Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 2nd, 2006
I would be a fool if I downplayed Tracey Ullman’s talent. She is a woman with anomalous abilities that most performers couldn’t dream of acquiring. She is an accomplished singer, a chameleon-like comedienne, and a serious actress – all in one unbelievable package with a multitude of awards to verify her capabilities. She’s also quite attractive when the light hits her a certain way, but she has a knack for too often burying that beauty under clever disguises. All these features result in a performer, who can do just ...bout anything she’s asked to do. But with all that said, I couldn’t bring myself to like this show. With each vignette (every 30-minute episode carries about three-to-five), I know I should be bursting with laughter, but for some reason, the material doesn’t move me. I do, however, realize a talent like Ullman’s is bound to attract fans aplenty, and to those people, I say this: I can understand your love for shows like Tracey Takes On… – but I cannot share it.
Of course, fans will be pleased to know all of the old favorites are here: the Chinese donut shop owner, the Casanova cab driver, Linda Granger, Hope Finch, Fern Rosenthal, and a large selection of other amazingly performed Tracey Ullman creations. Also, guest stars Alfred Molina, Tobey Maguire, Hugh Laurie, Danny Woodburn, and George Segal, add a degree of welcome familiarity to Ullman’s unorthodox humor. For fans of the show, this set is a must buy. It features all ten episodes of season one, which cover topics ranging from Romance to Nostalgia to Death to Fame. Each episode has clever moments. However, for me, the laughs were consistently absent. But just like some viewers are unable to rally behind Seinfeld (I’m NOT one of them), I cannot force myself to get on board with Tracey Takes On…. However, I’m certain Mrs. Ullman’s overwhelming talents and huge fan base will help her overcome the blow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 31st, 2006
Yesterday is a powerful tale of the title character’s struggle to survive AIDS long enough to see her young daughter Beauty start school. Yesterday – named by her father because, in his opinion, yesterday was much better than today – lives for her young daughter. Her husband works in the mines of Johannesburg and carries a deadly secret, which, by the start of the film, has already entered his wife’s bloodstream. Through it all, Yesterday keeps bright spirits and a smile across her face. She only loses it when...she has to, and it’s through her powerful attitude the audience connects with the central plight, and pulls for her to in some way find peace out of turmoil.
The story is often heartbreaking, and never focuses too tightly on the behavioral causes of the disease, thus illustrating the horror of what AIDS is in a manner that everyone can connect with and feel sympathy for. The point of Yesterday is to illustrate that a disease with so many heavily attacked stigmas attached to it claims plenty of victims, who are complete Innocents, and should be fought to the fullest extent of our capabilities. It is without doubt a horrible disease and claims as many victims like Yesterday as it does the junkies with their dirty needles or the chronically promiscuous with their alley-cat morality and lack of regard for others’ feelings. It affects flesh-and-blood people of all kinds, and Yesterday personalizes the disease in such a way you have to care, so long as a heart beats in your chest. You can’t look away, and the film is so touching you won’t want to.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2006
Synopsis
I’ve long held the somewhat chauvinistic belief that female stand up comedians are simply not funny. I’ve given people like Ellen DeGeneres, Paula Poundstone and Margaret Cho as much unbiased time as I can give, and I just don’t laugh at them. Their sense of humor is softer than any comparable male comedians, and is far more subtle. Does that make me a cro-magnon male with a large forehead? Probably.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 1st, 2006
Synopsis.
