Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2010
USA Network has certainly found a little niche for themselves, milking their "characters wanted" run of television shows. It all started with Monk and has progressed through several successful reincarnations of the quirky character-driven shows. In some cases the quirky nature of the characters gets pretty out of control, and while I liked Monk a ton, his OCD was significantly over the top at times. This tends to draw too much attention and minimize whatever might be happening in the episode itself. That's not the case with White Collar. This series has a ton of potential to be the next big breakaway hit for the cable network. There's just enough style to the main character to make him incredibly interesting, but not so much that the exceptional stories don't get your full attention. I don't get to watch that many television shows these days. I'm too busy keeping you guys from making bad DVD or Blu-ray choices. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. I'm not complaining, really. It just stands to reason that I will miss the occasionally solid new show to hit the airwaves. Such is the case for me and White Collar. Fortunately for both of us, I get the chance to catch up when the shows inevitably reach the home theater market. Fortunate for me because I do eventually get to see them. Fortunate for you because I can let you know when there's something you might have missed that you need to see. This is one of those times.
Neal Caffrey (Bomer) is an elite thief and con artist. He's an expert forger and is doing four years after finally getting caught by FBI agent Peter Burke (DeKay). With just three months remaining on his 4-year stint, Neal breaks out of prison. Now, what would make a guy escape when he's almost finished doing his time? The answer, of course, is a woman. In this case it's Kate (Daddario) who broke up with Neal on her last prison visit. But, Neal is convinced there is more to the story, so he takes a powder from prison, only to be caught again by Peter. Now Neal is facing another four years behind bars. Fortunately, however, Peter is trying to catch one of his most elusive criminals. He calls him The Dutchman because he's like a ghost. Neal offers his arch-rival a deal. Peter releases him into his own custody, and Neal will help him track down the Dutchman. If the case goes well, the deal can be made permanent for the rest of Neal's prison time. So, ala 48 Hours, the duo track down the crook. Neal ends up talking his way into a multi-million-dollar mansion suite for his new digs. While he helps Peter, he is secretly trying to track down Kate, who is mixed up with a mysterious stranger. Neal only knows him by a pinky ring he's seen in a photograph. The stranger wants something he believes Neal stole and has stashed away somewhere. Neal's investigation hits several snags, not the least of which is an ankle bracelet that only allows him to traverse a 2-mile radius of his home when he's not with Peter. To help out with some of the legwork, he has Mozzie (Garson), an old friend and fellow con artist.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2010
There was a time when racial stereotypes on television and in the movies could be very funny. Shows like All In The Family and Sanford And Son brought an entire generation to their knees with laughter. Today audiences are a little more timid when it comes to that kind of humor. This is the kind of movie you end up looking both ways before you think about letting out even the slightest giggle to make sure no one is watching, or worse, training their cell phone camera on you. I don't know about you, but I don't want to feel like my reactions to my entertainment are under a microscope. Our Family Wedding will make you feel exactly that way. It's a combination of the Sydney Poitier and Spencer Tracy classic Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (which happened to also feature Louise Jefferson herself, Isabel Sanford) and the original Peter Falk and Alan Arkin The In-Laws. Both of those films are superior to Our Family Wedding in every way imaginable.
Marcus (Gross) and Lucia (Ferrera) are a young couple who presumably met in college. In spite of their cultural difference (he's black, she's Mexican) they have decided to get married and move to Laos as volunteers. They are coming back home to L.A. to tell their parents of the impending nuptials. Before they can even make the announcement, the two fathers inadvertently meet. Lucia's father Miguel (Mencia) runs a towing company and he ends up towing the car of Boyd, Marcus's father. Of course, at that moment they are unaware that they will meet under entirely different circumstances, namely the dinner engagement announcement of their children. It doesn't take long for the clashes to begin. The families are separated by race and economic circumstances. Boyd is a divorcee who raised his son on his own, while Lucia was raised by a large extended family. The film quickly settles into all of the wedding-comedy clichés. There are the father clashes, the arguments over wedding plans, the police station scene, the dysfunctional family dynamic and, of course, the "let's call the whole thing off" moment. Finally, there is the expected disruption at the ceremony itself, in this case mostly caused by a goat on Viagra. Don't ask.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 26th, 2010
"Would you give up 20 years to prove a stranger's innocence?"
That's the question that is asked and answered, at least for one person, in the docudrama The Wronged Man. The film is a made-for-television movie that appeared originally, and still does from time to time, on Lifetime.
