Underbelly returns to our TV sets next week with Underbelly Squizzy. This is the sixth season of the incredibly popular Underbelly series. It’s regarded as Australia’s best drama show for good reason. Whilst there are some overlaps with characters in some seasons, each are stand alone seasons providing a glimse into Australia’s Underbelly of crime. The acting in each season is just amazing, it’s Australia’s best work which is why the Underbelly DVD continues to be the most popular male gift year on year.

Underbelly Squizzy is set between 1915 and 1927 in Melbourne and follows the life and career of Squizzy Taylor. He was the most feared criminal in Melbourne during the time. This series has a little bit of inevitability to it as we saw how Squizzy dies in Underbelly Razor (an earlier Underbelly season) but I guess seeing he was a gangster in the first quarter of last century, we weren’t expecting him to be alive sipping lattes in Chapel Street were we?

As is a bit of a signature to the more recent Underbelly seasons, this cast, whilst excellent are a bunch of no-names. There are a few familiar faces scattered throughout the show like comedians Peter Moon and Greg Fleet but it’s clearly Jared Daperis who plays Squizzy that is the star of the show. Is he as good as some of the other leads, probably not. In this writer’s opinion, it would be near impossible to beat the performance of Matthew Newton in Underbelly Tale Of Two Cities, but Australian acting on the budget Aussie TV on DVD has, the acting and production is excellent.

Underbelly Squizzy is definately worth the time investment of 8 episodes either on channel 9 or on the Underbelly Squizzy DVD or Underbelly Squizzy Blu Ray. Let’s face it, it’s water cooler talk material and you don’t want to be the one saying Squizzy who…

Disney DVDs are still the most popular family DVDs. Why? Let’s start at the beginning.

Walt Disney famously said, ‘It all started with a mouse’. He was of course referring to Mickey Mouse. And it’s a fair point, without his creation of Mickey Mouse, we may not be watching Disney movies today or going to Disney theme parks such as Disneyland. Mickey started on our screens in 1929 in an animated short ‘Plane Crazy’ and well, all these years later he remains just as popular today. This innocent little mouse with his girlfriend of over 80 years Minnie Mouse is still very much loved by all. When is Mickey going to make an honest mouse out of Minnie? Who knows, but seriously, what is he waiting for?

Whilst it all started with a Mouse (even though he created Oswald The Rabbit before Mickey which Walt lost the rights to Universal) it was really Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs that really set Disney up and gave it financial strength. Prior to Snow White, Disney was not financially viable and it was close to going under. But Walt and brother Roy risked everything on the worlds first animated feature film. You can imagine how he was mocked by Hollywood. Really, an animated feature film, surely that couldn’t work? Umm, well it’s a huge understatement to say it was a blockbuster and the financial basis Disney based everything on for several years.

Even today, when you hear Snow White, Toy Story, Lion King or Brave what do you think of most? Most of us would say Disney which is really interesting. Because when you mention other non-Disney movies we don’t automatically think 20^th Century Fox or Universal studios, we think that was a good movie, or a bad movie or I remember when I saw that movie… So why is Disney so unique and so successfully branded over other movie studios? Is it because it was the studio of our childhood no matter what age we are? The over 35s and now thinking of Sunday nights watching Wonderful World Of Disney? Is it because of the Disney Parks continued popularity generation after generation? What kid doesn’t want to go to Disneyland? Or is it that we trust Disney so much that we know it’s safe to plonk the kid in front of a Disney DVD and know it’s going to be appropriate viewing? It’s probably the latter but when we watch a Disney DVD with our kids, we enjoy it from another level. Do you think the Disney Cars movie would be so popular if only kids were watching it?

Disney knows when they’re on a winner. Cars, is one of their most popular movies of the last generation which was followed up by the (in my opinion) superior Cars 2 (is it just me or are their parallels to Disney’s Herbie but that’s another discussion for another day) and with the new Disney Planes DVD coming out soon it continues that tradition. Yes, you can loosely say it’s gone full circle from Mickey Mouse’s Plane Crazy to the new Disney Planes movie. If any other movie studio tried this they’d be ridiculed as a shameless cash grab. However Disney celebrates it by marketing it as Cars with wings. And you know what, we’ll all go and see Planes and buy it on DVD when it’s released. But it’s easy to over complicate it. When really, I think we see it quite plainly (pardon the pun). Yes, we’ll all go see Planes and the next Disney movie and the next Disney movie after that. Yes, because it’s a Disney DVD, yes because we trust Disney, yes because it’ll be marketed extremely well. But we’ll see it and watch it over and over again because it’s beautifully shot, has a simply wholesome message and is entertaining to the kids and the entire family. In this writer’s opinion, that’s why Disney DVDs remain so incredibly popular and practically owns the entire genre.

Disney DVDs only come out of the Disney vault for a limited time so most of us know when a Disney movie is out of the vault, that it’s only out for a limited time before returning to the vault for a long time (usually around 7 years). So when a Disney DVD is out, such as the re-release of The Little Mermaid DVD we all grab them quick before they disappear, which is incredibly smart marketing by Disney.

Regardless of what we think about Disney, whether you say it’s too sugary sweet and not true to life, there’s no doubt the Disney DVD will continue to dominate our personal collections for at least another generation to come and to be honest, from this writer’s perspective, that’s a good thing. We could all do with a little Disney added into our lives, if only for a couple of hours over a Disney DVD.

Andre Rieu DVDs continue to be so popular. Andre Rieu has proved all his Australian critics wrong with continuing to release his DVDs that immediately go to the top of the music DVD charts.

Why does he remain so popular when similar artists have fallen away to next be seen on ‘Where Are They Now’? It’s a little difficult to say but Andre Rieu really does have a unique style and his Dutch sense of humour really resonates with Aussies. He really is quite hilarious. He’s quirky, a little strange but most importantly he’s incredibly talented both as a musician, conductor and entertainer.

