{"id":4772,"date":"2012-10-02T23:30:44","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T06:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=4772"},"modified":"2012-10-02T23:30:44","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T06:30:44","slug":"review-ncisla-s3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/10\/review-ncisla-s3\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: NCIS LA: The Third Season DVD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\u201cNCIS: LA\u201d<\/strong> is one of the few spin-offs that actually works. It\u2019s far enough removed from the mothership and yet shares the same type of chemistry that takes the show away from crime-of-the-week to something a bit more meaningful. The third season DVD has some good storylines going for it, allowing for each character to get some screen time and more background.<\/p>\n

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Contagion (2011)<\/strong><\/p>\n


REVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
The Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Genre(s): <\/strong>Crime, Mystery, Drama
Paramount | NR \u2013 1029 min. \u2013 $62.99 | August 21, 2012<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
Directed by: <\/strong>Various
Writer(s): <\/strong>Shane Brennan (created by)
Cast: <\/strong>Chris O\u2019Donnell, LL Cool J, Daniela Rush, Eric Christian Olsen, Barrett Foa, Renee Felice Smith, Linda Hunt<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
Features: <\/strong>Episode Commentary, Featurettes, Deleted Scenes, \u201cHawaii Five-O\u201d Crossover Episode
Number of Discs: <\/strong>6<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: <\/strong>Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, Portuguese, Spanish
Region(s): <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Previously on \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d<\/strong>, Operations Manager Henrietta \u201cHetty\u201d Lange (LINA HUNT) has flown to Romania to confront the Comescu crime family who is after Agent Callen (CHRIS O\u2019DONNELL). He and the other members of the team \u2013 Sam Hanna (LL COOL J), LAPD Liaison Detective Marty Deeks (ERIC CHRISTIAN OLSEN) and Kensi Blye (DANIELA RUSH) \u2013, against the orders of NCIS Director Leon Vance (ROCKY CARROLL) and Interim Operations Manager Lauren Hunter (CLAIRE FORLANI), they resign their positions and head to Prague to save Hetty.<\/p>\n

In the season premiere, \u2018Lange, H.\u2019, the team is in Romania on the Black Sea coast where memories of Callen\u2019s past comes flooding back and what he first thought was the California coast was instead there in Romania where he and his mother once lived. It\u2019s one more piece in Callen\u2019s history, though there\u2019s certainly more to come…<\/p>\n

The rest of season 3 is fairly procedural with case-of-the-week episodes as the NCIS crew tackle new and more perplexing murder cases, terrorist attacks and such, though there are a couple that break the mold and help better define some of the other characters like Hanna\u2019s undercover mission in Sudan for the CIA or Blye being accused of murder by NCIS Assistant Director Owen Granger (MIGUEL FERRER), a bit of a governmental douche who has a past (professionally) with Hetty, and must go on the run to clear her name (the plot involves the murder of her father). Deeks also gets an episode when he mistakenly shoots an unarmed man while on a stakeout and his subsequently fired from the LAPD.<\/p>\n

I admit that early in its first season, I wasn\u2019t much a fan of \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d<\/strong> mainly because it was a far cry from the mothership series, however, with more time under its belt and settling in to its own visual style, I kind of appreciate it\u2019s not a mere copycat unlike, say, \u201cCriminal Minds: Suspect Behavior\u201d which thankfully CBS rightfully axed before it got a second season… I enjoy the characters and even the clich\u00e9 storylines or scenes that crop up in every other episode (how often is a victim or suspect\u2019s door unlocked, allowing agents to enter?).<\/p>\n

It might not be as well polished as \u201cNCIS\u201d, but \u201cNCIS: LA\u201d<\/strong> is a fun show that allows itself for some great storylines but doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously. The acting won\u2019t win any awards though the chemistry shared between the cast is great and has really gelled into its third season. It\u2019s compelling enough television that it\u2019s easy to see why it\u2019s gained viewership, although it helps that the 20 million\/week viewer lead-in would help, and it has the potential to stand on its own as quality network television entertainment.<\/p>\n

