Disc Reviews

Paramount is borrowing an old idea from Walt Disney Studios and making it a bit more modern. They’re digging into their vault of classic films and doing 4K restorations and releasing them under the new Paramount Presents banner. Now, as much as I’d like to see actual 4K UHD releases, I suspect that these are intended to be feelers for various classic films to try to gauge the demand for these trips into the archives. I also suspect that the titles that show the most promise will likely end up seeing a UHD release. It’s actually a pretty good plan and a chance for you to “vote” with your dollars and show each film what kind of interest still exists. I’m sure some will falter and fall by the wayside, while a few polished gems will show the kind of promise that calls for the 4K release. Now the restoration work is done, and it’s just a matter of printing some discs. So here’s a look at the first three films served up for consideration. Each is sold separately and comes in a cardboard case covering the plastic case that folds out to reveal a release poster for said film. The presentations are nice and geared toward the collector.

Fatal Attraction (1987)

“If you take Alaska’s genetic code, add her life experiences, and relationships she had with people, and then you take the size and shape of her body, you do not get her.”

First impressions were that this was an experience that could by shared with my daughter. However, it wasn’t long before she found herself sent away due to the mature nature of the content. Little did I know that this series was Hulu’s answer to Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. That said, though there are clear correlations between the two properties, such as they are both based on popular novels and cover highly emotional and serious topics such as suicide and the importance of connection with people. Looking for Alaska manages to infuse some levity into its plot. This inclusion goes a long way towards solidifying the limited series’ (as I understand it, there are no plans for another season) individuality and providing an enjoyable balance to what comes to a somber conclusion.

It started with Kentucky Fried Movie, which was a somewhat modest box office success mainly because of the genius of Joe Landis as director, but this game really took off three years later with the box office hit Airplane. It was a spoof of all of those Airport films we saw during the 1970’s and 80’s. They all had the same formula and were almost spoofs of themselves by the time the string ran out. The film pulled in an impressive $85 million on a measly $3 million budget. The team of Jim Abrahams along with brothers David and Jerry Zucker was born, and comedy would never quite be the same. The comedic form they developed relied on a lot of deadpan delivery of one-liners and some rather stilted wit. But it was something different, and it wasn’t really a surprise that the team would want to keep it going. A second Airplane film wouldn’t come along for a couple of years, and it would be guided by a completely new team. This trio was on to bigger and arguably better things. The first step was to land on the television screen with a police comedy called Police Squad. It was hoped the show would help capitalize on the same kind of comedy that took Airplane to the stratosphere. They would also maintain the film’s star, Leslie Nielsen. It should have been a no-brainer and an instant hit. It lasted six episodes and was gone in a hot flash. But that wasn’t quite the end of the story.

The series stared Leslie Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin, a member of the Chicago police’s elite unit called Police Squad. His boss and partner was Captain Ed Hocken, played by Alan North. The show ran for a half-hour, and that time was filled with pretty much the same routines week after week. The show’s staple comedy came from a few limited sources. There was the vintage routine of taking a phrase literally. The backgrounds had all kinds of non-sequiturs going on through each scene, while the rest of the cast had to play it straight and pretend to not notice. Examples include a Japanese garden that has Japanese people standing in plant pots.  A building might start to collapse around the characters while they go on with their questioning without taking any notice. Two of the regular gags involved the squad’s lab tech Dr. Olsen, played by Ed Williams. Each episode would have him doing a kind of “Mr. Wizard” experiment with a young child which hinted that the doctor had “other” motives for having the children around. It’s a gag that might not fly very well in today’s culture. The second involved shoeshine boy Johnny, who was played by William Duel. Frank would come to have his shoes shined when he was stumped. For a couple of bucks Johnny would fill him in on what was going on in the street. But the gag didn’t end there. After Frank leaves, some professional from a surgeon to a firefighter and even Dick Clark would come for professional advice which Johnny would know “nothing” about until his palm was greased with cash. Then he’d have detailed suggestions on how to perform a tricky operation or explain a new trend in music to a stumped Dick Clark. It was actually one of the show’s better gags, and actor William Duel sold it brilliantly. The problem is it was the same gag every week. That’s the trouble with all of this humor; the repetitive nature of the schtick made the show grow incredibly old in just six weeks. Ratings were a disaster, and the show ended as quickly as it had begun.

