Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 20th, 2012
The voice of Etta James — specifically on her rendition of “At Last” — has launched 1,000 wedding receptions. The singer, who passed away earlier this year, also had a long history with the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Though this Blu-ray includes performances from the 1970s and 1980s, the focus is on her 1993 show, which came the same year James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and followed a late ‘80s comeback from drug and alcohol addiction.
The concert doesn’t waste any time jumping right into the music. Unfortunately, we have to endure two instrumental tracks — and approximately 8 ½ minutes of screen time — before the star of the show takes the stage. (Appropriately, the second of those tracks is “Hold On, I’m Coming.”) At least we get to marvel at the band members' unfortunate early ‘90s fashions — one of the trumpet players looks like Super Mario — as we wait for James to show up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 19th, 2012
“There’s always a story. You just have to find it.”
What happens when you’re a popular murder-mystery writer and someone starts to use your stories and ideas to kill people in the real world? At first you become the prime suspect, particularly if you’re found to be completely self-centered and annoyingly arrogant. That’s where a pretty good alibi might come in handy. Is playing poker with the Mayor and the Chief of Police good enough? So, you’re no longer a suspect. Now what do you do? You sign on as a consultant for the special crimes squad of the police department, and you help catch the real killer. Only instead of looking for him O.J. style on golf courses and in steakhouses, you team up with the cops and nab that good-for-nothing plagiarist. The problem with that is you might just find that you like it. Even worse, it might end up curing that writer’s block you got after killing off your lead character and proverbial golden goose, much to the chagrin of your publisher who also happens to be your ex-wife. Follow any of that? If you did, you now have the setup for one of the better premiere series from last season, Castle.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 18th, 2012
Blue Bloods is the first television drama to capture the best of the police procedural and also the warmth and charm of the family drama. It's like NYPD Blue invaded the set of Brothers & Sisters. The show brings incredibly good writing and production values that do look and feel like a film every week. You hear that a lot from series show runners, but this is one of those rare cases where it is true. It doesn't hurt that the show has a strong cast that includes the like of Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg. It doesn't work unless everyone connected with a show buys into a common goal. That's exactly what you get here, and it shows on the screen.
Tom Selleck is Frank Reagan. He's the police commissioner of the NYPD. He's no stranger to the job. In fact, police is the Reagan family business. His father Henry (Cariou) was the commissioner before him, who was fired for his brutal honesty and straight talk. His father is a constant reminder that the job is not always just about policing the city. There are politics to deal with no matter how hard he tries to avoid them. His son Joe was killed in the line of duty. His elder son Danny (Wahlberg) is one of the force's best detectives. His youngest son Jamie (Estes) is a brand-new recruit on the force. He has a Harvard law degree, but he decided to give up the idea of a law practice to go into the family business. Daughter Erin (Moynahan) is not a cop. But, that doesn't mean she's out of the loop. She is a lawyer who works for the DA's office. When the Reagans gather for their traditional Sunday dinner, the family chatter often involves dead bodies and hard criminals.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 18th, 2012
The darker side of suburbia's well-manicured lawns and white picket fences has been properly documented and satirized in both film (The Stepford Wives, American Beauty) and television (Desperate Housewives, Weeds) over the past few decades. Suburgatory — ABC’s smart and affable addition to the genre — is among the latest to throw its fancy, colorful hat into the ring.
After single father George Altman (Jeremy Sisto) finds a condom in his 15-year-old daughter’s room, he panics and uproots the two of them from Manhattan to the picture perfect suburb of Chatswin because it’s supposed to be one of the best places to raise children. Not surprisingly, Tessa (Jane Levy) is not very happy with her father.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2012
"If there's a theme, you could call it The Return..."
Warner Brothers has entered the popular scene with yet another vampire series taken from yet another powerful franchise of popular books. Enter The Vampire Diaries. While I've avoided the Twilight series so far (I've had my fill of teenage angst as a high school teacher). The series follows loosely the series of novels written by L.J. Smith. If you're a fan of the books, you have to take a few things into consideration. Characters work differently on screen than in a book, so many of them have been changed. Perhaps the biggest change is that Elena's four-year-old sister is now a teenage younger brother. You may not like the change, but it does make for better prime-time drama, doesn't it? The crew attempted to keep as close to the source material as possible, while attempting to create their own special television universe. I'm not sure about the books. I've never read them. I do know that this show works.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 14th, 2012
Shonda Rhimes had a big hit on her hands with Grey’s Anatomy, so after five years she did what comes naturally in her situation. You spin the success off in the hope that the fans can’t get enough in just one night. At first it appeared to me she had chosen the wrong character to put out on her own. I mean, I never considered Kate Walsh as Addison to be one of the show’s more compelling characters. The show was presented as what the business calls an imbedded episode on Grey’s. What that means is that the situation is set up during one of the original show’s episodes. In this case a two-parter called The Other Side Of Life. The idea is that you want to be sure that your existing show’s fans at least watch the pilot in the hope that they will consider it a part of their beloved series. I got to watch that episode when I was called upon to review the fifth season of Grey’s.