Posted in: Contests by Gino Sassani on July 23rd, 2010
Our friends over at A&E Home Entertainment have given us 6 different DVD's to give away to our readers. Check out the list and you should find something that interests you. They are all from the History Instant Expert Series. They are both informative and educational.
Click Continue to see the choices and learn how to win.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 23rd, 2010
Let's see if you can follow any of this. Jesse Warren is a wannabe actor/director/gofer. He's taking acting classes like a million other Hollywood hopefuls. During his classes he begins to write the "way cool" story about a character named Neil Bannen. As luck would have it, he runs into another aspiring star in Mark Gantt. Gantt appears to be exactly like the character in Warren's fledgling script. So, he approaches his classmate and both agree that the story is "way cool". They know someone at a major studio with more development money than good sense, a guy likely parking cars at The Hollywood Bowl these days. The script gets greenlit, and before you know it the a couple of B list actors along with other film students gather for what is described as an internet series that will also be cobbled together to form a feature film, direct to video, of course. Cut to a hapless reviewer who, as luck would have it, is not an aspiring Hollywood actor. He's given an advance copy of that "way cool" film and sits down in his home theater to watch the movie. As the curtain falls, we find the reviewer sitting down to his computer terminal as he begins to type. He begins his review: "Let's see if you can follow any of this. Jesse Warren is a ..."
Sounds like it might be the plot of the new Sony direct to video release The Bannen Way. No such luck. That might have at least made an interesting comedy. Instead, the above isn't quite the plot of the film. It isn't exactly based on a true story. It IS a true story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2010
"Don't act like the hypocrite, who thinks he can conceal his wiles, while loudly quoting the Koran." - Hafez (14th Century Iranian Poet)
The Stoning Of Soraya M is based upon a book written by Freidoune Sahebjam. The book is currently banned in Iran as well as other countries. It is based on a true story. The book and now the film have caused quite a bit of controversy over the years. Director Cyrus Nowrasteh is no stranger to controversial topics. He appears to have a flair for significant historical events, and his work has shown some insight into the actual significance of his subjects. His acclaimed Path to 9/11 stood out from the rather large crowd of films on that subject. He brought many of the more subtle observations to the surface. Other films like The Day Reagan Was Shot and 10,000 Black Men Named George explore quite opposite subjects with equal intensity. So it should come as no surprise that he would tackle a subject that has been out there for 30 years when no one else was willing to touch it. It might seem somewhat opportunistic that The Stoning Of Soraya M comes when a planned actual stoning in Iran has made international headlines. And as the international community has expressed outrage to such an extent that said stoning has, for now, been cancelled. Such is not the case. This movie has been in some form of development or another with Nowrasteh and his wife since the 1990's. The film itself was released almost two years ago. The fact that this movie is coming out on home video now is not a matter of exploitation. It can best be described as: It's about time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 21st, 2010
In Florida we have some very large bugs. There's this one particular spider that is quite a problem in my house. It's real name is a huntsman spider, and it grows to about 16 feet, not including the legs. It sports 27-inch fangs and tends to move the furniture around at night while it stalks its prey. Yes, it stalks its prey at night in my house while I'm trying to sleep. Years ago I coined my own name for these clever, ferocious killers. I call them Rambo Spiders. The name fits these long-legged freaks perfectly as they perform their recon missions throughout our home. When I find them, I terminate them with extreme prejudice. I suspect that if these arachnids happen to be movie fans, they have a name for me, as well. You guessed it: Rambo.
John Rambo was the brainchild of novelist David Morrell. In his novel you'll find a John Rambo who is very much like the one played by Sylvester Stallone, yet quite different, as well. While he retains that one-man-fighting-machine persona, in the book he is much more of a cold-blooded killer than the man we meet in the franchise's first film. In that movie, Rambo disables the police and whoever else stalks him, but he never kills one person in that film. The officer who does die does so because of his own actions, not Rambo's. He's actually a very innocent man, when we first meet him. There's a vulnerability that we see in that film's first five minutes that we never will see again over the course of four films. Credit Stallone for allowing us those fleeting moments that you won't find anywhere in Morrell's book. But it is the Rambo as portrayed by Stallone that has become the cultural icon and household word today. The term is in most modern dictionaries, usually to describe a relentless force of strength, which brings me back to those spiders. And before you animal rights people start writing me your displeasure over my spider kills, understand that it's more than a fair fight. They have those 99 inch fangs, and all I have is a rolled-up newspaper.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
"Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend. Come inside. Come inside."
