Disc Reviews

When Star Trek: Discovery was announced, I was quite happy to hear it. There had been a long gap since Star Trek had been on television, and I figured it was long past time to fly through the galaxy on a starship once again. The show finally aired after some real issues getting off the ground, and before I knew it I was back in a starship having a blast once again. Except it wasn't on Star Trek's Discovery I was having all of this fun. It was aboard Seth MacFarlane's Orville that the true spirit of Gene Roddenberry was exploring space once again. Who would have thunk it? Yes, The Orville is considered a comedy, and there are plenty of silly moments and ideas. But even with all of that spoof atmosphere, MacFarlane manages to capture the real spirit that Trek fans have come to feel for that franchise. Honestly, I'm not sure The Orville would have gotten through its first season if not for Alex Kurtzman destroying yet another beloved franchise. Trek fans turned to this show in droves out of frustration and desperation, and MacFarlane welcomed them aboard with a laugh and some alien adventures. It's a great example of that whole nature-abhors-a-vacuum thing. When Discovery went off the rails The Orville filled the void left behind. If you missed the first season, you can get them now on DVD from Fox.

I'm glad that Fox sent this first season to review. I think I was bound to make my way to the show at some point. It's not only that I try to catch this kind of series, but it was getting the kind of buzz I couldn't resist. When you do this kind of thing you get asked often for your opinion of anything you might have watched. People know how much I'm into Star Trek, so I was asked a lot what I thought of the new show. Just about every time I expressed my disappointment, I would hear "The Orville is so much better". It really has become a safe port for Trek fans. There's no way MacFarlane could have seen that coming, but he obviously figured it out along the way as the episodes became a little more serious and started to live in that social commentary place that Trek occupied for many decades. MacFarlane is a Trek fan. That much is obvious, but I do believe he started to hear the same things that I heard and found a way to solidify that support.

"My name is Dylan Reinhart. Not long ago, I was an operative in the CIA known as Agent Reinhart. When I left the Agency and started teaching, I became Professor Reinhart. I wrote a book about abnormal behavior and criminals which was so successful a serial killer used it as clues for his murders. That's when the NYPD reached out to me to help catch him, which I did. So they hired me and I became consultant Reinhart. So now I'm working with this woman, Detective Lizzie Needham of the homicide division, catching killers. Looks like I need a new name...Professor Psychopath."

If this is all sounding a little bit familiar, it should be. ABC did the idea with great success in Castle starring Nathan Fillion. This time many of the folks behind The Good Wife have gotten together for their own version of the idea starring Alan Cumming, and the result isn't near as charming, but it has its moments. You'll get a chance to check them out at home, because CBS has released the first 13-episode season on DVD.

"Let me know when the governor gets here."

Well, he's in the house, and I'm going to get a lot of razzing for this review of Last Action Hero. The person who thought I should see a shrink for looking forward to the next Saw film is going to be calling for my outright commitment to an institution dedicated to covering walls with nice padding so we won't hurt ourselves. I know this film is generally considered "bad" by critics and moviegoers alike. It swept the Razzies in 1993 and has since been only the kind of film 10-year-olds would really like to see. Me, I've always simply loved this film. From the first time I saw it at the box office, I was hooked. It was one of the first new laserdiscs I bought back in the day, and I watched the heck out of that disc. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I love this movie.

Dog Days is your basic ensemble film, with this time the story being dog-centric, as every subplot features a different dog, and some subplots are interconnected via one dog. It is a family-oriented film, so this time you all will not only been treated to a Nalyce stamp of approval, but a Jessica (my wife) stamp of approval as well. The cast is rounded out with a number of familiar faces that includes Nina Dobrev, Tone Bell, Vanessa Hudgens, Eva Longoria, and many, many more. The story tugs on the heartstrings a bit as it addresses several issues plaguing the cast, such as dealing with loss and opening yourself up after heartbreak. Needless to say, the film had the Jessica stamp of approval the second that Chihuahua (which in my opinion is just a bigger member of the rodent family) was found behind the dumpster. And of course, now I find myself fielding requests for a dog just in time for Christmas.

The story is intercut between several characters at different points in their life; Tara is a barista at a local café, recent college graduate trying to figure out her next step, when she finds a dog abandoned behind a dumpster at the café. Being a decent human being, she takes it to the vet, where she meets Dr. Mike (Michael Cassidy), with whom she is instantly smitten. Speaking of smitten, Garrett (Jon Bass) is a patron of the café that Tara works at and owner of a struggling animal rescue. He’s awkward and immediately taken with Tara, who is wrapped up with her doctor infatuation.

In one corner you have U.S Attorney Chuck "The Scholar" Rhodes, played by Paul Giamatti. He's the reigning world champion with a record of 80+ to 0. In the other corner is Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, played by Damian Lewis; he could also be considered undefeated. He runs a sexy brokerage firm. Both of these guys walk and talk like champs. There's a lot of trash-talk between them, but both have very lurid and potentially devastating skeletons in their perspective closets. But what happens when both find themselves in deep trouble? That's the question as Billions heads into Season 3, where you'll get all 12 episodes on four discs with very minimal extras.

The strength of two very strong performances immerses us in each of these worlds to a point that we discover something none of these players know, or at least would be willing to admit. They are very much the same, and the culture of their careers is more alike than not. Both are willing to bend a rule for "the common good", and both believe themselves to be the heroes of their own stories. And that's where the writing and acting come together for a nice perfect storm. Both characters are heroes to the people around them. They've developed almost cult followings. Both are admirable people. Of course, the opposite is just as true. These guys can both play the anti-hero with the best of them. There is both great good and great evil in both. If that sounds complicated here, just imagine how hard it would be to actually pull off.

When it comes to Christmas horror films, it’s been a while since there has been a hit that has tackled the holiday and succeeded.  For me you’d have to go back to 2010 with Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, or more recently Krampus in 2015. But despite the few hits this time of year, there tend to be several attempts for a horror film to come out and make a name for itself.  This year we get the low-budget offering All The Creatures Were Stirring, an anthology film which on paper seemed to show plenty of promise, but the execution resulted in one of the most tedious films I’ve seen this year.  The film opens up with friends Max (Graham Skipper) and Jenna (Ashley Clements) getting together for the holiday since neither has anyone to spend the holiday with, so rather than be alone they go on a bizarre date.  Max decides to take his date to an independent stage performance that is mostly silently performed.  Each act that the performers put on is a story that we see over the course of the film. Though this may be a unique way to present the separate stories, it definitely lacks in execution.

The first story -- usually when it comes to anthologies this is the one that tends to be the best or at least should be a major hook.  In this case it was the one that showed the most promise, but struck out. “The Stockings Were Hung” takes the office gift exchange and veers in the most violent direction you could expect as the tone of the exchange becomes a game out of the Saw franchise as the coworkers open “gifts” that are weapons or are evidence of the coworkers doing some bad things while on the clock.  I get where they were going with this, and this really could have been a fun story, but between some bad acting and the story crawling at a slow pace, it was difficult to care about any of these characters.