Dr. Addison Montgomery (Walsh) is looking for a change. She’s feeling a little burned out in Seattle at Grace Memorial Hospital, where she carries a ton of baggage. She heads down to L.A. to visit a friend who has his own clinic in the sunny city. The clinic practices something called co-op medicine. Specialists from various fields come together to treat their patients in a more holistic manner. Dr. Naomi Bennett (McDonald), specializing in fertility, and her ex-husband Dr. Sam Bennett (Diggs) started the place. Dr. Violet Turner (Brennemen) and Dr. Sheldon Wallace (Benben) are the clinic’s shrinks. Dr. Cooper Freedman (Adelstein) is the pediatrician. Dr. Peter Wilder (Daley) is the herbal medicine specialist. He’s also got a rep for sleeping with all of the other women and even running some out of the clinic. Dr. Charlotte King (Strickland) is a partner and also chief of surgery at the hospital. Derek's sister Amelia (Scorsone) has also dropped in as the staff neurologist.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on September 12th, 2012
There is a long line of adaptations of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and here we have a modern re-telling of the classic horror tale. Like the original, Dr. Jekyll is experimenting on a wild potion, but while experimenting on himself a malevolent alter-ego named Mr. Hyde emerges from within him to go on killing sprees.
The original tale is told from the point of view of the attorney enlisted to help solve this problem. In this film, the attorney is both an aid to Jekyll and a love interest. While this added romantic element does make for some added moments of increased tension when Hyde attacks the woman Jekyll is falling for, it mostly just makes the movie feel more cliché and makes the flow of the story much more boring and predictable with the plot falling into the usual "final-girl" or "boy must save girl" trappings when relying on their relationship to be the anchor of the conflict, when there are so many more interesting elements at play.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on September 10th, 2012
Remember when I mentioned the difficulty of reviewing a season in the middle of the show’s run? This week, I shall attempt to review two different HBO shows at the end of their respective run. Yes, I will be piecing together a show that is in its last season with very little (or no knowledge) of the seasons before. This should be a fun ride and our last entry is the third season of the HBO Comedy: Hung.
Our very own M.W. Phillips was able to review the second season of this show, so feel free to check that out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on September 7th, 2012
What’s the latest home video gimmick? 3D, of course. And what’s the leading genre for cheap thrills on a low budget? The goofball horror movie, right? So it makes sense – sort of – for an enterprising filmmaker to throw together a low-comedy fright flick with cheesy gross-outs and bouncing breasts. See, in 3D, those babies can bounce big-time. And if that’s not enough boost for the boys in the audience, you also get severed heads, detached limbs, barf jokes and the dopiest plot this side of Lake Placid the Final Chapter. OK, you caught me. I never saw that one, it just sounds ridiculous.
But I did sit through Piranha 3DD, which was not difficult because (a) I still enjoy the novelty of 3D home video, (b) it’s only 82 minutes long, and (c) the film earns its R rating (for “sequences of strong bloody horror violence and gore, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use”) while refusing to take itself seriously for even a moment.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 7th, 2012
To the point, Criminal Minds is very compelling television. Ever since The Silence Of The Lambs and perhaps long before, we have been fascinated by serial killers and the profilers who try to get inside their heads. To see evidence of the continuing trend, one needs only look toward the success of films like Zodiac and shows like Dexter. Of course, serial killers are not the only prey this FBI team pursues, but they are certainly the marquee item on the agenda. To be sure, there are equally disturbing subjects such as arsonists, bombers, kidnappers, and rapists to give the show a touch of variety, but let’s face it, it’s the killers that keep us tuned so attentively to Criminal Minds.
Let’s not take anything away from the show’s true force here. This is an excellent cast being fed brilliant scripts playing to an awesome crew. Everything just clicks on this series, and it only got better in the second year. I am truly impressed with how much these characters are fleshed out and how much we learn about them without the need of office romance. No precious show time is squandered on excessive personal life stories. We’re given just enough to bring the characters alive beyond their team dynamic, which is quite strong. Each character is constructed through the subtle nuances the actors infuse their performance with. From the moment you watch your first episode, you will find this team believable enough to care about them and their work. Surprisingly, the show often gets muddled in a ton of exposition, but somehow it’s carried off by the cast so that you never find yourself going numb with clinical information overload. Granted, the material itself is attention-worthy, but these guys pull it off no matter how interesting the information might be. Add to the stellar portrayals a writing team second to none in the industry. The support teams do everything they need to make sure these talents are never wasted.
