Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 19th, 2013
“There’s a king in every corner now.”
Game of Thrones is definitely one of the best shows on TV right now, and it might be the most ambitious television series ever produced. Ambition and quality don’t always go hand in hand. (See, Cloud Atlas. No, seriously…watch it. I’m one of the people who really enjoyed that convoluted mess.) The second season of Game of Thrones — a massive undertaking that took its cast to Iceland and Croatia, in addition to its Belfast base — performed a minor miracle. It deepened, expanded and improved upon an already excellent show.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on February 6th, 2013
“It’s time for Animaniacs. And we’re zany to the max. So just sit back and relax, you’ll laugh ‘til you collapse. We’re Animaniacs!”
I am a 30-year-old man, and I didn’t need any help remembering the lyrics to the Animaniacs theme song. (Yikes! That sounds like a confession I should be making at my next Man-Child Anonymous meeting.) Similar to the influential work of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, Animaniacs served as the first exposure many children in the ‘90s had to classical music and literary masterpieces.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 18th, 2013
TNT prides itself on “knowing drama,” but as far as I’m concerned the network’s best series was also its most woefully underappreciated. It didn’t have any cops, lawyers or doctors. It wasn’t as light or slick as some of the channel’s hits like The Closer (cops), Franklin & Bash (lawyers) and Rizzoli & Isles (a cop AND a doctor; don’t make me guess which is which). It didn’t have aliens (Falling Skies) or impossibly charismatic crooks (Leverage). Instead, Men of a Certain Age dealt with a topic that is much less fun to think about, yet happens to 100 percent of us: getting older.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 14th, 2013
"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."
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. No, this is not a Charles Dickens review. It very accurately describes the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on January 7th, 2013
(I have covered the first season on this site already so this review shall begin with that one then segway into new write-up for Season 2):
A successful writing team, who also happen to be a married couple, are the creators of an award-winning show in the UK that has just completed after four seasons. An American network wishes to create a US version of the show. The couple are flown to LA, put up in a lavish mansion and are introduced to the Hollywood method of creating television…and it nearly destroys them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 6th, 2013
The following sentence is taken directly from the back of the Blu-ray case for Charlie Sheen’s latest small-screen vehicle: “Charlie thrives on the chaos in his life while still battling his own anger issues.” So it’s fair to say FX’s Anger Management isn’t afraid to blur the line between reality and fiction. It’s actually a good move because the latest TV show tailored specifically to Sheen’s talents doesn’t have much else going for it.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on January 3rd, 2013
“For every dark, a light. For every foe, a friend. For every question, an answer. For every key, a lock.”
And for every kid-centric animated program, a lucrative line of tie-in toys. Monsuno borrows liberally — the nicest way I know of saying “rips off” — from previous phenomena like Beyblade, Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Though it primarily exists to help sell derivative trading cards and action figures, the show establishes a surprisingly intriguing world in its first handful of episodes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 27th, 2012
“Amidst the chaos of an unforgiving planet, most species will fail. But for one, all the pieces will fall into place and a set of keys will unlock a path for mankind to triumph. This is our story.”
The only thing missing from that bit of grandiose narration — which opens each episode of this 12-part series — is a Law & Order-style *chung, chung.* Mankind: The Story of All of Us starts with a bang (as in the “Big” one) and proceeds to give us a lively, surprisingly cinematic history lesson.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 19th, 2012
The debut season of this Comedy Central program was entitled "Hoodies" on it's DVD and Blu Ray release. Season 2 is called "Deep V's" in honour of the garment Daniel Tosh, the host, wears in each episode. Very little is different as far as format or new segments are concernced since the last time I wrote about this show (https://upcomingdiscs.com/2012/06/05/tosh-o-hoodies-blu-ray/. To avoid redundancy I shall simply add to that review with a couple new relevant points for this season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on December 11th, 2012
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: ( https://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 7 years a-runnin’ thus far.
