Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 20th, 2006
The Phil Silvers Show was groundbreaking for several reasons, but to look at the list of those who appeared on the show during its four season run is to look at a "Who's Who" of television ancestry and history. Allen Melvin played Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, Harvey Lembeck previously appeared in Stalag 17 and his son Michael became an accomplished television director. Joe Ross played one half of the cop team in Car 54, Where Are You? next to a guest star of the show, a guy named Fred Gwynne, who also appeared in a show called The Munsters. Billy Sands went on to appear in McHale's Navy with a friend (and other Silvers show guest star named George Kennedy). Dick Van Dyke even showed up once in a blue moon.
Sometimes with projects like that, the stars in space seem to last longer than the television planet they orbit. But with The Phil Silvers Show and its star of the same name, there was an irreverent comic talent that not only was hilarious in his own right but helped to complement other members of the cast and giving them their chances to shine. Based around the fictional Ernie Bilko and the soldiers stationed on Fort Baxter, Bilko was sharp and a bit of a schemer, and his schemes involving other soldiers were the perfect vehicle to help Silvers offload some prime comedic moments to other actors. With Silvers and his co-creator Nat Hiken, the two managed to put together a show based on their sensibilities and wrote it the way they wanted to.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 11th, 2006
Synopsis
Long before she paired up with Phil Donahue and the two went on to do..who knows what, Marlo Thomas appeared in some smaller TV shows from in the early '60s, until she got a break when she was given a TV show to utilize her talents. That Girl is the story of Ann Marie, who decided to move to New York City to try to find steady work as an actress, and over the course of the show's five year run, Ann Marie's exploits are documented in situation comedy fashion.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 9th, 2006
Synopsis
Not having seen the first season, I confess as to floundering somewhat in my encounter with the second. In the interest of keeping things simple and comprehensible, I thus present the synopsis provided by the box itself. The second season “finds Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) away from his former crew . . . and working in a Staten Island firehouse. He must come to terms with the havoc his drinking has caused and realizes it’s time to get his problems under control. His comrades back at 62 Truck a...en’t faring much better. Chief Reilly struggles with the recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis of his wife and her deteriorating condition. Franco juggles the responsibilities of raising his daughter while trying to return to work. Lt. Shea discovers just how lonely the single life can be and Laura complicates house relations by getting involved with a colleague.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 7th, 2006
Synopsis
Rayne (Kristanna Loken) is a dhamphyr – a human/vampire hybrid. Escaping from the carnival where she is imprisoned as a freak, she sets out on a crusade against vampires, her ultimate target being the lord vampire Kagin (Ben Kingsley, an actor showing Michael Caine’s former penchant to whore himself out without shame), who also happens to be her father. Along the way, she forms an initially uneasy alliance with Michael Madsen, Michelle Rodriguez, and Will Sanderson – members of Brimstone, a ...ampire-hunting organization.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 5th, 2006
It is exceedingly strange to me that in this unprecedented age of media availability, movies on demand and theaters in our very own homes, more and more men have not seen those movies that were a staple of manhood for so many years. Movies like Bullitt, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and even The Godfather are less and less familiar to male audiences than ever. There is a reason that these films were so popular amongst men. They are movies about tough guys who weren't afraid to rearrange some fac...s to get the job done. Heavy drinking and hard living men. With more and more of these films being released in Special Edition DVD packages, this is a prime time to see these films, and reacquaint yourself with your male heritage. For the women that may be reading this, I'll just tell you now, you might as well stop reading. This is not a film for you.
The Dirty Dozen is a film filled with true tough guys. Lee Marvin. Telly Savalas. Jim Brown... Charles Bronson, for goodness sake! The biggest tough guys in the movies these days are Vin Diesel, Bruce Willis and The Rock. Willis is cut from the old mold, but he is truly the last of his breed. Somewhere along the way, Hollywood turned its back on the man's man. I feel that the male population in this country is the worse for it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 4th, 2006
Before it became a somewhat famous regional barbecue house (I kid, I kid!) red, hot and blue was another name for the Red Hot Organization, a group designed to help fight the AIDS epidemic. Back in the early and mid '90s kids, AIDS was raging on through the land, and Ronald Reagan did nothing to stop it. In fact, he was injecting homosexuals with AIDS while delivering crack into the ghetto.
