Disc Type

Erle Stanley Gardner wrote crime fiction, and while many of his 100 or so works are unknown to most of us, he created a character who has become as identified with criminal lawyers as any other in fiction. It was in these crime novels that Perry Mason first faced a courtroom. He developed a style where he would investigate these terrible crimes his clients were on trial for. He would find the real killer, and in what has become a Hollywood cliché, reveal his findings in a crucial moment during the trial. While we may not remember the novels, we all remember the man in the persona of Raymond Burr.

“WARNING: The following program contains scenes of graphic stupidity among four friends who compete to embarrass each other…”

They’re back!!! Tru TV’s smash hit Impractical Jokers is back with a season two that continues to show you that no one embarrasses you quite like your closest friends.  The gang is all back; Q, Murr, Joe, and Sal, as they take their pranks to the next level. The stakes are the same: one infiltrates a prospective business such as dental office, movie theater, etc. and must do whatever the others order to push them out of their comfort zone; failure to comply results being subject to the consequences at the end of the episode.

"1968, I was twelve years old. A lot happened that year. Dennis McLain won 31 games, The Mod Squad hit the air, and I graduated from Hillcrest Elementary and entered junior high school...but we'll get to that. There's no pretty way to put this: I grew up in the suburbs. I guess most people think of the suburb as a place with all the disadvantages of the city, and none of the advantages of the country, and vice versa. But, in a way, those really were the wonder years for us there in the suburbs. It was kind of a golden age for kids."

With all of the television I've watched over the decades, it's more than a little surprising to me that I missed out on The Wonder Years.

Just because an actor shares the same last name of their more popular sibling, the talent doesn’t necessarily carry over as well.  In the case of The Reckoning, the Australian thriller has two siblings with much more marketable star power. Jonathan LaPaglia comes into The Reckoning and ripping a few pages from his brother’s acting book in playing a detective whose partner is the victim of a heinous act of “random” violence. Also joining the film with famous siblings is Luke Hemsworth, whose brothers Liam and Chris Americans may be more familiar with.  Does the hereditary star power help this little Aussie film, or does it flounder down under?

Well-acted and directed, a surprisingly good action flick Plastic has hit the home video market on DVD.  The movie offers its own interpretation of a several million dollar diamond heist that actually took place by a group of men in 1997.  The original robbery spanned from Manchester, England to Los Angeles, CA and involving the prestigious Bejon Jewelers on Rodeo Drive.  This film’s story adds a little comedy with their creative crime caper and that’s a good thing because if not, it would have been just be another heist movie.