Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 18th, 2008
I don’t know what I really expected when I started watching Greek. I never saw the broadcast, and the series was extremely underplayed in the crowded wilderness of promos and press. Honestly, I’m not sure I would have invested any time in the show if I had heard of it. So, when Greek showed up at my door to watch and review, I had to scratch my head a little bit before deciding to put the first disc into my DVD player. The release case almost makes the show sound like a Greek life reality show, and I’m sure as we speak some new reality creator is just now thinking what a great idea that would be. But Greek is not a reality show at all. It’s a teen soap opera set in the party environment of a college campus and both a fraternity and sorority house. The concept would appear to be slightly misplaced on ABC’s Family Network. The prerequisite underage drinking and promiscuous sexual lives don’t appear to be the best “family” entertainment. We don’t get even halfway through the pilot episode before we’re already charting those waters. To be sure, Greek is no Animal House, and the atmosphere is toned down considerably, but the issues remain, and this is not a show for the kiddies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 14th, 2008
If Matt Stone and Trey Parker have learned anything in their long run with
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 14th, 2008
Let’s make the point right from the start, that
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 28th, 2008
Beowulf is one of the oldest written stories known. The story began as a heroic tale passed from generation to generation only by word of mouth. Naturally there’s no way to know how much the story changed during those years of oral tradition. The author of the piece is unknown, and it is likely several persons contributed to the work. By the 8th Century an epic poem was written that forms the story as it is remembered today. Several translations have followed over the years, resulting in many variations of the story. This very impressive history makes Beowulf a natural to be filmed. There are so many versions that there is little worry about following a beloved canon. Second, the story is flourishing with wonderfully imaginative creatures that can now be savored ever so much more with the development of CG technology over the last 20 years. I’m honestly quite surprised that it has taken this long for this kind of a movie to find its way into release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2008
There was a new Cowboy in
There is a discrepancy in the season numbers that I should explain here. Most episode guides will refer to this collection of episodes as the fifth season. The first season of
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2008
Family Ties is likely remembered most as the series that launched the career of Michael J. Fox. There’s no question that he owes a great debt to Alex Keaton. It’s almost a bit awkward now to watch him as this young, extremely conservative teenager after Fox has spent so much of his life as a liberal poster boy in the last couple of elections. Politics aside, it’s hard not to credit his performances in Family Ties and the Back To The Future films for launching him into a well deserved lucrative career. The Michael J. Fox issue, however, might hide some of the other assets the show had going for it in its time. For one of the first times parents were portrayed as humanly flawed, and families were not the perfectly functional institutions most of these shows described. Up until Family Ties, these households were either perfect little examples of American ideal or they were so dysfunctional that they could hardly be considered families at all. This show obviously went for a bit of realism.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 9th, 2008
The Aristocats has the distinction of being the very last animated project that was greenlit by Walt Disney himself before his passing. The film reveals all of the classic elements that Walt believed a good animation project should contain. He went to the famous Sherman Brothers to provide sing-a-longable songs and utilized the best voice talents in the Disney arsenal. While the animation is not quite as good as some of the other films made during this animation golden age, it still met the high standard Walt Disney had already established. You won’t find quite so fluid movements as The Jungle Book and there certainly isn’t the stylish charm from The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, but the spirit of Walt can certainly be felt if not always seen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 4th, 2008
I have watched these DVD episodes of the Ira Glass series This American Life, some segments more than once, and I have to say I just don’t get it. Perhaps it is because I never heard the radio program on which they are based. It is a somewhat popular show with a cult following. I tend to avoid public radio at all costs as it is far too heavy handed in its liberal politics for my particular tastes. Still, I approached the series with an open mind that knew literally nothing going in. I’m sorry to report that I still seem to know nothing about the show. So I began to try and research the series and found there is remarkably little information out there on it at all. Even Showtime, where the series originally airs, offers precious little about the program. I can’t even get a good handle on what kind of a show it is trying to be. The commentaries suggest it is a documentary of sorts, but their banter also makes one believe that they are actually attempting to spoof the documentary. Bad news Ira, Michael Moore’s already been doing that for years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2008
PBS and producer Steve Boettcher have put together a rather nice time capsule. This four part series looks at four aspects of television: Late Night, Game Shows, Sit Coms, and Variety Shows. Each hour-long entry looks backward to the very infancy of the medium of television. The pieces examine the pioneers who gave birth to these genres and the innovative people who followed. There’s no question that some of the vintage clips alone are priceless, more than worth the value of a single DVD. You’ll see vintage and more recent interviews with the likes of: Dick Van Dyke, Bob Barker, Johnny Carson, Monty Hall, Merv Griffin, Andy Griffith, Betty White, and literally 100 early television personalities. From the days of live talk shows to the quiz show scandals, the series covers a lot of ground in a short amount of time. It is there that the series faces its most fatal flaw. Each of these segments will leave you wanting to know more. You’ll leave each one feeling like you’ve only heard a small part of the story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2008
JAG or Judge Advocates General might have gone silent on our television screens in 2005, but it really remains with us in its spin-off NCIS. Both shows explore the world of military justice. Both shows are also the masterworks of successful television producer David P. Bellisario, who also brought us Magnum PI and Quantum Leap. The idea behind JAG was likely inspired by the film A Few Good Men. Most of us remember the “You can’t handle the truth” rant that Jack Nicholson delivers from the stand, but fans of the film rather enjoyed the rare look behind the Judge Advocate General’s office in our military. Like that film, JAG spends its time pretty much split in three directions.
