Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 7th, 2010
This single DVD contains 9 Christmas episodes of CBS’s most endearing comedies. All were influential to those that came after. These weekly shows offered that much-needed relief from the pressures of whatever decade they appeared in. The stars are names that everybody knows, even those that appeared 50 years or more ago. Celebrate Christmas with these classic moments in television history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 6th, 2010
In the first season of Showtime’s Californication, we were introduced to David Duchovny’s character, bitter yet upbeat writer Hank Moody. Hank, after moving to Los Angeles on the heels of his first novel – a critical darling entitled “God Hates Us All” – has recently lost his long-time love and, by extension, his daughter, to a straight-arrow bore who makes his girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) feel safe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2010
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 that 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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 6th, 2010
“’Have gun, will travel’ reads the card of a man. A knight without armor in a savage land…”. Those words ended every episode of Have Gun Will Travel, sung by Johnny Western in a time that such words could be sung without irony. Outside of Richard Boone’s black-clad, craggy Rhett Butler gone-to-seed gunfighter, that song was all I could really recall about this venerable Western from television’s golden age.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 6th, 2010
“The man is Richard Kimble and, not surprisingly, the man is tired. Tired of looking over his shoulder, the ready lie of the buses and freight trains. Richard Kimble is tired of running…”
The elusive “one-armed man” is one of the best known television icons of all time. The plight of Dr. Richard Kimball has been the subject of numerous imitations and even a feature film staring Harrison Ford as Kimball and Tommy Lee Jones as his pursuer. Tim Daly left the ranks of comedy to fill the shoes of Kimball in a very short-lived revival series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 2nd, 2010
"Cal Lightman sees the truth. It's written all over your face. It's also in your voice, your posture, the words you choose. Give him five minutes and 20 questions and he'll know whether you went off to Argentina to cheat on your wife, lied about a well-timed stock sale, or murdered a one-night stand."
I spent quite a few years as a detective. My specialty turned out to be in the interview room. When some of my fellow detectives had a suspect they couldn't break, they often called me in.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 30th, 2010
"Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him, we have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first Bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better. Stronger. Faster."
I remember as a kid we used to imitate the Bionic Man when we would be playing in the playground. We would run in slow motion
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 30th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
One hundred writers gathered together at the PEN World Voices Festival in New York to discuss faith and reason. PEN is a literary and humanitarian organization that is composed of poets, essayists, and novelists. Its chief concern at the festival was the threat to freedom of speech and conscience from religious extremism. Writers from diverse backgrounds and perspectives came together in an open forum to discuss their experiences with faith and reason.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2010
When I first put this dvd into my player, I had no idea of how much information and research the Library of Congress was responsible for. I, like most people, assumed that it’s a big building where members of Congress go to conduct research. This may be so, but there is so much more to the Library that it practically boggles the mind, which is the ultimate goal of The Real National Treasure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 24th, 2010
I don’t like referring to myself as a “fan” of anything. The word leaves a bad taste in my mouth; it suggests a kind of mindless devotion that doesn’t leave room for noticing any shortcomings in the subject of one’s devotion - The legions of Twilight fans immediately spring to mind. However, if being a fan means to regularly watch, re-watch, and enjoy a show for a period of years, then I can call myself a fan of How I Met Your Mother. The show has had its high and low points,
