Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
We’ve seen many instances of American television shows that have been inspired by or directly copied from British shows. This has been particularly true of comedy series and is not a new phenomenon. All In The Family and Sanford And Son from the 1970’s are great examples of American sit-coms based on British hits, Till Death Do Us Part and Steptoe And Son respectfully. Recently The Office has been a successful British import. In the inspired by category you have to include Mistresses. There’s no question that the show comes from a combination of Desperate Housewives and Sex In The City. Like those shows, this series tells the story of friends who have somewhat risqué love lives. The episodes delve into their quests for sexual excitement. It’s very much a chick thing. Unfortunately, we don’t have any members of the fairer sex here at Upcomingdiscs, so I ended up with the short straw. I got to see Mistresses.
The problem with this series is that it’s not even terribly exciting from the bedroom point of view. The plot is so slow and plodding that the girls talk a lot more than they do. If there’s one thing I learned as a writing minor in college it’s the old axiom: “Show us. Don’t tell us.” This series never took that writing class, and so I’m afraid we hear a lot more than we ever see. None of the girls are that particularly interesting. The show takes on the pace of a daily soap opera with far less installments. The whole thing is a big tease.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“The power of the Sun drives the seasons, transforming our planet. Vast movements of ocean and air currents bring dramatic changes, create some of the greatest wildlife spectacles on Earth.”
The Planet Earth series from the BBC brought with it critical acclaim and 11 hours of some of the most spectacular video footage from around the globe that we’ve seen on television. It was a particular treat to anyone who was fortunate enough to catch it on an HD broadcast. Not content with that work, the same team assembled once again to create this follow-up series, Nature’s Most Amazing Events. At first I was a bit skeptical and more than a little worried when I read that the series was going to focus on the effects of global climactic phenomena. I immediately expected another propaganda piece on global warming. If that’s what you fear/hope for out of this series, it’s going to surprise you. Instead the BBC crew takes the Planet Earth cameras to some of the most extreme climactic places on Earth. The piece examines not so much the climate, but the animals that thrive under these intense conditions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 14th, 2009
British comedy for me has always been big hit or big miss for me. There really is no between. Monty Python & The Holy Grail – big hit. This movie makes me laugh from the first second until the closing credits. But some of the Monty Python sketches or all of Meaning of Life – big miss. Same thing with television, the Black Adder is simply awesome. Absolutely Fabulous? I never got it and found it completely droll. So I was eager to see Gavin & Stacey and find another wonderful British hit. I was totally pleased.
Gavin (played by Mathew Horne) and Stacey (played by Joanna Page) quite like each other. There is one problem though, they haven’t really met each other in person. They have a budding phone romance and have decided that they finally need to meet. Each of them takes a bud along. Gavin takes Smithy (played by James Corden), a large friendly guy who loves beer and food. Stacey takes along Nessa (played by Ruth Jones), a large not so friendly girl who loves beer, food and apparently tattoos.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2009
There are many examples of excellent BBC series and miniseries. Some eventually get remade into American shows. State Of Play is one of those fantastic BBC drama thrillers that is now making its way to American audiences, not as a copycat series, but as a major box office film staring Russell Crowe. While I have not seen this theatrical release as of yet, I am intrigued with the story and will eventually find myself watching this movie version. Unfortunately for the likes of Crowe and director Kevin Macdonald, I have a hard time believing that a 2 hour film can pack in as much detail and character development as this 6 hour BBC production has managed to do. I literally watched the entire 6 hours in one sitting. It’s not the Herculean effort you might be thinking, and I’m certainly not bragging here. It’s one of those stories that plays out so well and is paced so perfectly that the hours literally fall away. Before you know it a quarter of an entire day has passed you by and you don’t feel tried, tired, or put out from the time.
The series begins by depicting a rather brutal street murder. It’s a misleading beginning. You might expect this thing to become a marathon of slayings and envelope pushing violence. Nothing could be further from the truth. The six hours will never again get this bloody. The scene is intended as a shock to the system to immerse you quickly into the tale. In the next instant we learn that a woman named Sonia Baker (Macdonald) has apparently “toped herself”. That’s British for committed suicide. She seems to have thrown herself in front of a commuter train. This might not make for big news except that Sonia Baker was the assistant to a member of Parliament who also chairs the Energy Commission. That body is currently holding highly publicized hearings to assess punitive damages to the oil companies. The member of Parliament, or PM, as they’re commonly referred to, is Stephen Collins (Morrissey) who is a young up and comer in the party. It is also soon revealed that Collins had an affair with the young assistant. The story is picked up on by Cal McCaffrey (Simm), a young hotshot investigative reporter, who also happens to be Collins’ best friend and former campaign manager. As McCaffrey uncovers fact after fact, it becomes apparent that his friend isn’t telling the whole truth. Their relationship becomes strained, not helped by McCaffrey’s pursuit of a romance with Collins’ wife, Ann (Walker). The paper’s editor, Cameron Foster (Nighy) assembles a team to cover the evolving story in spite of pressure from the government to let it slide. Obviously, we’ll discover that both crimes are related, and each episode unravels a new important piece of the puzzle until the mystery is revealed. There’s enough conspiracy and government cover-up here to satisfy even X-Files fans. Sorry, no aliens.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 25th, 2009
This set contains all of the episodes from the first season (or “series” as it is termed in the UK). The show follows a standard teen drama format of a group of high school friends, this time from Bristol. Each token stereotype is covered in the main characters (the quirky girl, the party animal, the dweeb, the cool guy & girl, the ethnic guy & girl, the gay guy) and each receives their own episode to focus on them, with a few ongoing romantic plots stringing all of their stories together. Each of said episodes ends with the focus character coming to some sort of new advancement or revelation in their lives (Example: the character with an eating disorder bites into a burger).
