Posts by Gino Sassani

It's hard to start a series in its fourth season. That's particularly true of today's huge mythology-arc shows that require you to be up to date at all times. Such was the task I found myself facing when we got a copy of Rizzoli & Isles to review. Fortunately, this is one of those pleasant exceptions to the rule. While I'd suggest that newcomers pick up the first three seasons anyway it's not an absolute necessity. So if, like me, you're discovering this one a little late, fear not. They'll be a little work to catch up, but the fun kind.

The premise here is dirt simple. They've taken the buddy cop idea and found a way to work in the forensics science fad and deliver a procedural with a few twists. Angie Harmon plays Detective Rizzoli. She's wanted to be a cop all of her life and is living the dream working with a special unit out of Boston PD. Her best friend in life happens to be Dr. Maura Isles, who is the Chief Medical Examiner for the unit and is played by Sasha Alexander. These are the kind of friends who finish each other's sentences and share a lot of history together. That's not to say they are at all alike.

"Uncooperative witnesses are becoming a specialty of mine."

That statement clearly describes Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson...except it doesn't. Not anymore. The Closer was a stand-out hit for the folks at TNT. It's no surprise that when the show’s star Kyra Sedgwick wanted to leave that the network would want to continue the show. That's a little harder when the lead leaves. Shows have survived the loss of their lead, but the remaining years were usually something lesser than it once was. That's not the case here. The title was changed, and with just a few cast tweaks the series returned as Major Crimes, and I dare say a much better show than its predecessor.

Mike Warren (Tveit) has just graduated at the top of his class for the FBI. His family includes past directors, and he's personal friends with the current director (Vance). He expects to write his own ticket to a fast-track gig in DC and into a director's chair at a young age. It all gets sidetracked when he's assigned to Southern California and a place called Graceland. It's a beach house seized in a drug bust. Now it's an inter-department Federal unit. There are FBI, DEA and Customs officers all sharing the house and coordinating both their domestic lives and their law enforcement lives. The name comes from the previous owner who happened to be an Elvis fan.

The job is a little easier to take because the house leader and his training officer will be Paul Briggs (Sunjata). Mike knows his reputation. Briggs was him a few years earlier. The house residents also include Johnny Tuturro (Montana). He's the immature kid in the group. He has a lot of heart, but he's loud, impulsive and a showboat. Catherine "Charlie" DeMarco (Ferlito) is the house's mother figure. She's young like the rest, but she's more nurturing than the others. She's their makeup artist when an undercover calls for tats, wounds or track marks. She's also the best cook in the bunch. Jakes (McLaren) is the only Customs agent in the house. He's moody and likes to keep to himself. He labels his food and doesn't share or play well with others. He has a son he pushed away with the mother in an attempt to keep them safe. Now he regrets the decision. Paige Arkin is the wildcard of the team. She can be flashy or quiet, whatever might be called for. She's the best chameleon of the house. You'll also find her bright eyes very distracting in the first couple of episodes. The show runners must have agreed, because an obvious effort is made quickly to dim them considerably.

Perry Mason officially ended in May of 1966, but that wasn't going to be the end. Twenty years later the surviving cast members reunited for Perry Mason Returns. It was Perry and Della back together again. Both Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale returned to their roles. William Hopper had died in 1970, so William Katt joined the reunion as Paul Drake, Jr. Katt might not have really been Drake's son; he was Hale's son. When Katt left the films he was replaced by William R. Moses as Ken Malansky. Ken was a young law student helped by Perry once when he was framed in law school for a rival's murder. He ends up being both a legal assistant and investigator for Perry in the reunion films. The films also often starred James McEachin as Lt. Brock, the cop on many of the cases.  M*A*S*H's David Ogden Stiers would often play his rival in the prosecutor's office, Michael Reston. The team would continue to do 30 television movies from 1985-1995. CBS has now begun to package these reunion films in collections like this. You get six films on three discs.

In this collection you'll find the following movies:

"The meek shall inherit the Earth when the strong say so."

Director Manish Patel wants his now. He is mostly known as a British television documentary guy, and it's only natural that he'd eventually want to try his hand at a feature film. If you can't find the right project, there's always writing your own. Patel ends up being one of those one-man bands with a low budget and a minimal crew. The result is Original Gangster, known as Full English Breakfast in his home territory of England.