Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2008
I can remember when Beauty And The Beast first arrived on television. It was fall of 1987. I watched a couple episodes of this rather odd drama. Instantly I was drawn to the show’s world but was almost as quickly pushed away by the material. If I can be forgiven for saying so, I always considered this a “chick” show. That’s not intended as an insult at all. The truth is there likely isn’t nearly enough programming out there that is targeted for the female audience. This was without a doubt a series that was very much aimed at the young women viewers. They were rewarded with two very solid leads in Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. The show provided some very interesting sets and locations, most notably the underground world where Vincent and Father lived. The production values were high for the time. The makeup work on Perlman was incredible and full of detail that the actor used expertly. His ability to convey emotions was the key to one of television’s best performances. I also thought that the writing was clever and original. Still, I’m a guy, and the overt romantic arc to the story was too much of a turnoff, and I stopped watching. Now having the chance to see the show again in a complete season release I find my opinion hasn’t changed very much. I might appreciate what it was trying to do more now, but the fact remains that this is a romance story first and a crime drama second.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 6th, 2008
Brothers and Sisters, we are gathered here today to extol the virtues of our moral champion, Eric Cartman. I’ve come here to praise Eric, not to bury him. It wasn’t much more than 12 years ago to this very day that we first met Eric. Certainly the presentation was a bit crude, and often the teachings were less focused and incoherent. Still, it didn’t take long before we could see an underlying message in the construction paper animation. Before too long the faithful grew, and the wisdom of Eric Cartman could no longer be stopped. Stan, Kyle, even Kenny. They tried to distract us from what we knew was the important message of each episode. Somehow the light managed to shine through. We weren’t watching
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on October 4th, 2008
A group of exotic dancers head off to a resort in the hills, ostensibly to shoot a film, but instead fall into evil clutches. The torture begins for them and that point, but it began for the audience prior to the opening credits. While the monologue that begins the film hints that there might have been an idea buried somewhere in here concerning the abusive objectification of women through history, the film decides to incarnate that idea rather than critique it, and do so very clumsily at that. The makeup effects are beyond risible, and the cinematography consists primarily of headache-inducing shaky close-ups. Another nail in the coffin of the torture porn subgenre.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 17th, 2008
Wings was one of those unusual sitcoms that depended more on the characters than the situations they were in. While the setting was a small
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 11th, 2008
“You wanna be where everybody knows your name”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 5th, 2008
Chris Rock has been one of those comedians that either hits a home run or strikes completely out. I’ve seen quite a bit of his stand-up and found I loved it or hated it. He’s not afraid to play the race card. Hell, Chris plays the whole dang deck at times, and Everybody Hates Chris is no different. The comedy is based, loosely I’m sure, on the young adolescent life of Chris Rock. It’s a black comedy that will bring back memories of those 1970’s shows we all watched as kids. Like Good Times and even Sanford And Son, the show is loaded with stereotypes. All of the white characters are bumbling fools who are often played as racists themselves. Chris’s school teacher, Mrs. Morello (Mazarella), is the most obvious example. She’s constantly trying to talk “hood” with the boys and making politically incorrect observations loaded with outrageous clichés. Of course, it’s all in fun and if you’re willing to overlook the often sensitive language and plots, you’re in for some laughs along the way. I like that the show never really takes itself seriously and challenges the viewer to simply lighten up. Basically, this ain’t no Cosby Show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 5th, 2008
<>“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
To Date 42 men have taken that oath to become President Of The United States. While our current president is #43, Grover Cleveland’s terms did not run consecutively and so he often is counted twice. From George Washington to George W. Bush our country has seen feast and famine, good times and bad, and extraordinary leaders and some, let’s just say, leave much to be desired. This American Experience PBS collection covers 10 of the most important from the 20th Century: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson,
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 25th, 2008
Sonic Underground would be an interesting study in the land of Sonic Cartoons if one was into such a thing. The series lasted forty episodes and was made at the request of Sega who needed the promotion for their Dreamcast console in the fall of 1999. The show itself was an odd departure from the first two series in that it always contained a musical number and featured three main hedgehogs instead of just one. The show did serve to introduce a couple of new sub villains and Knuckles the Echidna. I honestly don’t remember Sonic Underground; I am more familiar with the previous two series, but with one look at the dvd cover and description on the outside, I might have begun to see why.
Queen Aleena the Hedgehog had three children: Sonic, Sonia & Manic. However, Dr. Robotnik & his robots decide to overtake things and force her out. Aleena went into hiding. But before doing so, she separated Sonic, Sonia & Manic. When the threesome became older, they heard of a prophecy that they could reunite with their mother. They would be able to end the tyrannical rule of Dr. Robotnik and resume their rightful leadership. The three also have medallions that can change into musical instruments to play as part of Sonic Underground and are also used as powerful weapons against the forces of Robotnik. The last twenty episodes join the trio as they try to find their mother and keep themselves alive against the selfishness of evil.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 25th, 2008
Current indie It-girl Ellen Page stars in this pre-Juno effort as a similarly headstrong teenager but whose life is far, far worse simply being pregnant. Here she comes from a dysfunctional home, her high school would be called a snake pit if that weren’t disrespectful to snakes, and her baby brother has disappeared while she was supposed to be taking care of him. She plunges into the underbelly of Toronto in a quest to find him, and an unending picaresque nightmare ensues.
But this isn’t called The Tracey Fragments for nothing, and the above summary fails to convey the actual experience of the film. Director Bruce McDonald breaks the screen up into fragments, and Tracey’s story unfolds as a kaleidoscope of multiple frames and shattered chronology. It’s a technique that won’t work for everyone, and that can be horribly misused, but here I found it both intense and exciting. In fact, it made some of the more familiar and/or hard to take/swallow aspects of the narrative itself much more palatable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2008
My mother was a big fan of The Untouchables. I think she really just had a crush on Robert Stack. Years later when Stack was hosting Unsolved Mysteries, I could swear that I heard her murmur a few
