Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 15th, 2009
“William Banks has saved 257 people from addiction to drugs, sex, and gambling. He’s not a cop. He’s not a superhero. He’s just a man with a calling. This is his story.”
What he is, is Benjamin Bratt, returning from the thespian dead as William Banks, better known to the show’s fans as The Cleaner. Bratt hasn’t been seen much since he left the gig at Law & Order. I almost didn’t recognize him here. But, he’s returned in style. The Cleaner has all the characteristics of a police procedural series with a lot more excitement. His methods are often harsh. He’s your worst nightmare of an intervention. When Banks is called in, you haven’t hit rock bottom. Rock bottom has just hit you. The character is a recovering addict himself and does this as a kind of making amends. Of course he doesn’t work alone. He’s assembled a kind of Impossible Mission Force style team that helps with each case. Together they form a private company that a family member can call when they tire of a friend or family member’s addiction. The series was based on the real life story of Warren Boyd, who also acts as one of the show’s producers.
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 Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
“1941: Germany occupies Belorussia. SS death squads and local police round up Jews. Within weeks 50,000 are murdered. 1,000,000 more await deportation and death.”
Tuvia (Craig) and Zus (Schreiber) Bielski are brothers hiding in the forest surrounding after the abovementioned invasion. They are Russian Jews, which means concentration camps or immediate execution if they are caught. They are foraging and surviving on their intimate knowledge of these surroundings they have known since they were children. Before long other Jewish refugees make their way to the Bielski camp. Unable to turn away the suffering hordes, they welcome each arrival, stretching their already limited resources to the limit. The camp eventually becomes a force of freedom fighters. They are looked down upon by the Red Army because Jews weren’t expected to fight. For several seasons the growing number of refugees makes a stand for survival and even answers a call to arms in an ultimate act of defiance. The brothers split. Zus joins the organized army while Tuvia remains to lead the camp.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
Steven Bochco has amassed quite a nice little television empire over the years. He’s one of the most award winning producers in television history. He cut his teeth on Columbo and has never looked back. You know his work, or at least you’ve heard of it: Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, and NYPD Blue are the most famous of these works. Bochco wrote the book on the ensemble police and legal drama. He counts as his students Dick Wolf and David E. Kelley, both of whom got their start working on Bochco shows. He’s had a few misses, to be sure. Does anybody out there remember Cop Rock? I didn’t think so. But, it’s been a little while since Bochco has graced the small screen, so it was with some eager anticipation that I attacked the new DVD release of his latest series, Raising The Bar.
The series involves a group of young folks in the legal profession. Some work in the public defender’s office. Some work for the prosecution. The catch is that they were all college buddies and attempt to keep the camaraderie together outside of the courtroom. Needless to say, it doesn’t work most of the time, as their interests often conflict. The characters include: Jerry Kellerman (Gosselaar). Jerry’s a character you’ve seen a hundred times before. He’s young, rather unkempt, and too principled for his own good. Yes, the series starts out with him willing to go to jail on contempt charges before bowing down to the tyrannical judge. He often faces Michelle Ernhardt (Sagemiller) who is determined to prove she’s more than just a pretty face in the courtroom. She’s desperate for respect, so winning becomes something of an obsession. It doesn’t help that, as the series begins, Bochco has them in one of his trademark opposite sides romances that he appears to plant in every series he’s ever done. The two are often refereed by Judge Kessler (Kaczmarek). She’s a rather morally bankrupt individual with political designs of her own. She doesn’t appear to think that the courtroom is any place for such quaint ideals such as fundamental fairness or justice. Of course, that sets the stage for many of Jerry’s dramatic stands. The public defenders are led by Roz (Whitman), who is rarely in the courtroom and is more of an administrator and shoulder to cry on. Then there’s Richard Wooslsley (Sears). He’s the mandatory rich kid who is rebelling against his father’s establishment