Working in the comedy salt mines, looking to break out into the superstardom they so richly deserved, Bob Odenkirk (The Larry Sanders Show) and David Cross (Men In Black) were hard at work doing writing for other shows, including Saturday Night Live, before finding one another. The two worked together, writing for the short-lived Ben Stiller show on Fox in the early 90’s, and a friendship bloomed, along with a working relationship. After doing some nightclub appearances, an ex...cutive offered them the chance to shoot a small group of shows for HBO. For lack of a better title, they called it Mr. Show, a sketch comedy series unlike any other. Maybe the words of Odenkirk may help, from bobanddavid.com:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 23rd, 2005
Synopsis
So after a somewhat shaky 4 episode run for Season 1 and a 6 episode showing of Season 2, the powers that be at HBO, apparently in between editing sessions of "Real Taxicab Divas," or whatever, answered Bob and David’s pleas for an increased budget for Season 3. But they also wanted a 10 episode season, something that brought them to new heights of stardom, neuroses and some real good comedy. Saturday Night Live had started to see their stars leave for TV shows, movies, or they were just tir...d of the weekly grind of the show. Their then-new cast members (Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan and Darrell Hammond, to name a few) were still pretty hit or miss at that time. I’d started to watch Mr. Show during Season 2, and was hooked in Season 3. For my money, they arguably put together some of the funniest sketches in recent memory in Season 3. Every episode comes up with a gem, the Oh, You Men episode being the funniest of the series’ run, in my opinion. The East Coast/West Coast Ventriloquist Feud is required viewing, along with the Sid and Marty Krofft parody Druggachusettes, two of the funniest comedy sketches in awhile. As funny as Christopher Walken demanding a cowbell may be, the sketches on Mr. Show were smarter, more inventive, and yes, didn’t have the restriction of being on network TV. This was the comedy show to watch in the late 90’s. Here’s the listing for Season 3 (with help from the book “Mr. Show, What Happened?!”) with major sketches included:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 28th, 2005
Synopsis
Amalia, the teenaged daughter of a hotel owner, is the victim of a creepy pass in a busy street. The creep in question is Doctor Janos, who is staying at the hotel, and he doesn’t know whom he has just molested. Very much in the grip of a new religious fervour, Amalia feels she has a calling from God to save Janos from himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2005
Synopsis
In his mansion and forested estate, a rock star (played by Michael Pitt and named Blake, but obviously supposed to be Kurt Cobain) wanders about in a terminal drug stupor. Hangers on, business associates, Mormons and salesmen besiege him, but his flees human contact, withdrawing completely into himself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 28th, 2005
Warm Springs is an HBO production based on a lesser known part of the life of Franklin Roosevelt. While most folks know about FDR’s debilitating bout with polio, few are aware of his long-term association with a rural Georgia resort. It seems the water there is high in minerals, which allows those suffering from crippling diseases a chance to stand or even walk in the super buoyant water. HBO films has a nice track record with historical films. Truman is one of the best Presidential bio films I’ve ever seen. This film limits itself perhaps too much and becomes more about polio than it is about FDR. Kenneth Branagh delivers an above average performance as the single-minded future president. Cynthia Nixon literally steals the show with a clever portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt. The remaining cast including Kathy Bates holds up well.
My main complaints can be found in the script. For one thing it runs too long at almost exactly 2 hours. The situations become repetitive and slow. The dialogue seems out of place at times. Flowery period talk can be taken too far, and it certainly was here. The sets are magnificent as is the atmospheric photography. The historical aspect is played quite loosely. Don’t expect great historical accuracy here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 31st, 2005
On the one hand, I have pretty low expectations for movies that were made for TV. On the other hand, this is an HBO film, so my expectations are just a bit higher than normal. My interest was further peaked when I saw that this was a romantic comedy. It is nice to see the network famous for drama branch out into comedy, and I was curious to see the results.
The plot of this film reminded me somewhat of the Keanu Reeves sleeper hit A Walk in the Clouds. In this case, however, the family business is not ...ine, but fireworks. The always-fantastic Stanley Tucci plays an Italian from the old country that comes to America to work for his distant cousins making fireworks. Naturally, he falls in love with a girl (Bridget Fonda) once he gets there, and both drama and hilarity ensue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 27th, 2005
Synopsis
Back in the early 1980s, HBO ran this anthology series, wherein the denim-clad Page Fletcher does the Rod Serling thing, introducing and concluding each dark morality tale. Though the stories varied (in content as well as quality), certain factors remained the same: you could always count on at least one sex scene, plus some dollops of gore. This was, in sum, The Twilight Zone with extra violence and cable-friendly T&A. As far as horror goes, there is nothing very groundbreaking here,...but these are amusing enough in half-hour chunks. Some of the stars to parade through these episodes include Kirstie Alley, Harry Hamlin, Virginia Madsen, Jerry Orbach and Gene Simmons.
