John from Cincinnati - The Complete First Season
by Adam Davidson, Daniel Minahan, Ed Bianchi, Gregg Fienberg, Jeremy Podeswa
List Price:
Our Price: $6.38
You Save: $23.60 (79%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.79 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Greyson Fletcher, Keala Kennelly, Luis Guzmán, Rebecca De Mornay, Willie GarsonDirector: Adam Davidson, Daniel Minahan, Ed Bianchi, Gregg Fienberg, Jeremy Podeswa
Brand: HBO Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Unknown
Running Time: 600 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product features:
- Just north of the border, in the tired coastal town of Imperial Beach, CA, live three generations of Yosts: surfing royalty turned society misfits. The Yost's reign and reputation, once defined in the cure of a perfect wave, has been eroded by years of bad luck, addiction and hubris. But just as things are looking like they can't get worse, a stranger named John arrives - and the Yost's banal exis
DVD Reviews of John from Cincinnati - The Complete First Season
DVD Review: John from Cincinnati - The Complete Series
Summary: 3 Stars
When I was on vacation last summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, me and my family stayed at a hotel in Sault Saint Marie. The TV in the hotel room had cable, including HBO. On this particular night I was flicking through all the channels looking for something to watch, and I came across an episode of HBO's newest series at the time, "John from Cincinnati". I had heard from a few TV critics that this show wasn't very good. But I decided to watch the episode that aired, and it looked like an interesting show. So when it came out on DVD, I wanted to get it so that I could watch all 10 episodes. Well I have seen all 10 episodes, and I have to give "John from Cincinnati" a mixed review.
This very strange and bizarre series takes place over nine eventful days as we follow an assortment of characters from Imperial Beach, California (a town which lies south of San Diego and north of the U.S.-Mexico border). Much of the action focuses on the very dysfunctional Yost family, which has three generations of surfers. The patriarch is Mitch Yost, who was once a top-notch surfer until an injury cut his surfing career short. Eventually he passed his surfing genes onto his son Butchie, who turned out to be a very good surfer as well. But things started to go downhill for Butchie when he started using drugs, which (as the show starts) is ruining his life. While Mitch is the first Yost surfer and Butchie the second Yost surfer, the third Yost surfer comes in the form of Butchie's teenage son Shaun, who is being raised by Mitch and his wife Cissy, since Butchie's drug use puts him in no condition to raise his own son. Shaun loves surfing and wants to follow in his father's and grandfather's footsteps. The Yost clan owns a surf shop which Cissy runs along with Kai, a female surfer (and family friend of the Yost's) who occasionally looks after Shaun and has a sweet little relationship with Butchie. Other acquaintances of the Yost family include retired police officer Bill Jacks, who spends most of his time talking to his bird Zippy; Ramon, the manager of an old, broken down motel where Butchie is currently living; and Linc Stark, a surfing agent who once represented Butchie and is now pursuing to represent Shaun. Other characters include Cass, a young woman who (in the beginning) poses as a filmmaker working for Linc; Barry Cunningham, the new owner of that run down motel; Meyer Dickstein, another motel employee who usually works alongside Ramon; Tina Blake, a porn actress who happens to be Shaun's mother; Steady Freddy Lopez, a criminal who has a past with Butchie; and Palaka, Freddy's henchman. Their lives are all pretty much routine, that is until a mysterious stranger appears and proceeds to change their lives. That stranger is John Monad (aka John from Cincinnati). He's very dim, acts childlike much of the time, and constantly mimics the words of what the other characters around him say to his face. John repeatedly says things to people as if the world is coming to an end or something. Not to mention spiritual situations start happening to some of the members of the Yost clan. For example, in the first episode Mitch discovers that he can hover several inches off the ground, which he has no idea why. Also in episode one a dead bird comes back to life. In episode two a surfer suffers a life-threatening injury and ends up in a coma. The same bird gives that injured surfer a peck on the cheek and immediately wakes up and is completely healed. Is John the one behind all of this? Is he some supernatural force that needs to be reckoned with?
Throughout the 10 episodes, I found "John from Cincinnati" to run hot and cold. I thought the first three episodes were pretty good as I got to know these people. Then the show when kind of dull with the next four episodes, before finally coming back for a bright wrap-up with the final three episodes. The cast features some good acting from the cast, but I found only two characters to be truly memorable: teenage surfer Shaun Yost and retired cop Bill Jacks. These two characters are brought to life by two terrific actors: one a newcomer and the other a TV veteran (who made us laugh for over ten years playing one of the most popular TV patriarchs of all time). The newcomer is Greyson Fletcher, who in real life is a teen skater and gets to display some of that talent in a few episodes of this show. "John from Cincinnati" marks his acting debut and he does a terrific job in his first time out as an actor. I look forward to seeing more of this young talent in the years to come. The TV veteran who comes off great on this show is Ed O'Neill, who if you remember played the occasionally grouchy Al Bundy for 11 seasons on the popular '80s-'90s sitcom "Married with Children". O'Neill is on hand to provide most of the comic relief here, and as usual does a great job. The best scenes of this show are the ones where Shaun and Bill are on screen together. Those moments are wonderful. Only problem is there's not enough of them. I would have liked to have seen more scenes with Fletcher and O'Neill onscreen together, but unfortunately that doesn't happen, and that's because there are way too many unnecessary characters that we have to get to know, and I feel that they really don't need to be here. And that's the first of many problems that "John from Cincinnati" has.