mentality. So he works in the public defender’s office instead of in his dad’s political machine. Charlie (Scarfe) is the judge’s clerk and attempts to be the conscience she doesn’t have on her own. He flirts with her to manipulate her but is secretly gay, which is going to cause its own special set of problems. It seems that Angel’s Gunn (Richards) kept the legal knowledge he received through a spell at the infamous evil law firm on Angel. He’s now Marcus McGrath, but make no mistake. He’s still Gunn. He’s the smartest of the group and the most unfeeling. He constantly wants to prove he can overlook race and poverty in his cases and so is extra tough wanting to put them all away. He’s the ace prosecutor here. The prosecutors are led by Nick Balco (Graham) who doesn’t think guilt or innocence should play a part in the equation. It’s a constant source of irritation to him that these young lawyers try so hard to be friends.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2009
What if you took the Desperate Housewives and placed them on an Army base? If that thought has been keeping you awake at night, sleep tight, gentle reader. You can find out simply by picking up a copy of Army Wives on DVD. I’m not exaggerating about this at all. Army Wives has the very same soap opera plotting and tone as the ABC hit does. You gotta really be into that sort of thing if you have any hope at all of keeping up with the antics of these four friends, or of having any desire to. I’m afraid I have to confess that I am not in that group and so found the 19 episodes to be very trying indeed.
The series follows the trials and tribulations of four wives of enlisted Army personnel. They call themselves “The Tribe”. Claudia Joy (Delaney) is the unofficial head of the group. The other women are Denise Sherwood (Bell), Pamela Moran (Brannaugh), and Roxy LaBlanc (Pressman). The show often focuses on their rather emotional situations and makes a center for itself in the idea that these women are there for each other. In this second season the Army life aspect of the show was intentionally held back somewhat, and the stories dealt more intimately with the wives. Likely a good move for the target audience that would have very little interest in the military aspects of the setting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 9th, 2009
Mike Riggins (Lundgren) has been languishing away in a Russian prison for many years. So he doesn’t have anything to lose when he’s approached by the CIA to help them save a young woman who has been kidnapped. The government needs Riggins’ special set of skills, namely the ability to cause a lot of carnage in a short amount of time. If he rescues the girl, he gets 20 grand and sprung from prison. Of course, everything is not what it seems to be, and the government really just wants Riggins dead. After about an hour and a half of shooting and mayhem a lot of people end up dead, but Lundgren is still technically alive. I say technically because as far as I can tell Dolph Lundgren has been brain dead since 1985 when his acting career began with A View To A Kill. But, like the energizer bunny he keeps going, and going, and going.
The plot isn’t anything all that imaginative; in fact it’s pretty simple. But the other thing that’s simple is the acting of one Dolph Lundgren. Lately we’ve been hearing a lot about torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. There are apparently international laws on such things, but the Geneva Convention folks have turned the other way as Lundgren continues to subject audiences to what can only be described as cruel and inhuman punishment. I guess as a Constitutional scholar I could make an implied consent argument here, if you’re actually insane enough to pick up one of these films. It’s not like it’s a secret. If you watch these Lundgren films, particularly the direct to video stuff, you already know what you’re getting. I’m sure Lundgren’s folks have been opting for direct to video because too many moviegoers have been throwing stuff at the theater screens. The theory is they are less likely to act violently to their own 2 grand flat screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 3rd, 2009
For most of us, we thought it was a crime when Eddie Murphy hijacked the Dr. Dolittle brand back in 1998. He turned a classic into yet another assembly line crude humor product. The original material was carelessly sacrificed for the sake of another Eddie Murphy romp. Well, it was harmless enough, I suppose. But then the sequel and direct to video follow ups began. Eddie was out, and so were the fart jokes and other bodily function staples. Now after a couple of direct to video attempts we get Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts, and suddenly we actually miss Eddie Murphy.