Liberal accusations aside, this republican does acknowledge that AIDS is a terrible disease and we have lost a lot of people (talented or otherwise) to it, and the efforts made by various communities have been admirable. The Red Hot Organization was another in a group of musicians and artists that wanted to do something about research and awareness. The unique slant on their entertainment message was to have various artists of the time cover some old Cole Porter songs (Porter was a well-known homosexual composer whose life Kevin Kline depicted in the film De-Lovely). Not that unique you say? Well, the artists also did some videos directed by some famous (or at least recognizable) directing names, which is where we come in. The videos (and a remastered CD of the songs from the "Red Hot + Blue" album) have been released for everyone to relive again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 4th, 2006
A long time ago, Sony owned the MGM video library (before Fox picked it up for impending HD-DVD/Blu-Ray Wars) and re-released some films as Special Editions, and combined others as part of convenient two-packs. This is an example of the latter, perhaps as some sort of romantic two-pack that's easy on the wallet but heavy on the heart.
At First Sight is directed by Irwin Winkler (Night and the City) and tells the tale of Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer, Real Genius) who has been blind all of his life. He is able to get an operation that would restore his eyesight, and at the urging of his girlfriend Amy (Mira Sirvino, The Final Cut), has the operation, before finding out that it's not permanent, so he tries to live his life however he can before he loses his vision.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2006
Everybody Loves Raymond - The Complete Sixth Season comes to DVD in an impressive 5-disc edition. As a newbie to this fine series, I was surprised - and thrilled - to see the widescreen presentation. It is a nicety not often given to TV shows, and it looks spectacular, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. The show, as a lot of you know, is about sports writer Ray Barone, and his nut-job parents, who live directly across the street. One must either appreciate Ray Romano's humor, or experience the same...family woes, to truly appreciate this series - and if you do, then you're in for a real treat. Included in this set, is the number two fan favorite episode "Marie's Sculpture," which centers around an abstract that isn't so abstract, made by Ray's mom in her sculpting class. While this episode is very funny, I think the show is at its best when Ray's wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) and his mother Marie (Doris Roberts) are going at it Romano-y-Romano. The show never resorts to stale mother-in-law jokes, opting instead to pull its laughs from the characters and their interactions with one another.
Of course, no serious talk of Everybody Loves Raymond can be complete without mentioning the terrific jobs Brad Garrett and the always reliable Peter Boyle do with their brother and father characters, respectively. The two are dichotomies of one another. Robert is the ever insecure older brother, who is always left out of even the most mundane family activities. He's the kind of guy, who has to fight for every ounce of attention - and affection - his mother gives him, and his large, staggering frame only serves to drain a little more humor from the tank. Frank (Boyle), on the other hand, is so self-confident he just doesn't give a damn about others' opinions - and why should he? Father knows best, at least in his eyes. Taking a back seat to all the goings-on is Ray Barone (Romano). Romano subscribes to the Seinfeld school of sitcoms here by letting the stellar supporting cast do all the hard work for him. His character is like Frank - and why shouldn't he be, everyone loves the guy - but he doesn't have to resort to the same over-the-top performance because he understands Boyle is already doing it so well. These five individuals will make you believe they're related, and they will do such a good job of it that, if you give the show a chance, you will notice comments, events, and subtleties, that exist in your own family. It's very possible you won't like this show the first time you try to sit through it. But stay married long enough, and you'll really start to appreciate it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 30th, 2006
Sometimes, I get a bit of an impulse buying urge. And a while back, I went and got a spiffy Philips 727 DVD player (which I've since replaced with a Toshiba upconverting unit). Sure, it's not a higher end player or anything, but for $80 and a hack using the remote control, it's now become a decent multi-region player. So after testing out a friends borrowed Region 2 disc to see if the hack worked, I picked up a couple of movies from eBay and Amazon.UK, so I'll do the occasional Region 2 review.
For whatever reason, there are instances where the US gets yanked by the shorthairs with the occasional DVD release. If you were going to buy this movie, would you want the release that just has an anamorphic transfer and 5.1 soundtrack? Or would you want the one that has the anamorphic transfer and 5.1, along with two commentaries, as well as a 2nd disc of short films, deleted scenes and documentaries? So that's what I did. And my wife, bless her heart, is patient with me through all of this. She even watched this with me over the weekend and liked it. I've still got the bruises on my arm from where she squeezed hard.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2006
The Adult Swim series of shows from Cartoon Network are sometimes amazingly hilarious, sometimes overly bizarre, but always creative. While some of the shows, such as Robot Chicken are roll-on-the-floor funny, others are just too strange for me. Lucky for me, The Venture Bros. falls into the first category. While not a constant source of laughter, this show is always clever and contains a few big laughs in each episode.
The Venture brothers are the sons of a moderately-successful scientis.... His feelings about the keen (and possibly homosexual) gents are not exactly warm and fuzzy. While he doesn't want anything to happen to them (as evidenced by the fact that they have a bodyguard that feels like he is right out of a Sin City comic), this is really more of a “Dr. Evil / Scott Evil” relationship. The episodes also largely see the boys as an obstacle to the Dr.'s plots at becoming the world's greatest scientist, which makes me wonder why they have become the shows namesake.