Here comes the ultimate comedy about a codependent relationship; however, though that may not sound that good, in this film it is very entertaining thanks on no small part to Tiffany Haddish and Rosa Byrne. Haddish and Byrne play Mia and Mel respectively, two independent women with their own cosmetics storefront. Though their line is very popular, their revenue does not reflect their popularity due to an inability to mass produce, causing them to fall into deep debt and in danger of losing their store. Then along comes a spider in the form of Salma Hayek’s Claire Luna, the head of a internationally successful cosmetics conglomerate that offers to invest into their company. Haddish and Byrne are both well established in the comedy genre, but the combination of the two made for one the best comedy experience that I’ve had this year. My wife kept telling me that I would enjoy the film (this was one of the rare occasion where she went to a movie unaccompanied by me), but given our different taste cinema-wise, I was expecting a film full of cliché, especially given that it seem like the entire film was given away in the previews. Well, honey, let me say for the record that you were right.

An important focal point of the film is the importance of friendship, and it is displayed among multiple characters throughout the film, but none more prominent than with the two main characters. The backstory that Mia’s family essentially adopted Mel as a child due to her mother being unfit went a long way towards building the relationship between the two characters, as well as explaining the dynamic between the two that carried on in later years. Basically, Mel has great loyalty to Mia for what her family did for her as a child; that causes her to act as the more responsible of the two. This is evident in the opening scene at their storefront where she resigns herself to cleaning up Mia’s messy workstation for what is clearly not the first time. Mia, though she does value Mel immensely, does tend to put the responsibilities of managing their business on Mel, while she focuses more on enjoying herself.

There comes a time in any project where one must decide exactly what their mission is. In entertainment, that’s usually a pretty easy question to answer. Of course your goal is to entertain as many people as possible so that it can be profitable and enduring. For many years there have been filmmakers and television series show runners who have let that goal get out of hand, mostly in the political arena. I don’t have any issue when a show’s editorial policy happens to come down on one side or the other. It doesn’t even matter if it’s my side or not. But two things I don’t want in my entertainment. I don’t want to be hit over the head every five minutes. Trust me to get your point. The second is that there must still be entertainment value that compels me to care about a show and its characters and their stories. Madam Secretary fails in both of these tests. The West Wing was just as political, but there was a demanding quality to everything from the performances to the stories and production value. As a government teacher, I was impressed at how many of those little-known facts about our system they got right. I used moments of the show as teaching moments. This last season of Madam Secretary would be a disaster in any classroom.

The series started by telling the story of Elizabeth McCord (Leoni) who became the Secretary of State to President Conrad Dalton, played exceptionally well by Keith Carradine. The stories would involve her struggles to balance the affairs of the world while also being as much of a mom and wife as she could be. The show was populated by a few compelling and interesting characters. Tim Daly as husband Henry is one of the more complete characters you’ll find in a television series. A true renaissance man, he is a professor of theology and ethics who was also an intelligence agent, as was Elizabeth at one time. He has the show’s best stuff to do and say, and as wonderful as the character is, he takes a ton of the air out of the room. Another outstanding performance comes from Zeljko Ivanek, who played the President’s Chief of Staff and returns to that role for McCord. He’s the complete politician’s hatchet man who loves to wield power and hates to lose. Another outstanding performance that unfortunately steals too much thunder. I loved him in a similar role in the Gary Sinise Truman.  McCord had an interesting staff, but there was never the kind of chemistry there that ensemble shows need so desperately. It became too obvious as the seasons rolled by that the show was becoming a love letter to Hillary Clinton, who even ended up doing a cameo on the series. And as Hilary took the plunge toward the presidency, it appeared obvious that needed to happen with Elizabeth, and that’s exactly how the fifth season ended. McCord is elected President.

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 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. But now after 15 seasons the series has come to an end, and we realize it wasn’t just the murderers we’ve been tuning in to see. The characters have become like a little family, and their stories were just as compelling over the years. Now Criminal Minds finishes with a brief 10-episode final run, and it’s out on DVD from CBS Home Entertainment.

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 for 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.