Disc Reviews

Steven Bochco is no stranger to innovative television. Hill Street Blues is arguably the best cop show ever made. Even his failures are praised for their innovativeness and freshness. Remember Cop Rock? NYPD Blue didn’t just push the prime time envelope. It tore the envelope to pieces and blew it away with hurricane-force winds. George Carlin made a career out of his “Seven words you can’t say on television”. Along comes NYPD Blue and Carlin just might have needed a new act. Language and nudity made this the first R-rated prime-time program. The pilot arrived with a flutter of controversy. Morality groups were vocal, and sponsors were scarce. Twenty percent of ABC’s affiliates refused to show the pilot at all. When you watch these DVDs, it’s hard to understand what all the noise was about. Today this stuff is the tame and more like the norm, and once again Bochco changed TV forever.

When the fourth season of NYPD Blue arrived on DVD it was June of 2006. There had already been over a year since the previous season was released. Suddenly the releases stopped, and fans were left scratching their heads to figure out why. I would field question after question from fans asking what had happened. Answers were as scarce as the DVDs themselves. It wasn't just NYPD Blue. It appears that all of Steven Bochco's shows have been held up in home video limbo. Hill Street Blues stopped after two seasons, and LA Law never saw the light of day at all. You can likely forget about Cop Rock or Bay City Blues.

The first thing I should discuss is the title. Brutalization is not the original title of this 1973 forgotten film. The DVD cover puts it very succinctly. “From the most forgotten vaults of European exploitation rises once again this effective and very violent Dutch thriller that boasts a young Sylvia Kristel that later on achieved world fame thanks to her role in the Emmanuelle series.” The intention of the re-release is to capitalize on the late Kristel's fame. The title Brutalization is probably more marketable and to the point than the original title, Because of the Cats. The cover does make clear that she is not the star of this movie but a very young supporting player. Her part is still substantial, and she is used very effectively.

The real question for me, is this more than a simple exploitation film? The film has echoes of the Manson family and Clockwork Orange with the clear thematic ties of amoral youth causing mayhem and murder. The film is based on a series of popular detective books by Nicholas Freeling with the lead central character, hard-boiled and unconventional Inspector van der Valk. The director, Fons Rademaker, was nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar for his first film, Village by the River in 1958 and later won for The Assault in 1986. I mention this again to dispel the notion that this a cheap exploitation film.

Meeting your significant other’s family for the first time can be a terrifying experience. Then again, being introduced to your son/daughter/brother/sister’s new boyfriend or girlfriend can be equally dicey for the family, since we’re talking about a total stranger being thrown into the mix. The best thing about You’re Next is how it takes this sort of recognizable family drama and gleefully twists it into a brutally violent — and brutally funny — horror film.

The unfortunate family at the center of this genre mash-up is the Davisons, who have convened for the first time in a long time to celebrate Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) and Paul’s (Rob Moran) 35-year anniversary. Their four grown children — Crispian (AJ Bowen), Drake (Joe Swanberg), Aimee (Amy Seimetz) and Felix (Nicholas Tucci) — along with their respective significant others — Erin (Sharni Vinson), Kelly (Margaret Laney), Tariq (Ti West) and Zee (Wendy Glenn) — all gather at the family’s remote, picturesque home in the middle of the woods.

I’m just going to start off by saying, growing up I was never a fan of the Power Rangers.  It’s odd considering I love live action robots and I was a fan of TOHO films, but the TV series was never something that could hold my interest, though I did always crush on the Pink Ranger (Amy Jo Johnson).  Since the series appeared in 1993 it has spawned many spinoffs in the process, which brings me to the new release of Power Rangers Mega Force: The Mysterious Robo Knight.  The DVD release is comprised of four episodes of the series following the Mega Force team as they use their Power Ranger skills to protect Earth from numerous alien invaders. You also get a small action figure.

United We Stand is the first of the four episodes and focuses most of its time on the female Power Rangers Emma and Gia.  The two are best friends, but all that is disrupted when an alien queen Beezara turns the two against each other while also placing the male rangers under her control as slaves.   For those coming into the show without knowing a thing about it, everything is nicely set up where you don’t need massive amounts of back story, and you can still appreciate the intended drama, having the two girls pitted against one another.  Does everything get resolved in a nice little package before the end credits? I’ll let you scratch your noggin and leave that up for you to discover.  As the starter episode I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s been an immeasurable amount of time since I’ve come across a standup comedy routine that I have enjoyed wholeheartedly. I mean the type of comedy that makes you laugh so hard that the muscles of your stomach begin to ache due to the constant laughter. There are few comedians that have elicited that type of response from me, years since I’ve felt the sensation. Despite the lapse of time I remain optimistic, continuing to remain hopeful that the feeling will return with a new comedian. So it was with that attitude that I endured Kathleen Madigan: Again. Let’s just say that my wait for that sensation to return, continues.

Kathleen Madigan is by no means a new comedian; though before this disc crossed my desk I had never heard the name, I was aware of that fact from the very beginning. There was a set rhythm to her routine that can only come from experience. Despite her experience, her set still left me hungry. She clearly has perfected her craft, and the audience, which I suspect was filled with loyal fans of hers that have been watching her for years, appeared to enjoy her spiel; I was not among those who laughed.