Disc Reviews

Football season is well on its way, and that can mean one thing; fantasy football players are at their computers making trades and setting up their lineups.  For some fantasy football is nothing more than Dungeons and Dragons for adults who like football, but those that have their own league, well, you know how cutthroat things can get once your star receiver is injured and that perfect replacement just hit the waiver wire.  The F/X (now I think FXX) show The League may take more than a few jabs at those who take fantasy football a little too seriously, but for myself this is one of my comedies on the air right now. 

Considering this is an ensemble show where the laughs and plot lines are well spread throughout the core six, perhaps it would be better to run down the cast.  Pete (Mark Duplass) who is the league’s three time champion, Ruxin (Nick Kroll), Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi) Pete’s best friend, Jenny (Kate Aselton) Kevin’s wife, Andre (Paul Scheer), the socially awkward one of the bunch, and then there is Taco (Jon Lajoie) Kevin’s brother.  Even though this band of friends seem to care a great deal for each other, feelings are easily put aside when it comes to the league or making a joke at the other’s expense.

It’s easy to forget how important it was for 2008’s Iron Man to be great. After all, the film was only asked to A) properly introduce a B-list comic hero to the movie-going masses and B) successfully kick off what turned out to be Phase One of Marvel’s March Toward Global Domination Cinematic Universe. “Good” would’ve been a letdown; Iron Man needed to be great. Fortunately, it delivered in spades; its critical and commercial success paved the way for an unprecedented run of films that culminated with The Avengers last summer. With a release date for the Avengers sequel already on the horizon, Tony Stark and Co. have once again been asked to set the tone.

“I’m different now. I’m…well, you know who I am.”

To the point, Criminal Minds is very compelling television. Ever since The Silence Of The Lambs and perhaps long before, we have been fascinated by serial killers and the profilers who try to get inside their heads. To see evidence of the continuing trend, one needs only look toward the success of films like Zodiac and shows like Dexter. Of course, serial killers are not the only prey this FBI team pursues, but they are certainly the marquee item on the agenda. To be sure, there are equally disturbing subjects such as arsonists, bombers, kidnappers, and rapists to give the show a touch of variety, but let’s face it, it’s the killers that keep us tuned so attentively to Criminal Minds.

Let’s not take anything away from the show’s true force here. This is an excellent cast being fed brilliant scripts playing to an awesome crew. Everything just clicks on this series, and it only got better in the second year. I am truly impressed with how much these characters are fleshed out and how much we learn about them without the need of office romance. No precious show time is squandered on excessive personal life stories. We’re given just enough to bring the characters alive beyond their team dynamic, which is quite strong. Each character is constructed through the subtle nuances the actors infuse their performance with. From the moment you watch your first episode, you will find this team believable enough to care about them and their work. Surprisingly, the show often gets muddled in a ton of exposition, but somehow it’s carried off by the cast so that you never find yourself going numb with clinical information overload. Granted, the material itself is attention-worthy, but these guys pull it off no matter how interesting the information might be. Add to the stellar portrayals a writing team second to none in the industry. The support teams do everything they need to make sure these talents are never wasted.

The idea of taking a long road trip with your loved one or best friend is something everyone has to do at least a few times in your life.  There is something that occurs while driving down long lonely roads with nothing but music, scenery and good conversation to keep you company.  The road trip film is almost a genre onto itself and can be funny like Plains, Trains and Automobiles, insightful like On The Road, or horrifying like Joyride.  These films are so easy to relate to, because at some point we all share in these kinds of adventures, perhaps not so exciting but memorable nonetheless.  As for Scenic Route, it explores what can go wrong when you decide to take the long way home to take in the scenery, especially when there is a rising tension between two best friends.

Mitchell (Josh Duhamel) and Carter (Dan Fogler) have been lifelong friends, but since Mitchell got married the two have seemed to drift apart.  To make up for lost time, Carter decides to plan a long road trip that takes them through Death Valley and hopes that this quality time together can help bring the two closer together.  Unfortunately Mitchell isn’t much for the scenery and not so big on talking, leaving Carter to make a drastic decision to stage the car breaking down.  This is the first of many confrontations between the two as we discover how Carter feels Mitchell jumped into his marriage after getting out of a bad breakup.  Mitchell, on the other hand, believes his wife is the best thing to happen to him and that getting married is simply what people do when they get older.

Even though director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s 11, Magic Mike) has an Oscar under his belt and numerous box office hits, the road to getting Behind the Candelabra was a difficult one.  Originally Soderbergh had planned for the film to play in theaters, but every studio was afraid of the project believing it to be “too gay”.  Sure, there have been numerous films in Hollywood that dealt with homosexual subject matter, and considering this was also a bio pic I’m still surprised the typically liberal studio system was so afraid of this project.  But thankfully the film found a home with HBO, and the result is an intense film that is more than just a look behind the closed doors of the famed Liberace but the loss of innocence once introduced to wealth and fame.

When we first meet Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), he is a young impressionable teenager who has a passion for working with animals.  But it’s after seeing Liberace (Michael Douglas) perform on stage that something begins to change for him.  Getting the chance to meet the performer after the show is one of those surreal moments in Thorson’s life, but it’s also the moment where Liberace first laid eyes upon him and when some would say the seduction and corruption began.  Thorson is young and impressionable from the beginning, clearly having issues with his sexuality.  Liberace knows how to work this to his advantage, distracting him with money and a comfortable lifestyle, and before Thorson can realize it he finds himself the lover and possibly the adopted child of Liberace.  If this were not strange enough for you, Liberace goes so far as to have Scott see a plastic surgeon so he can have work done to look like Liberace.

In previous years of reviewing Army Wives I described the show as being somewhat akin to Desperate Housewives but on an Army base where these women are married to soldiers who often find themselves in war zones in the Middle East. I have to say that season 7 is somewhat of a serious transition year for this show, and it is changing significantly both in cast and the way the stories are told. For me, the change is somewhat for the better. Still, I understand I'm not the target audience for this Lifetime series, but we do not have any women on our staff here at Upcomingdiscs. That means you're stuck with my opinions.

The show used to feature a core of Army wives who called themselves The Tribe and worked together to help each other deal with the realities of Army life. The Tribe is now pretty much gone, and you will not hear that term at all during the season. That's because more than half of The Tribe are gone or seriously limited in their appearances this season.