Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 6th, 2007
This was my first ever exposure to Grey’s Anatomy. Certainly I’ve followed the buzz the show has generated with its multiple awards and the feuding between two of the show’s actors. My first impression was not altogether a very good one. You see, season three begins with the aftermath of an obviously big ending from the previous year. From what I can gather, a character died and it left a void for a couple of the characters. I immediately began to feel like an outsider, a feeling I wasn’t very comfortable with. Fortunately, before I could give up feeling frustrated and hounded by an impending review deadline, something quite remarkable happened. Simply stated, I didn’t stop watching. In that moment of hesitation, I began to catch a glimpse of what everybody’s been going on about.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 29th, 2007
This HBO comedy series throws down a huge gauntlet, then flails its limbs around maniacally in a futile attempt to live up to the challenge. Bad Boys of Comedy is billed as an evolution of black comedy that builds on the revolution led by the likes of Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy. P. Diddy, executive producer and host, promises young, edgy and unique comics, untapped virtuosos who will push the boundaries of humor and entertainment. What a crock.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 28th, 2007
Lets face it, at one point or another we’ve all watched The Simpsons, and I’m sure at points we’ve all loved it. But I don’t think it’s a matter of debate that as the years went on the show seemed to have lost its touch, its uniqueness. With shows like Family Guy and American Dad pushing the envelope it’s hard to enjoy The Simpsons as much as we get older. But nonetheless there are millions of you who still love this show. For me its hard to pinpoint when The Simpsons took it’s turn for the worse, does Season 10 get classic status, or is it on the downside of the slope?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 24th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
Most cartoons of the Saturday morning variety are written for kids and little else in mind, but every once in a while a show offers a little something extra. Pinky and the Brain is one such anomaly, providing plenty of great antics for kids, but even more for the grown-ups among us. It's full of parodies and Hollywood in-jokes that a 10-year-old could simply never appreciate. Strangely, as a 24-year-old, I felt very much within the target audience.
The memorable Pinky and Brain mice started as supporting characters on the WB's Animaniacs back in 1993, but quickly spun off onto their own show.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 16th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
The Rat Patrol completely took me by surprise, mostly by virtue of the fact that I had no idea what I was in for. Before watching even one episode, I was already underestimating it in my head, imagining a program only slightly more serious than Hogan's Heroes and confusing the title with the stupendously unrelated Rat Pack.
Boy, was I wrong. This series is tough-as-nails. The first episode of the second season opens with an action sequence that, in 1966, may have been comparable with Spielberg's opening salvo in Saving Private Ryan.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 14th, 2007
Written by Evan Braun
I am something of a news junky. For lack of anything better to do, I'll routinely flip my television over to CNN for countless hours of 24/7 up-to-the-minute coverage. Of all the talk shows on the airwaves today, there is no match for the great Larry King. Oprah only wishes she were this good. The ladies on The View should bow down to Mr. King, who is so good at what he does that even his most famous guests seem to open up to him in ways they would normally know better than to do in front of a camera. Whether you're looking for something light and funny, the hardest news story, or the insights into the most intriguing public figures in the world today, this DVD set is your one-stop shop.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2007
Superheroes come in all shapes and sizes these days, so it doesn’t really surprise me to find out that one is a big blue tick. I don’t think The Tick has any special Lyme Disease Ray, and I have yet to see him bite anyone, but he sure has a knack for stopping the bad guys. This Ben Edlund creation is one of those American Dream success stories. The independent comic was created to promote a local comic book store in Boston. Edlund, only 17 years old at the time, tapped into a wonderful spoof of the comic superhero molds. He populated his book with very colorful characters easily recognizable as the original ones he was spoofing. Within 10 years The Tick would become a children’s cartoon staple. There is an appealing degree of wit and intelligence in this cartoon that honestly looks kind of stupid on the surface.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 3rd, 2007
What do the following huge stars all have in common: Elton John, George Burns, Peter Sellers, Don Knotts, Bob Hope, John Cleese, Madeline Kahn, and Milton Berle? They all were guests on the second season of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show. I can’t believe how many of the episodes I remember watching occurred in the show’s sophomore season. It would be pretty hard to argue that the series became the in place for A list entertainers to have a little fun. Like a neighborhood clubhouse, the top stars would come to the show and allow themselves to be often upstaged by Henson’s cute little creatures.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 2nd, 2007
Having never seen or heard of this program, I had to do a bit of research into the history of this show. I’ll share my findings with you in case you are new to the series as well. Johnny Smith (Anthony Michael Hall, The Breakfast Club) was involved in a car accident that left him comatose for six years. Upon waking up he has a special gift, when he touches people or things he can see into the future, and sometimes prevent awful things from happening.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 2nd, 2007
Superheroes are huge these days, at least most of them are. Some are a little under 3 feet. In the Disney afternoon universe of Ducktales comes Darkwing Duck, or DW as his friends and arch enemies refer to him. Darkwing appropriately enough inhabits a more sinister side of the Ducktales world where he is ever vigilante for the exotic criminals that threaten St. Canard. If you still don’t get the idea, think of Adam West’s Batman as a Disney duck. DW comes complete with the prerequisite Duckmobile and steady supply of crime fighting gadgets and gizmos. His faithful, if not overly intelligent, sidekick is Ducktales holdover Launchpad McQuack. When not fighting crime, DW has the expected secret identity of Drake Mallard.