The rock gods must have been smiling when Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer journeyed from their perspective corners of the music world and combined to form the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer, or merely ELP to the fans. Keith Emerson had made quite a name for himself with his manic organ riffs while working in the band The Nice. Greg Lake was busy with the band King Crimson where he worked with long-time ELP collaborator Peter Sinfield. Carl Palmer was the youngest member of the group and had played for several bands before meeting up with his eventual ELP bandmates. Together they would help to define an entire genre of music. This new progressive rock era would be recognized not by hit singles and AM radio play. Instead this music would be enjoyed for its virtuosity and complexity. In all of the years the band enjoyed success, they've released less than a handful of what the industry defines as a single. Yet, anyone who has ever seriously picked up an instrument in the last 40 years knows exactly who they are.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
This was Lucille Ball’s follow-up to I Love Lucy. Here Ball is a widowed mother of two, sharing her home with best friend Vivian Vance, who is a divorced mother of one. All the other members of household are, of course, faced with the disasters triggered by Lucy. I screened this set immediately after viewing its close contemporary, Petticoat Junction, and the difference between the two was instructive. There are plenty of hokey gags and situations on The Lucy Show, but there is an enormous difference between the shows, thanks to the comic genius of Lucille Ball. Her energy fills each episode, her timing is spot-on, but there is also her commitment to a type of physical comedy that to this day remains pretty much the exclusive domain of male performers. Not only does she make this style her own, she grounds it in a female reality. There is a reason she was so beloved a performer, and why her work still stands up today.
The second season offers up even more laughs. While the show was filmed in color, the episodes still aired originally in black and white. Here they are in full color on this 4-disc collection. Some highlights of the season include: What could go wrong when Lucy and Viv start their own children's party business? Watch Kiddie Parties, Inc. and find out. Gale Gordon joins the cast as Lucy's new nemesis Mr. Mooney in the two part episode Lucy Gets Locked In The Vault. Mr. Mooney would go on to be the perfect foil for Lucy, and this is the genesis of the show most of us remember to this very day. In Lucy And The Bank Scandal, Lucy is convinced that Mr. Mooney has stolen ten grand and has buried it in his own back yard. Now the girls grab some shovels to recover the missing dough. Lucy and Viv have their sights set on the same guy and enroll in an art class to impress the man. But, when Viv lands a date, Lucy's going to make sure things don't go so well in Lucy Goes To Art Class. In the two-part shows Lucy Teaches Ethel Merman To Sing and Ethel Merman And The Boy Scout Show, guest star Merman shows why she was the queen of Broadway for so long. It's one of the show's most famous classic moments. Lucy takes Mooney to court to shut up his barking dog in Lucy Is Her Own Lawyer. Lucy and Viv are baking contest rivals in Lucy Enters A Baking Contest. The all out food fight will remind you of those old Three Stooges gags.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 20th, 2010
The fifth season of Matlock brought more of the same. If you’re a fan, that’s very good news indeed. What is that, you ask? Imagine Sheriff Andy Taylor older and now an attorney, and you pretty much have the setup for Matlock. Forget for a second that both characters were played by Andy Griffith. That’s not all they have in common. Matlock is every bit the “southern gentleman” that Taylor was. He might be a little smarter, but he walks and talks like Andy Taylor.
Matlock began life as a television movie from Dean Hargrove, who brought us Columbo. Hargrove would later work the same magic with Dick Van Dyke in Diagnosis Murder. In fact, the two shows could easily have been companion pieces. Both featured sit-com stars from the 1950’s and 60’s that had become somewhat iconic characters. Both would don the role of professionals. Both shows would subscribe to the “formula” mode of storytelling. Diary Of A Perfect Murder would set up the Matlock formula. It’s simple, really. Matlock was a lawyer in Atlanta. Some wronged defendant, usually charged with murder, would show up asking for Matlock’s help. Matlock and his team would investigate the crime with an eye toward, as OJ Simpson is fond of saying, finding the real killer. His team consisted of his daughter Charlene, herself a competent lawyer, and Tyler Hudson (Holliday), his private investigator. In the pilot the Matlock character was less Andy Taylor and a little more slick at first. I’m sure that while it was intended to show Matlock’s prowess as a high-priced attorney, somewhere along the line it became obvious that the show’s finest asset was Griffith himself and that southern charm he was already famous for. Whatever the reason, you can see the character soften significantly during the early episodes of the season. And that decision was a smart one, as Matlock would continue for nearly a decade.
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