Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 17th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 15th, 2005
Kwai Chang Caine is back for another season of mayhem and mistaken-accusations on the second season of Kung Fu. How is it that trouble never ceases to track this guy down? It seems that every episode begins with Caine walking along, minding his own business, and the next thing you know, he is accused of murder. It would be ridiculous, if it wasn’t so fun to watch!
The themes of these episodes have evolved from the basics covered in season one. In the first season, racism was a dominant theme of the s...ow. In season two, religion seems to have taken the top spot, as we get to see the Shaolin Priest spend time interacting with various other religions. These themes add a new philosophical depth to the show not previously encountered. In addition to the expansion of the mental boundaries, the physical realm becomes more active as well, as Cane seems to be less reluctant to hold back the power of his physical skills from well-deserving foes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 15th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2005
I may have been late to the rapidly growing bandwagon of admirers of the TV comedy Arrested Development, though it was kinda cool to see David Cross (Mr. Show) get onto a network show that would have appeared to been lucky to stay around for a whole season, in a sitcom where the main character was played by Jason Bateman. I mean, Jason Bateman! A guy who was known as Justine’s brother who bounced around from sitcom to sitcom and was virtually off the radar, playing bit parts in other harmless comedies. ...nd as it turns out, the product of a great ensemble cast, including Jeffrey Tambor (The Larry Sanders Show) and a very underrated Will Arnett, Arrested Development has grown into appointment television.
Bateman plays Michael Bluth, son of George (Tambor), the head of a company thrown in jail for stealing money from the company he started, and maybe committing some “light treason.” Michael is the responsible one, who works to try and get his father out of jail, for his mother (Walter) to produce some of the secrets of the company, for his older brother George Oscar Bluth (or GOB for short) to regain good standing in a magician’s alliance he founded, and for his twin sister Lindsay (Portia De Rossi, Ally McBeal) to stop spending so much money, and be a wife to her husband Tobias (Cross) and her daughter Maeby. What makes things ironic is that for all of Michael’s positioning on making himself the rock of the family while George is in prison, he also screws up pretty significantly from time to time when running the business, and he looks to his jailed dad for help.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 3rd, 2005
Soap is a curious soap opera parody from the late 1970?s. It has a quality ensemble cast, Richard Mulligan, Robert Guilliaume, Katherine Helmond, and much younger Billy Crystal (to name a few). Soap was a bit groundbreaking for its time, as it tackled some hot button issues (homosexuality being one). But the show is committed to its ridiculousness; alien abductions, demon possession, and prison breaks confirm Soap?s bizarre and wacky charm.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2005
There is cause for joy for TV sitcom fans. Taxi's second season is now on DVD. It's an important season to own, since the show develops more memorable characters like Reverend Jim and Simka (played by the great Christopher Lloyd and Carol Kane). But series regulars, like Alex, Latka, Louis, Nardo, Tony, and Bobby Wheeler, all show more depth here. Taxi really came into its own in the second year, and its multiple Emmy awards were justified. All 24 episodes are here. Farcical but human, Taxi...should belong on any TV collector's shelf. I could listen to that melancholic theme song for days.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2005
In Season Seven, Voyager returns home and like Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation, the third Star Trek spin-off wraps up. The final episode “Endgame” is not as dramatic as the finales for the other shows. I guess it becomes anticlimactic when you have known for 7 years how this was going to end. The f/x are some of the best in Trek TV history, however. This is truly a visually stunning episode. The season is about on par with Season 6. Stories continue to grow stale. Even the Seven of Nine s...ory arc has pretty much run its course by now. Attempts to spice up the character with a romance fell horribly short.
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 26th, 2005
Synopsis
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 22nd, 2005
To put it succinctly, HBO has done it again. The network simply has no fear. It prides itself on bringing groundbreaking programming to the masses, laughing in the face of such cookie-cutter faire as American Idol and Two And A Half Men. First there was Sex and the City, then the behemoth that is The Soprano’s, and now we have Carnivale.
I love TV shows that feel they don’t have to explain themselves, and this series is certainly that. Think “David Lynch vs. the Jim Rose C...rcus Sideshow”. The setting of the series is a traveling carnival in the dust bowl of the 1930’s. The plot is, well… let’s just say that magic, the battle between good and evil, and giving people with no hope something to believe in are all involved, though none of that quite fits. Like I said before, it’s HBO. You just have to see it to believe it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 20th, 2005
The best way to describe Season 5 is the calm before the storm. The two more prominent women, Russert and later Kay, leave the show. The season begins with Frank dealing with returning to work after his Season 4 ending stroke. Michelle Forbes of Star Trek: The Next Generation fame opted to join the Homicide cast, giving up the chance to star in the Deep Space Nine edition of Trek. She became Baltimore’s newest M.E. and would be in for a stormy ride. The show maintains its gritty feel and camera movements continue to ...eep viewers on edge.
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