester Stallone
Clint Eastwood
Mel Gibson
Kevin Spacey & Mike Burns

Disc Two
THE DIRECTORS
Ron Howard & Brian Grazer
Edward Zwick
Brett Ratner & Pierce Brosnan
Kevin Smith
Garry Marshall, Matthew Perry, Jonathan Lynn
Wayans Brothers December 31, 2005

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