Here is the episode listing with an asterisk denoting my favorites:<\/p>\n

01. Lange, H.*
02. Cyber Threat
03. Backstopped*
04. Deadline
05. Sacrifice*
06. Lone Wolf
07. Honor*
08. Greed
09. Betrayal*
10. The Debt
11. Higher Power
12. The Watchers*
13. Exit Strategy*
14. Partners
15. Crimeleon
16. Blye, K.*
17. Blye, K., Part 2*
18. The Dragon and the Fairy
19. Vengeance
20. Patriot Acts
21. Touch of Death
22. Neighborhood Watch*
23 & 24. Sans Voir, Parts 1 & 2*<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Like other TV on DVD releases from Paramount, this comes with a side-sliding slip cover and the 6 discs are contained in a standard DVD case for optimal shelf saving space (vs. the wider cases \u201cNCIS\u201d has).<\/p>\n

There is a selection of Deleted Scenes<\/span><\/strong> for the following episodes: \u2018Lange, H.\u2019, \u2018Betrayal\u2019, \u2018The Debt\u2019 and \u2018Blye, K. Part 2\u2019.<\/p>\n

Disc 2:
Raise the Roof (9:09)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 This featurette provides info on expanding the NCIS: LA world with new sets including a gym, firing range and armory.<\/p>\n

Disc 3:
Dishing… with Barrett and Renee (17:24)<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 The two actors, Barrett Foa (Eric) and Renee Felice Smith (Nell), answer various questions over a glass of wine and eating grapes,\u00a0 cheese and bread.<\/p>\n

Disc 4:
Aligning the Stars (14:11)<\/span><\/strong> profiles the show\u2019s technical advisor, Osama Shofani, a retired member of the Marine Corp.<\/p>\n

Disc 5:
Carmageddon (12:02)<\/span><\/strong> shows how the different car explosions were performed.<\/p>\n

Disc 6:
Episode Commentary<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Co-stars Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen provide a commentary for \u2018Neighborhood Watch\u2019. As one would expect, this is a light-hearted affair as the pair have fun chatting about the episode providing some insights in between the joking around.<\/p>\n

Investigating Season 3 (28:19)<\/span><\/strong> is a behind-the-scenes featurette covering everything about the third season and looking back on the progress made in the stories and characters.<\/p>\n

Surf and Turf (7:17)<\/span><\/strong> takes a look at the cross-over episode with \u201cHawaii Five-O\u201d.<\/p>\n

And speaking of which, the \u201cHawaii Five-O\u201d Cross-over Episode<\/span><\/strong>, \u2018Pa Make Loa\u2019, is also included.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>Paramount releases \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d<\/strong> The Third Season on DVD with a nice and bright looking 1.78 anamorphic widescreen transfer. While it is still standard definition (the studio released season 1 on Blu-ray but apparently due to low sales, dropped it) and doesn\u2019t quite have the detail a HD transfer would, it still looks really good with vibrant colors and minimal amount of artifacting.
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AUDIO \u2013 4.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is actually not bad. There\u2019s a fair amount of action\/chase scenes which especially showcases the lossy track but even during the more dialogue-driven moments, it still is strong.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 3.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, \u201cNCIS: LA\u201d<\/strong> is one of the few spin-offs that actually works. It\u2019s far enough removed from the mothership and yet shares the same type of chemistry that takes the show away from crime-of-the-week to something a bit more meaningful. The third season DVD has some good storylines going for it, allowing for each character to get some screen time and more background. The audio\/video transfers are in line with what\u2019s expected and there\u2019s a fair amount of features which fans will enjoy.<\/p>\n

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Brian Oliver, The Movieman<\/em>
Published: <\/strong>10\/02\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNCIS: LA\u201d is one of the few spin-offs that actually works. It\u2019s far enough removed from the mothership and yet shares the same type of chemistry that takes the show away from crime-of-the-week to something a bit more meaningful. The third season DVD has some good storylines going for it, allowing for each character to … Continue reading “Review: NCIS LA: The Third Season DVD”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[410,1707,1708,411,409],"class_list":["post-4772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd-reviews","tag-chris-odonnell","tag-daniela-ruah","tag-eric-christian-olsen","tag-ll-cool-j","tag-ncis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4773,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4772\/revisions\/4773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}