The series of direct to video films has focused on Dolittle’s young daughter, Maya (Pratt). She also has her dad’s ability to talk to the animals. With each film we hear that the Doc is off around the world somewhere helping out some animals. In the latest outing, Maya wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and be able to help the animals she can speak to. She’s a couple of weeks from entering college with the ultimate goal of becoming a veterinarian. But she’s really not too happy with the 7 years of study she has before her. So, when she gets an opportunity to help out some animals now, she follows the dream. Enter reality star Tiffany (Moss). She’s a Paris Hilton clone complete with her pampered little dog. It appears that her pooch is feeling a little depressed of late. She comes to Maya to ask her to talk to her dog and see if she can help. So Maya flies to Hollywood where she instantly discovers two things: Tiffany’s princess is actually a prince, and there are a lot of temptations in the hip world of stars and lights. That includes star Brandon Turner (McLaren) who she immediately falls head over heels for. It turns out that Tiffany’s agent has been trying to get a Dolittle in his fold for years. So, he tempts Maya with a reality show where she can “help” celebrity animals. Of course, she has to learn that she can’t really help anybody just yet. Just being able to talk to them doesn’t mean she can help them.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 29th, 2009
This 4th season release of The Closer would become my first exposure to the rather good series from TNT. I don’t have time for network television these days, so the cable shows often fall by the wayside in my schedule. Of course, I’ve made time for some of the better ones over the years, but The Closer never seemed to find its way onto my radar. It should have. Of all of the cop or detective shows I’ve seen over the years, I can relate to this one better than any of them.
You see, years ago, I was a detective. I wasn’t a cop and mostly did internal investigations for a large Florida retail chain. While I was a fair detective in most areas, I did eventually develop a specialty of sorts. When other detectives ran into a brick wall interviewing their subjects, they’d often call on me to get whatever information they were trying to extract. No, I didn’t beat it out of them. I was never a physically intimidating guy. I was just good at getting them to talk. I guess I was a little bit of a con artist who was working for the good guys instead of preying on hapless marks. I never lied to a subject and never threatened violence. It was a battle of wits, and I always won. That’s exactly how you would describe Brenda Johnson (Sedgwick) in The Closer. While the series was, in many ways, your standard procedural police drama, each episode would end with Brenda getting some reluctant perp to spill their guts. She relied on Southern charm. She looked and sounded harmless enough that she could get the person to lower their guard and fall for some rather simple trick or another. Case closed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2009
Infected is one of those many made for television films that appear on the Sci-Fi, I mean Sy-Fy Channel almost weekly, I mean weakly. Most of them are relatively low budget affairs that utilize very low grade CG f/x and often actors that haven’t been getting a lot of steady work in the legitimate world. It amazes me, actually. How can a network dedicated to science fiction consistently produce some of the worst movies in the genre? You would think that after a hundred of these things that they would have to get it right once in a while. The law of averages almost demands it. Instead, week to week, month to month, and year to year, the worst the genre has to offer finds its way as “original” movies on the network.
Infected is a sort of V meets The Arrival. A band of evil aliens have arrived on Earth to help them to repopulate their species. The somehow arrive at the idea they can best do this by setting up a bottled water company and selling humans plague tainted water. Of course, no one catches on, and the company grows to conglomerate size in no time. Enter a pair of reporters. Ben (Bellows) and Lisa (Roy). Of course, they used to be an item and now have trust issues working together on a tabloid. When the mayor is killed, a sample of his blood is retrieved and finds its way to the couple. Tests prove it is some wacked out hemoglobin. The clues eventually lead to the bottling company and its boss, Peter Whitefield (Dinsmore) who is actually a big insect under his fake human skin. The plot unravels and Ben discovers he has a natural immunity which he can use to fight off those pesky grasshopper things. And we all live happily ever after. Naturally, there’s a government cover up. Invasion? What invasion? We know nothing about no stinkin’ invasion?
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![Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/dr-dolittle-million-dollar-mutts-large.jpg)
