Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 31st, 2004
“In the criminal justice system the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders …” Season 2 has been called “The Lost Season” by Dick Wolf fans. These episodes were not included in some of the many syndication packages so have been seen less often in reruns. The show maintains its trademark tight storytelling. The addition of Paul Sorvino is both a good and a bad thing here. Sorvino is certainly a very f...ne actor and the character is one of Law and Order’s best. Still, much of the work seems below the accomplished actor, and he seems to either overact or just phone in the performance. It’s not really that hard to see why the mix didn’t last very long.
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 24th, 2004
Following what may be one of the best season finales ever (i.e. Buffy sacrifices herself for her sister Dawn) Buffy is raised from the dead by the ever increasing powers of Willow. She returns disoriented just in time to battle a horde of motorcycle riding demons hell-bent on turning Sunnyvale into their own personal property. It is during the opening two episodes that it becomes clear that secrets are going to play a major role in the sixth season.
Buffy’s friends believe that as a result of the events of...the climax of the fifth season that Buffy’s essence has been in a hell dimension and they are ‘saving her’ by bringing her back to life. Buffy doesn’t ‘thank’ them until midway through the second episode. Shortly thereafter in a touching moment with Spike she reveals that she was not in a hell dimension at all…in fact just the opposite. It sure sounded like she was in heaven – finally at peace with a sense of contentment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 15th, 2004
It seems that the producers of many long-running television shows are starting to catch on to what the viewing public has known for years; it’s best to go out on top. Shows such as Seinfeld, Friends and even Frasier (to an extent) have decided to pull the plug while the material is still operating on an acceptable level. It’s rare that shows can successfully pull the great switch like ER did, and replace virtually every member of the cast, while still not losing what made them great in the...first place.
I only wish that Chris Carter bought into this school of thought. While the Ninth season of The X-Files was still one of the better sci-fi dramas on television, it just wasn’t the same. The departure of David Duchovny left a hole in the cast that could not be filled. Now, that’s not to say that Robert Patrick isn’t great as Agent Doggett, it’s just that he’s not the same character. It was like those episodes of The Cosby Show that focused on Theo or Vanessa. It’s the same show, but there is a big piece missing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 10th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 7th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 6th, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2004
I’m not a big fan of “Reality TV.” I do watch Survivor, and I think that’s a really good show, but I don’t watch any of the others. When I first heard of the concept of “The Mole,” I have to admit that I was intrigued. Reality TV is all about real people reacting to each other’s most annoying personality traits and translating that friction into ratings. Well, “The Mole” puts a different spin on that concept by adding a dissenting element - one of the participants is “a mole” i.e. a nefarious agent of the producers ...laced to lead the group astray and prevent them from attaining the big cash rewards. I have to admit intriguing, but not intriguing enough to get me to watch week to week, until now.
Celebrity Mole: Hawaii takes a group of B-list celebrities (Stephen Baldwin, Corbin Bernsen, Michael Boatman, Kim Coles, Kathy Griffin, Frederique Van Der Wal, and Erik Von Detten) and pits them against each other in various games to win cash, and avoid termination (i.e. elimination – one person leaves the game at the end of each show) while figuring out who the mole is.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 3rd, 2004
The Monsters of Universal Studios during the 1930’s to the 1950’s truly are a legacy. This collection, while including many films already released, is an important set. Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster, and Lon Chaney’s tortured Larry Talbot/The Wolfman have inspired generations of filmmakers, writers, and f/x engineers. The influence on our culture is impossible to deny. When asked about Frankenstein, most of us conjure the classic Karloff image long before we think of Mary Shelley or any ...ther incarnation. These images are burned into our collective imaginations. They are signposts of fear that have been passed down from father to son and even mother to daughter. They are in essence our inheritance from an era long gone but somehow never forgotten. It is true that these films are tame by today’s standards. They have long ago lost the ability to terrify. That says more for the sadness of our own age than any blemish to these masterpiece classics. We are a hard people to frighten today, but no one ever did it better than these Universal classics.
The Monster Legacy Collection is made up of three individual monster collections which you can purchase separately…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 2nd, 2004
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 1st, 2004
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