The packaging has reviewers drawing comparisons between this show and Gossip Girl, as if Skins is the raunchier, overseas equivalent of it. The characters of Skins are at least not the privileged horde that infest North American teen dramas such as The OC or Gossip Girl, thereby making them a touch more relatable. At the same time, the situations and stories do get rather disconnected from reality. The beginning episodes wish to be more about real-life troubles, there's even one about homework (sort-of), but by the time the teens are in an episode where they are being deported from Russia and held at gunpoint, the series loses touch with teen issues and starts to play out like a juvenile Melrose Place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 25th, 2008
This BBC mini-series has the unenviable task of winning over audiences very likely familiar with Ang Lee and Emma Thompson’s excellent theatrical adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. And the opening scene might very alarm many a viewer: the rather steamy seduction on display does not, at first blush, seem to fit in to the comedy of manners one is expecting. The post-credit sequence is also rather more gothically melodramatic than one might anticipate (or hope for). Thereafter, however, the series settles into a tone more befitting Austen. The script is by Andrew Davies, easily one of the best scribes British television has to offer. He has graced us with contemporary pieces such as a version of Othello set amidst the members of the London Metropolitan Police and the House of Cards trilogy (an adaptation that is superior to its source material), as well as superb period adaptations (Middlemarch, for example). Here, his acid wit finds kindred spirit in Austen, and the result is very fine indeed.
Audio
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2008
When MI-5 first hit American shores, Alias was in full swing, and the comparisons were inevitable. After all, both were sy shows set in a post September 11 world, and both were slick, fun thrillers. Fast forward to 2006, however, and the landscape has changed dramatically. Alias is now off the air, having crashed in spectacular fashion, yet MI-5 is still going strong. In fact, the show just seems to keep getting better and better.
I had my concerns when all the key members of the original cast departed one by one, but as the show goes on, I am realizing that the story lines here are much bigger than any one cast can handle. High pressure jobs such as these virtually demand a high rate of turnover, and the actors who come in to play these new characters are always first-rate. While early seasons dealt with your typical spy stories, more recent efforts are starting to tackle much larger issues of governance, such as terrorism and the delicate balance of power that holds a democracy together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 16th, 2008
Imagine a world where William Shakespeare is being controlled by creatures akin to witches, a place where Santa is a deadly menace, and a rather eccentric fellow travels about in a police call box with a rather deceptively spacious interior. To Dr. Who fans of all ages, this is all very familiar territory. I fell in love with Dr. Who as played by Tom Baker from 1974 – 1981. He was the fourth actor to portray the Doctor and arguably the most popular. With a pocket full of jelly babies and a trusty sonic screwdriver, The Doctor rather muddled his way about with a massive wool scarf around his neck, all the while solving the mysteries of the universe. It was through PBS stations in the late 70’s that Americans were first introduced to these adventures on a regular basis. Before long The Doctor would develop a cult following of sorts, particularly at college campuses. The Doctor was an alien from the planet Gallefrey. A time lord, he traveled through space and time in his TARDIS, disguised as a police call box by a chameleon device. He was accompanied by a line of companions that would serve as the representative of the audience. These women provided a place for The Doctor to bounce his ideas off of, and from time to time they would more often than not require a bit of rescuing. The show was noted for its low budget f/x and over the top villains. The cardboard sets often appeared as if they would collapse at any moment. All of this created more than a little bit of campy cheese. But for some reason there was a charm to the entire play that was oddly compelling. To ensure longevity, the character was able to regenerate when faced with death. The new Doctor would not only look different, but he would sport an entire new range of mannerisms. This way the series would continue through several changes in the actor playing him. It all worked, and Dr. Who became the longest running scripted science fiction show ever in the world. Of course all good things do come to an end, and so did Dr. Who, in spite of an American television film attempt to bring the character back. But what started with Peter Cushing in a couple of films finally ended for good…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 6th, 2007
Synopsis
Robin of Locksley returns to England from the Crusades to find the home he had left behind has taken a drastic turn for the worse under the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham. He is forced to take up an outlaw life, fighting for justice for the common man. Marian, fending off the advances of Guy of Gisborne, is his mole in the houses of power.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 18th, 2007
Planet Earth – The Complete Series presents the original U.K. broadcast version with narration by David Attenborough, not the version airing on Discovery narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
Have you ever sat back and wondered about the sheer size and shape of our world, its diversity of habitats or the incredible variety of life we share it with? It’s hard to get your head around it all, especially when most of us are living out our existences in one tiny slice of the place, with the only the odd vacation ...roadening our horizons.
