Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003
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 “7 words you can’t say on television”. Along comes NYPD Blue and Carlin just might need a new act. Language and nudity made this the first R-Rated primetime program.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2003
Jerry Bruckheimer becomes yet another A-List film producer to take a shot at the television drama. I have to admit that I never gave this show a prayer of success when I first saw it three years ago. It’s not that I thought it wasn’t good. I loved it. I thought it would be too cerebral for the normal Joe six-pack audience. Boy was I wrong. CSI has become the hottest drama in prime time, and like Law and Order before it has begun to spin off into another incarnation with CSI: Miami. The characters are engaging and it seems we’re all obsessed with some morbid fascination of murder.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2003
Synopsis
Instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, it’s the Jets and the Sharks, two street gangs onthe mean streets of Manhattan’s west side (these gangs wouldn’t recognize their old stompinggrounds today). Full of energy and wit, bursting with spectacular choreography, the film is atriumph of the musical form.
Audio
A brand new 5.1 mix, and it sounds wonderful. There aren’t enough surround sound effectsto create an environment, the music is reproduced in ...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2003
This set contains all episodes of season 3 from M*A*S*H in broadcast order. This season of M*A*S*H from a critical standpoint was probably one of the best of the 11 seasons, this was the year that the show won the Peabody award, the highest award you can receive in television, and co-producer gene Reynolds won an Emmy award for directing the episode, "O.R." which is seen here uncut and unedited. Also on this disc are the episodes The General Flipped at Dawn, Officer of the Day, Check-up, and Rainbow Bridge, Iron gut...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 2nd, 2003
Film
“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 …” Law and Order is an example of a bygone day in network television. In the 1990-1991 season this first year program ranked 62nd of all television programs. In addition to its poor performance, NBC lost revenue from countless sponsors pulling their advertisements because of the controversial nature of t...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 19th, 2003
Synopsis
First there was Highlander, a with a Frenchman playing a Scot, and a Scot playing aSpaniard. The concept was as loopy as the casting, but the movie was exciting and looked damngood. Nobody went to see the sequels, but the premise was revived on TV, and met with greatersuccess, greatly elaborating the basic mythology of the race of Immortals at war with each other,whacking off each other’s heads in the quest for the great gift of The Quickening.
Audio
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 8th, 2003
Synopsis
Alec Guinness is a ferryboat captain who runs back and forth every other day betweenGibraltar and Morocco. He has a wife in each port: the domestic Celia Johnson and the fieryYvonne DeCarlo. This state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely, of course. A fun battle-of-the-sexes story, very much of its time (1953). While not quite up to the Ealing films, The Captain’sParadise does have some extremely funny moments courtesy Guinness and co-star CharlesGoldner.
A...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2002
Film
The original Back To The Future film is already a classic. There has never been a more original sci-fi/comedy film. The sequels are less stellar but do retain the charm and uniqueness of the original. The talent of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox shine in these films. Both actors were trying to shed strong TV characters and prove they were more than Reverend Jim and Alex Keaton. The chemistry generated between them goes a long way in enhancing both performances. The supporting cast is also quite good here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on December 4th, 2002
Synopsis
I’m not going to summarize an entire season for you. But this is the season where theBuffy/Angel arc reached its conclusion, since the spin-off series was about to begin.
Audio
The sound is limited to a 2.0 mix, but it is a solid mix. As ever with TV shows, the musicheavily dominates, but there is still some sound effect presence, and the result isn’t bad atall.
Video
The last collection was marred with some truly awful grai...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 21st, 2002
The Greeks are well known for their complex and compelling mythology. Writers like Homer have for millennia defined the literary world of mythology. I challenge anyone to debate that J.R.R. Tolkien has filled that role for the 20th century and beyond. The foreword to The Fellowship of the Ring begins by saying: “The tale grew in the telling until it became a history…” I entered the theatre for a midnight showing of this ambitious film with very high expectations. Truth be told, it was not possible that those expectations could be met.
