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Television

Girls: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on August 13th, 2013

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“Well, when you love someone you don’t have to be nice all the time.”

In this current age of message boards and morning-after recaps, the pressure is on to make your voice the loudest if you want to be heard in the wilderness of the Internet. For snarky TV critics, that often means declaring something is either the “Best ____ Ever” or the “Worst ____ Ever”, with little room for anything in-between. But even within these sharply-divided times, I believe HBO’s Girls — which is brilliant just as often as it is maddening — stands out as the most polarizing show on TV.
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Banshee: Season One (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 8th, 2013

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“With a name like Banshee how can you not be drawn in?”

Alan Ball got my attention in 2001 with HBO’s black comedy Six Feet Under. It was one of the most original shows I had ever seen, and to this day I find it hard to characterize the series when asked to do so. It was there that he also introduced me to Michael C. Hall, who continues to amaze me in the role of Dexter over at Showtime. When Six Feet Under left the airwaves, Ball didn’t waste very much time in bringing his quirky style back
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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Redemption (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 7th, 2013

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“Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”

With the success of Best Of Both Worlds, Star Trek: The Next Generation would make frequent use of the season-ending cliffhanger. Believe it or not, that wasn’t so common in those days. The fourth season ended with part one of Redemption.
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Kumail Nanjiani: Beta Male

Posted in No Huddle by J C on August 5th, 2013

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The fact that Kumail Nanjiani decided to call his first Comedy Central special Beta Male immediately gives you a sense of his self-deprecating style. Fortunately, the ability to laugh at himself is merely one of many comedic gifts this on-the-rise comic possesses. This consistently funny, frequently hilarious hour-long set — filmed in Austin’s Moody Theater — touches on a wide range of topics, including his Muslim upbringing, cats disguised as pizza delivery men, and outdated rollercoasters.
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Gunsmoke – The Ninth Season Volumes 1 & 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on August 2nd, 2013

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I’ll say this about a program that has remained consistent in quality for twenty seasons…it makes for challenging reviews. Talking about each season of Gunsmoke is difficult in that you either write briefly to try to avoid redundancies, but might seem too hasty, or you have to labour over each episode, in which case, you’re only going to have hardcore fans paying attention. Since this website has touched on previous seasons: ( http://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=gunsmoke ) I shall opt for the former option, and hope y’all out there catch that I’m not being hasty…but respect a show that warrants no fresh complaints after 9 years a-runnin’ thus far.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Four (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 31st, 2013

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“Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”

The fourth Season of Star Trek: The Next Generation erased any doubts that the show could stand on its own. The series had developed its own characters and situations that allowed the show to somewhat separate itself from the confines of the original series
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Damages: The Complete Fifth and Final Season

Posted in No Huddle by J C on July 16th, 2013

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“You want to end this once and for all? Now’s your f—ing chance.”

And with those words, spoken during the closing minutes of the fifth and final season premiere of Damages, Patty Hewes sets the stage for her ultimate showdown with protégé/frenemy/surrogate daughter Ellen Parsons. (As you can see, Patty also takes advantage of the fact that the show — which began its life on FX — migrated to DirecTV for its final two seasons, allowing her to drop that F-bomb.)
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Portlandia – Season Three

Posted in No Huddle by J C on July 10th, 2013

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Oregon may have been the 33rd state to join our union — and Portland may be its most populous city — but Portlandia is a (dog-dressing, raw milk-drinking, Seattle-hating) state of mind. And after three seasons of lovingly mocking upper middle class indulgence along with the denizens of the Pacific Northwest, Portlandia — created by stars Fred Armisen, Carrie Brownstein and director Jonathan Krisel — feels more like a fully-realized destination than ever.
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The Dick Van Dyke Show: Season 4 (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 9th, 2013

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When one thinks of The Dick Van Dyke Show it’s hard not to think of its star Dick Van Dyke. After all, it’s his name on the opening credits, and he does play the lead character in this groundbreaking television comedy. There’s little question that the show became a wonderful vehicle for his many comedic talents. But the genius behind the show wasn’t really Dick Van Dyke at all. It was Carl Reiner (yes, Meathead’s father) who is the true brains behind the show.
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How the West Was Won: The Complete First Season

Posted in No Huddle by J C on July 8th, 2013

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“The 1860s was a decade in which one of the most terrible civil wars in history was to begin and end. But far from the bloody fields of Gettysburg and Shiloh, changes — which were to alter forever the face of the American West — had already begun.”

And that pioneering spirit continued to capture the American public’s imagination 100 years later. The Western was the big boy on the block during the 1950s and ‘60s on both television — peaking in 1959, which saw 26 such shows air in prime time — and in the movies. How the West Was Won — starring John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Gregory Peck, among others — is one of the more enduring titles from that era.
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Unforgettable: The First Season

Posted in No Huddle by J C on July 3rd, 2013

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“Only a few people in the world have the ability to remember everything. I’m one of them. If I miss something the first time, it’s okay; I can go back and look again. My life…is unforgettable.”