Bruce Greenwood and Rebecca De Mornay are good as the head of the Yost clan, but they have been better in other projects in the past. Plus I was constantly laughing every time the Rebecca De Mornay character got angry, which was quite often. Did the writers have to make her character (Cissy) so mad almost all the time? (Get a load of one scene early in episode five -- the trailer sequence -- where De Mornay overacts so uproariously that it made me laugh out loud to the point where I had to stop the DVD because it made me laugh so hard.) Same goes for Brian Van Holt, who plays Butchie. In the first episode, Van Holt acts so angry most of the time that I thought this was going to be one of the most aggravating characters in television history. But as the show progressed over the next nine episodes, his character actually settled down and didn't act so mad as he did in episode one. This makes the Cissy Yost character the angriest one on the show. But to be perfectly honest, "John from Cincinnati" does work when the focus is on the Yost family. When the focus is on Mitch, Cissy, Butchie, Shaun, Bill the cop, Kai the surfer girl (played by another newcomer, Keala Kennelly), Tina the porn actress (played by Chandra West, who doesn't appear until episode four), and the mysterious John (played by Austin Nichols, who plays the childlike role well by not going over the top), the show is at its best. The show is at its worst when it focuses on all the other characters, mainly the ones at that motel. Luis Guzman (Ramon) is a good actor and I've liked him in the past, but he really doesn't belong here. He's actually good on this show, but to what point? He's stuck in the most uninteresting part of the show. The two other characters at that motel (employee Meyer and owner Barry) aren't very interesting either. And that leads to the two most annoying characters on the whole show: the criminals Steady Freddy Lopez and his henchman Palaka, who just happen to be rooming at that same motel. It drove me crazy watching these two guys interact on the screen, and they almost single handedly ruin the show. Take these two characters out of "John from Cincinnati" and the show would get four stars.
But in the end, I can only give "John from Cincinnati" three stars. And that's too bad. This show had potential. There are many good things about it. But in the end there was just too much, and some of the things on hand weren't that great, and that includes the fantasy element. This is a drama series that throws in a few fantasy moments just to grab our attention, and it really doesn't work. Ironically, this show made its debut just after the final episode of "The Sopranos" ended. Most "Sopranos" viewers were so ticked off by the ending of that series that they didn't even bother to check this series out. In fact a lot of people didn't bother to check this series out. Reviews were mostly bad, and it never caught fire in the ratings. "John from Cincinnati" was cancelled after the final episode aired, and maybe that was for the best. This show was far from being a classic, but I think if it had to be reworked into a better show, I believe it might work as a half-hour comedy series. Just get rid of the unnecessary characters (about half of them), focus on the Yost clan and a few of their friends, and you might have something.
Description of John from Cincinnati - The Complete First Season
JOHN FROM CINCINNATI:COMPLETE FIRST S - DVD MovieA 2007 HBO television series created by Deadwood's David Milch, John from Cincinnati details a week in the dysfunctional Yost family--a family comprised of three generations of men obsessed with surfing who experience firsthand the perils of fame, paranormal events, and an inexplicable realization of the interconnectedness of man. Past surfing great Mitch Yost (Bruce Greenwood) had his career halted by a knee injury, but passed his love of surfing onto his son Butchie (Brian Van Holt) only to have fame drive his son to a heavy drug use that's destroying his life. Butchie's son Shaun (Greyson Fletcher) is being raised by Mitch and his wife Cissy (Rebecca De Mornay) and also possesses a deep love surfing and a talent that promises him a great future, if he can only get his grandfather to allow him to compete. The family's circle of friends and acquaintances seem mostly to argue, swear, and generally tear each other down and include retired and mentally unstable police officer Bill (Ed O'Neill), surfer girl Kai (Keala Kennelly) who works at the Yost's surf shop and watches out for Shaun, motel manager Ramon (Luiz G?zman), Butchie's settlement lawyer Palaka (Paul Ben-Victor), and a few other seemingly unrelated townspeople. The mysterious arrival of John, who insists on seeing Butchie, sparks the beginning of one strangely paranormal experience after another for the family and community including unexplained levitations and visions, a haunted hotel room, and two resurrections from death. Somehow, John emphasizes the connectedness of both family members and townspeople and, while John himself comes across as significantly dim, he has a knack for saying the profound without understanding a word of what he speaks. As the days go by, it becomes apparent that John gives voice to the words of his father or The Father. This eight-episode series is an exploration of self-centeredness, fear, and faith and John's role as savior, doomsayer, unwitting pawn, or simpleton is never clear--the end of the season at day seven brings no real resolution or sense of whether the Yost family is better off or worse than they were before John appeared. A truly bizarre show full of unanswered questions and crude language and subject matter, it is somehow intriguing even as it is repulsive and unsatisfying. --Tami Horiuchi
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Deadwood: The Complete SeriesHBO Home Video; Release date: 2008-12-09; DVD
Best price: $67.97
Price in other shops:
Justified: The Complete Second SeasonSony; Release date: 2012-01-03; DVD
Best price: $17.23
Price in other shops:
Carnivale: Complete Second SeasonWarner Bros; Release date: 2010-11-16; DVD
Best price: $14.95
Price in other shops:
Carnivale: The Complete First SeasonHBO Home Video; Release date: 2004-12-07; DVD
Best price: $13.66
Price in other shops:
Kings - The Complete SeriesUniversal Studios; Release date: 2009-09-29; DVD
Best price: $9.52
Price in other shops:
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman - Volume 1Sony; Release date: 2007-03-27; DVD
Best price: $8.73
Price in other shops:
The Kingdom - Series One (Riget)Koch International; Release date: 2005-11-08; DVD
Best price: $9.21
Price in other shops:
K Street - The Complete SeriesHBO Home Video; Release date: 2004-07-20; DVD
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
UnscriptedALLEN,KRISTA; Release date: 2005-10-18; DVD
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Tell Me You Love Me - The Complete First SeasonHBO Home Video; Release date: 2008-02-12; DVD
Best price: $6.70
Price in other shops: