Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
“Back to the days of the Gold Rush, as Sergeant Preston with his wonder dog, Yukon King, meets the challenges of the Yukon … A land inflamed with gold. Men who came quickly learned the heroism of sacrifice and the treachery of greed.”
These words first reached across the radio airwaves in 1947. Children and adults alike would gather around the warm glow of their large radios to hear the exploits of Canadian Mounties Sergeant Preston and his trusty companions Rex, his horse, and Yukon King, his Alaskan Malamute. When the early days of television arrived, it was no surprise that the more successful radio dramas would become some of the first television shows. Sergeant Preston was part of that transition wave of the new medium of television. Although filmed in color, the series ran in black and white, which was the only format available to the homeowner in those days. Now through the release of the series on DVD, we get to see the series for the first time in color.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
“I’ll tell you a story, a real life story, a tale of the western frontier. The West, it was lawless, but one man was flawless, and his is the story you’ll hear. Wyatt Earp, brave, courageous, and bold. Long live his fame and long live his glory, and long may his story be told.”
The catchy theme to The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp was written by Harold Adamson and Harry Warren. It was sung by The Ken Darby Singers. It set you up for the adventure and heroics that were to follow for the next 26 minutes in 1955 for anyone lucky enough to have a television set. The series was one of the first of television’s serial dramas. It used ongoing story arcs and complicated relationships to tell a story that evolved over the six years it was to be on the air. While the series was based on the writings of the real Wyatt Earp, there was nothing biographical about this show. Wyatt did carry his trademark Buntline Special 45’s with an extended barrel, and he was the sheriff of Ellsworth, Kansas. But little else of this tale was true. Even the actual setting changed to the more glamorous Dodge City after a couple of seasons. Of course, television viewers weren’t buying any of that. They knew the real law was Marshall Dillon, and in case they might have forgotten, Gunsmoke was on every week to remind them. By the show’s last season Wyatt had migrated to Tombstone, Arizona and his fateful encounters with the Clantons and a certain corral.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
After five years on the air, Hawaii Five-O entered its sixth season pretty much unchanged. There was actually very little change over the years. McGarrett was still on the case with his trusted Danno and Chin-Ho. The Hawaiian settings continued to showcase the locations of the island chain as well as much of the state’s local acting talent. But most of all, the show kept up with the quality of stories. The season began with an armless man out to kill the cops he holds responsible for his condition. The episode, Hookman, would get the season off to a solid start. Charter For Death brings plague infested rats to the island and a quarantine. The Sunday Torch means there’s an arsonist on the loose who only sets fires on Sunday. Is a Federal officer to blame for the death of a wealthy tax evader? McGarrett must catch one of their own in Murder Is A Taxing Affair. McGarrett must protect a visiting dictator from a female hired killer who looks like the target’s own daughter in A Bullet For El Diablo. Is a cop on a rape and murder spree in Hawaii? Find out in Nightmare In Blue. These are just a few of the cases for the gang at Five-O in this 6th season collection.
Working in Hawaii on one of televisions hottest shows in the 1970’s was too good a job for most of the cast and crew of Hawaii Five-0. This meant that there was very little cast turnover for the series in general, and none going into the fourth year. Jack Lord saw his star rise considerably, and while he began to see some serious pay hikes, even he wasn’t about to kill the golden goose. With this kind of consistency, fans were never disappointed or turned off by drastic changes in the cast or formula. With this cop show, it was all about tropical locations and formula. The fifth season was no exception to the rule.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 23rd, 2009
“You are invited to a reunion.”
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing. Somehow 1991’s Snoopy’s Reunion has managed to escape my notice all of these years. Why isn’t this particular special among the classic cartoons of that era?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 21st, 2009
So Toby Wilkins will be helming The Grudge 3. That's a bit of a shame. Not because I think he's the wrong man for the project. Rather, it's the wrong project for the man. Or, less glibly but more precisely, he is showing real promise as a filmmaker, and it would be a shame to see more talent squandered on a franchise that should definitely be put out to pasture. I base this evaluation on the evidence presented in Splinter, a nifty little creature flick .
The film begins with the collision of seriously two very different couples. Seth and Polly (Paulo Costanzo and Jill Wagner) are young urbanites on a camping trip. He's working on a PhD in biology, which becomes important later. Meanwhile, Dennis and Lacey (Shea Whigham and Rachel Kerbs) are on the run (he's an escaped con, and she's his twitchy, detoxing girlfriend). The latter two carjack the former, but the situation becomes much more complicated when they stop at an isolated gas station (is there any other kind in horror movies?) and are attacked by the titular creature.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 20th, 2009
Writing or directing a fighting movie is kinda like booking a wrestling card. In theory, you need to create a strong but flawed babyface who is fighting for a cause or fallen friend. The antagonist or main heel is usually completely evil and has the face of being completely untouchable. But in order to build up this reputation, he must also go through some minor good guys to get over his image. In addition, the babyface must go over minor bad guys to do the same exact thing. In the end, you create a hero who comes in to save the day and vanquishes the victim. Street Warrior is one of those movies that follows this script by the book and makes for some decent excitement while the movie is at it.
The Gauntlet has claimed another victim. Joey Campbell (played by Brandon Quinn) has fallen at the hands of Isaiah Griffin (played by Sidney S. Liufau) and is now in a coma at the local hospital. His brother, Jack (played by Max Martini) has been discharged from the army for beating the crap out of a superior officer (no reason is given). He comes home and breaks up a robbery of a local convenience store where his friend Maggie (played by Valerie Cruz) works. However, once he gets to his brother’s house and is treated to his sister-in-law Sarah’s (played by Erin Cottrell) tearful embrace, he realizes something is very wrong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 16th, 2009
The Kings: Anatomy of a One-Hit Wonder tells the story of a Canadian rock band's rise to fame. The documentary discusses the creation of their one hit "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide" as well as donates a significant amount of time to the aging rockers. The original band members all provide interviews throughout the film: David Diamond (lead vocals, bass), Sonny Keyes (keyboards, vocals), Max Styles (drums) and Mister Zero (guitar). This is an example of a rock documentary of a group that had some minor success and whose claim to fame is playing on Dick Clarke's American Bandstand.
The overall documentary is depressing. All of the band members are now entering their sixties and most of the footage is them reliving their glory years of touring. The music video montage of "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' to Glide" at the beginning of the film is well done and captures the essence of the band in five minutes. However, once the reality of the band not having any other credentials sets in, the question arises. Why make a documentary? The public seems to be infatuated with the "where they are now" VH1 style program. Unfortunately, most viewers could care less what the Kings are up to. The documentary runs roughly over 40 minutes in length and audiences ask another question. That's it? This question seems to have plagued the band since its inception in the late 1970's.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2009
The curtain finally falls on Wings on DVD some 12 years after the show came in for its final approach on television in 1997. The end was a planned one so that the final episode was a fitting goodbye for the series and its collection of crazy characters. The final episode finds Joe and Helen off to Vienna to live while Helen studies cello. Brian is left alone to man the business. For us, we’ll get this one last chance to laugh it up with the clever and often hilarious television series.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 16th, 2009
“Oh Bother”A.A. Milne was quite an eclectic writer. He wrote murder mysteries that even appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From that fertile mind would also come a place known as the 100 Acre Wood. In that select place some of literature’s finest characters had the greatest adventures any boy could imagine. And adventures are certainly no fun on your own. Young Christopher Robin was joined by Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, and, of course, Winnie-The-Pooh. Who didn’t fall in love with that silly old bear… Winnie-The-Pooh. OK, so maybe Dahmer or Bundy might have been exceptions. Still, anyone growing up in the last 30-40 years who isn’t a psychopath has had a love affair with Winnie-The-Pooh, all stuffed with fluff.
But I can’t recognize my old friends any longer. Where has Christopher Robin gone?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 14th, 2009
Alan Rickman, in a stunningly unexpected bit of casting, plays an arrogant, womanizing SOB of a chemistry professor who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize. While he and wife Mary Steenburgen jet off to Sweden, their son (Bryan Greenberg) is kidnapped. Before long, the parents receive are sent a severed thumb as proof of the kidnapper's serious intent. But nothing is quite what it seems.
What we have here is a blackly humoured cross between farce, caper and revenge story. The name-studded cast also includes Bill Pullman as the detective assigned to investigate the kidnapping, Elize Dushku as Greenberg's love interest, and Danny DeVito as a gardener recovering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder. Ernie Hudson and Ted Danson also show up in small roles. DeVito doesn't have much to do in the film, but then, in the end, neither does just about anybody else. Rickman, though top-billed, isn't asked to do more than his patented bastard shtick, which he can do in his sleep. There's a creative heist scene, and plenty of twists, but these latter have a merely academic interest. There is no emotional attachment to anyone in the film, which means that the OTT flash and dazzle of the editing becomes pure surface distraction. Then there's the soundtrack, partly the work of electronica deity Paul Oakenfold. Too often, it has no relation to the action on screen, and is so loud that, fine as it is in and of itself, it becomes irritating. End result: a slick but empty, only fitfully engaging effort.
