Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 7th, 2010
“Ride into this world all alone. God takes your soul. You're on your own.
The crow flies straight, a perfect line on the devil's back until you die.
Gotta look this life in the eye”.
When these guys send a message, they don’t use Western Union.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 7th, 2010
NCIS was a spinoff, of sorts, from the popular military lawyer show JAG. You could say that NCIS is the Order to JAG’s Law. The NCIS is a real government agency that deals with criminal activity inside or involving the US Navy or Marine Corps. The show has proven even more popular than its parent series. Today that means branching out like the CSI and Law & Order franchises have done so well in the past. The next step in the ladder is NCIS: Los Angeles.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 1st, 2010
The longest running show in prime time doesn’t feature cops, doctors, or lawyers. It’s hard to believe that The Simpsons have existed as long as the Fox network. While the series didn’t really begin until Fox’s second year, the characters were part of The Tracey Ullman Show, which did start the first year of Fox. Who could have guessed that an animated short from an otherwise horrible and doomed variety show would explode into such a phenomenon?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 31st, 2010
Vampires are hot right now, at least that's what everyone keeps telling me. The truth is that everyone is absolutely wrong. Vampires are not hot right now. They've always been hot. Since at least since 1897 when Bram Stoker took the world by storm in one of the earliest examples of a horror novel. Of course, I'm talking about Dracula. Dracula, as a character, might have been based on the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler, but the vampire legend that Stoker perfected in Dracula is pure fiction. Still, it wasn't quite Stoker's novel that created the vampire craze, it merely lit the fuse.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 30th, 2010
It's been said that all good things must come to an end. In television that could not be more true. In the world of entertainment good things end, often quickly without a chance to leave any kind of an impact. Maybe six years wasn't exactly quick for Lost, but at least it can't claim not to have left an impact. The show changed how we watch television, and it will be a long time before anyone forgets about it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 30th, 2010
Ken Olin is truly a great talent that I’ve followed since back when he played the snotty detective Garibaldi on Hill Street Blues. Since then he’s done some wonderful work behind the camera, and Brothers & Sisters certainly shows his influence; however, this is not some of his best work. The show often leans on clichés and gets awfully lazy in moving forward at times. I do see the great family of characters they created here, but fail to find them interesting beyond the life breathed into them by their performers. This is a case of ego getting in the way of great potential.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 30th, 2010
Despite lasting over a hundred episodes, The Patty Duke Show only lasted about three years from the fall of 1963 until the late spring of 1966. However, it was often penned as one of the best shows of the 1960’s and still finds a way into syndication when networks such as TV Land need a wholesome show to fill a time slot. So, it is little surprise that Shout Factory have decided to release all three seasons of the show to DVD. But how does the final season of this show hold up after all of these years?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 26th, 2010
Mention the name Jackson Browne and one thinks less of the performances and more of the music itself. While he never achieved quite the fame of many of his peers, his style and songwriting has had a lasting impact on some of the biggest names in the music industry. He was part of the whole Troubadour scene in the early 1970's where he hung out with the likes of James Taylor, The Eagles, and other notable artists who were about to find their golden tickets to larger stages and the crowds, money, and fame that went along with them. The likes of Crosby, Stills, & Nash have been inspired both by his ability to write and his passion for the causes he believes in.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 25th, 2010
It was hard for me to find any real solid information about The Diplomat. At first I decided that it was because the film was obviously not a movie at all, but a British mini-series. The piece is broken up into two parts that you must play separately, much like a mini-series is often presented when released on home video. That was still not enough to research the title, because it hadn't really been a mini-series at all either. Finally, a stroke of luck led me to the fact that The Diplomat hadn't been its original name either.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 24th, 2010
"I'm Rick Harrison, and this is my pawn shop. I work here with my old man and my son, Big Hoss. Everything in here has a story ... and a price. One thing I've learned after 21 years? You never know what is going to come through that door."
Remember that PBS show where some old-stuff expert would come to your town and sift through a lot of junk that folks found in their basements or attics? Remember that he would give you a story about the items these people brought in? The idea was that once in a while someone discovered valuable treasure in those dusty rooms. Remember that show? This isn't that show.