Andre Rieu remains huge in Europe and also has a huge Australian following. Those that have seen an Australian Andre Rieu concert go back time and time again. Critics say its like an open air RSL show which really isn’t fair when you see the elaborate sets and huge orchestra and guest stars he brings. Let’s face it, he’s not marketed at teenagers or even twenty-somethings for that matter. But for the over 40’s he’s absolutely huge. In saying that however, a lot of twenty-somethings buy his DVDs, not to watch but to give as gifts for their parents and grandparents that love Andre.

Andre’s son is now in charge of set design which has taken his sets from elaborate to well over the top. In a recent concert series he built a replica castle to play out of in the stadiums. Then when he’s finished playing in that city, the team packs up and builds it all again at the next stadium

This week sees the latest Andre Rieu DVD released: Rieu Royale which is best explained by Andre’s quote:
‘The most beautiful day of my musical career and the crowning glory of my work’.
After sneaking a peak of this new Music DVD it’s easy to see why he would go on the record with such a huge statement. Yes, Andre is well known for his, shall we say, less than modest statements. It’s a part of his charm, but this April 2013 Amsterdam concert with the Johann Orchestra will not disappoint.

It appears the Andre Rieu DVD juggernaut will continue for a long time yet. With dozens of his music DVDs back catalog still selling well and with his new Andre Rieu Royale DVD set to go straight to the number one position next week. It’s hard to resist an Andre Rieu DVD so I guess why try. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.

Sad news this morning with the news that James Gandolfini has died aged 51. He’s most famous for his lead role as Tony Sopranos in The Sopranos TV series. It’s a credit to Gandolfini’s acting skills to make a gang boss who runs a crime and murder ring into a lovable and affable character we all somehow could relate too. In fact his character has been listed in Entertainment Weekly as the 42nd greatest TV Icon of all time making The Sopranos DVD Box Set a ‘forvever’ seller. Not only was his character one of the most popular TV characters of the 21st century, he also won 3 Emmy awards for his performance as Tony Soprano. To this day The Sopranos is still one of the most popular TV Series On DVD.

Jim was born in New Jersey, hence the Jersey accent, in 1961. He started his journey to fame in 1992 in On The Waterfront’s Broadway production followed the following year in the romantic thriller True Romance. His biggest box office result came in 1994 in Terminal Velocity. We then got a taste of Tony Soprano when Jim starred as a Russian mobster in Get Shorty. If you’d like to hear him with a southern American accent check out the 1996 movie The Juror.

His final work is set to be the upcoming crime drama movie Animal Rescue that’s currently in post-production. There’s no set release date as yet but given today’s news it’ll probably be fast tracked for release this year.

Today (or 19 June in USA/Europe) Jim died suddenly while on holiday in Rome reportedly from a Heart Attack. It’s always sad to hear someone go too early and age 51 is obviously way too early but for such a talented iconic actor it’s even more sad. At least his work, particularly in The Sopranos will live on forever on DVD Box Sets and TV re-runs. RIP James Gandolfini 1961-2013

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the new Jesus Christ Superstar musical starring Tim Minchin, Mel C (from the Spice Girls), Ben Forster, Jon Stevens and Andrew O’Keefe.

Having seen the 1990’s production with John Farnham and knowing the storyline fairly well, I thought I knew what I was in for. Umm, wrong. This Jesus Christ Superstar was set in the modern day. It still had the same characters and basic storyline but Andrew Lloyd Webber has updated the show to include a few new numbers. Whilst the storyline may be a little discombobulated at times, they actually pull it off quite well. You wouldn’t expect that they could, but if Jesus Christ came to earth in the modern day this is a fair depiction of what would happen in the reflection of the bible’s events. The thing to remember is, this is a musical, a rock opera if you will, it’s telling a story in a the musical form. It’s not a documentary telling of the bible so check reality at the door and be immersed in the incredible music and performance.

Jesus still has his 12 disciples as they form a common cause against corporate greed. In remembering that it is a musical, the storyline comes across more appropriate for todays audience.

Most importantly the big numbers are still all in the show but just told from a slightly different angle with some words changed to help the modern day telling flow. I’ve got to tell you, Tim Minchin was simply superb in Jesus Christmas Superstar. I’ve seen Tim Minchin a few times over the years, including 3 of his musical comedy shows of which were outstanding. I don’t say this lightly but I honestly believe Tim Minchin is the most talented performer this country has produced in a generation. He is clearly uber intelligent and an outstanding composer and performer. Add to that his recent acting performance in Californication season 5 and his work on the Tony Award winning musical Matilda and you’ve got an all round outstanding performer.

Also in the show is Mel C from the Spice Girls. I was a little sceptical with that casting to be honest, taking on the role of Mary Magdeline but she was actually very good. A faultess vocal performance. Much better than expected. Jesus was played by Ben Forster who won the spot on a UK reality show. Whilst his performance was not perfect he certainly has an outstanding voice. We haven’t seen the last of Ben Forster.

The show is still touring Australia with 5 concerts in Melbourne starting tomorrow before finishing in Brisbane. The show then returns to the UK. If you missed the show you can get it on DVD which includes heaps of bonus features well worth getting. What’s even better is the DVD is available for a tenth of the cost of the musical ticket. I’d certainly recommend getting the Jesus Christ Superstar Musical DVD while it’s still available.

All up, this was an excellent show with some amazing talent. It’s been 20 years since the last big production of Jesus Christ Superstar toured Australia so here’s hoping we dont have to wait another 20 years for it to come back.

Like all my blogs, neither I nor DVDLand received any inducements to provide this blog. All tickets and related expenses were paid for by DVDLand.