You’ve got to admire the courage of the person who decided to call this show Unforgettable. He or she had to know they’d be leaving themselves open to easy pot-shots from viewers and snarky critics like me if the drama series failed to make a lasting impression. And, for a while, it looked like this Unforgettable: The First Season DVD set might wind up being Unforgettable: The Only Season.
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Workaholics – Season Three (Blu Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 25th, 2013

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Every generation since “X” has lionized its slackers and frat boys with films (perhaps earlier if you look to Animal House as the beginning). Workaholics dances between this honouring of the stoner/slacker lifestyle and satirizing it. This show’s third season is just like the previous two. Three best friends, Adam, Anders and Blake, spend their work days with pranks, pot and parties on their minds, and each episode showcases their adventures therein.
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The Newsroom: The Complete First Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on June 12th, 2013

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“In the old days, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”

Sounds simple enough, so what’s keeping everyone from doing the news well? Well, other than a country that feels more politically polarized than ever and a population that mostly seems interested in cherry picking the “facts” they’d rather hear, I can’t think of a single thing. In fact, HBO’s The Newsroom pointedly compares the idea of putting on a quality news broadcast that educates the electorate and earns great ratings to Don Quixote embarking on one of his foolish quests.
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Pretty Little Liars: The Complete Third Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2013

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“Two can keep a secret as long as one of them is dead.”

And there are a lot of secrets to be found on the ABC Family show Pretty Little Liars. It seems that Alison (Pieterse) was murdered in the small Pennsylvania town of Rosewood. She was the “queen bee” of a small clique of girls. She was fond of manipulating those around her, and it seems her head games have finally caught up with her. That leaves her four close friends behind to get on with their lives. That’s going to be hard now. Allison’s body has finally been discovered, the missing-person investigation is now a homicide investigation, and the four little busy bees are at the heart of the storm.
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The Philadelphia Experiment (2012) (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on June 10th, 2013

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I don’t like remakes for probably the same reasons you don’t like them — they’re lazy and creatively bankrupt — but I’m also not completely against the idea of revisiting an older film. When the older film isn’t a beloved classic that shouldn’t be touched or when a story can be more effectively presented using technology that simply didn’t exist when the original movie was made, remakes aren’t such a bad idea. By those standards, 1984’s The Philadelphia Experiment is actually an excellent choice to receive the remake treatment. And that’s why I’m so disappointed to see it go so wrong.
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Rawhide: The Sixth Season – Volume 2

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 9th, 2013

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For 8 long seasons Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. Season 6 was separated into two releases. Here we shall look at what Part Two has to offer. Feel free to browse previous releases covered by Gino on this same site: http://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=rawhide
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Rawhide: The Sixth Season – Volume 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 9th, 2013

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For 8 long seasons Rawhide followed the adventures of a cattle drive. Season 6 was separated into two releases. Here we shall look at what Part One has to offer. Feel free to browse previous releases covered by Gino on this same site: http://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=rawhide
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Perry Mason: Season 9, Volume 1

Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 7th, 2013

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For nine seasons and several TV-movies afterwards, Raymond Burr was Los Angeles based defense attorney Perry Mason. This character’s verbal gymnasitcs and uncanny hounding for evidence makes his famous winning streaks seem not just plausible but rather entertaining to behold. His adventures have been well-reviewed by myself and my reviewing compadre Gino on this very site (http://upcomingdiscs.com/?s=perry+mason).
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Falling Skies: The Complete Second Season (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on June 3rd, 2013

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Bringing big-screen action and spectacle to the small screen is almost always a losing proposition. (A moment of silence for Terra Nova.) It’s just too hard to maintain on a week-to-week basis over the course of multiple seasons. Falling Skies — which, like Terra Nova, counts Steven Spielberg as one of its executive producers — may not be terribly original, but it’s one of the more successful attempts at consistently bringing large-scale thrills to television.
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True Blood: Season Five (Blu-Ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 20th, 2013

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Well, it is that time of the year when we must see what the blood suckers, shape shifters, wolves and the faeries are up to. No, I am not talking about the State of the Union address; I’m talking about the latest season of True Blood. Season Five to be exact. In these twelve episodes, we again travel to the land of Bon Temps, Louisiana and see exactly what delicious trouble and dastardly deeds our characters can get themselves tied up in.
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Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season Three (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2013

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“Space… the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.”

When the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation beamed into our living rooms, I was quite impressed with the quality of work that was done to bring the next generation of Star Trek into the next generation of home video.
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Monsuno Volume 2: Power

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 14th, 2013

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Most cartoons these days seem to be carbon copies of cartoons gone past just with different settings and characters. You got the superhero cartoon, adventure cartoon, anime cartoon, the really kiddie cartoon and the adult cartoon. Today, we have a classic I want to be a Pokemon imitator cartoon. It goes by the name Monsuno. Let us take a look inside the second volume and see if this one is more than an attempt to sell action figures and trading cards.
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Flashpoint: The Fifth Season

Posted in Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 8th, 2013

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After a four-month hiatus, I have been called to assignment, a very special assignment indeed. Thankfully, the message did not self-destruct after five seconds. However, the message did have demands and required negotiation tactics. That is when I called in the SRU Unit from the show Flashpoint and they burst onto the scene. While they are handling a memo that has a notebook at gunpoint, they left me with a copy of Season Five of Flashpoint to review. Let’s take a look.
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WWII From Space (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on May 6th, 2013

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“This is America’s war as never seen before…”

When you consider the countless documentaries, miniseries and feature films dedicated to the Second World War, you’d think the defining conflict of the 20th century has been covered from every possible angle. And you’d be wrong! History has taken to the skies with WWII From Space, a two-hour special that originally aired on the cable network in December and promised to bring viewers an unprecedented, extraterrestrial perspective of the war.
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Hemingway & Gellhorn (Blu-ray)

Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on April 2nd, 2013

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“The important thing for a writer is to tell a good story.”

Martha Gellhorn, considered by some to be the greatest war correspondent of the 20th century, was extremely adamant about not wanting to be a footnote in someone else’s life. So I’m thinking the writer — who died in 1998 — may have had mixed feelings about Hemingway & Gellhorn. On one hand, her life story gets the prestigious (and mostly sympathetic) HBO Films treatment, and Gellhorn is played by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman in a sensational, searing turn. On the other hand
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